Fuladh Al Haami
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Fuladh Al Haami[1] (Arabic: فولاذ الحامي) was a Master Assassin of the Alamut Hidden Ones who sat on the council that governed over the brotherhood during the 9th century. Once an Eagle Master and Rafiq, he eventually rose to the rank of Mentor and based himself in the Justanid region of Persia.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Early life[edit | edit source]
Fuladh was born a slave[2] in the Aksumite Kingdom's trading post city[3] of Adulis,[4] the son of his father's concubine.[5] When Fuladh was a boy, he and his father stitched together a kite to play with. After his father was arrested and thrown into the Damascus Gate Prison in Baghdad, Fuladh made a habit of regularly flying his kite outside the prison, hoping the wind would carry it over the walls to show his father that his child was near, even if they could not see or talk to each other. He never learned if his father ever saw the kite, though, and he remembered the jail as a particularly "cruel and unforgiving" place for the rest of his years.[6]
His father's favored wife, worried that Fuladh would claim inheritance, later threw both him and his mother out of the household. After his mother passed away, Fuladh grew up in the desert alone, befriending the animals that lived in the area, particularly birds. In his adulthood, Fuladh was scouted by a Hidden One while he was hunting with his birds. Fascinated with Fuladh's abilities, the Hidden One decided to recruit him into the Brotherhood.[5]
Fighting the Martyrs of Agaunum[edit | edit source]
By 824, Fuladh discovered that the Order of the Ancients were using the the Martyrs of Agaunum to search for an artifact.[1] He recruited a group of mercenaries to steal the case containing the artifact,[7] including the thief Roshan, whom he rescued after she had been imprisoned in Fustat.[8] At a meeting in a tavern in Fustat, Fuladh, accompanied by his apprentice, addressed the group on their mission and provided them with weapons and rations.[7] While the group prepared itself, Fuladh and his apprentice left the tavern and ventured towards the Martyrs' location.[9]
Before long, Fuladh joined the remaining members of his group in Baghdad at the House of Wisdom, where the Martyrs were meeting with an Order agent to pass the case. Fuladh kept watch from afar while Roshan, the Persian mercenary Azadeh, her wolf companion Onyx, and the Roman pirate Dias ambushed the Martyrs, before revealing himself and eliminating an injured Martyr. He then pursued the Order agent, but during the fighting, Fuladh and the others were caught in the vicinity of an explosion, which was set off by Dias opening the case and activating its hidden mechanism.[1]
With Dias dead and the injured Order agent stumbling, Fuladh stabbed the agent three times, killing him. He then approached the still-living Roshan and Azadeh, the latter of whom was mourning the loss of Onyx, and admitted to observing them. Claiming that Roshan had been directionless for a long time, he offered her a new purpose and invited her to join the Hidden Ones, which required her to abandon her old life and all the people she knew, including Azadeh. Roshan ultimately accepted and left with Fuladh, who kept his promise to Azadeh to provide a cure for her ailing father.[1]
Return to Adulis[edit | edit source]
Shortly after recruiting Roshan, Fuladh led the two of them back to his hometown of Adulis to investigate political unrest, suspecting the Order of the Ancients' influence.[4]
Mentoring Basim[edit | edit source]
By the 860s, Fuladh had risen to the rank of Master Assassin and was a member of the council that governed over the Alamut Brotherhood, alongside Roshan and the Mentor Rayhan.[10] He also held the position of Eagle Master, responsible for raising and training the eagles which were to be entrusted to the Hidden One novices as companions. Despite not being formally involved in the Hidden Ones' training, Fuladh nonetheless imparted what wisdom he could onto the young novices, who consequently regarded him as a wise and approachable mentor.[2]
In 862, Fuladh met Basim Ibn Ishaq, a new recruit to the Brotherhood and Roshan's apprentice. During Basim's training, Fuladh introduced him to one of his eagles, Enkidu, whom he described as having a similar personality to Basim. He also told him about the Hidden Ones' tradition of dipping feathers in their targets' blood, which originated from the Ancient Egyptians' belief that the hearts of the dead would be scaled against Ma'at's feathers to determine their fate in the afterlife. As such, this tradition served to remind the Hidden Ones that they were messengers of justice, and not the final judges.[10]
Fuladh later taught Basim how to tame Enkidu, who became the young Hidden One's companion. Once Basim completed his training, he was inducted into the Brotherhood by Fuladh and the rest of the Alamut Council. Prior to the ceremony, Fuladh discussed his own initiation with Basim and told him how nervous he had felt. When Basim remarked that he could not imagine Fuladh being afraid, the latter told him that true courage meant acting in the midst of feeling great fear.[11]
Shortly after Basim's initiation ceremony, the Hidden One Nur returned injured from his investigation of the Order of the Ancients' presence in Baghdad. Rayhan subsequently assigned Fuladh, Roshan, and Basim to continue Nur's investigation, and the three departed for Baghdad.[11]
Mission to Baghdad[edit | edit source]
Tracking down Ali ibn Muhammad[edit | edit source]
- Fuladh: "There it is. As cruel and unforgiving as I remember."
