assassins Creed is an endless series of mysteries and puzzles, the most enduring of which is the Isu language. Although it was first introduced in 2009 Assassin’s Creed II, it wasn’t until last year Assassin’s Creed Valhalla provided substantial clues that fans were finally able to break the dead tongue.
In a video released on YouTube earlier today, fansite people Access Animus detail the steps they took to unravel the complex language of Isu, a race of divine figures who, in assassins Creed tradition, predates human civilization. But that was not simple replacement cipher; decoding the fundamentals of the Isu language was only possible by Valhalla acting as a kind of Rosette Stone through which meaning can be extrapolated.
Access Animus was able to identify grammatical cases, tenses, conjugations and key rules for sentence construction, comparing various parts of the Isu text with English translations provided throughout Valhalla plot. They were then able to apply what they learned to their main goal: to translate various Isu markings on the game’s collector’s edition packaging.
The work is far from over, however. Valhalla makes it clear that the Isu were not as monolithic a civilization as was initially thought, which explains the main discrepancies between the letters and the structure of the sentences in different texts. As the Isu text looks very different in older versions assassins Creed games, it is still unclear whether these specific findings can be applied across the series.
Access Animus plans to address other topics, such as the Isu numeral system and a huge in-game document known as the Canterbury file, in a future video. It would probably be an exaggeration to say that the language was completely defined, but Valhalla narrative director Darby McDevitt has notably praised the achievement on Twitter. They are definitely on the right track!