Even though the Assassin’s Creed series currently prepares for the launch of its fifth installment, Assassin’s Creed 3, there are plenty of questions that fans still have about the larger plot. Ubisoft isn’t ready to spill the beans on the significance of Desmond or new protagonist Connor, for that matter, but the developers are promising a far more morally complex version of the Templars. As far as we’re concerned, the American backdrop of Assassin’s Creed 3 sets the stage for political intrigue and betrayal that will make any conspiracy theorist jump for joy.
Any story built around fighting a powerful or ancient evil that hopes to discern itself from its peers must focus their attention on making the evil the interesting part, not just the hero. That was where the original Assassin’s Creed started, posing the socialist Assassin Order against the fascist – yet somewhat well-intentioned – Knights Templar. With the arrival of Ezio Auditore in Assassin’s Creed 2, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Assassin/Templar conflict took a backseat to the young Italian’s quest for vengeance.
The climax and closing moments of Revelations went to great lengths to strengthen the connection between Ezio’s new Assassin Order and Desmond Miles’ quest to prevent the Templars from destroying the world. Current Templars have cast off their chainmail in exchange for suits and lab coats as the secret power behind Abstergo Industries. But how did the Renaissance Templars represented by the seemingly grotesque and morally bankrupt family of Borgias make the transition into corporate giants, stopping at nothing to uncover the mysterious Pieces of Eden?
That continuity must be the first issue addressed with Assassin’s Creed 3, since even the brutally impressive combat awaiting players won’t make bland and ‘evil’ enemies interesting to dispatch. Considering the new theme of racial and national identity the development team is interested in, a cookie-cutter enemy just won’t cut it.
The project’s Creative Director Alex Hutchinson, obviously understands the dilution of quality enemies in the series, and explains why the New World has brought the Templars new resolve:
“I think early on one of the fun things in Assassin’s Creed was that the Templars weren’t mindless villains… they were kind of misunderstood – there were a lot of gray zones. Then over the course of the sequels it become more villainous and it also became very entrenched in the Borgias, in very specific characters who were really evil. With Assassin’s Creed III we want to get back to that notion that they think they are doing the right thing. We as players disagree completely, but they honestly believe they are doing the right thing.”
Considering that the plot of the series in the minds of many fans currently amounts to: “Templars want to take over everything,” exploring the shadowy group’s motivations isn’t a bad idea – Especially if the team hopes to bring in new fans without confusing them.
But when you talk about mysterious organizations taking a foothold in the New World, one group comes to mind: The Freemasons.
The idea of the modern Freemasons being a reincarnation of the Knights Templar is nothing new, since conspiracy theorists of varying degrees of credibility have often taken the ties between the two societies to extreme conclusions. The film National Treasure is an example of a benevolent association between the two, while others maintain that Washington and the founding fathers were the first to establish a New World Order in a quest for global domination.
While those same founding fathers will appear in Assassin’s Creed 3, the fact that Ubisoft has to sell to an American audience will likely preclude a climax in which Washington and Benjamin Franklin voice their desire to kill freedom everywhere. If anything, the confirmed Collector’s Editions of the game seem to hint that George Washington may be allied with the Assassins. But that doesn’t mean that every historical figure is safe.
In fact, assuming that every Freemason is aware of the society’s Templar connections – should there be any – may be misguided. Similarly, it’s possible that the Templars infiltrated the Freemasons completely unbeknownst to the more famous members. Washington has been featured alongside Connor in much of the game’s artwork, so perhaps the two join forces to rid the Freemasons of any Templar spies hoping to shape the future of America.
We already know that Ubisoft is messing with Boston’s historical accuracy, so clearly the team is not restricting themselves to just the facts. We previously pointed out that Charles Lee, a British general who sided with the Americans and competed with Washington for top spot, is the most likely to have some deception linked to his name. But with this recent information from Hutchinson, and knowledge of Lee’s somewhat spotty record, he seems to be shaping up as a major antagonist.
Continue to page 2 for the rest on the AC3 Templay-Freemason Theory!
The development team has stressed from the beginning that an American/British war is not the heart of Assassin’s Creed 3‘s story, since Connor is himself a son of both nations, and will be fighting members of both sides. If Lee is capable of finding soldiers who side with his and the Templars goals for the New World, then the insinuation that Connor will be fighting Native Americans, British soldiers and Americans alike makes much more narrative sense.
We know that Connor’s allegiance to the Assassin Order and the birth of the United States begins with the slaughter of his Mohawk village. Now if we were really committed to Lee as an antagonist, the fact that he arrived in North America to fight for the British in the French and Indian War from 1754-1763 is extremely interesting. As is the fact that he married the daughter of a Mohawk chief, and had twins. Suddenly the half-British, half-Mohawk ancestry of Connor becomes even more telling. Could Connor be on of these twins?
The years may not work perfectly, since the game’s announcement trailer depicts a grown Connor in 1776. Whatever the case, the fact that the image of a Young Connor being threatened by a uniformed soldier is one of just a few that have been released implies a strong connection. The soldier restraining Connor bears more than a passing resemblance to Charles Lee (we’d be shocked if it’s not him) so the stage is set for Connor’s battle to be both personal and patriotic. Even if Lee was only responsible for the destruction of Connor’s village and family, it would make sense that he would align himself with the Templars, and embody villainy in every form.
Since Lee’s own national allegiance is somewhat unclear (having abandoned Britain for America, then helped draft attack plans for the British Army while held captive) he would certainly fit the bill for the more complicated sense of enemy that Ubisoft is aiming at. Lee obviously had his own goals throughout the American Revolution, and if those were motivated by a sense of the greater good that he shared with the Templars it would be perfectly reasonable for him to oppose Washington’s leadership.
And boy, did he. Publicly berating Washington as unfit to lead, retreating when he had been ordered to support Washington’s advance, and ending his military career with a court-martial and procession of men challenging him to duels makes Lee one of the more suspicious figures in the upper ranks of the Continental Army. We’re not saying that Lee will be depicted as a Templar authority in Assassin’s Creed 3, but considering his experience and obvious willingness to oppose George Washington (not to mention that concept artwork) we wouldn’t be surprised if he is.
The point is that while there may be – and in all likelihood will be – a connection between the Templars and the American Freemasons, assuming that it is a simple one would be jumping to conclusions. Ubisoft is promising an enemy that is far more interesting than the last games have tried to produce, so whether we’re right on the money or completely off the mark, espionage and treachery are guaranteed.
What do you think of our theories on the conspiracies behind Assassin’s Creed 3? Have your own ideas of what enemies could be in store? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Assassin’s Creed 3 will be released on October 30, 2012 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
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I hope that nobody at Ubisoft is murdered by real life people in the Masons…lol, they still do that stuff to people that reveal their secrets.
Dont worry we wont. At least not yet.
Interesting… you can look up people who have done just that and they’re very much alive. Unless you’re referring to that one time in Colonial America where four Masons kidnapped an author, then you have something. What people don’t realize is that the Masons use their mysterious image and secrecy as a recruitment tool. They publicly broadcast how mysterious they are, dangling it like a carrot in the hopes people will care enough to try joining. They aren’t a secret society, they are a public society that keeps secrets. The distinction lies in that the Masons hide nothing but their meetings. Their tenets and many of their initiations are public knowledge, and their charitable work is well-known and advertised.
Probably yeah the “secret stuff” is just a front to make people join them, or probably you’re a Freemason saying that there are no secrets in the Freemasons,
PS I wanted to join ever since I heard they exist.
http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/masonry/how-to.html
here you go go here and learn how to join
Maybe the Battle of Jumonville Glen which started the Seven Years War will play a big part
I cant wait to see the connection free Mason
great job on the theories!
I personally think the Freemasons are aligned with the assassins. I mean take a second to look at the assassin symbol and the freemason symbol. Striking similarity between them. Perhaps the Freemasons have corrupt members and it will be an internal conflict?
The assassins(real name is hashashion= hashish smokers) were linked to the knights of templar which are known nowadays by freemasons or illuminati. The Knights had the mark of Cain (son of Adam who killed his brother Abel)who sold his soul to the devil for power!
LOL that was fun to read. Fun fact: Cain was branded before the Flood. Noah, his three sons, and their wives were the only recorded human survivors. If you think about it, either no descendant of Cain survived the deluge, or you have a one-in-three chance of being a son of Cain.
There are purported links between the Templars and the Masons, but you know little about the Illuminati. They were their own organization, and were systematically wiped out for trying to foster violent revolt. And the Knights Templar were first a band of nine nobles and from then on recruited from every noble house that had sons to spare, so do you really want to make the claim that a large chunk of specifically nobility had Cain’s mark?
Also, Cain was never written as having sold his soul. He simply committed murder, and was punished and doomed to walk the world and be rejected by all.
Your post makes me laugh. It’s so factually devoid that it almost looks like you’re trolling! And poorly!
great article.
Having the freemasons as the sole “enemy” in AC3 doesnt seem at all logical, and the theories put forth here make complete sense.
While not being completely true to history, i have no doubt that these games will bring to light a part of history that doesnt seem to garner much attention.
Battling english, american, and natives looks like we could have quite a deep game going on here, and leaves the door open to plenty of DLC down the road.
bravo ubisoft, and again, great article. Now, keep an eye out for those freemason assassins!
Being 21 and a freemason myself I do understand are history and one area is the American history which dose come in to light in AC3. This is only a game and yes i do enjoy playing it but in all of them so fare have only been very lightly acurait to the past history and often change a lot. Inn this case with AC3 it is way off cource again as George Washington along with many of the other founding farthers were key freemasons around at that time in America. But yet some people might argue for the games sake that the freemasons are thee enamy when George Washington is allied with the assasins but still a freemason. The only way this could make any form of sence and to put AC3 as close as posible to a historic bacround would be to say as some people already have is that the freemasons are being infultraited by the tempalars and that it is to get ride of the spies.
Even this is wrong in the real world as freemasons are alongside the tempalars as one overall organisation there is nothing secret about this. you just need to look at lodge pictures and see in some there are lodge tempalar masters there in them in group lodge pictures. But for the games sake call it tempalar infultration of the freemasons even though its still so so wrong. We are a plesant and open organisation which dose a lot of good for people. As in the uk alone one thing we do is make the majorty of the money given to the hospice trust to keep them going.
As your fine organization focuses on the betterment and enlightenment of its members, I wish to do a good deed by bringing you the knowledge that your writing skills need improvement. Life is about constant improvement, and so is your advancement, so take heed.
That said, the game does take obvious liberties with the Poor Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem and very little of it is demonstrably true. That, my friend, is the point of speculative fiction; it doesn’t have to be accurate as long as an enjoyable story is told. No one plays the games to learn history, they play to live an adventure.
I’m a Freemason and Knight Templar in real life (Templars are all Masons but not all Masons are Templars) I wouldn’t be surprised if they show the Assassins and the Templars becoming one in this game. If only because if you look at the Masonic Square and Compasses next to the Assassins emblem, you will see a CLEAR likeness. As a Mason, Templar, and above all American; I can’t wait for this game!
You are halarious
Agreed, frater. I’m hoping for the end result being that Conner was tricked into helping the Masons/Templars found the new world. But then again, it’s doubtful Ubisoft would dare do anything that interesting… Instead sticking with it’s Ancient Aliens story.
Oh Freemason which lodge are you affiliated with?
How do you figure that the Assassin order is “communist”? Just because they wore the color “red”? Ridiculous assumption.
If the comics are canon, and Ubi supports that assumption, they DID help put Lenin into power and spark the Communist Revolution in Russia. So it is quite possible, especially with the common sentiment nowadays that capitalism is just as evil as fascism.
Oh, and a note: you said the Templars will be much more morally complex. Here’s how that will work; the morally complex Templars will be the American Founding Fathers who are rebelling against the main branch, which is culminating in the American Revolution.
This game is okay but the British being my enemy is not okay.
All factions are the enemy to some extent, like in the first AC. You will fight Redcoats. And Minutemen. And maybe some natives, that’s unconfirmed. You are on the side of the Assassins, not the side of the Americans.
What I would be interested in finding out is why the Assassin’s emblem so closely resembles the Masonic compass and square. Especially the Masyaf flag, which has a diamond-shaped symbol where the Masonic G rests on their emblem. Maybe the Masons are the American Assassins? Although I thought it was confirmed that Washington would not be an Assassin. Freemason tenets do seem to line up with Masonic teachings though… “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” is a lot like the philosophical focus of Masons and the requirement to believe in something, but that something can be the Mason’s own choice. The fact that both factions favor democracy and philosophy over set creeds, laws and religions is another big link. Never turning your back on another Assassin/Mason, never harming and always helping the innocent. Let’s not forget that the Masons came into existence in its most recognizable form in the Renaissance, and had to meet in secret to avoid the Vatican’s punishment. I think the Masons will at least have ties with the Assassins. If not, well, it’s Ubi’s story but why drop so many similarities in a conspiracy story where we’re expected to read into things?
What may happen is Lee tries to cover up his family of his mohawk wife and two sons, one being connor, to prove his loyalty to Britain. He orders his soldiers to burn the village, and Connor’s brother and mother die. Connor accuses Lee of the fire, Charles calls Connor a liar, Connor attacks Lee, Charles reacts, henceforth the concept art.
Why does the Assassins creed symbol look just like the Freemasons symbol give or take a few diffrences?