"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. This was the truth de Molay died for: the Divine Right of Kings is nothing but the reflection of sunlight upon gold. When the Crown and Church are ground to dust, we who control the gold will decide the future."
— François-Thomas Germain, Unity
In Assassin's Creed's historical war between Assassins and Templars spanning a millennia these manage to standout with their brilliance, charm, and audaciousness.
Games by order of release date.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
- Assassin's Creed: Both halves of the Big Bad Ensemble are equally brilliant and charismatic:
- Robert de Sablé is the Grand Master of The Knights Templar Order, whose manipulations have controlled the Third Crusade. Leading the expedition to uncover the Apple of Eden, Robert sought to share its power with his nine co-conspirators. Aware that Al Mualim would have him killed and try to steal the Apple for himself, he defends himself from the Assassins sent by him before orchestrating a counterattack at Masyaf to retrieve the Apple. As his eight remaining co-conspirators get killed by Al Mualim's top Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, he comes up with calculated plan to defeat his enemies. He would lure Altaïr into a trap at Majd Addin's funeral placing his best soldiers and having one dressed as him, to distract and kill Altaïr, while he travels to Arsuf, to unite the feuding Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins. Only losing after an enduring battle with Altaïr, Robert uses his dying breath to reveal Al Mualim's treachery before gracefully passing.
- Al Mualim is The Mentor of the Levantine Assassin Brotherhood and a member of The Knights Templar Order. Uncovering the Apple of Eden along with the others Templars, Al Mualim, not wanting to share its powers with them, has his assassins steal the Apple from them. He would them manipulate his student Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad into assassinating the nine targets that were formerly his allies, and deter Altaïr's suspicion of him by telling half-truths about the Templars, carefully leaving himself out. When Altaïr learns of Al Mualim's treachery, he uses the Apple to brainwash the people of Masyaf to kill Altaïr before fighting his former student himself. Upon being defeated, he uses his dying breath to mock Altaïr for not destroying the Apple, proving that he too is just as mesmerized by the Apple's powers.
- Assassin's Creed II:
- Ezio Auditore Da Firenze is an Italian nobleman from the Renaissance who joins the Assassin Brotherhood to seek vengeance on the Templars who murdered his father and brothers. Ezio uses his wits to kill off the Templars in unexpected ways before subjecting their leader Rodrigo Borgia to a cruel mercy making him watch as he steals Rodrigo's dream. When Monteriggioni is attacked and Ezio arrives in Rome, he rebuilds the Assassin Brotherhood there, becoming its Mentor and using his influence to take over Rome and remove the Borgias from power. Arriving in Constantinople to search for Altair's library, Ezio puts the Assassins into a position in power within the city while uncovering and dismantling the Byzantine Templars. When Ezio learns that the Byzantine Templars are hiding out in Derinkuyu he travels to and destroys the underground city, despite countless innocent people living there, to ensure the Templars' destruction before defeating their leader, entering Altair's library, and relaying a message to Desmond Miles, leaving an everlasting legacy as one of the most brilliantly unscrupulous and charismatically well-known figures within the franchise's history.
- Paola is a cunning woman whose wits helped her survived on the streets for 20 years until she became a friend to the Auditore family after Giovanni Auditore helped her get off a criminal charge of murdering a city guard. She would then become the madame of the Florentine brothel, La Rosa Colta, rescuing women on the streets and providing them a home, while using them to swindle men of their money. When Giovanni and two of his sons were executed by Uberto Alberti, Paola would keep Giovanni's wife and daughter safe in her brothel while teaching Giovanni's remaining son, Ezio, how to pick-pocket, blend in within crowds, kill people discreetly, and lower his notoriety, before arranging Ezio to assassinate Alberti. Paola would help Ezio again during the Bonfire of Vanities where she and La Volpe would rally the citizens of Florence against Girolamo Savonarola as Ezio assassinates his lieutenants, leading to Savonarola being overthrown while the citizens take back their city.
- Assassin's Creed III: Haytham Kenway has the Loyalists and the Patriots in his pockets, influencing decisions throughout The American Revolution wherever he sees fit. Haytham has plans running all over Colonial America, from stealing tribal lands to an assassination attempt on George Washington and several other leaders of the Continental Congress. The Templars under his leadership nearly wipe out the Colonial Assassins, and even after his death he establishes a permanent Templar presence in America for the years to come. His crowing gambit is starting the Revolutionary War allying himself with the British, but using them as mere pawns, intending to remove them from the Colonies and establish America as an independent nation under the Templars. The only reason Haytham loses in the end is his love for his son Connor preventing him from killing the young Assassin. Even in defeat, Haytham holds true to his ideals, complimenting Connor one final time before he dies.
- Black Flag: Edward Thatch, the pirate "Blackbeard", is a founder of the Pirate Republic of Nassau. A brilliant naval commander and pirate who adopts a terrifying reputation and frightening appearance to intimidate and trick others into surrendering, Thatch also helps Kenway set up the theft of ships to reinforce Nassau, risking everything to gain medicine for its people. Even at his own end, Thatch demonstrates no fear, fighting to the last with a proclamation that in a world without gold, he and Kenway may have become heroes.
- Rogue:
- George Monro is a colonel serving in the British Army and one of the most dedicated members of the Templar Order. Discovering the wounded Assassin, Shay Cormac, Monro has Shay rescued and nursed back to health before formally introducing himself. The two would gradually retake New York from the Assassin-align gangs and rebuild it for the Templars, with Monro influencing Shay to ally with his side and supporting their cause as they continue to work together. When Monro is surrounded by French and Assassins forces, Monro surrenders Fort William Henry to them to protect his soldiers before retreating to Albany, where he prepares for their next attack. Though killed by the Assassins, Monro’s words and kindness inspire Shay to officially join the Templars, and eradicate the Assassins from the American Colonies in Monro’s name.
- Jack Weeks grew up being an elusive pickpocket thief until Christopher Gist, impressed by Weeks’ skill, introduces him to the Templars. Rising up the ranks to become the Templars’ smart guy, Weeks helps Shay Cormac rescue George Monro and his forces from Kesegowaase’s ambush and prepare for Kesegowaase’s upcoming attack at Albany, while also formulating a plan to dismantle Hope Jensen’s criminal empire in New York. This plan involves Weeks and Shay disguising themselves as Hope’s gang members before stealing British soldiers’ salaries while framing the Assassins for the heist, causing the British Army to eradicate Hope’s gang from New York, allowing Shay to kill Hope and learn of Achilles Davenport’s expedition to the Arctic Circle, where Shay goes to kill his remaining Assassins there.
- Unity: The Prophet Francoise Germaine successfully orchestrated a coup within the Templar Order to become Grandmaster himself, and then manipulates the young Assassin Arno to eliminate his remaining enemies whilst playing every faction of the French Revolution against each other to make the entire nation tear itself apart. Setting himself against the local Templar Grandmaster and the Assassin Order, Germaine orchestrates their downfall and defeats to weaken both orders while setting Arno against targets loyal to his enemies. With this achieved, Germaine settles back to enjoy the chaos of the French Revolution, intending on seizing control no matter which faction comes out on top.
- Syndicate:
- Crawford Starrick became a master of manipulation at a young age. The moment he took over his father's business, Starrick used assassination and his own genius to become rich and powerful. Upon being invited to the Templar Order, Starrick quickly rises in the ranks to become the Templar Grand Master, and becomes one of the most feared Templars in the world and looks for a Piece of Eden known as The Shroud. Weaving London around himself and his businesses, Starrick adapts to the Frye twins intervening in his business by attempting to give the city aid rather than making it suffer and even when cornered with his associates dead, keeps his cool, deciding to wipe out the ruling authority of England at a ball. He successfully steals the key to The Shroud from Evie Frye, and when defeated, tells the Fryes he wished only to make London a utopia, remaining loyal to his city to the end.
- Pearl Attaway inherited Attaway Transport at a young age and turned it into London's most successful public transportation network while rejecting countless marriage proposals to not lose her authority by being a woman. A Templar and beloved by her cousin Crawford Starrick, her business nonetheless came under attack by his puppet Malcolm Millner to create a monopoly on transportation. Meeting Jacob Frye not knowing she was a Templar, she manipulates him into an alliance and uses him to ruin Millner's business, steal his combustion engines, and finally assassinate him. Becoming the only transport network in London, she blackmails her cousin into accepting her as an equal partner in his schemes. Eavesdropped by Jacob, he follows her to Waterloo Station and kills her and the the graceful lady dies only regretting the loss of all she worked toward.
- Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, is presented here as elderly gentleman willing to get his hands dirty to protect both the people of London and his own reputation. Darwin aligns with Jacob to halt the opium-laced syrup poisoning the populace and leads the initiative in burning down its production plant and having Jacob kidnap and terrorize a scientific rival who knows who created it. After assisting Jacob in assassinating the Mad Doctor who created the drug, he soon hires the Frye twins for more personal matters. He protects his reputation by having the twins hunt down and murder a group making unflattering caricatures of him, and later assists them in destroying toxic plants with hallucinogenic effects while hampering their pursuers by directing the fumes their way.
