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 Levantine Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad after the Third Crusade. Centuries later, the weapon would find its way to the armory of the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, home of the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Design

Maria's personal weapon was a Roman longsword of contemporary design. Forged with a prominently wide, double-edged blade, the weapon's most notable feature was its unconventional crossguard. Unlike the straight crossguards on most swords of the time, the terminals of the crossguard on Maria's sword tapered towards the blade. Another peculiar feature was the unusually large and spiked écusson protruding from the crossguard. The center of the crossguard was decorated with an ornamental red cross. Although termed a longsword, it is a misnomer, as the blade could be easily wielded in one hand and was quite short compared to true longswords.

History

Third Crusade

Forged in the 12th century, Maria Thorpe's sword first saw use in 1192 during her second duel with the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. Standing on the Acre Citadel balcony, Maria fumed as the Levantine Templars abandoned her in their retreat to Cyprus following the assassinations of their leaders. When Altaïr lead an assault on the Citadel and confronted her in hopes of learning the Templars' plan, she found a convenient target for her rage and drew her sword. Blaming Altaïr for causing her status among the Templars to fall after the death of her patron, Grand Master Robert de Sablé, and believing he wanted her dead, Maria engaged him in combat. As in their first encounter, she was bested by the Assassin, but Altaïr spared her life on account of her knowledge of Templar matters and his growing attraction to her, and took her prisoner as he pursued the Templars.

Captive, Maria was separated from her weapon, but retrieved it and went into hiding after escaping Altaïr's custody in Kyrenia. She resurfaced in Limassol in 1193, where she killed a 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 new Grand Master, Armand Bouchart, but was knocked unconscious. She kept her sword after Bouchart's defeat and death, but had stopped using it by her later years, preferring instead to either attack from range with a bow when appropriate, or not fight at all.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the Assassin Ezio Auditore 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 six weapons players can obtain in Assassin's Creed II by syncing the game with a completed Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines save file, with the others being Fredrick's Hammer, the Mace of the Bull, the Dark Oracle's Bone Dagger, the Twins' Rapier, and Bouchart's Blade. This is also the first time Maria's surname is revealed.

Appearances

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