Persian harbor master
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They call me many things: Murderer. Cutthroat. Thief. But you may call me Persian harbor master. This article is about a subject that lacks an official name and is known only by its nickname, title, or alias. |
A Persian harbor master (died 819) was a businessman from Persia who had many wives, including Talâyi, Halima, Nai, and Roshan.
Biography[edit | edit source]
The harbor master entered business with his brother, a silk trader, providing the boats for trading and eventually the pair became very powerful.[1] He married two women before marrying Talâyi, and eventually killed the first two,[2] the second one for going against his orders and teaching some of the other wives how to read and write.[1] At some point before 816, he maimed Talâyi, taking her left eye from her.[2] When Talâyi became pregnant, he left her alone for eight months, only to then take her son away and never leave her alone after learning that she could carry children to term.[3]
In 816, the harbor master visited Roshan's family in Kandovan, looking for a new wife. Though he initially wanted either of Roshan's sisters Masha or Bolour, Roshan instead offered herself up to save her sisters, having seen the type of man he was. The day they married, he destroyed all but one of the gifts Roshan had received from her sisters. She was moved to his houseboat and would not set foot on land for the next three years.[2] Whenever he had to journey outside of Baghdad's harbor, he would select three of his wives to accompany him, often choosing Roshan.[4]
In 819, Roshan fatally stabbed the harbor master before fleeing the houseboat, aided by the other wives.[2] For a time, his murder remained hot news in Baghdad, being gossiped about even by scholars in the House of Wisdom.[1] Roshan vaguely remembered him 40 years later, but refused to elaborate on his identity or her reasons for killing him to her apprentice Basim Ibn Ishaq, saying only that her memories of it were "buried next to him" and how she would not be haunted by his death.[5]
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
The harbor master was a huge, portly man[1] who lacked a full set of teeth.[2] Despite his inability to read, write, or speak his own language succinctly,[6] he still held much power as a local port authority. He was particularly cruel to his many wives, calling them slaves and treating them as such, even punishing them with a whip for misbehaving.[7] He forbade them from learning how to read and write, and refused both letting them leave the houseboat[1] or permitting any man but him from boarding it.[2] This treatment of women was not exclusive to his wives, of course, with him and his brother boasting about having fathered only boys and "not a single female to weaken the bloodline", dealing with any girls his wives might bear.[3] He also degraded prostitutes as "mindless and worthless" exploiters of men.[6]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
The Persian harbor master's name is never given in the novel, because information about him is always filtered through Roshan's memories and she refuses to even think of his name throughout the story.
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Four: Baghdad, 819
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Two: Baghdad, 819
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Ten - Thatta, 822
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Eleven - Sinai Peninsula, 824
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Coins and Daggers
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Twelve - The Silk Road, 822
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One – Chapter Fifteen - Karachi, 824