Armand Bouchart

Armand Bouchart (unknown – 1193) was the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, successor to Robert de Sable following the latter's death in 1191. During his tenure, Armand relocated the Templar Archive from the island of Cyprus to an unknown location, so as to protect it from encroaching Assassin forces.

Biography

The Templars purchased Cyprus shortly after King Richard the Lionheart defeated the island's ruler, Emperor Isaac Comnenus. Upon arriving in Cyprus, Armand established his own rule, maintained by his subordinates Moloch, Shalim, Shahar, and Fredrick the Red. While their original intent was to protect and maintain the Templar Archive, interference by Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad forced them to begin evacuating all the artifacts hidden within.

After the death of Fredrick, Armand made a public announcement, threatening to tighten security on the island until the killer was found. When questioned by Osman in the middle of his speech, Bouchart killed him as a display of warning to the Cypriot Resistance. Shortly afterwards, Maria Thorpe attempted to warn Armand of Altaïr's presence in the city, and his search for the Grand Master, but the Armand accused her of conspiring against their Order and had her arrested. Subsequently, Armand then left for Kyrenia, where he would meet with the rest of his allies.

After rescuing Maria from the Templars and taking her along, Altaïr followed Bouchart to Kyrenia, and was intercepted at the safehouse by a Templar agent impersonating the local resistance leader, Barnabas. The agent revealed that the Grand Master could be found in Buffavento Castle. However, he first asked that Altaïr perform a series of tasks secretly meant to smear the Assassins' reputation among the populace, and keep Altaïr off Armand's trail. Growing suspicious, Altaïr distanced himself from the false Barnabas and infiltrated the castle with the help of Markos, one of the resistance fighters. There, he overheard Armand and Shalim discussing their plan to send a parcel to Alexander of Limassol, prompting the Assassin to suspect Alexander of treachery. The package, however, was the severed head of the real Barnabas, and meant to create mistrust between the Assassins and the Resistance.

While Altaïr liberated Kyrenia from Templar control, Armand returned to Limassol to oversee the final stage of Archive's evacuation. He was present when the structure was infiltrated by Maria and Altaïr, and he engaged the two in combat. Although he was able to defeat Maria, he was ultimately killed by Altaïr and left within the building, as it collapsed under the the volleys of Templar cannon fire.

Personality and characteristics

Armand was a confident man, with devotion to the founding principles of his Order bordering on fanatical. This was demonstrated when Maria attempted to warn him of the Assassin presence in Limassol, but he dismissed her words in public, quoting one of the verses of the Founding Templar Rule, which forbade consorting with women.

Bouchart claimed that Robert de Sable ignored that rule by taking Maria under his wing, and that he would not repeat that mistake. However, despite such display in public, he ultimately heeded Maria's words, and took steps to secure the Templar Archive in secret. He was also shown to be ruthless, killing Osman on the spot when the Templar questioned his plans to tighten the grip on the citizens of Cyprus to find Fredrick's killer.

Armand appeared was a statuesque man, with a distinguishing feature being blindness in his right eye, most likely caused in battle. He typically wore a heavy armor bearing the cross motif of his order, and fought with a two-handed sword.

Trivia

• Historically, Armand Bouchart was never the Grand Master of the Templar Order, merely serving Robert de Sable as a commander of Templar garrison on Cyprus, until the island was sold and the Kingdom of Cyprus was established in 1193.

Gallery

• 
  Osman questioning Bouchart's plans
• 
  Bouchart killing Osman
• 
  Bouchart berating Maria
• 
  Bouchart speaking with Shalim
• 
  Bouchart leaving the Oracle's cell
• 
  Bouchart knocking Maria out
• 
  Altaïr confronting Bouchart in the Archive
• 
  Altaïr impaling Bouchart
• 
  Altaïr standing over the defeated Bouchart

Reference

• Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines