Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-28601337-20160602221928/@comment-18014300-20170727204139

Callum Konstantin wrote: Sol Pacificus wrote:

Callum Konstantin wrote:
 * "It's all a matter of perspective. There is no single path through life that's right and fair and does no harm."
 * ―Benjamin Church, 1778


 * Though this guy Sebastian Monroe has the right idea. Monroe values free will, he doesn't believe the Assassins share that belief, considering that their members swear loyalty and absolute obedience to the Brotherhood.

The line spoken by Benjamin Church is ironically a key idea of the Assassin's Creed itself and echoes their core philosophy. Ironically, Connor did not seem to have caught this given the fact he was taught by a Mentor who notoriously did not understand the Assassins' ideals as well as he should have.

Assassins are taught to think for themselves and to always be wary of the danger of blind faith and loyalty, and moreover, to strive above superficial labels and black-and-white modes of thinking. Absolute obedience is the very thing that is antithetical to their organization, repudiated in particular by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, though there are certainly cases of corrupt Assassins like Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye and Al Mualim failing to understand this.

In fact, the Assassins' main disagreement with the Templars is that while they advocate perspectivism and that no one is absolutely right about everything, the Templars assert their way is the irrevocable truth. You forget Arno's free-thinking while it slowly freed France from warfare got him exiled from the Brotherhood.

Just like Sebastian Monroe, i agree that free will is precious, but neither the Assassins nor the Templars are the good guys nor the bad guys. The story is set in such a way, Ubisoft could've made the Templars the protagonists instead mate.

1. Perhaps in another time, Altair would've been written as a Templar Knight who fights for peace and free will instead, against the Assassins who seek to enslave humanity.

2. Perhaps in another time, Ezio would've been written as a Templar Knight who fights Rodrigo, the Assassin mentor who seeks to becmome the absolute ruler of Italia.

3. Perhaps in another time, Jacob and Evie Frye would've been as Templar Knights who save London from the Mentor and Antagonist, Crawford Starrick.

4. Perhaps in another time, Edward Kenway would've been written to become a Templar Knight sho kills the Assassin mentor Torres.

See mate, its just how they are written. The organizations don't really matter, merely the ideology. Okay, so I'm a bit concerned about what you are trying to argue. Yes, Ubisoft could've written it so that the Templars espouse the ideology of the Assassins canonically and vice versa, but that is not the case and I find that point totally random and irrelevant. Bringing that up makes it seem like you might be verging towards an Assassin vs. Templar argument, but we should be merely discussing their ideologies as presented canonically.

Arno's expulsion from the Parisian Brotherhood didn't have to do with free-thinking but because the Council mistook his motives and deeds for vengeance, when in reality, he was just desperate to redeem himself of the guilt of being indirectly responsible for his foster father's death. His expulsion wasn't over ideology or deeming his views heretical per se, like the Jedi might do to dissenters, but over the issue of revenge. Yes they disagreed with his alliance with Élise too, but if that factored into their dislike for him, it would be for that issue specifically, not for him thinking differently per se. In any case, the Parisian Brotherhood specifically did their best to steer a balanced, moderate ground in the French Revolution, trying to stem the worst excesses of the Revolution while saving revolutionaries and royalists alike because as they said, these conflicts are not so simple and one shouldn't treat them so simply. They did err when it came to Arno, but that seemed to be more of a case of a misguided high school teacher than a corrupt politician.