Templar pin

"The long, silver needle was crafted to look like a sword, while a squat cross with a ruby in its center was affixed atop the sword's hilt. More than an ornament, the pin's sharp tip was coated in a toxin. It was to be used against an enemy if attacked... and use against oneself, if need be."

―Simon Hathaway's description of a Templar pin, 2016.

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A Templar pin

The Templar pin was a bladed adornment worn by Templars and their feared Black Cross inquisitors since at least the late 16th century. Replacing the function of Templar rings worn during the early to mid-18th century, the pins signified membership in the Order and could also be used as a concealed weapon. Their most prominent usage was before and during the French Revolution, when the Parisian Templars regularly wore the device. Its use sharply declined by modern times, though the mid-20th century Black Cross Albert Bolden and the Templars' governing Inner Sanctum members were also known to carry pins.

Design and functionality

Templar pins were typically made of silver and featured the Templar insignia, a red cross pattée, in the center. An intricate design surrounded the symbol, which could vary according to the blacksmith who had crafted the pin or the Templar owner.

The pins were primarily used as a Templar badge of office, but their sharp tip allowed them to be wielded as a secretive weapon in cases of self-defense, similarly to the Assassins' signature Hidden Blades. If need be, the tips could be laced with various poisons, resulting in either the quick or slow death of the target, depending on the poison type used. Due to their small size, the pins could also be used as throwing weapons, which was how Albert Bolden preferred to wield them.

History

Sengoku era Japan

In the late 1500s, the Kakushiba ikki members Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke noticed a man who wore a Templar pin while he entertained local children. Immediately suspicious of his motives, they demanded he identify himself. The man acquiesced, telling them that he was the Black Cross Sir Eamon Hathway.

French Revolution

Arno: "It's... the weapon that killed your father"

Élise: "That's a Templar badge of office."

—Arno Dorian and Élise de la Serre, 1791.

Germain holding a Templar pin

By the French Revolution, these bladed pins were made by the silversmith and Templar François-Thomas Germain for his fellow French Templars; after he was excommunicated, they were only made for the members of his extremist faction. When his follower, Charles Gabriel Sivert, recruited the Roi des Thunes into this faction, Sivert gave him a pin and addressed him as "brother". Later, the Roi used his pin's blade to kill the Grand Master François de la Serre, piercing the bladed side into the man's neck and leaving him to bleed to death.

In 1791, the French Assassin Arno Dorian, de la Serre's ward, investigated his adoptive father's murder and assassinated the Roi des Thunes, acquiring his Templar pin in the process. He then presented the pin to his ally, the Marquis de Sade, who identified Germain's craftsmanship and directed Arno to seek out the silversmith at his workshop.

When Arno met Germain, the latter feigned capture by the Templar Chrétien Lafrenière, one of the few members of the Parisian Rite to oppose his ascension to the rank of Grand Master following de la Serre's death. Germain subsequently claimed that Lafrenière had commissioned the pin used to kill de la Serre, resulting in Arno assassinating the Templar at the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents, after which he discovered Germain's deception.

Later, the Master Assassin Pierre Bellec acquired another Templar pin, which he placed underneath the pillow of the French Brotherhood's Mentor, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, whom he had poisoned to prevent a truce between the Assassins and the Templar Élise de la Serre. Bellec hoped that this act would lead the Brotherhood to suspect Élise of the murder, but Arno and Élise soon discovered the truth, and the former killed Bellec for his betrayal.

20th century

Albert Bolden throwing his pin

By 1927, Albert Bolden, who acted as the Black Cross at the time, used the Templar pin as his weapon of choice. His pin could be filled with various poisons in the head; Bolden was known to use at least two types: one that killed the target instantly, and another that caused the target's death after roughly an hour. Both of these poisons appeared to be stored within the same pin, to choose between them at will.

That year, Bolden used his Templar pin during his operations in both London and Shanghai, severing the ring finger of Thaddeus Gift, the British Rite's Grand Master, who was accused of betraying the Templars and embezzling their funds. He also made use of the weapon during his fight with Du Yuesheng's crime syndicate, the Green Gang, impaling one of Du's enforcers, "Fiery Crow", who died after an hour from the slow-acting poison in his system.

After leaving the Templars following his presumed death, Bolden continued to carry his Templar pin, using it for self-defense as he was tracked by the Instruments of the First Will, who sought the Koh-i-Noor in his possession. In 1937, Bolden used the pin in a fight against the Spanish Assassins Miguel Carasso, Dwight Adams, and Glaucia Acosta, who were being manipulated by the Instrument Rufus Grosvenor. After Acosta took Ignacio Cardona hostage with a knife to his throat, Bolden threw the pin at her, prompting Acosta to catch it with her hand and retreat.

Modern times

By 2016, the pin was worn by Templars who worked at Abstergo Industries, specifically by those who were members of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. In October, Simon Hathaway received a pin following his induction into the Inner Sanctum.

That same year, Albert Bolden's Templar pin was in the possession of the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, who asked Violet da Costa to pass it to one of Albert's descendants, André Bolden. André would later give the pin back to Berg, convincing him to take up the Black Cross mantle.

In August 2018, Berg made use of his Templar pin during a fight against the Instruments of the First Will in Spain, throwing it at the Assassin turncoat Jasdip Dhami and impaling his cheek to force him to release Charlotte de la Cruz.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art
• 
  François de la Serre being stabbed by a pin
• 
  The Marquis de Sade holding a pin
• 
  Albert Bolden throwing his pin
• 
  André Bolden giving the pin to Berg

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy
• Assassin's Creed: Templars
• Assassin's Creed: Uprising
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Story Drops