This article contains SPOILERS for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The vast majority of the Assassin’s Creed series revolves around the never-ending secret war between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order, which can trace its roots all the way back to 49 BC, when they were known as the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients. Most entries in the franchise have introduced players to a new cast of Assassin protagonists and Templar villains, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows is no different.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows begins with Naoe receiving a Hidden Blade from her father, but it takes quite a while before the secrets of the Japanese Assassins and Templars are explained in full to both Naoe and the player. Eventually, they’ll learn of a man named Alvaro Catarribera, a member of the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins and a man who has direct ties to Naoe’s family history.
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Spanish Assassin Explained
Alvaro Catarribera – An Excommunicated Spanish Assassin
Alvaro Catarribera was once a member of the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins, but he was excommunicated from the order when he broke one of its core tenets. While pursuing a target, Catarribera accidentally killed a girl in his way. Following his excommunication, Catarribera found himself traveling east in a drunken stupor.
Catarribera eventually wound up in Macau, where he overheard two Templars brazenly discussing their plans to infiltrate Japan. Shocked out of his depression, Alvaro Catarribera found his new purpose, and pursued the Templars. Catarribera arrived in Nagasaki in the year 1549, the same time as the Jesuit Francis Xavier, whose presence in Japan provided the perfect cover for the former Assassin.
Francis Xavier has been listed as a Templar in previous Assassin’s Creed media, but this isn’t confirmed in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. His presence in Japan paves the way for future Jesuits Alessandro Valignano and Luis Frois to come to the islands.
Soon after arriving in Japan, Catarribera found a young girl starving in the streets. Named Tsuyu, the girl was taken under Catarribera’s wing, and trained in the ways of the Assassins.
Alvaro Catarribera Founded an Assassin Brotherhood in Japan
With Tsuyu as his apprentice, Alvaro Catarribera traveled across Japan, eventually coming face to face with the renowned shinobi and member of the Iga ikki, Momochi Sandayu, who was accompanied by his own apprentice, Hattori Hanzo. Soon after, Catarribera found a new recruit in Iga named Fujibayashi Masayasu, who would later be known as Fujibayashi Nagato.
Under Alvaro Catarribera’s leadership, the five members formed the Kakushiba ikki, a splinter group of the Assassin Brotherhood working throughout Japan. At some point, the Kakushiba ikki were given three boxes by Emperor Go-Nara that were to be protected at all costs. These boxes were known as the Imperial Regalia.
The Kakushiba Ikki’s Legacy Lives On
It’s unclear what happened to Alvaro Catarribera, but it’s believed that Tsuyu succeeded her mentor as the leader of the Kakushiba ikki, that is, until its sudden and dramatic downfall. Hattori Hanzo grew jealous of Tsuyu and Nagato’s relationship, and made the decision to betray his comrades. Tsuyu disappeared, Hanzo fled, and both Nagato and Momochi died years later during Oda Nobunaga’s second invasion of the Iga Province.
But Tsuyu and Nagato left behind a daughter, Naoe. And through Naoe, the Kakushiba ikki lives on, albeit with some new faces and under the new name “The League of the Hidden Blade.”
- Released
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March 20, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language