A list of independent French Revolution characters in Assassin's Creed Unity.
Be aware that these pages WILL contain some unhidden spoilers!
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French Revolutionary Army
Napoleon Bonaparte
Brigadier General Napoléon Bonaparte
- Voiced by: Brent Skagford (English)note
"Where the heart leads. A man must follow."
Napoleon Bonaparte is a young French military officer from the island of Corsica, bursting with ambition, intelligence and cunning. He meets and befriends Arno Dorian during his adventures in the Revolution.
- Accent Adaptation: The real Napoleon was quite famous for speaking French with a pronounced Corsican accent which he never really lost. With the Animus translation, this feature gets flattened to a generalized sophisticated English accent. Weirdly enough, this is acknowledged in the Side Story, "A Romantic Stroll", where Josephine comments on Napoleon's "exotic accent" but to our ears it sounds no different from her own, thanks to the Animus' rendering of French in polished English.
- Ambition Is Evil: He regards the Revolution as a chance for him to expand his career and uses the Storming of the Tuileries as a chance to grab hold of the Saint-Denis Temple key. This becomes even more clear in the Dead Kings DLC.
- While this is somewhat Truth in Television, the real Napoleon made considerable personal sacrifices to stick with the Revolution, especially when its armies weren't doing well. In his early stages, he was a Jacobin who was chased out of Corsica by royalists (they burned and looted his family home) and served with the French army at a time when it was at a very low ebb.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: With Arno, during the Storming of the Tuileries.
- Badass Normal: Doesn't have the assassin skills or abilities, but still gets the jump on Arno when he sneaks into a room, and sticks a gun to his chest moreover.
- Betty and Veronica: Desiree is more demure and Girl Next Door while Josephine, in Napoleon's eyes, is upper-class and more glamorous.
- Broken Pedestal: Arno had considered Napoleon a friend in the main campaign, falling for Napoleon's charm. In the Dead Kings DLC, he becomes even more bitter upon overhearing Napoleon's megalomaniacal speeches and seeing how ruthless he really is.
- Busman's Vocabulary: Just to remind us that this man will become the foremost military genius of his generation, almost every second line of dialogue, even in the Side Stories, has him using military metaphors and adjectives. He even uses it in private conversations which Arno overhears, for instance, when he describes how to "Flank" Josephine.History
- The Charmer: Just like the real guy, the minute he sees Arno in action, he starts complimenting him and promises him the world if he joins the army. In the Dead Kings DLC, Arno learns to see through this act.
- Deadpan Snarker: Upon getting the drop on Arno. Generally he's quite witty:Napoleon: You certainly don't look like a blood-crazed revolutionary. The hood... is a bit sinister though if you don't mind my saying.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's disgusted by Rouille's brutality and violent excesses to the point of trying to get him reassigned to some out of the way garrison.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Wears a glove only on his left hand.
- Foregone Conclusion: Napoleon will end up becoming Emperor of France. And according to the background in previous games, he'll also grab a hold of the Apple of Eden; indeed he steals it right under Arno's very nose.
- Historical Beauty Update: While this version of Napoleon is reasonably attractive, the real General Bonaparte was quite ugly at that time of his life. Most of the memorialists who described his appearance are, of course, among the most Unreliable Narrators you can find, but general consensus is that he was extremely thin (and his ill-proportioned legs made him appear short), his skin had a sickly yellow hue and he didn't really care about dressing properly. His features on the whole have more in common with this early (unfinished) portrait by Jacques-Louis David
, which dates back from the Italian campaign where he was no longer a starving officer. - Historical Domain Character: He's one of the most influential figures in the history of the world.
- Insistent Terminology: He's quite particular about army positions and what they do. On their date, Josephine casually comments on him being a cavalry officer who charges in battle on horseback with a sword, Napoleon however tells her that he's in artillery and he mostly stands in one place and calculates trajectories on where and when to fire.
- Just Following Orders: He acknowledes this problem with the military for people who think independently, precisely the kind who would be great for the army, such as himself, or Arno.Napoleon: Ah, the bane of statesmen and generals everywhere: an individualist. I know the feeling. Men like us have a great advantage over most in the army: we can think for ourself.
- Kick the Dog: Eseosa's Codex in Initiates mentions that despite being initially supportive of the Haitian Revolution, upon coming to power Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, to Haiti to restore slavery and French rule after realizing that Toussaint L'Ouverture intended to declare independence. He manipulated Toussaint into surrendering to the French, leading him to die in a prison in Paris.
- Limited Wardrobe: Quite jarring when he is seen wearing the same uniform as a Second Lieutenant, as a Captain in the Paris missions, then as a General in the 13 Vendémiaire cutscene and later the same outfit on his trip the Opera at which point he was First Consul (and wore a famous Red Coat). His coat and belt look more like they belong to a General. Though as it is Arno's memories it may have been that his mental image of Napoleon never really changed.
- Love Dodecahedron: In the Side Stories, he is engaged to Desiree Clary but starts dating Josephine behind her back while Desiree in the meantime is romanced by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. When Arno in the mission "Desiree Delighted" sneaks in to steal some love letters back to Desiree he can overhear Napoleon debating the merits of Desiree opposed to Josephine, deciding to keep her as a backup if at all, while pursuing Josephine full time.
- Love Makes You Dumb: This side of him comes out in the Side Story "A Romantic Stroll"; in his first date with Josephine, Napoleon pretty much makes a fool of himself and stutters constantly.Josephine: You are a pensive man!
Napoleon: What? Oh. Yes. I was just... musing about how I could manoeuvre, um, how I could... how I could?
Josephine: Take my arm?
Napoleon: Yes.
Josephine: And have you formed a plan?
Napoleon: No. - Manipulative Bastard: He is quite good at getting what he wants and getting others to do errands for him, Arno included. This becomes clear in the Dead Kings DLC.
- The Napoleon: He's the misunderstood Trope Namer of course, but Arno's taller than him (by a few inches, this Napoleon has the real one's height and not the caricature) and he still gets in his face, with a pistol no less. In Dead Kings, Leon being the Mouthy Kid that he is, even takes a shot at his height, which doesn't work because his presence is too commanding and assured.
- Shadow Archetype: To Arno himself according to
Jeffrey Yohalem, as during Dead Kings much like Arno he's become a lot more jaded and cynical, but goes in an entirely different direction by becoming Emperor of France. - Signature Headgear: His famous bicorne, though we only get to see him wear it in-game in its final scene when he accompanies Arno in order to recover Germain's skull. He wears it more frequently in the Dead Kings DLC.
- Surrounded by Idiots:Napoleon: This is what happens when you give command of the government to starving lunatics and command of the army to bloodthirsty savages.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Some of the Side Stories involve conspirators among royalists and even the Committee of Public Safety trying to keep Napoleon back from his inexorable career. History
- Visionary Villain: Gives a speech to this effect in Dead Kings:Napoleon: "I know the human animal. What you fear, what you love? Is Rose a bad man? Undoubtedly. But I, Napoleon, can control him and turn him to what's best for France. The masses will gladly renounce their freedom if all can entertain the hope of rising to the top. With the artifact inside the temple, I will bring them the illusion of hope. And I will lead us to glory."
- Young Future Famous People: The game features the young Napoleon, during the early part of his career in the French Revolutionary Wars.
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
- Voiced by: Neil Napier (English)
The son of a Haitian slave and a French nobleman, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas is a military officer and an ally of the Assassins.
- Allohistorical Allusion: His son wrote a novel called Joseph Balsamo about a conspiracy of a secret society that brought about Revolutionary Changes, which is pretty much the plot of the game.
- Blackmail: The Templars attempt to sway his loyalty away from Napoléon by stealing letters and other items important to him. Arno retrieves them for Dumas to stop the plot.
- Famous Ancestor: Rather famous descendant, he's the father of Alexandre Dumas. Although he's more obscure internationally, he's also known in France for being a war hero during the French Revolutionary Wars.
- Four-Star Badass: He was a general in the Revolutionary Army, and remains the highest ranking person of color in any continental European army. Also a principled man who in the game, spoils a Templar plot of a military coup.
- Historical Domain Character: The father of France's most popular writer. And according to biographers, his son drew on his life for his famous stories, especially The Count of Monte Cristo.
- The Mole: He serves as this for the Assassins against the Templar plot of the fictional General Marcourt.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Captain Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
A general in the French Army, Bernadotte is a colleague of Napoléon. Arno assists him in protecting Napoleon's fiancé Désirée Clary, whom Bernadotte falls for.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After being spurned by Désirée due to his assault on several men who were gossiping about her, he begins drinking heavily while wandering the streets of Paris in search of whores.
- Four-Star Badass: Holds his own in battle alongside Arno.
- Large Ham: He is rather enthusiastic and loud about pretty much everything, including Désirée's ankles.
- Leg Focus: Historically, during his days as a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Army, Bernadotte's figure had earned him the nickname "Sergent Belle-Jambe", and in-game, Désirée makes many comments about his muscular legs.
- Love at First Sight: He becomes rather taken with Désirée when she joins in fighting against the men sent to kidnap her.
- Up Through the Ranks: Enlisted as a Private at the age of 17, but ended up becoming a general of division.
- Young Future Famous People: Arno meets Bernadotte when he was just a general, but one day he will be King Charles XIV John of Sweden and Norway.
Philippe Rose
Captain Philippe Rose
- Voiced by: Taylor Price (English)note
Captain Philippe Rose is commander under Napoleon's supervision. He is tasked with a top-secret mission in Saint-Denis.
- Big Bad: Of the Dead Kings DLC, though hierarchically he's The Brute to Napoleon.
- The Brute: To the point that his own soldiers complain about him. Bonaparte entertains no illusions about the kind of person that he is, but believes that he's useful for the time being.
- Final Boss: Ends up being this for the Dead Kings DLC, being the final named enemy Arno fights.
- Flunky Boss: Raiders fight with him against Arno, with more coming in each time you kill them.
- Self-Made Man: He buys into Napoleon's meritocratic myth that a man can rise in the army to become great, rather than give him real aspirations; it provides him delusions of grandeur as Napoleon himself admits.
- The Starscream: It becomes clear that he wants the Artifact for himself and not Napoleon. Upon finding the location of the Temple, he tells a lieutenant to tell Napoleon that he quits.
- Would Hurt a Child: Upon discovering Leon, Napoleon asks that he merely be sent back outside the perimeter seeing him as nothing more than a Tagalong Kid; Rose however orders guards to kill him after the "Commandant" leaves.
French Revolutionaries
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton
- Voiced by: Jeffery R. Smith (English)
"It's not my usual taste. But as a man of state you get used to dealing with rats."
One of the major leaders of the Revolution.
- Artistic License – History: When he's on the tumbrel, he's shown wearing civilian clothes and his wig, while his companions are wearing plain white and short hair. In real-life, all sentenced travelling there would be wearing white common clothing, regardless of rank or fame. Furthermore, Danton was a famous political prisoner and to allow him to travel to the guillotine in his standard clothing would defeat the purpose of his persecution.
- Dying Curse: Issues one to Maximilien Robespierre, Truth in Television:Danton: You'll follow us shortly, Robespierre. Your house will be beaten down and sown with salt!
- Heroic Sacrifice: His Brotherhood Missions transforms his death into one. He tells Arno that he wants to die so that Robespierre gets a 0% Approval Rating and that he would prefer if his other friends were spared.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: You fight beside him, sword in hand, in the mission "The Austrian Conspiracy".
- Historical Beauty Update: In the game, he looks like a fairly average middle-aged man. The real Danton had a heavily disfigured face due to being gored by a bull and surviving smallpox as a child, which combined with his large stature was said to have a truly intimidating presence.
- Historical Domain Character: One of the most famous figures in French history and among the most frequently represented too.
- Historical Hero Upgrade:
- Quite common over the last two hundred years. The Brotherhood Mission calls him the "Hero of the Revolution." While Danton was highly popular, he was also corrupt, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle at a time of wartime deprivations, accepted bribes on diplomatic missions and involved himself in stock market fraud. It was Danton who first justified the Reign of Terror and established the Revolutionary Tribunals and presided over the Committee of Public Safety before Robespierre's election and as Minister of Justice, he let the September Massacres happen on his watch and justified it as well.
- One particularly amusing example for historians is Danton opposing Robespierre's "clampdown" of the Girondins. In truth, he fully supported the ousting of the Girondins, who were thoroughly incompetent in winning a War for Fun and Profit that they had themselves instigated. Danton did play as a go-between and sought raprochement but the Girondins distrusted him. He also didn't go far out of his way to save many of the deputies though he later claimed to regret it. It was Robespierre who went out of his way to prevent 75 Deputies from joining the Girondin purge and indeed he continually defended them, keeping them alive until after his death.
- Rousing Speech: We don't get to hear it alas but everyone talks about it.Victome de Gambais: Audacity, more audacity, what could be more audacious than a Revolution.
- Vocal Dissonance: Has a shrill and high-pitched voice, a sharp contrast from "the Lion" who roared booming at the crowd as reported in chronicles.
- We Used to Be Friends: Robespierre calls him "my old Friend" when he meets him in prison and rubs in his execution.
Théroigne de Méricourt
Théroigne de Méricourt
- Voiced by: Natalia Payne (English)note
"We speak for the hungry. We speak for the shivering. We speak for Paris."
Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt is a crusader for women's rights, justice and bread. She is one of the leaders of the Women's March to Versailles.
- Action Girl: In the Brotherhood mission, she joins you in fights against Templars and saboteurs.
- Amazon Brigade: The Paris Side Stories has Arno help Theroigne go on a recruiting drive to form an all-women batallion.
- Artistic License – History: The Brotherhood Mission, "The Jacobin Raid" has her leading a street rising in July 1794. The game shows the Jacobins submitting her to a punishment inside their club, because she's a woman. In actual fact, Theroigne de Mericourt was attacked and beaten by revolutionary women for her Girondin sympathies. The women were regular visitors to the Jacobin galleriesnote and attacked her on their own initiative. The person who rescued Theroigne from this attack was none other than Jean-Paul Marat himself. The attack badly damaged Theroigne's mental health and she was then confined to a mental asylum for the rest of her life, meaning of course that she did not really rise against the Jacobins.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: She recieves this at the instigation of a Jacobin fanatic, where she's tied to a post and whipped. See Artistic License for the real story.
- Hero of Another Story: She has several side-missions in Paris Stories and the Brotherhood Missions playing a role in providing food for the people; despite this she is not an Assassin and enters the personal hit-list of the Templars.
- Historical Domain Character: Yes, someone this badass really did exist. She was called L'Amazon Rouge, or as Bishop informs you the Joan of Arc of her day.
- Stay in the Kitchen: What she fights against through the Revolution; she is especially keen on forming an all-women batallion.Théroigne: We declared the Rights of Man - but what of Women!History
Jacques Roux
Jacques Roux
- Voiced by: Elias Toufexis (English)
Bishop: "Jacques Roux. Basically the angriest priest in history."
A leader of the unaffiliated section of popular revolutionaries known as the "Enrages" (Madmen), Jacques Roux is a Templar puppet and violent demagogue.
- Artistic License – History: The real Jacques Roux had a full head of hair, he was a popular street agitator and an anarchist with genuine ideas. The game's version is In Name Only featuring an Ax-Crazy bald psychopath who kills For the Evulz.
- Bald of Evil: Has a clean head and enjoys cutting and beheading people with a cleaver.
- Eviler than Thou: He was even more extreme than Robespierre.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The real Roux was certainly a radical and extremist, but he also articulated genuine ideas calling for equitable wealth redistribution, greater economic regulation and had an anarchist spirit who repeatedly agitated for insurrections against the Committee of Public Safety, which put Roux on their bad books. He was by no means a vicious psychopath as seen in the game.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Roux takes a ruthlessly radical approach to the revolution, and the game would have us believe that he will make sure it gets even less civilized than before.
- The Sociopath: Our first glimpse of him in the Brotherhood Missions has him receiving a supplicant who seeks forgiveness; Roux instead strangles him with a chain.
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Radical journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat is one of the most notorious and controversial figures of the French Revolution.
- Asshole Victim: Very few people seem to feel that the guy was worth missing, his own wife and sister included.history
- Deadly Bath: How we see him at the crime scene, Truth in Television.
- Death Seeker: His surviving family and critics presents Marat to be one, seeking to have a glory of martyrdom.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Although he doesn't appear in person, a lot of his actions - such as sending thugs to beat up and assault Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier, sending Girondins to prison and appearing to be a kind of underboss to the sans-culottes, exploiting and impoverishing his mistress - present him in the worst possible light and are mostly based on the Malicious Slander that accrued on his reputation over the years.
- Posthumous Character: We don't meet Marat until we arrive at the scene of his murder in the Paris Side Stories. Investigation into which unearths a lot of his backstory, activities and reasons for his controversy.
Royal Family
King Philip IV
King Louis XVI
King Louis XVI
The Monarch of France at the outset of the Revolution. Louis XVI summoned a meeting of the defunct Estates-General at Versailles in May 1789 to discuss the escalating economic crisis.
- Adipose Rex: A more sympathetic version. He's portly but has an overall welcoming appearance.
- Face Death with Dignity: He manages to do this by appealing to the people and telling them that he is innocent of all he is accused but that he pardons his accusers if his death can prevent more bloodshed. This statement, in real life, went a long way to making Louis XVI a martyr, especially since the Reign of Terror erupted six months after his death.
- Frame-Up: The game presents his trial in this manner. The Templars create food riots and artifical starvation and frame the Royal Family as hoarders with Germain and Peletier exaggerating some correspondences. None of this is true to history; almost everyone at the trial, including the ones who voted for clemency, concurred that Louis XVI was guilty of treason and plotting against the Revolution.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: King Louis XVI was obviously not a tyrant or a cruel man, but he made many political errors and conspired against the popular revolution almost as it soon broke out. His involvement in the Flight to Varennes and his plan to suppress the rebellion by conspiring for a losing war with collaborators is vastly sidelined.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Templars want to invoke this by arranging his execution by guillotine. Louis is brought to the scaffold in common clothing without his powdered wig, looking like a common criminal.Germain:"The King is… merely a symbol. A symbol can inspire fear, and fear can inspire control—but men inevitably lose their fear of symbols. As you can see."
- The Mole: He had Mirabeau serve as this for him among the Revolutionaries, paying him considerably in exchange for advice and counsel. Mirabeau saw what he was doing as a pragmatic move to prevent the Revolution from descending into civil war (same as in real life) rather than any personal fondness for the King; indeed he tells Arno that he considers Louis to be lacking in political acumen.
- Off with His Head!: We get a front-row seat.
- Sins of Our Fathers: The Templars believe that killing thim allows him to avenge the injustice done to Jacques de Molay by his very distant ancestor King Philip le Bel. The game recreates several apocrypha to justify this, including the Dying Curse issued by Molay at the stake as well as the legend that someone in the crowd shouted "Jacques de Molay, tu es avengee" at his execution. In actual fact, the logic of the curse doesn't play neatly, since Molay's Dying Curse cursed King Philip till his 13th generation while Louis XVI was part of the 15th generation.
