Assassins

"Nothing is true, Everything is permitted."

―Hassan-i Sabbah, founder of the Assassins' order

The Assassins, also known as the Hashshashin, are an organized Order of Assassins, who are in a continuous low-grade war with their greatest adversaries: the Knights Templar. The order has existed for at least a millennium, and was active during the Third Crusade, the Renaissance, and even into the year 2012. The order believes in a firm creed of values that strictly govern their way of life, consisting of three tenets: stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent, hide in plain sight, and never compromise the Brotherhood. These tenets are lived daily by Assassins in the fight for "peace in all things". The Assassins carry out their duties through political strategic assassination, and by doing so, potential threats to peace are forever suppressed. By killing one individual, the Assassins beleive that they can save tens of thousands.

Through their work, Assassins could be easily looked upon as keepers of peace. Assassins beleive that they fight on behalf of those people who do not possess their abilities or resources to speak out against those in power who harm the powerless. Assassins speak to these corrupted men for the dispossessed by introducing them to the sharp edge of a blade. By doing so, the common people are freed from the shackles of oppression. Even though the Assassins fight for the people, they are feared, because no matter how one looks at the matter, killing above the bounds of the law for noble purposes is still killing, still an essentially evil act. The only way to justify the Assassins' deeds is to see them through the prism of long-term self-defense, though many moralists and philosophers claim this is just sophistry, a rationalization for murder. The Assassins were most feared due to their terrifying reputation for taking life in public places before many witnesses. The Assassins did so to create an atmosphere in which it was not safe to commit corrupt acts under the sun. This spread fear amongst their enemies, for they never knew when they might fall to an enemy who they could not see or hear.

Assassins used a particularly efficient weapon for assassinations: the Hidden Blade. A single thrust from this weapon could change the course of the Holy Land's future, as well as that of all future history. Such power could easily go to an Assassin's head, causing him to lift himself above others knowing he could change history, thus becoming as corrupt as the men whom he slew. But the devotion to the Assassins primary goal (peace in all things) and the knowledge of their "Assassin's Creed" provided the moral guidance necessary to keep the corruption caused by ultimate power at bay. This was not always the case. In order to have the precise political impact desired by an assassination, the Assassins possessed extensive political knowledge,  and remained always in tune with the ever-changing politics surrounding the many empires of the Holy Land and later of Western Europe during the Renaissance. They used this information to decide whose death would most benefit the people of their region.

Obtaining this information was done by stationing agents within the various cities of the Middle East and Europe to keep an eye on the actions of the various nobles and rulers. When deployed on missions, elite master assassins or blade hands were the ones responsible for carrying out public assassinations. They worked alone in the field, usually disguised as holy scholars of any of the three major monotheistic faiths or other suitable caricatures. When stationed in a particular city, the Assassins would spend an immense amount of time getting acquainted with their environment and learning where and when it would be best to strike at their chosen target. The actual strike itself always took place in public. By performing the murder in the public's eye, the Assassins knew without a doubt that news and information about the assassination would spread quickly amongst the common people, and those other corrupt men who served the one assassinated, effectively spreading fear and disrupting the chain of command among the corrupted regime that had been targeted by the Assassins.

Known Assassins

Third Crusade

• Al Mualim (Master and leader of Syrian-Assassins)
• Altair Ibn-La'Ahad (Master Assassin and field instructor)
• Malik (Dai over Jerusalem's Assassin Bureau)
• Kadar (Member of the Assassins and Malik's younger brother)
• Raoul (Member of the Assassins)
• Abbas(Member of the Assassins)
• Masun (Traitor of Masyaf)
• The Instructors and Rafiqs
• Jamal (possible Assassin that betrayed Masyaf)
• Bahir (Damascus - Rooftop Race Informant PC version)
• Karim (Acre - Rooftop Race Informant PC version)

Renaissance

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze (A nobleman and member of the Assassins)
• Mario Auditore da Firenze (Ezio's uncle and mercenary)
• Giovanni Auditore da Firenze (Ezio's father and Nobleman)
• Federico Auditore da Firenze (Ezio's brother)
• Paula
• Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
• Antonio (Head of the Venetian Thieves Guild)
• La Volpe (Head of the Florentine Thieves Guild)

Modern Times (2012)

• Desmond Miles
• Lucy Stillman
• Shaun Hastings (most likely as he helps Desmond)
• Rebecca Crane (most likely as she helps Desmond)
• Any remaining assassins alive (although Dr Vidic believes they are all dead)

Others

• Darius (The Male Persian Assassin; he killed Xerxes with the Hidden Blade.)
• Iltani (The Female Babylonian Assassin; she poisoned Alexander the Great.)
• Wei Yu (The Male Chinese Assassin; he killed Qin Shi Huang with a spear.)
• Qulan Gal (The Male Mongolian Assassin; he shot Genghis Khan's horse with a bow and arrow.)
• Amunet (The Female Egyptian Assassin; she killed Cleopatra with a snake.)
• Leonius (The Male Roman Assassin; he stabbed Caligula to death with a dagger.)

Assassin's Creed

In 1191, during the Third Crusade, the Assassins Order has its stronghold in the fortress of Masyaf. Led by Al Mualim, the other assassins battle with the Templars and their leader, Robert de Sable over ideologies and the means with which to accomplish them. It is the Third Crusade and low-scale war with the Templar's that Altair must find wisdom within himself from the "Assassins Creed" in order to accomplish the assassinations appointed for his redemption. As the war intensifies and Altair begins to understand the Assassin's true way of life, the "Creed", its meaning begins to open Altair's eyes and mind to question his cause and the lives he is meant to take in the name of the Assassin's peace. Is killing these men the true and only way to teach those that have strayed? Or do they not deserve a second chance; "misguided perhaps but pure in motive". Altair, after killing Robert de Sable, confronts his Master, Al Mualim, who has secretly been a high-ranking Templar the entire time. After a grueling struggle, Altair defeats Al Mualim and becomes the leader of the Assassins, though many lives were lost during Al Mualim's short reign of Terror. Altair then dedicates the Order to hunting down and destroying the remaining Artifacts, left by "Those Who Came Before," using the Piece of Eden to find them.

Assassin's Creed II

It has been announced in the May 2009 issue of Game Informer that the Assassins have "gone underground", but the order still continues their battle with the Templars. Ezio, who was announced as the game's protagonist, is an Italian nobleman who joins the order to get revenge on the people that killed his father. It may be indirectly or directly due to the Templars.

In Assassin's Creed II, you never know who the assassins are until memory block 13. They are all around you during the game, you just have no idea who they are.

Real History

The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin, or Hashasheen), from which the word assassin is thought to originate, was the Persian derived designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages.