Pamela Maria

Once hailed for its attention to detail, fascinating back story, and historical accuracy, the Assassin’s Creed’s legacy has slowly begun to diminish. As a fictional universe, it can be expected that not all historical features will be completely accurate, but has the furthering of plot and milking of the franchise begun to corrupt the series as a whole?

Analyse the historical periods that the franchise has covered as well as which games most effectively combined the assassin trope within its historical context. This article would also try to avoid “playability” as an argument (e.g. Black Flag: is it fun to play? Sure. Are assassin’s and pirates accurate? No.) From this regard, an article like this could also look into what the true identity of Assassin’s Creed is and whether game-play and the templar plot-line is more crucial than its historical back drop. It would also need to consider whether Assassin’s Creed Origins was an attempt of getting rid of the series’ baggage and whether its new format can help bring the series back to its former glory.

Throughout literature and games studies there have been many kinds of heroes (such as the Romantic hero and its offset the Byronic hero) and different hero archetypes (the unwilling hero, the anti-hero, etc.) However, amongst these categories for characterization, has Bethesda in its Elder Scrolls Series created a new heroic archetype? With the start of every game, the player starts off as a prisoner of unknown cause. By the completion of the main quest line, they are renowned as a hero for the ages: (The Agent, The Nerevarine, The Hero of Kavatch, The Dragonborn, etc.). Analyze the significance of "the prisoner" archetype as the starter for all major heroes in the Elder Scrolls Universe.

A great place to start in terms of research would be the Elder Scrolls podcast: Written In Uncertainty which deals with the metaphysical aspects of the Elder Scrolls. Episode 10 talks about this while listing in-game and real-world sources that would be of great value to consider. Other areas of research good include looking at the moral ambiguity players can embody and whether these correspond with existing archetypes.

As our world is becoming more socially digitized and interactive, it is undeniable that fandoms have become important aspect in keeping franchises alive, but how important has fan influence become? Transmedia is a growing technic narrators’ in franchises have begun to use in which a single story is told across multiple platforms and adaptations. Although transmedia’s rise through social media and influence have been covered in a few topics and articles on the artifice before, how has fan fiction influenced transmedia storytelling?

Examples may include looking into fanon versus canon and instances where a highly popular canon has become fanon (such as Matt’s appearance in the anime Death Note). Another important aspect to look into is the “Boba Fett Phenomenon” where a side character becomes so wildly popular within the fandom that a franchise is forced to give them a backstory and more character development.

Although I struggled to find a source for this, I remember my Digital Media professor once discussed that there was a scandal in the Dr. Who fandom where a popular fanfiction actually guessed the fate of the current season. The fan who had written the story was sworn to secrecy or told to change their story (can’t recall exactly…) as to preserve the integrity of the show. Regardless, I think this is another example where fan fiction was integrated as an unauthorized expansion within a universe (and therefore has become a piece of transmedia storytelling).

A great theorist for transmedia and fan fiction is Dr. Henry Jenkins.

Within comics and movies, heroes have slowly been developing more flaws while villains are beginning to produce a more human face. More so, with the rise fandoms, readers and fans have begun to appreciate both; picking favourites and encouraging this type of development for characters. By examining older heroes and villains and how they have developed/changed over time, as well as, the rise of the "flawed hero" and the "human villain", are we slowly entering an age where there is no right answer? Or will "true villains" be forced to be purely "evil"? Analyze both the negatives and positives of this within a writing context — will this change how plots and characters are being written? Will the definitions of what a "villain" or "hero" are, have to change? And will this bring in a new era of "grey" as opposed to the archaic, early form of writing that was strictly black and white? Or is our perception of the "character", "plot" and writing becoming deeper and more advanced?

An extremely popular and successful franchise, the Batman Arkham series is yet another universe added to the Batman canon. However, the latest addition to the series brought in the controversial role of Jason Todd — the former "second" Robin who had been murdered by the Joker — as the "Arkham Knight" and main antagonist of the game. Most fans expressed their outrage for the use of Todd's character and the way it was conveyed within the Arkham Verse, along with (yet again) using the over saturated Joker trope, and Batman's decision with the "Knightfall Protocol". Was this addition to the gaming series poorly plotted out? And most importantly: was the characterization of these iconic characters destroyed by the Arkham verse canon?