Characters / Assassin's Creed: Haytham Kenway

Main Character Index

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May contain unmarked and/or Late Arrival Spoilers.

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Haytham Kenway

Main Game Appearances: Assassin's Creed III | Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag | Assassin's Creed Rogue

Other Appearances: Assassin's Creed : Forsaken | Assassin's Creed: Memories

Voiced By: Adrian Hough (English)^note Other Languages:Nikita Prozorovsky (Russian), Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese)

"You oppose tyranny. Injustice. These are just symptoms. Their true cause is human weakness. Why do you think I keep on trying to show you the error of your way?"

The father of Connor Kenway and the son of Edward Kenway, Haytham traveled to the American colonies with the key to the Central Vault in the hopes of relieving it of its contents. He is the playable ancestor for Sequences 1, 2, and 3 of Assassin's Creed III. The end of Sequence 3 reveals him to be a Templar.

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A-F

• Affably Evil: He seems genuinely sorry about the assassination in the opera house. Or perhaps he's merely being polite in a Nothing Personal sort of way.
• Ambiguously Brown: While half-English, half-Welsh and explicitly of aristocratic English stock, he has an unusually dark skin tone compared to every other Englishman in the game, as well as an Arabic first name.
• Anti-Villain: Like most Templars. His backstory, revealed in the novelization of III, makes him a lot more sympathetic as well.
• Archnemesis Dad:
  • He's Connor's father, but also his enemy since he and Connor are on opposing sides.
  • Downplayed with his own father. While Haytham isn't really proud of Edward's achievements as an Assassin, he admits that he had fond memories of their time together.
• Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes before killing his target in the opera house.
• Aura Vision: Like other protagonists in the series, Haytham has Eagle Vision. Rarely, he's the first confirmed Templar to have this.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: The Grandmaster of the American branch of the Templars. Also a competent fighter proficient in fistfighting, fencing, the use of pistols and muskets, and hidden blades.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: On several occasions (the opera at the very start or the first mission with Hickey, for instance) he takes one look at a hostile area and formulates a route or plan to go right through it. Though that's because of the Aura Vision which all First Civilization DNA carriers have.
  • In Assassin's Creed : Forsaken, Edward tells his son that its important to see things differently to truly know the world.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity:
  • The brief Enemy Mine between Connor and Haytham when they are hunting down Church is treated this way, with Haytham admitting to Connor spending time together might do them some good. He was curious if Connor could be "saved from his ignorance".
  • Averted with his own father, Edward. As an adult, while Haytham isn't really proud of Edward, he admits that he had fond memories of their time together when he was a child.
• Backseat Driver: Or in this case, Backseat Helmsman. Haytham, unlike his father and his son, cannot sail a boat but that doesn't stop him from recklessly interfering and giving orders to experienced sailors like Captain Smythe, Shay and later Connor, when the two of them are sailing the Cool Ship Aquila. Haytham's abysmal lack of naval skills is emphasized at the start of the game when the ship he is on is caught in a storm and he offers his help to the ship's captain.
  Haytham: Why? Let me help you secure the ship.
  Captain Smythe: Do you know how to rig a sail? To load a cannon? To wage war at sea? I didn't think so. Now return to your cabin – or do I need to have you escorted?
  • Haytham then forces Smythe at Blade-point to sail into a storm and nearly gets the ship sunk. He also dismisses Connor's skills as a captain, despite Robert Faulkner vouchsafing for his skills ("Well, the bar's not been set very high now, has it?").
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Charles Lee and the Templars in the past, and later "Ziio" and later with Connor in quite a few memories.
• Badass Cape: Wears a cape and happens to be a skilled warrior.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: In the beginning, he deplores Braddock's bloodthirsty nature. By the time the player is in Connor's shoes, Haytham has become every bit as ruthless.
• Because I Said So: His excuse for bossing Connor around. Though it's Played for Laughs and treated as a weird Father and Son moment.
• Berserk Button:
  • Insulting him results in a warning via death threat or a straight up beat down if you are of no use to him. Betraying the Templar Order is also this as Braddock and Church found out. Both cases still manifest as Tranquil Fury though... though in Church's case the fury was a bit less tranquil than usual.
  • It's subtle, but the one time Haytham loses his composure in Rogue is when Adéwalé tells Haytham that his father Edward would be ashamed of him. Haytham's tone gets audibly angry and he insists a bit too emphatically that he is his own man.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Dual wields Hidden Blades.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Shares the role of the main villain with Charles Lee. While Haytham is nominally in charge of the local Templar branch, Lee serves as The Heavy and is a more personal antagonist for Connor.
• Big Damn Heroes: The novelization reveals that when Connor was about to be hanged, it was Haytham, not Connor's apprentices, who severed the rope holding the noose.
