Haytham Kenway

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"Order. Purpose. Direction. No more than that. It’s your lot that means to confound with this nonsense talk of freedom. Time was, the Assassins professed a far more sensible goal, that of peace."

―Haytham Kenway to his son, Ratonhnhaké:ton concerning the Templars' goals

Haytham Kenway (1725 - 1781) was a former member of the English branch of the Assassin Order and, following his betrayal, the first Grand Master of the Templar Order in the New World, from 1754 until his death.

Born to the Assassin Edward Kenway, Haytham was converted to the Templar cause early on, by Reginald Birch. After being sent to America to locate a suspected First Civilization storehouse, Haytham remained and established a permanent Templar presence in the British colonies. Later on, he fathered a son with the Mohawk woman Kaniehti:io, whom he had met in his original quest for the storehouse. He was an ancestor to Desmond Miles.

Biography

Early life

Haytham was born in England in the year 1725, to the Assassin Edward Kenway, and trained by the Order from an early age. At some point before his thirtieth birthday however, Haytham was approached by the Grand Master of the Templar Order - Reginald Birch - and convinced to defect. Haytham's defection remained a secret; at one point, he worked, and became close friends with Edward Braddock, but the brutal murder of several innocents by the latter led to a falling out. Eventually Braddock left the Templar Order, and Haytham cut ties with him.

In the year 1754, Haytham attended the Theatre Royal, in London, where the musical The Beggar's Opera, by John Gay, was being performed. Although lamenting the fact that he had never been able to see the play through to the end, Haytham's true purpose there was to obtain "precursor" artifact from an attending patron and member of the Assassin Order. After obtaining the artifact and assassinating the owner, he fled the opera house and met once more with his co-conspirators. From there, he was chartered a ship to Boston, and ordered to locate a suspected First Civilization storehouse in the region; he would then set about organizing an official presemce for the Templars in the New World.

Aboard the Providence

On the second day of his journey, Haytham entered into a fight with some of the crew members, Hector Graves being the main assailant. After defeating him and another man, he was taken back to the captain's quarters to speak with Samuel Smythe, the captain of the ship. There, he learned that some of the crew members were potentially planning a mutiny; Smythe reminded Haytham that any mutiny would rule out his ever reaching the Colonies, and so he agreed to investigate.

On the twenty-eighth day of his journey, Haytham sped up his investigation by request of the increasing worried captain. After asking the cook and doctor about information regarding peculiar actions, he was referred to a man named James. James told him that crew members had been gathering above deck and quietly conversing about things that he believed "boded ill". After a splashing sound was heard, Haytham went below deck and discovered that barrels had been thrown overboard.

On the thirty-third day of his journey, Haytham spoke with the captain about the marked barrels being thrown overboard on a daily basis, determining that they were a marker to leave a trail for another ship. Seconds later, a boat was sighted that attacked the Providence. Following this, the captain sent him below deck, where Haytham came into contact with Louis Mills. Mills revealed that he had been the one throwing the marked barrels overboard, and that he was in fact a member of the Assassin Order; he had pursued Kenway once word of his defection and the murder in the Theatre Royal reached him. The two engaged in combat and Mills was struck down by Kenway.

Haytham returned above deck and forced Smythe to lead his ship into an approaching storm, so as to lose the pursuing vessel. During the storm, Haytham helped to secure the ships rigging before flying the foremast to quicken the ship. After lightning snapped the main mast and left James hanging from a rope, Haytham continued to quickly save the man just as the attacking ship had sunk, having also been struck by lightning.

On the seventy-second day, Haytham reached Boston, where he met his first assistant and recruit, Charles Lee, who gave him a short tour of the city. During the tour, Haytham met Benjamin Franklin, and discovered that some of his almanac's pages were missing. He also met his first partner, William Johnson, at the Green Dragon Tavern.

Early Boston

Now, effectively, Grand Master of the Templar Order in the Colonies, Haytham's first aim was to unite his new partners. After meeting Johnson, he learned that some of his work had been stolen in a robbery. Leaving to find Johnson's man, Thomas Hickey, another on his list, Haytham searched for those responsible. After finding Hickey and receiving an explanation, Haytham, with the help of Charles and Thomas, infiltrated a mercenary fort and located the papers. Thomas and he then killed the attacking soldiers while Charles carried the chest the papers were contained in.

Learning that the research would not be of much use in the situation, Haytham went to find his other partners, beginning with Benjamin Church. After he visited Church's home, Haytham learned that there had been a raid, and that Church had been taken during it. He then continued to conduct an investigation with Charles, in which he eavesdropped on the conversations of Benjamin's neighbors. The first one informed Haytham that Church had been taken somewhere in north-eastern Boston. Following that, he went to a higher area of Boston to view it for other prospects. The second eavesdrop informed him of relatively nothing, and was a conversation between two British Regulars. The third, also a conversation between two Regulars informed Haytham that Church was in debt to someone, and that a man named "Cutter" was included in this group, with them planning to torture or kill Benjamin. The fourth, between two civilians, informed Haytham that the group that captured Church had taken him to the top of a hill, at a fort that had a doctor.

After obtaining this information, Haytham met with Charles once more to locate Church near to the water-front besides the fort, slipping by undetected to a locked door at the edge. Silently, he stole a key from one of the nearby Regulars and opened the door to the building. Entering inside with Lee, he found Church tied to a chair, surrounded by a few British Regulars, and being interrogated by a man named Silas Thatcher, who was in charge of the Southgate Fort. After Silas left, Lee and Haytham silently killed the soldiers and Cutter before freeing Church and going back to the Green Dragon Tavern.

Next, he went to retrieve another man on his list, John Pitcairn, from General Edward Braddock at the Copp's Hill Battery inside of Boston. After having sneaked in with the help of Lee, he located Pitcairn near to the end of the battery, speaking with Braddock about mistakes. When Haytham attempted to take Pitcairn with him, Braddock refused, and sent him and Charles away. Later, he quickly tricked Braddock and his men into a dead end and slaughtered most of them, humiliating the General, before he stole Pitcairn either way. Following this, Haytham took Pitcairn with him to the tavern and spoke with his partners.

After gathering his new co-conspirators, Haytham planned an infiltration on the fort run by Silas. The reasoning was so that he could free the Native American slaves there in order to discover where the First Civilization storehouse was. Locating a convoy, he and his partners ambushed it, slaughtering all of the Regulars and dressing in their garb. Using the tactic of a Trojan horse, Haytham sneaked his men into the fort, freed the slaves within, killed the fort's general, and wounded Silas so that he could be shot by Church.

The Storehouse

Six months after the death of Silas, Haytham had successfully had his partners track down a woman that they had freed in the attack, a native who had appeared to have some sort of command. In the snow, he located her by following tracks she had left behind, and chased her through the Frontier on the ground while she ran through the trees. When he finally caught up to her, they spoke about the 'key' and if she knew where the storehouse was. Telling him to meet her at a nearby hill, she left, and he eventually followed.

When he met her at the hilltop, she told him about soldiers in the nearby tavern that wished to drive her people away, and that they were led by Edward Braddock, the Bulldog. He suggested that they stop the soldiers, coming up with a plan to kill Braddock. After entering the tavern, he began eavesdropping on some regulars, which informed him of Braddock's plans to go on an 'expedition'. The second group of regulars he listened to informed him that Braddock was already at the 'advanced' camp, preparing to fight French soldiers. Just as he attempted to leave the tavern, he was brought into a bar-fight with some of the regulars, making short work of them with a minor face injury. The woman, Kaniehti:io, quickly cleaned it for him. She then left, telling Haytham to meet her at the camp.

Haytham quickly followed, meeting the woman outside of the British campsite while deep in the blizzard. Sneaking into a supply cart, he hid inside until entering the walls of the fort. After getting into the camp, Haytham silently went through the camp, breaking the two cannons before starting to eavesdrop on a conversation between the young George Washington and a Regular officer. Listening, he learned that Braddock refused a truce to end the French and Indian War, and was rallying troops before he would take a trip to Fort Duquesne, and that a copy of the plans was inside of the Command Tent. Haytham quickly stole it and left the fort, taking them to Kaniehti:io and discussing a plan to ambush the soldiers beside the Allegheny(or Monongahela) river.

A few months later, Haytham rallied his co-conspirators to met with Kaniehti:io near the edge of the river. After speaking with her a bit, they wait in the hiding point while they wait for Braddock and his men. Creating a quick plan of deception, Haytham goes and assassinates one of the regulars, taking the man's outfit to hide within it and sneak up to Braddock's side. Witnessing Braddock kill one of his men, he waited a moment before riding close to the General. Following a failed attack from one of the other men, the Bulldog rode off and Haytham was forced to ride after him. When a tree fell before Braddock, he fell back, allowing Haytham to catch up with him. Just as he was about to shoot, Washington killed the horse beneath him. To save him, Kaniehti:io tackled Washington from his horse, and Haytham rose to chase after Braddock again on foot. Haytham chased him until he was able to assassinate him. After killing him, he took Braddock's ring from his finger and went with Kaniehti:io to the storehouse.

Reaching the storehouse, Haytham attempted to open the door with his key, unable to do so because it was the incorrect Piece of Eden. Then, he had a romantic moment with Kaniehti:io. Following this, he met with his co-conspirators again, plotting the future of the Templar Order in the Colonies, and inducting Lee as a Templar. Later, he would have another moment with Kaniehti:io, which would lead to the birth of Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton.

Searching for Church

Many years later, in 1777, Haytham was in search of the former Templar Benjamin Church, who had deserted the Order before being sent to prison for treason. Slightly outside of the Continental fort in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Haytham had tracked the traitor to a small church. After an investigation, he determined that he had reached them too late, but had stayed anyways to wait and see if someone would appear. To his surprise, Haytham had taken a leap onto his son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who he barely knew existed, instead of one of Church’s men. After a slight brawl with the Assassin, he revealed that he too was searching for Church, and Haytham stayed his blade.

Not long later, Connor had begun to track the location of Church’s mercenaries through the snow, while Haytham followed. When the two had found one of the men by a broken cart of Continental supplies and captured him, there was a quick interrogation that ended with Haytham shooting the man, much to the dismay of his son. Then, he ordered Connor to infiltrate the camp that they had discovered from the man, while he secretly snuck a different route, which ultimately led in his capture. Connor, who quickly came to the rescue, was left behind to kill the other soldiers, while Haytham went to make plans in New York.

A month later, when Connor had finally made his way to the city, Haytham led them atop the rooftops to where Church’s location had been. In one exchange, he revealed he had spared Connor out of ‘curiosity’, and that he was not so different from those that his son aided. They also spoke of their ideas of freedom, which he saw as an ‘invitation to chaos’. After reaching the gate to Church’s position, he allowed Connor to retrieve some sort of disguise, waiting at the rendezvous until his return.

When Connor did return, Haytham led them to the door, passing through with the permission of the guards. Passing through the building, they had a speaking about Connor’s mother, in which Haytham learned of her passing. After Connor had given the blame to Charles Lee, Haytham denied it, saying that he had ordered against it and it was not possible. When they reached Church, Haytham set his accusations and sentenced the man to death, only to be surprised that the man was another in disguise, and they were being ambushed by the mercenaries. Making short work of them, there was a quick interrogation for Church’s position, which allowed them to discover that he was on his way for Martinique. Once more the interrogation led to death, when Haytham once more killed the victim at the end.

Following the murder, a second ambush began, causing barrels to explode and set the building to fire with the two inside. With Haytham leading the way, as well as going through a simpler route, they narrowly escaped the burning brewery by leaping through the locked door, into the water below. Climbing onto the docks, they quickly formulated a plan to use the Aquila to catch up with Church, who was just over a day ahead of them.

Chasing Church

Meeting Connor at a New York pier, in the far eastern section of the city, Haytham boarded the ship for the journey to catch Church. By 1778, they had caught up somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, despite Haytham’s remarks that they were probably days behind because of the route choice. After a narrow crossing though the rocks, they approached ‘The Welcome’, Church’s initial escape ship, which was already abandoned. Following a quick examination, a smaller ship was noticed in the distance, fleeing away as it shot at the Aquila.

Quickly beginning to follow, Haytham and Connor’s crew went through the rocky passage, while the father repetitively heckled his son over imperfections he observed, claiming his superiority as well. After the smaller vessel passed through a narrow cliff-side area, the Aquila was forced to pass around the rocks, and was greeted on the other side by a British ‘Man o’ War’ and a few smaller ships firing at them with full force. Making short work of the smaller boats, Connor and Haytham had the crew fire a chain shot at the ‘Man o’ War’, breaking the masts before they boarded the enemy ship. Just as they were about to meet at the side, Haytham stole the wheel and rammed the Aquila into the opposing ship, following with a mighty leap to the other side as he fought his way to Church below decks. Quickly, Connor leapt over himself, bringing his crew with him to fight the mercenaries aboard. After killing the three officers on the upper deck, Connor made his way to the position of Haytham and Church. Haytham, giving a slight speech to his former co-conspirator, continued to violently beat the man near to death. Connor proceeded from there to end the man’s suffering after discovering the location of the Continental supplies, which lay on a nearby island awaiting pickup.

Death

A time later however, the two met while the Battle of Chesapeake was underway. A fight ensued, though Ratonhnhaké:ton was injured from a long day sieging the fort. Where Haytham seemed to have the upper hand, and was strangling his son whilst partway through a speech on why the Templars were superior, Ratonhnhaké:ton stabbed him in the neck. This did not kill him immediately, as he had time for parting words to his son, explaining that he would not repent and expected his son to know why, and that he was somewhat proud of Ratonhnhaké:ton even though he had taken a different path.

Legacy

When he had reached the colonies, Haytham had successfully set up a Templar power in the region, which despite going into minor setbacks, took a powerful hold of the region in some ways. It was his work that influenced more growth of the Templar Order, helping to grow the power even after his death. He also had a major impact on the Revolutionary War of America, and even the Seven Years' War. His assassination on Edward Braddock had effects on the Royal Military, as well as the future Commander-and-Chief of the Continental Military, George Washington. In the Revolutionary War, his work in creating a Templar hold hurt both sides in battle, the most major being the Battle of Bunker Hill. Besides that, he was a large help in the Assassin Brotherhood, if by accident. Because his son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, became an Assassin, the brotherhood in the Colonies was eventually rebuilt, piece by piece as the Templar hold diminished. Besides that, he was also an ancestor of Desmond Miles, and helped Desmond to find the 'key' to the Grand Temple in a minor way through the Animus.

Personality and characteristics

"You're still possessed of Virtue. To help an old lout like myself..."

―Benjamin Franklin to Haytham Kenway, 1755

From the beginning, Haytham was very focused on his beliefs, every action concerning his Templar mindset. After learning that he would be unable to enter the storehouse, he grew quite concerned on setting up a power for the Templars in the Colonies.

As a young man, Haytham acted as a member of authority, slightly conceited in some ways, evident by his ignoring lower class civilians. When in the company of people closer to what he believed to be his level of intelligence, he was quite kind and well-mannered. Occasionally, he would make a small joke, but in most situations he was relatively serious.

When he was older, he had still been relatively unchanged as he was in his younger years. At this time, he was shown to be a more irrational and impulsive individual, forcing people to do the dirty work and jumping into situations he knew he would make another person finish. Haytham had also become much more cruel in some ways, killing many innocents and acting quite violent with prisoners, especially. In the company of his son, though, his hardened demeanor softened in some ways, or he made an attempt to be nice without displaying too much emotion. Shortly before his death, he became more fatherly towards his son in an attempt to kindle a relationship with him.

Equipment and skills

Haytham was a capable freerunner, able to stealthily climb the inside of an opera house with little effort. He was also an avid planner, able to quickly come up with infiltration techniques that could cripple a group. As well as that, he was an intelligent speaker and a master of both deception and stealth. He also possessed two Hidden Blades as well as the rare ability of Eagle Vision. Other weapons he used included a sword, flintlock pistol, musket, and skilled hand-to-hand combat.

Final Words

• Connor: Surrender, and I will spare you.
• Haytham: Brave words for someone about to die.
• Connor: You fare no better!
• Haytham: Even when your kind appears to triumph ... Still we rise again. And do you know why? It is because the Order is born of a realization. We require no creed. No indoctrination by desperate old men. All we need is that the world be as it is. And THIS is why the Templars will never be destroyed.

Connor managed to stab Haytham in the neck with the Hidden Blade.

• Haytham: Don't think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong. I will not weep, and wonder what might have been. I'm sure you understand. Still, I'm proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction, strength, courage, all noble qualities. I should have killed you long ago.

Trivia

• Haytham's name is connected with an eagle, continuing the eagle motif set by Aquilus, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Aveline de Grandpré and Nikolai Orelov.
• Like some of Desmond's ancestors, the meaning of Haytham's name relates to his character:
  • "Haytham" is an Arabic name meaning "young eagle."
  • "Kenway" is an Old English name meaning "brave royal fighter."
• Haytham has an eagle symbol on his jacket's left cuff, and what appears to be a broken, rusted Assassin insignia on his right bracer.
• Haytham is the first playable Templar in the Assassin's Creed series, and the first playable ancestor to wear a hat instead of the symbolic white hood of the Assassins, the second being Aveline de Grandpré.
• Haytham is the only known Templar who is capable of using Eagle Vision.
• He is the second known ancestor of Desmond to be a Templar, the other being Maria Thorpe. Contrary to Maria, Haytham was an Assassin first and then joined the Templars, while Maria left the Templars for the Assassins.
• Haytham's Hidden Blades are unlike those of previous ancestors, being shorter and closer to his wrists.
• Haytham is the third known Templar to perform a Leap of Faith, others being Francesco de' Pazzi and Vali cel Tradat.

Gallery

• 
  Haytham speaking with Samuel Smythe, captain of The Providence.
• Haytham with Benjamin Church after the death of Silas Thatcher.
  Haytham with Benjamin Church after the death of Silas Thatcher.
• Haytham about to kill Edward Braddock.
  Haytham about to kill Edward Braddock.
• Haytham inducting Charles Lee into the Templar Order.
  Haytham inducting Charles Lee into the Templar Order.

Reference

• Assassin's Creed III