- Basim: "You were once imprisoned here?"
- Fuladh: "Oh, no, I have never been inside. In fact, I have never stood closes than this very place. It was from here that I would fly my kite high over these prison walls."
- —Fuladh and Basim discussing the Damascus Gate Prison, 860s.[src]-[m]
After crossing the desert, the three Hidden Ones reached Baghdad, whereupon Fuladh and Roshan went to the Harbiyah district to establish a bureau while Basim investigated around the city. Once Basim joined Fuladh and Roshan at the bureau, the trio discussed the leads Nur had gathered during his investigation. Learning that Nur maintained contact with Beshi, a member of the Zanj rebellion, and regularly visited a dyeing factory, Basim decided to investigate both leads while Fuladh and Roshan remained at the bureau to search for additional clues.[12]
After Basim completed both of his investigations, he returned to the Harbiyah bureau to inform Fuladh and Roshan of what he had managed to gather on the whereabouts of Ali ibn Muhammad, the leader of the Zanj rebellion and a Hidden One ally, who had been captured a few weeks prior. Deducing Ali was being held at the Damascus Gate Prison, Fuladh left to scout the jail for possible access routes.[13]
Upon being joined by Basim near the prison, Fuladh told him that he could not find any way in and recounted the story of his father's imprisonment and death, advising Basim that such losses forged their paths and served as reminders of who they were. When Basim showed him a token he had received from Beshi, Fuladh told him to use it to bribe the guards or enlist the help of some nearby merchants and left to return to the Harbiyah bureau.[6]
In the end, Basim managed to rescue Ali and, with his help, uncovered the identity of the Order member known as "Al-Ghul".[14] While Basim tracked down and eliminated Al-Ghul,[15] Fuladh scouted the other districts of Baghdad for possible locations to establish new Hidden Ones bureaus, and took a position as the Rafiq of the Sharqiyah bureau.[16]
Investigation in Sharqiyah[edit | edit source]
Sometime following Al-Ghul's assassination, Fuladh was visited at the Sharqiyah bureau by Ali and Beshi, who informed him that many of their rebels had been recently executed by the Abbasid Caliphate's Turkic mercenaries. Suspecting this to be the work of the Order and believing that the Ancients were trying to lure out and eliminate Ali, Fuladh advised him against going out and avenging his men's deaths, much to the rebel leader's anger.[5]
When Basim joined them at the bureau, Fuladh suggested that he could avenge Ali's men instead, which the rebel leader agreed to on the condition that he receive the credit. After Ali and Beshi left, Fuladh and Basim discussed the Order's influence in Sharqiyah. The former suspected that their enemies held control over the Turkic Army and instructed Basim to help Ali investigate his men's disappearances in Jarjaraya, believing that this was their best lead to uncover the Order's plans.[5]
After Basim and Ali eliminated Dogan bin Arslan, an ally of the Order who was hunting rebels in Jarjaraya, they returned to the Sharqiyah bureau. There, Ali revealed that Beshi had gone missing while Basim informed Fuladh of three new Order members: Nadir ibn Havid, Jasoor ibn Basil, and their leader, known only as "Al-Mardikhwar".[17] After Basim assassinated Nadir and Jasoor, he, Fuladh, and Ali were able to deduce that Al-Mardikhwar was Wasif al-Turki, a Turkic general based at the Great Garrison. With Beshi also being held prisoner there, Basim and Ali decided to mount a rescue mission and eliminate Wasif.[18]
In the end, Basim and Ali failed to save Beshi, who was executed by Wasif, though they managed to assassinate the general, liberating Sharqiyah from the Order's influence.[19] After regrouping at the bureau, Ali thanked Basim and Fuladh for their assistance and parted ways with the Hidden Ones. Basim then informed Fuladh that he had seen Wasif arguing with Baghdad's governor Muhammad ibn Tahir, which the Eagle Master found suspicious, deciding to keep an eye on the governor.[20]
