Pierre Bellec

"We mired ourselves in politics and revolutions. But we're not a nation. We're an army. And in an army, 'making peace with the enemy' is called 'treason.'"

―Bellec justifying his murder of the French Mentor Mirabeau to Arno Dorian, 1791.

Pierre Bellec (1741 – 1791) was a French-Canadian Master Assassin and a former colonial soldier. After training with the Colonial Assassins during the Seven Years' War and surviving the Templars' purge, Bellec traveled to France and joined the Parisian Assassins, working his way up their ranks and eventually taking a seat on the Assassin Council that governed over the Brotherhood.

In 1789, at the onset of the French Revolution, Bellec met Arno Dorian, the son of his late former pupil, Charles Dorian. After escaping from the Bastille together during its storming, Bellec convinced Arno to join the Assassins and, over the following two years, trained him in the Brotherhood's ways. Although Arno had a tendency to disobey orders, which frustrated the rest of the Council, Bellec saw great potential in the young man.

In 1791, Arno attempted to secure an alliance between the Assassins and the Templar Élise de la Serre, who had been overthrown by François-Thomas Germain's extremist faction. The Brotherhood's Mentor, Honoré de Mirabeau, was supportive of the idea of a truce, which led Bellec to secretly poison him and attempt to frame Élise for the crime.

When Arno discovered the truth and confronted him, Bellec justified his actions as necessary to save the Brotherhood from what he saw as weakness by "making peace with the enemy". He then tried to convince his apprentice to join him in his quest to rebuild the Assassins stronger than before, but Arno was unmoved. In the ensuing fight, he met his end at Arno's Hidden Blade.

Biography

Early life

"I've seen Templars put entire villages to the sword, just for the chance of killing one Assassin!"

―Bellec recounting his experiences during the Colonial Assassin purge, 1791.

Bellec was born in New France in 1741, although his family's roots were from Belgium. Shortly after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, he joined the French colonial militia at the age of 16. Serving with a certain level of distinction, he earned a commendation for valor after participating in the Battle of Fort Bull. Around this time, he discovered his Assassin lineage and joined the Colonial Brotherhood. After becoming a corporal, he was careful not to rise in the ranks, being a more useful asset as a low-ranking soldier.

As the war raged on, the Templars initiated a purge against the Colonial Assassins, during which Bellec witnessed them committing ruthless acts. He claimed to have seen Templars massacring entire villages for the chance of eliminating a single Assassin. These experiences deepened Bellec's already intense hatred for the Templars and made him resistant to the very idea of a truce. In 1762, he left the militia and traveled to France, escaping the purge just before the Colonial Assassins' remnants were crushed entirely.

Activities in Paris

Charles: "Thank you, my friend."

Bellec: "Got to get you back to that boy of yours in one piece, don't we pisspot?"

—Bellec to Charles Dorian after saving him during a mission, 1770s.

Bellec settled in Paris and joined the local Brotherhood, eventually rising through its ranks to become a Master Assassin and a member of the Assassin Council. He was charged with training new apprentices and became a tutor to Charles Dorian. While on a mission, Charles was locked in a swordfight with a Templar, only to be saved when his teacher assassinated the Templar from above. Bellec then returned Charles' pocketwatch which had fallen, telling him that he needed to return home to his son safely.

In December 1776, the American Templar Shay Cormac assassinated Charles in the Palace of Versailles to take possession of a Precursor box that Charles had been entrusted with. For the next several years, Bellec had himself arrested numerous times in order to explore the prisons across Paris for mysterious glyphs containing cryptic messages of the past.

Meeting Arno Dorian

Bellec: "You stick with me, and you might just live long enough to join the Brotherhood, honor your father's memory."

Arno: "Listen, I'm sure your little cult is a delightful bunch, but I'm not interested."

—Bellec and Arno upon their first meeting, 1789.

Bellec meeting Arno in the Bastille

By May 1789, Bellec had managed to have himself imprisoned in the Bastille. At that time, a young man was thrown in his cell, accused of murder. While the young man slept, Bellec found Charles' watch on his person and realized he was Charles' son, Arno. When Arno awoke and discovered his watch missing, Bellec challenged him to duel him for it. The duel came to an abrupt end when Arno told Bellec to return to the glyphs in the corner.

Realizing that Arno possessed Eagle Vision which allowed him to see the glyphs, Bellec returned Charles' watch to him and explained that his father had been an Assassin. He then spent two months training Arno in combat and teaching him about the Assassins and Templars. He also mentored the young man on how to use his Eagle Vision.

Bellec beckoning Arno to join the Brotherhood

On 14 July, the Bastille was stormed by revolutionaries, and Bellec and Arno took the opportunity to escape. Fighting their way through several guards and climbing to the top of the prison, they reached the edge of the battlements. When Bellec instructed Arno to jump into the moat below, the latter deemed him insane, but Bellec claimed that performing impossible feats was a purview of every Assassin. He then gave Arno a medallion, saying it would lead him to the Brotherhood, and demonstrated a Leap of Faith by jumping into the moat.

Surrounded by guards, Arno followed Bellec's example and performed the Leap himself to escape. Although Arno had no interest in joining the Assassins at first, he eventually decided to accept Bellec's invite after a few weeks. Using the medallion, he was able to find and access the Brotherhood's headquarters underneath the Sainte-Chapelle, against Bellec's expectations.

Bellec greeting Arno in the Sanctuary

Bellec greeted Arno inside the Assassin hideout and brought him before the Council, where he witnessed his initiation into the Brotherhood and vouched for him when the other Council members doubted Arno's reasoning for wishing to join the Assassins. After the ceremony, Bellec gave Arno a Hidden Blade and took him under his wing as his disciple, continuing to train him over the following two years.

Mentoring Arno

Bellec: "Patriots. These imbeciles will pick a fight with anyone. Try not to draw their attention."

Arno: "Shouldn't we stop them?"

Bellec: "Stop them, avoid them, it doesn't matter. There's always more fanatics. You can't save everyone, pisspot."

—Bellec and Arno discussing the revolutionary extremists, 1791.

On 4 January 1791, Bellec and Arno traveled to the Conciergerie to spy on a meeting between two Templars: Charles Gabriel Sivert and Arpinon. After Sivert left, Bellec assassinated Arpinon and recovered a ledger of Templar records from his body. When Arno expressed his desire to pursue and eliminate Sivert for his role in the murder of his adoptive father François de la Serre, Bellec explained that Sivert was not their target for the day and that the Council was expecting their report.

Bellec assassinating Arpinon

Arno followed Bellec back to the Assassin headquarters, where they presented the ledger to the Council. Bellec then criticized Mentor Mirabeau for his truce with the Templars, prompting Guillaume Beylier and Sophie Trenet to remind Mirabeau that the truce was with de la Serre, who had been dead for almost two years by that point. Arno interjected, informing the Council of Sivert's presence and eventually gaining Mirabeau's blessing to eliminate the Templar.

Bellec subsequently accompanied his apprentice to the Notre-Dame, where Sivert was set to meet with his associate Duchesneau. Although he would not assist him during the assassination, Bellec nonetheless gave Arno advice on how to carry it out. He told him to exploit opportunities to reach his target and that, should all other approaches fail, he could always confront his target head-on and kill him at the cost of his own life, as was the way during the Levantine era.

Arno reporting to Bellec and the rest of the Council

Following Arno's successful assassination of Sivert, he reported back to the Council, informing them that Sivert had an accomplice who had helped him murder de la Serre: the Roi des Thunes. Bellec then gave Arno a Phantom Blade before his apprentice was tasked by Mirabeau with finding and eliminating the Roi des Thunes. However, during his investigation, Arno learned of an alleged plot to attack the Brotherhood and killed who he believed to be the mastermind behind it: Chrétien Lafrenière.

After discovering, too late, that Lafrenière was in fact innocent, Arno reported to the Council, who angrily confronted him over his rash actions. Mirabeau calmed Bellec and the others down and allowed Arno to continue his investigation and learn who was leading the Templars following de la Serre's death.

Poisoning Mirabeau

Bellec: "So you're really going through with this?"

Mirabeau: "Your protégé vouches for her. Don't you trust him?"

Bellec: "With my life. It's the girl I don't trust. Nothing I can say to convince you?"

Mirabeau: "I'm afraid not."

—Bellec and Mirabeau shortly before the latter's death, 1791.

Élise appearing before the Council

In April 1791, Arno brought his adoptive sister, de la Serre's daughter Élise, before the Council to request their aid, as she had been overthrown by her father's former lieutenant, François-Thomas Germain. Bellec and most of the Council strongly objected to the alliance but were paid no heed by Mirabeau, who sought peace with the Templars.

Fed up with Mirabeau's pacifistic views, Bellec threatened an apothecary in exchange for aconite, a deadly poison. Bellec then met with Mirabeau to discuss the truce and, realizing he could not change the Mentor's mind, snuck the aconite into Mirabeau's drink. Once Mirabeau drank the poisoned wine, Bellec gave the Mentor his final rites and placed a Templar pin under his pillow in an attempt to frame Élise for the crime.

Death

"Do it. If you've got an ounce of conviction and you're not just a love-addled milksop, you'll kill me now. Because I won't stop. I will kill her. To save the Brotherhood, I'd see Paris burn."

―Bellec's dying words to Arno, 1791.

Arno eventually tracked Bellec to the Sainte-Chapelle, where the Master Assassin tried to justify his actions, claiming that he was only following the examples of Assassins in Masyaf, Monteriggioni, and the Thirteen Colonies in purging the old order to rebuild it with greater strength, power and conviction. Bellec then tried to convince Arno to join his cause, but his apprentice refused. To this, Bellec claimed that it was a "pity" and, though heartbroken, attempted to kill Arno to stop him interfering with his plans.

Arno killing Bellec

Arno managed to gain the upper hand in the fight and threw his mentor into the chapel, gravely injuring him in the process. When Élise arrived, Bellec, believing she was the source of Arno's "weakness", tried to shoot her, claiming that Arno would thank him one day. However, his apprentice stopped him by firing his Phantom Blade into his wrist and eventually succeeded in mortally wounding Bellec.

With his dying words, Bellec urged Arno to finish him off as it was the only way to stop him. His apprentice complied and stabbed Bellec with his Hidden Blade, in the process witnessing his memories, including his poisoning of Mirabeau and him rescuing his father Charles during a mission. Arno then gave Bellec his last rites and left his lifeless body in the Saint-Chapelle, where it was eventually discovered by priests who took notice of his "strange garb."

Legacy

According to Shaun Hastings, Bellec has become a highly controversial figure among Assassin historians, so much that claiming his poisoning of Mirabeau had been justified or not was enough to start a fight.

Personality and traits

Bellec: "Peace with the Templars is a fairy tale!"

Arno: "And you're the only one who can "save the Brotherhood?""

Bellec: "Do you think it's the first time this's happened? The first time that the Assassins have been forced to purge their leadership? The first time that the Order has been forced to build itself back up from nothing to power?"

—Bellec trying to justify his actions to Arno, 1791.

Bellec telling Arno about the revolutionary extremists

Pierre Bellec was a grizzled and argumentative individual, known for possessing a rather crude sense of humor, often addressing people with the derogatory term "pisspot" (though he did so affectionately in the case of Charles and Arno Dorian). Although he was passionately loyal to the cause, his view on the Assassins' philosophy was rather simplistic, bordering on fanatical. He refused to allow peace with the Templars no matter the cost, even technically betraying the Creed by poisoning Mirabeau and threatening the life of an innocent to do so. He also showed sympathies with the Jacobins.

A loyal Assassin, Bellec scolded Arno when the latter pursued targets without the consent of the Assassin Council, even if he himself approved of the young man's actions. In reverence to the Levantine Brotherhood's history and influence, Bellec was able to speak Arabic to some extent.

Bellec's radical views on the conflict between the Assassins and Templars culminated in his poisoning of Mirabeau in order to prevent peace between the two factions. In contrast to this act of murder, he believed himself to be the successor of other Assassins who managed to rebuild the Brotherhood after it had undergone defeat and disaster, as Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore, and Ratonhnhaké:ton had done. He also planned to poison the other Council members to ensure that they did not pursue Mirabeau's plan, even though they had shared his reluctance in accepting a truce with Élise de la Serre.

Despite his coarse attitude, there was a softer side to Bellec's personality. He trusted Arno like he did with the latter's father, but believed that he was influenced by the wrong kind of people. Before he died, he admitted his respect for Arno and his decision, and urged him to kill him in order to strengthen his conviction. He even stated his opinions to Mirabeau that he trusted Arno with his own life, but he did not trust Élise.

Skills and equipment

Bellec training Arno

Bellec was a highly skilled Master Assassin, having been trained by the Brotherhood from a young age and serving as a soldier in the French Army. Because of this, he was proficient in unarmed combat, swordsmanship and freerunning—skills he would later tutor Arno in—along with pickpocketing and lockpicking. In terms of equipment, Bellec was armed with a Hidden Blade, smoke bombs, a sword, and a pistol.

Bellec was implied to possess the extra-sensory ability known as Eagle Vision, as he was able to see hidden glyphs only visible to those who had the Vision. He was also extremely knowledgeable about it and taught Arno how to properly use his Vision.

Behind the scenes

Pierre Bellec is a character introduced in the 2014 video game Assassin's Creed: Unity, where he was portrayed by the Canadian actor Anthony Lemke.

Equipment

Bellec's outfit becomes available for Arno to wear after completing the memory "Confrontation". This makes Bellec one of the few characters in the franchise whose robes appear as a legacy outfit in the same game in which they were introduced.

Bellec's Assassin robes are identical to those worn by members of the Parisian Brotherhood, albeit with a different color scheme. There are also some notable differences between the robes he wears and the set Arno receives upon killing him; namely, Bellec's have a hooded cloak and only one glove.

Possibly as a result of his prior military service, Bellec is the only member of the Assassin Council to carry a sword. He is also, oddly, the only one of their number to wield a Hidden Blade, and despite being a Master Assassin, Bellec is never seen with his hood on.

Etymology

Pierre is a French form of Peter, which is derived from the Greek word πέτρος (petros) meaning "stone" or "rock". Bellec is a patronymic surname, which has the Brittonic beleg, meaning "priest", as its origin.

Gallery

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  Concept art of Bellec
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  Close-up of Bellec's face
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  Bellec showing the glyphs to Arno
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  Bellec outfitting Arno with a Hidden Blade
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  Bellec and Arno preparing to infiltrate the Conciergerie
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  Bellec instructing Arno prior to Sivert's assassination

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment – Employee Handbook (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
• Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)