Vance Travers

"I'll tell you this: I will marry her. I will kill you if I must, I will have your half of the map. And then the world will see which brother has more honour."

―Vance to his brother, regarding Jing Lang, 1717.

Vance Travers (1690 – 1717) was a member of the West Indies Brotherhood of Assassins and the leader of the bureau in Nassau alongside his brother Upton Travers.

Biography

Early life

Vance was born in England in 1690, two years after the birth of his brother, Upton. Seeking fortune, the brothers traveled to the West Indies, where they established a smuggling enterprise. They eventually joined the Assassin Order, and were appointed leaders of the Assassin bureau in Nassau, funded by their smuggling operation.

At some point, the brothers bought a treasure map from a pirate. Vance and Upton agreed that each would keep one half of the map, keeping the treasure safe for when they would retire.

Colluding with Jing Lang

"Recently, our trade introduced us to a formidable woman - Jing Lang, a pirate from the farthest seas of the Orient [...] She and Vance quickly became inseparable."

―Upton on Vance and Jing's relationship, 1717.

Around 1717, Vance became acquainted with Jing Lang, a secret Templar agent that had been sent to eliminate the Assassin bureau leaders in Nassau, and quickly fell in love with her. She convinced him to betray his brother and the Assassins, asking Vance to obtain Upton's piece of the treasure map.

Opportunity soon arrived in the form of Edward Kenway, who had come to warn Nassau's bureau leader of the Templar threat, as well as find a Templar key. Vance subsequently manipulated Edward, claiming Upton and his men were the Templars he was looking for.

However, Edward failed to kill Upton, leading Vance to hire someone else to eliminate his brother. Meeting with Upton soon after, Vance attempted to convince his brother to reveal the location of his piece of the treasure map. The conversation's mood quickly soured when Upton brought up Jing, with Vance hotly defending her against his brother's accusations.

Promising his brother he would acquire the other half of the map one way or another, Vance angrily departed and went to meet with Jing. She asked him why he had not yet acquired the map, to which he assured her that they would have it as soon as his hired man had killed Upton. Unbeknownst to them, Edward had eavesdropped on their conversation, and was able to take out the assailant.

Death

Vance's final moments

Shortly thereafter, Vance was assassinated by Edward on the orders of Upton, who believed his brother's treason deserved to be punished with death. As he lay dying, Vance called Edward a traitor, to which the pirate merely replied that "it takes one to know one".

After the man had died of his wounds, Edward searched his body for his piece of the map, only to later learn from Jing that it was a forgery she had planted after stealing the real map.

Legacy

In 2015, the Templar Isabelle Ardant included Vance's name on a list of known British Assassins. This list was later unveiled by the Assassins Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings when they infiltrated Ardant's office to plant a bug.

Personality and traits

"My lovesick idiot of a brother has misled you."

―Upton lamenting Vance's naivety, 1717.

Creative and passionate, Vance could be seen as the more charismatic of the Travers brothers, being a generally smooth talker. However, he was also fairly gullible, readily falling for Jing and believing her to reciprocate when all she was interested in was the treasure map.

Even without taking his relationship with Jing into account, Vance appeared to carry some form of resentment to his older brother Upton. At one point, he accused Upton of needing to be "the favored child, the golden boy", hinting at a sense of inferiority or jealousy.

Behind the scenes

Vance Travers is a character created for the 2013 video game, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, wherein he is portrayed by Canadian actor Marcel Jeannin.

Etymology

Vance is an English and Scottish name derived from the Old English word fenn meaning "marsh" or "fen". Travers is a toponymic surname with French origins, deriving from the Old French word traverser or travers meaning "to cross/traverse" alternatively the habitational "Le Travers". It also has Norman and Irish roots, with Travers being variants of the names Travis and Trower (the anglicized form of the Gaelic name Treabhair) respectively.

Gallery

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  Concept art of Vance Travers
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  Edward Kenway meeting with Vance
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  Edward assassinating Vance

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned only)