Page for the Crusaders and Saracens of the first Assassin's Creed game. Also serves for 12th/13th century characters who appeared for the first time in Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines.
May contain unmarked and/or Late Arrival Spoilers.
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Crusaders
King Richard the Lionheart
King Richard I "The Lionheart" of England
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Marcel Jeannin (English)note
King of England and leader of the Crusaders. He wants to "free" the Holy Lands from Saladin.
- The Cynic: He doesn't have a very high opinion of human nature, and his views come very close to the Templars' philosophy, although he is disgusted by their methods.Richard: The people know not what they want. It's why they turn to men like us.Altaïr: Then it falls to men like you to do what is right.Richard: Nonsense. We come into the world kicking and screaming, violent and unstable. It is what we are. We cannot help ourselves.Altaïr: No. We are what we choose to be.Richard: Hah! Your kind, always playing with words.
- Enemy Mine: After Altaïr killed several of his lieutenants, he considered Robert's advice on allying with Saladin against the Assassins, their common enemy.
- Everyone Has Standards: He is horrified and disgusted upon learning that William of Montferrat executed three thousand Saracen prisoners that were to be exchanged for their own prisoners.William: The Saracens would not have honored their end of the bargain. You know this to be true. I did you a favor.Richard: (laughing) Oh yes, a great favor indeed! Now our enemies will be that much stronger in their convictions, fight that much harder!William: I know our enemy well! They will not be emboldened, but filled with fear!Richard: Tell me, how is it you know the intentions of our enemies so well? You who forsake the field of battle to play at politics.William: I did what was right, what was just!Richard: You swore an oath to uphold the work of God, William! But that is not what I see here! No, I see a man who's trampled it!
- Friendly Enemy: He treats Altaïr rather politely upon meeting him, considering that Altaïr was responsible for the death of several of his top men. He even has a philosophical discussion with Altaïr on the nature of mankind and lets him go after Altaïr exposes Robert de Sablé's treachery and kills him.
- The Good King: Is one of the few leaders in history that had no allegiance to either the Assassins or Templars, and was honorable and straightforward in his goals. In the novelization, Altaïr quickly recognizes Richard as a good leader.
- Hobbes Was Right: He says that the common man has no idea what he wants and so turns to men like Richard to tell them what they want. Otherwise, they are just screams and violence.
- Noble Demon: As leader of the Crusaders, Richard has committed many things which would be considered war crimes by modern standards. However, he's also shown to be a reasonable leader, willing to listen to Altaïr's accusations despite being on the opposing side, and even has a conversation of mutual respect afterwards. Notably, he's one of the few historical figures to not be controlled by either faction which shows he has integrity as a king.
- Real Men Love Jesus: He places great stock in the will of God, which he decides to let decide if Altaïr or Robert is telling the truth. In other words, trial by combat.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When Altaïr finally met him, he listened to Altaïr's claims of Robert's treason instead of just executing Altaïr, and then listened on Robert's denial. Unsure who to believe in, he let them fight a duel so that God would reveal the one who was telling the truth. After Altaïr won, he congratulated him and had a talk about the nature of war and peace. Even before the duel, he was considering an alliance with Saladin against the Assassins.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: A crusader king.
- Shown Their Work: Unlike most fictional portrayals, Richard in Assassin's Creed I has a period-appropriate French accent since many English aristocrats of the Plantagenet Dynasty were descended from the Norman bloodline of William the Conquerer and would have been raised speaking French.
Robert de Sablé
Robert IV de Sablé
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Jean-Philippe Dandenaud (English)note
- "You know not the things in which you meddle, Assassin. I spare you only that you may return to your master and deliver a message. The Holy Land is lost to him and his. He should flee now while he has the chance. Stay, and all of you will die."
The Grand Master of the Templar Order at the time of the Third Crusade. His goal is to take over the world by using the Pieces of Eden.
- Arch-Enemy: To Al Mualim, Altaïr and the rest of the Assassin Order. Altaïr describes him as "our greatest enemy". To Al Mualim personally, this is more of a inter-service rivalry and power struggle.
- Bald of Evil: He's an evil Templar without a hair on his head.
- Batman Gambit: He pulled two of these. Expecting Altaïr to try to kill him, he made Majd Addin's funeral into a trap, placed the best soldiers and a female decoy dressed as him, and hoped they would distract and kill Altaïr while he himself would be at Arsuf, trying to form an alliance of the Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins by using Altaïr's successes to convince the leaders of both factions. This gets goofed up, unfortunately, when Altaïr approaches the king directly at Arsuf and reveals why Robert is actually brokering the truce between the Crusaders and Saracens, which results in the king acknowledging Altaïr's claim and demanding that he and Robert fight it out to decide who holds the truth.
- Big Bad Ensemble: When viewed in the context of the Assassin/Templar conflict, he seems to be the most frequent opposition to Altaïr, though he does share his position in the Templar ranks with Al Mualim, despite the two being rivals and enemies on a personal level.
- Dragon with an Agenda: In the context of the Crusader/Saracen conflict, he's this to King Richard since he is Richard's lieutenant but is working on the Templar agenda instead of Richard's.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: He recruited everybody into the Templars, from Christians to Muslims to former Assassins, and even had Maria as his right-hand woman. Notably, she lost all her status in the Templar Order after Robert was killed, indicating this acceptance of women was unique to him in the Templar Order at the time.
- French Jerk: A French Big Bad. Hear the accent?
- Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: Instead of fighting Altaïr directly in the Trial by Combat set up by King Richard in the end, he first sics a TON of his men against him.
- Knight Templar: Literally, he's the current Grand Master of the Templar Order. He tells Altaïr that he himself is the one bringing peace to the Holy Land.
- Large and in Charge: Robert is almost a head taller than anyone else in the game. This is most apparent when he go toe-to-toe with Altaïr near the end of the game.
- Older Than They Look: His historical namesake was probably in his seventies in 1191. Of course, given the way the Templars tend to alter history, this might not necessarily be true in-universe.
- Pre-Final Boss: He's the penultimate boss of the game.
- Pride: A bit subtle, but he does have an ego.Richard the Lionheart: I must leave this in the hands of one wiser than I.
Robert: Thank you.
Richard: No, Robert. Not you. […] The Lord! - Properly Paranoid: Believes that Assassins are after him and Altaïr tries to do just that, only to find out he's having Maria serve as his Body Double.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The leader of the Templars, and in his debut he easily gave an asskicking to Altaïr UNARMED and it's only because Altair was thrown out into another location that he survived his encounter with Sable. He's undoubtedly the most powerful fighter of all the characters.
- Scars Are Forever: As a cut scar on his bald head, befitting his warrior profession.
- The Starscream: To Robert, Richard the Lionheart is just a zealous fool who is responsible for the war and all its horrors, and so he plans to betray him just so that he can take over the Holy Lands and put a end to the war.
- Take Over the World: His ultimate plan is to put the entire world under Templar influence.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Everything he does is out of his belief of world peace.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: All the horrors he orders the Templars to commit are for the goal of world peace (or so he believes).
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: By way of Altaïr, once Al Mualim no longer has a need for Robert or any of the other Templars.Robert: You know nothing of schemes. You're but a puppet. He betrayed you, boy, just as he betrayed me.
Garnier de Naplouse
Garnier de Naplouse
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Hubert Fielden (English)note
"Do you appease a crying child simply because he wails? 'But I want to play with fire, father.' What would you say? 'As you wish'? Ah... but then you'd answer for his burns."
The Grand Master of The Knights Hospitallers. He performs medicinal experiments on his "patients" in his hospital within the poor district of Acre.
- Affably Evil: Talks to his "patients" with a calm and kind voice, just as a grandpa talking to his grandchildren, whether they insult or thank him. Even when dying he prefers to have a soft conversation with Altaïr rather than insulting or yelling at him.
- Age Lift: In real life, Garnier de Naplouse was in his mid-forties when he died. In-game he appears to be much older, around maybe his sixties.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Applies to all of the Nine if Altaïr goes up against them in a straight fight, but Garnier in particular stands out as a grand master of a knightly order.
- Face Death with Dignity: He accepts his death a lot more calmly than any of Altaïr's other targets.Altaïr: Let go your burden.Garnier: Ah, I'll rest now, yes. The endless dream calls to me.
- French Jerk: He's a French Templar doing unethical experiments on his patients.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The real Garnier de Naplouse was a brave knight and a great leader who had helped King Richard several times through the Crusade. The fictional Garnier is a Mad Scientist who performs dreadful experiments on the poor and the sick.
- Kick the Dog: Orders two Hospitaliers to break the legs of an escaping "patient" to make sure he can't run away a second time.
- Knight Templar: Both in personality and association; explicitly, he forces drugs on people to correct their madness and imprisons them to keep them off the streets.
- Mad Doctor: He has his men round up the indigent and insane so he perform surgical experiments on them, hoping to cure their insanity by making them braindead slaves... and he thinks he's helping them.
- Mad Scientist: Experiments on the mentally ill.
- Tough Love: In his view, breaking the legs of a patient so he can't escape is no different than smacking a child's hand when they try to stick it into an open flame.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: A world without mental illness is certainly worth kidnapping, experimenting and breaking the legs of his patients, right? His true goal however, was to brainwash enough people to create an army of completely obedient soldiers for the Templars.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to him, he's not committing sick, twisted experiments on helpless people, he's just freeing them from "the prisons of their minds". He's partly right. After Altaïr kills him, the Holy Land is overrun with gibbering madmen.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Pulls this on the prisoner who tried to escape from his hospital after slapping him.Garnier: Take hold of yourself! Do you think this gives me pleasure? Do you think I want to hurt you? But you leave me no choice.
Master Sibrand
Meister Sibrand
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Arthur Holden (English)note
"William and Garnier were too confident, and they paid for this with their lives. I won't make the same mistake!"
Grand Master of The Teutonic Knights. The deaths of his fellow Crusaders turned him into a paranoid wreck, attacking everything that even looked like an Assassin.
- Cessation of Existence: His greatest fear, revealed in his dying words, that he will no longer exist after he dies.
- Cool Helmet: Wears one kickass horned helmet.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: To him, the existence of the Piece of Eden was the proof he needed that there was no afterlife, leading to him becoming a paranoid wreck by the time Altaïr catches up with him.
- Kick the Dog: Executes a scholar on the open street because he thought he was an Assassin. He later spends his last minutes wildly shooting birds.
- Historical Domain Character: He was indeed a real person, who founded the hospital that would become the base of the Teutonic Knights.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: While almost nothing is known about the real Sibrand, he was only involved with the Teutons when they were a purely philanthropic order, and had taken it upon himself to found a hospital for those in need. This Sibrand runs the Teutons as a brutal military order and is involved in a conspiracy to subjugate the Holy Land.
- Knight Templar: Like the others, he's working on the Templar goal of conquest of the Holy Land because only they can ensure peace and free it from the "tyranny of faith".
- Large Ham: During the scene where he panics and kills a scholar, he's doing a Circling Monologue and calling on God to save the scholar. It's very theatric.
- Properly Paranoid: His paranoia might be over-the-top, but it's caused by his fear of the Assassins, who really can appear from nowhere, kill him, and then disappear like ghosts... and by this point, have already done so to some of his close allies in spite of their security. While he's having his freakout about an Assassin being near him and executing a scholar, Altair is watching him from the crowd. Since he's an atheist and doesn't believe in the afterlife, it's perfectly reasonable that he's scared shitless of everything white and hoody.
- Straw Nihilist: The Reveal of the Piece of Eden convinced him that there was no afterlife and only the present mattered. This makes him even more afraid of death. However, he doesn't "believe in nothing" because he's working on the Templar goal but a letter from another mission states that he is distancing himself from even that.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: He doesn't care for ideas of utopia by the time Altaïr catches up with him, being more concerned with his own life.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- In the first scene he appears, he screams accusations and then kills a scholar, just because he wore clothes similar to those of the Assassins — which was part of the point of the Assassins wearing the iconic white robes. When Altaïr was busy climbing up the ship Sibrand's in, he was busy shooting birds and screaming at his guards for not shooting them as well.
- He's doing this since he thinks the small white birds are going to attack him.
Sibrand: Fine! If you will not lift a hand in defense of your master, I will take care of this heathen myself! - Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Altaïr arrives in Acre's middle district, he finds out that Sibrand has been commandeering all the docks and boats, violently if necessary. It turns out that this was to create a blockade by sea to prevent "the fool kings and queens" from sending reinforcements from reaching either side of the Crusade and thus closing the ongoing war through lack of manpower. It would have also prevented anyone from stopping the Templars' plan to "free" the Holy Land from the "tyranny of faith".
William of Montferrat
William of Montferrat
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Harry Standjofski (English)note
"Disregard for duty is infectious. It shall be rooted out and destroyed. In this way, we may prevent its spread. Am I understood?!"
Lord of Acre under King Richard, he rules Acre with a iron fist. He forces the starving people to leave their food for his troops, and then forces his troops to spend hours of merciless training for the preparation of "The New World".
- Archnemesis Dad: Invoked, as he openly considers his son an imbecile unfit for command.
- Bad Boss: Berates his loyal soldiers for not living up to his expectations, and executes two of them as an example to the others.William: I see the way you train. You lack conviction and focus. You gossip and gamble. Tasks set to you are left unfulfilled, or poorly performed. This ends today! I will not suffer further degradation at his hands! For whether or not you see it, and you should, this is your fault! You've brought shame upon us all!
- The Caligula: He rules over Acre with an iron fist, seizing food and supplies from them, while also executing thousands of prisoners of war. His goal, however, was to store the food he stole for whenever there is a famine and he brutalized his soldiers (who are actually Garnier's brainwashed patients) as a way to train them.
- Evil Brit: Though even Altaïr begins to question the evil part, he's still a mean SOB. Though he sounds British, Montferrat is in Italy.
- Face Death with Dignity: He spends his last moments calmly telling Altaïr the noble purpose behind his actions.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The real life William of Montferrat was a Benevolent Boss with A Father to His Men attitude and a loyal servant to King Richard. The fictional William of Montferrat is none of them. Were it not for Assassin's Creed he may have very well been lost to obscurity, as originally the developers had chosen his son Conrad, who historically was killed by two Hashashin. When they learned that Conrad had not been killed that year but that William had been in Acre as of 1191 (and died around that time), they switched to William as the target.
- Kick the Dog: Executes two of his soldiers because they were caught drinking on duty, but mainly because he was taking out his frustrations with Richard on his men.
- Knight Templar: Both in personality (the wise and powerful must control and regulate the rest) and association (card carrying Templar, not crusader).
- The Starscream: He was planning to betray King Richard, kill him, and hand Acre to "the people", by which we can assume means "the Templars".
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Richard clearly despise each other, and Richard suspects he is plotting something, but they still work together publicly for the good of the Crusade. William intends to make sure that there is no place for Richard in the Templars One World Order.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: All that food stealing and brutal discipline is prep work for the Templar's "New World"; food rationing and discipline.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He believes he helps the people of Acre without realizing he makes their lives harder. He takes the people's food because it could be rationed properly in the future when "The New Order" comes, not knowing he's just starving them to death in the here and now.
Haras
Haras
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- Voiced by: Michael Benyaer (English)note
"I am no traitor... for I cannot betray those I never truly loved."
An ambitious individual, Haras was originally an Assassin apprentice, but he got dissatisfied with his slow progression through the Assassin ranks. He defected to the Templars in 1189, leading a sneak attack against Masyaf to capture and kill Al Mualim.
- Armor Is Useless: Despite wearing quite bulky armor, he goes down just as easily as any of Altaïr's other victims.
- Badass Cape: Wears a short black cape as part of his armor ensemble.
- Character Death: He is assassinated by Altaïr just before he can kill Al Mualim.
- Cool Helmet: Wears a black crusader helmet.
- Dark Is Evil: Wears dark crusader armor after defecting to the Templars.
- Evil All Along: His dialogue suggests he never really believed in the Assassin's Creed.
- Humans Are Morons: Disillusioned by the Assassins (and perhaps his lack of progress in rank), he was convinced by the Templars that humans are weak, base and petty.Haras: You put too much faith in the hearts of men, Altaïr. The Templars know the truth. Humans are weak, base, and petty.Altaïr No. Our Creed is evidence to the contrary.Haras: Ah... perhaps I am not wise enough to understand, but I suspect the opposite. That I am too wise to believe such rubbish.
