Emmanuel Barraza

" I'm loyal to the Brotherhood. I'm loyal past the point of common sense. So kill me or get out of my face. Sir."

―Emmanuel to William Miles, 2014.

Emmanuel Barraza

Emmanuel Barraza, also referred to as Manny, is an Assassin stationed aboard the Altaïr II. He is an ex-soldier and serves as the ship's armorer and weapons instructor, but in spite of that, he has pledged to a life of non-violence. The catalyst for this lies in a fateful mission in the War on Terror where Emmanuel was forced to kill a bus full of bomb-rigged children to protect a peace conference. The ensuing trauma of violating the Creed and murdering innocents for the sake of duty drove Emmanuel to adopt absolute pacifism, and yet it did not convince him to forsake his loyalty to the Assassins.

Biography

Early life

At one point, Emmanuel served in the military, and showed his devotion to the Order through an Assassin insignia burned into his dog tag. On his first mission as an Assassin, Emmanuel was instructed by William Miles to find a Templar presence in the War on Terror. What he found, however, was a bus full of children with bombs strapped to their chests who were going to be used to disrupt peace talks.

Forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, Emmanuel killed the booby-trapped children, presumably securing the peace talks' resolution at the cost of breaking the Creed's first tenet—to never harm innocents. However, doing so caused Emmanuel much emotional turmoil, enough for him to swear to never take another human life again, although he continued to serve the Assassin Order, acquiring weapons and training his fellow Assassins in their use. Emmanuel was eventually assigned to the Altaïr II and put under the command of the Assassin leader Gavin Banks, an act which Emmanuel considers William to have "pawned [him] off on [to Gavin]."

Mission to Japan

On 1 October 2013, while sailing on the Sulu Sea, Barraza inspected the weapons the crew had bought from Philippine gun makers, in preparation for a possible fight with Abstergo Industries agents in Osaka, Japan.

Emmanuel and his fellow Assassins arrived in Osaka on 4 December, and he accompanied Gavin and Eric Cooper to the headquarters of the Osaka Brotherhood. They discovered their fellow Assassins had been attacked, and Emmanuel used his expertise to determine where bodies fell and how they died. Gavin used his Eagle Vision to discover the yakuza, not Abstergo, were behind the attack. Emmanuel and his fellow Assassins were then ordered to locate any Assassin survivors or the identity of the attackers.

A supposedly extinct branch of the yakuza called the Onmoraki-Gumi came under suspicion as the perpetrators of the attack, and on 12 December, Emmanuel managed to trail a cash deposit to the Onmoraki's new headquarters.

On 17 December, Emmanuel went with Gavin to the headquarters of the Onmoraki-Gumi and watched as he attempted to demand an audience with the head the group. The guard, Kiyoshi Takakura, refused to allow them in and threatened to attack them if they did not leave. Gavin attempted to use psychological warfare to get inside Kiyoshi's head, but ended up being punched in the face and knocked to the ground. As Kiyoshi began kicking Gavin, Emmanuel did not intervene, reminding Gavin that he was a pacifist. However, he heard two other members of the Onmoraki-Gumi talking about how "Grandma"—Saeko Mochizuki—would not like this, as she had worked hard to hide the Brotherhood.

Emmanuel stopping Kiyoshi's attack

Emmanuel realized the thugs were actually Assassins, and allowed his hand to be impaled by Kiyoshi's Hidden Blade when Kiyoshi was about to kill Gavin with it. Emmanuel then asked him what the first tenet of the Creed was, and after Kiyoshi answered, Emmanuel showed him his dog tag with the Assassin insignia burnt onto it. Kiyoshi apologized to Emmanuel and Gavin, and later complimented Emmanuel on his ability to handle pain, claiming he was "almost Japanese".

On 23 December, Emmanuel went to Dr. Stephanie Chiu aboard the Altaïr II to have the bandages on his wound changed. He listened in silence as Gavin complained that while Emmanuel's wound was being fussed over, he had to treat his own injuries from the beating Kiyoshi gave him, and that he would have been fine if Emmanuel had just done his job and protected him.

On 31 December, Emmanuel and the rest of the Altaïr II crew traveled with Saeko and Kiyoshi to Tokyo to gather supplies. He sparred with Kiyoshi for several hours before being convinced to come with him and Chiu to a karaoke bar. Emmanuel was filmed singing by Chiu, and threatened to break his vow to never kill again if she ever showed it to anyone.

Mission to Russia

After the crew deciphered another clue from William Miles' Codex, Emmanuel was chosen to accompany Gavin and Emmett Leary on a mission to Moscow, Russia to meet an Assassin cell in the city. By 16 March 2014, they made contact with Galina Voronina, who asked them to help her assassinate her mother, an Assassin scientist who had gone crazy and put herself and the rest of the Moscow cell in a Animus until they had all been driven insane by the Bleeding Effect.

On 20 March, Emmanuel and the others arrived at the Assassin laboratory at Protvino, where they encountered the maddened Assassins. However, he refused to participate in the fight or even carry a weapon, and simply watched as the others killed their insane comrades. The group subsequently forced their way to the main laboratory, where they found Galina's mother still strapped into the Animus, talking nonsense about finding her husband. Emmanuel watched with the others as Galina put her mother out of her misery with her Hidden Blade.

Emmanuel and the other Assassins left Moscow shortly thereafter, with Gavin having convinced Galina to join the crew of the Altaïr II, relieving Emmanuel of his role as enforcer. On 27 March, they arrived in Saint Petersburg and rejoined the rest of the crew, who welcomed Galina aboard.

Spy hunt

Emmanuel being interrogated

After the mission in Moscow, Emmanuel and the rest of the Altaïr II crew were directed by Gavin to find out where William Miles was hiding from a clue in the latter's journal. They deciphered the riddles within to a hidden cove in Norway, and on 1 May the Altaïr II arrived at William's whereabouts.

When Rebecca Crane began upgrading the systems on the Altaïr II, she discovered that a spy on the ship was uploading reports to a database run by a group called the Initiates. Emmanuel and the rest of the crew, except for Gavin and Galina, were confined to their quarters on the ship until they could be interrogated and cleared of suspicion by William.

On 9 May, Emmanuel was the third crew member interrogated by William, who grilled the pacifist on his first mission as an Assassin, believing him to have ample reason for betraying the Brotherhood. William then pointed out Emmanuel's inaction during the missions in Osaka and Protvino, as well as the fact that some of the Initiates' signals were coming from his old military training base. Despite William's insinuations, Emmanuel simply reiterated his loyalty to the Assassins, and told William to either kill him or get out of his face.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Initiates