[Spoilers] We have Cracked the Isu Language Secret Messages in Assassin's Creed Mirage!

[@kevschua]

I think the prison cell unit was the ISU version of the binding of Loki. In Norse mythology, Odin imprisoned Loki in a cave, bounded by a rock after killing Baldur. I guess this was to represent that event. Recalling from AC Valhalla, Sigurd had to experience IMMENSE trauma in order to remember/fuse with the memories of Tyr. As such, it makes sense that Basim’s experience with the prison cell was traumatic enough for him to remember Loki’s experience in the unit. This traumatic memory was represented by a Djinni - an interpretation of Basim’s PTSD that torments him every night since his brain cannot comprehend his Isu past (similar to Eivor’s nordic interpretation in Valhalla) Nehal would then be the suppressed memories of Loki earnestly guiding him towards the Alamut prison facility. Thus, when Basim saw the prison unit, he was able to fully remember the complete memories of Loki and fully merge with Nehal, coming into agreement with the memories of Loki (as mentioned in the AC Valhalla epilogue). Just a theory but makes the most sense to me rn.

[@salmankhan2739]

pretty much spot on! Loved the ending!

[@jeepercreep12]

Perfect comment

[@jimsus69]

It's very close, yeah. Like when he had one of Lokis sons stomach acid dripping slowly on his head as punishment for the death of Odins' favourite son and starting ragnarok. (That son became the world serpent "Jorrmangandr") But the poison wasn't mentioned, so I think it's more than likely the womans memory of being imprisoned amd tortured to being out Loki.. and not Loki's memory.. But she houses Loki's memory too, as do all that specific bloodline. But the thing with the Djinni. That is spot on! 👌 I think the Isu memories are of Nehal.. and the Djinni ones.. are Loki trying to get out. It's like a person within a person within a person 😆 I love it. The Loki and Atlantis storyline are by far the best ac stories ever. So interesting.

[@maxm.m.7219]

Someone else said that Enkidu DOES recognize him, yet sees Basim's change from the friend he once knew as a betrayal (remember that Fuladh mentioned that Enkidu was not only intelligent, but also shared his personality with Basim), so it's not that he doesn't recognize him, but that he wants nothing to do anymore with Basim. This is also why Basim sadly smiles in sad acceptance, since loyalty is important to Basim, therefore he doesn't resent Enkidu's reaction, and understands why he scratched him. He understands that his choice had consequences, some of which leave him with a bitter taste. (btw, this is how he got the scar he has in Valhalla) @sebastianpaetzold99

[@erinlaboricua]

I like this analysis and agree with most of it! But there is one question I have. Do we think Basim remembered that he is the reincarnation of Loki SPECIFICALLY, or could it just be that he remembers a past life and the First Civilization is a more general sense? It's been a while since I've played Valhalla, and I hadn't brushed up on the narrative prior to playing Mirage, so I definitely could've forgotten something. I mostly remember that Basim attacks Eivor towards the end of the game, due to him discovering that she is Odin's reincarnation. For whatever reason, I think I equated him getting triggered in that moment as the moment he figured out he was Loki. If that was wrong, that answers my question 😅

[@petersonl1008]

Excellent work. Thanks for all of the effort and time y'all put into this.

[@AccessAnimus]

Thank you!! And thank you for watching!

[@fateweaver3]

Hey AtA, can you see if Antoine Henry (hope I spelled that right) has anything to say on your translation. Plus, you haven't updated the hub with the new words. I would also like it so much if you can explain in a future video, preferably with an additional section in the hub, about how the language etymology actually works as I have seen a few words that do not sound similar to the Wikipedia page on PIE vocab. Some words like the word "to learn" is "rhn" and the Wikipedia word is "weyd" or "woyd" which sound nothing alike. There are some explanations like the 70000 year difference and the toba catastrophe causing people to have accents or damaged lungs. But if people are going to commit to the PIE relationship, it needs to have a reason as to why the word "n" is the same for PIE and Isu. I would also like at least a fan made report containing potential new words and new variations to the isu language. It is plausible that the Northern European isu used one large language, but what will happen with euro asiatic and the writing system in ac odyssey. As of this point, we have 3 writing systems, of which two need to be deciphered and another potential language and system in Asia with the upcoming games. There is at least, to my count of related languages, 9 due to zoning of 3 in Europe, 1-2 in Africa, two in the Americas , and 1 in Russia somewhere, and atleast one in Asia. Plus things like separation of language could have happened between humans and isu, with the isu having a language like English which is large and varied, while the humans don't know as much because language could allow for more potential access to the code and time and knowledge. A deep dive analysis of cultures like how the egyptians thought that on the eye of horus, the eyebrow symbolizes thought as the sixth sense. While I know this is a big thing to dump on people, we need to have a secondary scientific language, as latin has had its run. It might be interesting to see what would happen if scientists created a new human species to rule over humans in a small advanced country, just to see how society can evolve. I really hope you do more on the language and that project hexe really gives isu details. It would be a shame if they didn't create more isu languages and we kind of need to know the extent of the current language. I hope Germany had many isu facilities rather than just a few minor ruins.

[@dantesos7564]

What a great job done by this team with the language. You are pretty amazing at breaking it all down and making sense of things with the research to back it up. Impressive, most impressive!

[@jimsus69]

Is it just me who wanted Basim to use the Isu machine? And was massively let down that the machine didn't get more attention? 😢 I mean the one in the library place. The one that was like an animus. The one underground, not the prison one in the very end.

[@RCDeschene]

The one in the House of Wisdom conducted by Al-Rabisu (Fazil Fahim al-Kemsa), you mean?

[@jimsus69]

@RCDeschene yeah.. and it looks amazing when it's open.. and all the circles slun around the one that looks like the popular thing I think was later remade by Leonardo Divinci or someone.. it's like a globe sort of shape with an arrow going through it. It's on the thumb nail of this clip of the game.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqHaqYRtq995a9ksi=BP0HR_kUQxJHiicJ What interests me is that it was clearly an eart Animus machine.. which Loki/Basim could clearly hear people whispering and saying to each other as you reach the bit underground where you meet the target/cultist. But, as this game is utter dog shit cos the Ubisoft Sofia was literally going to be shut down or sold cos they're one of the worst parts of Ubisoft.. but this project was their last chance to prove theirselves or they will be sacked from Ubisoft.. everything is just awful. The storylines, the melee, the parkour, everything, so poor. And it is a shame because the had all the ingredients to make one of the best ac games ever.. but they ruined it.. we the little good ideas that just made so poorly when there were SO MUCH they could have done. Like they could have done a few mythical stories about either Djinni, or even back to Loki and the valhalla storylines which I would prefer, but they didn't. They didn't even let us see the Animus in action, which I would absolutely LOVE

[@jimsus69]

@@RCDeschene yeah exactly. It was SOOOO anticlimactic. Such a massive writing mistake and story arc error and the game was massive let down in so many ways.. I mean not only did they make the parkour more basic and simplified but they also ruined the combat which is why they had to market it as a stealth game because they hoped gamers wouldn't notice how absolutely awful the melee combat is. And to top it off they turned Loki into transgender Genie who has a schizophrenic personality disorder who has dillusions of grandeur, and the genie side got absolutely no attention at all. I mean maybe once or twice you see the genie in Basims nightmares but it had so much promise and so much possibility.. but flopped massively, I mean I hate the Ezio ones and older but Mirage is by far my least favourite ac game of all time and I wish I didn't waste 60 pounds on it. And if I didn't buy the Djinni costume and fire Constantine costume and also the lighting weapons I would not even have bothered completing the peice of shit. And the fact I had to pay extra for the mythical stuff pissed me off too. Because without the mythical stuff it would have unplayable. The mythical side was literally the ONLY interesting part of the game. The rest of it was anticlimactic waste of space.

[@JamesZ32100]

I think Basim would've died if the machine turned on

[@whomidity3953]

I thought the language was just going to be some code that was a direct translation, but no, it seems to be an actual conlang. That's really awesome, honestly. Kudos to ubisoft

[@Noctuam734]

jesus i love this ending SO MUCH, it completely resignifies Alamut.

[@Nemo-d4w]

The story sucked, what are you on about?

[@Noctuam734]

@@Nemo-d4w If you think the ending is bad that's entirely on you, i think the fight club plot twist was sick, the reveal of Alamut was really good.

[@ismaelbouissef4436]

Yep it was sickk

[@Kevin2005.]

That Thumbnail But Basim being scared😂😂😂

[@AccessAnimus]

He is! Or is he....

[@Kevin2005.]

@@AccessAnimus I don't know dude

[@alialassadi5576]

He looks like He’s getting that premium sloppy toppy

[@churichurinfunflais5269]

It was from that moment that Basim knew he would lose his soul forever.

[@impressions1812]

That twist ending was so intriguing. But no mention of Loki is strange hmmm…

[@A-N-I-M-U-S]

I definitely said "Access the Animus" when I saw the memory of Loki

[@AccessAnimus]

HAH!

[@lj_wolfe]

As a word nerd, I love the work you all have put into this. My guess for that unknown noun in the Winter Palace is "record," as in, "State your name for the record." :-)

[@guilhermeheinen5859]

Great work guys, as always. But it's funny how Ubi suddenly decided, after 15 years of franchise, that they wanted to create a language completely from scratch whose translation and vocabulary is extremely inaccessible to the general public. Questionable way to engage new fans with Isu lore .-.

[@AccessAnimus]

The idea actually came out of nowhere at a dinner where Darby and Antoine were participating! I'm not surprised this happened randomly, you don't see things like this happen very often But yeah, there should be ways to make the language more accessible to fans... We have tried our best with our website, but yeah it can be tough at times

[@معرفةوترفيه-ت2ظ]

I actually like it this way. It allows fans to decode and theorize about the language instead of getting the translation on your face.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

@@معرفةوترفيه-ت2ظ To be fair, I think an apt comparison would be Hylian script from the Zelda franchise where the way to translate it is to convert to Japanese and then to Latin. There is a way to do difficult to translate languages while still making it easy to do.

[@stefanounited]

​@@AccessAnimusdo you think that Isu lore and modern day story featuring Layla, The Reader (Desmond) and Basim will develope in AC Red?

[@matthewkendrick8280]

This is actually engaging my linguistics loving mind so well

[@darksister96]

if they wanted to add more to the game they could do a dlc with Basim training Hytham and then meeting Sigrad 😭i was hoping for that so bad but thinking to ambitious i guess lol

[@Doomergedon]

One of your wishes came true since we see Basim teach little Haytham the leap of faith in one of the side missions , but I assume you were expecting more 😅 Ubisoft left out just enough to make a sequel, however I wouldn’t keep my hopes up 😔. They said there would be no dlc and the only sequel we got was 10 years ago and a month exactly as of this message 😭It is a shame as Basim quickly became my new second favourite character 😪

[@akifullgames37]

​@@DoomergedonWow, I am amazed how I did that side mission and didn't connect the dots that it was Haytham we see in Valhalla, that's really cool!

[@sethreynolds3704]

Watching that message play I can't help but think of the scene in valhalla when loki tells odin "I can't be other than who I am"

[@joakimnannestad]

Need the ending analysed. As always good work

[@Skatha]

Absolutely waited for this video ❤

[@AccessAnimus]

And it's here now!!

[@Skatha]

@@AccessAnimus great video as always 👍

[@Bufo_Viridis]

I just finished game. Man... This was brilliant! And now I can finally watch this video ❤

[@beauwoodbury1112]

It was so cool when I entered that isu structure even before that ending part I instantly realized. “Holy shit this place is a prison omg it makes so much sense now!” What a great game I am actually pleasantly surprised

[@jessewyatt5941]

Always looking forward to anything Isu. So I was waiting for this video excitedly

[@ChubbyJimRaisinBran]

Always a pleasure to see these videos

[@ziqstyles]

i think the guard is actually odin because it make some sense. loki/basim saw odin as a djinn figure.

[@elijahwatson3474]

Actually it probably a Isu named Milad as you can find his armor and weapons in mirage and the guard is using the same Isu knife you can find in game.

[@indedgames4359]

I sheed some tears at that end.

[@shaheensamadi]

Why does everything in this franchise have to be so damn cryptic that we have to go online to see what they mean, to build up this massive story line potential, only to blow it off and finish it in a comic book series

[@tonycrussol9020]

Hi! Since you seem to like mysteries, are you going to make a video on the hidden/deleted ending and dialogues found in the game's files? I’d like to hear your theories on that.

[@DMPTC]

Very good Job, thanks a Lot, ive Just completed the game, and Just outside, near the the door, of the hiddens bureau near the great bazar, There is a message hagging on a wood colun, where is written about a mistérious spice, and we should bê able to find more clues about It on the spice tent on the great bazar, but unfortunatly, i didint find anything yet, maybe one of the mistéries the Channel can Work on as well

[@r3gret2079]

Bro I was tryin to look for so long, but gave up cuz I figured it was just a random "in-world" message left behind. Plus that grand bazaar is a little hard to search for me, it all looks the fuckin same. Eagle vision ainthelping with this either.

[@AyBee9725]

Looking at your analysis, the sentence structure in the Isu language is very similar to Hindi, and most other Asian languages too

[@elijahwatson3474]

That was probably intentional and I would be surprised if red fully kicks off the Eastern side of Isu lore soon.

[@RC-036-Shadow]

Awesome videos, but can you also do some theories about what basim will do next in the modern day. I’m dying to hear your theories behind it and where do you think it might go from here?

[@AccessAnimus]

Sure-ish! This was just an appetizer, soon we will have our analyses coming in!

[@RC-036-Shadow]

@@AccessAnimus yay

[@Nicros21]

Would be kinda cool to have this as a more fleshed out language and a book for it with translations from english to the Isu language

[@flamewolfman]

Thank you for all of your hard work.

[@AccessAnimus]

Thank YOU for watching!

[@flamewolfman]

@@AccessAnimus every video as soon as they drop I watch them.

[@Stewart-uk]

Had a thought about the unknown Isu word from the first sentence. It's beginning resembles Arkhos from greek meaning ruler/ leader. But looking into PIE gets a bit confusing.

[@Sinusoid-]

I love ac lore. Nice video!

[@PascalPalace]

You are the ISU Master :D

[@AccessAnimus]

Awww you're too kind! Sary and I really tried our best here!

[@PascalPalace]

@@AccessAnimus ATA Team deserves it all 🫶🏻

[@jonyjone383]

Le pouvoir de mots et l'ingénuité humaine. I LOVE THAT..

[@ranosian1135]

First one: What is your name betrayer Second one: Im not able to....

[@Ghost_-nz5dy]

Finally been waiting for this one! 😂

[@AccessAnimus]

It’s out at last!!

[@Manuel-21]

So upset!!!! I started the game today and I cannot see the video for now. Still, I appreciate the work and the effort. You are amazing guys!!

[@AccessAnimus]

Take your time! You can watch it at a later time!

[@baltazarosilva]

Let me see if I understand correctly, Odin trapped Loki in Alamut?

[@dikastederook6380]

Under what would become Alamut

[@odd-eyes6363]

It's really messy if you consider what we've seen in Eivor's memories of the past. After uploading himself to Ygdrasil, Loki did so as well immediately after, so he didn't even had time to be imprisoned and pass this memory along to his human self.