• Black Sheep: Of the Kenway family, since his father and his son are Assassins. Also, among all of Desmond's ancestors he along with Maria Thorpe are the only known Templars, and unlike Maria (who married Altaïr) he never turned his back on the Templar cause, making him a straight example.
  • In Rogue, Adewale outright calls him a family disgrace, telling him that he isn't half the man Edward was and that the latter would be ashamed of him. Haytham replies coolly, that he never knew his father to have any sense of integrity or honor.
• Break the Cutie: Haytham Used to Be a Sweet Kid as seen at the end of Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag and as revealed in Forsaken, life really clamps down hard on him to the point that he wants to invoke this deliberately with Connor, trying to shatter his ideals the way it happened to him.
• Breakout Character: The first Templar to be nearly as popular as the Assassin heroes.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • How he feels when he confronts Reginald Birch, the man who killed his father, made his sister a Sex Slave and manipulated him into becoming a Templar, and ultimately towards his father, Edward, as well. Both are men he thoroughly detests. But if the final lines of his journal are of any indication, Edward became a Rebuilt Pedestal to some extent.
  • In Forsaken, he also appears to feel this way about George Washington, at first admiring Washington for standing up to Braddock's brutality during the French and Indian War. However, when he learns that Washington ordered Ziio's and Connor's village burned down, his feelings toward Washington change.
  Haytham: Instantly I had a fierce, bittersweet sense of consolation that at least it should be Washington, who clearly had a conscience and was nothing like the general, who was to end my life, and I closed my eyes, ready to accept death.
• The Brute: While critical of other Templars like Braddock for needless brutality, Hayhtam's fighting style, his tendency to invoke You Have Outlived Your Usefulness to political prisoners and informers betrays a considerable mean streak. This is especially apparent in his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Benjamin Church. The biggest example is in Rogue where Shay successfully argues for Achilles' mercy. Haytham agrees but decides to kneecap Achilles out of spite.
• Blunt "Yes": Gives this answer to Connor when the latter asks if they were just going to attack the Redcoats and beat the answers out of them.
• The Cameo: Makes one at the end of Black Flag as Edward takes him and Jenny to see the Beggar's Opera.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Haytham's commitment to the Templar cause, comes at the cost of his relationship with the woman he loves and his son.
• Climax Boss: He's the final major opponent fought by Connor (Charles Lee goes down without a fight one chapter later), and is perhaps the best enemy swordsman in the game.
• The Corruptible: Haytham was brainwashed into becoming a Templar by Reginald Birch, the man responsible for killing his father and selling his sister Jennifer as a Sex Slave for the Ottoman Empire.
• The Corrupter: He becomes the mentor to Shay Cormac during the Seven Years War and shapes him into a staunchly loyal Templar.
• Dark Is Evil: He wears black, colonial-era clothing and he's the main antagonist of the story.
• Dead Guy Junior: Shaun theorizes in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla that Edward Kenway named Haytham after Hytham because he was one of the first Hidden Ones in Britain after the fall of The Roman Empire.
• Deadpan Snarker: His father/son moments with Connor are really dry, such as this exchange when Haytham ambushes his son in a frontier church.
  Connor: Father.
  Haytham: Connor. Any last words?
  Connor: Wait.
  Haytham: Poor choice.
• Death Equals Redemption: Averted. He remains loyal to his Templar ideals until the very end and openly mocks this trope in his final speech.
• Decomposite Character: Haytham and the game's Charles Lee are both ones for the real life Charles Lee. The Templar Lee has the general's uncouth reputation, quick temper and coarseness, while Haytham has a somewhat greater visual and biographical consistency with the original Lee.
• Decoy Protagonist: For the first three sequences of III, both Desmond and the player are lead to believe that he is the next Assassin ancestor.
• Defiant to the End: Even in his dying throes, he refuses to say the Templars were wrong.
• The Determinator : His commitment to the Templar cause is pure and absolute. Neither the facts that he was manipulated into the Templar cause, that his own father was murdered by his Evil Mentor, and his sister Made a Slave by the same man, nor the fact that his son is an Assassin will make him question or change his mind, leave alone quit or abandon his cause. Haytham is The Determinator who becomes the fanatic.
• Disappeared Dad: His father was murdered before him as a young man. He becomes one for Connor when his relationship with Ziio goes sour, unknowingly leaving her Someone to Remember Him By.
• The Dreaded: Miko describes Haytham as Reginald Birch's best agent in one of the War Letters, and tells Achilles that he fears him outright.
• Enemy Mine: He works with Connor to take down Benjamin Church, who stole important resources from the Templars.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Like most Templars, jerkass and class snob though he is, Haytham seems to have no objection to admitting others to the Templars regardless of race. Jack Weekes - who is African-American - is part of his Inner Sanctum and Haytham makes a serious effort to manipulate his half-Mohawk son into joining the Templars.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he never publicly admits he actually loved her (although his journal is a bit more talkative), he's noticeably saddened when he learns of Ziio's death, and he specifically protests Connor's voiced belief that he ordered the attack on the village, specifically saying that he told Charles Lee to spare it.
  • This takes a darker turn and becomes a downplayed trope later in the story when Haytham presses George Washington to reveal to Connor that Washington was the one who ordered the attack on Ziio and Connor's village. Connor is disgusted, calling Haytham out for sitting on this information and trying to manipulate him. Forsaken confirms that Haytham had known about Ziio's death and neglected to tell him. Despite any love Haytham had for Ziio and possibly Connor, his relationships were all secondary to his dedication to the Templars.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Haytham's a committed Templar through and through, but he also tends to be very critical of their general Jerk-like behaviour and bad PR. In Assassin's Creed : Forsaken on hearing of Charles Lee's first meeting with Connor, where he more or less called a five year old boy a "savage" and then punched him out, Haytham lamented how disastrous an effect this had, since it led to a massive misunderstanding^note Connor believed Lee responsible for the death of Connor's mother, on Haytham's order at that that ultimately led to bringing the Assassins Back from the Brink when Connor takes their cause, putting Haytham's own son on the opposite side of the conflict.
  • He also loathes Braddock for his General Ripper tendencies and regards him as a Psycho Party Member and not a true Templar.
  • In Forsaken, a Broken Pedestal moment for him is seeing Birch torturing people for information by putting them in shackles and manacles.
  • Much like his own father he also condemns slavery and holds fairly progressive attitudes on race and equality for the time, treating black Americans and Native Americans as equals.
• Evil Brit: Sort of, considering he is a Templar. In his case, it usually manifests by killing someone off without as much of a thought, but in a very polite way. The developers even admitted that he's kind of a Colonial-era James Bond.
• Evil Is Petty: When Shay Cormac stops him from murdering a helpless Achilles Davenport, pleading "What kind of new world are we making if we cannot show mercy?", Haytham is faced with the one thing that an arrogant, sadistic hypocrite like him hates the most: a moral high-ground that he cannot refute. To this nobility Haytham sarcastically spits "Valid points..." before spitefully kneecapping Achilles anyway, so he will still get his pound of flesh in spite of decidedly being the smaller man compared to Shay.
• Evil Mentor: Appears to be trying to do this with Connor, corrupting him away from his goals and turning him to a Templar worldview. It doesn't work.
• Evil Old Folks: He's 55 by the finale of 3 which is fairly old given the life standards of the era, and he is still moving pieces in Templar plots.
• Exact Words: Pulls this on Church's decoy after Connor gave his (own) word not to kill him in return for Church's location. Connor does not approve.
  Decoy: (dying) You promised...
  Haytham: And HE kept his word.
• Exceptionally Tolerant: Haytham is shockingly progressive for a colonial during his era, actually advocating for peaceful coexistence between the Colonizers and the Natives and even doesn't hide his disgust with slavery. He infact goes as far as to call out George Washington and the rest of the "Founding Fathers" as being hypocrites in this way, only preaching for freedom for the select few in their circle. This seems to be the one trait he actually did inherit from his father, Edward.
• Face Death with Dignity: He doesn't beg or weep after Connor manages a fatal blow.
• Face–Heel Turn: Shaun's database entry in III suggested this at first. Subverted, as Assassin's Creed: Forsaken reveals he was never an Assassin. His father had trained him in the hopes of being one but felt he was too young at the time to know the full details of the Creed, similar to Giovanni Auditore hiding it from young Ezio in Assassin's Creed II. He was then successfully indoctrinated by Reginald Birch into the cause of the Templars after his father's death, never knowing his father was an Assassin until years later.
  • He acquires his Hidden Blades as a Battle Trophy from the Assassin Miko, the same man he kills in the game's first mission.
  • As an adult, Haytham does acknowledge a dual identity as being part Assassin and part Templar and tries to reconcile it, but eventually he chooses the Templars and never goes back.
• Fatal Flaw: Haytham is ruthlessly pragmatic to a T, but he has is a Horrible Judge of Character when it comes to Charles Lee. Unlike most cases of this, Charles Lee is not The Starscream and is indeed extremely loyal to Haytham, but because Haytham sees Lee as a kindred spirit sharing his same ideals, he willingly overlooks all of Lee's negative traits. This destroys any possibility of Haytham reaching common ground with Connor, because Connor recognizes Lee for being a hateful and xenophobic person.
• The Fettered: Despite his interrogative tendencies, he disapproves of unfettered behaviour like murdering innocents, enslaving potential allies, and focusing on objectives he's put off for later.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Defied. He tells Connor in his death speech that he's not going to bother wondering what could've been between them as father and son had they not been on opposite sides.
• Freudian Excuse: Oliver Bowden's tie-in novel Forsaken, considered canon by writer Darby McDevitt provides one for Haytham, showing the circumstances that made him into a Templar.
• Futureshadowing: To some extent, his final Motive Rant to Connor about the American Revolution is that at the end of the conflict, the people will not be united and would eventually turn to war again.
  "These men are united now by a common cause. But when this battle is finished they will fall to fighting amongst themselves about how best to ensure control. In time it will lead to war."

