Father of Understanding
- "May the Father of Understanding guide us."
- ―A Templar blessing.[src]
The Father of Understanding was an entity to whom the Templars pledged allegiance, and asked for guidance.
In the Third Crusade, the Templars would usually sign his name before theirs in letters they wrote.[1] During the Renaissance, Templars would often ask him for guidance as a greeting, or at the end of a meeting.[2]
During the early 18th century, the phrase was used briefly by Laureano de Torres y Ayala during his first meeting with Edward Kenway.[3]
Before and during the American Revolutionary War, the phrase was used twice by Haytham Kenway; first during the induction of Charles Lee to the Templar Order, and secondly when Haytham was required to enter the Smith and Company Brewery with his son, Connor.[4]
During his investigation into the Templars' affiliation with the Cult of Baphomet, Arno Dorian required a password to gain entrance into the cultist's lair. He was informed by another Assassin that the password was "The Father of Understanding".[5]
The use of the blessing continued into the early 21st century, as Abstergo Industries' CEO Alan Rikkin once emailed Warren Vidic, where he placed the phrase at the end of his message.[1]
Trivia
- Since the Templars have been consistently associated with the worship of Baphomet, and that the password to gain entrance into the Cult of Baphomet's Parisian lair is "The Father of Understanding", it is possible that when the Templars use the phrase "The Father of Understanding", they are referring to Baphomet.