Alan Rikkin

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article three months after release.

Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of "Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment - Employee Handbook". This article has been identified as being out of date. Please update the article to reflect recent releases and then remove this template once done.

Alan Rikkin (c. 1951 – 2016) was the Chief Executive Officer of Abstergo Industries and a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. He held the positions of Grand Master and Guardian within the Order, answering directly to the General of the Cross and the Council of Elders.

Biography

Early life

In 1980, Rikkin and his wife had a daughter, Sophia, but later had to raise the girl alone after her mother was killed by the Assassins in 1984.

Templar career

In 1986, Rikkin led a strike-team to capture Mary Lynch in Mexico. Having discovered that her ancestor Aguilar de Nerha was the last known holder of one of the Apple of Eden, the Templar hoped to put the Assassin into an Animus to find clues about the location of the artifact. While they captured her husband, Joseph, Rikkin arrived too late to prevent Mary's suicide and the escape of her son, Callum.

In 2000, Rikkin was among those informed by Warren Vidic that Daniel Cross had returned to Abstergo's facility in Philadelphia, after Cross had assassinated the Mentor of the Assassins. In 2010, Clay Kaczmarek was tasked by William Miles to hack Rikkin's personal computer in the hope of learning more about the Animus project.

Rikkin succeeded the previous CEO of Abstergo Industries after their death in January 2012. In a tape, Rikkin's predecessor encouraged him to stay on course after all he had learned from the previous Grand Masters, and reminded him that the free market would soon collapse, and that he needed to establish the New World Order before all turned to anarchy.

Later that year, Abstergo was hit by a scandal over the testing of their New Fluoride product; the United States government threatened to freeze Abstergo's assets, which coupled with the loss of an Apple of Eden in the DIA satellite accident, forced them to hasten the completion of the Eye-Abstergo satellite.

Animus Project

"I'm about ready to pull the plug on your Subject 17. So either get me results or get another person into that Animus."

―Rikkin giving orders to Warren Vidic.

Kilkerman, Rikkin and Liman listening to Vidic's report

Rikkin oversaw the Animus Project supervised by Vidic and Lucy Stillman, reviewing the data obtained from Subjects 12-16. He became frustrated that it was taking a few days for Desmond Miles – Abstergo's seventeenth subject in the program – to synchronize with the memory they needed to map the locations of the Pieces of Eden, one of which would replace the Apple needed to power the Eye-Abstergo satellite.

Rikkin, David Kilkerman, and Henry Liman came to the Animus Project laboratory in Rome the day after an unsuccessful attack from the Assassins. Vidic had obtained the necessary memory, to which Rikkin responded he would send teams to collect all of them, should anyone else obtain one and cause trouble in the Templars' New World.

Rikkin leaving the meeting

Rikkin also ordered that Desmond be terminated, but Stillman retorted, saying that they needed him to obtain any more information on the sites from his genetic memory, so Rikkin deferred to her judgment.

On 17 December, Rikkin contacted Laetitia England, after she reported that Desmond Miles had stolen a Precursor power source in Manhattan.

Managing Abstergo

Rikkin became acquainted with Olivier Garneau (the CCO of Abstergo Entertainment) and, in 2013, contacted him about his progress regarding the Observatory.

Alan in London

In 2014, Rikkin sent a message to Melanie Lemay, congratulating her for her role as CCO of Abstergo Entertainment. Because of her hard work, Rikkin offered her a raise and personally stated that he was looking forward to working with her in the future.

On 17 October 2015, Rikkin had a conference with Isabelle Ardant. He was later contacted by Álvaro Gramática after Violet da Costa retrieved a Shroud of Eden from the vault under Buckingham Palace and the Phoenix Project was accelerated.

Spying on Hathaway

In October 2016, Rikkin conducted the induction of Simon Hathaway into the Inner Sanctum. After the ceremony, Rikkin granted permission to Hathaway when the Templar told him about his new project, to explore the genetic memories of Templars to rediscover lost secrets. Hathaway planned to explore the memories of his ancestor during the Hundred Years' War to learn more about Jeanne d'Arc's Swords of Eden and Rikkin gave him one week to prove the usefulness of his approach.

Endgame

Immediately after the showdown with Hathaway, Rikkin went to Madrid to assist Sophia after she discovered that Callum Lynch was about to be executed for murder. The Templars faked Lynch's execution and brought him to Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center to find the Apple once possessed by his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha via the Animus.

After the Rikkins found the Apple, Callum escaped and, with two other kidnapped Assassins, went to London. Lynch killed Alan before the assembled Council of Elders at the Grand Templar Hall and stole the artifact, leaving his body to be discovered by Sofia clutching an organic apple.

Personality and characteristics

"You told me she wasn't going to be a problem and here she is stirring up the shit again."

―Rikkin to Warren in an e-mail.

File:ACTF Alan Rikkin.jpg

Alan Rikkin

Rikkin could be a rude and vulgar individual. Despite both being members of the Inner Sanctum, his emails to Vidic were often disrespectful and impatient. However, in an email written for him with other Abstergo executives, Rikkin showed the intelligence and charisma necessary to head a company.

Lucy Stillman once emailed Rikkin, requesting information on a deceased friend and ex-employee, Leila Marino. The only response she received was an out-of-office notice, despite the fact that Rikkin continued to manage his other emails during the time he was supposedly away, even sending Vidic a message warning the latter to keep Lucy from asking difficult questions.

Rikkin was also ignorant of historical facts, proven when he mistook who Guy Fawkes was, believing Fawkes was involved in the French Revolution. When corrected by Caroline Grey, he snapped at her, claiming "We are making history here, the past is largely irrelevant."

One of the leaders of the modern-day Knights Templar, Alan Rikkin was determined to achieve his orders’ centuries-long goal to gain control over humanity and destroy the Assassin Order. Through Callum Lynch, and the ancestral memories he holds, Rikkin may finally have found the key to the Templar's endgame.

Trivia

Alan Rikkin's business card

• The production team behind the Assassin's Creed movie tweeted Rikkin's business card: by calling the numbers on it, fans would receive a voice message by Jeremy Irons as Rikkin.
• In Assassin's Creed 6: Leila, Rikkin is identified by Laetitia England as the Leader of the Templar Order.
• Rikkin was part of the development team for Abstergo’s Liberation video game.

Appearances

Assassin's Creed (First appearance) Assassin's Creed: The Fall (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Revelations - The Lost Archive DLC (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Rogue (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Unity (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment - Employee Handbook (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Initiates (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (Mentioned only) Assassin's Creed: Heresy Assassin's Creed: The Movie Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization

Non-canon appearances

• Assassin's Creed (Les Deux Royaumes comics)