G-L

• Generation Xerox:
  • Invoked. While Haytham and Connor could never see eye-to-eye due to their opposing alignments (resulting in his death at Connor's hands), Haytham at least wanted his son to know the truth of his life and consequently had his journal given to Connor postmortem. In his final journal entry, Haytham notes that similar to how his father never lied to him, he wanted to do the same to Connor.
  "I hope that Connor, my own son, will read this journal, and perhaps, when he knows a little about my own journey through life, understand me, maybe even forgive me. My own path was paved with lies, my mistrust forged from treachery. But my own father never lied to me and, with this journal, I preserve that custom."
  • Played straight with his own father. Like Edward, Haytham has era-relative progressive stances on racial equality. He condemns slavery and generally treats people of marginalized races as equals, even having the African-American Jack Weekes as part of his Inner Sanctum.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: He prefers to brutalize his foes with just his bare hands on occasion (at which point your weapons are locked out).
• Horrible Judge of Character: Haytham overlooks Charles Lee's more glaring flaws because he sees Lee as an ideal Templar and the best possible leader for the fledging Colonial America. Whatever common ground he and Connor could potentially achieve is strained specifically because Haytham refuses to cut off ties with Charles Lee.
• Hypocrite:
  • Scolds Braddock for killing innocents, despite orchestrating the Boston Massacre and executing helpless prisoners of war later on himself.
  • During his fight with Connor, Haytham made a speech how the Templars do not indoctrinate its members. Not only the Order have been doing this for ages, Haytham himself is a victim of this himself as he was brainwashed by Reginald Birch ever since he was a child.
• Humiliation Conga: After Connor is inducted into the Assassin Order. Despite Haytham's temporary truce with Connor, his son causes the Assassin Order to be reborn in the United States and dismantles the Templar network piece by piece. Haytham effectively watches his life's work be destroyed until he's finally killed at Connor's hands. It doesn't even end with his death; Connor subsequently kills Charles Lee, whom Haytham had been grooming to lead the Templars and leaving the Colonial Templars destroyed.
• I Regret Nothing: In his dying speech, he shows he was fully committed to the Templar cause all the way.
• Imperturbable Englishman: For the most part, he's cool, calm, witty and badass — a James Bond figure in a mid-1700's setting. Also a notable contrast to his Hot-Blooded father Edward and his highly sensitive son, Connor; as the tight-laced, straight-edge Templar Black Sheep of an Assassin family, he'd have to be in control to uphold the cause he adopts. On top of all that, in the German version he's voiced by the same voice actor who dubbed Daniel Craig in the James Bond movies.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: Connor kills him by stabbing him in the neck with his Hidden Blade.
• Incompletely Trained: He only received some Assassin training as a boy, so he can't replicate the feats achieved by his relatives.
• Intro-Only Point of View: Only in Sequences 1, 2, and 3 of III. The real story, Connor's story, starts in Sequence 4.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Haytham has many noble qualities but he's also a bit of a class snob^note disdaining from shaking a sailor's hands in the opening — by all accounts seemingly ignorant of how his family came to be in such class in the first place! — and all his Pet the Dog moments are highly qualified and calculated for his own agenda and not because it's unforgivable to him on a personal sense. In the end, the Templar cause matters more to him than his own family, his love for Ziio and even his interest in his son who he finally decides to kill, only for said son to kill him in self-defense.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Unlike other Templar leaders we know from across the series, Haytham actually stands for defensible beliefs. He notes that the Assassin's ignorance of context creates more violence than it's worth and longs for a time when the Assassins sought "peace" (an echo of "peace in all things" in Assassin's Creed), which he called a more defensible goal^note in the sense that the Assassins and Templars could have 'merely' disputed over methodology and not goals. He also voices legitimate doubts about George Washington's skills as a field general and makes the argument that the Continental Congress is the voice of plutocrats rather than the people... an argument voiced by many left-wing and liberal historians in the 20th Century. These arguments seemingly turn the Assassin/Templar battle from good vs. evil to a true clash of equally valid standpoints.
  • That said, Haytham blindly persists in defending Charles Lee despite his numerous visible failings and never truly clarifies his intentions to Connor, leading to a literal case of Poor Communication Kills. Moreover, if Lee had military skill over Washington but would be worse as a figurehead-advocate, then one might wonder why Haytham seemingly never decided to simply be that figurehead-advocate (with Lee making the tactical plans) instead.
  • Furthermore his dismissal of the Assassins as following the whims of an old man are hypocritical when you read Forsaken and realize that he became a Templar largely because he was brainwashed by Reginald Birch who he looked to as a father, yet eventually willingly chose the Templar cause despite learning the truth.
  • Finally, for all of his mockery of the Continental Congress as the voice of plutocrats, instead of trying to better decentralize control of America to "the people" he's flat-out vying to install his own man atop the new country and thereby become The Man Behind the Man...
• Kick the Dog: Kneecaps Achilles at the end of Rogue solely out of spite. Also keeps killing prisoners of war even when they have surrendered and it's implied that under him, Fort George in New York has become a private torture chamber.
• Knight Templar: Goes without saying.
• Lamarck Was Right: While Edward did train him in swordsmanship as a child, Haytham also managed to pick up his climbing abilities, though he lacks the ability to leap across trees like his father and son.
• Large Ham: Most of the time he's not, but becomes this when beating up Benjamin Church.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Years after Haytham cripples Achilles, Achilles would train Haytham's own son to eventually kill him. The irony is not lost on Connor.
  • Haytham repeatedly mocks the Assassins for being shortsighted and ignorant in their beliefs even rubbing it in that Achilles' actions are what led to his Brotherhood's destruction. Haytham himself displays these same traits throughout III, valuing his prodigy Charles Lee over his son to a fault, and this ultimately leads to Connor systematically destroying the Templar Order and their hold over Colonial America.
• Le Parkour: Has this ability but he cannot run trees like his father and his son, and can definitely not climb rocks like Connor and Kaniehtí:io, for the reason that he's an outsider in the American landscape and his climbing skills were honed in European (presumably urban) locales.
• Lightning Bruiser: Very strong with a brute force fighting style but just as agile as an Assassin.
• Love Cannot Overcome: Haytham loves his family but puts his duty as a Templar first and foremost, straining his relationship with them. In his journal, he wonders what would happened if he abandoned his cause to be with Kaniehtí:io and Connor but ultimately, when it comes between duty and family, he's willing to kill even his own son to ensure the Templars win.
• Love Is a Weakness: Befitting a classically raised Britishman, Haytham regards any display of sentimentality as unmanly and weak, and not once does he show his son Connor any warmth or affection in the short time they spend together. Even with his dying breath, he makes sure that his dying declaration of pride for his son is a purely professional one without any fatherly love or warmth, so he can go to his grave a "real" man that never "stooped" to tenderness.

