Aveline de Grandpré

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"I seek liberty and freedom, not for myself, but for those whom such fundamental rights are denied. I am their shield, their sword, their only hope. The roads I travel are dark, but they bring me closer to the light."

―Aveline de Grandpré.

Aveline de Grandpré (1747 - unknown) was an Assassin of French and African heritage, who lived in the area of New Orleans towards the end of the French and Indian War. She was mentored by an Assassin named Agaté, with whom she had a conflicting relationship.

Biography

Early life

Aveline was born to a wealthy French merchant, Philippe de Grandpré, and an African placée bride by the name of Jeanne. Due to this, she occupied a position of wealth and respect within the city.

In 1759, when Aveline was but a child, her mother, Jeanne, mysteriously vanished after she had let go of her mother's hand in pursuit of a loose chicken. After failing to catch the animal despite pursuing it for quite a distance, Aveline realized that she had stumbled across a slave auction. Shortly after observing the slave trader, Aveline used the alleyways to evade the sight of the slavers surrounding the stage and seek out her mother, only to reach out and touch the wrong woman, who had been carrying the same parasol and an identical dress to her mother's.

This mistake roused the attention of the city guards, and despite her cries for her mother, Aveline was pushed to the ground by the slavers, who had mistaken her for a slave child. Shortly afterwards, an escaped slave by the name of Agaté freed her from their possession, and recruited her into the Assassin Order, becoming her Mentor.

Aveline was raised with care and privilege, even after her father had remarried with Madeleine de l'Isle. As she grew, she became an opponent of slavery, with her father's love, wealth and status protecting her from repercussions.

Investigating the slave trade

In 1765, Aveline discovered that the Templar Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer was working with Louisiana's French governor, Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie, in slave trading enterprises. Accompanying this, both were under the influence of an individual by name of the "Company Man", Louisiana's head Templar. Soon after, Aveline assassinated the governor, though she found no trace of the Company Man or de Ferrer.

Eve of Saint John

The following year, Aveline searched through the Louisiana Bayou for a man impersonating François Mackandal, who she later learned to be named Baptiste. After more investigation, Aveline uncovered Baptiste's plot to poison the nobles of New Orleans, take control of the Bayou and force her mentor, Agaté, out of hiding.

With this in mind, Aveline killed his followers and assassinated the false Mackandal, subsequently learning of his allegiance to de Ferrer, but also that Baptiste knew both her mother, Jeanne, and Agaté. Upon returning to her mentor, however, she did not mention what she had discovered to him, as she did not fully trust Agaté, given that he had kept this information hidden from her.

Louisiana Rebellion

During the Louisiana Rebellion in 1768, Aveline discovered vagrants and slaves disappearing. She forced the Templar governor, Antonio de Ulloa, to travel to New Orleans, where she soon ambushed him. Upon interrogating him, Aveline learned that slaves were taken from New Orleans were being transferred south, to Mexico. Against Agaté's orders, however, Aveline chose not to kill de Ulloa, allowing him to flee the city. This merciful act continued to harm her already damaged relationship with her mentor.

Chichen Itza

From there, Aveline traveled to Chichen Itza, once again disobeying Agaté's explicit wishes, to unravel the mysteries of the slave trafficking operation. While there, she explored a cenote containing ancient ruins from the First Civilization, and unearthed a fragment of a Prophecy Disk, a First Civilization artifact.

After obtaining the artifact, Aveline was met by de Ferrer, who she managed to kill before escaping through the mines he had entered through. At the end of the of tunnels, she found her mother, Jeanne. However, this reunion was short-lived, as Jeanne, realizing that Aveline was an Assassin, fled, fearing for her life. Afterwards, Aveline returned to New Orleans and continued her search for the Company Man, believed to be called Vazquez.

She prevented soldiers under his command from seizing control of the bayou, before making her way back to Mexico to locate the second half of the Prophecy Disk. Whilst there, she acquired the missing fragment and made peace with her mother.

Tracking Vazquez

Aveline's father fell sick in 1776, but she continued her quest to uncover the identity of the Company Man. At the request of Madeleine, her stepmother, Aveline helped a slave named George escape north. While doing so, she was able to assist her allies in the bayou supply resources to American patriots fighting in the revolution in the north, eventually learning of Vazquez's location. Aveline made her way back to New Orleans, and attended a soiree, where she found Vazquez.

Charming him and luring him to a quiet corner, Aveline assassinated him. However, to Aveline's surprise, Vazquez was not the Company Man. That same night, her father passed away.

Meeting Connor

In winter of 1777, Aveline traveled to New York to locate a Templar named Officer Davidson, who was working for the Company Man. Upon arriving there, she encountered the Native American Assassin, Ratonhnhaké:ton, also known by his adopted name of Connor. With his aid, she tracked down Officer Davidson, who, much to her shock, was George, the slave she had helped flee north. From him, Aveline finally uncovered the identity of the Company Man: Madeleine de l'Isle, her stepmother.

Return to New Orleans

Aveline returned to New Orleans and confronted Madeleine, who attempted to persuade Aveline to join the Templar Order. After this, Aveline made her way to the bayou and told Agaté of her situation. Her mentor could not accept his failure to protect his student, and, believing that Aveline had aligned herself with the Templars, attacked her.

