Agaté

"Our moment is now. With the kidnapper dead, and safety restored, my mission will be complete. I will find peace."

- Agaté to Aveline about Antonio de Ulloa, a kidnapper of African slaves.

Agaté (c. 1722 - 1777) was an escaped slave and the Mentor of the Assassin Order in the French colonies of Colonial America.

He personally trained Aveline de Grandpré, with whom he held a tempestuous relationship, as he disapproved of her impulsiveness, and when she acted without consulting him.

Early life
"Oh, what have I wrought? I should have stayed with your mother. You should have been my child."

- Agaté reflecting on his relationship with Jeanne.

Agaté was born in circa 1722 on the West coast of Africa. In 1729 he was captured by slave traders and taken to America, where he was transported to. Upon arriving there, he encountered another African slave named Jeanne, immediately falling in love with her. In 1732, Agaté, along with Jeanne and another slave named Baptiste, were taken under the wing of an Assassin called François Mackandal, who taught them to read and write. Mackandal also began training Agaté and Baptiste to craft poisons and wield weapons.

In 1738, Agaté and Baptiste joined the Assassin Brotherhood and escaped the plantation at Saint Domingue with Mackandal, though they left Jeanne behind. However, he managed to stay in touch with her, although she refused his offers to join the Assassin Order.

Eventually, Agaté chose to cut all ties to Jeanne for the benefit of the Brotherhood. He fought alongside Baptiste and Mackandal for many years, until a failed attempt to poison the white colonists of Saint-Domingue resulted in the subsequent execution of Mackandal. Agaté escaped to Louisiana and went into hiding in the bayou. He attempted to search the city of New Orleans for Jeanne, but soon found out that she had already escaped slavery and left Louisiana.

Mentoring Aveline and Gérald
After Agaté discovered that Jeanne had given birth to a daughter named Aveline de Grandpré, who had remained in the city, he decided to watch over her. When Aveline was twelve years old, she took it upon herself to rescue a slave, but was captured. Agaté intervened and saved her, helping Aveline to free the slave. Following this, he recruited her into the Assassin Order and become her mentor.

Forced to hide in the bayou to avoid the Templars, Agaté worked closely with Aveline, who acted as his agent in Louisiana. However, in 1766, Baptiste arrived, pretending to be François Mackandal. Aveline assassinated him for defecting to the Templar Order, but also discovered that Agaté knew her mother Jeanne. This information put a strain on their relationship, as Aveline lost trust in Agaté for keeping this secret from her.

In 1768, during the Louisiana Rebellion, Agaté ordered Aveline to kill the Templar governor Antonio de Ulloa. Aveline ambushed the governor and confronted him, but decided to spare his life, disobeying Agaté's orders. This act continued to damage their relationship, as Agaté's trust in his student was lost. Afterwards, Aveline traveled to Chichen Itza to seek out the Templars, once again disobeying the explicit wishes of Agaté. In the years that followed, Aveline and her mentor began to grow apart.

Following Aveline's return from Chichen Itza, she presented Agaté with a First Civilization artifact known as the Prophecy Disk. Agaté responded angrily that she should not have unearthed the artifact and told her to remove it from his sight. As she put the object away, Aveline warned him that Spanish soldiers under the command of a Templar called Vásquez were attempting to seize control of the bayou. Agaté replied that he was well aware of their presence, and under his instruction, Aveline followed the soldiers to each of the voodoo signs Agaté had set up within the bayou, poisoning enough soldiers at each checkpoint so that the rest believed they had fallen under voodoo curse and fled.

Later life
"You would fit me a coward's slow, pointless death? As you did Ulloa? I will not live with the dishonor. I--"

- Agaté to Aveline, right before falling to his death.

After uncovering the identity of the "Company Man" during her mission in New York, Aveline returned to the bayou to consult her mentor, only to find that he was under the belief that she had been turned to the Templar cause. She attempted to convince Agaté of her loyalty, but he refused to listen.

After defeating his pawns whilst under the influence of his hallucinogenic poison, Aveline confronted him directly at the highest point of his homestead. However, Aveline chose to spare his life, but Agaté could not live with the dishonour and dove to his death, thus committing suicide in front of his student.

Personality and characteristics
"Who-- Who are you? You look like a faithful student I had once, long ago. She no longer exists."

- Agaté to Aveline after one of her long absences.

Agaté's experiences as a slave, suffering much violent abuse, left him emotionally scarred and paranoid. For most of his life, Agaté had trouble mentally processing his broken relationship with Jeanne, often being reminded of her during his interaction with Aveline.

Nonetheless, Agaté appeared to be a very experienced and invaluable mentor to Aveline, reminding her that her impulsiveness would lead to trouble. At times, he was harsh with her in his words, but only did such to help mold her into the Assassin that she later became. However, he also showed doubt in her loyalty to the Assassins, and on one occasion admitted to having a dream that she had turned her back on the Order.

Despite all of his concerns, he seemed to genuinely care for his student and viewed Aveline as his own child, revealing that if he had pursued her mother, Jeanne, she could have very well been his daughter.

Agaté appeared to be a skilled freerunner and climber; on an occasion when he requested his student to meet him in the heart of New Orleans, Aveline found him perched atop a church roof.

Agaté also possessed knowledge of voodoo, making use of it on one occasion during the events within the bayou. When confronted by Aveline, he used a certain hallucinogen that hindered her ability to see and made lifeless practice dolls appear to be hostile and human, as well as creating the illusion that he could vanish and reappear a distance away.

Reference

 * Assassin's Creed III: Liberation