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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Order. Purpose. Direction. No more than that. It's your lot that means to confound with this nonsense talk of freedom. Time was, the Assassins professed a far more sensible goal: that of peace. | „ |
| ~ Haytham, after Connor asks him what the Templars seek. |
| “ | Don't think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong. I will not weep and wonder what might have been. I'm sure you understand. Still, I'm proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction. Strength. Courage. All noble qualities. I should have killed you long ago. | „ |
| ~ Haytham's last words to his son. |
Haytham E. Kenway is a major antagonist in the Assassin's Creed video game franchise serving as the main antagonist of the Kenway Saga.
He is the main antagonist of Assassin's Creed III. He is the Grand Master of the Colonial Templars and the father of Ratonhnhaké:ton, the game's main protagonist. He is also the main protagonist of Assassin's Creed: Forsaken and the first three sequences of Assassin's Creed 3, the tritagonist in Assassin's Creed: Rogue, and makes a cameo appearance as a child in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
He was voiced by Adrian Hough.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He could be genuinely very affable and charming when he wanted to.
- He is highly intelligent and is a one-man army, though he is also great at sneaking around and being stealthy when he needs to.
- He has some genuine standards, being appalled by slavery or the cruel crimes of his former friend Edward Braddock.
- While other templars in the series are seemingly either out just for themselves or delusional fanatics, Haytham is a genuinely well-intentioned extremist.
- He has a tragic backstory with his family being massacred when he was a kid and being taken in by the Templars.
- He expertly assassinates an leading assassin at the beginning of the game, while being genuinely apologetic about it.
- When an assassin tries to kill him, he challenges him to give him a sword and then defeats him in combat with it.
- He escapes a pursuing assassin boat by leading his ship straight into a storm.
- He frees a lot of Native Americans from the crime lord Silas Thatcher who was keeping them enslaved all while furthering his templar goals in the progress.
- He tracks down Braddock's expedition and he and Kaniehtí:io, lead an attack group of both his templar allies and Native Americans to stop Braddocks attempted genocide with Haytham personally chasing down and killing Braddock.
- He grows to genuinely love Kaniehtí:io, even wondering what would have happened if he settled down with her.
- He helped Shay Cormac stop the Colonial Assassins destroy more cities in pursuit of the Pieces of Eden.
- Despite telling Adewale he was ashamed of Edward, he only lied to him to distract Adewale from Shay.
- He loved his son in his own way, even stating that he was proud of what he became.
- He and Connor track down the rogue Templar Benjamin Church despite his best efforts to evade them, culminating in Haytham giving Braddock a massive beatdown for his betrayal and Connor finishing him off.
- His interactions with Connor during their team up provide some of the most entertaining moments of the entire game.
- He makes multiple excellent points about the flaws of the assassin order as well as pointing out the hypocrisy of the Founding Fathers and revealing Washington burned down Connor's village.
- He ultimately chooses to stay behind to cover the escape of his ally Charles Lee.
- He dies defiant to the end, not wavering in his ideals in the slightest and even mocks the death equals redemption trope.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He is a Templar grand master.
- He kickstarted the Boston Massacre and by extension the Revolutionary War in his quest for power.
- He wants Charles Lee (a sadistic bigot) to take over the colonies and arguably enables many of his crimes.
- He tries to manipulate Connor by withholding the truth about the raid on his village until it becomes convenient for him to reveal it,
- He regularly executes prisoners after don't needing them anymore and is implied to have become a brutal torturer by the end of the game.
- While much of it is played for laughs (at first anyway), he spends much of his interactions with Connor being a total jerk towards him and expecting him to do as he says just because he's his father, culminating in trying to kill him to protect Lee (who had just manipulated Connor's best friend into trying to kill him).
External Links[]
- Haytham Kenway at the Villains wiki
- Haytham Kenway at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki
- Haytham Kenway at the Assassin's Creed wiki