Arno Dorian

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"Not a grant of permission, the Creed is a warning. Ideals too easily give way to dogma. Dogma becomes fanaticism. No higher power sits in judgment of us. No supreme being watches to punish us for our sins. In the end, only we ourselves can guard against our obsessions."

―Arno Dorian, reflecting on his perception of the Assassins' Creed, c. 1794.

Arno Victor Dorian (born 1768) was a Master Assassin of the French Brotherhood, active in the years surrounding the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. He is also an ancestor of the Assassin Callum Lynch.

The only son of the Assassin Charles Dorian and his wife Marie, Arno was orphaned at a young age, with his mother leaving the family after discovering Charles' allegiance and his father being assassinated in 1776 by the American Templar Shay Cormac. François de la Serre, the Grand Master of the French Rite of the Templar Order, adopted Arno as his ward and raised him alongside his daughter Élise. Over the years, Arno and Élise became close friends, and later lovers.

In May of 1789, François was killed at the Palace of Versailles as part of a coup within the Templar Order, and Arno was framed for the murder. While imprisoned at the Bastille, he met the Master Assassin Pierre Bellec, who told Arno of his Assassin heritage. Wracked with guilt over his past failures, Arno joined the Brotherhood in the hopes of avenging his biological and adoptive fathers, while also working to uncover the true instigators of the French Revolution.

Throughout his journey, Arno gained various allies, including the Marquis de Sade, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Élise, who had recently been inducted to the Templar Order and sought revenge against her father's murderers. Arno and Élise soon discovered that François-Thomas Germain had orchestrated de la Serre's death in the hopes of reforming the Templar Order, and instigated the Revolution to this end. When the Assassin Mentor Honoré de Mirabeau accepted an alliance with Élise on behalf of the Brotherhood, Bellec poisoned him, forcing Arno to assassinate his former teacher.

After killing most of Germain's subordinates, Arno was exiled from the Brotherhood and shunned by Élise and fell into a drunken depression until his lover returned for him. Arno and Élise thereafter resumed their mission to eliminate Germain, which they eventually accomplished in July of 1794, thought it came at the cost of Élise's life. Arno thus sank into alcoholism once more and resolved to leave France altogether.

Accepting a mission from the Marquis de Sade in Franciade in exchange for passage aboard a ship bound for Egypt, Arno crossed paths with a young boy named Léon. Together, they uncovered Napoleon's plan to recover an Apple of Eden from an Isu temple underneath the city and, though Arno refused to take action at first, he soon regained his sense of duty and prevented Napoleon's men from taking the Apple, sending the artifact to the Egyptian Assassins for safekeeping.

Following this, Arno decided to remain in France and eventually rejoined the Brotherhood, rising to the rank of Master Assassin. By 2014, his genetic memories had been studied by both Abstergo Entertainment and a member of the Initiates, an Assassin-allied hacker group, to locate the remains of François-Thomas Germain.

Biography

Early life

Youth in Versailles

"I am so sorry Papa. I know I ran away and was late. If I hadnt been maybe you would not be ded. I broke the pocket watch. I'm sorry for that to. I keep it with me all the time it makes me think of you."

―Young Arno in a letter to his late father, c. 1777.

Arno was born into a minor noble family in Versailles, France, on 26 August 1768, as the only child of the French Assassin Charles Dorian and his Austrian wife Marie. Because of his upbringing, Arno was well-educated and had access to a wide selection of tutors and books from a young age. Some years later, Marie abandoned the family after a dispute with her husband, leaving Charles to raise their son alone. Since then, Arno frequently traveled with his father, visiting places around Europe and North Africa.

Arno and his father

On 27 December 1776, Arno accompanied his father to the Palace of Versailles for a meeting. Once inside the palace, Charles instructed Arno to sit in a chair while he went to meet with his associates. Arno wished to go with his father, who gave him his pocket watch to keep track of time and promised to be back in time to see the fireworks together. Before leaving, Charles asked Arno to stay put and not run off, to which Arno reluctantly agreed.

While waiting, a bored Arno saw a mysterious young girl who enticed him into chasing her. As soon as he caught up to the young girl, she encouraged him to steal an apple from a nearby bowl, prompting several guards to chase him away. Arno then introduced himself to the girl, who in turn introduced herself as Élise and claimed that she was there with her father, who had gone to meet with King Louis XVI.

Arno and Élise soon overheard a nearby commotion and, thinking the guards were still after him, Arno confessed to stealing an apple. When the guards ignored him and continued onwards, Arno and Élise followed them at her urging to see what was going on. Seeing a large crowd gathered around a deceased body, Arno made his way through the crowd and discovered that the corpse was his father's, as Charles had been assassinated by an uncaught man.

François de la Serre taking Arno under his wing

Upon seeing his father's body, Arno dropped his watch on the floor, breaking it. He was brought out of his stupor by François de la Serre, Élise's father, who then became Arno's warden. From that point forward, Arno was raised at the de la Serre household alongside Élise, with whom he bonded over the years. However, Arno remained distraught over the loss of his father and often wrote letters to him on his adoptive father's suggestion, to cope with his grief.

Raised by de la Serre

"M. de la Serre and Élise are very nice. Élise is my age and she is funy and smart but she gets me into trouble a lot."

―Young Arno's thoughts on his adoptive family, c. 1777.

When François' wife Julie fell ill, Élise stopped playing with Arno and spent more time at her mother's bedside. Arno, who barely knew Julie and was forbidden from entering her room, spent his days alone. François, distraught when his wife finally passed away, found comfort in being Arno's guardian. As he grew older, de la Serre began training Arno, sparring with him and teaching him how to hunt. When Élise was sent to Maison Royale de Saint-Louis school at Saint-Cyr to continue her education, she wrote letters to Arno regarding her negative feelings towards the students and teachers.

During their youth, Arno and Élise were troublemakers. Once, Arno distracted a cook while Élise stole the jam. When Élise was stuck in a dog-infested orchard, Arno helped her jump over the wall to get to safety. They also travelled together, at one point spending a winter in Strasbourg, where they were not allowed to leave the house because of the snow. They were stuck with only German books to read and a cook who believed that the house was haunted by a Frankish prince. Another time, they went to Marseille, getting into more trouble. These "adventures" brought Arno and Élise closer and they eventually started a romantic relationship, though they were often forced to spend months apart due to Élise's visits to Paris, which Arno was not allowed to accompany her on.

In the mid-1780s, Arno was reported in several dispatches from the Marshalcy in and around Versailles. François regularly helped him to escape from charges, even if Arno's actions disappointed his adoptive father. François' majordomo Olivier tried many times to report Arno to the authorities and frequently assigned him to menial duties. At some point, Arno developed Eagle Vision, a sense that permitted him to locate individuals even through walls. As Arno did not know how to control it, he could only use it for a few seconds.

By 1788, Arno had moved out of the de la Serre household and lived in the poorer regions of Versailles, where he spent his days and nights drinking, playing cards, and even entertaining women, breaking his tryst. But despite his distance, Arno remained in contact with his adoptive family, especially François and Élise.

De la Serre's murder

"I wonder why God would so despise me that He would inflict such a fate upon me. He robbed me first of your guidance, and then that of M. de la Serre, who took the utmost care of me when I was alone in this world. To stand accused of his murder is more painful than being in this place."

―Arno's thoughts on being accused of François' murder, 1789.

Arno confronted by Victor and Hugo

On 5 May 1789, Arno lost his father's watch in a card game with two blacksmith brothers, Hugo and Victor. Although Arno endeavored to steal the memento back, Victor caught him in the act. Enraged, the brothers chased him back to the de la Serre household, where Olivier stopped Arno, allowing Hugo and Victor to catch up to him. When the brothers accused Arno of theft, Olivier eagerly planned to turn him over to the Marshalcy, but François intervened and told Arno to wait in the library while he mediated the situation.

In the end, François was able to prevent Arno from being arrested once again, and after briefly sermonizing his ward, informed him that Élise would be in town for the night but that she would return to Paris the following day. To see Élise, Arno tried to convince François that she needed an escort but he assigned Arno to assist Olivier with chores. The majordomo proceeded to task Arno to brush the horses before François' departure.

Arno agreeing to deliver the message

As François left the household in his carriage, the messenger Perrault attempted to deliver a letter that Arno volunteered to deliver in his stead as Perrault was already exhausted. Initially, he lost sight of François' carriage and mistook another carriage for his. Facing an angered man, Arno apologized to him and dashed off, climbing the spire of a nearby church in the hopes of locating François' carriage. Once atop the spire, he used Eagle Vision to spot the carriage, which had been parked in the courtyard of the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs.

Infiltrating the vast complex, Arno witnessed King Louis XVI's ill-fated address to the Estates-General. Locating François, Arno followed him and saw his warden discussing with the deputy Honoré de Mirabeau, planning a truce. Before Arno could catch up to François, he saw that Hugo and Victor had tailed him. Cornered in a room, Arno bested the two brothers in combat only to be chased away by the guards.

Arno placing the letter under the door to François' study

Returning to the de la Serre household, Olivier informed Arno that François would not return for several more hours. Arno then decided to spend the night with Élise but the majordomo informed him that she would be at a private party in her honor at the Palace of Versailles. Frustrated that he had not been invited, Arno waited for François' return. Impatient to see Élise at the party, Arno decided to slip the letter under the door to François' study, confident that he would find it upon his return. Before leaving, he took one of François' suits for the party.

Later that evening, Arno arrived at the palace gate but was denied entry due to lacking an invitation. Undeterred, he climbed the fence and made his way to a balcony to infiltrate the palace. A guard spotted him and yelled at him to get down, but he refused. In the Hall of Mirrors, Arno saw Élise and followed her in a private room. They shared a kiss before Élise remarked that Arno wore one of her father's suits. While she explained that she wanted to invite him to the party but her father had refused, guards arrived in the corridor to find Arno. Élise told Arno to exit through the window while she kept them occupied.

Arno with the deceased François

Reaching the palace's courtyard, Arno came upon François. Seeing him staggering, Arno thought that he was in for public drunkenness, but quickly realized the severity of the situation when his adoptive father collapsed onto the ground moments later. Arno rushed over to help him and saw that he was bleeding, but it was already too late: François was dead.

Looking around for the culprits, Arno saw a man calling out to another, Sivert, who in turn called out to the guards in an attempt to frame Arno for François' murder. As Arno witnessed Sivert and his accomplice make their escape, he attempted to give chase but was subdued and knocked unconscious by the guards.

Imprisonment

"Your father was an Assassin, Arno. He gave his life fighting for the liberty of all mankind. You stick with me, and you might just live long enough to join the Brotherhood, honor your father's memory."

―Pierre Bellec informing Arno of his Assassin heritage, 1789.

Arno inside the Bastille

Awakening, Arno found himself being dragged by guards inside a prison. Passing before a cell, Arno saw a naked Marquis de Sade messing with the guards before arriving at his own cell and passing out again. After waking up, Arno engaged in conversation with his cellmates and Bernard Laroche told him that he was at the Bastille. Seeing a wall with strange drawings, Arno tried to speak with the prisoner next to them but the soured cellmate only responded by calling him "pisspot". Arno next tried to call out to the guards to explain his innocence, but they all dismissed him.

Going to sleep, Arno woke up the next morning to see that the prisoner who had called him "pisspot" had stolen his father's watch. Infuriated, Arno demanded that he give it back, but was challenged to a duel with wooden training swords. After besting the prisoner, Arno once again demanded his watch back before telling the man to return to his "crazy drawings". As the prisoner asked what drawings he was referring to, Arno showed him the wall but saw that the drawings were no longer there.

Arno and Bellec looking at the symbols

The prisoner grabbed Arno by the arm, dragging him over to the wall and telling him to concentrate. By using his Eagle Vision, Arno saw once again the symbols. The prisoner told him that they were messages from the past and that he'd had himself thrown into half the prisons in Paris in search of them. As the prisoner asked for his name, Arno introduced himself. Not surprised, the prisoner introduced himself as Pierre Bellec and revealed that he had known Arno's father.

Bellec returned the watch to Arno and told him that his father had been a member of the Assassins, a group dedicated to protecting the liberty of mankind. He then offered to train Arno so that he could join the Brotherhood but the latter quickly refused as he only wanted to find Élise. When Bellec pointed out that he could not do that if he remained in prison, Arno begrudgingly accepted his offer.

Over the following two months, Arno trained in sword-fighting with Bellec inside their cell. During this time, Bellec revealed that François had been the Grand Master of the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order, the sworn enemies of the Assassins who wanted to control humanity. On 14 July, the Bastille came under attack from a civil uprising, allowing Arno and Bellec to make their escape when guards tried to secure their cell. Fighting their way past the guards and climbing to the top of the prison, the two soon reached the edge of the battlements.

Arno and Bellec escaping the Bastille

While Arno saw no way out, Bellec instructed him to jump into the moat below. In response, Arno called Bellec insane, but the latter explained that performing impossible feats was a purview of every Assassin. He then gave Arno a medallion, saying it would lead him to the Brotherhood in case he decided to take him up on his offer to join them. Following this, Bellec demonstrated a Leap of Faith by jumping into the moat. As guards surrounded him, Arno reluctantly followed Bellec's example and jumped from the battlements, landing in a haystack.

Following his escape from the Bastille, Arno immediately made his way to Élise's residence but was greeted with accusations of involvement in her father's murder. Arno pleaded his innocence and told Élise of her father's Templar affiliations, only to learn that she was fully aware of it as she was a Templar herself. She then showed him the letter he was supposed to deliver on the night of François' murder, which would have warned him of the impending assassination. Realizing that his negligence had inadvertently caused François' death, Arno left the mansion.

Joining the Assassins

Induction into the Brotherhood

"The Assassins... They gave me a purpose. Something to believe in. To see that betrayed... I need to make it right myself. I need to know why."

―Arno reflecting on his thoughts on the Assassins with Élise, 1791.

Arno arriving at the Sainte-Chapelle

Wracked with guilt and blaming himself for his adoptive father's death, Arno drowned his sorrow in alcohol. Looking at the medallion Bellec had given him, Arno saw with his Eagle Vision the symbol of a rose window. Wishing to make amends for his past mistakes, he decided to join the Assassins despite his initial reluctance. Matching the medallion's symbol with the window of the Sainte-Chapelle, Arno went to the chapel. Finding a mechanism, he placed the medallion inside of it and rearranged the chandeliers, revealing a secret hole in the floor.

Jumping into the hole, Arno found himself in a series of underground tunnels and was soon greeted by Bellec, who brought him before the French Assassin Council composed of Mirabeau, Sophie Trenet, Guillaume Beylier, Hervé Quemar, and Bellec himself. When Mirabeau questioned his decision to join the Brotherhood, Arno expressed his desire to to redeem his mistakes. While some Council members were reluctant to let Arno join, Bellec vouched for him and Mirabeau authorized Arno to pass the ceremony known as the "eagle's path".

During the induction ceremony, Arno drank from a chalice containing a hallucinogenic brewage. Seeing visions of his life, Arno experienced once again the deaths of his father and François, who were killed by the same hooded figure. Arno tracked the killer and ended his life, discovering his own face underneath the hood. He then suddenly woke up from the hallucination.

Arno's induction into the Brotherhood

Opening his eyes, Arno saw that he was surrounded by the Council, who proceeded to recite the tenets of the Assassins' Creed. Bellec then gave Arno a Hidden Blade, the signature weapon of the Brotherhood. Mirabeau stated that Arno had died with his sins and failures and that he was now reborn as a novice of the Assassin Brotherhood. Arno activated his Hidden Blade, officializing his induction.

One of Arno's earliest missions with the Brotherhood was to protect Théroigne de Méricourt during the Women's March on Versailles. In another mission, Arno planted journals to help the doctor and deputy Joseph-Ignace Guillotin to promote the use of the guillotine for the death penalty.

In 1790, Arno returned to the Bastille for Jean Henri Latude to recover the ladder he had used during his escape. When the former Minister of Finance Jacques Necker was about to flee France, Arno was sent by the Council to recover Necker's treasure. The Assassin succeeded and even paid the border officials to let Necker leave Paris. Arno was later contacted by the poet André Chénier to recover the last verses of his poem "Le Jeu de Paume", which had been stolen by Jacques-Louis David's henchmen due to Chénier having criticized the painter.

As revolutionaries were against the Catholic Church and its wealth, many churches and religious orders were targeted by criminals and angry mobs in Paris. When thugs began terrorizing the Convent of the Daughters of Calvary's nuns, the Council sent Arno to kill the criminals. Arno also escorted with the National Guard a group of Carmelite nuns which was threatened by an angry mob.

Even though Arno had ended his relationship with Élise, he continued to receive letters from her, including one in which she warned him against joining the Brotherhood.

First blood

"Assassin, I charge you to go to Notre-Dame de Paris, and to find there, the Templar agent Charles Gabriel Sivert. You will learn his secrets, and when you have done so, you will bring him peace, in accordance with our tenets."

―Mirabeau giving Arno his mission, 1791.

Arno and Bellec spying on Sivert and Arpinon

On 4 January 1791, Arno joined Bellec in tracking down Arpinon, an extortionist working for the Templars. Perhaps unexpectedly, Arpinon was accompanied by none other than Charles Gabriel Sivert, but Bellec chose to assassinate only the former, much to Arno's frustration. After acquiring a ledger of Templar records from Arpinon's corpse, Arno complained to Bellec about his decision to let Sivert live. In response, Bellec told Arno that Sivert was not on the list of targets for that day.

When they reported back to the Council, Bellec criticized Mirabeau for his truce with the Templars, prompting Guillaume and Trenet to remind Mirabeau that the truce was with François de la Serre, who had been dead for almost two years by that point. Arno then managed to gain Bellec and the Council's blessing to assassinate Sivert, after much persuasion.

Before beginning his first assassination, Arno entered the Café Théâtre, which was situated just above the Assassin sanctuary on Île Saint-Louis. There he met Charlotte Gouze, an Assassin and the manager of the Café which served as an intelligence gathering front for the Brotherhood. As the Café had fallen into disrepair, Gouze chose Arno as the steward of the place. Taking the Café as his residence, Arno renovated it to create a financial revenue and bought seven other cafés in Paris to serve as safehouses for the Brotherhood. In the Café Théâtre, Arno met the Assassin and fencing master Augustin Grisier, who taught him advanced techniques in both combat and stealth.

Arno and Quémar looking at Thomas de Carneillon's armor

While exploring the Assassin sanctuary, Arno discovered the armor of Thomas de Carneillon which had been locked in a vault for two centuries as the seal that opened the door had been broken, and then lost. Master Quémar appeared and explained that, traditionally, Assassins who had performed a great service to France and the Brotherhood would be awarded the armor. He then added that in order to unlock the vault, Arno would need to recover the parts of the seal by solving a series of enigmas. Arno would eventually solve the eighteen enigmas around Paris and complete the seal to be awarded Thomas' armor.

When Arno entered the police station of the Île de la Cité, he met both the Minister of Police, Charles Cochon de Lapparent, and a young criminal, Eugène François Vidocq, who was imprisoned in one of the cells. Arno offered to lend his aid to fighting crime and although Lapparent declined at first, he was convinced by Vidocq to let Arno solve various murders he had been unable to. Following some advice from Vidocq on how to conduct a proper investigation, Arno was able to solve a quadruple murder linked to a prophecy of Nostradamus in a monastery.

From there, Arno went on to solve other mysterious crimes around Paris, including the death of two actors of the Theatre Troupe of Amiens, a double murder linked to the execution of the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay, the mystery of a bag filled with bones, the poisoning of a La Voisin's descendant, the first-look accidental death of Professor Marcel, the decapitation of the Salpêtrière Hospital's warden, the apparent suicide of a Director of Finance, the dismembered bodies of the Salpêtrière, and the poisoning of an apothecary.

Arno assassinating Sivert

On 5 January, Arno and Bellec followed Sivert to his meeting at the Nôtre-Dame, where Bellec encouraged his apprentice to find a way inside the cathedral before leaving him to carry out Sivert's assassination alone. After killing Sivert's accomplice Duchesneau, Arno took his place in a confessional booth and, when Sivert arrived to meet with Duchesneau, Arno stabbed him through the booth's wall with his Hidden Blade. In that moment, Arno saw Sivert's memories, learning the identity of the man who had accompanied the Templar on the night of François' murder: the Roi des Thunes.

Arno returned to the Council and reported his mission's success, as well as what he had learned from Sivert's memories. When he requested permission to hunt down the Roi des Thunes, he was given the Phantom Blade, a mechanism which could shoot silent projectiles. Before leaving, Master Beylier warned Arno that he had sent his apprentice Brasseur to find the Roi des Thunes, but he never returned.

As the Templars later looted the Nôtre-Dame, Arno and another Assassin recovered the stolen religious artifact.

The Cour des Miracles

De Sade: "As long as there's a Cour des Miracles, we must have a Roi des Thunes. Since there seemed to be a vacancy, I stepped in."

Arno: "With remarkable speed. The body is not yet cold."

—Arno and the Marquis de Sade following the Roi des Thunes' death, 1791.

The Marquis de Sade introducing himself to Arno

On 19 January 1791, Arno arrived at the Cour des Miracles to single out the Roi des Thunes' lieutenant Aloys la Touche, who was in the process of amputating a man's right foot. Before Arno could intervene, the Marquis de Sade casually introduced himself and advised Arno not to lash out so hastily, suggesting instead that he follow la Touche back to his master. Arno accepted this advice and tailed la Touche back to his residence.

Once inside, the Assassin assaulted la Touche and shackled him to the wall. Arno demanded the Roi des Thunes' location from, threatening to kill la Touche if he did not comply. Terrified, the man told Arno that he could find the King of Beggars in the catacombs beneath the old church.

While Arno infiltrated the catacombs, la Touche managed to free himself and warned the Roi des Thunes before the Assassin could get to him. Nevertheless, Arno succeeded in assassinating the King, and learned of his grudge against François de la Serre from his memories. He also discovered that both the Roi des Thunes and Sivert were instructed by a hooded figure to eliminate François. From the Roi des Thunes' body, Arno recovered the pistol of the late Brasseur.

Arno assassinating the Roi des Thunes

Returning to the surface, Arno discovered that the Marquis de Sade had become the new Roi des Thunes. As the Assassin turned to leave, de Sade showed him the poisoned pin that had killed de la Serre, identifying a silversmith named François-Thomas Germain as its creator. Afterwards, Arno informed the Council about his investigation, and Mirabeau allowed him to resume his investigation. When he attempted to return Brasseur's pistol to Beylier, the Master Assassin told Arno to keep it, to honor the memory of his apprentice.

Later, food-hoarders took farmers hostage in the Cour des Miracles to receive their harvest. The Council sent Arno to solve the problem and he successfully rescued the farmers.

Rescuing Germain

Arno: "Where can I find him?"

Germain: "Well, Lafrenière is a very difficult man to pin down. Not long ago, I overheard him talking about protecting the shipments at la Halle aux Blés. It sounded ominous, whatever he meant."

—Arno questioning Germain about Chrétien Lafrenière, 1791.

While infiltrating Germain's shop Arno discovered that the place was heavily guarded by the Templars, who were apparently holding Germain captive. After helping the silversmith escape to safety, he claimed that a man named Chrétien Lafrenière had commissioned him to create the pin, and confirmed Arno's statement of Lafrenière being a Templar. Germain also informed Arno that Lafrenière stocked weapons in the Halle aux Blés, preparing for something.

Arno learning about Lafrenière

Infiltrating the Halles aux Blés, Arno found a ledger indicating that Lafrenière was organizing a meeting in the Holy Innocents' Cemetery. Fearing that Lafrenière was preparing an attack against the Assassins, Arno burned down the gunpowder stock and made his escape from the burning building. Following this, he headed to the cemetery and hid in a haystack, waiting for Lafrenière to commence his meeting.

At nightfall, Lafrenière arrived with his followers, as well as Templars from other European branches. Arno emerged from his hiding place and stalked Lafrenière, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Eventually, he killed the Templar, only to learn from his memories that Lafrenière had penned the letter to François de la Serre, trying to warn the former Grand Master of an eventual betrayal within the Order. He also discovered that Lafrenière was planning an attack on the Hôtel de Beauvais.

Reconnecting with Élise

Arno: "I haven't changed that much, Élise. I'm still the same boy who, who distracted the cook while you stole the jam... the same one who helped you over the wall into that dog-infested orchard."

Élise: "All right. Take me to your Brotherhood. I'll hear their offer."

—Arno convincing Élise to parley with the Brotherhood, 1791.

Arno reported his findings to the Assassin Council, who were outraged that he had assassinated Lafrenière without their consent. However, when Arno mentioned that Lafrenière was planning on attacking the Hôtel de Beauvais, and not an Assassin base, the Council begrudgingly agreed to send him to investigate the meeting.

Arno protecting Élise during the ambush

After successfully infiltrating the hotel where the Jacobin Club organized a meeting, Arno eavesdropped on a secret meeting of a group of Templars, led by an unknown figure plotting to eliminate Élise. After hearing this, Arno escaped the hotel and managed to save Élise from the Templar ambush at the Hôtel Voysin. Following this, Arno rendezvoused with her at the Café Théâtre, where he offered to help Élise avenge her father. As Élise was reluctant to trust the Assassins, Arno explained that she could still trust him and Élise ultimately relented.

Arno proceeded to bring a blindfolded Élise before the Assassin Council where she presented her case and asked for an alliance with the Brotherhood. Despite the hostility from most of the Council—particularly Bellec—Mirabeau was more inclined to parley with her. While the Council debated over Élise's offer of an alliance, Arno informed her of Germain and his last known location, prompting her to run off. By the time she came to a stop, Élise informed Arno that Germain had been exiled from the Templar Order for his radical views.

Arno and Élise arriving at Germain's residence

Investigating Germain's residence, the two found it empty, as the man had anticipated that his deception would not last long. Upon evading a Templar ambush, Élise found a ledger confirming that Germain had organized her father's murder. A second ambush followed, in which Arno and Élise were shot at by snipers; the Assassin instructed Élise to go to Mirabeau's estate while he stayed behind and dealt with their assailants.

Mirabeau's murder

Bellec: "Open your eyes, boy! I've seen Templars put entire villages to the sword, just for the chance of killing one Assassin! Tell me, in your vast experience - what have you seen?"

Arno: "I've seen the Grand Master of the Templar Order take in a frightened orphan and raise him as his own son!"

—Bellec and Arno arguing about the Templars during their fight, 1791.

When Arno arrived at Mirabeau's estate after eliminating the Templars snipers, he found the Mentor dead and Élise standing next to his body. Suspecting someone was attempting to pin the blame on Élise, the two investigated the murder scene and discovered that Mirabeau had been poisoned with aconite.

Arno and Élise inside Mirabeau's estate

Informing Master Quémar on the death of the Mentor, the Master accorded Arno one day to investigate on the matter before informing the Council. Quémar also gave him the address of an apothecary who sold aconite in great quantity. Arno and Élise tracked down the apothecary, who fled in terror at the sight of the former. After catching up to him, Arno interrogated the apothecary and learned that the man he had sold the aconite to was also an Assassin. The apothecary further revealed that he had dropped off a second dose in a cache for the murderer.

Near the Sainte Chapelle, Arno used his Eagle Vision to follow the trace of aconite. Climbing to one of the chapel's balconies, Arno discovered that the traitor was none other than Bellec. His mentor tried to justify his actions, claiming that no peace could be achieved between the Assassins and Templars and that he was trying to purge the Brotherhood to remake it into a stronger organization, similarly to what past Assassins like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Ratonhnhaké:ton had done. Bellec then tried to persuade Arno to join his cause, but his student refused and the two engaged in a duel.

Arno ending Bellec's life

Arno managed to gain the upper hand in the fight, having no choice but to kill Bellec when he tried to shoot Élise, believing her to be the source of Arno's "weakness". Before dying, Bellec commended Arno for defeating him, and urged him to finish him off, otherwise he would never stop. While delivering the killing blow, Arno saw the memories of his master: how Bellec had saved his father Charles from a Templar attack, the day he took Arno's pocket watch and understood he was Charles' son, and his discussion with Mirabeau prior to his poisoning, where Bellec unsuccessfully tried to persuade the Mentor to change his mind about helping Élise.

With that, Arno gave Bellec his final rites and left the Sainte-Chapelle with Élise. He later reported back to the Council, who held him responsible for the deaths of two Master Assassins. As punishment, they assigned Arno to "fetch and carry work" and he was seized from Germain's case. The Council also refused the alliance with Élise, forcing Arno to continue to meet with her in secret.

Change of Regime

Arno: "Serving as rear guard, are you? Convenient how that puts several locked doors between you and the fighting."

Napoleon: "Oh, I'm not here at all. Not officially anyway. But how often does one find the opportunity to poke about in a king's private study?"

—Arno and Napoleon's first meeting, 1792.

Despite being sidelined, Arno continued to be active in Paris. In 1792, the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson tasked Arno to recover the components of the guillotine which were stolen by the henchmen of two of Sanson's victims. Théroigne de Méricourt also contacted Arno and asked him to kill a Templar gunsmith and steal his blueprints for the Parisian militia. Later, Arno recruited prostitutes for Méricourt's Women's Brigade. During the summer, Arno and three other Assassins again aided Méricourt when she uncovered a Templar conspiracy to starve Paris' population. The Assassins helped Théroigne recover some of the stolen food before killling one of the Templar conspirators, Madame Flavigny.

Arno meeting Napoleon Bonaparte

On 10 August, as the Sans-culottes led a riot on the Palais des Tuileries, the Council ordered Arno to infiltrate the palace and destroy Mirabeau's letters to the King which could compromise the Brotherhood. Entering the King's office, Arno was caught off guard by an army officer who held him at gunpoint as Arno activated his Hidden Blade. The Assassin retracted his blade and the army officer released him.

As they came to understand that they were not searching for the same thing, Arno and the officer cooperated to find the King's hidden safe. Finding the letters, Arno burnt them in the fireplace while the officer took a specific key from the safe. As the palace became swarmed with extremists, the officer activated a secret passage while Arno defended him. The two escaped through a hidden elevator which led to the basement.

As extremists entered the King's office, Arno recognized a Templar who was present at the Jacobin Club. The officer informed Arno that the man was Frédéric Rouille, a captain of the National Guard. As they fled through the sewer, the officer introduced himself as Napoleon Bonaparte, Second Lieutenant of Artillery. When the pair reached another room of the palace, Napoleon ordered a cannonball to be shot by his soldiers, creating a hole in the wall and an exit to the outside. As Arno wanted to continue his track on Germain, the Assassin asked Napoleon to help him to find Rouille before parting ways.

Arno assassinating Rouille

On 2 September, Arno met with Napoleon who informed him that Rouille and his men were attacking the Grand Châtelet prison. Arriving at the prison, Arno watched as Rouille and his men killed prisoners and guards. The Assassin infiltrated the prison and killed the Templar. From his memories, he learned about Germain's plan to starve the people of Paris in order to turn public opinion against the monarchy. This operation was being handled by a Templar named Marie.

As the French monarchy was abolished, Paris was threatened by an invasion by the Austrian Army. On the night of 2 September 1792, an Austrian spy ring attempted to kill Georges Danton, a leader of the Revolution. Arno and another Assassin were sent to protect Danton and kill the Comte de Gambais, the leader of the spy ring.

The Chouans also operated in the city. The Council sent Arno to collect spy intelligence from the group. Later, the Chouans burnt down a vineyard but Arno intervened and eliminated them. When the Chouans stole cannons from the lieutenant Joachim Murat, the officer tasked Arno to sabotage the cannons before he could lead an attack on the royalists. As the royalists used Chappe signal towers to send messages to the general of the Austrian Army, the Duke of Brunswick, the general Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, an ally of the Brotherhood, asked Arno to sabotage the towers, ending the threat. When the royalists later planned a coup, stocking their money and guns in the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs, Arno and a team of Assassins stole their stocks.

Later, Charlotte Gouze informed Arno that the Café Théâtre was targeted by Les Actes des Apôtres, a pro-royalist journal that also led criminal activities. As they burned manuscripts on the Place Dauphine, Arno saved the writings and brought them to the Café Théâtre. Not long after, one of Gouze's informants, Colette, was compromised by Les Actes des Apôtres. Arno saved her and killed her Innkeeper. When the Queen's dressmaker Rose Bertin decided to work for the Café Théâtre, Les Actes des Apôtres targeted her as well. Arno defended Bertin and recovered her costumes. Later, the leader of Les Actes des Apôtres, Renard, stole the Sancy diamond in a raid on the royal treasury. Arno recovered the diamond and gave it to a smuggler who sent it to Russia. To end their activities, Arno tracked down Renard and killed him, dissolving Les Actes des Apôtres.

In the uproar of the Revolution, Arno tried to help anyone who was in danger. He escorted the Duchesse de Fremiet after her son was lynched at a lamppost by rioters. He also trained the young Marianne to help her exact revenge on her neighbor, who had denounced her parents in order to claim their home, resulting in their execution. Arno also recovered for the Convention the diamonds stolen during a raid on the royal treasury.

Later, the Council sent Arno to steal a letter by Jean-Paul Marat which protected gang members from arrest. Arno also killed the Duc de Barrois for the Brotherhood as he sent his rivals to the guillotine so that he could take their property. When the collusion between the King and Mirabeau was discovered, Arno was sent to destroy Templar propaganda against the late Mentor. As the Templars used the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés as a warehouse, Arno and another Assassin stole their goods. Later, Arno and a fellow Assassin organized a heist on the Palais-Royal as the Templars used the palace to run their operations.

Antoine Lavoisier, a chemist and ally of the Brotherhood, contacted Arno to save the mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, who had been arrested. Laplace informed the Assassin that he was trying to stop an ill-prepared flying boy experiment which could kill the human guinea pig. Arno received a Leyden jar and swapped it with the original one during the experiment in the College of the Four Nations, allowing the subject to survive. Later, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier contacted Arno as her husband had been kidnapped by Marat's henchmen. Arno saved him and recovered the formula of poisonous smoke bombs that the chemist had created for the Brotherhood.

Arno was later challenged by the Chevalier d'Éon, one of the best swordswomen in Europe, for a special mission. After the Assassin defeated all his adversaries in a duel, even Éon, the Chevalier asked him to infiltrate the Crimson League, a group of aristocrats led by the Crimson Rose, otherwise known as Sir Reginald, who saved nobles from the guillotine. Arno saved the group that ambushed at the Hôtel Fieubet and integrated himself into the League. Later, Arno operated with the League to save Reginald's cousin, the Comte de Choisy. After Éon informed the Assassin that the Crimson Rose was in fact a British Templar and that all the people he had saved were also Templars, Arno proceeded to eliminate them.

Working with Élise

Arno: "Can... can things ever go back to the way they were before, do you think?"

Élise: "Do you? After everything that's happened? Everything we've lost?"

Arno: "So that's it, then? The course of history forever altered, never again to return?"

Élise: "Maybe we can't go back. But going forward isn't necessarily an ending."

—Arno and Élise discussing the past and the future, 1792.

Arno and Élise discussing Marie Lévesque

On 31 October 1792, Arno met with Élise, who told him that the woman he had seen in Rouille's memories was Marie Lévesque, one of the first Templars to have joined Germain. The two then split up to investigate, with Arno heading to the docks of the Hôtel de Ville. At the docks, Arno saw the barge containing the grain being hijacked by Lévesque's men. Following the barge, Arno arrived at the Templar docks where Lévesque ordered that some of the grain bags needed to leak. Arno pickpocketed from the captain orders indicating that Lévesque sent the grain to Luxembourg Palace.

Later, Arno met Élise at Luxembourg Palace. Reuniting their information, they understood that Lévesque's plot was hoarding grain in order to turn the middle and lower classes against the King. While Élise tried to get the grain out of the palace, Arno infiltrated the building as Lévesque was holding a party, and assassinated her. In her memories, he saw that during the Hôtel de Beauvais meeting, the Templar Louis-Michel le Peletier schemed to have the King executed.

Arno catching the hot-air balloon to escape

After he fled the palace, Arno arrived at the meeting place and saw that Élise was being chased by Templar extremists. The two withdrew in the Sorbonne and Élise managed to escape from their enemies using a hot air balloon while Arno followed her on the rooftops before catching the balloon in mid-air. As Arno and Élise reflected on the future of France and their relationship, they shared a romantic moment. The next morning, Arno woke up in the crashed balloon where he found a note from his lover indicating that she needed to go.

On 20 January 1793, Arno and Élise went to the Louvre to meet with the Marquis de Sade and learn le Peletier's whereabouts, as they were both members of the Convention. The Marquis informed Arno that le Pelletier was at the Palais-Royal, celebrating the King's upcoming execution. Arno snuck into the cafe le Peletier was dining in and substituted the Templar's wine with a poisoned bottle. Upon its consumption, le Peletier was rendered paralyzed, allowing Arno to assassinate him. From his memories, he learned that le Peletier had cast the tie-breaking vote for the execution of the King, and that Germain would be present for the event.

Excommunication

"You've defied the orders of this Council repeatedly, pursued targets without sanction, and flouted our Creed at every step. [...] In light of these actions, I find I have no choice but to call for a vote of expulsion."

―Sophie Trenet calling for Arno's expulsion from the Brotherhood, 1793.

The following day, Arno went to the King's execution and made his way towards Germain's booth, where he confronted the Grand Master and his guards. Germain proclaimed the rebirth of the Templar Order and posited to Arno that the reason for François de la Serre's murder was to rid the Order of corruption and bigotry. He also stated that de la Serre's death had been the first phase of the Order's reformation, and that it would only be reborn with the death of the King.

Arno confronting Germain at King Louis' execution

Germain revealed his plans as King Louis was placed at the guillotine. By ridding France's upper class and aristocracy of power, it would be much easier for the Templars to gain control over France, by granting power to the people instead. Once the King was beheaded, Germain proclaimed that Jacques de Molay had been avenged, then made his escape, leaving Arno to deal with his subordinates. With Élise caught in the fighting, Arno focused more on defending her than pursuing Germain. This displeased Élise, who desired revenge and rejected any further aid from Arno.

Arno met with the Assassin Council to discuss his lead on the Germain, however he was directed to the ceremony chamber. Arno attempted to update the Council, but they silenced him and cast judgment on him instead. The Council did not approve of what they believed was Arno's personal vendetta, brashly killing targets without permission. They declared that Arno was banished from the Brotherhood and he was no longer welcome in the Sanctuary, but that he was fortunate they would not punish him further.

