Darim Ibn-La'Ahad

Darim Ibn-La'Ahad (born 1193) was a member of the Assassin Order and the first son of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Maria Thorpe. Later he became the brother of Sef Ibn-La'Ahad, their second son.

Biography

Early life

Darim was born in Masyaf in 1193, where he was raised by his parents, who trained him in the ways of the Assassins. Over time, Darim's skills with a crossbow placed him as an expert of the weapon.

Assassination of Genghis Khan

Main article: Assassination of Genghis Khan

By 1217, Genghis Khan's Mongolian Empire was expanding rapidly from the east and was slowing the expansion of the Assassin Order in that direction. In addition to this, Darim's father had believed that the Khan held a Piece of Eden known as The Sword. Thus, Darim and his parents left immediately to kill Khan, while his younger brother Sef remained in Masyaf to care for his wife and children and Altaïr's right-hand man, Malik Al-Sayf, was placed in charge of the Order until their return.

As of early 1227, they had reached Mongolia and met with one of the local assassins, Qulan Gal, who infiltrated Khan's camp with Altaïr, although Darim's now elderly father had lost much of his stealth in his old age and was detected by one of the guards, who was able to significantly injure the Assassin before Altaïr was saved by Qulan Gal. Qulan Gal then helped Altaïr to escape the camp and the Assassin's regrouped to formulate a new plan.

Realising the threat to his life, Genghis Khan tried to flee on horseback, although Qulan Gal had been expecting this and planned for him to do just that. The Mongolian Assassin then proceeded to shoot down Khan's horse, while Darim subsequently finished Khan himself with his crossbow. After ten years, the group had accomplished what they set out to do and Darim and his parents finally returned home.

Return to Masyaf

Later in 1227, Darim and his parents made it back to Masyaf only to be greeted by a former Assassin apprentice named Swami. Swami told them that the member of the Order who was supposed to greet the family upon their return home, Rauf, had died of fever during their absence and that Malik had been arrested by the new leader of the Order, Abbas Sofian for unknown reasons. Swami then told Darim that his brother Sef had retreated with his family to Alamut, at which point Altaïr urged him to retrieve his younger brother and return to Masyaf.

Life in exile

Some time after arriving in Alamut, he met with his sister-in-law and nieces, only to be told that Sef was dead, having been supposedly killed by Malik in 1225. At that point, Darim chose to stay in Alamut and later was joined by his father in 1227.

Altaïr told Darim that in Masyaf, Abbas had staged a coup in 1225 and taken over the Order, before framing Malik for Sef's murder, which Swami had committed. He said that he had successfully freed Malik, only for the man to be murdered by Swami shortly thereafter. After this, Altaïr and Maria had confronted Abbas, who made public Altaïr's infiltration of the prison, causing a decimation in the older Assassin's support. Demanding the Apple from him, Abbas sent Swami to retrieve it. Before Swami retrieved the Apple, he bragged to Altaïr that in Sef's final moments, Swami had told him that his father had ordered his execution. Altaïr's rage manifested itself in the Apple and when Swami touched it he went insane, mutilating himself first with his hands, then pulling out his knife and stabbing himself. However in his frenzy, he unknowingly killed Darim's mother, slitting her throat. Feeling insecure at the deaths of his youngest son and his wife, Altaïr fled instead of confronting Abbas.

Darim spent most of the next 20 years living with his father, sister-in-law and nieces, until eventually his sister-in-law took her daughters to live in Alexandria. Later, Darim himself was driven away from Alamut by his father's state of depression and his renewed obsession with the Apple. Darim departed to France and later England to warn of the advancing threat of the Mongol Empire.

Later life

Eventually, he returned to Masyaf in 1247 following his father's return to power as Grand Master of the Order. It is unknown whether his relations with his father were restored following this. Darim travelled to Constantinople to invite the Venetian explorers Niccolò and Maffeo Polo in 1257 to temporarily reside in Masyaf.

At the end of the same year, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, attacked Masyaf. Together with his father and Tazeem Al-Sayf, they lead the remaining Assassins in defence of Masyaf.

Source

• Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade