The Creed
- "Nothing is true; everything is permitted."
- ―The Creed's maxim
The Creed is the code and guiding philosophy of the Assassin's Order, upheld from the Third Crusade, until modern days. Al Mualim, one of the Grand Masters of the Assassins, once stated that, "We are nothing if we do not abide by the Assassin's Creed."[1]
The Creed restricts unnecessary slaughter of innocents, preserves the reputation of one's self and of the Order, and is meant to create peace, not only within the world, but within the individual. The Assassins have been handing the Creed down orally from generation to generation, ensuring that the message the Creed brings is delivered to every member of the Assassin Order.[1]
In the ancient Codex, Altaïr stated that the Creed cannot be killed, even if all of its followers are.[2]
Tenets
The Creed mainly emphasizes three simple, moral tenets that focus on ensuring a successful mission, mastery of emotions, and the safety of the Brotherhood.
Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent
- "I would not have drawn attention to us. I would not have taken the life of an innocent."
- ―Malik A-Sayf at Solomon's Temple.[src]
The goal of the Assassins is to ensure peace in all things. The Assassins believe that political assassinations and the death of the corrupt will bring peace and a true sense of security to the common people. Slaying innocents and civilian bystanders who do not need to die goes a long way towards spreading strife and discord, in addition to ruining the name of the Assassin Order itself.[1]
Always be discreet
- "Let the people mask you such that you become one with the crowd."
- ―Al Mualim[src]
Be unseen. The Assassins' aim is to get close to their target stealthily, usually in public, to perform awe-inspiring assassinations. The greatest illusion from an assassination is that an Assassin seemingly materializes from nowhere, kills a corrupt public figure, and vanishes into the depth of the crowd or environment. If an Assassin is spotted stalking their target, the supernatural effect is diluted, simply making it more difficult for the Assassin to reach his target.[1]
Never compromise the Brotherhood
- "Your actions must never bring harm upon us - direct or indirect!"
- ―Al Mualim[src]
The actions of one must never bring harm to all. If an Assassin fails, is captured, or is being chased, he must never commit an action or say anything that can be tied back to the Brotherhood.
For example, in the beginning of the original Assassin’s Creed, Altaïr openly exposes himself to Robert de Sable and the other Templars and summarily fails to assassinate him. This failure compromised the brotherhood, which in turn cost the Assassin Malik his left arm, his brother Kadar his life, and led Robert de Sable to gather the other Templars to lay siege to Masyaf. For this, Altaïr was severely punished.[1]
Maxim
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted" is the Creed's maxim and primary guideline. The phrase was created by Hassan-i Sabbah during the 11th century (1000's), marking him as the first recorded Grand Master of the Assassin Order.[3]
The quote simply means that nothing anyone says about how we should be or should act is true, and that everything we could ever think of doing within the realm of actual possibility is permitted to happen, and so it does.[1]
Translations
Given that the Order spans over several countries, the maxim of the Creed has been re-stated and translated into their appropriate languages.
Arabic: Laa shay'a waqui'n moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine.[1]
Italian: Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito.[2]
Penalty for Disobedience
When Altaïr breaks all three tenets during an extremely important mission at Solomon's Temple, he is stripped of all his weapons and equipment, and demoted to the lowest rank of Novice. By murdering an innocent (an old man who he thought could have alerted the guards), revealing himself to Robert de Sable, and leading the Templars back to the – until then, secret – location of Masyaf, he jeopardized not only his own safety, but the livelihood of the entire Brotherhood. Al Mualim publicly "executes" him for treason, based upon the severity of these crimes, though Altaïr mysteriously finds himself later alive.[1]
Another example of punishment for breaking the Creed was brought upon Perotto Calderon. In a desperate attempt to save his son's life, he betrayed his Order, killing several of his Brothers to steal the artifact they guarded, and use if to heal his child. As such, a team of Assassins was dispatched to hunt him down, and Perotto was killed in his camp soon after using the Piece of Eden.[4]
Assassin's Creed
As Desmond relives Altaïr's memories, he must follow these tenets as well, in order to stay synchronized with his ancestor's memories in the Animus.
Breaking the first tenet by killing anyone other than a guard or an assassination target will cause him to lose up to one-third of his synchronization. While there is no punishment for breaking the second tenet, several repercussions (such as the escape of certain assassination targets) occur when Altaïr is exposed by the guards. As for the third tenet, Altaïr will not be able to enter an Assassins' Bureau when under pursuit, as this would compromise the brotherhood.
Altaïr unknowingly breaks the third tenet after dispatching eight of the higher ranked Templar members. Upon deducing his mission, Robert de Sable hoped to trick Altaïr into inadvertently allying two opposing forces. Since the targets were of both Saracen and Crusader origins, their respective leaders, Saladin and Richard I of England, would likely be more willing to join together, in order to combat a considerable, new threat: the Assassins. Robert attempted to convince Richard to join forces with Saladin in an attack against Masyaf; wherein he planned to recover the Piece of Eden lost to Al Mualim at Solomon's Temple. However, Altaïr's subduing of Robert in front of Richard convinced not to attack the Assassins, and Altaïr went unpunished for this transgression.[1]
Assassin's Creed II
- "You are not Vieri, do not become him."
- ―Mario Auditore to Ezio.[src]
When Ezio killed Vieri de' Pazzi, during one of his early assassination missions in Assassin's Creed II, he showed disrespect to his corpse, cursing him and calling for his everlasting suffering. Seeing this as a violation of the Creed, his uncle Mario intervened, chastising the young Assassin for his vengeance, which prevented both the victim and the Assassin from finding the peace that all assassinations through the Order wished to achieve.
Throughout the course of his life, Ezio followed his uncle's example, showing respect for the dead by closing their eyes and saying "Requiescat in pace" (or "Rest in peace").[2]
Trivia
- Interestingly, the player can slaughter Masyaf guards with no special repercussions. These Assassin guards have the same abilities as Saracen or Crusader guards, despite the typical Assassin training being far more specialized in close combat than regular military training.
- After completing the main storyline of Assassin's Creed, the player can kill civilians without losing sync with their ancestor.
- The Creed's maxim, that nothing is true and everything is permitted, has a somewhat disputed history; occasionally being incorrectly attributed to Fyodor Dostoevsky, although the idea, if not the exact phrase forms a very crucial part of the philosophical backdrop for his "Brothers Karamazov." Intriguingly, one of the characters in this novel postulates what is essentially the Templar mindset in the "the grand inquisitor parable", although Dostoevsky clearly is critical himself of this mindset, and attempts throughout the novel to refute it, as the Assassins did, seeing free will as a fundamental quality of humanity.
- The exact phrase "Nothing is true; everything is permitted" is taken from the novel Alamut, by Vladimir Bartol, a book that served as a primary inspiration for Assassin's Creed. In it, the maxim is the highest truth of the Ismaili, the sect of Islam that gave rise to the historical Hashashins.