M-Y

• Manipulative Bastard: He psychologically manipulates both Shay Cormac and Connor Kenway in order to recruit them into the Templars. Shay never catches on that he's being manipulated and becomes a loyal Templar. Connor sees through it and calls Haytham out on it.
• Married to the Job: Haytham is by far the most zealous and committed Templar in the entire series to the point where seems incapable of any human relationships outside of it. All of his kinder, more humane moments are purposely manipulative in order to advance the Templars in some fashion. This blows up in his face when Connor furiously calls him out over keeping his knowledge of Ziio's death from him and feigning sadness when told of it by Connor.
• Meaningful Name: Haytham is apparently an Arabic name meaning "Young Eagle", which would certain fit in with the Theme Naming of previous protagonists Altaïr and Ezio.
• The Mentor: Serves as this for Charles Lee and the Colonial Templars as a whole.
• Mighty Whitey: The early portions of III has Haytham in a similar role or at least in a subversion of the same. Haytham liberates Native American slaves, woos the beautiful Indian maiden of a Mohawk tribe and even fights alongside them during the French and Indian War, dooming the Braddock Expedition. However, despite this, he has none of the tree-running and rock-climbing skills of the Native Americans and later alienates them when Ziio understands that as a Templar he was actually using her to get into the Great Temple, which understandably she misinterprets an attempt to take over their sacred land.
• Motive Decay:
  • Haytham with some justice accuses the Assassins of this, noting that they formerly argued for peace in all things^note for which they and the Templars could have 'simply' disagreed over methods but later defaulted to simply whittling away the Templars to the exclusion of a wider role in society. However, while Connor agrees with this and mulls over a Templar-Assassin Enemy Mine, Haytham merely wants to indoctrinate his son into the Order.
  • His own motive keeps decaying as well, as noted in Assassin's Creed: Forsaken. He initially wanted to avenge his father's murder and rise in the Templar order, and then considers uniting the Assassin and the Templars upon discovering his father was an Assassin. The revelation that Reginald Birch was the man behind his father's death unleashed a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, but even after that he remained a Templar and became more bitter and violent in his old age. As a Grand Master, he works as a behind the scenes Shadow Dictator with vague goals, never explained further beyond a belief that Charles Lee should be in charge, even if Haytham admits notes the latter has no political skills and less tact — suggesting that Haytham intended to be The Man Behind the Man. He becomes a pure Templar fanatic in the end, rather than the more thoughtful young man earlier in the game and the book.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Initially he opposed this but near the end of the game, he defaults to standard Templar logic, he places very little value on any individual's life.
• Murderous Thighs: During the Siege of Bergen op Zoom he strangles an executioner's assistant with his feet before throwing him into an enemy.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Administers an epic one to Benjamin Church which leaves him in a bloody pulp while Haytham gets unhinged at the latter betraying the Templars.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Invoked by Haytham when confronting Connor:
  Haytham: The only difference, Connor - the only difference between myself and those you aid - is I do not feign affection.
• Offing the Offspring:
  • Haytham and Connor's first face-to-face meeting is anything but warm. Haytham instantly pounces on Connor and tries to murder him without hesitation.
  • In the final fight with a wounded, You Can Barely Stand Connor, an able-bodied Haytham tries to stab and kill his son and then resorts to straight-out strangling him all the while giving an Evil Gloating speech about why the Templars are so much better than the Assassins. This provokes Connor to kill him in self-defense. His final words to Connor is merely that he should have killed him a long time ago.
• Old Master: By the end of 3 he's 55, which is getting up there age-wise in Colonial America. This doesn't slow down his parkour skills or keep him from going toe to toe against his twentysomething son, only being assassinated due to getting overconfident and reckless.
• One-Man Army: Like father, like son. Vis-à-vis Edward and Connor. Though its also downplayed. In his collaboration with Connor, he was initially spotted while stalking and hiding in Church's camp and was being beaten down before Connor saved him. The latter also saved him from an ambush at the New York Brewer arranged by Church again.
• Parental Favoritism: Edward chose Haytham, over Jennifer, to learn the ways of an Assassin, which greatly strained the relationship between the half-siblings.
• Patricide: Is on the receiving end of this by Connor.
• The Paragon: Serves as one to the Colonial Templars. His funeral has a wide gathering and in terms of founding the Templar Order in America, and making it a strong force, he or more or less does for them what Ezio did for the Italian Assassins, up to and including The Purge.
• Playing Both Sides: Under his leadership the Templars back whichever faction they find most effective in terms of advancing their cause. Initially it's the British but as the Revolution takes hold Haytham starts backing the patriots instead. Even then he's perfectly willing to undermine George Washington himself in a (failed) ploy to earn Connor's trust.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Haytham's the only real Templar Grandmaster in the series who doesn't seek some MacGuffin or powerful artifact to Take Over the World and indeed he was critical of Reginald Birch's obsession for the same. Likewise Shay's experiences in Rogue only convinces him that the First Civilization artefacts are a fool's errand. He focuses on goals of building commerce, establishing and maintaining a foothold in colonial society. Notably he successfully removes the Assassins entirely as a presence in his given area, which neither Robert de Sable, Rodrigo Borgia or Torres had done. Ultimately, it was his own son that ruined his life's work.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Delivered to some thugs in a bar, in his impeccable RP accent, without raising his voice a single decibel:
  Thug: Oi! Where are you going?
  Haytham: Well, I was leaving.
  Thug: And now?
  Haytham: Now, I'm going to feed you your teeth.
• The Purge: ... initiated on Achilles' Colonial Brotherhood where Achilles is left alive in a stroke of Cruel Mercy. Thomas Hickey is shocked to discover that Connor is an Assassin when they confront each other, saying they had killed them all.
  • Indeed, in Assassin's Creed : Forsaken, Lee makes snarky comments that they had shut down the Assassins only for Haytham to ruin everything by fathering Connor with Ziio. Though Haytham points that Lee being a jerk to Connor was the real cause of that.
• Puzzle Boss He can only be defeated with one very specific move... but the game identifies this move in big text the moment the boss fight starts.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Haytham believes that Connor owes him respect solely based on the fact he fathered him; and sarcastically rebuffs any claim on the latter's part of a need to make up for lost time or reconciliation. He makes sure any declaration of pride he has for his son with his dying breath is purely professional, free of any actual fatherly love so that he remains the seemingly "bigger" man of the two.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Haytham is a Blue to the rest of the Templars and starts out as Blue to his son's Red, but as their partnership goes along, he's more reckless, hotheaded and impulsive than Connor, up to charging the Aquila into another ship so he can board Church's ship^note whereas Connor had been intending a more controlled boarding.
• Shadow Dictator: It's never clear if he had any long term goals but this seems his most likely wish. Unlike earlier Templars who tended to be Visionary Villains, Haytham cared for "order, purpose, discipline" and merely consolidating the Templar cause and suppressing the Assassins. He himself loses interest in the Grand Temple early in the game.^note Reading Forsaken explains this: By this point he's found out about Birch's duplicity and his part in his father's murder and most likely no longer cares about Birch's plot. He still believes in the Templar ideals of order, but is no longer motivated to find the Grand Temple.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Comes to believe this later in life and tries to impart this to Connor, who much to his and Lee's amazement remains a Wide-Eyed Idealist despite everything that's happened to him.
• So Proud of You: His last words to Connor has him complimenting his son in a way.
  Still, I'm proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction. Strength. Courage. All noble qualities... I should have killed you long ago.
• Strong Family Resemblance: With Connor. And also his Father, Edward. All three have similar faces but differ in more visible exterior features.
• Surrounded by Idiots: According to Forsaken, Haytham comes to view his fellow Templars as fools by the time the American Revolution starts.
  Haytham: These men - not one of them was a tenth of the man Holden had been. I was sick of them, I realized, heartily sick of them. And my feelings were about to intensify.
• Tempting Fate: During his final battle with Connor, Haytham goes on a massive rant about the superiority of the Templars and how they'll never be destroyed. Literally seconds later Connor assassinates him. Between Haytham's death and the subsequent death of Charles Lee the Colonial Templars are all but destroyed.
• Thicker Than Water: Completely Subverted. The game spends an entire sequence dedicated to Haytham and Connor undergoing Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity, baiting the audience into believing that Haytham might undergo a Heel Realization. Absolutely not. When forced to choose between the Order and his son, Haytham chooses the Order without a second thought.
• Too Dumb to Live: Haytham, who was originally trained as an Assassin by his father and even has his own Hidden Blades, seemed to not realize while pinning Connor during their final fight that leaving his arm unrestrained was a very bad idea. He pays for the mistake with his life.
• Torture Technician: Although he abhors Birch and Braddock for being this, he seems to have become one at the time of the Revolution. A surrendering British soldier asks Connor to kill him but not to take him to Fort George where Haytham seems to repurpose for "interrogating" captives. When Connor arrives there, the captives Haytham was interrogating are already dead with Haytham justifying it on Pragmatic Evil grounds that they don't have enough prison space.
• Tragic Flaw: Juhari Otso Berg believes Haytham's human sentiment often rode over the cold, rational, Templar approach, his revenge against Reginald Birch and his mercy towards Connor is especially cited by him as his chief failings.
