Assassin’s Creed is a strange franchise. It has been churned out at an incredible rate, with 12 mainline releases since it all started in 2007. That’s almost one every year, and with every game being a gorgeous recreation of a historical setting, they clearly take a lot of work.
Given the packed release history, it’s surprising that the series has become incredibly well-loved. While it has had its ups and downs, the series has gained a strong fanbase, making it one of the best-selling video game series of all time. This is in no small part due to the dramatic and tense assassinations that the game became famous for, from which there are many memorable moments.
10 Robert De Sablé
The first Assassin’s Creed game definitely isn’t the best but has some particularly memorable assassinations. As an introduction to the novel gameplay that the games have become famous for, it worked wonderfully. (And it had an exceptional setting).
No assassination was more impactful than Robert de Sablé’s, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Early in the game, Altaïr attempts to assassinate him and fails. After a long fight at the Battle of Arsuf at the end of the game, however, Altaïr succeeded and learned a dark secret with Robert’s dying words.
9 Uberto Alberti
A lot of the people the player kills in Assassin’s Creed are really nasty pieces of work. Uberto Alberti is exactly this, as one of the early villains in Assassin’s Creed II, who has the power to save Ezio’s family, as Gonfaloniere of Florence at the time.
After being given evidence that should save Ezio’s family, it seems that Uberto will not sentence them to death. Instead, he chose to ignore it, and sentenced them all to death, including a young boy. Very few characters deserved death more than him, as he is so plainly evil.
8 Stefano Da Bagnone
There are some characters who are so evil and so cowardly at the same time, wielding their power from the shadows and fleeing from proper conflict. Stefano da Bagnone is exactly that, conspiring to kill Lorenzo de Medici with the other Pazzi conspirators.
Of course, Ezio hunted this cowardly character in Assassin’s Creed II, but he fled to a monastery. This assassination allowed the game to show off its exciting social stealth, as Ezio blended in as a monk to enter the monastery, find Stefano, and kill him with the hidden blade. A classic Assassin’s Creed assassination, executed perfectly.
7 Charles Lee
On the side of the Patriots during Assassin’s Creed III, Charles Lee is an easy character to dislike. His story is tied to Connor’s at multiple points, and even though the game wasn’t a high point for the series, it’s these powerful characters tied to impactful story moments that make it so special.
Charles Lee is a man that met Connor early in the game, when he was still a young boy, strangling him in the woods to find the location of his village. After his promotion to Grand Master of the Templar Order, Connor tracks him down, and through a slow fight eventually brings him death.
6 Cesare Borgia
A man obsessed with power, Cesare Borgia became Grand Master of the Templars after his father’s death. Obsessed by the all-powerful object — the Apple of Eden — he desired total control.
He attacked the charismatic player character Ezio’s safehouse of Monteriggioni at the beginning of the game, driven to wipe out the Auditore family, killing Mario at the same time. Again, Ezio had to deal with the death of someone close to him, and from there chased down the murderer until he was dead.
5 Al Mualim
The old mentor for Altaï in the original Assassin’s Creed, Rashid ad-din Sinan or Al Mualim (The Mentor) guides the player by the hand into this world of assassination. It is easy to grow somewhat fond of his cold character, as the player gets to know the ins and outs of taking down evil-doers.
That cold character was hiding something, however, as the secret that Robert de Sablé told Altaïr with his dying words was that Al Mualim was in fact a Templar, manipulating Altaïr for his own gain. The dramatic final showdown culminates in Al Mualim using the Apple against Altaïr, but still, he prevailed.
4 Bartholomew Roberts
A character with more twists than a slinky, Bartholomew Roberts a.k.a. the Sage is introduced as an ambivalent outsider to the usual Templar vs. Assassins conflict that runs through all the Assassin’s Creed games. In this way, he mirrors Edward Kenway, the main character opposite him in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.
Both Welsh-born, roguish types looking to find money, Edward and Bartholomew share a lot of characteristics. But the Sage is twisted by his destiny to carry a long line of characters infused with the memories of the Isu — the precursor gods. The best bit of this kill is the dramatic spectacle of it, full of tricky climbing, big flashing lights, and a satisfying final monologue.
3 Adéwalé
This is an interesting one. Adéwalé, quartermaster to Edward Kenway in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, was always a good egg. He fought for good, disliked piracy to a fair extent, and always helped those fighting to be free. That made killing him in Assassin’s Creed Rogue a powerful moment.
Adéwalé leaves Edward to join the assassins, but in Rogue, Shay Cormac leaves the Assassins after the number of natural disasters they caused in their hunt for legendary artifacts. This road then leads Shay to hunt down Assassins, including Adéwalé. With his final words, he calls Shay a monster, consumed by the Templars, and it hits hard.
2 Rodrigo Borgia
As described by Mario Auditore, Rodrigo Borgia is “one of the most powerful men in all of Europe and leader of the Templar Order”, if not the most dangerous Templar in the whole series. Another character obsessed with control, Rodrigo always coveted the Apple of Eden, and his only foil was Ezio Auditore.
In one of the strangest twists in the whole franchise, Rodrigo ascended to the position of Pope within the Catholic Church, giving him unimaginable power. This leads to a strange fight, where he wields a staff with unimaginable power, yet Ezio still defeats him. As one of the few really fleshed-out super-villains in the series, Rodrigo will always be remembered fondly.
1 Haytham Kenway
The issue a lot of characters in the Assassin’s Creed series suffer from is a lack of characterization. Often they don’t really feel like believable characters, merely devices to move the story and gameplay towards dramatic moments. Haytham Kenway was never that however with a complicated backstory tied to themes of family.
That is to say, he is the father of Connor, the player character in Assassin’s Creed III. He is part of Connor’s life until his death, a death that comes at the hands of his own son, in one of the most powerful moments the series has ever created. While the series is known for flashy parkour and grand conspiratorial narratives, its moments like these that, when it gets it right, elevate the games to a whole new level.
NEXT: 10 Mistakes You Should Avoid While Playing An Assassin’s Creed Game