[@odd-eyes6363]

From what I could understand this is after everyone uploads themselves to the human gene pool. Maybe Odin tried to remove Loki's memories in the small time they had before the end, to ensure he wouldn't be able to follow the aesir in their next life, so maybe they kept Loki's memories surpressed by introducing a new memory of torture so traumatic it wouldn't allow him to recall his identity. Since this happens after the upload scene we see in Valhalla, Eivor has no memory of the worst sin she has comitted, maybe that's why her subconscious is only worried about betraying Tyr again

[@dikastederook6380]

@@odd-eyes6363 Odin didn't upload himself directly after the events we saw. He did saw during the Toba Catastrophe, which happened some time after the Asgard arc. The Animus anomalies put by Basim/Loki state Loki was arrested after Balder's death which Odin heared of in the Dawn of Ragnarok dlc, which happens after the Asgardian arc. According to the wiki, Loki is the one who told the Muspells about Balder's weakeness and they used it to kill him. The final cutscene of the arc (the one where we see Asgard burn and flashes of technological devices and embryons) is just the game jumping to the conclusion of the Norse Gods. Presumably, Odin learned about Loki's final deed and imprisonned him after that, probably shortly before the Catastrophe actually hit. I have no idea how Loki was released so he could upload himself (Odin clearly didn't have the time to imprison him after the uploading, they Aesir were leaving the facility to face the Catastrophe and implicitly the Jötnar/Olympian Isu and nobody would realize Heimdall was dead before being wipe out by the sun).

[@ikraikgaming]

Inject in ma veins with more lore! Awesome work :D

[@AccessAnimus]

YAS! More lore!

[@matthewkendrick8280]

So In Valhalla basim attacks eivor because he was angry about Loki’s son Fenrir. Now he’s mad about his imprisonment for killing Baldr. Can someone with more knowledge about Norse mythology tell me how they connect? Why exactly does basim hate eivor aside from they’re obvious rivalry?

[@thanatos_razl]

In Norse mythology, Fenrir is said to kill Odin. As for his imprisonment, it was prophecied a sign of Ragnarok was Baldr's death, so his Frigg made everything promise not to harm him except mistletoe. Loki took mistletoe and tricked Baldr's brother Hodr into shooting him with it. So he basically gets bound (or in Isu case, locked up) with a snake dripping venom on him

[@A-N-I-M-U-S]

Great research content again ❤🎉🎉🎉

[@AccessAnimus]

Yasss!

[@mackenziemcdaniel-paul8163]

Good work but have more questions than answers woth Basim but given the future slate of AC games i do not know where they will be answerd.

[@BandohFPS]

The ending of the game man.. Holllyyyy

[@steveo0127]

I loved mirage wish their was more to play already got every trophy ❤

[@AyBee9725]

Why can’t my linguistics class talk about stuff like this… would make it so much more interesting

[@steveo0127]

Kinda weird I knew nehal wasn’t really their for some reason 😂

[@steveo0127]

First time I seen that disc I knew it was from ac revelations

[@Psycho-Fliktion]

5:00 what is this cutscene?

[@therandomestoftherandomest6164]

6:30 buy why did basim see nehal in that cell and not that hologram of loki? EDIT: the reason i wrote this was because i was genuinely confused bcs the game didnt show me the scene after basim jumps in the dream section where he faces the jinni then i saw IGN explaining the ending and saw the cutscene entirely, i then put my hands on my head and my mouth wide open in shock to what happened and what it means

[@valtontony826]

because nehal is loki

[@fateweaver3]

Guys, update your isu language hub! We need those new words!

[@brandonmclain2933]

Are these the same discs that Ezio is looking for in AC Revelations? That he brings to Masyaf at the end?

[@elijahwatson3474]

Yes, during his exile of Masyaf, Altair found the Isu temple and discs under Alamut.

[@cynthiagrom5438]

Does it say “ We are trying to reach you about your cars warranty”

[@MrStanis00]

Who is Fenrir in all the AC games before Valhalla?

[@Quadae404]

The isu, and pieces of Eden were missing from mirage, they gave us nothing towards the story, I’m assuming this was just to give us basim’s backstory, but hopefully shadows picks up where Valhalla left off

[@slentilus7439]

Duolingo needs to add ISU language

[@khaledjmaa5599]

Thanks for the effort as usual. I have a qst but it has a spoiler . . . . . . . . From the begging i suspected that Nihal is an illusion because she appear and disappear in a bizarre way but i when i saw the ending i thought she is a representation of Alethia. I don't know why or how she is the reprensentation of Loki.

[@TwinFir3]

Loki is a trickster /and/ shapeshifter. He's Basim's conciousness manifest in the appearance of a woman, same way Eivor could see Odin in her head.

[@AccessAnimus]

Yeah, as Twinfir3 said, in my opinion that’s the representation of Loki’s memories within Basim much like old Odin is a representation of Odin’s memories within Eivor - plus her disappearing at the end pretty much shows how Basim’s inner struggle is settled and now he’s set on his mission to do _the thing_ in Valhalla

[@khaledjmaa5599]

Yes that's logic. I general the story was good but it is short and didn't answer many qst and it hasn't fulfilled their promise to show how mirage and valhalla are connected (how Basim and Siguard have met)

[@cymruambyth7758]

@@khaledjmaa5599we didn’t need to see how basim met Sigurd though that’s literally meaningless

[@GeneralTinMan4]

Anyone else disappointed we didn’t get to see Basim set sail for England?

[@BaronMagick]

Complete playthrough coming?

[@AccessAnimus]

The analyses will be coming, yeah!

[@BaronMagick]

@@AccessAnimus 🙏

[@mutasemabukhalaf7319]

Is there any dlc story for mirage in the future ?

[@AccessAnimus]

Sadly no, there shouldn’t be any post launch to the game 😤

[@mutasemabukhalaf7319]

Bad news , in the main menu of the game written ( stay tuned for new adventures ) so i thought there was dlc's

[@erenjageralmuhed6029]

I think its odin who touched loki in prison

[@AccessAnimus]

Maybe maybe!!

[@subhradeepde9744]

It is the guard

[@Playtester_Unemployed]

Cool now ppl ill learn isu language to speak strange xD

[@DrCantinero]

This game should've stay a Valhalla DLC

[@dr.multitasker9998]

I feel pretty disappointed after watching the gameplay in terms of the story. Like, arguably valhalla is story wise better than this story.

[@AccessAnimus]

I would say Valhalla has more space for the story to breathe, and also had more budget to have more complex stories. Then again, this is a single, personal story and to me it has value on its own ^^ ... though I agree, the pacing of the story is all over the place at times

[@ismaelbouissef4436]

Nah valhalla is empty

[@grakoe]

Nah

[@sukhrajsingh7205]

So it is probably proto indo european language

[@valtontony826]

no

[@randyReeves-it7gs]

why bro sound like that

[@SmokinBlunts781]

The first rule of assassins club is never talk about assassins club 😂

[@13Adrianne]

w o w

[@Pellude]

That ending was terrible. This whole game was terrible. The character animations HAVE NOT BEEN IMPROVED. They look janky and very unnatural

[@z_galanistak9192]

Why it was terrible??

[@reality_is_sin]

@@z_galanistak9192it wasn’t

[@z_galanistak9192]

@@reality_is_sin ikr i been playin the game and it be far from awful ...them people do be hatin while they havent even played the game for themselves

[@johnbrooks2122]

I thought this game is going to wait all the way up to Valhalla the whole Loki story but it was a big disappointment😢

[@dajoker8998]

I didn’t know isu had their own language and who made it did Ubisoft hire a language creator

[@guilhermeheinen5859]

Yes, this thing started in Valhalla. And they really seem committed to using such language in the future. Which is really weird since there's no official dictionary for it. Recently, a comic book author even accused Ubi of not explaining how the grammar of this language works, generating a huge controversy last year.

[@AccessAnimus]

They do, they started it with Valhalla in 2020, it was started by Antoine Henry, one of Ubisoft’s game designers, who has sadly left the company since - but I think he might have helped with the language in this one so the language seems to live on!

[@dajoker8998]

Well they should keep it consistent for future games with a language creator like the Witcher show