Vance Travers

"I'll tell you this: I will marry her. I will kill you if I must, I will have your half of the map. And then the world will see which brother has more honour."

―Vance to his brother, regarding Jing Lang, 1717.

Vance Travers (1690 – 1717) was, alongside his brother Upton, the head of the Assassin bureau in Nassau during the early 18th century.

Biography

Early life

Vance was born in England in 1690, two years after the birth of his brother, Upton. Seeking fortune, the brothers traveled to the West Indies, where they established a smuggling enterprise. They eventually joined the Assassin Order, and were appointed leaders of the Assassin bureau in Nassau, funded by their smuggling operation.

At some point, the brothers bought a treasure map from a pirate. Vance and Upton agreed that each would keep one half of the map, keeping the treasure safe for when they would retire.

Meeting Jing Lang

"Recently, our trade introduced us to a formidable woman - Jing Lang, a pirate from the farthest seas of the Orient [...] She and Vance quickly became inseparable."

―Upton on Vance and Jing's relationship, 1717.

In July 1715, the location of the bureau was revealed to the Templars, who had received maps - made by Assassin turncoat Duncan Walpole - from the pirate Edward Kenway. In spite of this, the Nassau bureau was not targeted for some time, with the Templars' agent Jing Lang only arriving around 1717.

Vance was introduced to Jing via his smuggling business and quickly fell in love with her. She convinced him to betray his brother and the Assassins, asking Vance to obtain Upton's piece of the treasure map.

Opportunity then arrived in the form of Edward Kenway, who had come to warn Nassau's bureau leader of the Templar threat, as well as find a Templar key. Vance subsequently manipulated Edward, claiming Upton and his men were the Templars he was looking for.

However, Edward failed to kill Upton, leading Vance to hire someone else to eliminate his brother. Meeting with Upton soon after, Vance attempted to convince his brother into revealing the location of his piece of the treasure map. The conversation's mood quickly soured when Upton brought up Jing, with Vance hotly defending her against his brother's accusations.

Promising his brother he would acquire the other half of the map one way or another, Vance angrily departed and went to meet with Jing. She asked him why he had not yet acquired the map, to which he assured her that they would have it as soon as his hired man had killed Upton. Unbeknownst to them, Edward had eavesdropped on their conversation, and was able to take out the assailant.

Vance's final moments

Shortly thereafter, Vance was assassinated by Edward on the orders of Upton, who believed his brother's treason deserved to be punished with death. As he lay dying, Vance called Edward a traitor, to which the pirate merely replied that "it takes one to know one".

After the man had died of his wounds, Edward searched his body for his piece of the map, only to learn from Jing that it was a forgery she had planted after stealing the real map.

Personality and characteristics

"My lovesick idiot of a brother has misled you."

―Upton lamenting Vance's naivety, 1717.

Creative and passionate, Vance could be seen as the more charismatic of the Travers brothers, being a generally smooth talker. However, he was also fairly gullible, readily falling for Jing and believing her to reciprocate when all she was interested in was the treasure map.

Even without taking his relationship with Jing into account, Vance appeared to carry some form of resentment to his older brother Upton. At one point, he accused Upton of needing to be "the favored child, the golden boy", hinting at a sense of inferiority or jealousy.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of Vance Travers
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  Edward Kenway meeting with Vance
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  Edward assassinating Vance

Reference

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag