Amira Benyamina

Amira Benyamina
Biographical information
Species	Human
Political information
Affiliations	Assassins French Brotherhood Egyptian Brotherhood

Amira Benyamina was a French journalist and a member of the French Brotherhood of Assassins who operated in Paris in the mid-19th century. By 1869, Amira had become a Master Assassin and relocated to Cairo, Egypt, where she became a member of Cairo's Assassin Council.

Biography

Not much was known about her past, except at some point, Amira was inducted into the French Brotherhood and operated in a team alongside Henri Escoffier and Michel Moulin. In 1855, atop the Gare de l'Est, she found Simeon Price looking at Paris as he wanted to find any more Assassins. Thus, Amira led him into the secret underground base and met up with both Michel and Henri. Upon talking about Price's training, she offered to continue his training, to which he agreed.

In the summer, Amira took Simeon to Versailles to commit an Leap of Faith into the city's canal waters. After Price succeeded in finding his goal, Amira welcomed him into the Assassin Brotherhood. Within the next five years, Amira helped Price and his new apprentice, Pierrette Arnaud, to find the identity of the "Magus." However, after Arnaud's information about Kane being here in Paris at the same time as the bombings, all realized Kane was the Magus all along.

Part of Cairo's Assassin Council

By 1869, Amira had become a Master Assassin and relocated to Cairo, Egypt, where she operated a French language newspaper called "Le soleil de l’Egypte" and was a member of Cairo's Assassin Council. After Pierrette foiled Albert Hawkins's plans of blowing up the Khedivial Opera House and assassinated him, Amira had a meeting with her, Gamal Sabry and Safiya El-Nadi. Noting that even some Templars would hesitate to bomb an opera house full of people, Amira decided to get more information on Hawkins, positing that either he was more powerful in the Order than they had been aware or he had gone rogue. In the meantime, she tasked the other three with investigating the railroad he had built leading to seemingly nowhere.

Amira later received her three Assassins and Simeon alive from their mission. Congratulating them on Armen Kazan and multiple Templar deaths, she was informed that Pierrette's former captor Art Hennighan escaped with the Ankh, a Piece of Eden that has the power of temporary resurrection. She later assigned Pierrette and Simeon to locate the Ankh from Art as soon as possible. Four years later, Amira received Pierrette, who was disgusted France's loss to the Prussians and their new government, and assigned her to follow a lead of an illegal art ring near the Suez Canal. Amira later met with Pierrette, who detailed that all the business was conducted in England. With Pierrette's insistence, she sent Pierrette to meet with her old fellow Assassin George Westhouse.

In 1880, Amira, along with Michel and Simeon, later received information from Pierrette that before Hennighan died, he followed through with his resurrection of the horse and created a new fast breed, which Pierrette's friend Anne Blunt named "Pegasi."

Behind the scenes

Amira Benyamina is a character introduced in the first novel of the Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History series, The Magus Conspiracy, written by Kate Heartfield and released in August 2022.

Etymology

The given name Amira is Arabic in origin meaning "princess". It means the same in Hindi also, however in Hebrew it means either "treetop" or "saying". The surname Benyamina is derived from the Hebrew name Benjamina, the feminine form of Benjamin, it means ""son of the right hand". Alternatively, in Maghrebi Arabic Benyamina means "son of Yamina" chiefly in Algeria.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot