Marie Lévesque (died 1792) was a French merchant and a member of the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order, operating during the French Revolution. She, along with Chrétien Lafrenière, Louis-Michel le Peletier, and Charles Gabriel Sivert, served as an advisor to Grand Master François de la Serre for several years.
However, when fellow member François-Thomas Germain was exiled, Marie secretly pledged her allegiance to him, becoming part of a radical faction that sought to gain control of the Order. Following their murder of de la Serre, they engineered the French Revolution; Marie's role in this scheme was to hoard food, causing the people of Paris to grow hungry and increasingly riotous.
Once they were sufficiently riled up, Marie would pin it all on the royal family. Although she planned to reveal the "stolen" food during a party she hosted at the Luxembourg Palace, the French Assassin Arno Dorian assassinated her before she could do so.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born to a lineage affiliated with the Templars since the Third Crusade, Marie was taught the Order's ways from an early age. When her family began to experience financial difficulties, she married the wealthy Thomas Lobit in 1771 to alleviate them. The Lobits, though prosperous, were eager to be recognized as legitimate nobles and, complying with the demands of Marie's father, had Thomas take the surname of his wife.[1]
Within a few years, Marie had rebuilt her family's fortune.[1] She eventually became one of François de la Serre's official advisors, referred to as "the Crows" by de la Serre's daughter Élise for their "long black coats, dark felt hats, and eyes that never smiled". They would often debate fiercely with de la Serre and his wife Julie on what actions to take, especially when it came to King Louis XVI, whom the Crows wanted to depose.[2]
Marie at Germain's expulsion
When François-Thomas Germain, a high-ranking member within the Order, was due to be cast out for his heretic notions, Marie was the only one who argued in his favor. Germain was nonetheless exiled, a ceremony which she witnessed. When Grand Master de la Serre decreed that any who gave Germain shelter would also be expelled, he looked specifically at Marie who was thus unable to intervene. When Germain subsequently visited her at home and requested her help, she agreed without hesitation.[3][4]
Over the years, Germain's supporters would grow in number and influence, with others like le Peletier and Sivert joining the cause. On 5 May 1789, Marie and her fellow Templars attended Élise's official induction into the Order at the Palace of Versailles.[5] In truth, they had arranged for Sivert and the Roi des Thunes to kill de la Serre after the ceremony, allowing them to seize power and install Germain as the new Grand Master.[6] She spoke with le Peletier and Chrétien Lafrenière during the soiree, lambasting the former into silence when he was about to vocally recall the last time they were all together.[5]
French Revolution[]
As the French Revolution broke out, Germain's followers exploited public discontent with the monarchy and sought to create as much chaos as possible. Still, they were kept in the dark about the true purpose of their activities. On 31 March 1791, Marie joined le Peletier and Aloys la Touche at the Hôtel de Beauvais for a Templar meeting.[7]
Marie and le Peletier meeting with Germain
While waiting, Marie voiced her concerns that supporters of the old guard, like Lafrenière, would try to stop their plans, though la Touche informed her that an Assassin had already been manipulated into killing Lafrenière. They were subsequently joined by Frédéric Rouille, following which they went to meet with Germain. The Grand Master explained he wanted to avoid King Louis XVI being made a martyr following his death, by discrediting him first.[7]
Marie was subsequently entrusted with procuring as many food supplies coming into Paris as she could, preventing them from reaching the markets. With the prices of grain high and the food scarce, the civilians grew more desperate and displeased with the monarchy as time went on; riots became commonplace. Marie was aided in these endeavors by her assistant Flavigny, though the latter was tracked down and eliminated through the combined efforts of the Assassins and Théroigne de Méricourt in the summer of 1792.[8]
Death[]
Marie at her party in the Luxembourg Palace
Having starved Paris' population for more than a year, Marie prepared to pin it all on the royal family. She had large amounts of grain escorted to the Luxembourg Palace's wine cellars, following which she organized a gala there on 31 October to celebrate the palace's conversion into a prison. Marie counted on the grain being discovered, which would lead the people to believe the royal family had been hoarding it during a time of famine, thus adding to the anti-Royalist sentiment amongst the populace and triggering a riot.[4]
She also had her husband Thomas removed from the party by locking him up in one of the palace's rooms, to prevent him from telling anybody of her plans. However, the Assassin Arno Dorian freed him and also arranged for a fireworks display to take place. When Marie went to observe the display, Arno confronted her, and despite attempting to fight him off with just her fists, he assassinated her. From her memories, he learned that le Peletier was planning to have the King executed due to the Templars' success in their plot, and set forth to tracking the man.[4]
Legacy[]
In 2014, when the Helix Initiate relived Arno's genetic memories through the Helix Navigator, the Templar company Abstergo Industries tried to whitewash Marie's life in her database entry. In it, they erroneously claimed that she bought large amounts of grain for the purpose of distributing it to the poor and donated money to support the reformation of Paris' prisons.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Marie Lévesque is a fictional character who appears in the 2014 video game Assassin's Creed: Unity, where she is voiced by the Canadian actor Amber Goldfarb. The name Marie is a French variant of Mary, itself derived from the Hebrew Miryām, the meaning of which has been variously interpreted as "bitter", "rebellious", or "wished-for child". Lévesque comes from the French évêque meaning "bishop", the origins of which can be traced back to the Greek episkopos "overseer".
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: Marie Lévesque
- ↑ Unity novel
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Starving Times
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Assassin's Creed: Unity – Hoarders
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Assassin's Creed: Unity – High Society
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Confession
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Jacobin Club
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Food Chain