Ethan Frye

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"'Don't allow personal feelings to compromise the mission.'"

―Evie Frye, quoting her father, 1868.

Ethan Frye (c. 1825–1868) was a schoolmaster and a member of the British Brotherhood of Assassins during the Victorian era, as well as the husband of Cecily Frye and the father of twins Jacob and Evie.

Biography

Early life as an Assassin

"What we are doing is right... My doubt, dear Arbaaz, lies in the application of that ideology, and this doubt is what keeps me awake at night, wondering if we fail our children by molding them into our image, when in fact we should be teaching them to follow a path of their own."

―Ethan expressing his thoughts in a letter to Arbaaz.

In 1841, Ethan traveled to India, where he helped his fellow Assassin Arbaaz Mir fight William Sleeman and recover the Koh-i-Noor; the two Assassins becoming good friends in the process. In 1847, following the death of his wife in childbirth and blaming the newborn twins for his loss, a distraught Ethan returned to India to take up the training of Mir's son, Jayadeep.

Teaching him swordsmanship and theories, he put Jayadeep's lessons into practice in the streets of the city. Despite Ethan's harsh and gruff manner, the two eventually developed a mentor-pupil bond. Once, on a stealth lesson, he ordered Jayadeep to return with information gained from eavesdropping. The student returned to his mentor about a gossip about Ethan's past. Ethan confessed, and admitted in his own way that his friendship with the boy had awakened a parental instinct.

He eventually transitioned Jayadeep's training from wood swords to steel and discovered that the talented Jayadeep had a weakness for violence. He told this to the furious Arbaaz and depressed Pyara Kaur. Nevertheless, he left for England in 1853 when his time with Jayadeep influenced him into taking proper care of his children and mourn his wife's passing. Ethan raised the twins in the philosophy of the Creed, advising them to learn patience and to never let personal feelings get in the way of the mission. He also instilled in them a sense of social duty, teaching them to help the people achieve freedom rather than simply eliminating oppressors. Evie took his words to heart, whereas Jacob merely wanted to drown them out.

Six years after his departure from India, he received news that Jayadeep would embark on his first assassination mission. Worried for the boy, he wrote a letter to Arbaaz about letting the children make their own path instead of instilling them of their own philosophies. However, Arbaaz refused his request to delay Jayadeep's mission.

However, he later learned that Jayadeep had failed and had been imprisoned at the Assassin base The Darkness. Concerned for his student, he immediately traveled to Amritsar and interrogated his student, proving that his claims about Jayadeep's weakness with murder correct. Ethan then went to Arbaaz and pleaded him to spare his own son's life by banishing him to London under the alias "The Ghost". Arbaaz agreed and thanked his friend. Ethan then sent Jayadeep to London, with money and a new name: Bharat Singh.

Operating with the Ghost

When Jayadeep arrived in London, Ethan gave him documents about active Templars in the country and told him to blend in with the poor. Jayadeep was to work undercover in the underground railway construction to spy upon the Templars there.

Sometime in 1862, Ethan tracked down the thief Boot in the St. Giles Rookery, who worked as a courier for the British Rite of the Templar Order. Threatening him with a Hidden Blade, he interrogated Boot to discover who his boss was. However, before the man could answer, he was shot by an unidentified individual as well as another innocent girl who accidentally took Ethan's shot. Angered by the death of an innocent, he stealthily chased and assassinated the man who turned out to be Boot's boss Robert Waugh, without further questioning him.

Returning to his friend George Westhouse's Croydon home, Ethan lied as George interrogated his assassination of Waugh as they planned their next move. Ethan then told The Ghost of their plan of throwing Waugh's body in the railway site as Jayadeep would try to earn the Templars' trust.

Later life and death

In early 1868, Ethan died of pleurisy, some weeks before his children traveled to London.

Personality and characteristics

"I'm thirty-seven years of age, and I've seen more than my fair share of kills, and I know that notions of justice, equity and retribution play a second to skill, and skill is subordinate to luck. When fortune turns her face to you. When the killer's bullet goes elsewhere, when he drops his guard, you take your chance, before she turns away again."

―Ethan defending himself to George Westhouse, 1862.

Ethan delighted in courting with danger and was unafraid of accidents that the Hidden Blade may cause. He had a sense of justice especially for the innocents and once assassinated a target because it accidentally killed a young girl. He was a strong follower of the Creed and believed that the Assassins' philosophy was right. Nevertheless, he doubted the application of these philosophies to his own children and Ethan chose to teach Evie and Jacob to make their own path rather that train them to an image of himself. He also believed in every Assassins' individuality and that by embracing their uniqueness, they would become a huge asset to the Brotherhood.

As well as being equipped with the Hidden Blade, Frye was armed with a Pall Mall Colt revolver. Ethan was a skilled freerunner and a master of stealth. He was also talented in spying and in interrogation.

Behind the scenes

The name Ethan (איתן) is of Hebrew origin, meaning "firm", "strong" or "impetuous". It may also be a reference to Aethon, Zeus' eagle that ate at Prometheus' insides, which would fit with the Assassins' frequent avian theme. His name might have intended to be Emmett Frye due to the name appearing on a list of British Assassins in Isabelle Ardant's office. Frye is a derivative of the English word free.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Underworld (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)