Hamid (Amritsar)

This article is about the Indian Assassins' Mentor. For other uses, see Hamid.

"You're a tough beast, you know that?"

―Arbaaz Mir to Hamid, after rescuing him from the Templars' captivity, 1841.^[src]^-[m]

Hamid was the Indian Assassins' Mentor during the 19th century. During his tenure, he trained the Master Assassin Arbaaz Mir, who would later help the Assassins briefly acquire the Precursor box and the Koh-i-Noor diamond, a powerful Isu relic.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Training Arbaaz Mir[edit | edit source]

During the Sikh Empire's conquest of Kashmir in 1819, Hamid rescued a young Kashmiri named Arbaaz Mir from a meeting gone wrong and offered him a place among the Assassins. Though Arbaaz was initially deemed to be too reckless to become an Assassin, Hamid saw the life and cunningness in him and trained him into the Order.^[1]

Hunt for the Koh-i-Noor[edit | edit source]

Hamid: "Arbaaz. Take care. The diamond... The transcription reads: 'He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman can wear it with impunity.'"

Arbaaz: "I don't believe in curses."

—Hamid warning Arbaaz to be careful with the Koh-i-Noor, 1839.^[src]

In June 1839, Hamid sent Arbaaz to retrieve a document in Isu script about the Koh-i-Noor diamond, a powerful Piece of Eden. After explaining the diamond's legend to Arbaaz, Hamid revealed that the Koh-i-Noor was held by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Amritsar, and that the British Templars were plotting to steal it; while Ranjit Singh had been the diamond's keeper for nine years, his successors did not share his determination to it, which the Templars sought to exploit. Hamid tasked Arbaaz with protecting Singh from the Templars, in order to keep the Piece of Eden out of their hands.^[2]

Arbaaz was ultimately successful in his mission, securing the Koh-i-Noor for the Assassins.^[2] After his lover, Princess Pyara Kaur, told him that keeping the artifact on him at all times was unwise, Arbaaz decided to give it to Hamid for safekeeping.^[3]

However, in 1841, the Templars, now led by William Sleeman and Alexander Burnes, decided to resume their hunt for the Koh-i-Noor and located the Indian Brotherhood's headquarters in Amritsar. In the ensuing fight, the Templars stole back the Koh-i-Noor and badly wounded Hamid, taking both back to their base of operations in the city.^[3] There, Burnes unsuccessfully tried to interrogate Hamid to learn what he knew about the Koh-i-Noor, before Sleeman decided to instead use a Precursor box to unravel the diamond's secrets.^[4]

Shortly after the Templars departed, Arbaaz, who had followed Hamid's blood trail to find his Mentor, infiltrated the Templar headquarters. He freed Hamid and fended off several guards that tried to prevent their escape. Hamid then informed Arbaaz of the Templars' plans and directed him to Tosha Khana, an Isu temple under the Maharaja's summer palace, tasking his apprentice to retrieve the Koh-i-Noor and the box.^[4] While Arbaaz did so, Hamid followed Burnes and learned the Templars were organizing an expedition to Afghanistan.^[5]

After Arbaaz's confrontation with Sleeman inside Tosha Khana resulted in its destruction, Hamid, drawn by the commotion, arrived at the scene to find his apprentice, who had barely escaped the collapsing temple in time. Hamid briefly scolded Arbaaz for his recklessness, remarking that the temple was priceless, before he was told of Sleeman using the Koh-i-Noor and the box to unlock a map highlighting various locations across the globe. After Hamid in turn revealed what he had learned, the two Assassins concluded the Templars were after an Isu temple in Afghanistan, meaning Arbaaz would have to head there next.^[5]

Following Arbaaz's return from Afghanistan, where he retrieved the Koh-i-Noor and the box from the Templars, he met with Hamid to tell him of his mission's success, only to be informed that Sleeman had taken over the summer palace and was holding Pyara hostage. Arbaaz decided to face the Templars and rescue his lover, despite Hamid's warnings that he would be heading into a trap. Ultimately, Arbaaz managed to save Pyara, but lost the box to the Templars. He also decided against giving the Koh-i-Noor back to Hamid; instead, he met with the British Assassin Ethan Frye and trusted him to hide the diamond somewhere safe.^[6]

Jayadeep Mir's exile[edit | edit source]

By 1860, Hamid still served as Indian Assassins' Mentor, and in accordance with the Brotherhood's strict rules, ordered the execution of Arbaaz's son, Jayadeep Mir, for incompetence due to a failure of nerves during an assassination. However, with Ethan Frye having returned for his own reasons, he offered a banishment alternative to Arbaaz, who in turn convinced Hamid to exile his son to England, to help the weakened British Brotherhood and atone for his failure.^[7]

Personality and traits[edit | edit source]

Arbaaz: "How much for your servant?"

Hamid: "This kutha? I should pay you to take him from my hands! He is a useless mute who deserves to be whipped."

—Arbaaz and Hamid, regarding Raza Soora, 1839.^[src]

While being an Assassin and theoretically tasked to defending innocents with no regard on their race or social statute, Hamid was not above beating his servants when they failed to reach the standards he had fixed. In 1839, his treatment of his servant Raza Soora was so harsh that Arbaaz decided to purchase the mute young boy from his Mentor with the intent of freeing him later.^[2]