Exile

The drunkard of Versailles

Élise: "I thought we wanted the same thing."

Arno: "What I wanted was you. I can't bear the fact that my carelessness got your father killed. Everything I've done since then has been to fix that mistake. And to prevent it from happening again."

—Arno explaining his motivations to Élise, 1793.

Élise returning Arno's watch

Arno left the Sanctuary and Paris to live at the abandoned de la Serre estate in Versailles, where he gained a reputation for being a drunkard. On 4 June 1793, in his stupor, he got into a bar fight, ending in his humiliating defeat and the loss of his father's watch to the gang leader. He tracked the gang to the Palace of Versailles, where was forced to face the terrible memories of his past, and ended up killing the entire gang. He then searched the leader's body for the watch, only for Élise to turn up with it in hand.

Deducing that she wanted something from him, Arno furiously reopened old wounds from their last fight, stating that he cared more about her than killing Germain and that he wanted to assuage the guilt he felt for causing her father's death. When he allowed Élise to speak, she informed him that Paris had become more chaotic because of Germain's Reign of Terror. She encouraged him to be the man she loved and return with her to Paris. Arno agreed to come, but only after he assassinated Aloys la Touche, who had sown dissent and fear amongst the populace of Versailles.

While attempting to eliminate la Touche, Arno reconciled with and saved his former enemies Victor and Hugo, who were supposed to be executed. Arno stole the key of their cage to enter it and took their place at the execution. Approaching his target, Arno killed la Touche just as the Templar recognized him. From his memories, Arno learned that, during the Hôtel de Beauvais meeting, Germain had placed la Touche under the command of Maximilien de Robespierre, the leader of the Committee of Public Safety and a Templar, marking Arno's next target.

Fighting the Terror

Élise: "Things have changed a great deal since you left Paris."

Arno: "A great deal to be set right."

—Arno and Élise upon their return to Paris, 1793.

After returning with Élise to Paris, Arno sought to undermine Robespierre's leadership of the Republic. During this time, despite his exile, the Brotherhood enlisted Arno's help with several missions, leading him to be reunited with some of his former brothers. In July 1793, Arno and three other Assassins rescued several Girondists from being arrested by François Hanriot, the Captain of the National Guard, on Robespierre's orders. He also joined a team of Assassins as they participated in a tournament to approach General Marcourt, a Templar organizing a coup against the Convention. Succeeding in the challenges, Arno and the Assassins killed the general and his associates, thwarting the coup.

On 17 July 1793, Arno investigated the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat. He discovered the murderer to be Charlotte Corday, a sympathizer of the Girondist who wanted to stop Marat's bloodshed. She was arrested and guillotined. Later, Arno investigated the death of a civilian who was shot by the Solar Cannon of the Palais-Royal and discovered the murderer.

During the Terror, Arno was contacted by the playwriter Pierre Beaumarchais who tasked him to eliminate the Chief censor who blocked the production of new plays. Arno was again contacted by Beaumarchais to steal Mademoiselle de Montansier's notebook containing the secrets of the customers of her brothels.

As the Louvre was about to become a museum, Arno was tasked by the Council to kill the chief of a group of smugglers who operated at the Hôtel de Sens. Later, Arno and other Assassins infiltrated the Luxembourg Palace to recover artworks supposed to be transferred to the Louvre but were kept by the local nobility for their own personal stash.

During this trouble time, Arno tracked individuals that took advantage of the Revolution. He helped the gendarme Jean-Baptiste Dossonville to take down a scam auction held by the Bande noire. He also infiltrated the headquarters of the Black Office to kill three of their spies, and killed Captain l'Au, who was organizing robberies in the district of the Invalides.

As Louis Antoine de Saint-Just was an ally of Robespierre, Arno took an interest in him. He killed his valet as he discovered that Saint-Just commanded a coat made from human skins. He also destroyed sabotaged cannons that Saint-Just and Robespierre were planning to send to Napoleon Bonaparte to end his career. As Saint-Just tried to frame the Marquis de Sade for the murder of a prostitute, Arno investigated the case and proved de Sade's innocence. Later, when Robespierre's allies plotted to overthrow the Assembly at the Café Procope, Arno killed them. He also killed the gendarme and Templar Jean Gilbert, who had foiled the Assassins' plan to save the Queen from execution.

In November 1793, Arno and another Assassin recovered the notebook of Didier Paton, a spy emlpoyed by Robespierre who had discovered the identity of many Templars of Paris. They also saved Paton after his master had ordered his execution. For preventing his execution, Paton decided to repay the favor by joining the Brotherhood.

That same month, Arno investigated the death of Philibert Aspairt, killed in the catacombs of Paris. Arno also solved the death of the deputy Michel Hennebert, poisoned during a dinner. When Arno returned to the police station on the Île de la Cité, he saw that Vidocq had escaped from his cell and left behind a letter for Arno, thanking him for his work.

During this period, the Marquis de Sade tasked Arno to kill the cruel procurer Grignon, improving his influence as the Roi des Thunes. Later, de Sade was arrested for moderatism by Grignon's allies. Arno infiltrated the Châtelet and stole the order for de Sade's trial, saving the Marquis. After learning that Arno was involved in the disappearance of his death warrant, de Sade asked him to recover pieces of evidence to blackmail Grignon's acolytes, protecting de Sade from further threats.

Following the arrest of American writer Thomas Paine, Arno was tasked by the Brotherhood to recover his book, Rights of Man. Visiting Paine in prison, he was informed that his writings had been taken away by the wardens. Arno subsequently recovered Rights of Man, as well The Age of Reason and Common Sense, giving the latter two back to Paine. He then offered to break Paine out, but the writer refused, claiming it was a matter of principle.

On 10 February 1794, Arno and a team of Assassins were sent to the Salpêtrière Hospital to save another Assassin team that had been captured during their assassination attempt on Jacques Roux, the leader of the Enragés who worked for the Templars. After liberating their brothers and sisters, the Assassins killed Roux, ending his reign of terror. Later, Arno killed one of Roux's lieutenants as he incited a crowd to riot in the Hôtel de Cluny.

In March, Arno met the deputy Nicolas de Condorcet who wanted to leave Paris to escape from his political enemies. As his rivals had stolen his research, Arno recovered the papers before returning them to Condorcet.

Arno was later contacted by Marie Tussaud after someone had stolen from her the heads of Olympe de Gouges, Jacques Pierre Brissot and Jacques Hébert. Arno recovered the heads, allowing Tussaud to make their death masks. Later, the sans-culotte Jean Lessard, who had been rejected by Tussaud, took over her shop. Arno saved Tussaud and her employees and killed Lessard.

On 5 April, Arno and a team of Assassins attempted to rescue Georges Danton from the guillotine after his arrest by Robespierre. Danton refused, believing that his death would cause Robespierre's reputation to plummet, though he did ask the Assassins to rescue his friends and recover his letter from Robespierre. The same day, Arno assassinated Andrés de Guzmán for his role in the fall of the Girondins.

In May, Arno and another Assassin prevented a raid on Mirabeau's tomb in the Panthéon as Robespierre wanted to expose the link between Mirabeau and the Brotherhood. The Assassins recovered Mirabeau's relics and placed them in the Café Théâtre.

Fall of Robespierre

Élise: "Once Robespierre has lost the support of the people, he'll be no more use to Germain. And when Germain abandons him..."

Arno: "...he's vulnerable."

—Arno and Élise discussing Robespierre, 1794.

On 8 June 1794, despite the anarchy, Paris was in the middle of a celebration. Meeting with Élise, she explained to Arno that the Festival of the Supreme Being was being hosted by Robespierre. Arno insisted on assassinating the Templar, but Élise suggested a different approach since Robespierre was well-guarded.

Arno acquiring a list of Robespierre's enemies

After discreetly infiltrating the celebration and locating Robespierre, Élise planned to discredit him in the eyes of the public, allowing her and Arno to interrogate him about Germain's location when he would have no support. Arno agreed and gathered incriminating evidence: an ambiguous list of deputy names written by Robespierre. While Élise poisoned Robespierre's winery with powdered ergot, Arno eliminated the guards who could arrest her. After Arno planted the evidence on several people, the people turned against Robespierre, seeing him as a bloodthirsty dictator.

During this period, Arno killed the thug known as the Giant Iscariotte who terrorized the population of Paris.

On 27 July, much to Arno and Élise's surprise, Robespierre was arrested by the Convention. As they feared he would be executed, they decided to intercept his escort to interrogate him about Germain's location. On the way to Luxembourg prison, they discovered that Robespierre's escort had been attacked by the Paris Commune. While Élise decided to check the Luxembourg prison, Arno investigated the district to find Robespierre. As the Templar fled when he saw him, Arno tracked Robespierre down to the Hôtel de Ville.

Arno and Élise interrogating Robespierre

While the Convention forces surrounded the building, Arno infiltrated the hotel and confronted Robespierre. Élise arrived shortly after and demanded Germain's whereabouts. When Robespierre refused to talk, Élise shot him in the jaw and forced him to write down Germain's location: the Parisian Temple. Arno and Élise then left the Hôtel de Ville as guards of the Convention barged in and arrested Robespierre.

Confronting Germain

"Think on this: the march of progress is slow, but it is inevitable as a glacier. All you have accomplished is to delay the inevitable. One death cannot stop the tide. Perhaps it will not be my hand that shepherds mankind back to its proper place – but it will be someone's. Think on this when you remember her."

―Germain's dying words to Arno, 1794.

Arno and Élise traveled the Temple to search for Germain, splitting up to cover more ground. Even if he couldn't find any weak spots, Arno infiltrated the Temple and located Germain on the top of the tower. Before Arno could assassinate him, however, Germain used the power of a Sword of Eden against him, forcing Arno to take cover. Discreetly approaching his target, Arno was thrown away by the power of the Sword before Germain disappeared.

Élise and Arno arriving at the Temple

Locating Germain in the catacombs underneath the Temple, Arno arrived there at the same time as Élise and the two entered a Templar crypt, where they once again confronted Germain. While Élise was distracting Germain, Arno attempted to assassinate the Grand Master once more but failed due to a shield projected by the sword. After three more attempts, Arno managed to break through, but the shock wave trapped him under rubble. Élise came to Arno's aid but noticed Germain attempting to escape. Despite Arno's protests, Élise left him behind to pursue Germain and began dueling the Grand Master.

Élise's sword was broken during the fight, while the Sword of Eden's power was rendered unstable. Arno managed to free himself and rushed to help Élise, but was too late as the Sword of Eden exploded, killing Élise and mortally wounding Germain in the process. In an act of grief, Arno slowly assassinated Germain by stabbing him in the throat with his Hidden Blade.

In a vision following his death, Germain talked with Arno, explaining his struggle of being a Sage and his beliefs he was connecting to Jacques de Molay after discovering his Codex Pater Intellectus. After his expulsion from the Order, Germain saw the revolution as the only way to reform the Templars, who had become decadent in his eyes. He believed that the installation of the Terror would make the population afraid of untrammeled liberty, allowing the Templars to take control easier.

Arno standing over Élise's dead body

Before disappearing, Germain told Arno that his death would change nothing, as someone else would simply take his place to lead the masses, and to keep that in mind when Arno remembered Élise. As Germain finally succumbed to his wounds, Arno mournfully carried Élise's body out from the Temple, leaving behind Germain's lifeless body. Arno also recovered the depowered Sword of Eden, which he would keep for himself, using it in combat.

Hiding in Franciade

De Sade: "Did you receive my message?"

Arno: "If I do this, I want to leave France."

De Sade: "I can procure you passage from Marseille on a ship to Egypt in four days."

—Arno and the Marquis de Sade during their meeting in Franciade, 1794.

On 29 July 1794, Arno undertook another mission with his fellow Assassins and Théroigne de Méricourt, attacking the Jacobins' headquarters to eliminate their remaining leaders following Robespierre's execution. Killing the guards, the Assassins went to the tunnels underneath the headquarters where the Jacobin leaders hid, and ultimately assassinated them, freeing France from Jacobin influence. Arno also defended Joseph Bara's funeral procession from a royalist attack on the way to the Panthéon.

Arno and the Marquis de Sade in the tavern

Depressed following Élise's death, Arno later took a sabbatical in Franciade, the former city of Saint-Denis, drinking away his sorrows in a local tavern. On 3 August, he was contacted by the Marquis de Sade, who asked him to find Nicolas de Condorcet's manuscript hidden in the tomb of Louis IX of France inside the royal necropolis under the Basilica of Saint-Denis. During their meeting in the tavern, de Sade paid Arno's drinking debts and promised him a place on a ship leaving France for Egypt in four days, in exchange for Condorcet's scientific studies.

While investigating the undercity, Arno found that the manuscript was not in the tomb. As he was about to leave, he witnessed the arrival of a group of crypt raiders searching for the entrance to a temple. After one of the raiders was locked up in the underground by his acolyte to find the temple, Arno approached him. Mistaking Arno for a ghost, the raider ran away and fell into a pit to his death. On his body, Arno found a lamp and a map leading to Dom Poirier's list of stolen relics in the Abbey of Saint-Denis library. Infiltrating the abbey, Arno found the list, which indicated that the manuscript had been stolen by a thief named Léon, who lived in an old red house.

Arno talking to Madame Margot

Going to the address, Arno met Madame Margot, who informed him that she had not seen Léon since he had gone to the windmill the day before. Arno followed the lead and found an entrance to the underground tunnels of Franciade, which was protected by raiders. Entering the tunnel, Arno saw that Léon, who was a young boy, had been captured by the raiders for spying on them. Arno also found that the raiders were led by Captain Philippe Rose and sponsored by Napoleon Bonaparte to open a temple under the Basilica of Saint-Denis with a special key. Rose and Napoleon saw paintings representing the temple and the key, making them believe they were close to finding their prize.

As Rose ordered the execution of Léon after Napoleon's departure, Arno saved the young thief before revealing he had been sent by Margot. Léon then gave the Assassin a Guillotine Gun he had stolen from the raiders, which Arno used to quickly dispatch Rose's remaining men. As the pair moved further into the tunnels, they witnessed a conversation between Napoleon and one of his lieutenants, learning that Napoleon was using Rose to search for an artifact hidden inside the temple which would allow him to rule France. However, Napoleon did not trust Rose and thus gave the key to the temple to his lieutenant.

Léon giving Arno the manuscript

While Léon wanted to steal the key and protect France from Napoleon's plot, Arno stopped him, saying he would get himself killed over nothing. Upset, Léon ran away but Arno followed him back to the surface, where he demanded Condorcet's manuscript, not caring about France's future. Léon reluctantly gave up the manuscript, but reprimanded Arno for caring only about himself, saying he was just like Napoleon and Rose.

Arriving at the tavern to deliver the manuscript to de Sade, Arno saw a person who he believed was Élise. As she ran away, Arno chased her but after catching her, he realized that she was just a thief and that his mind was playing tricks on him. As he got up, Arno was approached by Madame Margot, who thanked him for finding Léon. As Arno got ready to leave, Margot explained that she began the orphanage after she had left her son years ago and that Léon believed Arno could be the savior of France.

Retrieving the Apple

"This must reach Al Mualim in Cairo."

―Arno entrusting the Apple of Eden to an Assassin, 1794.

Arno and Léon discussing Dom Poirier's list

Troubled by Margot's words, Arno went to visit Léon at the orphanage, finding him training with his sword in the courtyard. Having changed his mind, Arno agreed to help Léon stop Napoleon and Rose before leaving France. Remembering Dom Poirier's list, Arno read it and saw three patens which were represented in the paintings of the temple. Believing the patens were the key to finding the temple, Arno decided to recover them.

Going to the Basilica, Arno found the notes of Dom Poirier. While reading them, Arno discovered "Suger's Legacy", clues leading to two patens but also to the Eagle of Suger, a sword created by the abbot Suger using the artifact from the temple. Arno found all the clues scattered around Franciade, collecting the patens and eventually retrieving the Eagle of Suger from a hidden chamber inside the Basilica.

Returning to Léon, Arno discovered that the boy had found the third paten. As they tried to solve the mystery behind the patens, Margot arrived with a candle. As Arno saw an image on the patens through the light, he aligned the three plates, making a map of the cavern leading to the chamber where the entrance to the temple was located.

Arno and Léon analyzing the patens

Arno traveled to the chamber alone and saw Rose and his raiders trying to unlock the door of the temple, but each time a raider tried a lock, he was killed by a blast. While exploring the rooms under the chamber, Arno saw a ghostly image that led him to mechanisms. He activated them, reporting the ghost image in the chamber, which frightened the raiders. Returning to the main chamber, Arno saw a beam of light created by the ghost indicating the correct lock.

Back at the orphanage, Arno was informed by Léon that the lieutenant who had the temple key was at the market. Arno tailed him and discovered that the lieutenant organized a smuggling ring with the raiders. Arno confronted him, threatening to reveal his clandestine operation to Napoleon if he did not surrender the temple key. The lieutenant complied and told the Assassin that the key was in a raider camp in the catacombs. Arno infiltrated the camp and stole the key.

Arno standing before the temple's door

Back in the temple chamber, Arno was able to open the door but was ambushed by Rose, who shot at him. Arno fell into the depths of the necropolis, losing his lantern in the process. As Rose and his men entered the temple, the rogue captain decided to keep the artifact for himself once he found it. While Arno was looking for a way to return to the chamber, Léon arrived and tossed him back his lamp to light his way.

Managing to reach the temple, Arno made his way to the vault containing the artifact, where he confronted Rose and his men. After killing Rose, Arno saw his memories of being recruited by Napoleon following the Siege of Toulon, and later being bribed by a soldier to betray Napoleon and deliver the artifact to a certain "Lady Eve" instead.

With Rose dead, Arno unlocked the vault and retrieved the artifact: the Head of Saint Denis, a lamp shaped like the head of the martyred bishop. As more raiders arrived to try and kill him, Arno used the Head's power to repel them and escaped the temple. Afterwards, as agreed, he met de Sade in the tavern and delivered Condorcet's manuscript. However, rather than accept the Marquis' offer of taking a ship to Egypt, he repaid his drinking debt with a Louis d'or and left without saying a word, having decided to stay in France after all.

Arno holding the Apple of Eden

Later, Arno returned to the orphanage to visit Léon one final time. Upon seeing him, the boy rushed to embrace him, much to both Arno and Madame Margot's delight. Arno also examined the Head of Saint Denis and discovered it contained an Apple of Eden within. After extracting the Apple from the lamp, he contacted the Brotherhood to deliver it to Al Mualim in Cairo, beyond the reach of Napoleon and others who might desire its power.

Other activities in Franciade

"Suger, the architect of the Basilica's last will: to be buried where monks would pass over him each day. Where is he now?"

―Arno reflecting on Abbot Suger's will, 1794.

Before his departure from Franciade, Arno liberated the town's districts from the raiders' influence. He also recovered the last will of Abbot Suger, who wanted to be buried where monks would pass over him each day. Seeing that the headstone was missing, he searched for it and discovered that it had been removed by the congregation of Dieu Résistant in Panetière. Saving one of its defrocked monks, Arno was rewarded by seeing the headstone and the second part of Suger's last will.

While collecting books around Franciade, Arno discovered that a tanner had used the skin of Louis XIV of France as leather for the cover of one of the books. He tracked the tanner and discovered that, in addition to the skin of dead monarchs, he had also murdered several people to use their flesh in book binding. Arno then killed the tanner and his henchmen to put an end to their activities.

Exploring the catacombs, Arno found several raiders who wanted to open Marie de' Medici's sarcophagus to steal the Rose Scepter. He learned that a jeweler had created a key to open the sarcophagus but had been captured by the raiders. Trying to save him in a raider camp, Arno discovered that the jeweler was already dead. Finding the key on his corpse, Arno opened the sarcophagus and recovered the Rose Scepter.

In the tunnels underneath Franciade, Arno discovered the Cult of the Iron Mask, a group that worshipped the famous prisoner and awaited his return. As they attacked Arno, he killed them and saw that they protected a locked room. Reading their notes, he learned that the three keys to the room were given to members of the cult. Arno recovered them and opened the room, finding a chamber with the memoirs of Louis XIV. Deducing that the Man in the Iron Mask had been dead for a long time, Arno left the place, keeping with him an Iron Mask.

Arno also solved the murders of several civilians by a street artist, and the murders of two female soldiers.

Return to the Brotherhood

Ruddock's betrayal

Passing by Paris in August 1794, Arno met the former director of the Paris Observatory, Jean-Dominique Cassini. Wanting to leave Paris after his imprisonment, Cassini tasked Arno to recover his celestial observations in the Observatory. Arno collected the papers and delivered them to Cassini.

By September, Arno was again residing in Versailles, when he was contacted by the outcast Assassin Bernard Ruddock, an acquaintance of Élise's. Ruddock gave Arno a letter that Élise had written in the event of her death, explaining a number of her actions and directing him to find her chest of keepsakes. She only asked that Arno allow Ruddock to keep a pack of letters that she had been given by Jennifer Scott on her trip to London in 1788, which would allow Ruddock to gain favor with the Assassin Council and rejoin the Brotherhood.

Agreeing to honor Élise's last wishes, Arno took Ruddock's address and told him he would be in touch once he had obtained the letters and Élise's chest. He also agreed that he would endorse any efforts he made to win favor with the Assassins. Arno traveled to the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis where he met Élise's teacher, Frederick Weatherall, and was given the chest as promised.

However, Ruddock had secretly followed Arno and betrayed him, revealing that he was serving the British Templars. As Ruddock attempted to murder Arno, Weatherall and everyone else present, he was killed by Weatherall, who threw Élise's short sword into his face. Arno would stay with Élise's friends during the years following her death, having been invited to stay by her former maid out of respect for her mistress.

In October 1794, Arno agreed to undertake another mission for the Brotherhood, being tasked with protecting the procession carrying Jean-Jacques Rousseau's remains on its way to Paris. As it passed through Franciade, the procession was attacked by raiders hired by a mysterious benefactor, but the plot was foiled and the raiders eliminated by Arno and another Assassin. Arno also collaborated with the Assassins to recover the stolen treasures of the French Crown from the Abbey of Franciade.

Master Assassin

"We believe ourselves redeemers, avengers, saviors. We make war on those who oppose us, and they in turn make war on us. We dream of leaving our stamp upon the world... even as we give our lives in a conflict that will be recorded in no history book. All that we do, all that we are, begins and ends with ourselves."

―Arno reflecting on the Assassins' cause, c. 1794.

At some point, Arno formally rejoined the Assassin Brotherhood and was eventually granted the rank of Master Assassin. During the following years, he tried to honor Élise's last will of reducing the gap between the Templars and Assassins. He also frequently visited Élise's grave and proclaimed himself redeemed of his previous mistakes.

Arno as a Master Assassin

Over the years, the Brotherhood entrusted different missions to Arno. In 1795, when the Assassins discovered that the Templars were holding Prince Louis-Charles captive, Arno was tasked to rescue him as he might possess valuable knowledge. After saving the young boy, Arno was informed by another Assassin that he was not the Prince but his groom, but as he had grown up with him, he was nonetheless valuable to the Brotherhood. That same year, the Italian swindler and double-dealer Jean-Baptiste Rotondo escaped from prison with valuable information on the Assassins. Arno was sent to kill him before he told the Templars what he knew.

After the Assassins planted fake relics in tapestry to draw out Templar agents, Arno was tasked to kill the Templars who had stolen it. Arno was also tasked to recover a section of the Encyclopédie Diderot which could expose the Brotherhood. After it was stolen by a thief, Arno chased him but was ambushed by his acolytes. Arno killed the thieves and recovered the Encyclopédie. At some point, an old Assassin pretending to be the highwayman Louis-Dominique Cartouche asked Arno to recover his memoirs which had been stolen by the Templars as they contained sensitive information on the Brotherhood. After Arno collected the memoirs, the old Assassin revealed that he was the third individual to bear the title of Cartouche and that Arno could be a potential successor.

Arno continued to liberate the district of Paris for the Brotherhood. Arno killed the thugs on of the bridges of the Île de la Cité, and the Bièvre district. Under the Directoire, the Brotherhood discovered that the Templars infiltrated the Council of Five Hundred. Arno killed them to prevent the establishment of a new Reign of Terror.

At one point, Arno was contacted by the fortune-teller Marie Anne Lenormand who foresaw that someone wanted to kill her. Arno protected her by killing the men she pointed. Later, Lenormand called on Arno once again, as she saw in her cards that a group of monks were searching for a mechanism to unlock Nicolas Flamel's laboratory containing the Elixir of life. Arno stole half of the key. Afterwards, Lenormand indicated that the alchemist Denis Molinier had the second part of the key. Arno infiltrated his laboratory, discovering that Molinier was a Templar, and stole the other half of the key. Finally, Lenormand tasked Arno to find the laboratory, which was located underneath the Nôtre-Dame. There, he was attacked by the monks but managed to kill them before entering the laboratory. After taking the Elixir of life, he brought it back to Lenormand.

Arno was approached by a recruiter who wanted him to join the Cult of Baphomet but for that he needed to steal two holy chalices from Nôtre-Dame. After he delivered the two artifacts, the recruiter gave him the password that allowed him to attend the Cult's ritual, which was "Father of Understanding." Understanding they were linked to the Templars, Arno contacted the Brotherhood to receive more information on the Cult, before infiltrating their ritual in the catacombs and killing the Templar agents.

On the Île de la Cité, Arno investigated the report of satanic apparitions near fountains. He discovered that thugs had put drugs in the water to rob the citizens, and put a stop to their plan. Arno also killed the thugs known as the Turtle, the Snake and the Bear who terrorized the citizens of the Bièvre district.

Friendship with Napoleon

"Suffice to say they had an... interesting friendship. In the way that a "philosophical difference" can be "interesting"..."

―Shaun Hastings commenting on Arno and Napoleon's "friendship", 2014.

In 1795, Napoleon contacted Arno and asked him to protect his fiancée, Désirée Clary, from the sans-culotte. Working with the cavalry captain Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Arno was able to repeal her attackers. Later, Napoleon suspected that Bernadotte had fallen in love with Clary and asked Arno to investigate. Discovering that Bernadotte wanted to declare his love for Clary during a dinner with Napoleon, Arno went there. As the arrival of Bernadotte created gossips among the patrons on Clary's fidelity, Bernadotte fought them and Arno helped him. Feeling ashamed, Clary rejected Bernadotte.

Shortly after, Clary began to have second thoughts about her decision due to realizing that she loved Bernadotte, not Napoleon. She reached out to Arno and asked him to find Bernadotte so that they may reconcile. Arno found the captain trying to drink his sorrows away and enjoy the company of some prostitutes, but was able to escort him to Clary. To prove her love to Bernadotte, Clary then tasked Arno to retrieve her old love letters to Napoleon so that she may burn them. As Arno stole the letters, Napoleon carelessly agreed to get rid of them due to his attention having shifted to Joséphine de Beauharnais. After Clary burned the letters, she and Bernadotte were attacked by a group of thugs. Arno defended them and then watched as the new couple got engaged.

Later, Arno was informed by Captain Dumas that Napoleon was the target of the Royalists, and protected him during a romantic stroll with Joséphine. After that, Dumas asked Arno to recover letters from his mother and siblings. The Templars had stolen them to blackmail Dumas, so Arno killed them and collected the letters, bringing them to Dumas.

Arno and Napoleon recovering Germain's remains

On 24 December 1800, after Napoleon had become Consul of France, Arno and a team of Assassins prevented a Royalist assassination attempt on Napoleon involving snipers, as well as an explosive device known as the Machine Infernale. The Assassins managed to kill the snipers before they could fire at Napoleon's carriage, and the Machine Infernale was detonated too early, away from Napoleon's carriage. Arno then tracked down the Royalist leader behind the assassination attempt and eliminated him and his henchmen.

In 1808, Arno returned to the Temple, accompanied by Napoleon, who by now had become Emperor of the French. There, they discovered Germain's corpse which had long since decayed. They then buried his skeletal remains in the Parisian catacombs.

Around 1822, Arno assisted the Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion in recovering a stolen rubbing of the Rosetta Stone, as a missing portion of the stone written in Egyptian hieroglyphs contained sensitive information about the Brotherhood. Succeeding in his mission, he denied the Templars the opportunity to study the stone's information on the Assassins.

Legacy

"Arno won this fight two centuries before it started."

―Bishop, after witnessing Arno hiding François-Thomas Germain's remains, 2014.

In 1862, the young British Assassin Evie Frye studied chronicles of Arno's life, as well as those of other legendary Assassins including Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore, Edward Kenway, and Arbaaz Mir, all of whom inspired in her a desire to discover the knowledge kept within the Pieces of Eden.

Callum Lynch witnessing a hallucination of Arno

In 2014, centuries after his death, a DNA sample of one of Arno's descendants living in Montreal was acquired by Abstergo Entertainment. The company was interested in the body of François-Thomas Germain due to his nature as a Sage and tasked Robert Fraser with reliving Arno's memories to find the location of Germain's remains. However, Fraser suffered a strong Bleeding Effect, believing himself to be Arno and eventually destroying all his work and burning his superior's hard drive in order to help the Assassins.

