Jim Holden
- "You make sure you do take his cock and balls before you finish him. You make that bastard suffer."
- ―Holden to Jenny Kenway, regarding her desire to kill Reginald Birch, 1757.[src]
James "Jim" Holden (died 1758) was an ally and close friend to Haytham Kenway, Grand Master of the Colonial Rite of the Templar Order.
Biography
Services under Haytham
In his youth, Holden served in the British Army under Edward Braddock during his campaigns in the Dutch Republic, including the Siege of Bergen op Zoom in 1747. His brother had been executed alongside the same gallows as Haytham Kenway, who had managed to escape. To avenge his lost kin, Holden aided Haytham in his investigations to find Tom Smith, a mercenary who allegedly had connections to the murder of Haytham's father Edward, following which the pair became close friends.[1]
From there, Haytham invited Holden to London to aid him in his further investigations, under the guise of his "gentleman's gentleman." This included Holden waiting in a carriage outside the Theatre Royal to aid Haytham's escape following his assassination of a patron of the Assassin Order.[2] After suspecting the treachery of Reginald Birch, Holden quickly became the only ally Haytham could trust with such sensitive information regarding his father's murder and the disappearance of his sister, Jennifer Scott.[1]
Capture and death
Following Haytham's failed attempt to access a First Civilization storehouse in Colonial America, Holden aided the Templar in his efforts to locate Jennifer. Around 1757, while Haytham increased the Templars' influence in the American colonies, Holden privately tracked Jennifer to the Qasr al-Azm, a Damascan palace, where she had initially served as a concubine to the Ottoman court at Topkapı Palace, before being transferred as a servant due to her increasing age.[1]
After Haytham was informed of Holden's discovery, he returned from the American colonies and joined Holden in infiltrating the palace under the guise of eunuchs. Once the pair located Jennifer, however, they were discovered and Holden stubbornly chose to stay behind and delay the guards while Haytham and his sister made their escape. As a result of this act, Holden was captured and sent to the Abou Gerbe monastery on Mount Ghebel Eter, Egypt, to undergo operations to become a eunuch.[1]
In September 1757, Haytham tracked down Holden, but greatly suspected that he had already been castrated. Proven true, and on seeing Holden suffering from dehydration – as a result of being buried to his neck in the desert sand – Haytham burned down the monastery and killed many of the priests who conducted the operations on other men in a seething fury, before carrying his weakened friend to safety. Following this, Haytham located a cottage where they would be safe, and he and Jennifer gradually nursed Holden of his injuries, though the process took several weeks.[1]
In October, Holden aided Haytham and Jennifer on an assault on Reginald Birch's chateau in France, after Jennifer had informed Haytham that Birch was responsible for both her disappearance and their father's murder. Following Birch's death, Holden, acting on Haytham's instructions, helped Birch's prisoners, Monica and Lucio, escape. However, as Haytham attempted to apologize for the conditions in which his fellow Templars had put them through, he was unforgivingly stabbed in the torso by Lucio, whom he had captured for Birch in 1753.[1]
As a result of this sudden attack, Holden and Jennifer cared for Haytham in Birch's chateau during his recovery over the coming months. Once Haytham had fully recovered by January 1758, Holden, feeling he had fulfilled his duty to his friend, committed suicide, as he was no longer able to cope with the injuries and emotional trauma inflicted upon him at Abou Gerbe. A funeral was subsequently held for him, which was attended by both Haytham and Jennifer.[1]
Gallery
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Holden with Haytham -
Holden attending to Haytham -
Holden riding off with Haytham in the carriage
Appearances
- Assassin's Creed III (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Forsaken