Assassin's Creed Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

Bartholomew Roberts

2014-07-31T17:53:40Z

62.162.179.19:

{{Era|AC4|ACI|4book}}
{{WP-REAL}}
{{Quote|For I have dipped my hands in muddied waters, and, withdrawing them, find 'tis better to be a commander than a common man!|Bartholomew Roberts to his crew, on becoming a captain, 1719.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
{{Character Infobox
|image = AC4 Bartholomew Roberts.png
|birth = 17 May 1682 Castell Newydd Bach (Little Newcastle), {{Wiki|Wales}}, [[United Kingdom|Kingdom of England]]
|death = 10 February 1722 (aged 39) Near [[Príncipe]], [[Africa]]
|affiliates = [[Laurens Prins]] (c. 1715 – 1717) [[Royal African Company]] (1717 - 1719) [[Edward Kenway]] (1719) Crew of the ''[[Royal Fortune]]''
|appear = ''[[Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag]]'' [[Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (novel)|''Black Flag'' novel]]
|voice = [[Oliver Milburn]]}}
'''Bartholomew Roberts''' (1682 – 1722), born '''John Roberts''', was a [[United Kingdom|Welsh]] [[Piracy|pirate]] and [[Sages|Sage]], who raided [[ships]] in the [[Caribbean]] and on the West [[Africa]]n coast between 1719 and 1722. He plays a major role in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag.

He is regarded by many historians to be the most successful pirate of all time, judging by the number of ships taken and the amount of goods stolen. For his actions, he earned the moniker '''Black Bart''', although the name was never used in his lifetime.

==Biography==
===Early life===
{{Quote|I always fancied it should have a placard at its borders: "Welcome to Casnewydd-Bach, the town you have just passed."|Bartholomew Roberts regarding his home town, 1719.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
John Roberts was born in 1682 in Castell Newydd Bach. It is commonly assumed that he went to sea around the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an experienced sailor.

===Imprisonment by Templars===
The [[Templars|Templar Order]] located Roberts sometime in 1715, in [[Spain|Spanish]] lands in South America, and subsequently took him to [[Havana]]. The [[Assassins|Assassin]] [[Mentor]] [[Ah Tabai]] caught wind of the capture and sent his finest student, [[Duncan Walpole]], to free Roberts and bring him to the Assassin city of [[Tulum]]. However, Walpole had secretly turned traitor to the Brotherhood and abandoned his mission.

Roberts eventually arrived in Havana, where he was imprisoned in the estate of [[Laureano de Torres y Ayala]]. Torres, his fellow Templars [[Woodes Rogers]] and [[Julien du Casse]], along with [[Edward Kenway]] – who had killed Walpole and taken his identity – met Roberts at the Havana docks before taking him to the prison.

In transit, he managed to break free when the Templars were attacked by Assassins sent by Ah Tabai, but was chased down by Kenway and escorted to Torres' estate. He was moved later that same day, but escaped soon after and took to the sea.

===Slaving in Kingston and Príncipe===
In 1717, the Templars learned that Roberts had been recaptured by a [[Kingston]]-based [[Slavery|slaver]] named [[Laurens Prins]]. Prins had indeed encountered Roberts, but had actually employed him, allowing him to stay in his Kingston estate while planning to sell him out to the Templars.

Kenway, acting on information given by his fellow pirates, confronted Torres and devised a plan to have the Templar Grand Master meet with Prins in Kingston and lead Kenway to Roberts. However, Prins detected Kenway and the Assassin [[Mary Read]] and managed to flee back to his mansion.

When Kenway infiltrated Prins' estate and killed him in his gardens, Roberts appeared, declaring that Prins had been his employer instead of his jailer. Shooting an alarm bell to alert guards to Kenway's presence, Roberts escaped once more. Afterwards, he took to working aboard a merchant ship of [[Barbados|Barbadian]] origin.

===Piracy===
{{Quote|In honest service there are thin commons, low wages, and hard labour. Yet as gentlemen of fortune we enjoy plenty and satisfaction, pleasure and ease, liberty and power... so what man with a sensible mind would choose the former life, when the only hazard we pirates run is a sour look from those without strength or splendor?|Bartholomew Roberts to his crew, before his first voyage as a pirate, 1719.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
[[File:Trust is Earned 4.png|thumb|250px|left|Edward meeting Roberts in Príncipe]]
Roberts eventually began working on board a slave ship called the ''[[Princess]]'', captained by Abraham Plumb; this ship made regular trips between Kingston and the Portuguese colony of [[Príncipe]] roughly every eight weeks. When the ship was captured by the Welsh pirate [[Howell Davis]], Roberts chose to become a pirate himself. On 19 June 1719, Davis was killed in a Templar-orchestrated ambush at Príncipe, forcing Roberts to go into hiding.