- Kick the Dog: He executes three innocent Assassins he had captured when trying to make Al Mualim reveal the location of the Apple of Eden.
- Only One Name: He's not given a surname.
- Tin Tyrant: He is covered from head to toe in crusader armor for his takeover of Masyaf.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He is disgusted that Al Mualim refuses to talk even after he has executed three of his Assassins.Haras: There now! Three men dead because you refuse to talk. Your silence will be the death of you too, Assassin. My Master wants answers. And if he does not get them, he will gladly take your head!
Armand Bouchart
Armand Bouchart
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
The Grand Master of the Templars after the death of Robert de Sablé. He oversaw the withdrawal of the Templars from the Holy Land to the island of Cyprus, where he was pursued by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.
- Bad Boss: He kills Osman for questioning his decision to increase the oppression of Cyprus after Fredrick the Red is killed. He didn't even know that Osman was a traitor when he did it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Despite being killed, he successfully cleared out the Templar archive on Cyprus and sent the Templar's greatest secrets to safety.
- BFS: Fights with a two handed sword.
- Big Bad: He is the Grand Master of the Templars in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, which makes him Altaïr's highest ranking foe.
- Handicapped Badass: He's blind in one eye but it doesn't really slow him down at all.
- He-Man Woman Hater: He hates women and believes they should not be interacted with at all since it is "through women the devil weaves his strongest web", as stated in verse seventy of the founding Templar Rule.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Altair kills him by stabbing him in the heart with his sword.
Osman
Osman
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
A Templar under Armand's command who is sympathetic to the Cyprus resistance. He was introduced in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He is stabbed through the stomach with a sword by Armand.
- The Mole: He is a Templar but he helps the Cyprus resistance against them.
- Token Good Teammate: He is the only Templar besides Maria encountered by Altaïr who is actually concerned about the welfare of the people.
Fredrick the Red
Fredrick the Red
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
"This is an island of superstitious heathens! Remember, they do not want you here, they do not like you, they do not understand the true meaning of your cause!"
A knight guard of the Templars tasked with training Templars at Limassol Castle on Cyprus.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Osman describes him as having a butish personality, and his primary weapon is a war hammer.
- The Dragon: The most highly ranked Templar on Cyprus apart from Bouchard himself.
Moloch
Moloch
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
A religious zealot associated with the Templars. He rules over a fiefdom in the city of Kyrenia on the island of Cyprus.
- Bald of Evil: He has a shaved head. Perhaps it is supposed to be something of a tonsure, given the time period.
- Enemy Mine: He has religious issues with the Templars, but still allies with them and both his sons are Templars.
- Epic Flail: Uses one when he fights Altaïr.
- Fat Bastard: He was a huge man and brutal ruler.
Shalim and Shahar
Shalim and Shahar
Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
The twin sons of Moloch.
- Dual Boss: They battle Altair together.
- Dual Wielding: They both wield a sword in their right hands and a knife in their left.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Shahar dies from getting stabbed in the throat from Altair's Hidden Blade, while Shalim is stabbed In the Back with Altair's sword.
- Meaningful Name: Are named after Shalim and Shahar, the twin Canaanite gods of dusk and dawn respectively.
Saracens
Saladin
An-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, aka "Saladin"
Appears in: Assassin's Creed (mentioned only)
The sultan of Egypt and Syria, and leader of the Saracen forces during the Third Crusade.
- Big Good: From the perspective of the Saracens, he is a benevolent ruler protecting them from Crusader invasion.
- The Ghost: He never makes an appearance, he is only mentioned several times in cutscenes throughout the game and all the damn time by spokesmen who boast about his exploits in Damascus and Jerusalem.
Majd Addin
Majd Addin
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Richard Cansino (English)note
"People of Jerusalem, hear me well! I stand here today, to deliver a warning! There are malcontents among you! They sow the seeds of discontent, hoping to lead you astray! Tell me, is that what you desire? To be mired in deceit and sin? To live your lives in fear?"
Regent lord of Jerusalem, ruling in Saladin's absence. A power hungry tyrant, he holds mock trials in order to execute those who he claims to be "enemies of the state", but in reality they're just there to satisfy his bloodthirst.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: He asks Altaïr if he knows what it's like to hold a man's life in his hands, seeming unaware of his profession or even the situation he himself is now in.