- Younger Than He Looks: When we first see Louis XVI at the Estates General with a powdered wig, he looks very much like an old king. So much so, it's surprising to see him at his execution in common clothing, with his natural brown hair, looking very young. This is Truth in Television, as Louis XVI was 38 years old at the time of his death.
Queen Marie Antoinette
Queen Marie-Antoinette
- Voiced by: Melissa Robertson (English)
"Bring us more of this cake!"
Daughter of Maria Theresa, Marie Antoinette is the highly unpopular Queen of France and wife of King Louis XVI.
- 0% Approval Rating: Among the French public.
- The Cameo: For some reason, she's reduced to this.
- The Gambling Addict: She's shown gambling and playing cards in her one scene.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: She's wearing a lovely blue dress with ribbons along the middle of it.
- The Hedonist: Aside from gambling in her one scene, she's shown drinking alcohol; in addition, her one line is "Bring us more of this cake." In other words, she was drinking, gambling, and gorging herself on fancy foods while the rest of Paris was starving. What's more, she doesn't even seem to care. This goes a long way in explaining her 0% Approval Rating in-story (and in history).
- Historical Domain Character: See Marie-Antoinette.
- Malicious Slander: Some of the side-missions have you destroying presses which print libel that she and Mirabeau had an affair. The joke is that the two of them hated each other and Marie Antoinette's distrust of him was one of the reasons why the King didn't follow through on his advice when he was about the only Revolutionary who wanted to keep him alive.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her model greatly resembles Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed Marie Antoinette in a film of the same name.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Wears this.
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: One of the songs played in the bars and streets is La Carmagnole, a song whose lyrics are well, self-explanatory."Antoinette avait résolu [Antoinette had decided]De nous faire tomber sur le cul; [To drop us on our arses]Mais le coup a manqué [But the plan was foiled]Elle a le nez cassé." [And she fell on her face.]
- Yank the Dog's Chain: One of the side missions revolves around a foiled attempt to free her from prison, arranged by agents of Mirabeau only to be foiled by Templars. About the only thing left for Arno to do is kill the Templars who sabotaged it.
Other Characters
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade
- Voiced by: Alex Ivanovici (English)note
"Conspiracy, intrigue, a rapidly thickening plot. Add some bestiality and a lecherous priest and I'd say you would have the beginnings of a beautiful novel."
Infamous author and libertine, Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille in the years leading to the Revolution. He was frequently in and out of prison on account of his licentiousness, his criticisms of religion and conventional morality.
- Abhorrent Admirer: The minute he eyes Elise, he tries to chat her up. She's really not interested.
- Artistic License – History:
- After the Bastille, Sade didn't become a Pimp/Mob Boss of the Cour des Miracles, he became an Impoverished Patrician trying to make money with his plays. He became a radical delegate for the section of Piques (Robespierre's Ward) never quite convincing his colleagues that he was a revolutionary despite his left beliefs.
- Likewise the Murder Mystery, "A Body in a Brothel" features Sade being framed for a brutal crime, with one of the evidences planted being the 120 Days of Sodom, a book that Sade believed was lost at the time and would not be discovered until the 20th Century. The whole incident is presented as a Frame-Up by the Committee of Public Safety, who in real-life, were too busy to go out of their way to persecute Sade this way.History
- On the whole, the portrayal of De Sade is something of a Bowdlerization, ignoring the real-life figure's actual sexual offenses as well as his bisexuality. Likewise, his political philosophy was quite anti-aristocratic and pro-revolutionary, he indeed gave an eulogy to Marat (who the game submits to a Historical Villain Upgrade) whereas Dead Kings implies a friendship with the moderate liberal Condorcet.
- Casual Kink: Prostitutes admit that Sade is quite into creepy stuff.
- Den of Iniquity: He likes to surround himself in one, indeed he becomes a kind of benevolent pimp in the Cour des Miracles and convinces Arno to beat up rival pimps who mistreat prostitutes.
- Everyone Has Standards: The Marquis de Sade is against the execution of the King and the death penalty.
- Frame-Up: The Mission "A Body in Brothel" has Arno investigating a brutal murder of a prostitute with an Orgy of Evidence (no pun intended) left to frame Sade. It turns out that the crime was committed by his valet Olivier at the instigation of Saint-Just of the Committee of Public Safety.
- The Hedonist: He's the poster boy of course. In the game, he largely seems to have used the revolution as an opportunity to become a Pimp so that he can be his own best customer.
- Historical Beauty Update: Sympathetic portrayals of Sade tended to make him more attractive than he was and Unity doesn't disappoint. Sade is shown as quite young and thin when at the time he was fat and old which didn't exactly pose a problem in terms of his love life.
- Historical Domain Character: He often appears in fictional works.
- Impoverished Patrician: As the image shows, he's in for some hard times. A life spent behind bars and loss of income and property during the revolution hit him hard. In Dead Kings, post-Terror, he appears to have regained some of his former wealth.
- Manipulative Bastard: He gets as much a thrill forcing Arno to do errands for him than in actually getting those errands done.Marquis de Sade: Ah, yes. Thank you, Arno. I take such pleasure imposing my will on others. Is that wrong?
- Meet the New Boss: Presents himself to Arno as the new King of Beggars after giving him information to kill the old one. Arno is not amused, but doesn't do anything about it.
- Naked People Are Funny: When we first see the Marquis, he's naked and shouting out the window about the murders committed inside the prison. Thankfully, his butt is blocked by bars. note
- Sadist: The word literally comes from the man's name, so it's only natural that he relishes in the suffering and pain of others.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Post-Terror, Sade once again dresses in posh clothes and a hat, as seen in Dead Kings.
- Too Kinky to Torture: He gives off this vibe when he's arrested in the side-mission A Body in Brothel, he thinks Prison will be amusing.
- Trickster Mentor: He tells Arno that he's been keeping an eye on him since the fall of the Bastille and in their interactions, he often leads Arno by the nose, by slowly providing hints that he knows more about the Assassin-Templar conflict and Piece of Eden than he lets on. Later in Dead Kings he again enlists him to rouse him out of a slump:De Sade: Where would man be if he never had to ask questions? If everything he could ever want to know were simply handed to him? He might no longer think to ask questions.
- You All Meet in a Cell: The Marquis meets Arno at the Bastille and takes a shine on him:Marquis de Sade: I feel it my sovereign duty to aid all those who suffered in cruelest bondage with me at the Bastille.
Eugène François Vidocq
Eugène François Vidocq
A young street urchin held in prison for petty offenses. Vidocq helps Arno solve a variety of crimes around Paris.
- Historical Domain Character: Vidocq during the Revolution went from petty crimes to soldier, master criminal and after the Revolution became the father of Modern Police. He was also the acknowledged inspiration for both Jean Valjean and Javert and the amoral Social Climber Vautrin in Honoré de Balzac's novels.
- Smarter Than You Look: He's way more interested in solving cold cases than the warden keeping him in jail. When asked for his reasons by Arno, he says quite clearly:Vidocq: Because that stinkin' stupid pig of a policeman doesn't have the stinkin' stupid sense to do anything that might give even a grifter like me, hope that someday... this city might not be a shitty place to live. [Beat]. And because I'M BORED OUT OF MY BLOODY MIND.
- Street Urchin: Starts out like one when Arno first meets him.
- Young Future Famous People: This tough little street kid will go on to become the father of modern criminology.
Léon
Léon
- Voiced by: Eamon Stocks (English)note
A young boy that Arno meets during his time in St. Denis.
- Dare to Be Badass: Challenged himself to do the impossible.
- Tagalong Kid: To Arno.
