Jean-François Papillon

"Jeannot just laughed at me and said that we would never succeed here. I choose to believe, but I wonder if I didn't see a flicker of doubt in the eyes of Jean-François."

―Eseosa on Jean-François Papillon's faith in the Haitian Revolution, 1791.

Jean-François Papillon (unknown – 1805) was a leader of the slave rebellion of the Haitian Revolution, and a member of the Assassin Brotherhood.

Papillon and his Brothers planned an uprising against the white colonists of Saint-Domingue to secure the freedom of the colony's slaves. At a vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman in 1791, Papillon, Georges Biassou and Jeannot Bullet were prophesized to become leaders of the rebellion by Dutty Boukman.

After Boukman's death later that year, Papillon was promoted to commander-in-chief of the slave army. The rebellion was temporarily put on hold after Bullet began to brutally slaughter whites and mulattoes, after which Papillon and Biassou brought him before their Brother Eseosa. Eseosa sentenced him to die for breaking the first tenet of their Creed.

By 1801, both Papillon and Biassou cut their ties with their Brothers in the French colony, instead joining the Spanish. By 1804, Papillon and Biassou had left Saint-Domingue, presumbaly for Florida.

Reference

• Assassin's Creed: Initiates - Letters to the Dead