Maria Thorpe's Longsword

Maria Thorpe's Longsword

Maria Thorpe's Longsword was the personal sword of Maria Thorpe who wielded it both during her time as a Templar and later during her travels with the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from the end of the Third Crusade. A Roman longsword, the weapon would later find its way to the armory of the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, home of the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Design

Maria Thorpe's personal weapon was a longsword of contemporary Roman design. Forged with a prominently wide, double-edged blade, the weapon's most notable feature was its unconventional cross-guard. Unlike the straight cross-guards on most swords of the time, the terminals of the cross-guard on Maria's sword tapered towards the blade. Another peculiar feature was the unusually large and spiked écusson protruding from the cross-guard. The center of the cross-guard was decorated with an ornamental red cross. Though termed a longsword, the weapon was not actually quite as long as conventional longswords which could be wielded either with two-hands or one.

History

Third Crusade

As the personal weapon of the Templar Maria Thorpe, she wielded it in 1192 during her second duel with the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad on the balconies of Acre Citadel. At this point, the Templars, reeling from the assassinations of their nine leaders, retreated for their new base in Cyprus, leaving Maria behind because her standing in the Order had fallen significantly since the demise of her patron Grand Master Robert de Sablé. When Altaïr, leading an assault on the citadel, confronted her in hopes of learning the Templar's plan, she believed he wanted her dead and engaged him with her sword. As in their first encounter, she was bested by the Assassin, but Altaïr spared her life on account of his attraction to her and seized her prisoner as he pursued the Templars to Cyprus.

As a captive, Maria was separated from her weapon. After escaping Altaïr's custody in Kyrenia, she retrieved her weapon and went into hiding. She resurfaced in Limassol in 1193, where she killed the mysterious Templar agent who aimed to take Altaïr's Apple of Eden for himself, impaling the man from behind with her blade. Though still suspicious of Altaïr's intentions, Maria took him to the Templar Archive beneath Limassol Castle. Reaching the Archive before Altaïr, Maria briefly fought the waiting Armand Bouchart but was knocked unconscious. She kept her sword after Bouchart's defeat, but had stopped using it by the time she returned to Masyaf with Altaïr in her later years.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the Florentine Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze acquired this weapon and placed it on a special rack in the armory of the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni alongside other weapons of the Cypriot Templars.

Weapon statistics

Damage	Speed	Deflect	Cost	Availability
1	3	3	N/A	Sequence 3*

*Only available after connecting the completed Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines to Assassin's Creed II on PS3.

Trivia

• Maria's Longsword is one of several weapons the player, as Ezio Auditore da Firenze, may obtain in Assassin's Creed II by syncing his or her game file with a file Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines.
• The weapon is visually identical to that of the Roman Longsword in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood due to the Bloodlines weapons being retained in the sequel but with altered names.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed II (First identified as "Maria Thorpe's Longsword)