• Tragic Villain: The greatest example in the series: A man who wanted to be The Dutiful Son and loved his family, only for his mother to more or less abandon him when she sees These Hands Have Killed when he attacks a thug who invaded their house. He becomes estranged from his sister when she finds out that he's a Templar. And then in the end, he is killed by his own son in self-defense because he'd been knowingly trying to strangle said son. All in all, life hasn't been kind to this guy.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In comparison to his father, his son, and his ally Shay, Haythem is this. All three of the other men are experienced and highly successful sailors, and quite capable of free-running through trees as well as cities, both accomplishments that Haythem never quite achieved. This makes sense, as all three were also trained completely in Assassin techniques (though Edward only received his training later in life and mostly through a copycat manner) and taught how to sail ships and win naval battles, while Haythem only received some Assassin training as a boy. Haythem is also reduced to a largely one-dimensional fighting style once the "In no condition to fight" but still dangerous Connor stabs his Hidden Blade hand, which costs him his life, as he has to use both hands to strangle Connor, leaving him open to an assassination.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: We get a glimpse of little boy Haytham at the end of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, adorably tugging at his father's sleeve so he'd get a glimpse of the stage.
• Villain Ball: Haytham withholds crucial information from Connor, that it was on George Washington's orders, not Charles Lee's, that Connor's village was burnt down that led to his mother's death only to reveal it later on in hopes of disillusioning him from both the Assassin's and Patriots. This has the opposite effect on Connor, as it only enrages him further since he realizes this proves that his father sees him as nothing more than a tool for his own means.
• Villain Takes an Interest: He was the object of Reginald Birch's designs and he has more than passing interest in bringing Connor, his own son, into the Templar fold by cold manipulation.
• Villainous Friendship: Type I, Haytham looks out for Lee's well-being and won't hear a word against him, meanwhile Lee fanboyed over Haytham in his youth and plans on enacting a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Connor for killing Haytham.
• Visual Pun: Many Character Tics and visual cues give hints that he's a Templar. One very early one is that he almost never takes off his hat except in social occasions and he doesn't have a hood (something every other playable Assassin except Aveline always has with them).
• Walking Spoiler: Despite being a major character, his whole existence was successfully(!) kept a secret from the audiences for pretty much two years and his sole appearance in some of the game reviews could be considered a major spoiler for those who have yet to play the game.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Expresses this after annihilating a slaver encampment.
• Wild Card: To the overall Assassin vs Templar war in the 1700s, in spite, and in someways because of, his place as a Templar Grandmaster. On the one hand, Haythem oversaw the near complete destruction of the Assassins in North America, and founded the New World Rite. But on the other hand, he betrayed one of his own loyal men to save his son who was already a sworn Assassin and enemy of the Templars, leading to the man's death, and he assassinated multiple members of the British Rite, starting with Braddock and ending when he slaughters Birch for the killing of his father and slavery of his sister.. He also made a command decision late in the war to support the Revolution, though not it's leaders, and allied himself with his son and the Assassins for quite some time. The net result of his actions winds up being a near Templar-less United States with a resurgent but wary and worn Assassins branch.
  • Juhani Otso Berg Lampshades this in his profile in Rogue and cites it as a reason why Haytham is less impressive as a Templar than Shay.
• Would Hurt a Child: During the Forsaken novel, Haytham threatens to cut the throat of a ten year old boy in order to get information out of his father and bluntly admits to Birch that he would have carried out the threat if the man hadn't given him what he wanted.
• You Are What You Hate: Dismisses the Assassins as being Brainwashed and Crazy by the whims of an old man — not an invalid criticism of Achilles and the Colonial Assassins depicted in Rogue — but that's exactly what had happened to him at the hands of Reginald Birch, whereas Connor had to beg and plead the by-then disaffected, contrite Achilles to take him in.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Unlike Connor, who prefers to let others go after interrogation, Haytham will simply kill them off after he's done or if he thinks they have nothing useful to tell him. This is apparently because he's unwilling to bother with prisoner maintenance.
  • He shows this in Rogue, in a scene of Haytham grabbing a criminal's collar with the latter's back against the wall for information. The criminal hesitates to talk, but Shay notes that Haytham will kill him if he doesn't. Haytham then proceeds to kill him with a hidden blade after he complies, with blood squirting in Shay's eye and cheek.

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