Choking the Gallows was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
Description[]
After Reeve Goodwin helped determine the identity of The Gallows to be Reeve Selwyn, Eivor went to the town square market to assassinate him as he was showcasing a public execution.
Dialogue[]
Eivor left Goodwin and headed to the town square market.
- Anglo-Saxon Woman 1: The Lord works in mysterious ways, taking his servant [unclear] to a fire.
- Anglo-Saxon Man: Bishop Ealhferth was no man of God.
- Anglo-Saxon Woman: Hush! Selwyn has hanged men for better thoughts.
Eivor arrived at the market.
- Anglo-Saxon Woman 2: Why does Aelfred not do something? Selwyn's bloodlust will doom us all.
Eivor continued through the market and saw some of Wincestre's population gathered around an execution stage, where stood a helmeted executioner holding a greatsword and a couple on their knees. Selwyn walked onstage with two guards as the couple looked at each other.
- Selwyn: Good people of Wincestre. Open your eyes. See how Aelfred's lofty ideals are weighed down in the mire of human effluence.
A young Anglo-Saxon girl, one of The Quill's spies, moved to the front of the crowd to watch as Selyn walked to the other end of the stage.
Selwyn beginning the trial while giving a speech to the onlookers
- Selwyn: These prisoners before you do not live by Aelfred's laws. They live above them. They wallow in shit, only guided by their own perversity. Hubert here, his wits addled by ale, spoke false of Bishop Ealhferth, our pious servant of Wincestre, who even now lies cold in his grave-shroud.
- Leona: Ealhferth was no man of God! He'll burn for his sins!
Selwyn walked back towards Leona and slapped her, then spoke to Hubert.
- Selwyn: Your wife is a baying shrew, Hubert! Is there a man here who has not supped rancid mead from her cup?
Out in the crowd, a man spoke as the young girl looked at him.
- Anglo-Saxon Man 1: When will your work be done, Selwyn? When all of Wincestre falls to your justice?
Selwyn then gestured his guards, who grabbed the man and dragged him off.
- Selwyn: Wincestre has passed judgment, Hubert. May God have mercy on your cankerous soul.
Selwyn standing proudly after Hubert's execution
Hubert's head was pushed down on the chopping block. The executioner swung his blade and chopped Hubert's head off as Leona looked away. Selwyn stood proudly towards the crowd.
- Selwyn: There are rats in the grain store, and Aelfred has set the traps. You cannot steal and be welcomed at our hearths. You cannot slander and keep your tongue. You cannot walk freely through our streets, mocking our laws, our king's edict. And so I ask, who has the right to determine the fate of the perverse, if not the goodly people of Wincestre. I am but your humble servant. Leona, you have been found guilty of harlotry and defamation. May God have mercy on your pockmarked soul.
Eivor assassinating Selwyn
Before Selwyn could execute Leona, Eivor made her way to the stage and assassinated Selwyn.
- If Eivor was detected, a fight broke out on the stage between herself, Selwyn, and his guards.
- Selwyn: I will kill you for this.
Protect your servant, Wincestre.
You will not pervert justice!
Who dares to defy Aelfred's laws?
The degenerates must be punished.
You are the enemy of Wincestre.
- Selwyn: I will kill you for this.
- Despite Selwyn's boasts, Eivor defeated and killed him.
In the Memory Corridor, Eivor and a ghostly Odin walked to a hanging tree as Selwyn appeared from behind it.
- Selwyn: Perverter of justice! Who dares execute the King's noose?
- Eivor: It is not in Aelfred's name that you carry out your work. You are The Order's executioner.
Eivor and Selwyn in the Memory Corridor
- Selwyn: Ah. You peer through the veil, but you do not see clearly. Aelfred's laws are a slave's fever-dream. He offers shit-soaked beggars a seat at his table. Where the meek devour the strong. Who best to judge the fate of the wretched many, if not the strong and worthy few?
- Odin: To protect your people, you must sheathe your hand in an iron glove.
- Eivor: You grind your heels into the backs of freedmen, not those who deserve it.
Selwyn held up his medallion.
- Selwyn: The Order condemns all men to pain, for all men are but a shadow of the perfection we should know.
The tree lowered a noose behind him.
- Selwyn: The perfection of the Ancient Ones.
Selwyn about to be hanged
Selwyn caught a glimpse of the noose from the corner of his eye and was startled, but could not prevent it from wrapping around his neck and lifting to hang him.
- Eivor: You are only a man, reeve. One dead branch on a fast dying tree.
Selwyn dropped his Order medallion as he was strangled and Eivor picked it up. Selwyn quickly suffocated to death and his spirit immediately vanished. After the Memory Corridor, Eivor fought and killed Selwyn's guards as Leona escaped the stage.
- Eivor: I should meet with Goodwin, see what he has found on The Quill.
Eivor reentered the marketplace and found Leona standing in a back corner surrounded by stalls.
- Leona: Selwyn is dead? His lies poisoned everyone against us, and for what?
- Eivor: Some only care for their own power and position. I am sorry I could not save your husband.
- Leona: My son is not an orphan today. You did more than enough.
Outcome[]
Eivor found and assassinated The Gallows, thus saving Leona and ending his abuse of power over Wincestre. Eivor then headed back to Goodwin to see if he had uncovered any clues about The Quill.
Behind the scenes[]
This memory shares a commonality with the memory "Assassination (Majd Addin)" in the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed, and the memory "Rise of the Assassin" in the 2014 video game Assassin's Creed: Unity. Like Majd Addin in Jerusalem, Selwyn served as the city's representative of the king—Saladin and Alfred, respectively—and was an overzealous executioner, though he did not sadistically enjoy it as Addin did. Like Aloys la Touche, he used the contemporary events—the French Revolution and Alfred's new laws, respectively—as a pretext for his own abusive use of power.
Gallery[]
