If you are looking for the entire Assassin’s Creed timeline but do not have the time to go through a detailed and long explanation, this is the perfect article for you. We have summarized the massive storyline of Ubisoft’s masterpiece in one article with all the necessary information and some infographics.
The article does not dive into the extreme details about the stories of each Assassin’s Creed game but discusses the key-points of the game and its characters. Without rummaging through the Assassin’s Creed Fandom, you can read a brief history of its timeline.
While the release orders of the game are different from the story it tells. The first game in the series, Assassin’s Creed 1 told us the story of Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad in the city of Jerusalem. But that wasn’t where the story of these cloaked Assassins began. It started way back, with the introduction of Gods and the creation of humans.
There will be an infographic that explains the timeline of the release of the Assassin’s Creed games and another one explaining its release timeline. So let us begin with the tale of the clash between Assassins and The Templars. For starters, Assassins want to make the world free of restrains and control, with the circulation of knowledge for all. Templars are the order who wants to control people, limit the flow of knowledge. This is a tale of Control and Chaos.
The Assassin’s Creed Timeline – Canon Version.
This is where we discuss how the order of Assassins and Templars started. The beginning of all of the humans. The story Ubisoft decided to go with was taking the Biblical story of the origin of man and change it a little bit. We begin with the creation of the human race by the superior God-like beings called the Isu.
The Creation of Homo sapiens
Isu was the race of super-advanced humans who lived millennia ago. These creatures were technologically advanced beings who lived in societies like humans. The Isu had a triple-helix DNA structure, as opposed to the double helix DNA humans have. These superior creatures made humans in their image to work as a docile workforce, etc.
The Isu also had some fantastic technological devices that are represented as objects with magical powers for humans. These included the famous Apple of Eden (around which most of the game’s missions are based), Sword of Eden, Shrouds of Eden, and many more. There were some special humans too, the ones who were Isu-human hybrids. These beings were not affected by the powers of the artifacts of the Eden.
The War of Garden of Eden.
As it is with all of us uppity humans, we rebelled after being tired of treated as slaves. This created a war between the two species, Humans and Isu. The war was called the War of Garden of Eden. But not all were interested in the war. Three of the Isu, Minerva, Juno, and Jupiter were concerned about the impending doom. The doom would end both of the races. During this war, Adam and Eve, Isu-humans hybrid, escaped with the Apple of Eden (the inspiration from the Bible).
Now coming to the impending doom, it did happen. The doom came from a coronal mass ejection from the Sun. This resulted in the mass extinction of both the species, but since the Isu was already low on the number, they went extinct. It was also revealed that while Minerva and Jupiter wanted to protect life, Juno wanted to rule the earth. The last of the Isu made the Eye to protect the earth from any such catastrophes in the future. You can read more details about the Isu and the War by here.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the latest game in the franchise, yet from canonical view, this is where the Creed started. The story of Odyssey revolves around ancient Greece and the Spartans. We’ll focus on Kassandra who is a mithios (a mercenary in ancient Greece). She is the granddaughter of Leonidas I of Sparta. Leonidas, I was the direct descendant of the Isu and had more Isu characteristics. He could also wield the Isu Spear, an Eden Artifact.
Legacy of the First Blade.
The DLC for Odyssey shows the further journey of Kassandra and the unfolding of the Isu Saga. These stories aren’t Templars Vs Assassins, but more like an introduction and revelation of all the Greek Gods like Poseidon and Hades. This is the story where Kassandra destroys Atlantis.
AC Origins.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is all set in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy XIII. This game shows the official establishment of the Assassin’s Brotherhood and the introduction to the first assassins. The protagonists of the story are Bayek and his wife Aya. Bayek is a Medjay, which is similar to a Knight. The story revolves around the conflict between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII for the rule of Egypt. This is the story where the Bayek and Aya and the players are made known about the secretive groups called the Order of the Ancient. This is the order that becomes Templars later.
Assassin’s Creed 1 – Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad
The first game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise but the third game in its canonical timeline. This is the first game in the timeline when the Artifacts of Eden saga begins. Set in the city of Jerusalem, we are introduced to a skilled assassin, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad who messes up the task of bringing the Apple of Eden given by the head of the order, Al Mualim. This results in the demotion of Altaïr and he is given multiple tasks to gain back his position.
In this quest, he starts to find patterns in his target and realizes the underlying plans of the Templars. Towards the end, it’s revealed that Al Mualim, the head of the Assassin’s wanted the Apple of Eden for himself. Altaïr kills him and while doing so, the Apple of Eden is activated and shows the scattered pieces of Eden. These pieces were scattered by Isu so that their descendants can find them.
Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ezio Auditore
In this part of the Assassin’s Creed timeline, we are told the story about a young man named Ezio Auditore living in Italy during the Renaissance Era. Ezio is Altaïr’s descendant and an Assassin, but he wasn’t aware of it. His father and brother are executed during the Pazzi conspiracy and he runs away to save his life. He is then trained by his uncle as he comes to know of his lineage.
Ezio then spends the majority of his life fighting the House of Borgia and successfully establishes Assassin’s Brotherhood. Rodrigo Borgia, the pope has the Apple of Eden as well as the Staff of Eden. He planned to open the Vault of Isu. He fails to do that and Ezio opens the vault and talks to Minerva. This is where he gets visions of Desmond, whose memory Animus is using to gain information.
The Brotherhood
In the next installment and continuing the Assassin’s Creed timeline, we get to see Ezio forming the Assassins brotherhood and taking on Cesare Borgia. After establishing the order and spreading the reach of the Brotherhood extensively, Ezio decides to hide the Apple of Eden.
Revelations
Revelations are the trilogy of the Ezio Auditore series where we see the end of Ezio Auditore. In this part of the timeline, Ezio is an old man, a master assassin who seeks answers about the order he is in. After finding the keys of the library in Masyaf hidden by Altaïr in Constantinople and living the memory of Altaïr after he killed Al Mualim, Ezio enters the library.
But he finds the library to be empty with nothing but the skeletal remains of Altaïr. He realized that this is the place where Altaïr intended to hide the Apple of Eden. He also knows that Desmond Miles is watching him. Finally, he lays down all his weapons and tells Desmond that he hopes he succeeds in finding what both Altaïr and Ezio were looking for.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.
This game marked the end of the Desmond Miles timeline. We’ll get to that later. While Desmond was gone from this point onwards, the Eden Saga continued. We are introduced with another unaware assassin, Edward Kenway in the vast seas of the Caribbean. Edward Kenway was the grandfather of Connor Kenway, the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed 3 and the father of Haytham Kenway.
While the game is centered more towards ship arsenal, loot, etc, the main objective is to find the Sage who knows the location of the Observatory. The Observatory was built by the Isu and it has the power to locate anyone with just the sample of their blood. The Templars want that power in their hands.
At the beginning of the game, we see Edward getting in a ship fight with a rogue assassin, Duncan Walpole, who was en route to meet the Templars. He embarks on the journey of finding the Sage and eventually catches him in an island. But as the Sage and Edward locate the Observatory, Edward is betrayed by the Sage and thrown in a prison.
He is then rescued by Assassins and then he joins the order.
While all this happens in the memory, the present-day player who is using the Animus is contacted by another person named John and John convinces the player to hack into Animus. It is revealed that John was the reincarnation of the Sage and was attempting to bring back Juno. But this attempt fails and he is killed by Animus’ security guards.
It is also revealed to Edward the Sage is neither on Assassins’ side nor on Templars’ side. He was just a medium to bring back Juno, the Isu who wanted to rule the Earth and all the humans.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue
Rogue fits in between AC Black Flag and AC III in the Assassin’s Creed timeline. The story of this game was a bit different as the players are not playing as an Assassin, but as a Templar. The protagonist of the story, Shay Patrick Cormac changes his position from being an assassin to being a Templar. This was triggered after he saw that the Assassins were ready to destroy and kill to get the Pieces of Eden. After going “rogue,” he is chased by the assassins and then shot. He survives and reaches New York.
This is where he carries out tasks to help Templars and meets grandmaster Haytham Kenway, son of Edward Kenway from Black Flag. After a series of events that involves the story, we see that Shay is ordered to retrieve the Precursor Artifact. He finds one in the possession of Charles Dorian, the father of Arno Dorian who is the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Unity set during the French Revolution.
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AC III – Return of the Kenway
This Assassin’s Creed story is set in the timeline of the American Revolution during the 18th century. The protagonist, named Ratonhnhaké: ton or Connor is the half-English, half-Mohawk grandson of Edward Kenway and son of Templar Grandmaster Haytham Kenway. This was the last game where we saw Desmond Miles. This game marked the death of Desmond. To save the Earth from another solar flare that is impending, Desmond is given two choices by Minerva and Juno. Either to survive and live like a God but most of humanity will be dead. Or to sacrifice himself and let humanity live. Desmond chooses to kill himself.
AC Unity
Assassin’s Creed Unity is set during the French Revolution and the protagonist of the story is Arno Dorian, the son of Charles Dorian. Charles Dorian was the Assassin killed by Shay Patrick in Rogue. The game’s story starts with a young Arno finding his father murdered. After a few years, when Arno’s grown up, we see that he gets framed for murdering the Templar member, Grand Master De La Serre. The murder happens during the initiation of Elise De La Serre into the Templar Order. Elise is Arno’s love interest. After being framed for murder, he is sent to the Bastille where he meets Pierre Bellec, an imprisoned assassin. Bellec realizes that Arno is an assassin and then they both escape during the storming of Bastille.
After Arno becomes an assassin, he rescues a silversmith named François-Thomas Germain, who was being held by the Templar Order. It is later revealed that Germain is the Sage and he is the one who ordered the murder of De La Serre. The Sage wanted to become the head of the Templar and control the revolution.
In the end, however, the Sage who has the Sword of Eden kills Elise and he is gravely injured. He is killed by Arno.
AC Syndicate
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate in the last one in this timeline of the fight between Assassins and Templars. The game was set during the Industrial revolution in London and focuses on two protagonists, Jacob and Evie Frye, the twin assassins. The goal they have is to find the Piece of Eden hidden somewhere in London. She finds Shroud of Eden hidden in Edward Kenway’s House.
So this was the brief Assassin’s Creed Timeline that tries to tell the general backbone of the stories in Assassin’s Creed games. It is not possible to encapsulate the entire story in an article. That would require a lot of pages. But here we have tried to take the most important bits of the story and put it concisely. We hope it helped you.
