May Carroll
May Carroll (1764 – 1788) was a member of the British Rite of the Templar Order, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carroll, a family of high-ranking Templars.
Biography[edit | edit source]
In 1774, while the Carrolls were visiting the de la Serres to voice the worrying of the foreign rites concerning the reformist faction of the French Rite, May taunted Élise de la Serre, because as a ten year-old, May had been told of her Templar destiny while the six year-old Élise had not.[1]
In 1788, Élise came to London, asking the Carrolls for help in order to investigate the assassination attempt on her mother a decade before. Oblivious to the fact that it was the Carrolls who had hired Bernard Ruddock to try and kill Julie, who was a moderate reformist but had the ears of her husband, Élise accepted their bargain: they would search for Ruddock while she tried to obtain Haytham Kenway's letters from his sister, Jennifer Scott.[1]
Élise obtained the letters and, after reading them, decided that the Assassins and Templars needed to work together. She found Ruddock by herself, allowing him to flee because she thought that the Carrolls were trying to silence him. Soon afterwards, Élise handed Mr. Carroll a pack of decoy letters, and he passed them onto May, who swiftly burned them without realizing the ploy. Mr. Carroll then said that, even though Grand Master Kenway had been a great Templar, his ideas about the Assassins were blasphemous.[1]
Upon hearing Élise defending Kenway's view, he said that she was too dangerous to be left alive, and the Carrolls, along with their men, readied themselves to kill her. Élise was given a chance to duel May. Making the first move, she stabbed May through the back of the neck, and used the Carrolls' shock to flee. However, her actions attracted the hatred of the Carrolls on herself, and by extension, the mistrust of the British Rite. Various individuals would be hired to assassinate Élise, her guardian Frederick Weatherall, and even her handmaiden Hélène as revenge for May's death, but they would all ultimately fail.[1]
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
May was an extremely nasty and unpleasant person, which likely stemmed from her parents. Even at the age of ten, she was conceited, arrogant, cruel and snobbish. Despite being fellow soon-to-be Templars, she constantly belittled and insulted Élise de la Serre, giving her the nickname 'Smellbag'. This continued well into her adulthood, where she plainly told Élise that the dress she had lent her was considered out of fashion and no London woman would wear it. This arrogance cost May her life, however; when she turned her back on Élise while taunting her, Élise seized the opportunity to stab her with her sword from behind.[1]