Edward Kenway
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- "For years I've been rushing around, taking whatever I fancied, not giving a tinker's curse for those I hurt. Yet here I am... with riches and reputation, feeling no wiser than when I left home. And when I turn around, and look at the course I've run... there's not a man or woman that I love left standing beside me."
- ―Edward Kenway, reflecting on his life before aiding the Assassins, 1721.[src]
Edward James Kenway (1693 – 1735) was a Welsh-born British privateer-turned-pirate and a member of the Assassin Order.
Born to farmers, Edward sought to acquire riches and fame. He became a privateer for the Royal Navy early in his life and, once accepted, found himself stationed in the West Indies. However, a quick end to the War of the Spanish Succession and the promise of gold, glory and fame eventually seduced him into a life of piracy. It was during this quest that Edward first encountered the Assassin and Templar Orders, and became embroiled in their struggle.
Over the next few years, Edward struggled with the internal conflict that arose from his desire for fame and riches - through finding the Observatory - and his duty to his friends. After losing nearly all of his closest friends, he realized the folly of his quest for glory. He then joined the Assassin Order, hunted down the Templars in the region and entrusted the Observatory to the Assassins.
After a decade in the West Indies, Edward returned to Britain and received a pardon from Robert Walpole. He soon acquired an estate in London and married Tessa Stephenson-Oakley, with whom he fathered a son named Haytham. He quickly joined the British Brotherhood of Assassins, rising up to the rank of Master Assassin, and eventually, leader. Continuing his work as an Assassin, Edward researched the First Civilization, and kept the research in a journal. In 1735, he was killed by mercenaries in the employ of Templar Grand Master Reginald Birch, in order to acquire the journal. Haytham would later father Ratonhnhaké:ton; through this line, Edward is an ancestor of William Miles, and his son, Desmond.
In 2013, an Abstergo Entertainment research analyst was tasked with exploring Edward's genetic memories in order to gather footage for a planned video game, Pirates of Nightmares.
Biography
Early life and first marriage
- "I want food that don't make me sick. I want walls that hold back the wind. I want a decent life."
- ―Edward to Caroline, 1711.[src]
Edward was born in Swansea, Wales, to Bernard and Linette Kenway; at the age of ten, his family relocated to a farm in Bristol, in South West England. However, the pastoral life did not agree with Edward and he became a well-known troublemaker in his adolescence.[3]
At the age of seventeen, Edward met Caroline Scott, a woman two years his senior who intervened on his behalf during an altercation outside the Auld Shillelagh tavern, in which Edward was defending Rose, one of the Scott family's housemaids, from being raped by Tom Cobleigh. Edward immediately fell in love with Caroline and asked her to meet again sometime, but she refused, as her father would not allow such a breach of social etiquette after having already promised her to Matthew Hague, the son of a prominent East India Company executive.[3]
Despite their differences in social status, Edward still pursued his love for Caroline. Through Rose, Edward learned that Caroline often visited Bristol's port on a weekly basis. Hoping to attract her attention, Edward recruited a young street urchin named Albert to present Caroline with a bouquet of flowers on his behalf. As the boy set off, Edward realized too late that Albert was a thief who intended to steal Caroline's purse.[3]
As Edward moved forward to stop Albert, the thief successfully snatched Caroline's money, but in the process was noticed by her nearby suitor, Matthew, and his hulking bodyguard, Wilson, who caught the criminal and proceeded to beat him. Finally reaching the scene, Edward subdued Wilson before forcing Albert to apologize. Drawn to his fearless conduct, Caroline met Edward that night outside his house.[3]
Setting out for a midnight stroll, Caroline explained to Edward how the thought of becoming Hague's wife, and what society expected her to do after the marriage, sickened her. At the same time, she knew that starting a relationship with Edward would incur the wrath of her father upon them both. Despite the looming threat of Emmett's imminent anger, the couple maintained a secret relationship for the next several months. They were married in 1712, and Caroline became pregnant with a daughter, Jennifer Scott, unbeknownst to Edward.[3]
However, Caroline's father, Emmett, disapproved of the marriage and disowned his daughter without providing a dowry. Deprived of the Scotts' wealth, Caroline and Edward settled in the farm of Edward's parents, who quickly became fond of Edward's young wife, who tried her best in order to acclimate to her new life. But dissatisfied with his life as a farmer and his inability to offer a privileged life to his wife, Edward failed to meet his marital obligations and assiduously frequented the taverns of the area.[3]
During a night of drinking, in late 1712, Scott approached an inebriated Kenway in a tavern and offered him a deal, sending Caroline back to him by leaving her in exchange for a large sum of money. Scott tried to convince him to accept his offer, but Kenway fainted before giving an answer and his father-in-law took him to the Kenway farmstead, where he took the opportunity to show his distraught daughter what a bad husband Edward was.[3]
The next day, Scott received the visit from Edward, who refused his offer and proposed him another deal. In accordance with his own plans, Kenway was going to try to make his fortune as a privateer in the West Indies and promised not to return to England until he became rich. To Scott, who wanted the marriage to end, Edward pointed the fact that the odds were great that he died at sea, making Caroline a widow able to marry again, and that Scott could also take advantage of his absence by trying to turn Caroline against her husband. Scott agreed to Edward's offer, and Kenway announced his departure to Caroline, who left the farm and came back to her father's house in Bristol, angry with Edward's decision.[3]
But the night Kenway embarked on his assigned ship, Emmett Scott sent the Templar Wilson and some members of the Trade Organization, including Edward's nemesis, Tom Cobleigh and his associate Julian, to set fire to the Kenways' farm while Bernard and Linette were sleeping inside, in order to prevent Caroline from ever coming back to them during Edward's absence. With Edward's departure being delayed, he returned in time to warn his parents and tracked the arsonists, but was knocked out and put on his departing ship by a hooded Wilson, who assured him that no more harm would come to his parents if he respected his pact with Scott.[3]
Despite Edward managing to save his parents, his father disowned him, seeing him to have brought nothing but trouble on the family. Distraught, Edward sought revenge on the Cobleighs, killing Julian in the process. Before Edward could interrogate Tom, the latter was killed by Wilson. Edward tried to engage Wilson, but was overpowered by the much stronger and experienced swordsman. Knocked unconscious by Wilson, Edward found himself aboard the Emperor, the ship he was intended to sail on.[3]
Life as a privateer
Sailing under the Emperor, Edward was often harassed by his more experienced and hardened peers, especially the brutish sailor Blaney. Initially bullying Edward as means of asserting his superiority, Blaney came to genuinely hate Edward for not fearing him.[3]
The Emperor's captain, Alexander Dolzell, soon foresaw that the War of the Spanish Succession was soon coming to a close, meaning that privateers would be put out of business. Dolzell announced his plans to turn to piracy to his crew, and offered those who decided not to partake in piracy safe passage home. Before Edward, not willing to become a pirate, could join those like him, he was stopped by his fellow sailor Friday. Edward then saw the sailors who wanted to leave the crew thrown overboard.[3]
In 1713, Edward participated in the Emperor's capture of a British merchant ship named the Amazon Galley, and was assigned along with Blaney to guard the ship's captain, Benjamin Pritchard. Edward recognized the ring that Pritchard was wearing which matched the ring worn by Wilson. Pritchard offered Edward answers in exchange for his safety, but he was soon executed by Dolzell's blade.[3]
At the same time, the privateer Edward Thatch and his crew came to the rescue of the Amazon Galley, still loyal to the British Crown. Seeing that they were outnumbered, Blaney decided to mutiny against his former crew, killing first mate Trafford before moving in on Edward. However, Thatch took a liking to Edward, and instead proposed a brawl to decide who should join his crew, pitting Edward against Blaney.[3]
While the larger Blaney was physically stronger than Edward, the latter's smaller size outmaneuvered the brute. Edward landed several good hits on Blaney, prompting Blaney to draw a blade in a fit of rage. However, because Blaney broke the rules by using a weapon, he was quickly killed by Thatch. Edward, as the victor, joined Thatch's crew.[3]
Under Thatch's tutelage aboard the Sea Dog's Bite, Edward learned how to properly wield a sword as well as a pistol.[3]He was also guided by Thatch's own mentor, Benjamin Hornigold. He remained in Jamaica for six months until the Treaty of Utrecht in early 1713, which effectively ended all conflict between the major empires. As a result, British privateers were no longer needed or tolerated in the West Indies, causing Edward to find himself out of work. He subsequently took to piracy and began working aboard a brig, the Jacobite.[1]
Life in Piracy
In early 1715, Edward's ship attacked a passing vessel which proved to be too much for the crew to handle. With their Captain dead, Edward took the helm and did his best to keep the ship afloat. While the pirates emerged victorious thanks to the storm, the ship's magazine caught fire and exploded, sinking the ship. Shipwrecked in Cape Bonavista, Edward met the only other survivor, an Assassin named Duncan Walpole, whose ship the pirates had attacked.[1]
Washing up next to Edward, Walpole was wounded by the shrapnel from the magazine's explosion. He offered to pay Edward for passage to Havana. Edward agreed upon condition of immediate payment, and advanced toward Walpole. Concerned, the Assassin drew his pistol, but it misfired due to wet gunpowder. Walpole fled, and Edward pursued him through the jungle, taking an interest in Walpole's Hidden Blade. Cornering Walpole, Edward quickly dispatched the wounded Assassin.[1]
Looting Walpole's body, Edward found a letter from Governor Laureano de Torres y Ayala of Havana, detailing Walpole's intended defection to the Templar Order. Oblivious to the implications of the letter, Edward donned Walpole's Assassin robes but was forced to discard the broken Hidden Blade, and collected a crystalline rectangular prism which was to be delivered to Torres for payment.[1]
Edward shortly encountered a group of English soldiers harassing a merchant named Stede Bonnet, whom they believed to have been one of the pirates involved in the earlier battle. After dispatching the soldiers, Edward introduced himself to Bonnet using Walpole's name and accompanied him to Havana. [1]
Introduction to the Templars
Upon arriving, the two traveled to a local tavern to meet with Bonnet's contact, where several thugs recognized Edward as a pirate and provoked him into a fight. After dispatching the men, Edward was forced to flee as Spanish soldiers entered the tavern and began to chase him. While he was able to escape, the Spanish turned on Bonnet and seized his ship's holdings, including the package meant for Torres. Edward infiltrated the Spanish fort to recover the package before going to the intended meeting with Torres.[1]
Edward carefully maintained his charade as he conversed with prospective Templars - Woodes Rogers, whose wife had met Duncan, and Julien du Casse. Du Casse equipped Edward with a new pair of Hidden Blades and requested that Edward show them some Assassin techniques in action. Picking up on hints from Du Casse and Rogers, Edward was able to replicate the moves with relative accuracy.[1]
When Torres eventually arrived, Rogers, Du Casse and "Walpole" were inducted into the Templar Order. Edward listened to Torres' plans to locate a First Civilization site known as the Observatory, which the Templars believed would allow them to monitor every person in the world and learn all their secrets. Uninterested, Edward took the opportunity to pickpocket the Templars as they discussed their plans.[1]
The four then traveled to the city docks to retrieve a man named Bartholomew Roberts, an alleged Sage who knew the Observatory's location. On the way back to the governor's house, they were ambushed by Assassins and Roberts fled, though Edward managed to chase him down and retrieve him. As Roberts was led away, Torres gave Edward Walpole's intended pay for a job well done - 1000 reales.[1]
Later, meeting with Bonnet, Edward complained about the pay he had received, believing it was insufficient. He then resolved to discover the Observatory's location and sell it to the highest bidder, and realized he would need the Sage's assistance. He infiltrated the prison where Roberts was being held, only to find the Sage gone and the Templars, having discovered his ruse, waiting for him. For robbing them of Walpole's valuable expertise, Torres had Edward imprisoned on a ship in the Spanish Treasure Fleet heading for Seville, to deliver him to British Templars in London.[1]
Arrival in Nassau
Edward managed to escape confinement with the help of a similarly imprisoned Adéwalé, recruit a number of other prisoners, and steal one of the fleet's ships in the process. Hit by a storm, they narrowly managed to escape before the entire accompanying fleet was sunk. Edward decided to name his newly acquired ship Jackdaw and, realizing that hardly any of his new crew would accept Adéwalé as captain, dubbed him Quartermaster.[1]
Heading to Nassau with his new ship, Edward introduced Adéwalé to three of his old associates - Edward Thatch, James Kidd and Benjamin Hornigold. Edward then moved throughout the British-occupied town, freeing imprisoned pirates to recruit as crewmen and weakening British control over the island. That complete, he began working with Hornigold and Kidd to carry out lucrative missions, plundering ships and raiding a nearby plantation.[1]
Thatch shared with Edward his concerns about protecting their newly formed "Pirate Republic" from British recapture, and proposed a plan to take a particular Spanish Galleon in order to better protect the nascent revolutionary state. At his request, Edward located and tailed the Galleon to Great Inagua, only to learn that the ship was owned by none other than Julien du Casse. Reasoning that du Casse could not be allowed to live and spread news of Edward's escape, Edward approached the cove through the jungle, snuck aboard the ship and assassinated du Casse.[1]
James Kidd congratulated Edward on his victory, and brought him to a Mayan stela in the jungle, telling him to use "the light of life" to uncover the treasure to which it pointed. Kidd then showed Edward an underground tunnel leading to the du Casse manor and the special armor locked away there, and proposed that Edward keep the island as his base. He also requested that Edward meet him in Tulum in several weeks' time, as he had more to show Edward there.[1]
Introduction to the Assassins
- "Jaysus, Kidd! You led me into a mess. Is it these monks guarding the treasure you promised me?"
- ―Edward Kenway to James Kidd, 1716.[src]
Arriving in Tulum, Edward found himself having to sneak through the jungle to meet with Kidd, as the area was heavily guarded by Assassin forces. Upon their eventual meeting, Edward was set upon by Ah Tabai, who demanded to know why Edward had sold their location to the Templars and attacked the Assassins in Havana. Kidd diffused the situation by telling Ah Tabai that Edward had "the Sense", and requested leave for them to enter a nearby temple. After claiming that he would recognize Bartholomew Roberts if he saw the man again, Edward was gr