Liam O'Brien

Shay: "Connor may inherit the house, but you'll be Mentor."

Liam: "We'll see."

Shay: "Whatever you say, Prince Regent of the Assassins."

Liam: "You call me that again and I'll throw you in the ocean!"

—Liam O'Brien and Shay Cormac on the former's future.

Liam O'Brien (1726 – 1760) was a member of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins operating in the British Colonies during the Seven Years' War. A childhood friend of Shay Cormac, Liam was responsible for bringing Shay into the Brotherhood. In spite of Liam being a few years his elder, Shay formed a brotherly bond with him, even though Liam was wiser and more experienced.

Biography

Early life

Liam was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A family of Irish immigrants, the O'Briens struggled to survive on their farm for years, until they moved to New York, where Liam's father began to work for a shipping merchant. Eventually, Liam joined his father at work, loading ships bound for England. It was at work where he first met a young Shay Cormac, and the two became fast friends. Liam looked after the younger Shay, who lived in a rough neighborhood and had a knack for getting himself into trouble.

Over the next years, Liam became aware of his employers' growing wealth, even as his fellow workers remained underpaid and mistreated by their superiors. Eventually, the tensions rose to a breaking point, and Liam recruited several of his co-workers in a plot to rob their employer and distribute the money among themselves. However, in the middle of the heist, the group was caught, and Liam was forced to kill a man in self-defense. Wishing to protect his son, Liam's father took the blame for the murder and was executed by the authorities.

Building the Brotherhood

Liam breaking up Shay and Chevalier's fight

In the coming years, Liam drifted from one job to the next and continued to rob the city's richer citizens, sending the money to his aging mother. He also distanced himself from his fellow friends, including Shay. In 1738, he met Achilles Davenport, who gave him small tasks and errands to perform. Over time, Achilles's influence over Liam grew, and Liam looked to the older man as a teacher. Eventually, in 1743, Achilles inducted Liam into the Assassin Order as his first student, who in turn helped recruit the other members of the Colonial Brotherhood, such as Chevalier de la Vérendrye, Kesegowaase, and Hope Jensen.

In 1748, Liam reconnected with Shay, who had just lost his father, and managed to get Shay back on his feet. The two became more inseparable than ever, and Shay was soon included in the list of inductees. At that point, Achilles tasked Liam with keeping an eye over Shay, just as he had years ago.

At some point, Liam once worked with Adéwalé, a member of the West Indies Brotherhood, which he considered to be a great honor to him.

In January 1752, he and Shay arrived at Port Mernier to rendezvous with Chevalier and his fellow smugglers. While the two were hunting, Chevalier's smugglers were captured. Arriving at his camp, Liam and Shay were both berated by Chevalier, to which the latter prompted a fisfight with Shay. At first, Liam did not intervene, but after seeing the situation, he broke up the fight and gave Shay a sword and a dagger and the two silently assassinated several Royal Navy sailors and freed the smugglers before claiming their sloop, the Morrigan. Shay became the captain of the ship and Liam his quater-master. With the Morrigan, the three Assassins sank the ships of the Royal Navy which attacked Chevalier's Man O' War, the Gerfaut. After this victory, the Assassins returned to the Davenport Homestead.

Two months later, at the Homestead, Liam and Shay witnessed the arrival of Adéwalé who wanted to take supplies for the population of Port-au-Prince after the earthquake that destroyed the city a year before, but also reported the dissapearance of two Piece of Eden to Achilles, the Voynich manuscript and a precursor box. During their meeting, Liam helped trained Shay in firearms with the use of his pistols. After Shay received from Achilles the mission to recover the two artifacts, he and Liam sailed to Port La Joye to meet up with Chevalier before sailing to Anticosti island to meet up with the spy Le Chasseur who gave them a lead on the manuscript and the box, which is at the hands of the Master Templar Lawrence Washington.

In July, Liam and Shay met Achilles, Hope and Kesegowaase at Two Bends to inform them on Washington. Achilles tasked Shay and Liam to investigate on the Templar. With the Morrigan the Assassins followed a ship to Mount Vernon, Washington's mansion. Liam stayed on the Morrigan while Shay infiltrated the party organized by the Templar. After the Assassin killed the Master Templar, the Morrigan was attacked by the fleet near the mansion. Shay arrived on his ship and the crew escaped from their ennemies. While Shay doubted on the necessity to kill Washington, who was already dying from tuberculosis, Liam assured his friend that this was the right thing to do.

Death

Liam knocking the artifact over

In 1760, Liam and Achilles undertook a journey to a First Civilization Temple located in the Arctic, following the coordinates revealed by the manuscript and the box. When they arrived, the pair discovered the Temple did not house a Piece of Eden, but one of the artifacts capable of causing severe seismic activity, if it was disturbed. Pursued by Haytham Kenway and Shay Cormac, Liam tried to vengefully shoot Shay but was stopped by Achilles. Liam accidentally fell onto the artifact, causing the area to destabilize and begin to collapse around them.

Fleeing from the Temple with the manuscript, he was pursued by Shay. Liam revealed that Chevalier had hidden the Precursor box where neither Shay nor the Templars could find it. Liam also had an angry exchange between Shay over Hope's death, which Shay mournfully pleaded that he had no choice.

Liam's final moments

Eventually, Liam was cornered at a cliff side and dueled with Shay. However, the cliff side began to collapse from the earthquake, causing both men to fall. Shay used Liam to break his fall, and the latter was fatally wounded. Questioning Shay's motivation for joining the Templars, he sarcastically hoped that the world Shay was attempting to save from the Assassins would be a good one. Shay then pulled Liam's Assassin hood over him, as a sign of respect and mourning for his former friend.

Personality and characteristics

Liam lending Shay his pistols

Liam appeared to be a patient, pensive and respectful man. He did not hesitate to intervene between the two of his fellow Assassins fighting. His character was mostly peaceful and calm, but he would not hesitate to forego friendship for the sake of fulfilling his duty to the Brotherhood. Liam also unquestioningly believed in the Creed, and felt a sense of great admiration for Adéwalé and his fellow Colonial Assassins, seeing them as people from whom it was necessary and useful to learn. Liam was, considered by Shay, also a "wise" man. Liam was not a man for small talk, being far more serious and driven than Shay, who was more laid back and prone to jokes.

Equipment and skills

"I don't miss!"

―Liam, regarding his confidence in his pistol skill, to Shay in their final encounter.

Liam locked in combat with Shay

Liam was a highly skilled Assassin, having been Achilles' first student and possessing over a decade's experience in the Order. A proficient marksman and swordsman, he was capable of defeating a number of British soldiers in quick succession. Accompanying this, Liam possessed a knowledge of sailing, acting as quartermaster of the Morrigan.

In terms of physicality, Liam was a skilled freerunner, capable of performing the Leap of Faith. His arsenal consisted of Hidden Blades, a sword and dual pistols, with the last of these appearing to be his preferred weapon. He was not only very confident, but also proud of his marksmanship; when Shay accused him of having been the one to shoot him in the back, Liam denied this, remarking that it was Louis-Joseph, and boasted that he never misses a shot to reinforce his claim.

Trivia

• Liam is the Irish short form of William, which is derived from the elements wil "will, desire" and helm "helmet, protection". O'Brien is an Irish surname that means "descendant of Brian".
• In the memory "Scars", Liam is described as a "huge man with an axe", despite the fact that he is never seen with such a weapon throughout the game. However, his concept art does depict him with an axe.
• When playing events prior to Shay's defection from the Assassins, a glitch occurs where if the crew spots a prisoner-of-war ship, Christopher Gist can be heard reporting this news rather than Liam.
• A trailer of Rogue shows Shay killing Liam during their fight contrary to the events of the actual game where he dies after falling off a cliff with Shay. ^{[citation needed]}
• In the memory, "Non Nobis Domine", his body can neither be picked up nor looted by Shay after his death.

Gallery

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  Concept art of Liam
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  Initiates art of Liam
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  Liam and Shay

Appearance

• Assassin's Creed: Rogue