Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has a long and sprawling plot that covers thousands of years and crisscrosses the entire globe. It can be hard explaining what’s happening in a single game, let alone within the series overall, but at the end of the day, Assassin’s Creed revolves around one simple conflict: Assassins vs. Templars.

The first Assassin’s Creed game established that the war between the Assassins and the Templars has existed for centuries. To connect all the games together, Ubisoft created the idea of the Animus, a device that allowed a person to experience the lives of their ancestors. Although the Animus has become less central as the series has progressed, nearly all the Assassin’s Creed games are framed by the modern-day conflict between Assassins and Templars, as both sides try to access information from the past that will help turn the tide of the war in their favor. Usually the two groups are trying to locate a powerful artifact that has been lost or hidden that has the power to control the minds of humanity itself.

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The conflict between the Assassins and the Templars is largely ideological. The Templars believe that a perfect, happy utopia can only be established under extreme rule and order. Humanity is too flawed to be left to its own devices, so someone must control and guide it. Various Templars have pushed this ideal to the extreme and tried to find ways to take away free will, believing this will stop conflict. The Assassins, on the other hand, prize free will above all else. Indeed, one of the founding ideals of the Brotherhood, part of the actual creed of Assassin’s Creed, is “Nothing is true; everything is permitted.” Where the Templars seek to control, the Assassins seek to thwart that control.

Templars and Assassins Used to Have Different Names

That central Assassin’s Creed conflict of control vs. freedom has existed even when the groups themselves haven’t been called Assassins and Templars. The recent Assassin’s Creed Origins, for instance, saw the evolution of the Medjay, a group of warriors who patrolled and fought injustice, into the Assassin Brotherhood. They did so to fight the influence of the Order of the Ancients, a secret cabal striving to establish strong authoritative powers throughout Egypt and the rest of the world. Lead character Bayek saw the Order’s disregard for casualties as they strove to establish their power, and worked with others to kill the Order’s leaders and free Egypt.

 

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No matter what the groups are calling themselves, the core of the conflict between the Assassins and the Templars always remains the same. Whether the Templars are trying to install a tyrannical ruler in Egypt or are supporting a business magnate in London, the Templars are always trying to increase their control over humanity. The war at the heart of Assassin’s Creed is a millenia-long struggle between Lawful Evil and Chaotic Good, and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon.

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About The Author


Caitlin Grieve
(198 Articles Published)

Caitlin has been writing about video games and sci-fi/fantasy books since 2018. Her video game adventures began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away as an Imperial pilot in Star Wars: TIE Fighter. When she’s not gaming, she’s reading, and when she’s not reading, she’s writing. But she is ALWAYS plotting her next D&D escapades.

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