History Headscratchers / AssassinsCreedRogue

[[folder: Shay in AC3 and Unity]]

** So far as AC3 goes, Shay is tasked by Haytham after the events in the arctic as a seeker of First Civ artifacts for the Templars, particularly the Precursor Box. The only Pieces of Eden we see Connor interacting with are the one held by his tribe that no outsiders know about, the Apple that George Washington tasks him with dropping into the ocean after the end of the Revolution, and the key to the temple that spent most of the game in Haytham's possession until Connor obtained and buried it. So, all things considered, there's no reason for Connor to have had an encounter with Shay during the run of that game, as he never interacts with what Shay is looking for. Can't explain Unity's dropping the ball of Shay having killed Arno's father, but Connor had no particular reason to have his path intersect with Shay during the course of that game.

* Do we ever get an in-universe reason why Shay is never seen or mentioned outside of Rogue? Obviously he doesn't show up in AC3 because Rogue wasn't planned when 3 was in development but Unity was in development at the same time and there's even a complimentary scene at the end of Rogue that matches up to the beginning of Unity showing that[[spoiler:Shay was the one who killed Charles Dorian at Versailles]]. Shay was in Paris in 1776 so we can write him out of AC3 for at least a few months considering travel times and all that, but Connor was active for years and Shay presumably didn't care that he was killing off Shay's Templar brothers in the Colonies. And for all of Arno's angst about his father being killed while he was in the next room as a child, Arno apparently never learns that Shay killed his father, nor does he care to keep looking after a certain point in Unity.

* Do we ever get an universe reason why Shay is never seen or mentioned outside of Rogue? Obviously he doesn't show up in AC3 because Rogue wasn't planned when 3 was in development but Unity was in development at the same time and there's even a complimentary scene at the end of Rogue that matches up to the beginning of Unity showing that[[spoiler:Shay was the one who killed Charles Dorian at Versailles]]. Shay was in Paris in 1776 so we can write him out of AC3 for at least a few months considering travel times and all that, but Connor was active for years and Shay presumably didn't care that he was killing off Shay's Templar brothers in the Colonies. And for all of Arno's angst about his father being killed while he was in the next room as a child, Arno apparently never learns that Shay killed his father, nor does he care to keep looking after a certain point in Unity.

** Shay is no longer a member of the Assassins, so he's not bound by their second tenet: "stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent."

** The answer is simple: GameplayAndStorySegregation. Plus it has been seen before by Altair, as a reward for completing AC1.

** Shay is no longer a member of the Assassins, so he's not bound by their second tenet: "stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent

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* Speaking of which, is it ever explained why the Assassins are so hell bent on killing Ben Franklin in Paris? I thought Franklin was rather well regarded by them, even if he didn't realize just who they were. I know they're never technically called such but they act like Assassins and it's not like Shay has referred to Assassins using the generic "Criminals" before. Assuming of course it wasn't just an excuse to lead into Shay's final scene.

** I think the writers kind of forgot about that plot point by the time they got to the end and hoped everyone else would as well. Kind of a pity, considering after ACIV, Ubisoft seems to have stopped caring about the Juno plot that they spent a lot of time setting up in III and IV.

* So, in the final mission, [[spoiler:Shay kills Arno's dad, who's dying words are "Connor and the American revolution have undone your work", prompting Shay to respond that the Templars will start their own revolution(in France).]] I can doing it as a lead in to Unity, but the scene takes place in late 1776. The American Revolution was just kicking off and the Colonial Army hadn't exactly been doing great that year(with Trenton probably not even happening yet), while Connor was probably just starting his revenge spree through the Colonial Templar ranks(IIRC, he might have killed one of Haytham's buddies by that point). Isn't Charles being a bit premature in saying the Templars are finished in North America?

** What Charles Dorian is saying is that "Connor has undone your work" by rebuilding the Brotherhood. Now the Declaration was signed on July 4, 1776 and we see that declaration cutscene after Thomas Hickey's assassination. So by the time Charles Lee said this, America is declaring independence, Haytham's plans for a StagedPopulistUprising have gone for a toss, Connor has recruited three new assassins, started rebuilding the homestead and via Naval destroyed several British ships. So Connor has, in Pierre Bellec's words, rebuilt the Brotherhood from "nothing to power", negating all of Shay's achievements in Rogue.

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