The world of Assassin’s Creed is all about playing with the past. So it’s only fitting that sometimes when designing our Assassin’s Creed sets, we end up taking a page out of history.
A good example would be Da Vinci’s Flying Machine. A pretty boss set in its own right, there’s also an impressive amount of history behind the design of this airborne glider, going all the way back to the 16th Century and the real life Leonardo da Vinci. Here’s the backstory.
The Flying Machine in game. Image: Assassin’s Creed Wiki and Ubisoft
Renaissance Man
Living at the height of the Italian Renaissance, da Vinci defined the term renaissance man. A mathematician, musician and engineer, as well as a great artist, he was also a bit of a dreamer, always fascinated by the idea of human flight. To try and crack the problem, Leonardo studied how birds and bats flew, even producing an illustrated text on the subject, with his Codex on the Flight of Birds in 1505.
One of da Vinci’s flying machine sketches. Photo: Luc Viatour
Flight of Fancy
In his codex, da Vinci left us sketches of the various flying machines he dreamed up. But one, the Ornithopter, stands out. This aerial vehicle was supposed to let the user glide and even fly by using a system of pulleys to flap big, bat-like wings. It never actually flew, but had it been built, the Ornithopter would have been made with a pine frame and raw silk membrane, and would have had a wingspan of over 30 feet.
Model of a da Vinci flying machine, Leonardo3, ‘The World of Leonardo’ Exhibit, Milan
Making History
Of course, when creating our own version of Da Vinci’s Flying Machine, we had to scale things down quite a bit. But you can still see elements of Leonardo’s original design in details like the pointed ends on the fabric wings or the glider’s bird-like tail.
It doesn’t really matter that Leonardo’s glider never took off, because the idea did, inspiring generations of inventors until human flight was finally achieved – not to mention laying the groundwork for one of the coolest Assassin’s vehicles around.
Featured image courtesy of Action Figure Fury.