- Origins: The Hidden Ones DLC: Gamilat is the beloved leader of the Nabatean Rebellion in Sinai who seeks to liberate his people from the tyrannical rule of General Rufio and the Roman occupation. Effectively fighting off the Romans through guerilla warfare, Gamilat makes allies of Bayek and the Hidden Ones and feeds them intelligence to help them assassinate Rufio and his lieutenants. Unbeknownst to Bayek, Gamilat secretly has his agents provoke Roman retaliations to slaughter villages and then swoops in to recruit the survivors with promises of vengeance. Confronted by Bayek, Gamilat genuinely believes the victims to be martyrs and nearly wins their duel through quick thinking and clever tactics. Ultimately defeated, a dying Gamilat gracefully accepts his death and wishes for the Hidden Ones to protect the innocent until the end of time.
- Odyssey:
- Aletheia is an ancient Isu from Atlantis that enforced the city's laws and customs and managed to singlehandedly root out and destroy the horrifying Olympos Project run by Juno and Aita. Yet unable to save Atlantis, she would eventually wander north and fall in love with the Isu Loki and took on the guise of the witch Angrboda to deceive and entrap Odin for his brutality against their son Fenrir. Later fatally injured, Loki placed her mind in the Staff of Hermes and she manipulated its wielders until she came into the hands of the Eagle Bearer in ancient Greece. Empowering the Eagle Bearer through trials in her ancient memories, Aletheia used them as a host and kept them alive until the modern day to pass the Staff to Layla Hassan. Passing herself off as Layla's benefactor, she masterminds a grand betrayal by ultimately manipulating Layla into taking Loki's place in the Grey and reuniting with her beloved. Still caring for humanity, her scheme led Layla's mind to join with the mysterious Reader to secure a future that promised mankind's survival.
- One Really, Really Bad Day DLC: "The Eagle Bearer" is an opportunistic mercenary who masquerades as the real Eagle Bearer to take advantage of their reputation to acquire lucrative contracts. Working for pirates to soften up a village for pillaging, the imposter hires himself to the village to prepare it for the assault, yet uses the fame of the real Eagle Bearer to sabotage the defenses. He destroys a forge to blind the only smith, tricks the stable keeper into riding off a cliff with the only horse, and leads the village hero to his death by convincing him he's invincible. When the actual Eagle Bearer arrives to salvage their image, the imposter watches on as they only make the situation worse and, when finally confronted, can ultimately even impress his counterpart into becoming allies.
- Valhalla:
- Loki is the Isu beloved of Aletheia and was once a great ally to the Norse Isu until their leader Odin sought to murder Loki's innocent son Fenrir for being his prophesized killer at Ragnarok. Wanting to be with his son, Loki smuggles him into Asgard during an attack by the Greek Isu and swears vengeance on Odin for binding him in chains. He nearly sabotages Odin's quest for immortality by revealing his plans to Jupiter and murders Odin's sons Balder and Heimdall before using Odin's solution of rebirth through Yggdrasil to survive the solar flare. Reborn countless millennia later as the Hidden One Basim ibn Ishaq, he finds Tyr reborn as Sigurd Styrbjornsson and masterminds the recovering of his memories while turning him against Odin reborn as Eivor Wolf-Kissed. Seeking to murder Eivor and Odin at their weakest, he ambushes them when they find Yggdrasil but gets caught in the machine during the fight. A millennia later, he sends a message through time to the Assassins to draw in Layla to take his place so that he can reunite his family in modern times.
- King Alfred of Wessex is the Grand Maegester of the the Order of the Ancients and a devout Christian who plotted to destroy the order for using his religion for their own nefarious purposes and secretly worshiping the Isu. Alfred uses the order's resources to fend off the Viking Invasion while sending clues to Eivor and the Hidden Ones about the whereabouts of the Order's members in many occasions, eventually working directly with Eivor to get rid of the Ancient members in Wessex. Alfred then basnishes Eivor from Wessex when he refuses to convert to Christianity, later luring Eivor and Guthrum's combined forces into a trap, killing off many of their allies. Exiling himself to Athelnay, he encounters Eivor again after riding the Order of Ancients from England where Alfred tells him about uniting England under one religion while creating a new order around it. This dream would come to fruition when Alfred returns form exile and retakes his kingdom from Guthrum establishing the foundation of a unified Kingdom of England and the creation of the Templar Order.
- Wrath of the Druids DLC: Eogan mac Cartaigh, the Abbot of Armagh, is the highest ranking Christian leader in Ireland, yet secretly converted to druidic paganism and founded the cult known as the Children of Danu. Seeking to undermine the devout High King Flann Sinna, he arranges for raiders to steal holy texts and raid monasteries to lay the blame on Flann's Viking allies, and further manipulates him by arranging for his Irish army to be poisoned and laying the blame on the conspicuously healthy Norsemen. Having the northern kings stall peace negotiations, Eogan entraps and wipes out much of Flann's army while using his druidic servants to steal weapons and equipment to prepare for the coming siege of his temple. While ultimately defeated, Eogan fights to the bitter end and uses his last words to reveal Flann's pagan advisor Ciara was once a Child of Danu. This legacy of distrust drives the two apart and fuels Ciara's own desperate attempt to drive the Christians from Ireland, just as Eogan always wanted.
