Father of Understanding
The Father of Understanding, is a being that the Templars pledge allegiance to and ask for guidance.
He is the Templar equivalent of Buddha. The Father of Understanding could be pagan deity, Baphomet. It has been suggested that Baphomet may be derived from the Arabic word Abu Fihama, meaning "The Father of Understanding". Furthermore, Baphomet has been the linked to the Knights Templar in reality. In 1307 when King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest and torture of many Templars, the name "Baphomet" came up in many of the subsequent confessions. Why the Atheistic Templars of the games world would refer a pagan deity, however, is unknown. No acts of worship seem to occur outside of the phrase, so the origin of the statement is unknown.
Templars (at least during Renaissance) would often ask him for guidance as a greeting at the end of a meeting:
- "May the Father of Understanding guide us"
- ―A Templar, with his fist on his heart
and in an e-mail, Alan Rikkin writes to Warren Vidic: "May The Father of Understanding guide you to success", meaning that the Templars still use the saying.
It is plausible Baphomet was a member of Those Who Came Before and was involved in the origin of the Templars somehow, but this seems unlikely.
It is also possible that the Templars use the phrase "Father of Understading" so that during the Crudades, if someone heard them, they could claim they are praising God as the "Father of Understanding."
Or, it is simply because game developers were not aware of an actual "Father of Understanding" and simply intended him to be an entirely fictional character, or as some sort of punch line.