Even so, Aveline defeated him and chose to spare his life, but Agaté, unable to live with the humiliation of his failure, dove to his death.

Reconciliation

Aveline made her way back to New Orleans and gave Agaté's necklace to Madeleine, as proof of his death. She then inducted Aveline into the Templar Order and took the two halves of the Prophecy Disk from her. However, upon the artifact failing to work as Madeleine had expected it to, she grew frustrated, allowing Aveline to strike, as her induction was merely a ruse to destroy the Templars from within.

Achieving this goal, Aveline assassinated Madeleine and recovered the Prophecy Disk from her, which projected a hologram of beings from the First Civilization, who spoke about Eve briefly in a conversation before the hologram ended.

Legacy

Her life was later used as a tool of propaganda by Abstergo Industries, which twisted and mounted her memories in order to show the Templars as a benevolent Order, as opposed to a misguided Assassins' Brotherhood. However, Erudito, a hacking collective and opposition to Abstergo, managed to crack the code used by the Templars.

Erudito then used this to show the truth to some viewers, amongst other examples, revealing "unsweetened" memories of Aveline about the cruelty of de Ferrer against the slaves of the Chichen Itza camp or the additional memories of the assassination of Madeleine after the seemingly rallying of de Grandpré to the Templars.

Equipment and skills

Aveline was a skilled free-runner, who was able to navigate with ease through the urban cityscape and natural landscape, such as the Louisiana Bayou.

Her fighting style included dual-wielding various weapons, including a whip, firearms, swords, knives, a blowpipe, a sugar-cane machete and Hidden Blades.

Aside from her weapons, Aveline possessed three disguises that she could make use of. Her Assassin outfit aided in combat and navigation, though it made her notorious, her Servant outfit allowed her to blend into the poorer masses of New Orleans and remain undetected, and finally, her Aristocrat outfit made Aveline highly noticeable, but it allowed her to use charm and bribery to achieve her goals. Along with her Aristocrat outfit came a parasol designed by her friend and ally, Gerald Blanc, that had the ability to shoot small projectiles from its tip.

Accompanying this, Aveline possessed the sixth sense casually referred to as Eagle Vision, allowing her to identify enemies, allies, hiding spots and targets of immediate importance.

Personality and characteristics

"I move unseen and strike when they least expect it. I am Aveline de Grandpré. I am an Assassin."

―Aveline.

As she grew, Aveline developed into a strong-willed young woman, who began to notice the contrasts within society; such as freedom and enslavement, or wealth and poverty. She was torn between the different values that she had inherited from her parents, and as such, she formed her own, which included a vehement stance against slavery.

As a consequence of her being pulled in either direction by the Assassins and Templars, she questioned whether fighting as an Assassin was the right thing to do or not. While in New York, she asked her fellow Assassin, Connor, if he ever questioned their ideals; he responded without taking side with either faction, but rather explained that he trusted in his own abilities to distinguish right from wrong.

Trivia

• Aveline is the first female protagonist in the Assassin's Creed series, and one of two playable characters to wear a hat instead of the symbolic white hood of the Assassins (the other being Haytham Kenway), though it retained a beak-shaped tip.
  • However, Aveline's Assassin disguise could be equipped with an Assassin hood, which could be purchased from tailors.
• "Aveline" is a name of French and Latin origin, presumably originating from the Germanic name "Avelina." In Latin, "Aveline" derives from the Latin "avis" or "bird".
• "Grandpré" is a French surname meaning "grand meadow."
• Aveline possessed a scar on her upper lip, identical to that of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and Desmond Miles, despite not having any known connections to them. In addition, she is the only known protagonist with no connection to Desmond that could use Eagle Vision.
• While concept art depicted Aveline as having green eyes, they appeared to be dark brown in Assassin's Creed III: Liberation.
• Unknown until the conclusion of the game, Aveline possessed an amulet identical to the key that the Assassin, Connor, retrieved from Charles Lee and buried in the grave of his Mentor's son in 1783. It is unknown as to its location following the events of Liberation.
• It is implied that Aveline was a close descendant of Eve; after her stepmother, Madeleine de l'Isle, failed to activate a device left behind by the First Civilization on using the amulet Aveline wore around her neck, Aveline herself was successful in generating a hologram of the First Civilization's representatives: Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter, who spoke of Eve in their conversation before the hologram ended.

Gallery

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  Early concept art of Aveline.
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  Concept art of Aveline.
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  Concept art of Aveline's Aristocrat outfit.
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  Aveline on a rooftop.
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  Aveline in her Aristocrat guise.
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  Aveline in her Servant guise.
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  Aveline, bribing a guard using her Aristocrat outfit.
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  Aveline swimming underwater.
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  In-game image of Aveline fighting Spanish soldiers.
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  In-game image of Aveline in her Lady attire.
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  Aveline distracting a target with her Lady attire.
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  Aveline and Connor.
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  Aveline wrestling an alligator.
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  Aveline's Aristocrat outfit.
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  Aveline's Servant guise.