Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-32713779-20170729065610/@comment-2112031-20170804092657

Sol Pacificus wrote:

The Wikia Editor wrote: ''John Harrison's letter in Rogue suggests that he doesn't know about or is otherwise unconcerned with the box that was stoled by Adéwalé in 1735. The Templars' plan to send the box to Saint-Dominigue was shown to have been planned out ahead of time, as the Assassins knew when the box was due to arrive, who was transporting it and who was meant to receive it. '' My point is of contention is specifically only about assuming that the French Rite had this box for a long time. That the Assassins knew when the box was due to arrive, who was transporting it, and who was meant to receive it does not mean that the box came from France or that either side had advanced preparation and planning. The Assassins could've known such intel specifically because the box had just been stolen from them, and they were tracking it. In other words, I don't think there is strong enough evidence from the circumstances that the box was in the French Rite's possession for a long time, and this is a possible explanation why neither the French Rite nor British Rite had known about it. To be fair, I was never suggesting that they had it for a long time, in fact, I specifically said that "no mention is made of how long they had it".

My main point was that, if we go purely by what Chronicles: China and Chronicles: India show us, then it seems as if the Templars had Ezio's box in their possession from 1532 to 1839 without ever losing it in the interim. However, if we account for Harrison's letter, then it seems that, in 1742, the Templars had neither box in their possession.

I admit that it's possible that the whole operation with the box in 1735 was performed by an isolated Templar group who failed to inform the other Rites about their discovery/possible theft of the box. I personally think a more likely explanation is that Ezio's box was indeed retrieved by the Chinese Brotherhood within Shao Jun's lifetime, as Harrison's letter doesn't actually say that Shao Jun had the entire time, only that the Chinese Brotherhood had it at the time of her death and continued having it in their possession for up to a century afterwards.

Of course, it's also possible that Harrison merely though that there were two boxes, without realizing that there was only one.