Assassin’s Creed Syndicate takes place in an Early Victorian setting of the 1868 era. The franchise is notorious for playing fast and loose with history and the gamers are totally fine with it. There are very few who don’t want to hang out with Leonardo Da Vinci in Renaissance Italy, even though we admit it isn’t entirely accurate.
Meantime, gamers are wondering as to what marks they will leave in the iconic English history era as protagonist Evie Frye and Jacob. Let us take a look at some of the most exciting events that we might witness in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
In case of Charles Dickens, it has already been established that he will be portrayed in the game. However, we aren’t sure as to what extent will that be. In the history, Dickens was critical of the Freemasons, which is the group that Templars eventually evolved into. In his book, Great Expectations, he expressed his fondness for the Freemasons.
Meanwhile, Charles Darwin has a similar background as that of Dickens. His grandfather was a confirmed member of the Freemasons but Darwin himself wasn’t a part of the group. However, Darwin’s son is a confirmed member and this leads to a potentially fascinating storyline.
The Tower of London is iconic location and gamers are simply waiting to witness it in person, virtually of course. In the 1860s, heavy guns were placed in the Tower in order to protect Britain from an invasion by the French. However, in case you had infinite wealth at your disposal and feared an attack from an army of shadows equipped wrist blades, heavy artillery would definitely ease your mind.
Let’s talk about the royalty as that’s what England was all about. Edward was the oldest son of Queen Victoria and eventually the King of England. Edward enjoyed a nice trip around the world prior to this event.
During his visits abroad, Queen Victoria ordered him to visit the Middle East as a diplomat. He also stopped in Jerusalem, Egypt, Damascus and Constantinople. He could have a wonderful tie-in with the story of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and it would be shame and a shock if he isn’t featured.
Meanwhile, the railway accident which killed 10 people and injured more than 50 others in 1865 could probably be enacted in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Reports regarding the Staplehurst Train Accident indicate that the work was being done on a bridge spanning a river and the train conductor wasn’t properly notified.
I have to mention something. Although I am well aware that writers, whether they are writing for games or TV/Movies, tend to take creative license with historical facts. Your statement; “Freemasons, which is the group that Templars eventually evolved into.” Is actually a fantasy, not fact. If we look at this fallacy closely it’s easy to unravel. The Templar Knights, were a mainly French monastic order of ‘warrior monks’, who banded together in the early crusades and were supported and reported directly to the Bishop of Rome. At this time the Pope we know him today, was a temporal monarch as well as a spiritual one and raised armies and levied taxes, etc.
Without going through the entire history, just the dates bare out the facts.
The Templar were rich and powerful by the turn of the 14th century, yes that’s the 1300’s people. The King of France was heavily in debt and coveted the Templar wealth and property. So as standard practice in those days, to legally eliminate your rivals, you accuse them of heresy. Phillip of France had the Templar in France arrested and imprisoned and tortured.
By 1314, the Templar order had been disbanded and all assets transferred to another monastic order, the Hospitiers. Philip of France got squat out of the deal…
Fast forward to 1717, yes we’re talking over 400 years later. The Freemasons emerge from a dying labor guild. By any historians age figures the average life span during this period was about 40 years old. So that is 10-18 generations later. Seriously can anyone tell me anything about someone in their family tree from 400 years ago? Very few indeed.
How can there have possibly be a direct link between these two groups? Impossible. The US is only 239 years old and we can’t even get our own history right and it’s only been a few generations. And that is with literacy rates far above those of the 14th -18th century.
Simple common sense and a bit of knowledge of human behavior would make this easy to dispel, but many still cling to this fantasy. The Templar Knights would never have joined a manual labor guild… just common sense again. This fallacy started by an oration (speech) that the Chevalier Ramey (Scottish ex-pat in France) gave to Freemasons around 1829, that the Freemasons didn’t come from a lowly labor guild but were descended from a Monastic order of Knights from the crusades. Purely made up to self aggrandize, not based on any known facts.
It actually makes much more sense that those Templar that escaped the French round up, settled in what is today Switzerland. Check that history at that time and you will see why.
If it does not make sense, it cannot be true.