Ryse Son of Rome is a video game that takes place during the reign of Nero, Emperor of Rome.  It follows the protagonist as he tell his story about his role in the Celtic revolt taking place in Britannia during 60/61CE.  It inaccurately depicts the revolt by warping many key historical facts.  This includes Boudicca,widowed leader of the Iceni, and also creates many fictional battles culminating in the invasion of Rome.  The game attempts to show Celtic themes, however it warps Boudicca's revolt into an exciting and bloody war.  

      The game begins with the infiltration of Rome by the Celtic "barbarians", who kill the  protagonist's family causing him to seek revenge.  He is given his chance by Vitallion, the commander of the XIV legion, who is going to Britannia to stop the rebellion.  This leads the protagonist to fight his way to the heart of the revolt where he confronts Boudicca and her "father" king Oswald.    

      The player promptly captures both, and leads them to York.  Upon arrival, he is tasked with going beyond the wall to rescue Nero's son from the "Horned men".  The "Horned men" capture the XIV legion, taking Vitallion to be sacrificed via the wicker man.  The player fights his way to the wicker man where he rescues Nero's son and Vitallion.  What remains of the XIV return to York, where Nero's son kills King Oswald, causing the barbarians to fight back and destroy York.  The player dies in the process, but is resurrected by the god Summer who explains that it was Nero who ordered the death of his family to protect his tyrannical reign.  She then tasks him with protecting Rome by removing Nero from power.  

      The player then returns to Rome to discover that Boudicca has rallied the support of the other clans, and is marching on Rome.  when the barbaric Celts arrive, the players fights to protect Rome while seeking out Nero.  This culminates in a duel with Boudicca, in which the player slays her.  The player then removes her head and hands it to a centurion to mount it for the barbarians to see, as he seeks out his target.  Nero is found hiding in the palace, where the player is finally able to get revenge for his family. 

      Through out the game many Celtic figures are poorly represented, as well as many historical facts.  The game represents Boudicca as a warrior princess as her father is the one in charge of the revolt.  

      This is false, as "Boudicca was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe of modern-day Anglia, Britain, who led a revolt against Rome in 60/61 CE" (Mark 2008).  Her husband Prasutagus was an ally of Rome, but following his death, the Iceni tribe's lands were taken and striped of its ally status.  When Boudicca objected to Rome's actions, she was publicly flogged and her daughters raped.  One of the primary sources of the story of the revolt was Publius Cornelius Tacitus, who wrote,

          

             Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, after a life of long and renowned prosperity, had made the                    emperor [Nero] co-heir with his two daughters.  Prasutagus hoped by this submissiveness to                  preserve his kingdom (...). [Following his death] kingdom and household alike were                            plundered like prizes of war (...). As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their                daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates (...). The                      humiliated Iceni feared still worse, now that they had been reduced to provincial status.
             So they rebelled. (Lewis 2003, 197).

It was Boudicca, after the death of her husband, who rose up against Rome, not her "father" King Oswald.

      There was no King Oswald during Boudicca's revolt.  The character is taken from Saint Oswald, an Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria who ruled 633-642 CE.  He is known for introducing Celtic Christian missionaries to his kingdom ("Saint Oswald" 2014).  He was born 544 years after Boudicca's revolt.  In the game he is portrayed as a strong King who cares greatly for his daughter, even surrendering to save her life.

The games inability to properly depict historical facts is also seen in how it revolves around the sacking of Rome by Boudicca's forces.

      Ryse Son of Rome is told through the eyes of the main protagonist while he retells his story to Nero, as Boudicca's army is invading Rome. This is a fictitious account as during Boudicca's revolt she never crossed the English Channel.  She is seen destroying York during the game, which is also a fictional battle.  Boudicca did invade three cities during the revolt, starting with Colchester, where she slaughtered the people and destroyed the city.  she then moved on to London and st. Albans, as she continued her rampage.  She was finally defeated at the Battle of Watling Street by governor Suetonius Paulinus (Hingley, Unwin 2006, 8).  Boudicca died not long after the battle.  It is widely believed that "Boudicca and her daughters apparently managed to escape but, soon after, poisoned themselves to escape capture" (Mark 2008), while in Ryse the main protagonist kills her in a duel in Rome.  The game created fictional accounts of the revolt, just as it warped the history of the Celtic druids.

      In Ryse Son of Rome the druids are referred to as the "horned men".  They are shown as animal like men who wear the bloody skulls of creatures to hide their faces.  They brutally kill the Romans, often by setting them on fire.  The pinnacle of their appearance in the game is the wicker man.  

In reality,

            The Druids were an indigenous Celtic intelligentsia, evolving from the original wise men and             women during the age of the 'hunter-gatherer' among the ancient ancestors of the Celts, losing             their original functions but retaining the Celtic name of those with 'oak knowledge'.  They                   were to be found in every part of Celtic society. (Ellis 2002: 49)

The Druids were the religious leaders of the Celtic tribes, often conducting sacrifices.  Sacrifices were used as punishment from crimes, with the criminal being killed to appease the Gods.  If the guilty could not be found, then an innocent was taken for the sacrifice (LeBlanc, Early Celts, slide 49).  The game depicts Druids as being a wild and murderous tribe that has little regard for human life, or any order to their action, where as, in reality, they were in charge of the religion and had an order to everything they did.

      Ryse Son of Rome is a video game based loosely during the reign of Nero.  It attempts to depict the revolt of the Iceni tribe led by Boudicca after the mistreatment of her people, and herself, by Rome.  In its attempts to show this, it makes several historical errors.  These errors include Boudicca attacking Rome, and the revolt being led by King Oswald.  These errors are meant to serve the game's warped time line.  Ryse Son of Rome is full of inaccuracy, and in doing so, misrepresents the history of a major part of Celtic history.   

Works Cited

Ellis, Peter.  A Brief History of the Druids. London: Constable & Robinson, 2002 [1994] (pg. 37-49).

Hingley, Richard, and Unwin Christina.  Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen. London: Hambledon                    Continuum, 2006.

LeBlanc, Julie.  CLT1132: Intro to the Celtic World. Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 2014.

Lewis, Jon.  The Mammoth Book of  Eyewitness Ancient Rome.  London: Robinson, 2003.

Mark, Joshua.  Ancient History Encyclopedia. 08 Nov 2008. Web. 20 Oct 2014. 

       <http://www.ancient.eu/Boudicca/>

"Saint Oswald". Encyclopedia Britannia. Encyclodpedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica         Inc., 2014. Web. 25 Nov, 2014.

       <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/434545/Saint-Oswald>

Tanner, Marcus. The Last of the Celts.  New Haven: Yale University, 2004.