Highlights

• Assassin's Creed is a series that portrays a struggle between the Assassins and Templars, with the series featuring some of the best villains.
• The best Assassin's Creed villains have intriguing backstories, compelling motives, and often reveal their true colors towards the end of each game.
• Some notable villains include Aspasia from Odyssey, Achilles Davenport from Rogue, and Basim Ibn Ishaq from Valhalla, each adding a unique twist to the series.

Assassin's Creed is a series built on the everlasting struggle between the forces of the Assassins, who wish to free the world from oppression, and the Templars, a group that seeks to tighten their grip on the world and see it made in their image.

Players have seen the Templars and the Assassins battle it out in over a dozen games and throughout the years, fans of the series have seen their fair share of epic villains in the Assassin's Creed universe. These examples are some of the best villains that the Assassin's Creed series has to offer.

Updated November 4, 2023 by Joe Grantham: Assassin's Creed is one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time and Ubisoft shows no sign of slowing down its deliverance of stealth-based games in historical settings. With the games taking place in locations all across the globe and spanning well over a thousand years of history, the villains of Assassin's Creed are naturally just as varied.

The best Assassin's Creed villains have intriguing backstories, compelling motives, and ideally have a few endearing qualities too. Many of the best antagonists also only show their true colors towards the end of each game.

14 Aspasia - Assassin's Creed Odyssey

An Unexpected Puppet Master Lurking In Plain Sight

Not all villains have to be malicious bosses with incredible martial ability, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey's overarching antagonist Aspasia is a perfect example of this. For much of the game, the player is tracking the so-called Ghost of Kosmos, who is the leader of the Cult of Kosmos, an early precursor of the Templars in Ancient Greece.

Aspasia, who throughout the game is simply known as the wife of Athenian leader and politician Perikles, is eventually revealed to be the Ghost and puppet master pulling all the strings. While this was an unexpected twist, some fans did feel a bit underwhelmed.

13 Achilles Davenport - Assassin's Creed Rogue

A Tragic Downfall

Achilles being on this list might come as a surprise to a few people as he was the mentor figure in Assassin's Creed 3, but in Assassin's Creed Rogue, he actually becomes the game's main antagonist. Achilles becomes the villain when Shay Cormack betrays the Assassin's Order and joins the Templars.

This paradigm shift was a very interesting look into the series as players got to see a different side to the Assassins that they were not used to seeing. This is particularly true in the case of Achilles as fans of the series have always seen him in a good light, however his descent into villainy felt a bit contrived. Thus while Achilles Davenport is a good villain overall, he isn't among the absolute best.

12 Basim Ibn Ishaq - Assassin's Creed Valhalla

A Villain And Playable Character Of Another Game

Basim Ibn Ishaq is easily one of the most interesting characters in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Despite being the main antagonist of Assassin's Creed Valhalla Basim is the protagonist and playable character of Assassin's Creed Mirage.

In Valhalla, Basim Ibn Ishaq plays a major role and at first, somewhat takes on the role of mentor for protagonist Eivor. His true intentions are soon exposed, however, and Basim ends up revealing that he, Eivor, and Sigurd are reincarnations of the gods Loki, Odin, and Tyr, leading to a fight and his eventual imprisonment. A divine villain with his own origin story is certainly unexpected, even if Basim isn't as compelling as the absolute best AC villains.

11 Laureano De Torres Y Ayala - Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

A Soft-Spoken And Respectful Grand Master With Gravitas

While Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is considered one of the best Creed games, it isn't known for its antagonists. However, the soft-spoken and respectful Grand Master, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, is a pleasant change from the uncouth and often brutal regular Templars.

Although he was still the mastermind behind many of the events of Black Flag, Torres was not inherently evil and had many progressive views and treated others as equals regardless of their background.

10 Flavius Metellus - Assassin's Creed Origins

A Sadistic Villain With No Morals

It's safe to say that Roman general Flavius Metellus is one of the most brutal villains to feature in the Assassin's Creed games, especially given that players learn he most likely murdered his first wife and son to marry into power.

Throughout Assassin's Creed Origins, Flavius Metellus is shown to be cruel, manipulative, and downright sadistic. He appears to have absolutely no morals and can lash out in anger at any point for any number of reasons. Having a character like this on-screen makes the game more interesting, as players never know what will happen in his presence.

9 Francois Thomas Germain - Assassin's Creed Unity

One Of The Most Cunning And Dangerous Villains

Francois Thomas Germain is a villain who could work as a template for most of the villains in the Assassin's Creed series. Francois was the grandmaster of the Templars during the French Revolution and was a power-obsessed, cunning but still somewhat cowardly man, like so many of the villains in the Assassin's Creed games.

Germain from Assassin's Creed Unity was deemed enough of a threat that Arno Dorian, an assassin was forced to team up with a Templar to defeat him.

8 Robert De Sablé - Assassin's Creed

A Classic Villain Who Sums Up The Templars

Robert de Sablé is the very first antagonist that players are introduced to in the Assassin's Creed series, and it's fitting that he is a member of the actual Knights Templar from the Crusades, unlike the other villains on this list.

He is the 11th grandmaster of the Templars and was born into a powerful family in France. Robert uses manipulation and other people's greed to get his way by offering people power in the new world he wants to create in exchange for favor and loyalty. Although fairly simple, he is a classic villain and the perfect introduction to the Templars.

7 Cesare Borgia - Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Players Love To Hate Him

Cesare Borgia is the main antagonist of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and is one of the most hated characters in the series for just how cowardly and slimy he is. First off, he uses and abuses his family to get what he wants, up to the point where he murders his father when he does not get his wish, just like the ultimate spoiled brat that he is.

Cesare Borgia is even shouting at Ezio before Ezio kills him, saying that he is immortal. All this whining doesn't take away from the actual power he held and how he was powerful enough to invade Ezio's new home. The emotions of hatred that Borgia can elicit in both players and the characters of his world prove that he is a fantastic villain, though not perhaps so complex at the absolute best.

6 George Washington - Assassin's Creed 3

An Unlikely Villain

George Washington was an interesting choice to make a villain in Assassin's Creed 3's DLC as he is considered such a great hero to so many Americans. It's even more strange seeing as Washington was on the player's side in the main game, even if there were a few times when Connor and he exchanged harsh words.

The Tyranny of King Washington DLC was a great what-if scenario and showed a completely different side to Washington, from the brave hero and general to a tyrannical, power-obsessed monarch who held the apple of Eden. While Assassin's Creed games aren't known for having the best DLCs, this experiment certainly paid off.

5 Maxwell Roth - Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Similar To The Joker & One Of The Best Performances

Maxwell Roth is the primary antagonist of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and it is clear that the actor who portrayed him, John Hopkins, was having a great time doing his job. Maxwell Roth is a character in a similar vein to Batman's Joker, as he is a madman who pretends to not be able to plan anything seemingly too elaborate, while secretly having every detail planned out.

After first working alongside Jacob, Roth betrays him and shows that this madman had plans and lofty ambitions all along. Although Syndicate is not ranked amongst the best Assassin's Creed games, Maxwell Roth is one of its shining lights.

4 Al Mualim - Assassin's Creed

The Original Betrayal

When players first meet Al Mualim in the original Assassin's Creed, he is the leader of the Assassin Order and preparing the game's protagonist, Altair, to eventually replace him.

However, this makes his eventual betrayal later in the game all the more impactful as he is initially portrayed as someone Altair and others could trust. Al Mualim's obsession with the Apple of Eden leads him to work with the Templars, leading to his death at his student's hands. This original twist makes Al Mualim one of the all-time great villains in the series even over a decade and a half later.

3 Charles Lee - Assassin's Creed 3

The Most Despicable Assassin's Creed Villain

While some of the characters on this list are complex and intriguing, this villain is simply despicable. Charles Lee is first introduced to players in Assassin's Creed 3 as a naive character unknowingly working with the Templars when he starts to help Haytham Kenway in his missions.

When players later see Charles Lee as a young Connor, he becomes a monster, threatening children and burning down villages just for the sake of it. Despite being second in command in the Templar hierarchy, he is the last one Connor takes down. It is characters like Charles Lee that make AC3 top the list of darkest Assassin's Creed games.

2 Haytham Kenway - Assassin's Creed 3

Has The Most Interesting Dynamic With The Protagonist

Haytham Kenway is a major antagonist of Assassin's Creed 3 and also the father of the protagonist of the game, Connor. This creates an interesting dynamic as the two very much despise each other but also carry this knowledge that they are linked and should have a better relationship.

This makes the game all the more tense as players know that they will eventually have to fight their father. This destined confrontation ends up leading to a very interesting interaction between the two. Having two characters intertwined like this helps the game tell one of the best stories in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

1 Rodrigo Borgia - Assassin's Creed 2

Brutal With No Limits To His Ambition

When it comes to the best Assassin's Creed villain of all time, it has to be The Spaniard, Rodrigo Borgia. Borgia was first introduced to players as a family friend to the Auditores but soon betrays them and kills all the male members of Ezio's family, leaving him to protect his sister and mother, before fleeing for safety.

This betrayal kick-starts the events of Assassin's Creed 2 and throughout the game, players learn that Borgia is looking to become the Pope to access a vault full of hidden knowledge. This leads to what is possibly the only game where players fistfight a Pope... and win. Rodrigo Borgia's unique demeanor and brutal actions in pursuit of power, help make him a villain to remember.

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