Around the same time, the Assassins recruited a Helix Initiate to investigate Arno's memories and find the location of Germain's body before the Templars. By the end of that year, both the Assassins and Templars discovered that Germain's remains were useless for the purposes of the Phoenix Project.

Two years later, in 2016, Abstergo kidnapped another of Arno's descendants, Callum Lynch, though they used him to relive the memories of another one of his ancestors, the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha. Later, as Callum fully synchronized with Aguilar, Arno was present among a group of his Assassin ancestors that briefly appeared through the Animus.

Personality and traits

"What is this, the sixth time? Seventh? Perhaps a new hobby might be better for your health."

―François de la Serre, regarding Arno's troublemaking habits, 1789.

François de la Serre saving Arno from trouble

In his early life, Arno was witty and charismatic but also no-nonsense, which fed into his sharp sense of humor, falling back on it whenever he felt emotionally vulnerable. He was brash in nature, rushing into action over reason, which was a flaw seen by members of the Assassin Council. This often led him into trouble along with his adoptive sister and lover Élise. Due to the fact that he was well-educated, Arno often quoted classical books, though his noble upbringing did not prevent him from cheating at card games.

After the murder of his adoptive father, François de la Serre, Arno set out on a quest to find redemption, using this goal to help others in the turbulent time of the French Revolution. As a newcomer to the Assassins, he was prone to questioning their typical approach and age-old beliefs but was aided in the field by his stealthy and ruthless nature. It was at this time that he began to mature and take his life more seriously. As he became more serious, his personality began to quickly change, and was able to focus on the task at hand; as a result of this, he wasn't as witty or brash as he once was.

Arno, seeing the turmoil in France first-hand, desired to bring justice. He displayed dismay or even frustration when Bellec told him not to intervene when extremists were harassing citizens, or when the Marquis de Sade discouraged him from saving a man getting his leg amputated by la Touche. This stemmed from the fact of his failure to save his adoptive father, and the desire to amend his mistakes.

Arno and Léon embracing

Initially, Arno did not take his duty as an Assassin seriously, seeing it as little more than an opportunity for revenge against de la Serre's murderers. But over time, Arno realized the true purpose of the Creed, and its flaws. He concluded that the Creed merely served as a guide and a warning, rather than a principle meant for one to follow, having witnessed first-hand how ideals led to dangerous fanaticism, as seen with Bellec and Germain.

Following Élise's death, Arno suffered from depression and sorrow, causing him to become more cynical in nature. This ultimately led to his abandonment of France, and unwillingness to involve himself in saving it from Napoleon's schemes, while also discouraging Léon from doing so. However, after an encounter with an Élise lookalike and witnessing the "dark magic" the Head of Saint-Denis possessed, he managed to overcome his trauma, coming to terms with his past and regaining his resolve to be an Assassin once more.

By the time he became a Master Assassin, Arno had become extremely wise and analytical. He was able to understand that an idea, if pushed too far, would be detrimental to the person and those around him. He also renounced any religious beliefs he once held, considering that there was no higher power to punish humans for their sins, and that only people themselves should be held responsible for their own actions.

Arno was fiercely independent, as he questioned the Assassins' Creed and the ways of those that had come before like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, preferring to do things his own way. He also declined Napoleon's offer to join the French Army saying that he "wasn't much of one to take orders." Napoleon respected Arno for this, remarking at how they both had similar views that defined them differently to most other people. Arno also respected Napoleon's views to an extent and though their goals put them at odds sometimes, the two were able to form a long-lasting friendship.

Skills and equipment

"I am... no longer certain of Lafrenière's motivations. In his memories, I saw him writing the letter that would have warned (Mister) de la Serre of his betrayal. When he spoke of his impending attack, he mentioned a club in the Marais - not one of our safehouses."

―Arno describing his "gift", 1791.

Arno practicing swordfighting with Bellec

From his early childhood, Arno spent several days sword fighting with Élise, who proved to outrank him. He was later taught by François in terms of basic swordsmanship as well as hunting. By the time of his early adulthood, Arno had become a decent swordsman as proven where he was able to fend off Hugo and Victor. He perfected the art in which he could engage multiple opponents in battle and utilize the environment to his advantage. Eventually, it was honed to the point where Arno was able to defeat his mentor Bellec. He later passed these lessons on to a young girl named Marianne in the fight to reclaim her home.

Arno grew to become a skilled freerunner as he was able to scale buildings as well as natural elements with relative ease, his agile speed allowed him to traverse over and under several obstacles. In addition, he proved to be a capable swimmer, able to swim great distances with exceptional ease.

Upon joining the Brotherhood under the tutelage of Pierre Bellec, Arno eventually became a Master Assassin trained in the methods of stealth, swordsmanship, combat, firearms, pickpocketing and lockpicking. Arno was able to wield a variety of weaponry including swords, pistols, spears, heavy weapons, rifles as well as Guillotine Guns. As he journeyed through the Brotherhood, Arno also claimed several weapons from his targets as trophies, namely a round axe (from Charles Gabriel Sivert), an officer's pistol (from the Roi des Thunes), a light halberd (from Frédéric Rouille) and finally the Sword of Eden from François-Thomas Germain.

Arno aiming his Phantom Blade

Arno's stealthy and ruthless nature aided him. As a master of stealth, he could utilize various corners and hiding spots to silently assassinate his targets without being noticed. He proved to be proficient with his Hidden Blade utilizing it in both stealth assassinations as well as in open combat.

In terms of weaponry, Arno wielded a Hidden Blade alongside a Phantom Blade, which was capable of firing normal and berserk darts. He carried a wide range of bombs in his arsenal including smoke, stun, cherry or poisonous gas variants, of which he could utilize them to either distract or cripple his enemies.

Arno demonstrated sharp observational skills as he was able to identify and pinpoint several opportunities that could aid him during his assignments. These deductive skills also helped Arno when solving numerous murder mysteries around Paris.

Arno utilizing Eagle Vision

Arno additionally possessed the rare ability of Eagle Vision, as well as two sub-versions dubbed 'Eagle Pulse' which he used to perceive his enemies, allies and objects of interest – even through walls – but only for a limited time, and 'Communal Sense' which allowed his fellow Assassins to see what he saw, albeit within a limited range. Additionally, his above-average concentration of Isu DNA granted him the ability to see the memories of those whose lives he took.

Romantic life

Arno: "What can I say? You were always a bad influence."

Élise: "You were a worse one."

—Arno and Élise flirting, 1789.

Arno and Élise sharing a passionate kiss

Taken in as an orphan into the de la Serre household, Arno grew up along with François de la Serre's boisterous daughter, Élise. Viewing her more as a friend than a sister, his feelings for Élise eventually changed into mutual love as they both matured, though they kept the romance a secret due to differences in social class. Due to their own respective educations, the lovers had very little time together and could only meet up several times a year. Additionally, although Arno loved Élise he did break his tryst with several women during their long periods of separation; but still loved only her.

Once Élise discovered Arno's failure to deliver a letter warning her father of the betrayal, their relationship became strained. Élise held Arno responsible for her father's death, and it was not until years later, coincidentally by which point Arno had joined the Assassins, that the two began to rebuild their friendship and eventually resumed their romance.

Despite being on opposite sides of the Assassin-Templar War, Arno and Élise put their loyalties to each other above those to their respective orders and worked together towards the common goal of killing Germain and his Templar allies. However, their motives for doing so were different: whereas Arno sought to redeem himself for his mistakes and to protect Élise, she was only interested in avenging her father's murder, even at the cost of her own life. Their clash in ideologies eventually culminated in a fight after Arno chose to defend Élise rather than pursue Germain, which led Élise to reject Arno once again. However, she later came to regret her decision and came back for him.

Arno and Élise reflecting on the past and the future

After Élise died, Arno was thrown into depression and cynicism. However, he was eventually able to get his life back on track and come to terms with Élise's death, moving on like she instructed him to do in her final letter to him. Despite this, he would still regularly visit her grave for the rest of his life and try to carry out her final will of reducing the gap between the Assassins and Templars.

Eventually, Arno was able to find love again and have descendants at an unknown point in his life.

Trivia

• Arno's name is a derivative of German Arnold and French Arnaud. Its old German origin is Arenwald, meaning "eagle power", from aren "eagle" and wald "power" or "governing". Victor is Latin for "conqueror", while Dorian is a Greek name meaning "gifted".
• Much like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad before him, Arno was an Assassin that consorted and eventually became romantically involved with a Templar. However, Altaïr had been aware of Maria Thorpe's allegiance before entering into the relationship, while Arno was not aware of Élise's until after the murder of her father.
• Arno was mentioned in Assassin's Creed: Rogue in a message from Melanie Lemay to one of the Abstergo Entertainment employees regarding research into Arno's genetic memories. He appeared in person during the final memory of Shay Cormac relived by the Helix research analyst. This appearance takes place when Arno meets Élise for the first time before Shay kills his father.
• In all but one trailer, Arno is shown using the Hidden Blade on his right arm, but in the game, it is on his left arm. The only trailer to show the Hidden Blade on his left arm is the TV-spot trailer.
• Arno's backstory is somewhat similar to Ezio Auditore's: both men were of noble descent, carefree and trouble-making in their youth, both suffered familial losses at the hands of the Templars and both ended up humbled and wisened by the Assassin Brotherhood later in life.
• Arno's birthday corresponds with the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789.

Appearances

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An image gallery is available for Arno Dorian

• Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
  • Dead Kings
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (as a child)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
• Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment – Employee Handbook
• Assassin's Creed: Underworld (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed film (as apparition)
• Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
• Assassin's Creed: The Official Collection
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot (indirect mention)
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game

References

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