Samuel Parris

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"Our Order is not built on blood."

―Samuel Parris arguing with William Stoughton, 1692.

Samuel Parris

Samuel Parris (1653 – 27 February 1720) was a Puritan minister in Salem and a member of the Templar Order. He played an important part in the witch trials in the town from 1692 to 1693 as an accuser of witches.

Biography

Originally a plantation owner in Barbados, Parris joined the Templar Order at some point and accepted the position of village minister in Salem. Though they did not see eye to eye, Parris worked closely with William Stoughton in their hunt for Pieces of Eden. Having discovered that the Assassins Tom Stoddard and Jennifer Querry had come to Salem to hunt for the precursor artifact, Parris objected to Stoughton's idea to use Salem townsfolk and the Assassins' deaths for their cause.

He aided Stoughton's hunt for the Assassins and they eventually captured them as Stoughton tortured them for information. However, after Stoughton revealed that he was going to experiment on the captured women to replicate the precursor oracle Dorothy Osborne, the oracle killed herself, much to Stoughton's dismay. The Templar threatened to kill Stoddard when Samuel Parris interfered and shot Stoughton in both shoulders. He then turned his pistol on Stoddard, declaring that he'll leave no witnesses to this horror. However, the Assassin was able to convince him to stand down by quoting a line from Dante's Inferno and asked that he honor Osborne's death. Parris then gave Stoddard the keys to the cells so he would take the accused women and the mute boy named David to freedom, and reminded that not all Templars should be judged the same.

Trivia

• There is some confusion in between issues, and sometimes within the same issue, regarding which character is identified as Parris and which as Stoughton.