Isabelle Ardant

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Isabelle Ardant (née Chu; 1969 – unknown) is an Operations executive in the Historical Research division of Abstergo Industries, and a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order.

Biography

Early life

Isabelle was born in Hong Kong in 1969 and moved to the United Kingdom to attend the University of Cambridge, where she specialized in computer science.

Early years with Abstergo

At one point, she was recruited by Abstergo Industries as a part of their "Young Innovators" program. She worked as a digital archivist for the Project Legacy program, eventually learning about the existance of the Pieces of Eden. Isabelle worked her way up through the ranks, finally securing her position as the Operation Executive for the Historical Research division.

Thanks to her former role as archivist for the Project Legacy, Isabelle found out about the Shroud of Eden that Abstergo had found during World War II. Isabelle took the Shroud, and offered Álvaro Gramática to hand it to him, to see if he could make it work. Álvaro accepted, since he wouldn't miss the chance to "take Vidic down a peg" after the failure of the Eye-Abstergo project.

On January 2012, Álvaro invited Isabelle to the Abstergo facility located in Paris in which he was working with the Shroud for her to see his idea. Once she arrived, Álvaro concluded that only death could make the Shroud work. Isabelle abruptly denied his idea of killing him wearing the Shroud as she believed that it wouldn't work, but then Álvaro reminded her about all the money they had spent in the project, and that Rikkin wouldn't be happy if they came up with their hands empty. Isabelle reductanly accepted his idea and shot him and then was surprised when an entity that called himself "Consus" started speaking through Álvaro. A horrified Isabelle then started to scream.

In 2014, Ardant sent an email to Álvaro Gramática, in which she briefed him about the 2.7 seconds of footage depicting the First Civilization, that had been successfully extracted from John Standish's genetic memories. Although the data was relatively mangled, she was able to make out architectural styles and large guard-like figures, which excited her.

Quest for the Shroud

In 2015, Abstergo was on the trail of a Shroud of Eden. Ardant entered her office in London, where she shared a video conference with Gramática, who was heading the search, promising to bring in Sigma Team. Seconds after she ended the call, she was confronted by the Assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. However, Juhani Otso Berg and Violet da Costa turned up, but a set of explosives allowed the Assassins to escape. Angered by their escape, Isabelle ordered Sigma Team to hunt them down.

Some time afterward, the Templars learned that the Shroud was hidden underneath Buckingham Palace, but unknown to them, so had the Assassins. Hastings, Crane and Galina Voronina attacked Ardant, da Costa and Berg. While Ardant attempted to escape with the Shroud, Hastings snuck up behind the Templar and stabbed her in the back with his Shock Blade. Though the Assassins were forced to retreat without the Shroud, Violet managed to escape with it, leaving an unconscious Berg and an unresponsive Ardant behind in the process.

Trivia

• Ardant's maiden name, Chu, can be written as 朱 in the Wade-Giles spelling system, in which case it would mean "red, scarlet", or as 楚 in the pinyin system, referring to one of the kingdoms in the Zhou dynasty.
• Unlike most of the members of the Inner Sanctum, Ardant seemed to have a sense of morality, especially when it came to children. This was demonstrated when she showed utter disgust at Alvaro Gramatica's desire to experiment on and vivisect a ten year old boy; even though the boy in question was both a Sage and the son of the late Desmond Miles, Ardant refused to allow it. Though this stands in direct contrast to other Templars that were willing to allow direct or indirect harm to children, including Laetitia England and Alvaro Gramatica, she was still willing to rob him of his freedom and sanity by sticking him in an Animus for the rest of his life once he was old enough.

Gallery

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  Ardant speaking with Gramática
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  Ardant being confronted by Rebecca and Shaun
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  Close-up of Ardant
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  Ardant ordering Shaun and Rebecca's elimination