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The [[Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins|Levantine Assassins]] [[Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad]] and [[Malik Al-Sayf]] worked to improve the methods of assassination using the Blade, three of which Altaïr documented in his [[Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex|codex]]: "from on high, from ledges, and from hiding places". These would later be dubbed "air assassinations"<ref name = "You'll Pay For This">''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity companion app]]'' – Les Invalides: You'll Pay For This</ref> "ledge assassinations" and "hidden assassinations".<ref name = "Edward Tutorial">''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'' – [[Mister Walpole, I Presume?]]</ref> Altaïr himself described these methods as basic, though critical.<ref name = "Page 13"/> In the same codex page, he introduced another improvement: the addition of a second identical Hidden Blade for the Assassins that needed to dispatch two targets at once.<ref name = "Page 13"/> This method was called a "double assassination".<ref name= "AC2">''Assassin's Creed II''</ref> All of these were taught to Assassin recruits<ref name = "Shay Tutorial">''Assassin's Creed: Rogue'' – [[Lessons and Revelations]]</ref> and became recognizable to Templars.<ref name = "Edward Tutorial"/>
The [[Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins|Levantine Assassins]] [[Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad]] and [[Malik Al-Sayf]] worked to improve the methods of assassination using the Blade, three of which Altaïr documented in his [[Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex|codex]]: "from on high, from ledges, and from hiding places". These would later be dubbed "air assassinations"<ref name = "You'll Pay For This">''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity companion app]]'' – Les Invalides: You'll Pay For This</ref> "ledge assassinations" and "hidden assassinations".<ref name = "Edward Tutorial">''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'' – [[Mister Walpole, I Presume?]]</ref> Altaïr himself described these methods as basic, though critical.<ref name = "Page 13"/> In the same codex page, he introduced another improvement: the addition of a second identical Hidden Blade for the Assassins that needed to dispatch two targets at once.<ref name = "Page 13"/> This method was called a "double assassination".<ref name= "AC2">''Assassin's Creed II''</ref> All of these were taught to Assassin recruits<ref name = "Shay Tutorial">''Assassin's Creed: Rogue'' – [[Lessons and Revelations]]</ref> and became recognizable to Templars.<ref name = "Edward Tutorial"/>
====Other variations====
====Other variations====
During the [[Isu Era]], the [[Æsir]] [[Odin]] performed two unique assassination types in the dwarven realm of [[Svartálfaheimr]]; the "raven assassination" and the "teleport assassination," both of which were done with help of the [[Hugr-Rip]],  a gauntlet Odin wore that allowed him to steal the powers of giant ravens and the [[jötnar]].<ref>''Assassin's Creed: Valhalla'' - [[Gift to the God]]</ref>
In the 5th century BCE, the ''[[Mercenary|misthios]]'' [[Kassandra]] used the [[Spear of Leonidas]] as a way to perform early assassinations, known as "stealth kills," in a similar fashion to the Hidden Blade. The spear, being an [[Piece of Eden|Isu artifact]], granted Kassandra a multitude of abilities, including "rush assassinations," in which Kassandra used her spear as a projectile and was teleported to her target.<ref name="ACO">''Assassin's Creed: Odyssey''</ref>
In the 5th century BCE, the ''[[Mercenary|misthios]]'' [[Kassandra]] used the [[Spear of Leonidas]] as a way to perform early assassinations, known as "stealth kills," in a similar fashion to the Hidden Blade. The spear, being an [[Piece of Eden|Isu artifact]], granted Kassandra a multitude of abilities, including "rush assassinations," in which Kassandra used her spear as a projectile and was teleported to her target.<ref name="ACO">''Assassin's Creed: Odyssey''</ref>


Revision as of 00:59, 28 March 2023

Ezio, my friend! How may I be of service?
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"Find them, kill them. In doing so, you will sow the seeds of peace."
―Al Mualim conversing about assassination targets with Altaïr, 1191.[src]-[m]
Ezio Auditore da Firenze assassinating a target

Assassination is the killing by sudden or secret attacks, often for political reasons or revenge.[1] Over the centuries, political organizations like the Templar Order and most prominently the Assassin Brotherhood, have carried out innumerable assassinations of their enemies to advance their causes.

Background

The term assassination comes from the word assassin, which in turn comes from the Arabic word "حشّاشين" (ħashshāshīyīn), or "Hash-Smokers". Historian Shaun Hastings argued that the Hidden Ones adopted the later name of Assassins as a mark of pride.[2] Both incarnations used contracts to outline targets, explain the reasoning for their targeting and even to specify manner of death at times.[3][4][5]

Though precise in their methods, both sides of the Assassin-Templar War did not complete assassinations at times, due to choice or circumstance. For example, the Louisianan Assassin Aveline de Grandpré spared the life of Antonio de Ulloa[6] and the Colonial Templar Shay Cormac would intercept Assassin contracts and prevent them from accomplishing their tasks.[7] The Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore prevented Templars from killing high profile people such as astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus[8] and then-prince Suleiman I.[9]

Assassination techniques

Hidden Blade

Altaïr's codex on Hidden Blade assassinations

The first recorded use of the Hidden Blade was dated from the 5th century BCE, when Darius used it to assassinate King Xerxes I in Persia.[10] Centuries later, his Hidden Blade was given to Aya by Cleopatra to aid in their quest to eliminate the Order of the Ancients. Aya would gift it to her husband, Bayek,[11] who would first use it against Eudoros, a member of the Order.[12] The use of the Hidden Blade would come to define both the Hidden Ones and their later incarnation, so great was their usage.[13]

The Levantine Assassins Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Malik Al-Sayf worked to improve the methods of assassination using the Blade, three of which Altaïr documented in his codex: "from on high, from ledges, and from hiding places". These would later be dubbed "air assassinations"[14] "ledge assassinations" and "hidden assassinations".[15] Altaïr himself described these methods as basic, though critical.[13] In the same codex page, he introduced another improvement: the addition of a second identical Hidden Blade for the Assassins that needed to dispatch two targets at once.[13] This method was called a "double assassination".[16] All of these were taught to Assassin recruits[17] and became recognizable to Templars.[15]

Other variations

During the Isu Era, the Æsir Odin performed two unique assassination types in the dwarven realm of Svartálfaheimr; the "raven assassination" and the "teleport assassination," both of which were done with help of the Hugr-Rip, a gauntlet Odin wore that allowed him to steal the powers of giant ravens and the jötnar.[18]

In the 5th century BCE, the misthios Kassandra used the Spear of Leonidas as a way to perform early assassinations, known as "stealth kills," in a similar fashion to the Hidden Blade. The spear, being an Isu artifact, granted Kassandra a multitude of abilities, including "rush assassinations," in which Kassandra used her spear as a projectile and was teleported to her target.[19]

In the early 1510s, Ezio Auditore used a Hidden Blade variant known as the Hookblade in Constantinople and made use of ziplines to perform "zipline assassinations" on targets, where he would slide down the line using the blade's hook and launch himself at his target just before reaching the line's opposite end.[20]

During the French Revolution, the Parisian Brotherhood made use of the Phantom Blade to assassinate targets from afar via deadly bolts. The weapon could also be upgraded to shoot berserk bolts that caused targets to attack their allies and potentially eliminate each other.[21]

Poison

A slower method of assassination, but still widely used, was poisoning, which allowed elimination of targets without the use of force.[22] Babylonian Assassin Iltani used poison against Alexander the Great in her quest to retrieve his personal Staff of Eden,[23] and the Egyptian Hidden One Amunet gave Cleopatra a vial of poison she used for her suicide.[24]

File:Zw-codex-21.png
Altaïr's codex on poisons

At some point before 1191, the use of poison was forbidden among the Levantine Brotherhood, and it was not before Altaïr became a mentor that the prohibition was lifted.[25] In his codex, Altaïr reserved a section for instruction on how to construct an alteration to the Hidden Blade that allowed poisoning of targets, as well as instructions on how to distill the poison.[26]

Poison also allows for many different approaches in an assassination. The method used in Margaret of York's death, for example, was to separate the compounds of the poison into harmless ingredients which were administered through her food, makeup, and pillow.[27] Queen Isabella I of Castile was slowly poisoned through her food until she succumbed.[28][29] The Black Cross Albert Bolden used a Templar pin with two types of poison, one that killed instantly and another that took one hour for its effect to take hold.[30]

The Assassins and Templars made ample use of poison darts in their arsenal, regardless of the method of delivery: Aveline de Grandpré used both a blowpipe[31] and a modified parasol,[32] Colonial Templar Shay Cormac used an air rifle,[33] French Assassin Arno Dorian used the Phantom Blade,[21] and the Frye twins used their Assassin Gauntlets.[34]

High-profile assassinations

Italian Assassin Domenico Auditore built a sanctuary beneath his villa at Monteriggioni and included seven statues to honor the memory of the Assassins "who guarded the freedom of humanity when it was most threatened". These were the statues of Qulan Gal, Darius, Wei Yu, Amunet, Iltani, and Leonius—all of whom were thought to have performed high profile assassinations—and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. Accompanying the statues were seals engraved with the famed weapons. [35] Alhough neither Qulan Gal nor Amunet were directly responsible for the assassinations of Genghis Khan and Cleopatra, respectively, they were involved in their deaths.[36][24]

  • Qulan Gal assassinated Genghis Khan with a bow and arrow.
  • Darius assassinated Xerxes I with a Hidden Blade.
  • Wei Yu assassinated Qin Shi Huang with a spear.
  • Amunet assassinated Cleopatra with an asp.
  • Iltani assassinated Alexander the Great with poison.
  • Leonius assassinated Caligula with a dagger.

Other notable assassinations were the assassination of Julius Caesar engineered by the Roman Hidden Ones,[37] the assassination of An Lushan by Li E,[38] the assassination of Cesare Borgia by Ezio Auditore,[39] and the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy by members of Boris Pash and his extremist Assassin cell Bloodstone Unit.[40]

References

  1. ↑ Merriam-Webster dictionary. Assassination.
  2. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Shaun's notes – The Hidden Ones
  3. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – A Brief History of the Hidden Ones
  4. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Layla Hassan's personal files – Files: "Session Report: SHastings"
  5. ↑ Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – Overrun and Outnumbered
  6. ↑ Assassin's Creed III: Liberation – A Governor No More
  7. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Rogue – Assassin Interception (Scott Lawson)
  8. ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Copernicus Conspiracy
  9. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations – The Prince's Banquet
  10. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted – Shadow of a Legend
  11. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – Aya
  12. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – End of the Snake
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Assassin's Creed II – Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex: Page 13
  14. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity companion app – Les Invalides: You'll Pay For This
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – Mister Walpole, I Presume?
  16. ↑ Assassin's Creed II
  17. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Rogue – Lessons and Revelations
  18. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - Gift to the God
  19. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
  20. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Kingdom of Beggars
  22. ↑ Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India – Database: Iltani's Story 2
  23. ↑ Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India – Database: Iltani's Story 5
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Assassin's Creed: Origins (comic) – Issue #04
  25. ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex: Page 6
  26. ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex: Page 21
  27. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts: London, England
  28. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts: Barcelona, Spain
  29. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Initiates – Database: Ending Isabella
  30. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Templars – Issue #03
  31. ↑ Assassin's Creed III: Liberation – The False Mackandal
  32. ↑ Assassin's Creed III: Liberation – Prélude to Rebellion
  33. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Rogue – By Invitation Only
  34. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Syndicate – Cable News
  35. ↑ Assassin's Creed II – A Change of Plans
  36. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Reflections – Issue #02
  37. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – Fall of an Empire, Rise of Another
  38. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Dynasty
  39. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Pax Romana
  40. ↑ Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone – Book 1
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