Samuel Parris

"Our Order is not built on blood."

―Samuel Parris arguing with William Stoughton, 1692.

Samuel Parris (1653 – 1720) was a Puritan minister in Salem and a member of the British Rite of the Templar Order. He played an important role in the witch trials that took place in the town from 1692 to 1693 as an accuser of witches.

Biography

Originally a plantation owner in Barbados, Parris joined the Templar Order at some point prior to 1692 and accepted the position of village minister in Salem. Though they did not see eye to eye, Parris worked closely with William Stoughton in their hunt for Pieces of Eden.

In June 1692, Parris and Stoughton discovered that the Assassins Tom Stoddard and Jennifer Querry had come to Salem to search for a Precursor artifact. When Stoughton suggested manipulating the Salem townsfolk into going after the Assassins, Parris objected to the plan, but was ultimately overruled by his fellow Templar.

Parris reluctantly aided Stoughton's hunt for the Assassins and they eventually captured them before taking them to a dungeon to be tortured for information. After Stoughton threatened to hurt the mute boy David, who had been rescued from the Templars' captivity by the Assassins, a worried Querry offered to give them information but was interrupted by the Precursor Consus suddenly possessing Dorothy Osborne. This distracted the Templars, allowing Stoddard and Querry to escape, though the latter was promptly shot dead by Stoughton.

After Stoddard was also shot and incapacitated, a guilty Dorothy, blaming herself for the situation, committed suicide by walking into a fire. Angered by the loss of his "oracle", Stoughton threatened to kill Stoddard and experiment on other captive women to create a new oracle. Upon hearing this, Parris, having had enough of his fellow Templar's violent ways, shot him in the shoulder.

Parris then turned his pistol to Stoddard, intending to kill him so that there would be no witnesses to "this horror". However, the Assassin was able to convince him to stand down by quoting a line from Dante Alighieri's poem Inferno, and asked that he honor Dorothy's death. Parris then gave Stoddard the keys to the cells where the women accused of witchcraft were being held, so that he could free them, and allowed the Assassin to leave alongside David. Before Stoddard left, Parris told him that not all Templars should be judged the same, to which the Assassin agreed, claiming everyone could be misguided at times.

Behind the scenes

There is some confusion in between issues, and sometimes within the same issue, regarding which character is identified as Parris and which as Stoughton.

Gallery

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  Parris close-up

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed