Summary
- Characters in Assassin’s Creed don’t always align with the Creed, showcasing diverse perspectives.
- The franchise thrives on varied narratives beyond assassins, exploring unique backgrounds and motivations.
- Protagonists like Bayek, Eivor, Kassandra, Edward, and Shay offer fresh angles on the Assassin-Templar conflict.
Not every hooded figure in Assassin’s Creed is sworn to the Creed. Some just stumble into the chaos between Assassins and Templars, while others walk in with entirely different agendas.
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And that’s part of what’s kept the franchise from going stale for over a decade — not every story needs a hidden blade to cut deep. Sometimes, it’s about a pirate captain chasing freedom, a Medjay serving his people, or a Templar questioning everything he thought he believed in.
5
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Sometimes The Hidden Blade Isn’t So Hidden After All
- Released
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October 27, 2017
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
Bayek of Siwa was never an Assassin. He wasn’t trained by the Brotherhood, didn’t follow their tenets, and never even called himself one. He was a Medjay — a protector of Egypt’s people, sworn to uphold justice long before the Brotherhood even existed. What makes Assassin’s Creed Origins unique in this list is that it doesn’t just have a protagonist who isn’t an Assassin, it shows how the Assassins came to be.
Bayek and Aya’s actions lead to the formation of the Hidden Ones, the precursor to the Brotherhood seen throughout the series. But while Aya leaned into that ideology, Bayek remained tethered to his Medjay roots until the very end. His motivations weren’t about killing tyrants to restore balance — they were about avenging his son and cleaning up a corrupted system from the inside.
Even his combat style reflects this distance from traditional Assassins. Bayek fought like a warrior, not a silent blade in the crowd. Heavy use of bows, spears, and shield parries gave combat a grounded, deliberate feel — nothing stealthy about slamming a kopesh into a captain’s skull.
4
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
One Doesn’t Need A Creed To Kill Like One
- Released
-
November 10, 2020
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
Eivor may have received a Hidden Blade early on, but that didn’t make her an Assassin. She wasn’t initiated into the Brotherhood, didn’t follow its teachings, and in classic Viking fashion, couldn’t care less about stealth when an axe to the face worked just fine.
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While players do cross paths with Hidden Ones like Hytham and Basim, Eivor’s allegiance is always with her clan. Her focus is on building Ravensthorpe, securing alliances across England, and carving a legacy in blood and stone. The Assassin-Templar conflict in Valhalla mostly simmers in the background, and even when it bleeds into the story, Eivor treats it like someone else’s war.
The most telling part is that Eivor wears the blade over her bracer, not underneath it. A small detail, but symbolically, it shows how disconnected she is from the Brotherhood’s traditions.
3
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
When You Fight Like A God But Work For No One
- Released
-
October 15, 2018
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
Kassandra (or Alexios, but let’s not pretend this wasn’t Kassandra’s story) wasn’t an Assassin. She wasn’t even close. Born of a Spartan lineage, raised by mercenaries, and wielding a broken spear that predates the Brotherhood itself, Kassandra was a misthios — a sword for hire with no loyalty to anything but her own code.
The timeline of Odyssey predates the foundation of the Hidden Ones, so the Brotherhood simply didn’t exist yet. And while there’s a proto-Assassin group in Darius’ DLC storyline, none of that changes the fact that Kassandra was a lone wanderer navigating a myth-riddled Greece.
Her story is soaked more in ancient Isu technology than Assassin-Templar ideology. The Spear of Leonidas, the Staff of Hermes, the Cult of Kosmos — all of it points toward an origin story steeped in first civilization lore rather than hidden blades and rooftops.
2
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
A Pirate’s Creed Is His Own
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
Action-Adventure
Open-World
- Released
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October 29, 2013
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
Edward Kenway is one of the most iconic protagonists in the entire franchise, and ironically, he was the least interested in being an Assassin when it all began. He was a pirate captain, plain and simple. Chasing gold, glory, and freedom, not ideology. He didn’t stumble into the war between Assassins and Templars — he crashed straight through it, sword swinging, by stealing an Assassin’s robes and faking his identity just to make a quick buck.
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His arc is one of the more compelling ones in the series because it’s not about becoming a better killer — it’s about learning why those kills matter. Over time, Edward grows to understand what the Brotherhood stands for, but even then, he doesn’t fully become one of them until after the events of the game.
1
Assassin’s Creed Rogue
The Templar Who Made Players Question Everything
- Released
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November 11, 2014
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- OpenCritic Rating
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Fair
Shay Cormac’s story flipped the entire franchise on its head. Unlike most entries where players slowly peel back the corruption of the Templars, Rogue dropped them straight into their ranks and made it make sense. Shay starts off as a loyal Assassin, but after witnessing the catastrophic consequences of their actions during an ill-fated mission in Lisbon, he walks away.
And when he joins the Templars, he doesn’t do it out of spite or revenge. He genuinely believes they offer a better way to protect humanity. That perspective shift is what makes Rogue so fascinating. It forces players to look at the Brotherhood from the outside, through the eyes of someone who saw their ideology not as noble, but dangerously naive.
His path of hunting down his former Assassin brothers was brutal, personal, and filled with some of the best naval combat in the franchise. And the final nail in the coffin? Shay is the one who kills Arno’s father — a moment that directly ties into the events of Assassin’s Creed Unity.
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