Art Hennighan

Hennighan
Biographical information
Died	1870 Tours, France
Species	Human
Political information
Affiliations	Templars Austrian Rite

Art Hennighan (died 1870) was a bodyguard to the Countess Konstanze von Visler and a member of the Austrian Rite of the Templar Order. After the demise of the Magus, Hennighan took on a hands-on approach, especially dealing with the Piece of Eden, the Ankh.

Biography

Searching for Ada Lovelace's notes

Not much was known about Art Hennighan's past, except that he worked a guard for the Templars, especially for Countess Konstanze von Visler. In 1854, one of his tasks, issued by Oscar Kane, was to find either Pierrette Arnaud or Simeon Price and to recover the notes she had from her late friend, Ada Lovelace. During the Aurora Equestrian Troupe's stay in Vienna, he ransacked Arnaud's room to find any information but left empty-handed. In 1861, he and the countess arrived in London to find Ada's notes as well as to track both Price's and Arnaud's whereabouts. Hennighan was sent to the Rossetti's home to try to find Ada's notes within Arnaud's room, but found nothing once more. After the countess laid a trap for Pierrette, Hennighan waited for his chance and soon forcibly grabbed Arnaud's legs as she descended from a chimney and knocked her unconscious. He brought Arnaud to the countess as they restrained her for any information on Price or Lovelace's notes.

After finding the notes, both von Visler and Hennighan tortured and interrogated Arnaud for her to decipher the notes. He was in charge of keeping Arnaud fed at a minimum while abusing her if she gave beratements in response. However, as Arnaud gave an important detail to the countess, he was signaled by von Visler to bring logs for the fireplace. After setting the logs, the room was suddenly filled with fire from Arnaud's mouth. Hennighan tended to the slightly burnt Konstanze while Pierrette freed herself. He tried to stop her, but it proved futile once she escaped through a window.

Possession of the Ankh

In November 1869, at von Visler's request, Art joined an excavation group of Templars led by Armen Kazan into a cave near the end of late Templar Albert Hawkins' railroad line. After the Templars placed their Piece of Eden, the Ankh, into a slab they discovered, the room began to shake. However, they were suddenly attacked by Pierrette Arnaud, who managed to kill most of the Templars including Kazan. However, Art restrained her as their demonstration was almost complete. They all watched as the Ankh beamed a light into one of the horse pictures in the cave. Yet, fellow Assassins Simeon, Gamal Sabry, and Safiya El-Nadi came and attacked him and his fellow Templars. Meanwhile, the horse picture came back alive and ran past both Templars and Assassins.

Art grabbed ahold of the horse, restrained it, and escaped with the horse and the Ankh. Afterwards, at some point, Hennighan used the resurrected horse to make new horse breeds like "Pegasi," which were horses that ran fifty miles per hour, for the Templar Order as a means of faster transportation.

In the summer of 1870, Art found his way into Paris with the Ankh as he hid from the Assassins. Using fellow Templar Virgile Donat's glass factory as his hideout, Hennighan soon wrestled with the dilemma of being caught in the war between Prussia and the Second French Empire. From communications between Konstanze and French Templar Victoire L'Estocq, a plan was laid out where Hennighan was to leave the Ankh with fellow Templar Lebrun while he joined fleeing Templars at Tours. However, their plans were somewhat discovered by Simeon and Master Assassin Michel Moulin, who sent Simeon to Tours to set up communications for the Assassins and then confront the countess in Brussels.

Death

At von Visler's behest, Hennighan was tasked to kill Simeon Price at a café the moment he arrived into the city. Initially, he planned for Price to be sitting unguarded. On a roof with his rifle, he aimed at Price until Pierrette engaged him in combat. Smiling, he tried to track her down in the rain but lost sight of her. Instantly, he was caught off guard and hit down by Arnaud with his own rifle. However, once she hesitated, Art overpowered Pierrette and nearly killed her. However, he was stabbed fatally in the ribs and interrogated for Konstanze's location. He chuckled and told her to ask Price, who was standing behind her, before dying. With her hankerchief, with Art's initials, Pierrette wiped his blood as proof of his death.

Personality and traits

Hennighan was a "strong, burly" man with a horizontal scar across one of his cheeks. He had a silent demeanor and showed no remorse when asked to ransack or torture.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot