Bartholomew Roberts

Bartholomew Roberts (1682 – 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh-born British pirate who raided ships in the Caribbean and on the West African coast between 1719 and 1722 under the name Black Bart. He was also a Sage, a reincarnation of Aita, one of the members of the First Civilization.

Imprisonment by Templars
The Templar Order located Roberts sometime in 1715 and took him to Havana, where he was imprisoned in the estate of Laureano de Torres y Ayala. Torres, his fellow Templars Woodes Rogers and Julien du Casse, along with Edward Kenway – under the guise of the turncoat Assassin Duncan Walpole – met Roberts at the Havana docks before taking him to the prison.

During the transit, he managed to break free when the Templars were attacked by the Assassins sent by Ah Tabai, but was chased down by Kenway and escorted to Torres' estate. He was moved later that same day, but escaped soon after and took to the sea.

Slaving in Kingston and Príncipe
In 1717, the Templars learned that Roberts had been recaptured by a Kingston-based slaver named Laurens Prins, who had indeed encountered Roberts, but had in fact employed him in the slaving business, allowing him to stay in his Kingston estate before planning to sell him out to the Templars.

When Edward Kenway killed Prins, Roberts escaped once more and commandeered Prins' ship, the Princess. It made regular trips between Kingston and the African nation of Príncipe, where Roberts eventually went into hiding after the ship was captured by Templars in late 1718.

Piracy
When Kenway found Roberts hiding in the African jungle in 1719, he struck a deal with the Sage to free his imprisoned crew in exchange for Roberts leading him to the First Civilization site known as the Observatory. Kenway killed the Templars in Príncipe, freed the crew, and took the Man O' War HMS Royal Fortune. Roberts gave a speech to his crew declaring his intentions to sail as a pirate, and the two captains sailed back to the West Indies.

In the following months, Roberts made a name for himself, taking ships and making a fortune. He called himself "Black Bart" and kept his crew to high standards with an eleven-part creed; it discouraged gambling on the ship, required the men to keep their equipment in good working order, and provided that pirates should live their lives as fully as possible and die before they became weak and old, vulnerable to having their power stripped from them: a philosophy he summed up with the words "a merry life and a short one."

Roberts and Kenway met again off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, where they infiltrated a Portuguese camp to steal First Civilization blood vials that had been imbued with the blood of both pirates and Templars alike. After completing the heist, Kenway killed Benjamin Hornigold to ensure the pirates were not followed before meeting Roberts again at Long Bay, on the northern shore of Jamaica. The two went ashore with four of Roberts's crew in search of the Observatory.

The Observatory
Edward cleared the jungle of the protective Guardians while Roberts and his crew followed until they reached the Observatory's door. Upon opening it with an incantation, he suddenly shot his four crewmen dead, telling Kenway he did it to save them from the insanity that was sure to follow if they entered the building, whereas he believed Edward could handle the secrets stored within. To this, the two walked inside.

Roberts informed Kenway of his past as a Sage and his new life as a pirate, including his pirate's creed, as they made their way deeper and deeper into the Observatory. He even commented on it being in much worse condition than what it had been years ago when he had last seen it, although he still knew how to deactivate the building's security measures once inside.

In the Observatory's antechamber, Roberts showed Kenway exactly what its purpose was, using the blood vials they had taken from the Portuguese and inserting them into a Crystal Skull set into the centerpiece of a golden armillary sphere. Soon, the machine began to operate, projecting the vision of the individual whose blood was in the vial on a giant wall - a perfect method of spying on any individual in the world.

Although Kenway agreed with Roberts that the Observatory would be too powerful for the Templars to have control of, Roberts had a different plan on how to stop them - by removing the skull, rendering the Observatory inoperable. He then kicked Edward over a ledge and into the water below, heading back to the beach as Kenway found his own way out, the latter becoming gravely wounded just before he passed out at Roberts' feet. The former Sage commented that it would be more profitable to give Kenway up to the British than to kill him, following which he made the sale and disappeared.

Death
Roberts retreated back to Príncipe for the next two years, before Kenway tracked him down. Roberts attempted to flee aboard HMS Royal Fortune, but the ship was soon disabled by the Jackdaw and boarded. On board, Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Kenway – the last of the pirate captains – fought one another, with Kenway emerging the eventual victor, having impaled Roberts with his rope dart.

Remorsefully, Roberts remarked that perhaps Kenway was indeed the one she had sought, and that he wished he had only had time to open the door to the Temple, which confused Edward. He then died, after requesting that Kenway destroy his body to prevent the Templars acquiring it, before Kenway could gain any more answers. Kenway then complied with his wishes.

Final words
Bartholomew handed the Crystal Skull to Edward.
 * Bartholomew: A merry life and a short one, as promised. How well I know myself. And what of you, Edward? Have you found the peace you seek?
 * Edward: I'm not aiming so high as that. For what's peace but a confusion between two wars?
 * Bartholomew: You're a stoic then! Perhaps I was wrong about you. She might have had some use for you after all.
 * Edward: She? Of whom do you speak?
 * Bartholomew Oh... she who lies in wait. Entombed. I had hoped to find her, to see her again. To open the door of the Temple and hear her speak my name once more. Aita...
 * Edward: Talk sense, man.
 * Bartholomew: I was born too soon, like so many others before.
 * Edward: Where's the device, Roberts?
 * Bartholomew Destroy this body, Edward. The Templars... if they take me...

Reference

 * Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag