Assassin's Creed 5

Assassin's Creed 5 is the fifth issue of the Titan comic book series Assassin's Creed. The comic, written by Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery with art by Ivan Nunes and Neil Edwards, was released on 10 February 2016.

Publisher's summary

Charlotte has to call on all she has learned from her ancestor Tom Stoddard to save her cell from decimation at the hands of Abstergo. In doing so, she learns more about herself, and more about the Brotherhood than she expected, and is forced to decide where her loyalties lie...

Plot summary

2015: With the realization that Joseph knows the location of Dorothy's body, Xavier and Galina have clearly been sent into a trap. Charlotte decides to go in after them, and is given the familiar Assassin hoodie attire by Kody. She manages to infiltrate deeper into the building by tricking an employee to open a secured door. She binds the man and presses on, declaring herself to not be a killer to Kody.

Xavier and Galina locate Joseph in a cell. A battle ensues, whereby Galina suffers a leg injury and Xavier is drowned by Joseph in a nearby pool. Charlotte intervenes, attempting to prevent Joseph from harming Galina. Joseph reveals that the Assassins are using Charlotte for her power. A bomb explodes, evidently created by Joseph. It is assumed that Didier Hawking and most of his staff are killed.

As Templar agents storm into the room, Joseph escapes. Charlotte rescues Galina, who escapes via a ventilation shaft, as Charlotte can apparently see through walls. On their way out of the building, Charlotte discovers the man that she bound has died. He suffered from asthma and had suffocated. Charlotte is riddled with guilt over his innocent death.

Galina advises Kody to contact Gavin Banks, an Assassin mentor, advising that the Brotherhood needs to get to Salem as soon as possible, as they do not know if the Templars are already on their way. Charlotte reveals that Joseph did not tell the Templars the location. Galina thanks Charlotte for saving her life, finally believing in the novice Assassin.

Supplementary material

Salem

The end, the aftermath and the legacy...

In the early months of 1693, the last of the trials in Salem were taking place. The fervor of the first hearings had dwindled, and the court of Oyer and Terminer had been dissolved by Governor Phips in October of the previous year. As the court slowly worked through the charges laid at the feet of those who remained in prison, public support for the trials diminished, and it seemed that the townspeople were slowly waking up to the horrors they had perpetrated. By May of 1693, all those still in prison on charges of witchcraft were released and pardoned.

The year of madness had ended. Lives had been lost. Strangely, however, the lives of the "afflicted girls"—the accusers responsible for the majority of the charges—continued much as they would have done had they never decided to portray themselves as victims. While the dissolving of the court brought a certain amount of closure to the events of 1692 and 1693, it Is interesting to note that only one of the "afflicted" girls ever apologized for her part in the deaths of innocent people.

Ann Putnam Jr had accused 62 people of witchcraft, and finally issued a public apology over a decade later, in 1706. Interestingly, her apology was couched In religious terms. She professed herself to be extremely sorry, and believed that, "It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time." The irony would be laughable, if it weren't so awful.

While none of the other girls accepted any blame at any point in their lives, 12 members of the jury did concede that their actions were "sadly deluded and mistaken." Samuel Parris did allow that he "may have been mistaken," in 1694, but the damage to his reputation had already been done, and he was replaced as minister for Salem Village in 1696. His reticence may have been due in part to the fact that his daughter, Betty Parris, was one of the first girls to make any accusations. Betty herself never faced any censure for her part in the trials, and the events had little effect on her at all. She went on to marry and have four children, never being persecuted for her behavior.

William Stoughton had been appointed Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of Massachusetts by Governor Phips, and was head judge of the court of Oyer and Terminer until It was dissolved. While many of his decisions were questionable, he was generally held to be a fair man. This was made very clear when Governor Phips attempted to shift his portion of the blame onto Stoughton following the change in public opinion. He did this by chastising Stoughton in a letter to the King of England. This tactic backfired, as Phips was recalled to England, where he died. Stoughton succeeded him as Governor of Massachusetts and served until his death in 1701.

The greatest indication of the horror the members of the community felt for their actions came in October 1711, when a Reversal of Attainder was signed into law by the Massachusetts legislature. Attainder, in English law, is the metaphorical "stain" caused by high treason or capital crimes. It essentially stripped the receiver of their rights. The order for reversal nullified all the judgments cast against the majority of those convicted. It was also decreed that reparations were to be paid to the families and heirs. A sum totaling almost £600 was distributed, though only to those families that had specifically asked for it. The Reversal of Attainder applied only to those specifically named, and was not exhaustive. Over time, this oversight would be rectified, but when Elizabeth Johnson wrote to the committee asking that her name be included, as she too had been condemned, the committee demurred, on the basis that the business was finished with. It is unknown as to whether Johnson ever managed to clear her name.

In 1957, the Massachusetts Governor signed another bill into law, officially apologizing for the Salem Witch Trials and clearing the names of the remaining accused, though not stating them explicitly. This law was amended in 2001 to correct this error. Included in the correction was the name Bridget Bishop, finally cleared over 300 years after she was the first person to be hanged.

Cover gallery

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  Variant cover by Mariano Laclaustra
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  Variant cover by Dennis Calero