1526 Macau fires

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

"The Assassins claim they protect the innocents. Let us show them that their actions have consequences. Arrest everyone, burn all the ships to ashes and find me the Assassin."

―Qiu Ju ordering Macau's port burned, 1526.

The 1526 Macau fires were an act of terror orchestrated by Qiu Ju, a member of the group of powerful Templar eunuchs known as the Eight Tigers, in response to the death of his fellow Tiger Gu Dayong at the hands of the Chinese Assassin Shao Jun.

The fires

Following Gu Dayong's assassination in Macau by Shao Jun, his Tiger brother Qiu Ju found his body and, knowing it to be the work of the Assassins, ordered his soldiers to arrest innocents and set the city's port ablaze to flush out Dayong's killer. Within moments, the port was on fire and the panicked civilians tried to escape to safety.

As she made her way out of the city while avoiding the flames, Shao Jun went out of her way to rescue as many civilians as she could but was ultimately forced to abandon her heroic endeavors to avoid being killed herself. Arriving at the harbor, she found her Mentor Wang Yangming waiting for her on a boat, which she boarded. Escaping the fire, both Assassins traveled away from the flames but Shao Jun felt guilty over the casualties and the port's destruction.

Aftermath

Shao Jun and Wang Yangming observing the fire

After escaping the fiery port, Shao Jun reflected on the chaos from the fires and blamed herself for the lives lost because of her actions. After almost three years had passed, Shao Jun had still not recovered from her trauma and Wang Yangming tried to console her, advising her that the Templars were to blame for the fire and that she should focus on her primary objective: rebuilding the Chinese Brotherhood in order to restore peace and stability to China.

Despite Yangming's words of advice, the deaths of all the civilians in Macau continued to weigh heavy on Shao Jun's mind until her mission to infiltrate Nan'an and assassinate the Templar Wei Bin. During her mission, Shao Jun was unexpectedly reunited with Kotetsu, a young boy she had rescued from Dayong's fortress in Macau three years prior. Kotetsu helped to restore Shao Jun's resolve by making her realize that the surviving citizens of Macau saw her as a heroine for her actions during the fire and that she should not blame herself for the atrocities committed by others.

Legacy

While reliving Shao Jun's memories of the Macau fires at the Abstergo facility in Yokohama in 2019, Kō Risa felt the same guilt as her ancestor and became withdrawn. Her therapist, Dr. Kaori Kagami, consoled and reassured Risa that these feelings would subside in time and that, through her treatment, she could overcome her violent impulses and not fall prey to the same path of violence as Shao Jun.

Behind the scenes

The 1526 Macau fires are an event featured in both the 2015 video game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China and its 2019 manga adaptation, Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, with each source differing on some details.

Gallery

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  Various buildings collapsing due to the fire
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  Shao Jun escaping from the fire
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  Shao Jun looking at the Macau port aflame

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
• Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm (non-canon)