Approached by Kenway once again, the two struck a deal: Kenway would free Roberts' imprisoned crew and kill the Templars [[John Cockram]] and [[Josiah Burgess]], in exchange for Roberts leading him to the [[First Civilization]] site known as the [[Observatory]]; Kenway did as he was asked, recapturing the ''Princess'' in the process. Roberts then gave a speech to his crew, declaring his intentions to sail as a pirate, and the two captains returned to the West Indies.

In the following months, Roberts made a name for himself by taking ships and making a fortune. He kept his crew to high standards with an [[Pirate code of Bartholomew Roberts|eleven-part creed]]; it discouraged gambling on the ship, required the men to keep their equipment in good working order, and provided that pirates should live their lives as fully as possible and die before they became weak and old, vulnerable to having their power stripped from them: a philosophy he summed up with the words "a merry life and a short one."

[[File:Black Bart's Gambit 1.png|thumb|250px|Roberts on his ship]]
Roberts and Kenway met again off the coast of the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], where they infiltrated a Portuguese camp to steal First Civilization [[Blood vials|crystal vials]] that had been imbued with the blood of both pirates and Templars alike. After completing the heist and commandeering the Portuguese flagship, ''Nosso Senhor da Compreensão'', Roberts renamed her to the ''[[Royal Fortune]]''. Afterwards, Kenway killed his former comrade [[Benjamin Hornigold]], who had allied himself with the Templars, to ensure the pirates were not followed, before meeting Roberts again at [[Long Bay]], on the northern shore of [[Jamaica]]. The two went ashore with four of Roberts's crew in search of the Observatory.

===The Observatory===
{{Quote|Dirty and decrepit. Not quite as I remember. But it has been over 80 millennia.|Bartholomew Roberts, on the Observatory, 1719.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
Edward cleared the jungle of its protective [[Guardians]] while Roberts and his crew followed until they reached the Observatory's door. Upon opening it with an incantation, Roberts suddenly shot his four crewmen dead, telling Kenway he did it to save them from the insanity that was sure to follow if they entered the building. However, he believed that Edward could handle the secrets stored within, and instructed him to take up the case of blood vials before they made their way inside.

Roberts informed Kenway of his past as a Sage and his new life as a pirate, including his pirate's creed, as they made their way deeper into the Observatory. He commented on the complex being in much worse condition than what it had been when he last saw it eighty millennia ago, although he still knew how to deactivate the building's security measures once inside.

[[File:The Observatory 10.png|thumb|250px|left|Roberts operating the Crystal Skull]]
In the Observatory's antechamber, Roberts showed Kenway exactly what its purpose was, using the blood vials they had taken from the Portuguese and inserting them into a [[Crystal Skulls|Crystal Skull]] set into the centerpiece of a golden armillary sphere. Soon, the machine began to operate, projecting the vision and hearing of the individual whose blood was in the vial - a near perfect method of spying on anyone in the world; this was demonstrated as both Roberts and Kenway surveyed through the eyes and ears of [[Jack Rackham]] and Woodes Rogers.

Although Kenway agreed with Roberts that the Observatory would be too powerful for the Templars to have control of, Roberts had a different plan on how to stop them - by removing the skull, rendering the Observatory inoperable. He then kicked Edward over a ledge and into the water below, remarking that there was no part of his creed that forbade betrayal.

[[File:The Observatory 15.png|thumb|250px|Roberts capturing Edward]]
Roberts returned to the shore, but was surprised to see a severely wounded Kenway struggling across the beach. After a brief fight, Kenway collapsed; the Sage commented that it would be more profitable to claim the bounty on Kenway's head than to kill him, and turned him over to the British authorities.

===Death===
{{Quote|A merry life and a short one, as promised. How well I know myself.|Bartholomew Roberts reciting his motto, 1722.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
Over the next two years Roberts captured hundreds of ships, earning the attention of both the British and [[Spanish Navy|Spanish navies]] as well as the Templars; he was forced to retreat to Príncipe, where he was found by Kenway. Roberts attempted to flee aboard the ''Royal Fortune'', keeping the ''[[Jackdaw]]'' at bay with mortar fire and fire barrels, before moving into open waters where Spanish and British forces engaged him.

[[File:Royal Misfortune 6.png|thumb|250px|left|Bartholomew's final moments]]
Eventually the ''Royal Fortune'' was disabled by the ''Jackdaw'' and boarded. There, Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Kenway fought one another, with Kenway emerging the eventual victor, having impaled Roberts with a [[Rope darts|rope dart]].

