Up Against the Templars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jacques de Molay

Historically, Jacques de Molay was the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Fully known as the 'Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon', the Templars were established after the First Crusade to protect travelers making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Endorsed by the Catholic Church, they became famed for their prowess as a fighting unit and for their financial acumen (they invented international banking).

They flourished for two centuries but their decline began with the failure of the Third Crusade to recapture Jerusalem. With public suspicion of their secret rituals and the support of Pope Clement V, King Phillip IV of France embarked on a campaign to discredit and destroy the Templars to whom he owed a large sum of money.

The French Templars, including their leader de Molay, were arrested in 1307 and tried through inquisition. de Molay retracted his false confession and was ultimately burned at the stake in Paris in 1314. This scene is shown in the prologue sequence to 'Assassin's Creed Unity'. Stories abound of the continued existence of the Templars and their influence on world affairs to the current day.

Answer: Acre, Jerusalem and Damascus

The setting of the original 'Assassin's Creed' game within the broader context of the Third Crusade provided the game creators (Ubisoft) with the opportunity to set missions and side-tasks within the Christian attempt (historically unsuccessful) to recapture Jerusalem from the Saracens under the command of Salāḥ ad-Dīn (Saladin). Saladin had captured Jerusalem in 1187 which led to the joint attempt in 1189 by Richard, Phillip II of France and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) to recapture the prized city. One of the challenges for players who also have an interest in history is to distinguish factual events and characters from the game's fiction. This 'challenge' is maintained throughout the entire series of games. All of the cities listed as answer options to this question were involved in the Crusades. Richard did manage to retake Acre (and Jaffa).

In the game, Altaïr eventually discovers that his assassination targets are all senior members of the Templar Order. As the ultimate betrayal, his leader and mentor in the Brotherhood, Al Mualim, is finally uncovered as the most senior of the ten Templars. Al Mualim was seduced to betray the Brotherhood by the prospect of obtaining the powerful old world artifact, the Apple of Eden.

Answer: Borgia

Ezio Auditore becomes an assassin after the hanging of his father and two brothers, who were caught up in a plot ultimately aimed at removing the Medici influence in Firenze. With assistance and training from his uncle, Mario, Ezio travels to San Gimignano, Venice , Forli and then Rome, tracking and eliminating the plot conspirators, while encountering famous people including Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli.

In the Vatican, he encounters Spanish born, Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), the mastermind behind the deadly intrigues. Borgia, a Templar Master, believes himself to be 'The Prophet', who with the aid of the ancient artifacts including the Apple of Eden and the Papal Cross will be able to impose order on the world. Ezio ultimately defeats Rodrigo Borgia, but does not kill him.

Answer: Lucy Stillman

In 'Assassin's Creed II', we were introduced to an ancient but highly advanced society, the 'First Civilization', personified in the form of 'Minerva'. This society created the powerful artifacts that occur throughout the series and are a driving force for most of the Templars' activities.

At the end of 'Brotherhood', Desmond, Lucy, Rebecca and Shaun use Ezio's memories to find the temple in Rome where Ezio had hidden the Apple of Eden. Another of the First Civilization, Juno, appeared to Desmond after he took the Apple. Juno, aware of Lucy's true allegiance to the Templars (she was a double agent, with the agenda of obtaining all the artifacts - it's very confusing!) took control of Desmond's actions and led him to fatally stab Lucy, despite her becoming a strong romantic interest for him.

Answer: He was a Templar Grand Master

Haytham Kenway is the son of the pirate Edward Kenway, the key character in the sequel 'Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'. After the death of his father, young Haytham is recruited into the Templar Order by Reginald Birch. After rising quickly through the ranks, Haytham is sent to Boston to establish the Colonial Rite (chapter) of the Order.

The first part of 'Assassin's Creed III' involves Haytham establishing his Templar cohort, including Charles Lee, Benjamin Church and William Johnson. Later, Haytham unsuccessfully tries to use a stolen medallion to open a portal in a hidden temple to obtain one of the Eden artifacts, so desired by the Templars.

The portal is revealed to Haytham by a Mohawk woman, Kaniehtí:io, in exchange for his assistance in killing General Braddock who had been hunting down her kinfolk.

Answer: Ratonhnhaké:ton

Ratonhnhaké:ton is the son of Haytham Kenway and the Mohawk woman, Kaniehtí:io. After witnessing the massacre of his village by men led by Templar Charles Lee, teenage Ratonhnhaké:ton is shown the importance of the artifact-containing temple by Juno and led to the old assassin, Achilles. Changing his name to Connor, he undergoes training in the assassin's arts and becomes involved with the American Revolution, with the aim of protecting his people.

He moves to Boston, where he is framed by Templars for instigating the Boston Massacre but then reunites with his father Haytham.

After working with his father to eliminate rogue Templars, Connor takes the side of the Patriots in their battle with the British. Due to the realization that each man poses a massive threat to the grand plans of the other, Connor and Haytham eventually have to fight to the death, with the son surviving the encounter.

Answer: A sample of blood

Welsh-born pirate Edward Kenway is inadvertently caught up in the Templar plot to find the Observatory as this covert activity occurs under the guise of ridding the Caribbean of piracy. Edward locates and befriends the Sage, Bartholomew Roberts, but on the verge of finding the crystal skull artifact in the Observatory is betrayed by Roberts and imprisoned. Edward is rescued by an assassin mentor, Ah Tabei, and eventually joins the Brotherhood.

He is surprised to find that a former pirate colleague, Captain James Kidd, is both an assassin and the female pirate, Mary Read! Edward finally chases down the artifact and returns it to the Observatory.

He then learns of the birth of his daughter in England and returns there with a promise to Ah Tabei to come back one day to take up the fight against the Templars.

Answer: A Templar faction assassinating the Templar Grand Master

The Templar-Assassin truce, for mutual benefit, was organized by the aristocratic leader of the Assassin Brotherhood, Mirabeau, and the Templar Grand Master, François de la Serre. Members of each organization were not happy with what they saw as the dereliction of their sworn duties.

A faction of the Templars, led by François-Thomas Germain (who was later revealed to be the Sage), arranged the murder of de la Serre at the Palace of Versailles. de la Serre's ward, Arno Dorian, is blamed for the murder and imprisoned. Arno is then befriended in the Bastille by the assassin, Pierre Bellec, who eventually convinces Arno to join the Brotherhood. Arno does join, but is consumed by a personal quest to find and punish the perpetrators of his foster father's murder.

This causes enormous complications when Arno is reunited with de la Serre's daughter, Elise, who is now a Templar. Moral ambiguities abound with duty and personal feelings confused. In the end, Germain is exposed as the architect of the murder plot and in the final 'boss battle', he is killed by Arno and Elise, although Elise loses her life to satisfy her need for revenge.

Answer: Lisbon earthquake of 1755

Shay is already questioning the purpose of the Assassins' targeting of the Templars when he is required to kill Templar commander Lawrence Washington. By using the Precursor Artifact he locates the Piece of Eden, one of the powerful First Civilization devices in Lisbon, Portugal.

This retrieval triggers a massive earthquake which destroys the city (as per the real Lisbon earthquake of 1755). Shay then realizes this same scenario had occurred previously with the Haiti earthquake of 1751. Yet the Assassins still want to pursue these devices. Shay moves to New York where he joins the British army effort against the French (who were supported by the Assassins) and through New York City's Governor, George Monro, joins the Templars.

In this new role, he assists Haytham Kenway and then in the final act of the story, he recovers an artifact from Assassin, Charles Dorian, in Versailles. Charles is killed, thereby setting the scene for the main plot line of 'Assassin's Creed Unity'.

Answer: Abstergo

Abstergo is the company created to assist the modern day Templars in their quest to obtain the ancient artifacts and thereby give them the power to impose their idea of order on the world. Abstergo created the Animus, a machine capable of extracting memories from the DNA of certain people. Most importantly, the working premise of this machine is that a person's DNA contains the memories of their ancestors. Desmond Miles was distantly related to several of the major assassins throughout the series, including Altaïr, Ezio Auditore and the Kenways and hence was the 17th candidate used by Abstergo in their quest.

There are hints that many of the previous participants had died as a result of these experiments. The modern day Assassin's Brotherhood arrange the escape of Desmond and Lucy from Abstergo and have created an analogous Animus through which Desmond and his successor can learn of the artifacts and help hide them before the Templars can locate and exploit them.