- Asshole Victim: Yeeeeeeeeah, you're unlikely to shed tears when Altaïr does him in.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The regent of Jerusalem and a good fighter.
- Ax-Crazy: You get the idea that this guy is completely insane when he orders executions on random people just for simple kicks and to make himself feel like a god.
- Beard of Evil: A bearded bastard.
- The Caligula: A power hungry tyrant in Jerusalem who kills for amusement.
- Corrupt Politician: He used his position as regent of Jerusalem to satisfy his own evil desires and the goals of the Templars, in that order.
- Evil Gloating: He likes to taunt his victims before executing them, often turning his back on the crowd while doing so. This gives Altaïr the perfect chance to strike him down.
- Evil Is Petty: He kidnaps innocent people and has them executed for no other reason than because he can.
- For the Evulz: Unlike Altaïr's other targets, he offers no noble excuses for his actions.Altaïr: You killed them simply for believing differently than you.Majd Addin: Of course not! I killed them because I could. Because it was fun! Do you know what it feels like to determine another man's fate? And did you see the way the people cheered? The way they feared me? I was like a god! You'd have done the same if you could! Such power!
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He rose from being a simple scholar to being the brutal regent of Jerusalem after everybody else appointed to the position mysteriously died.
- A God Am I: Claims to be like a god as he's dying by Altaïr's hands, specifically that executing people and condemning them as sinners makes him feel like one.
- Hiding Behind Religion: One of his heralds whom Altaïr interrogates states that Majd Addin uses religion and other rhetoric to hide his true purpose: killing people he deems dangerous to Templar plans or simply For the Evulz.
- Knight Templar: Subverted. He's a member of The Knights Templar, but he doesn't have the same goals. A better world means nothing to him, only the rush of power and the kill motivate him.
- Psycho for Hire: For the Templars; he's not into the "new world of peace" thing as the others. He's just here for the bloodshed.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: He likes to abuse his power.
- Shadow Archetype: Majd Addin is implied to remind Altaïr of the arrogance he displayed in the beginning of the gameplay, if his reply to the former's For the Evulz quote is of any indication. The way he kills Addin can be interpreted as his way of killing his former self.Majd Addin: You'd have done the same if you could. Such power!
Altaïr: Once perhaps. But then I learned what becomes of those who lift themselves above others.
Majd Addin: And what is that?
Altaïr: Here, let me show you. (stabs him in the neck a second time) - Token Evil Teammate: While none of the Templars are angels, Majd Addin is an evil psychopath instead of a misguided idealist.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Averted. Utopia is the last thing he cares about. However, he does very specifically say that the Templars are completely right in what they're doing. It's just not his primary concern.Majd Addin: Not so innocent! Dissident voices cut deep as steel! In that, I do agree with the Brotherhood!
- Villain with Good Publicity: Many people believe that his executions are only carried out for the good of the city.
Abu'l Nuqoud
Abu'l Nuqoud
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Fred Tatasciore (English)note
- "Look at me! My very nature is an affront to the people I ruled. And these noble robes did little more than to muffle their shouts of hate."
One of the richest noblemen in Damascus, he throws endless parties with the money of the people, leaving them poor and starving.
- Acrofatic: For an overweight aristocrat, he can put up a hell of a chase. That's why it's important for the player to take him out in a quick surprise attack note , or you'll chase him through the city and pretty soon you'll have the half of the city guard after you.
- Ambiguously Gay: It's important to note that this is not simply a stock villainous trait he's given. It's rather integral to his character and one of the reasons he wants to bring about the New World. It's hard not to feel sympathy for him when he asks Altaïr how he could be expected to support a religion that called him an "abomination."
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Ironic, since this trope is the reason why he hates the other noblemen.
- Eat the Rich: His main goal; thinking that the Saracen nobles are just a bunch of greedy, selfish and hateful fanatics who do nothing but oppress and leech off the poor and the unfortunate, he uses his grand party as a trap in which he can kill all of them in one go. He would then send the money he stole from them to the Templars to finance their New World Order.
