Shaun Hastings

"I also provide tactical support for the other Assassins. You know, Desmond, the ones who are out there - actually doing stuff. Risking their lives, little things like that."

―Shaun to Desmond Miles.

Shaun Hastings was a member of the Assassin Order who gave tactical guidance to numerous Assassin teams across the globe. His support was often targeted towards Assassins who were out in the field, occasionally offering assistance in the form of messages, relayed from higher command.

Within his team, Shaun acted as both historian and analyst, assisting Desmond Miles during his time in the Animus 2.0. This help mostly came in the form of creating Database entries on the various people, places, and events Desmond encountered.

Biography

Early life

"Most Assassins, Desmond, are like you, yeah? They're "born" into the Brotherhood. Not me, though."

―Shaun to Desmond.

Originating from England, Shaun was interested in conspiracy theories and the unexplained from a very early age. Though initially unaware of the existence of the modern-day Templars and Assassins, when Shaun was around 15, he did some investigations into a company known as Abstergo Industries, and discovered that they were "up to no good".

This eventually inspired him to prevent their wrongful activities in any way he could. While working as a junior professor, Shaun took the pseudonym "Guy Fawkes" (after one of the co-conspirators of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot) and began spreading the word.

He published articles detailing Abstergo's inner workings to WikiLeaks and other news groups, searching for people with "stories to tell"; all the while remaining unaware that the Templars would try to silence him.

Rebecca Crane was the first to point out the danger he was putting himself in, and attempted to warn him that he was "messing with the wrong people." However, Shaun did not believe her, and eventually was discovered by Abstergo Chief Executive Officer Alan Rikkin.

Shortly after this, on December 10, 2010, Shaun was kidnapped by Abstergo. Though he was able to escape from the van that was taking him to the company, with Abstergo only discovering afterwards that the van's computer had been hacked, creating a false alert for a need to stop and refuel.

Rebecca then contacted Shaun once more, "rescued" him, and recruited him into the Assassin Order.

Hiding out

Desmond: "What's all this stuff for?"

Shaun: "This stuff, Desmond, oh this stuff is nothing special, really, this stuff is just the stuff that keeps our entire operation from falling apart really."

—Desmond and Shaun in the hideout.

Shaun and Rebecca meeting Desmond.

After Lucy Stillman and Desmond Miles had escaped Abstergo and reached the hideout, Shaun was the first to greet Desmond, and introduced both himself and Rebecca, before promptly insisting that they all get straight to work.

Desmond then entered the Animus to relive the memories of one of his ancestors, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. While Desmond was inside the Animus, Shaun supplied Desmond with information in the form of database entries, as well as the occasional piece of advice on glyph puzzles.

In his role as historian and analyst of the group, Shaun was constantly working on his computer, and rarely had the opportunity to speak with Desmond – often telling him bluntly to "go away" if ever Desmond tried to talk to him.

During the assault on the hideout by Warren Vidic and several Abstergo guards, Shaun assisted Rebecca in packing up the Assassins' equipment, and later, drove the group to their next hideout at Monteriggioni.

Escape to the Sanctuary

"Did you miss me? No? Anyone? Hello, am I speaking out loud? Hello? Workaholics."

―Shaun after hiding the van.

Shaun and Rebecca entering the Villa Auditore.

Upon setting up camp in the Sanctuary, Shaun helped by hiding the van, and teaching Desmond how to reroute power into the underground chamber.

Once the setting up was complete, Shaun continued with his research, operating similarly to the way he had in the previous hideout. In contrast, though, he was much more respectful and tolerant towards Desmond than he had been previously – but his attitude remained rude and impatient with Rebecca, which caused Lucy to give him a greater workload than the other Assassins.

During Desmond's breaks outside the Animus, Shaun told him about the history of the events he was experiencing, mentioning things such as the fate of Caterina Sforza, and Cesare Borgia's explicit letter to the Pope about his wedding night.

Journey to the Colosseum

"The Tetragrammaton. The 72 names of God. You see? They're all contained within three verses. Exodus 19 through 21. And get this, you'll like this, if you arrange the four Hebrew letters in God's name within an equilateral triangle, their numeric values add up to the same number: 72."

―Shaun explaining the clue to the other Assassins.

Shaun and the Assassins in the Colosseum Vault.

After Desmond located the Apple of Eden through Ezio Auditore's memories, the modern-day Assassins were still left with the mystery of how to get into the Apple's Vault. Although Rebecca knew it was accessed with a spoken password, the group was unsure of what it could possibly be.

Desmond pointed out the numbers they had found written on the wall, as well as the triple triad symbol, upon which Shaun correctly deduced their relevance to God, and His 72 names. This number, he also stated, was the same year that Rome's Colosseum was built. They all concluded that that was where the Apple would be found, and began their long road trip.

Upon finding the Apple, Desmond used it to ask where the Temples were located, which resulted in it projecting a series of symbols and images. Shaun, upon identifying the Phrygian cap and the Eye of Providence, said that both objects come together in only one place.

However, before Shaun could finish his explanation, Juno possessed Desmond through the Apple, causing a temporal freeze, and forced Desmond to stab Lucy in the abdomen.

Lucy and Desmond collapsed to the floor after this, but both Shaun and Rebecca were still visibly conscious, and appeared unaffected by the Apple's power.

After Desmond's collapse

Shaun along with William and Rebecca.

Following Lucy's death, Desmond fell unconscious, and slipped into a comatose state. Rebecca and William Miles brought Desmond to New York City in an effort to reawaken him, with Shaun staying behind to arrange and attend Lucy's funeral in a cemetery just outside of Rome.

Following a phone call with Rebecca and William, during which Shaun expressed his suspicion that Desmond may be a sleeper agent similar to another former Assassin which William vehemently denied, Shaun took a plane to join them in New York.

Eventually, the four of them boarded a plane back to the East, taking the Apple recovered from the Colosseum Vault with them. As they arrived, Desmond awoke from the coma which had taken hold of him, and stated that he knew what they needed to do.

Characteristics and personality

"England is not in Europe actually, Rebecca. We, we tolerate Europe, you know? Like, like a person tolerates herpes."

―Shaun to Rebecca in Monteriggioni.

Shaun in the Sanctuary.

When Shaun and Desmond first met, Shaun would often have too little patience to talk with him, though at other times, the two would converse at length. He also often insulted Rebecca, once insinuating that she was immature with the phrase, "the grown-ups are talking", neglectful of the fact she had saved his life multiple times.

Shaun was desperate to enter the Animus, and even resorted to begging Lucy through her e-mail, which she declined by not replying. However, when confronted about it, he said that "the job behind the desk" was much better.

His cynical attitude was also evident in many instances, such as when he pointed out that the Assassins were still killers, whatever their motives; making them no more the "good guys", than the Templars.

Shaun was also skeptical of most institutions, such as the church and government. He noted in one description of Venice that the city's past "followed the historical norm: The people got screwed." Despite some of Subject 16's puzzles implying that the Assassins had actively resisted Abstergo's use of capitalism as a mechanism of control, Shaun's dialogue once contradicted this, as he used the word "communists" as a jibe directed towards Lucy and Rebecca.

Despite his attitude towards Rebecca, Shaun still held her in higher regard than he cared to admit, most likely because of the numerous occasions on which she had saved his life. Only Lucy seemed to tolerate his snide remarks, even seeming to trust him to a great extent, as he was the only one to whom she revealed her feelings for Desmond.

Shaun's interest in history was shown clearly through his extensive database entries, and in an e-mail from William, who claimed that Shaun would enjoy the area in which the Assassin leadership was based as it had "lots of history."

Shaun was quite confident in his own abilities, once calling himself a "master at decryption." He also thought himself to have a gift for "seeing things and making connections", an ability he compared to Desmond's Eagle Vision, only more "useful" in his opinion. He was likely only referring to his high intellect though, rather than some kind of super-human power.

Trivia

File:Othershaun.jpg

An earlier design for Shaun, created prior to Wallace's casting.

• The character Shaun Hastings is named after Sean Hastings, a cult hero in the computer industry.
• Danny Wallace, the voice and model of Shaun, was contacted by Ubisoft when he attended the BAFTA video game awards with a friend. He was e-mailed and asked if he would like to be a character in an unknown video game, which he accepted. The game turned out to be Assassin's Creed II.
• During the corrupted sequences in Assassin's Creed II, Shaun states that he forgot that Rodrigo Borgia eventually became Pope, even though there is a portrait of him in his Papal attire on the wall next to his computer.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Shaun has a portrait of Cesare Borgia near his desk, as well as pictures of famous landmarks in Rome, such as the Pantheon, and some of Leonardo da Vinci's designs, such as the crossbow.
• Shaun's password for his e-mail account is GuyFawkes23.
• It is hinted that Shaun was an altar boy at some stage in his childhood, due to his mention of his priest once saying, "You know too much for your own good."