Grand Temple Key

"Fascinating... Gentlemen. I hold in my hand a key. And if this book is to be believed, it will open the doors of a storehouse built by Those Who Came Before."

―Reginald Birch on the nature of the Grand Temple Key, 1754.

The Grand Temple Key is an Isu artifact used to access the inner chambers of the Grand Temple and the global aurora borealis device housed within.

Owners

• Isu (? – ?)
• Miko (? – 18 April 1754)
• Haytham Kenway (18 April 1754 – 16 September 1781)
• Charles Lee (16 September 1781 – 2 October 1782)
• Ratonhnhaké:ton (2 October 1782 – 1783)
• Desmond Miles (December 2012)

Design

The key was circular and had a hole in the middle. It featured an Ouroboros design of a serpent biting its own tail, symbolizing cycles and infinity. The key was also decorated with the twelve astrological signs of the Western zodiac, the symbol of Venus as well as other incomplete symbols likely denoting other classical planets.

When a string was attached to the key through its hole, it could be worn like an amulet, which is how most of its wielders elected to carry it.

History

The key was created by the Isu at some point before the Great Catastrophe, as a secondary security measure to protect the global aurora borealis device, located inside the Grand Temple, which itself required an Apple of Eden to access.

By 1754, the key was in the possession of the British Assassin Miko. On the orders of Reginald Birch, Grand Master of the British Templars, Haytham Kenway assassinated Miko inside the Theatre Royal in London and took the key from him. Upon Haytham's return to the Templar headquarters, Birch told Haytham that the key most likely opened an Isu storehouse in the British colonies. As a result, Birch booked Haytham passage to Boston, in order to find the storehouse and unlock its contents, and to establish a permanent Templar presence in colonial America.

Haytham showing the key to Kaniehtí:io

In 1755, Haytham, with the help of Kaniehtí:io from the Kanien'kehá:ka nation, located the entrance to the Grand Temple, but was unable to get inside due to lacking the necessary Apple of Eden, rendering the key useless. Following this, Haytham kept the key in his possession until 1781, when he passed it on to his second-in-command, Charles Lee, shortly before his death at the hands of his son, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton.

The following year, Ratonhnhaké:ton killed Lee in Monmouth and took the key from him. He later returned to his village, Kanatahséton, where he activated his tribe's Crystal Ball he had used years earlier to communicate with Juno. Juno greeted Ratonhnhaké:ton again, and told him to hide the key where none might find it. Following this, he made his way back to the manor at the Davenport Homestead and buried the key in the grave of Connor Davenport, the late son of Ratonhnhaké:ton's mentor Achilles Davenport.

In 2012, Ratonhnhaké:ton's descendant, Desmond Miles, relived his memories using the Animus to find the key's location. Upon retrieving it, Desmond used the key to open the inner gateway of the Grand Temple and ultimately sacrificed his life when he activated the global aurora borealis device to protect the Earth from the forthcoming solar flare.

Trivia

• Although Ratonhnhaké:ton canonically buried the key, it could still be found with the other mementos of Ratonhnhaké:ton's targets in the basement of the Davenport Homestead. 
• In Assassin's Creed III, Ratonhnhaké:ton is shown burying the key in Connor Davenport's grave. However, in Assassin's Creed: Forsaken, he buries it in a clearing in the forest.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of the key
• 
  Close-up of the key
• 
  Reginald Birch holding the key
• 
  William Johnson examining the key
• 
  Haytham showing the key to Shay Cormac
• 
  Charles Lee holding the key
• 
  Ratonhnhaké:ton taking the key from a dying Lee
• 
  Ratonhnhaké:ton preparing to bury the key

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed III (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Forsaken
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue