Assassins’s Creed Mirage: Who is Basim?

Today, we’re going to look at the beginnings of Basim Ibn Ishaq who stars as the titular character in 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage. While his character was explored somewhat in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, little is known about his backstory and who he was before washing up on the shores of England. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be a prequel to Valhalla primarily focusing on Basim’s youth and rise among the ranks of the Assassins. It takes us back to the Islamic Golden Age in the bumbling city of Baghdad, Basim’s hometown and choice area of hidden blade assassinating. Here is everything there is to know about who Basim is in Assassins Creed Mirage!

Who is Basim in Assassin’s Creed Mirage?

Basim Ibn Ishaq was the son of a great mosque architect during the Abbasid Caliphate. His father was the victim of deceit as the credit for his work was taken by someone else, causing him to be exiled and later on die. As Basim’s mother had already passed away earlier, he was orphaned and left to fend for himself as a thief in the streets of 9th-century Anbar, near Baghdad. Baghdad was a rich city of knowledge and learning, in which Basim would often go to a library called the House of Wisdom. He describes himself as being consumed with a passion for understanding, which led to his hunger for knowledge among scholars and scientists. We can see this library being a major point of influence in the game and possibly having renditions of real-life scholars like Al-Khwarizmi that you could meet and talk to.

How did Basim join the Assassins?

Image: Bethesda

Somewhere at the age of 17, Basim met a figure that would change the course of his life. He was saved from certain capture by none other than the Master Assassin Roshan during a theft gone wrong. Roshan not only rescued him from the guards but also welcomed Basim into the ranks of the Hidden Ones (read: Assassins), and took on the role of his Mentor. This is the beginning of his life as an Assassin. He would go on to undergo training at the fortress of the Hidden Ones, Alamut. After years of preparation, he ventures back to Baghdad, determined to dismantle The Order, a clandestine group bent on manipulating the world from behind that would go on to evolve into what we know now as the Templars.

In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, players witness Basim’s evolution from a novice to a mentor. The story is especially reminiscent of the past Ezio trilogy that fans have loved for so long, but we will have to wait and see if Ubisoft fulfills its promises of a “classic” Assassin’s Creed game.