User blog:Subject AMDR/The Lord of the Rings and Assassin's Creed

As a major fan of both Assassin’s Creed and Lord of the Rings, I have wanted to do a piece on the two for a while now. What follows is a compilation of major and minor comparisons between the world of Assassin’s Creed and that of Middle Earth. Hopefully fans of both will enjoy the read.

Gods

Usually with these things, the best place to begin is at the start of all time as we know it, with the creation of Man.

• In AC Humans were created by Those Who Came Before. They were worshipped as Gods by the Humans.
• In ME Man was created by Eru, the supreme God.
• As seen throughout AC, humans often mistook TWCB such as Minerva and Juno for Gods which had governance over certain elements. Though these were actually the powers of the Pieces of Eden.
• In ME the Valar, have control over certain elements of the world too. For example: Manwë, the wind and Ulmo, the sea.

"They are not gods, though Men often mistake them as such."

― The Lord of the Rings Wiki

"No. Not gods. We simply came... before."

― Minerva when asked if she was a god

The First War and Disaster

• In AC the Humans, Adam and Eve stole a POE from TWCB and triggered a war between the two races.
• In ME, the Númenóreans sailed to war with the Valar to seize Valinor, the Undying Lands.
• Due to the war between TWCB and the Humans, they failed to see the pending disaster which ultimately removed TWCB from the world.
• Similarly, the Valor retaliated by calling upon the Eru who destroyed Númenor and much of the world. Ery also removed Valinor from ME and the Valor left with it.
• In both cases, Humans began the war, the gods left the worlds and much destruction was wrought.

Artifacts of Power

• There are multiple Pieces of Eden, and many of them granted its wielder different abilities, power if you will.
• There were twenty Rings of Power, and like the POEs they granted those who wore them certain powers.
• The Sixth Apple is known to have the ability to control minds, much the same way that the Rings of power can in the right hands (so to speak). Also Narsil grants command over the Armies of the Dead.
• Where the POEs grant special powers, they do come with side effects, such as death and madness. The Rings of power are the same, such as the Seven Dwarven Rings granting wealth but greed so strong one would kill and die for.
• The Crystal Skulls granted communication between each other. As did the Palantír in ME.

The Significance of Nine

• TheHunt for the Nine was an major event in Assassin’s Creed, involving nine men who supported the Third Crusade.
• In ME there were nine in the Fellowship of the Ring.
• Girolamo Savonarola had nine lieutenants.
• The Dark Lord Sauron had nine lieutenants, The Nazgul
• Frodo Baggins was later known as Frodo ‘nine fingers’, as Gollum bit his finger off to steal the One Ring.
• Assassins used to have to cut off their ring fingers as part of their initiation, and also to allow them to wield a Hidden Blade.
• There are nine ranks a recruit must pass through before becoming an Assassin.
• There are nine sequences in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.
• There are seven sequences in Assassin’s Creed and sixteen in Assassin’s Creed II, the difference is...Yup, nine!
• The password Seventy-Two is associated and found with the symbol of an equilateral triangle. This triangle is divided into nine smaller triangles.

Bloodlines

• TWCB mixed with Humans
• Maiar mixed with Elves. (Melian and Thingol)
• Elves mixed with Men. (Lúthien and Beren, later Arwen and Aragorn).
• Templars mixed with Assassins. (Maria Thorpe and Altair)

Additional

• Lord of the Rings is trilogy as is Assassin’s Creed. (Yet they are both sagas)
• Both feature reoccurring themes such as Light vs. Dark, Loss of Loved Ones and Friends, Oppression of Free Will and Impending Doom, to name a few.
• Sauron ruled through fear, much like the House of Borgia in Rome, both are primary antagonists.
• Eagle references are common throughout both. The most common would be Eagle Vision, and the Eagles of Manwë.

End

Well I hope you took something from that, whether it was mildly entertaining, informative, interesting, boring or otherwise. I’m glad I got it off my chest and I hope you enjoyed the read. Feel free to comment I would love to discuss! Lord of the Creed