- Face Death with Dignity: He's not angry or scared when Altaïr finally catches him; instead he says what he did was justified and no different than what Altaïr himself does.
- Fat Bastard: When the player first sees him, they are likely to think "all the money he's said to have stolen goes straight into his inflated belly".
- Informed Flaw: Whatever it is that makes him an "abomination" or a "monster" is only vaguely alluded to in the game. Some say it's in how he fondly caresses the arm of one of his guards; and then other NPCs say that Altaïr can immediately tell by looking at him.
- Kick the Dog: Poisons the wine and then orders archers to kill every guest who came to his party.
- Knight Templar: Both in personality and association; he kills the nobles that he believes do not deserve their power and status and devotes himself to a different goal and organization (i.e. the Templars).
- Man of Wealth and Taste: He wears purple clothes; that was damn expensive in this time period.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Tried to pull this card on Altaïr, claiming they both doubted the cause for which they claimed to fight for and both kill to save lives, but it doesn't work.Abu'l: Is it so different than your own work? You take the lives of men and women, strong in the conviction that their deaths will improve the lots of those left behind. A minor evil, for a greater good? We are the same.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to his party guests. With it, he accuses them for their arrogance, their greed, their hatred for the Crusaders, their lack of love, compassion and mercy and their support to Saladin, which he claims are the reasons why the war still is ongoing.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: In his party speech he talks about this trope; how violent and divided the world currently is and how he's going to take drastic action to create a new world. Cue his party guests dying of poison.
- Villainous Glutton: All that food and that big belly while he plots mass murder.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Commits mass murder under the guise of a party in order to deprive Saladin's army of funds and bring the war to a quicker close.
Talal
Talal
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Jake Eberle (English)note
"Why must it always come to violence? It seems I cannot help you, for you do not wish to help yourself. And I cannot allow my work to be threatened. You leave me no choice. You must die."
Talal is a slave driver, operating in Jerusalem. He sends his men to kidnap random people from the streets and then delivers the prisoners to Acre, where Garnier De Naplouse then takes care of them.
- Affably Evil: He tries to be polite when he tells about his motives to Altaïr. Even when he orders his men to kill Altaïr, he apologize to him first and mutters to himself why it always have to be violent outcomes of things.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Averted. He runs while his men fights. Supposedly it's because he is really good with a bow so he wants distance before shooting, but gameplay wise he mostly flees and his arrows are as damaging as regular ones.
- Dirty Coward: This slave driver turns and runs at the first sign of trouble. He does it often enough that a civilian was able to mark the locations of his favorite hiding places.
- Fragile Speedster: He's a extremely fast runner and difficult to keep pace with, but as soon you do catch him, he'll fall with just one stab in the neck... just like everybody else in this game.
- Informed Ability: Through the mission, you hear several times about how good Talal is with his bow but when you finally get to meet him, you don't see him take advantage of his skills, even when he has the chance to put an arrow through Altaïr's head. Instead he runs away while letting his henchmen do the shooting.
- Knight Templar: Like the others. But as far as he goes, all he wants is to help the cities' diseased and insane.
- Straw Nihilist: The Piece of Eden's reveal of the afterlife killed his belief in God, but yet he took it much better than his fellow Templar, Sibrand. Subverted that despite having no faith in God, he tries to help people instead of destroying everything, but in his twisted ways.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: A shared belief with the other Templars is that a little Dirty Business now (in his case, kidnapping and slavery) is worth it to create a peaceful and orderly world. However, the kidnapped people will go to Garnier so he can brainwash them into becoming loyal soldiers who obey the Templars.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He thinks he's freeing the people he kidnaps from the harsh life of the streets, somehow not knowing that kidnapping people against their own will is not good. It's possible that based on his knowledge of where the kidnapped are going, he may not have known exactly what Garnier was doing with them.
Tamir
Tamir
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Ammar Daraiseh (English)note
"You think me some petty death-dealer, suckling at the breast of war? A strange target, don't you think? Why me, when so many others do the same?"
Tamir is a merchant who runs a large black market in Damascus, selling weapons to an unknown client (later revealed to be Robert de Sable). He's Altaïr's first assassination target.