Roberts first noted the aptness of his motto before remarking that he may have misjudged Kenway, and perhaps he was indeed the one '[[Juno|she]]' had sought. Roberts expressed regret that he did not have the time to open the door to the [[Grand Temple|Temple]], confusing Edward, who demanded he make some sense. Roberts requested that Edward destroy his body in order to prevent the Templars' from gaining anything from it, and passed away. Edward then complied with his final request.

==Trivia==
*Roberts could be seen wearing a portrait necklace, depicting a visage of a woman, identical to the one worn by [[John]], one of Aita's later incarnations.
*Roberts acquired his outfit from Howell Davis, the ''Princess''' former captain, after the latter's death at Príncipe.

==Gallery==
<gallery captionalign="center" position="center" spacing="small" widths="180">
Concept Art - Black Bart.jpg|Concept art of Bartholomew Roberts
A Man They Call The Sage 3.png|Governor Torres questioning Roberts
A Man They Call The Sage 6.png|An Assassin attempting to liberate Roberts in Havana
Unmanned 9.png|Roberts holding Mary Read at gunpoint
Trust is Earned 8.png|Roberts accepting the position of captain
Trust is Earned 10.png|Roberts requesting aid from Edward
Black Bart's Gambit 11.png|Edward and Roberts discussing creeds and laws
The Observatory 1.png|Edward, Adéwalé, and Roberts in Long Bay
The Observatory 9.png|Roberts and Edward watching the Observatory's projections
The Observatory 11.png|Roberts showing the Crystal Skull to Edward
Royal Misfortune 5.png|Roberts facing Edward aboard the ''Royal Fortune
</gallery>

==Reference==
*''[[Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag]]''
{{AC4}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Bartholomew}}
[[Category:1682 births]]
[[Category:1722 deaths]]
[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Welshmen]]
[[Category:Navigators]]
[[Category:Pirates]]
[[Category:Captains]]
[[Category:Sages]]
[[Category:Individuals who held Pieces of Eden]]

Duncan Walpole

2014-07-27T01:13:49Z

62.162.179.19:

{{Era|AC4|4book|Assassins}}
{{Dialogue2|Ah Tabai|Where is the Assassin, Duncan Walpole?|Edward|Dead and buried, after he tried to kill me.|We are not sorry to see him gone, but it was you who carried out his final betrayal.|Ah Tabai and Edward Kenway discussing Duncan Walpole's betrayal and fate, 1716.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
{{Character Infobox
|image = AC4 Duncan Walpole render.png
|birth = 1679 {{Wiki|Houghton, Norfolk|Houghton}}, [[United Kingdom|Kingdom of England]]
|death = June 1715 [[Cape Bonavista]], [[Cuba]], {{Wiki|New Spain}}
 Killed by Edward Kenway
|hidep =
|affiliates = [[Royal Navy]] [[Assassins]] [[Templars]]
|hider =
|appear = ''[[Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag]]'' [[Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (novel)|''Black Flag'' novel]]
|voice = }}
'''Duncan Walpole''' (1679 – 1715) was a [[Master Assassin]]<ref name="Encyclopedia">''[[Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia]]''</ref> of the [[United Kingdom|British]] Brotherhood of [[Assassins]] during the early 18th century. Skilled but arrogant, Duncan later chose to betray his Order and join the [[Templars]] of the [[Caribbean|West Indies]].

==Biography==
===Early life===
The second cousin of [[Robert Walpole]], Britain's "first {{Wiki|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister}}", Duncan's early life was one of relative comfort and ease. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the [[Royal Navy]] as a mid-shipman, hoping to become a naval officer. However, Duncan's impulsive nature and immoderate temper prevented him from rising quickly through the ranks, causing him to become frustrated with his progress.<ref name="AC4">''[[Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag]]''</ref>

After three years, Duncan gave up on the navy and instead sought his fortune with the {{Wiki|East India Company}}. There, he befriended a sailor, who introduced Duncan to the Assassin Order and its teachings. Although wary at first, Duncan soon grew to serve the Order with a fervor and drive he had not known in the navy.<ref name="AC4" />

===Betraying the Assassins===
{{Quote|I accept your most generous offer, and await your arrival with eagerness. If you truly possess the information we desire, we have the means to reward you handsomely [...] Therefore, come to Havana in haste... And trust that you shall be welcomed as a brother.|Torres inviting Duncan to Havana, 1715.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
Duncan's reputation increased along with his skills, though his impulsiveness and temper - coupled with a growing arrogance - continued to be liabilities and often led him to clash with the senior members of the British Brotherhood.<ref name="AC4" /> Disappointed to find neither glory nor fortune with the Assassins, Duncan's loyalty to the Order faltered, which was taken advantage of by the British Templars, who eventually succeeded in turning Duncan to their cause.<ref name="Encyclopedia" />

In 1714, Duncan was asked by his [[Mentor]] to sail to the West Indies and meet [[Ah Tabai]], the leader of the local Brotherhood. Seeing an opportunity to sabotage the Assassins' operation and officially join the Templars, Duncan eagerly accepted the position and departed within the month.<ref name="AC4" />

Arriving in early 1715, Duncan requested to train under Ah Tabai, utilizing the next few months to integrate himself into the local Brotherhood and gather valuable information about the locations of various [[Assassin bureau]]s in the area. In secret, Duncan also began corresponding with [[Laureano de Torres y Ayala]], the [[Spain|Spanish]] Governor of [[Cuba]] and the [[Grand Master]] of the Templar Order in the West Indies. The pair arranged to meet in [[Havana]], where Duncan would be officially inducted.<ref name="AC4" />

Around June, Ah Tabai learnt that the Templars had imprisoned a [[Sages|Sage]] in the southern Spanish colonies and entrusted Duncan with the task of intercepting the Templar [[Ships|ship]] that was carrying the captive. Seizing his chance to abandon the Assassins, Duncan agreed to this task and departed on a [[frigate]] called [[HMS Intrigue|HMS ''Intrigue'']], setting sail for Havana to join Torres.<ref name="AC4" />

===Death===
{{Dialogue2|Duncan|I can pay you. Isn't that the sound you pirates like best? One hundred escudos.|Edward|Keep talking.|Will you or won't you!|Duncan attempting to enlist Edward's help, 1715.|Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag}}
However, while en route, HMS ''Intrigue'' attacked a [[Piracy|pirate]] [[brig]], the ''[[Jacobite]]'', which was captained by [[Abel Bramah]]. The pirates managed to de-mast the frigate, but soon found that their own weapon magazine had been hit. Boarding the ship, Duncan assassinated the captain, but was thrown overboard by the magazine's explosion.<ref name="AC4" />

[[File:Edward Kenway Memory 10.png|thumb|250px|left|Edward haggling with Duncan]]
Shipwrecked in [[Cape Bonavista]], Cuba, Duncan attempted to enlist the aid of the only other survivor, the pirate [[Edward Kenway]], in reaching Havana. Edward attempted to haggle the price of passage, but Duncan threatened him with a [[Firearms|flintlock pistol]] in response, only to find that it was unable to fire due to wet gunpowder; Duncan subsequently fled into the jungle, and Edward gave chase. During this chase, the gunpowder in Duncan's flintlock dried, allowing the Assassin turncoat to shoot Edward once with his flintlock, angering the pirate who would eventually duel and kill him.<ref name="AC4" />

On Duncan's corpse, Edward found a letter from Torres, referencing the cargo Duncan was bringing to him: a [[Blood vials|blood vial]] and maps pertaining to the locations of Assassin bureaus across the Caribbean. Edward chose to assume Duncan's identity and collect the reward for himself, unknowingly plunging headlong into the secret war between the Templars and the Assassins.<ref name="AC4" />

==Trivia==
*In one of his letters to Torres, Duncan reportedly expressed his desire to kill Ah Tabai, though he evidently did not succeed in carrying out this intention before his departure.
*Duncan at one point met [[Woodes Rogers]]' wife, who described him to her husband as "devilishly handsome".

==Gallery==
<gallery captionalign="center" position="center" spacing="small" widths="180">
Duncan Walpole - Concept Art.jpg|Concept art of Duncan
Edward Kenway Memory 2.png|Duncan aboard HMS ''Intrigue''
Edward Kenway Memory 20.png|Duncan assassinating Abel Bramah
Edward Kenway Memory 5.png|Duncan aboard the ''Jacobite''
Edward Kenway Memory 21.png|Duncan and Edward's first meeting
Edward Kenway Memory 11.png|Duncan threatening Edward
Edward Kenway Memory 12.png|Edward dragging Duncan's corpse
Edward Kenway Memory 15.png|Edward hiding Duncan's body
</gallery>

==Reference==
{{Reflist}}
{{AC4}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Duncan}}
[[Category:1679 births]]
[[Category:1715 deaths]]
[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Englishmen]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel]]
[[Category:Master Assassins]]
[[Category:Assassin turncoats]]