Kublai Khan
- "It is the arch that supports the bridge."
- ―Kublai Khan.[src]
Kublai Khan (Mongolian: ᠬᠤᠪᠢᠯᠠᠢᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ; Chinese: 忽必烈; 1215 – 1294) was the fifth ruler of the Mongol Empire and the first Emperor of the Yuan dynasty of China from 1260 to 1294.
A grandson of Genghis Khan and brother to Ariq Boke, Möngke Khan, and Hülegü Khan, Kublai is the second most well-known of the Mongolian rulers. His empire stretched even further than that of Genghis Khan did, [citation needed] and he was the first Mongol to rule over the entirety of China.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Fighting for the throne[edit | edit source]
On 11 August 1259, directly following the murder of his brother Möngke by the Assassin Zhang Zhi, Kublai's nephew, Asutai, remarked that there would soon be a power struggle for the throne and that the claimant Ariq Boke would be challenged by Kublai with support from his other brother Hülegü.[1]
Meeting the Polos[edit | edit source]
In May 1275, Kublai Khan welcomed the Polo brothers and Niccolò Polo's son Marco into his court, not knowing that the famed explorers were in fact Assassins. The Polos' alliance with the Khan and Marco's seventeen years of service gave the latter the opportunity to break into Kublai's vault in Shangdu and steal back Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex,[2][3] which had been taken by the Mongols from the two elder Polos nearly two decades earlier.[4]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Kublai Khan in Mongol armor -
Kublai leading his men in battle
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed II (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Tomb of the Khan (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]