- Siege of Paris DLC: Count Odo of Paris is the right hand of King Charles and the only competent and honorable leader among the Frankish nobility. Odo valiantly leads the defense of Paris against the Vikings and uses his powerful charisma to maintain the people's hope and morale in the face of invasion and plague. During the siege, Odo corrals much of Jarl Sigfred's men into a fire trap and wipes out the rest with carefully placed archers. Forcing a retreat, Eivor infiltrates Odo's palace to negotiate a truce and play on his honor, but Odo refuses to trust the invaders and duels her. Defeated and accepting death, Odo is spared and watches King Charles placate their enemies with land and wealth. Enraged by his King's duplicity, Odo later hires the befriended Eivor to assassinate the mentally unstable Charles. In exchange, Odo becomes the new King of France, makes alliances with the new Viking leadership, and promises to never invade England.
- "Dawn Of Ragnarok" DLC: Banski is a clever dwarf who develops a method to kill invading Jotuns attacking his kind. This method has Banski disguising his traps as dwarf shelters to lure Jotuns in where they face obstacles inside, having already killed several Jotuns through this method. Banski's cunning also lures Odin into his trap, which Odin complements Banski about when Odin manages to escape.
- Mirage:
- Nehal is Basim's snarky childhood friend and fellow thief whose cautionary and pragmatic advice lead him to down a dark path in life. Seeking to push Basim away from the Hidden Ones to pursue his own desires, Nehal guides Basim to greater power by subtly leading him to Isu weapons and nurturing his interests in the ancient civilization and his mysterious connection to it. Basim's unerring hunt of the Order of the Ancients leads her to imply the Order's leader knows of Basim's true identity which in turn is the catalyst for him to work with Nehal to go against the Hidden One's wishes to find the Isu vault beneath their stronghold. In the ancient Isu vault, Nehal is revealed to be Loki's buried consciousness that only Basim could see and hear. Nehal had been manipulating Basim for his entire life to ensure he would someday come to terms with his past life and finally awaken as the reborn Isu. Nehal embraces and comforts Basim one last time as they are fused together to form Loki and effectively cease to exist.
- Al-Bahamut, Qabiha, was the favored concubine of the late former Caliph, the leader of the Arabian branch of the Order of the Ancients, and the true power behind the Abbasid Caliphate. Disguising her grand agenda and sharp mind behind a vapid personality and outward love of petty harem politics, Qabiha built the Baghdad Order and secured control over the Caliphate's academics, economy, and military through her subordinates. When her husband died at Basim's hand, she sacrificed her own son's succession to win the loyalty of the governor hiding the Hidden One's stronghold to reveal it and organize an attack to reveal the Isu vault hidden beneath. Qabiha even recognized Basim as an Isu host and awaited the day he would come for her to reveal his true identity and win him to her side. Although slain by Roshan before she could turn Basim, Qabiha nonetheless succeeded in setting Basim to his destiny and the eventual awakening of Loki.
- Al-Pairika, Ning, is the Abbasid royal treasurer who bends the Caliphate's vast mercantile empire to the whims of the Order. Born a poor peasant in China, Ning would be sold into slavery to a trader yet successfully used her brilliant mind to gather enough resources and connections to take over the Ivory Coin merchant guild. Her position allowed her to control vast trade routes to funnel both Isu artifacts to the Order and to fulfill all manner of personal desires to bask in her wealth. Basim would come to hunt her as she manipulated tax collectors to extort vulnerable foreign merchants and non-Muslims and use the wealth to fund the naval blockade of Baghdad. When Basim infiltrates her inner sanctum offering an ornate hairpin she desired, she recognizes his intent and lures him in with her life story and motives before very nearly killing him with the hairpin itself.
- Al-Mardikhwar, Wasif al Turki, is the warlord of the Caliphate military and uses the army to secretly enforce the Order's desires. Wasif earned his place in the Order by being a skill tactician and charismatic commander who used his position to eliminate potential rivals and play the role of king maker controlling the Caliphs. When the Zanj rebellion led Ali ibn Muhammad begins to grow in power, Wasif employs a vast spy network to uncover and expose members of the rebellion and their collaborators before having them publicly executed as a message to the general populace. As Basim closes in and infiltrates Baghdad's greatest fortress, he discovers Wasif hs already captured Ali's right hand Beshi and executes him before engaging Basim in battle. While slain, Wasif shakes Basim's faith in the Hidden Ones by pointing out they are not so different by silencing those against their own views.
