Kublai Khan

"It is the arch that supports the bridge."

―Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan (Mongolian: ᠬᠤᠪᠢᠯᠠᠢᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ; Chinese: 忽必烈; 1215 – 1294) was the fifth ruler of the Mongol Empire and the first Emperor of the Yuan dynasty of China from 1260 to 1294. A grandson of Genghis Khan and brother to Ariq Boke, Möngke Khan and Hülegü Khan. Kublai Khan is the second most well known of the Mongolian rulers, Kublai Khan's empire stretched even further than that of Genghis Khan did. ^{[citation needed]} He was the first Mongol to rule over the whole of China, and his throne was located in what is now Beijing.

Biography

Fighting for the throne

On 11 August 1259, directly following the murder of his brother Möngke by the Assassin Zhang Zhi, Kublai's nephew, Asutai, made comment that there would soon be a power struggle for the throne and that the claimant Ariq Boke would be challenged by Kublai with support from his other brother Hülegü.

Meeting the Polos

In May 1275, Kublai Khan welcomed the Polo brothers, and Niccolò Polo's son Marco into his court, not knowing that the famed explorers were in fact Assassins. The Polos' alliance with the Khan and Marco's seventeen years of service gave the latter the opportunity to break into Kublai's vault in Shangdu and steal back Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex, which had been taken by the Mongols from the two elder Polos to whom Altaïr had entrusted it.

Gallery

• 
  Kublai Khan in Mongol armor
• 
  Kublai leading his men in battle

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Tomb of the Khan (mentioned only)