- Arms Dealer: A black market dealer in weapons and he sells to both sides of the Third Crusade. This is because the brainwashed army that will work for the Templars will be composed of both Saracens and Crusaders alike.
- Bad Boss: He executes one of his men for failing to deliver all of the weapons he needed and questioning his judgment, and then left the dead, bleeding body in a fountain to send a message to his other subordinates:Tamir: Leave the body. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Think twice before you tell me something cannot be done. Now get back to work.
- Berserk Button: One of his subordinates tells him that perhaps he "asks too much" when he berates the man for being unable to fill a weapons order. Tamir's response is to stab the man to death with a knife, cutting him dozens of times in a berserk fury.
- Kick the Dog: Just in case the player had any reservations about this first Assassination target, the first time they see Tamir he asks the impossible and then kills a man who says he can't do the impossible.
- Knight Templar: He is one of the Templars, but in secret. Few know of his true allegiance.
- Only in It for the Money: He's a Subverted Trope; though Altaïr's investigation gave the opinion that he worked people to the bone to enrich himself, he himself says he couldn't care less about the money and was instead committed to a nobler cause (the Templar cause).
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "YOU! MUST! LEARN! YOUR! PLACE!" The spoken words themselves punctuated by stabs to his victim.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: If the end result is lasting world peace, then killing merchants and smiths who fail to meet their assigned goals is a small price to pay.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Funding and supplying a cross-continent war is necessary to achieve the Templar goal of Peace-Through-Control.
Jubair al Hakim
Jubair al Hakim
Appears in: Assassin's Creed
Voiced By: Fred Tatasciore (English)note
- "I too, was making a small sacrifice. It matters little now. Your deed is done, and so am I."
Jubair al Hakim is the head of The Illuminated and the Chief Scholar of Damascus. Despite that, he hates any book that exists, believing them to be the sources of all evil in the world, and so he and his men try to burn every book that exists in the city.
- Book Burning: He wants to purge the world of all written words because he believes them to be nothing but lies that mislead people from the world's true nature. To kill him, Altaïr has to find which bonfire he is personally presiding over.
- Culture Police: He believes that the culture of the ancestors is outdated at best and deliberately misleading at worst. He is an extremely lethal example in that he burns another scholar when they protest the burning.
- Evil Mentor: Not that he's completely evil, but familiar to the members of the Illuminated who he instructs in his new way of thinking and commands them to burn more books.
- Face Death with Dignity: He is nothing if not calm in his last moments and engages with Altaïr in a "Not So Different" Remark debate about "small sacrifices".
- Kick the Dog: When one of the scholars objects to Jubair's book burning in his introductory cutscene, Jubair pushes him into the pile of burning books, telling him that if he loves his books so much, he can join them.
- Knight Templar: Jubair's Templar-ism is probably the most true to the trope (aside from the final villains). His belief that books are a tool to poison the mind and the destruction of such things will mean people will no longer be controlled by them falls into line with the notion that information begets manipulation (of course as true with the trope, Jubair's efforts only seek to manipulate in another way). He had the books burned to have them replaced with ones written by the Templars as a way to control the masses.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: All the book burning is meant to create a world free of misleading information so that people can see the world as it truly is instead of how a long-dead author wants them to see it.
- Villain Has a Point: He justifies the book burning by saying that books are only as trustworthy as their authors and some authors' works may be incorrect, incomplete, or they may be outright liars. He also says that stating "our ancestors wrote these books" is not an objective claim to their merit. However, burning all books indiscriminately and burning people who disagree is clearly crossing a line.Jubair: You turn to them for answers and salvation. You rely more upon them than yourselves. This makes you weak and stupid. You trust in words, drops of ink. Do you ever stop to think of who put them there? Or why? No, you simply accept their words without question, and what if those words speak falsely, as they often do?Jubair: Is it not ancient scrolls that inspire the Crusaders? That fill Salāḥ ad-Dīn and his men with a sense of righteous fury? Their texts endanger others, bring death in their wake. I too, was making a small sacrifice.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He thinks that books hinder the people's individualism and that they just make them believe in false things without questioning them. He also believes that holy books such as The Bible and The Qur'an are the reasons why the world is filled with war and hate. That's why he does everything in his power to burn those books so that they won't "infect people's minds."
