Sunday, 14 February 2021 19:10

Assassin's Creed: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Assassins

Written by Rhett Roxl
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The Assassin Brotherhood of Assassin's Creed holds many secrets, but players need a keen eye to catch them all. Here's what you need to know.

The Assassin Brotherhood is the principal organization that acts as the heroes in the world of the Assassin's Creed franchise. They are the sworn enemies of the Templar Order. Both groups technically have the same goal, which is to save humanity, but their means and ideologies couldn't be further apart from one another.

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The only thing more interesting about this enigmatic organization is its history. Forever serving under the cover of darkness, the outside world knows very little about the Assassin Brotherhood. Thankfully, players are given a little more information in helpful kernels throughout the games. However, despite playing an assassin in-game, there are still a couple of things about the organization hidden to the players.

10 Adam And Eve's Rebellion

Long time fans of the Assassin's Creed series will no doubt understand the significance of Adam and Eve's mythology in this world. While Adam and Eve aren't technically assassins themselves, their actions are seen by the Assassins Brotherhood as in-line with theirs. Thus, Adam and Eve are considered the first proto-assassins.

Adam and Eve are human-Isu hybrids. They led the fight against their creators for the sake of freedom. They then stole an Apple of Eden, an artifact the Isu used to control humans.

9 The First Use Of The Hidden Blade

The Hidden Blade is an assassin's ultimate weapon. It is a part of who they are as the perfect concealable weapon for killers who work both in the dark and in plain sight.

The very first documented use of the Hidden Blade was during the 5th century BCE. Those who played the DLC for Assassin's Creed Odyssey witnessed this event first-hand. It was the moment when Darius assassinated King Xerxes I. Although this was its first recorded use, it is unknown if it was Darius himself who invented the Hidden Blade.

8 Why Early Assassins Amputated Their Ring Finger

The brotherhood's early practice of amputating their ring finger can be traced back to when Bayek of Siwa accidentally severed his ring finger as he assassinated a member of the Order of the Ancients using the Hidden Blade. Although the blade can function without the severance of the ring finger, this later became a means of commitment and an initiation into the brotherhood.

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However, the custom was later stopped when early assassins became easily recognizable by their severed ring fingers. This forced the brotherhood to improve the blade's mechanism, which was done so by Altair.

7 Nothing Is True

The brotherhood's tenet, which dictates "nothing is true," is stemmed from the idea that true or full objectivity is unreachable. Any singular truth that is adapted to a universal scale is unrealistic and impossible. This drives the theory behind the Brotherhood's tenet which implies "one can only know that one knows nothing." Interestingly, the Isu Juno believed this to be a defect present in all humans.

The assassin, Altair, fully believed in this ideology to a point that he sees it as hypocrisy, for if "nothing is true," then how come the Creed operates in a set of beliefs? Edward Kenway, on the other hand, believes this tenet to be a working theory rather than an established belief.

6 Initiation Into The Brotherhood

There are two ways someone can be inducted into the brotherhood of assassins. The first way is to be born into it. A few examples of this are Ezio, Altair, and Desmond Miles. Their parents were assassins, and therefore, so were they when they grew up. The other way is through recruitment.

Regardless of the means of initiation, all assassins must undergo a series of tests and training before they can become fully-fledged members. The tests will often include assassination contracts and other missions to further benefit the goals of the brotherhood.

5 Respect For The Dead

The assassins had immense respect for the departed, both allies and enemies. When an assassin passed away, they would often be buried in proper crypts and large tombs, especially those the brotherhood considers to be the greatest assassins, like Altair and Ezio.

When Ezio Auditore refused to respect the corpse of his fallen enemy, one who had been his longtime rival, his uncle Mario, a fellow assassin, reprimanded him. If the situation is appropriate, assassins would perform last rites for those that fall prey to their blades.

4 Various Specializations

Contrary to popular belief, not all assassins fall under the archetype of being able to freerun, jump off from tall heights, and kill from the shadows. The brotherhood often has various classes, and each fill a vital role, though the archetype would remain to be the most common one. In the modern era, these types of assassins would come to be known as "field operatives."

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Other assassin classes include herbalists, tricksters, thieves, rioters, and in the modern age, historians, analysts, and computer technicians.

3 Early Iterations Of The Brotherhood

The origins of the Assassins Brotherhood go way back even before they were even called "assassins." Early Roman assassins called themselves Liberalis Circulum, or Circle of Liberals. However, the first official iteration of the assassins was the organization formed by Bayek and Aya, the Hidden Ones.

Prior to the conception of the Hidden Ones, however, there were already groups who fought against proto-Templar organizations. Darius and Kassandra spent their lives battling the Order of the Ancients long before the Hidden Ones was formed.

2 The Other Enemy Of The Assassins Brotherhood

It is a well-established fact that the main enemies of the Assassins Brotherhood are the Templar Order. There is, however, another organization that has become an equal danger for the brotherhood to consider. This organization is known as the Instruments of the First Will.

The Instruments of the First Will is a cult bent on reviving the Isus, as they believe they deserve to rule over mankind once again. This cult consists of former members of both the Assassins Brotherhood and the Templar Order.

1 Lesser-Known Assassins

The Assassin's Creed franchise is filled with historical figures who turned out to be assassins themselves. Some of the more talked about historical figures in the series who are assassins, or at least affiliated with the brotherhood, are Leonardo da Vinci, Caterina Sforza, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Charles Darwin.

Aside from the more known ones, there are also many prominent figures many don't know are also assassins. Some of the lesser-known assassins in this franchise are Marco Polo, Dante Alighieri, Ulysses S. Grant, Nikola Tesla, and Queen Elizabeth I.

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