What if Desmond was reborn as Shay’s son and the same age as Connor
We have this idea where Desmond is reborn as Shay’s son but, in that one, we made Desmond the same age as Arno for that sweet, sweet angst.
For this one, we need to talk about the timeline for a bit.
Ratonhnhaké:ton is born in 1756 and Shay put his lot with the Templars the same year.
This means Desmond has to be conceived in 1755 before Shay leaves for Lisbon. Specifically: Desmond must be conceived months before November 1 1755. (If you want, we can put it his birth date as March 13 then Desmond would have to be considered around June 1755)
He returns to the homestead late 1755 to early 1756 and there was a lot of snow during the cutscenes during that time so we can say Winter Months (December ~ February)
Why is this important?
Because we have a prime ‘candidate’ for Desmond’s mother:
Hope Jensen.
Hope would definitely hide the fact that she’s pregnant and would never say that Shay was the father.
Perhaps it was simply a night of passion that they never talked about.
Maybe there was a sliver of ‘something more’ but it was postponed when Shay sailed to Lisbon.
Regardless, Hope would still join the hunt for Shay and she would watch as he ‘dies’ after failing to persuade him into returning the manuscript (maybe even hint on her current ‘situation’)
After that, she would never tell anyone who the father of her son was.
Desmond would be born in one of her gang’s hideout.
He would stay with her while she worked for the Brotherhood and he would know she’s an Assassin early on. Her gang would serve as both his bodyguards and his nannies when she’s away.
He would be 1 year and 8 months old when his mother died while he was taken away by her most trusted gang members, running away when she noticed Shay spying on them while she was talking to Liam. Desmond was nearby and was taken away while Hope slowly filled the warehouse with poisonous gas.
Desmond would then watch the fall of the Brotherhood and his mother’s gang as Shay hunted them down.
By the time Desmond is four years old, the only living gang members that he knows of are the ones who took care of him.
To him, Shay Cormac is the man who betrayed the Brotherhood and joined the Templars to hunt them all down.
The man who killed Desmond’s mother.
And now we have the setup for Desmond’s revenge plot (with a twist).
So, in this one, Desmond comes to Achilles around the same time Ratonhnhaké:ton does. Maybe he timed it that way, maybe it was fate. An important thing to note is that he has been making a name of himself by rebuilding his mother’s gang.
Of course, it’s less of a gang and more of a Brotherhood by its own rights. They stick to the shadows and follow the Creed and its tenets.
People see him as a genius youngster.
The ones who raised him after Hope died believed that he’s a prodigy like his late mother.
So he didn’t come to Achilles to ask for him to train him, he came there to learn about Shay Cormac and if he knows his current location.
This is where our plot can diverse into specific plot points:
(1) Desmond learns Shay is his father but Shay remains oblivious.
(2) Shay learns Desmond is his son but Desmond doesn’t know about this.
(3) They learn of their connection with one another in different ways.
For Desmond, either one of the people who raised him (maybe the ‘nanny’) knew the truth, maybe she was a servant of the Jensen family who came to care for Desmond, or Hope left a letter for Desmond to read when he was older if she died to one of the people who cared for him beforehand.
For Shay, it could be the good old ‘Hope Jensen had a son’, ‘said son is around this age’, Shay remembers they had sex around that time, and did the math himself. Or the Templars learned of the connection and informed Shay.
This would change how tragic this becomes, especially on Shay’s side.
Desmond’s side though?
He already had a bad father as Desmond Miles. His father being the one to kill his mother? Yeah, that just another nail in the coffin he would be carving for Shay Cormac, to be honest.
Shay though? If he learned that Desmond is his son, he would absolutely try to connect with him.
He would be the reason why Shay would return to the colonies during AC3.
So if you want Shay to be part of AC3 then Shay must know that Desmond is his son.
Or…
He learned that Hope Jensen’s son has been wrecking havoc with Haytham Kenway’s son and felt that it was his duty to ‘finish’ what he started.
.
Whatever situation they have, Desmond would be loyal to the Brotherhood. Not Achilles’ Brotherhood but the one he made himself. He’d support Ratonhnhaké:ton on his missions while suggesting Ratonhnhaké:ton join them.
Haytham would even comment on how their relationship is a bit similar to Haytham’s relationship with Shay but with the ‘roles’ reversed.
Desmond would clarify that he sees Ratonhnhaké:ton as an equal.
Desmond and Ratonhnhaké:ton would also bond over having bad fathers (although Ratonhnhaké:ton would remind Desmond that Shay Cormac doesn’t even know that he has a son so it was less ‘bad father’ and more like ‘bad Assassin’).
In the end, Desmond would never betray Ratonhnhaké:ton and he has no memories of Shay being anything ‘good’ to him. Being his mother’s killer definitely soured their entire relationship before it even started.
So… it’s not going to have a happy ending.
.
.
.
Or, you know, Desmond’s mother could be some random woman Shay slept with and he found out about him after betraying the Brotherhood. He raised him away from his Templar business and Desmond becomes an Assassin anyway because of Ratonhnhaké:ton. This one’s angst would be the hesitation of fighting his father.
Pick your poison. XD
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Weight of a Feather, Assassin's Creed: Origins fanart, watercolour and acrylic gouache on hot press paper, 17.8 x 25.4 cm
This is one of those that I don't care if no one likes it, or if there are obvious mistakes/things that don't make sense, I'm proud of myself for managing to do it traditionally and that's that. It's for no one but me, I'm just sharing it with you :)
I started it in 2021, even began to paint it, but burnout is a bitch and I couldn't finish it then. Recently I decided to see if I could complete it traditionally and this is the result!
It was inspired by a screenshot I took where Bayek's face is entirely in shadow. I then added elements that relate to Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice, and the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart, where she'd weigh a dead person's heart against her ostrich feather, to see if they were worthy of going on to the Field of Reeds (a sort of paradise). (Egyptologists don't @ me 😭)
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