Joseph Laurier

"Joseph is one of the most decorated members in Brotherhood history. He's not lying to us."

―Xavier Chen on Joseph's allegiance, 2015.

Joseph Laurier (died 2016) was an ex-Assassin active in the 21st century and a descendant of the British Assassin Jennifer Querry, through her son David. After the death of his lover Christian, for which fellow Assassin Xavier Chen was partially responsible, Joseph decided to take revenge on the Brotherhood by allying with the Templars.

However, he pulled a triple-cross, killing Chen as well as the Templar Didier Hawking, before going on the run. He was eventually tracked down by the hacking collective Erudito and captured by the Assassin Galina Voronina, before agreeing to help defend Erudito's base in Argentina from a Templar attack. However, he would ultimately perish during the battle.

Biography

Early life

At some point during his Assassin career, Joseph participated in a mission overseen by Xavier Chen, which went tragically awry; all the Assassins died except for Joseph and Xavier. Worse, Joseph's lover Christian was among the Assassins that lost their lives; Xavier had chosen to hide the fact that Christian was in critical danger in order to have Joseph focused on their mission. Heartbroken and full of hate, Joseph subsequently disappeared, letting the Brotherhood and Chen believe he too had perished during the mission.

Taking revenge

Joseph talking with Didier Hawking

In 2015, Joseph met with the Templar Didier Hawking in San Diego, claiming he was defecting and wanted to draw Xavier Chen into a trap. However, he still loathed Abstergo, and had an explosive disguised as a false tooth. He let the Assassins know of his survival, claiming he would falsely disclose to the Templars that a Piece of Eden had been hidden in Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials of 1692, in order to reach a high-ranking Templar. Chen believed him, but his new partner Galina Voronina was suspicious and believed that he was a traitor truly working for the Templars.

To verify if the story fed to the Templars was truly a fake, they recruited Charlotte de la Cruz to explore her ancestor Tom Stoddard's memories of the event. When Charlotte witnessed Joseph's Assassin ancestor Jennifer Querry's death before she knew where the resting place of the artefact was, it made the Assassins believe that he was telling the truth. Galina and Xavier immediately headed to the Abstergo office in San Diego to rescue Joseph. However, as Charlotte dug deeper into her own ancestor's memories, it was revealed that Joseph was lying since Querry's child, David, knew where the Precursor seer, Dorothy Osborne's body, was laid.

Joseph chained himself to an interrogation table in a gym. Beforehand, while in Didier's office, he had the Templar punch out a couple of his teeth to make it appear he'd been tortured. When Xavier and Galina came to rescue him, he lunged at them and broke Galina's leg. Xavier pushed him into the gym pool, but Joseph suffocated him to death with his wrist chain. He then emerged from the pool and prepared to kill Galina when Charlotte attacked. Joseph threw her aside before proceeding to explain his motives.

Joseph confronting Charlotte and Galina

Joseph claimed that the Assassins were keeping secrets from Charlotte and had only recruited her for her special ability, before trying to sway the young Assassin to join him. He detonated his bomb to prove he was trustworthy, killing Hawking and his tech team, but Charlotte took that moment to attack him, only to succumb to the Bleeding Effect and fall down.

Lifting the young woman by her hoodie, Joseph mocked Charlotte for not having a Hidden Blade, but Charlotte pulled out a knife and slashed him across the chest, causing him to release her. As Joseph was telling Charlotte that she would come with him even if he had to break her legs and carry her, Abstergo security entered the gym and opened fire, allowing Charlotte to flee with Galina.

Hunted

Joseph survived the events in San Diego and went into hiding with Galina's team tracking him to avenge their fallen brother. In order to find him, they travelled to Mexico City to kidnap Garcia-Lopez, a key member of Abstergo's propaganda division who potentially knew where Joseph was hiding, but they failed. Later, while speaking with Ortega Sanchez, another Templar, Charlotte learned that Joseph was in fact no longer considered to be a "reliable source" by the Templars.

Some weeks later, Galina's team made a pact with Erudito; in exchange for Charlotte's help with acquiring information about an Isu entity named Consus, the collective of hackers would help them find Joseph. Upon learning from Erudito that Joseph was in Somalia, going by the name "Alan Wilde", and after Charlotte asked her to capture him alive because she had a hunch about him, Galina and two Erudito field agents, My'shell and Sheed, left for Africa.

Joseph tries to take Zehra away

In Mogadishu, Joseph was targeting Zerha Okur, a successful businesswoman and known Templar funder who had backed the operation during which Christian died. As he infiltrated an inauguration ceremony attended by Okur, Joseph became aware of Galina's presence. Hacking the team's facial recognition software, Laurier lured Galina and Sheed into a nearby construction site while he tried to kidnap Okur. However, his target escaped when My'shell intervened and Joseph stabbed his attacker in the shoulder before fleeing the scene. Chased by Sheed and Galina, Joseph subdued the former before attacking Galina behind some crates. The Assassin tried to fight back but was outmatched by her imposing opponent.

Death

Joseph attacked from behind by My'shell

However, My'shell managed to distract Joseph with a flanking strike, allowing Sheed to recover his gun and pull it on Laurier. Just then, an Erudito distress call reached the team, informing them that Erudito's base in Argentina was under attack. Determined to save Charlotte from the Templars, Joseph offered his help and his jet.

Above the island, the Templars shot down the plane causing it to crash. The Templars surrounded the crashed plane, finding the body of Sheed in the co-pilot seat. However, they were immediately ambushed by Galina, Joseph and My'shell. Realizing that any hope of rescue relied on taking out the warship that had shot them down, they headed toward the coast. Joseph and his two companions assaulted the ship. The crew retaliated, and explosives upon the deck were hit amidst the gunfire, effectively destroying the ship.

Joseph's final moments

Caught in the explosion, Joseph was badly burned and told the two women to leave him behind and to find the survivors. After asking Galina to look after Charlotte and to not let the Brotherhood change her, he finally succumbed to his wounds. Knowing that Joseph would have hated the others to know he had perished helping the Assassins, Galina promised to tell them he had died a true warrior.

Personality and traits

Joseph once believed in the Creed, yet after the death of his lover Christian, he became disillusioned and sought revenge on Xavier Chen, whom he blamed for Christian's death. However, despite his hatred for Chen, he remained a "good soldier", still believing in completing his missions, and was able to manipulate both the Assassins and Templars to achieve his goal, killing both Chen and Didier Hawking.

After meeting Charlotte de la Cruz, Joseph felt a sort of kinship with her, believing that the young Assassin was being used by the Brotherhood just like he had been, and trying to encourage her to follow her own path. When he learned that Charlotte might be in danger due to the Templars' attack on Erudito's base, he quickly agreed to help, in the hopes of protecting Charlotte. However, he would never get the chance to meet her again due to his untimely death, though his final words were to urge Galina to look out for Charlotte and to not let the Assassins change her.

Skills and equipment

Joseph was a veteran of the Brotherhood and one of its most decorated members. He was physically large and proved to be highly skilled in unarmed combat, engaging two Assassins armed with only a chain. Notably, he broke the leg of Galina, a Master Assassin, without much effort and drowned Xavier Chen. He had over sixty confirmed kills during his career as an Assassin.

Gallery

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  Joseph ambushes Xavier and Galina
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  Joseph kills Xavier by drowning him
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  Joseph attacked by Charlotte with a knife
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  Joseph fighting against Galina
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  Joseph offers his plane to take Galina and Erudito to their hideout
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  Joseph, Galina and My'shell agree to locate the Templar ship responsible for downing their plane
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  Joseph suffers burns from the explosion

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed