Darim Ibn-La'Ahad

"All that is good in me, began with you, father."

―Darim to his father before leaving Masyaf, 1257.^[src]^-[m]

Darim Ibn-La'Ahad (born 1195) was a member of the Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins, and the eldest son of its Mentor, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, and his wife Maria Thorpe.

When Darim was in his early twenties, he traveled with his parents to Mongolia to combat the rise of the Mongol Empire. Among Darim's most noteworthy accomplishments is his assassination of Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader, in August 1227, during which he was assisted by the Mongolian Assassin Qulan Gal.

After returning to the Levantine Brotherhood's fortress of Masyaf, his family was exiled to Alamut following a coup d'état by Abbas Sofian. Darim eventually left his father at Alamut and spent several years traveling around Europe, informing warlords of the impending Mongol threat.

Following Masyaf's destruction in August 1257, Darim joined the family of his brother Sef and settled down in Alexandria, Egypt.

Biography

Early life

Darim was born in Masyaf in 1195, where he was raised by his parents. An obedient but impulsive son, in the words of Niccolò Polo, Darim's training in the ways of the Assassins started at an early age, and he would eventually become a fully-trained Assassin and an expert crossbowman.^[1]

Assassination of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan: "Your arrows may puncture my flesh but I will rise anew. My name... my legacy are immortal. I will be reincarnated in the blood of my descendants."

Darim: "Then they will suffer the same fate."

—Darim to Genghis Khan prior to shooting him, 1227.^[src]^-[m]

ACM Darim 1 — Darim, during Genghis Khan's assassination mission

By 1217, Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire had began to spread rapidly from the east, subsequently slowing the Assassins' own expansion. This caused Altaïr to believe that Genghis Khan held a Piece of Eden known as the Sword.^[1]

Convinced that they had to stop the Mongols, Darim and his parents left Masyaf on a mission to assassinate the Khan. His younger brother Sef remained in Masyaf to care for his wife and children, and Altaïr's right-hand man Malik Al-Sayf was placed in charge of the Order until their return.^[1]

In early 1227, the Assassins reached Mongolia, where they met the Mongolian Assassin Qulan Gal. The Assassins formulated a plan, and Qulan Gal and Altaïr infiltrated Genghis Khan's camp in August of that year.^[1]

However, Altaïr had lost much of his stealth skills with age, causing him to be detected and severely injured by a guard. Qulan Gal managed to save his fellow Assassin and helped him escape the camp, following which the Assassins were forced to regroup and formulate a different strategy.^[1]

ACRef Darim assassinating Genghis Khan — Darim about to shoot Genghis Khan

Realizing the threat to his life, Genghis Khan tried to flee on horseback. Qulan Gal, who had been expecting this, proceeded to shoot down the warlord's horse, while Darim shot Khan with his crossbow. After ten years, the group had accomplished what they set out to do, and Darim and his parents finally started their journey home.^[1]

Exiled from Masyaf

Darim: "Was it Abbas who killed my brother?"

Altaïr: "He killed your brother, Malik, and countless others."

Darim: "He is a madman."

—Darim and his father discussing Abbas during their escape from Masyaf, 1228.^[src]^-[m]

Later in 1228, Darim and his parents returned to Masyaf, where they were greeted by a former Assassin apprentice named Swami. He claimed that the man who was supposed to greet them, Rauf, had died of fever during their absence. He also explained that Malik had been arrested by the new leader of the Order, Abbas Sofian, for unknown reasons. Swami then told Darim that his brother Sef had retreated with his family to Alamut, at which point Altaïr urged Darim to retrieve his younger brother and return to Masyaf.^[1]

New regime 17 — Darim with his father in Masyaf

Some time after arriving in Alamut, Darim met with his sister-in-law and nieces. He later received a letter from his father which revealed that his brother had been killed, and Darim hurried back to Masyaf.^[1]

He met up with his father in Masyaf village, where the two men fought off attacking Assassins and Altaïr informed Darim that his mother had been killed during a confrontation with Abbas.^[2] They successfully escaped Masyaf, and Darim and Altaïr left for exile in Alamut.^[1]

Darim's sister-in-law and nieces soon left Alamut and settled in Alexandria when they were unable to bear Altaïr's suffering. A year later, Darim himself was driven away from Alamut by his father's state of depression and his renewed obsession with the Apple of Eden. He traveled to France and England to warn of the advancing threat of the Mongol Empire.^[1]

Later life

Darim: "I see. This is not a library at all. It is a vault."

Altaïr: "It must stay hidden, Darim. Far from eager hands. At least until it has passed on the secret it contains."

—Altaïr informing Darim of his library's true purpose, 1257.^[src]^-[m]

Lost legacy 2 — Darim with his father outside the library

In 1247, Darim returned to Masyaf, following his father's return to power as leader of the Order. In 1257, Darim also traveled to Constantinople to invite the Venetian explorers Niccolò and Maffeo Polo to temporarily reside in Masyaf.^[1]

In August of that year, the Mongols attacked Masyaf.^[3] Darim was ordered by Altaïr to leave before the Mongols reached the fortress, and to take Altaïr's remaining books from his library with him.^[4]

As he said a final farewell to his father in front of the library doors, Darim realized that the library was in fact a vault, though his father did not reveal what it was supposed to contain. Bearing several of his father's books, Darim left Masyaf for Alexandria to rejoin his brother's widow and her children.^[4]

Legacy

By 2012, Darim was remembered by his modern successors as a key figure of the Brotherhood, notably for having given an Apple of Eden to the first Sultan of the Bahri dynasty, which was established by the Mamluks with the aid of the Scepter of Aset given to them by the Egyptian Brotherhood.^[5]

In 2017, the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg relived the genetic memories of Darim and those of his father Altaïr at Abstergo Montreal in order to learn how to graft the Assassins' skills and knowledge onto himself as the Black Cross.^[6]

Behind the scenes

Darim Ibn-La'Ahad is a fictional character within the Assassin's Creed franchise introduced in the 2011 novel Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade as the eldest son of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. He subsequently made his first on-screen appearance in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, where he bears a striking resemblance to Clay Kaczmarek, despite Clay supposedly not being a descendant of either Altaïr or Darim himself.

In the memory "Passing the Torch", Darim's younger character model is used, despite the memory taking place on the same day as "Lost Legacy", where an older-looking model is used. Additionally, Revelations depicts Darim with an amputated ring finger, despite Altaïr having deemed that tradition no longer necessary. This error has been rectified in Assassin's Creed: Memories, where Darim is depicted with all ten of his fingers.

Given that Darim is not an ancestor of Desmond Miles and that he did not conceive any children by his early 60s, making it unlikely he would have had descendants, it is unknown how Abstergo Industries gained access to his genetic memories.