WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has put compelling protagonists at the forefront of every entry, and despite Basim offering the same intrigue in Mirage, there’s a notable supporting character that often steals the Baghdad spotlight.
Roshan is introduced as the leader of the Hidden Ones and serves as Basim’s mentor for a number of years during the uprising of the Order of the Ancients. We introduce you to who voices Roshan in Assassin’s Creed Mirage and explain why the master assassin is the real hero of the game.
Who Voices Roshan In Assassin’s Creed Mirage?
Roshan is voiced by Iranian actor Shohreh Aghdashloo, who has accumulated around 80 roles during her career that began back in the 1970s. Aghdashloo is widely recognized for her deep, sultry voice work in animation and video games, but the actor has also accumulated a number of iconic live-action roles as well.
Aghdashloo’s video game history includes playing Admiral Shala’Raan vas Tonbay in Mass Effect 2 and 3, Chrisjen Avasarala in The Expanse: A Telltale Series (reprising her role from the live-action series) and Lakshmi-2 in the Destiny franchise. On the animated side of television, the actor has also voiced Grayson in Netflix’s Arcane, ClandestiCon Host in Archer, and Forouzan in Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight.
The actor’s long list of prolific live-action roles includes playing Farah Madani in Marvel’s The Punisher series for Netflix, Commodore Paris in Star Trek Beyond, Stefania Vaduva Popescu in the 2013 series Grimm, and more recently, Bellafrancesca Lobo in the 2023 movie Renfield. Additionally, Aghdashloo has also bagged a role in HBO Max’s upcoming The Batman spin-off series The Penguin, however, her role remains undisclosed for now.
Speaking to Game Informer, Aghdashloo spoke of the real-world stories her grandmother would tell her about the “Hidden Ones in Persia,” and explained her cultural connection to Roshan:
“Obviously, projects closer to you are closer to your heart. When I was offered the role, I was hoping that she was Persian, you know, coming from ninth-century Baghdad, because it’s the golden time of Baghdad. But also, when I started reading the script, I noticed that she is one of the Hidden Ones. I’m thinking, “Hidden Ones, I do remember hearing stories about the Hidden Ones in Persia.” When I was a kid, my grandmother told me a lot of stories about the Hidden Ones. And then I started doing more research, and I found out that is what it was inspired by, a book called The Book of Lord or The Book of God, and it comes from Persia. And obviously, I was more interested in thinking that maybe I could do better now that I feel so close; it feels so close to my heart. And it’s such a multi-layered, sophisticated game. Perhaps knowing what happened, what took place back then with the Hidden Ones, would help me even more to be able to do a good job for this game.”
Roshan Is The True Hero Of Mirage
Assassin’s Creed fans who played Ubisoft’s predecessor, Valhalla, would have known going into Mirage that Basim was destined to become a bad guy. Valhalla explained that Basim was actually the reincarnation of the God of Mischief, Loki, because all the Norse Gods were revealed to be the ancient Isu race that uploaded their DNA to Yggdrasil to guarantee their rebirth and the survival of their race.
Before this was revealed in Mirage, Roshan was doing everything she could to stop Basim from discovering the truth about his true identity, preventing him from entering the secret Isu temple underneath Alamut. However, Roshan wasn’t the antagonist in this situation. We know from the eagle Enkidu’s reaction at the end of the story that Basim, now Loki reincarnated, was the real villain set on his vengeful path to meet Eivor (Odin incarnate) in Valhalla’s narrative.
Roshan knew about Basim’s past and about the hidden temple, but she knew once he discovered the truth that he would change and abandon the Hidden Ones, which he did. Furthermore, Roshan watched Basim speak his vows to the Hidden Ones and take the creed, which involves that person leaving behind their past and their “shadow.” Therefore, Basim was an oath breaker in this situation and Roshan was simply trying to get him to honor the creed taken and stay within his brotherhood.
Basim besting Roshan before entering the temple was nicely foreshadowed during his prior training with the leader, as he could never beat her in combat. Roshan let her defining qualities, loyalty, and honesty do the talking for her, and she was truthful about not wanting to lose Basim after he discovered the truth. The master assassin was indirectly working against Loki all this time, which made Roshan the hero over Basim.