Later, Fuladh left the Sharqiyah bureau and returned to Harbiyah, where he helped Basim and Roshan with their investigation of the Ra's Al-Af'a of the Order, known only as "Al-Bahamut". The three Hidden Ones discussed the possible candidates for Al-Bahamut's identity – governor Muhammad, the poet Arib Al-Ma'muniyya, and the royal concubine Qabiha – and Fuladh told Basim what he knew about each of the suspects before the latter left to continue his investigation in the Round City.[21]
Fuladh would continue to serve as the Rafiq of the Harbiyah bureau for some time until eventually returning to Alamut.[22]
Mentor of the Hidden Ones[edit | edit source]
By the 870s, Fuladh had become Mentor of the Hidden Ones in the Justanid region of Persia and, in 879, was set to host a council at the recently constructed Alamut Castle. After learning from Hytham, Basim's apprentice who had accompanied his master to England, that Basim had betrayed the Brotherhood and was presumed dead, Rayhan invited Hytham to attend Fuladh's council in order to be conferred a new rank and to discuss Basim's betrayal in more detail.[23]
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
In his early years as a Hidden One, Fuladh was a mysterious character who largely kept to himself, refusing to disclose his name or affiliations to anyone who was not part of the Brotherhood and only giving cryptic answers when asked about them.[24] As he grew older, he came to be regarded by his fellow Hidden Ones as a calm, respectful, and direct mentor who had vast knowledge to share, as well as a good sense of humor.[2]
Having been born into slavery and witnessed his father be imprisoned,[6] Fuladh learned to appreciate freedom at a young age and, upon joining the Hidden Ones, sought to fight for it by any means means necessary.[2] Although he supported Ali ibn Muhammad's rebellion, he voiced his disagreement with the man's reckless behavior more than once, believing that the only way to defeat the Order of the Ancients was through precise and calculated attacks.[5] Fuladh was also extremely patient, always waiting for the most opportune moment to strike[24] and advising Basim not to rush his training.[10]
During his years spent alone in the desert, Fuladh learned to befriend the local wildlife, especially birds, with whom he developed a close bond, claiming that they "understood each other".[5] He later put this skill to use by becoming the Brotherhood's Eagle Master and training the Hidden Ones' eagle companions.[10] In spite of his difficult upbringing, Fuladh did not regret his past, believing that his pains had helped forge his path and served as a constant reminder of who he was.[6]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
Fuladh Al Haami is a character first mentioned in the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, before making his first in-person appearance in the 2023 prequel, Assassin's Creed: Mirage. However, his full name was not revealed until the release of Mirage's tie-in novel, Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
Fuladh (فولاذ) is an Arabic name meaning "steel", while his surname Al Haami (الحامي) translates to "the protector".
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Fuladh speaking with Roshan and Basim -
Fuladh speaking with Ahmad ibn Musa -
Fuladh with other Hidden Ones around a campfire -
Fuladh, Basim, and Roshan being sent to Baghdad -
Fuladh with Basim and Roshan at the Harbiyah bureau -
Fuladh serving as the Rafiq of the Sharqiyah bureau -
Fuladh giving Basim a feather prior to Wasif's assassination
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first mentioned)
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A Soar of Eagles
- Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game
References[edit | edit source]
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