Why The Templars Are Not the Bad Guys in Assassin's Creed Rogue

Shay Patrick Cormac is one of the most interesting protagonists in the Assassin's Creed games. His story and transformation from Assassin to Templar in Assassin's Creed Rogue show us great insight into why sometimes the Templars are not the bad guys.
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Assassin's Creed Rogue is a 2014 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Sofia and published by Ubisoft. It is the seventh major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and is set between 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and 2012's Assassin's Creed III. It also has ties to Assassin's Creed Unity, which was released on the same day as Rogue. It is the last Assassin's Creed game to be developed for the seventh generation of consoles, being released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2014, and for Microsoft Windows in March 2015. A remastered version of the game was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2018. It was also released on the Nintendo Switch as part of The Rebel Collection alongside Black Flag in December 2019, and for Google Stadia in October 2021.
The plot is set in a fictional history of real-world events and follows the millennia-old struggle between the Assassin Brotherhood, who fight to preserve peace and free will, and the Templar Orders, who desire peace through control. The framing story is set during the 21st century and depicts the player as an employee of Abstergo Industries (a company used as a front by the modern-day Templars), who uncovers various secrets about the Assassin-Templar conflict while attempting to fix the company's servers. The main plot is set before and during the French and Indian War from 1752 to 1760 and follows Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish American privateer and Assassin, who defects to the Templars and helps them hunt down members of his former Brotherhood after becoming disillusioned with their tactics. The gameplay in Rogue is very similar to that of Black Flag with a mixture of ship-based naval exploration and third-person land-based exploration, though some new features have been added.
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Music
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🎵 Assassin's Creed: Rogue Main Theme slowed but you're in an ice canyon on the Morrigan by iiamapoptartt
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Videos That Were Used
📽️ • Assassin's Creed Rogue...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed I | A...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed 1 - A...
📽️ • Assassins Creed 3 - Ha...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed 3: Co...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed 2 PS4...
📽️ • AC Black Flag Kenway k...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed - Alt...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed Broth...
📽️ • Assassins Creed Libera...
📽️ • AC III - Charles Lee B...
📽️ • Assassin's Creed Unity...
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#AssassinsCreed #ShayPatrickCormac #VideoEssay

[@Oleangel]

I don't know how anyone can not agree with the templars in this game, they literally sought to keep the world in peace while the assassins literally wanted to bring chaos. Even haytham says that at some point assassins actually fought for something reasonable, but at this point in time they fight for chaos.

[@KesslersArcade]

Yup they weren't even fighting for the freedom of the people anymore during this time it was just to stop the Templars from getting pieces of Eden no matter the cost.

[@alkon8032]

This is why Shay for me is the most underrated Templar Assassin.

[@KesslersArcade]

@@alkon8032 well he did what he thought was right

[@kyshim1247]

That's what makes the game fucking irritating tho, they literally just switch the roles of them and don't add depth, it's such a horrible way of portraying the assassin's and templars

[@KesslersArcade]

@@kyshim1247 well I feel they could’ve probably done it better had this concept been in a trilogy of games. Maybe we might get a better version of this idea in the future with another game or series that they’re working on.

[@mrmayoreplays8095]

"We bring order from chaos. If everything was permitted, no one is safe"

[@ThePenaboy2]

I didn’t know this game connected 3 AC games. After I played it, I realized it was the game I didn’t know I needed

[@KesslersArcade]

Oh yeah it's the bridge between Black Flag, 3, and Unity. So many people didn't play this game but it's the glue we didn't know we needed to conclude some of those stories and start a new one.

[@rithik8674]

​@@KesslersArcadeFinal game and closing chapter in Kenway saga, also have the best plot twist in the franchise.

[@garretwoeller7669]

Loved this game as it made the templars less generic evil and yeah this game is like Kotor with the Sith

[@KesslersArcade]

Yeah still kind of bummed out that they put the Kotor remake on hold I really wanted to play it on PS5.

[@Mephilis78]

I just feel like they should have had the balls to do this with AC3 and let us play a whole game as Haythem

[@elevatedgame3016]

"The templar order is born of realization" ⚔🛡 freedom without discipline is chaos, May the father of understanding guide us .

[@KesslersArcade]

The Templar Order is there to restore order and structure to make sense of a chaotic world 🌎

[@uppin_downers]

I didn’t even play rogue ever. But from what I saw was it tried to get you to understand the templars, but that’s kinda hard when they practically made the assassins look like psycho templars and the templars look like holy saints. It’s stupid to me because the assassins have literal gangs and headquarters and they break almost every tenet in the creed. It doesn’t give you both sides as like “oh yea this side may think this but they also have their good sides”. It wasn’t the case with rogue. They just copy and pasted the base thinkings of both sides, flipped them and called it a day

[@KesslersArcade]

I can see why you would feel that way still it’s an interesting take my only issue with the game was that it was too short. I still think they should explore this concept further with more details in a future game or in the series they’re developing with Netflix.

[@natneo2722]

Good video, I've watched it till the end, rare will I find video with interesting topics and points.

[@KesslersArcade]

Thank you I always try to add value and thoughts for people to look at games differently.

[@mrenzyme9715]

@@KesslersArcade Indeed

[@ornu01]

AC Rogue seeks to show the other side of the question that Assassin's Creed has always presented: which stupid answer to a simple question do you prefer? The Assassin's path leads to the tyranny of chaos and the Templar's path leads to the tyranny of control, both sides lead to tyranny and completely ignore the fact that the issue is an intrinsic part of human nature. Always taking the easy path even when you know it's stupid. Always certain of your own knowledge even when reality kicks you between the legs. Always trying to force arbitrary morality on a world that inherently lacks it. In addition, I understand the plot of the game, it's just so poorly implemented. The entire plot is derailed if Achilles just said, 'Oh my God, that artifact caused the earthquake? Come in, Shay, tell me everything so we can make sure this never happens again!'

[@KesslersArcade]

Well you would be surprised how many people don't have common sense in the world. As for Achilles you can't really blame him for being ignorant since this is a new piece of Eden that neither side knew about until the events of this game even Liam thought it was an Apple of Eden. While the concept of who's right about control or freedom is not really executed well in this game I think it was still important to show it. Perhaps they can explain it better in another game or the series they're currently working on.

[@ornu01]

@@KesslersArcade I must say that Rogue is my favorite AC game, I just wish they they would write it better. The entire premise of the franchise is a touch absurd from a philosophical stand point, but that's speaking from a modern view on the subject. Still, I'd have expected the philosophies to have expanded a bit over the past thousandish years and they try to in several games but never really touch on it beyond vague reference and unexplained reasoning of Haytham and Munroe's more benevolent methods. A lot of the problems I have with the Kenway trilogy is that they try to put too little into a fairly long period of time, with Connor I can understand as the Revolutionary War is too well documented to have much wiggle room, but Edward goes from a burning desire for the Observatory to piddling about for several years because they wanted to tell the story a very specific way. Shay is still furious over the earthquake even after the minimum three week journey back to the colonies, which I can understand to a degree, but he's completely blown off by the assassins and no one stops to even ask him what really happened and no one seems to even try to think about the coincidence of two massive earthquakes both happening when a temple is breached. Achilles puts it together at the end, but there's no empitous for it, he's just sees it and says Shay was right. The complete ignoring of the Assassin's Code by the brotherhood there is it's own mess. I feel that the Ezio trilogy and Unity are the best written for different reason, and while I'm still playing Origins, I absolutely hate Odyssey. I really just want to see the writing room for a lot of these to see how they reasoned through the story, it's just odd to me that they went with a lot that they did overall.

[@KesslersArcade]

@@ornu01 well I think the writing was impacted a lot in this game because it was rushed and it was released the same day as Unity. This was also the last game that would be exclusively released on PS3/360/PC and would not get a remastered version until years later. I wish they had not rushed it because the story has a lot of gaps that could've been improved upon. I agree that they made Achilles look incompetent as the Assassin Mentor of the Colonies but it also showed that the other Assassins were completely loyal to him. They didn't question any of his orders or why Shay was so upset. Although to be fair Shay and Achilles argument could've gone better Shay could've also done better than to steal the Manuscript he could've tried reasoning more but we honestly don't know if any of that would've made a difference in the end. While the story is not perfect it does show that both organizations are not completely good or evil they're in a gray area which is pretty scary because it makes them unpredictable of what they might do next.

[@mfkillah]

They made the assassins literally break the rules of being an assassin just so we can feel sympathy for templars

[@KesslersArcade]

Well there's more examples of extremists on both sides it's shown in Unity when Bellec kills the leader of the Assassin Council, Al Mualim betraying what the Assassins stand for, Abbas abusing the creed, etc. I could go on but the concept has been there since the beginning and we got so many easter eggs and small connections of this concept spread throughout other AC games even from the beginning.

[@thanatos5642]

what about altair? he broke the rules too

[@KesslersArcade]

@@thanatos5642 he did that’s why I mentioned his story. Altair was to be executed but Al Mualim used him in killing the the Templars he was conspiring with for the Apple under the pretense that he was redeeming himself and reclaiming his Master Assassin status.

[@thanatos5642]

@@KesslersArcade thats what i was saying they broke the rules before

[@Engille967]

Ezio supported dictators, assassins were always psycho templars

[@JayLiszte]

Why? Because the team behind this game chose the lazy route and made the assassins the templars and making the templars assassins. The assassins in this game are cruel, closed minded, and world conquering. The templars are caring for the people, wanting them to be free, and not in pursuit for more power.

[@KesslersArcade]

Well actually the original concept for this game was supposed to be about Haytham but the team already felt they told his story well enough in the book Assassin's Creed Forsaken so they came up with a new character and story which was Shay.

[@JayLiszte]

@@KesslersArcadewhat does that have to do with the lazy writing

[@KesslersArcade]

@@JayLiszte it's not lazy writing more like they were rushed since they decided to release this game alongside Unity instead of giving them their own time window which could've added more to the story but we'll never know since we're not in the development team of this game.

[@neviem03]

This game and AC 3 was my first AC games and i am happy

[@KesslersArcade]

Oh nice well I'm glad you got to see what happened to the Assassin's before AC3 and why Achilles needs a cane to walk.

[@screwballgaming9270]

Lets gooooooooo fam 🔥

[@KesslersArcade]

Thanks

[@ArgerasCZ]

yeah Assassins in rogue were stupid, but I still hate how Shay(and fans) are naive and think templar wouldn't try to collect those artefacts and templars would cause those earthquakes

[@KesslersArcade]

oh no the point of the game is to show us that the Assassin-Templar war is a lot more convoluted then we once thought since we have only seen it mostly through Assassin eyes.

[@mrenzyme9715]

Absolutely love this game!

[@KesslersArcade]

It's a hidden gem amongst the AC games

[@xLAtD]

Templar's creed

[@KesslersArcade]

Basically 🤷‍♂️

[@islandimus3370]

Anybody who actually believed the templars were evil in rogue missed the point of its story

[@KesslersArcade]

Oh you’d be surprised how many people missed it

[@Engille967]

If people have the lack of reason and naivete to call Rogue a copy paste id not be surprised

[@mrmayoreplays8095]

ahh fri.. guess i cant argue with no one about templars and assassins no more I still hate shay for killing adewale

[@KesslersArcade]

Well the idea is that not everyone in the Assassin-Templar war is evil or good they both do terrible things for what they’re fighting for.

[@samhayes-astrion]

Templars usually aren't evil. It's just their goal of getting to the top to provide 'order, purpose, and direction' often leads to corruption, which then trickles down to poison the Templars beneath them. Assassins on the other hand do the same thing, but from the perspective of the people because they have protagonist syndrome. Both sides have accountability issues.

[@KesslersArcade]

I 100% agree both sides need to be held accountable the sense of order and chaos runs deep in the Templar-Assassin War. Both sides at one point or another strive away from their goals or go to extremes to achieve them which counters their own claims of who is right and wrong.

[@bliiild]

I had no clue Unity and Rogue were released at the same time lol.

[@KesslersArcade]

Yeah they were which I think was a dumb idea because most people played Unity that day and did not hear about Rogue.

[@razvanraz8976]

Mentor edwards outfit is in AC Valhalla! You better equip it

[@KesslersArcade]

I’ll try it but I probably won’t wear it for too long.

[@jaieregilmore971]

Shay Templar outfit should had the hood just like cinematic trailer.

[@KesslersArcade]

Oh yeah hands down that was one of the first things I mentioned when I played the game

[@Mephilis78]

Now imagine if Shay was voiced by Liam Neeson

[@KesslersArcade]

I think that would be great if they made an animated film or series

[@Emma-Queenofhell]

I think Rouge is underrated and I have two problems one the Strom fortress super boss is bs there is a difference between a fair challenge and a boss you have to exploit and two it's to short

[@KesslersArcade]

I agree the story is too short and the Super ship battle is annoying but it feels good once you beat it.

[@koR0ziwe]

It's Lisbon, not Lipson :)))

[@KesslersArcade]

Haha yeah my brain perceives that word as a brain teaser and tongue twister🤣

[@Mephilis78]

The assassin's even when Ubisoft shows them as heroes, are still doing evil things in their pursuit of Templars. Ezio burns an entire Village to the ground lol. Plus all of those, low level guards that are murdered indiscriminately, when all they did was accept a job getting paid to stand next to a door, or a chest.

[@KesslersArcade]

oh yeah I have no doubt we killed a lot of innocent npc enemies

[@Mephilis78]

They are never the bad guys

[@KesslersArcade]

Depends sometimes they are like the Borgia are pretty evil and just villains but some of them aren't bad people like Colonel Monroe isan example of what the Templars should aspire to be.

[@badreedinedjellali1328]

​@@KesslersArcadeyeah like the tamplers who took arno and was considering to make peace with the assassin's

[@KesslersArcade]

@@badreedinedjellali1328 yeah Elise's family didn't have to take Arno because they knew he was the son of the Assassin but they did.

[@rithik8674]

​@@KesslersArcadeExactly

[@ComfortsSpecter]

Wonderful Art Amazing Game I Wish AC was Better in General Way too much Waste; so Instinctually Humanistic and still a Very Original Vibe If only Anybody Actually Tried Great Presentation Good Work

[@KesslersArcade]

Thank you very much

[@yansen92]

People who actually paid attention to the story wont need this video

[@KesslersArcade]

Well a lot of people skipped this game and went for Unity or they didn't like this game and didn't pay attention to the story

[@billybob6094]

Assassin supremacy

[@KesslersArcade]

Not if Shay has anything to say about it😉

[@billybob6094]

May The Father Of My Tip guide them

[@manuelcaracciolo7524]

.

[@KesslersArcade]

..

[@destroyercreater98]

While it wasn’t done the best way. What they were doing does make sense. Neither side is perfect cause pure freedom means people have the choice to be nice, or bad. Meanwhile Order makes it so that it’s illegal to be bad as a whole while also giving the person who made that law the choice to make other laws. It’s just sad that the people who own assassins creed are the worst creative thinkers ever.

[@KesslersArcade]

I think the idea itself is great but they shouldn't out only in one game I think they should apply it to other games so we can see the effects of the Templar Assassin war what good things happened and what they made worse

[@destroyercreater98]

@@KesslersArcade Isn’t AC 3 a great example of the Templars being right though?

[@KesslersArcade]

@@destroyercreater98 It teases the idea but they don't really expand on it besides it was just Haytham manipulating Connor or at least that's how Connor saw it

[@destroyercreater98]

@@KesslersArcade as Connor gets used by literally everyone else but wasn’t observant enough to see it.

[@KesslersArcade]

@@destroyercreater98 Well yeah he was on a quest of vengeance after Charles Lee

[@-Gax-]

I relate to Shay, so much. I remember in AC3, I cried when I had to bury Achilles. Balled my eyes out. And Connor is my absolute favourite Assassin. Then I played Rouge and I felt betrayed. Like, real life slapped in the face. I wish Connor would get a second game, more based around his personal experience afterward. With Shay, and Connor coming to terms with his old teachers failing. Arno makes an appearance. And I don't think Connor kills Shay. I think they come to an uneasy agreement. Walk away, act as leaders of their group and ignore the history. Whatever happens, happens. Which is Arno does the deed. Honestly, the Kenway saga is one of, if not my favourite story in any video game series. All 4 games (technically 5 if you count Unity, I am undecided if I do or don't). Yes, Liberation was average. But 3, 4 and Rouge more than make up for it. Don't get me wrong, Ezio has a phenomenal story aswell, but I'm no Ezio. He's significantly more bold and confident than I. But I do relate to Shay and Connor.

[@KesslersArcade]

Well by the time we meet Achilles in AC3 you can see he was full of regret of what had happened to his brotherhood it’s why he was very hesitant to train Connor in the first place but eventually changed his mind. Connor gave Achilles hope again it’s why he gives him his sons name and possibly Connor reminds him of his son. Connor and Achilles were student and mentor but they also had a father and son relationship. You can see Achilles becomes worried for Connor plenty of times throughout AC3 and even tries to warn him about Haytham. Connor essentially redeemed Achilles of his past sins. We don’t know what happened to Shay and Connor after the events of AC3 or if he even meets Shay. Arno as far as we know never learns about Shay. If Shay did come back to the colonies he would probably be in the South slowly rebuilding the American Templars since it takes a long time to consolidate power. We know Shay eventually has a son and grandson who he trains on how to kill Assassins. We also know on of Shay’s future descendants actually becomes an Assassin in present day. Shay I think did what was right during the events of AC Rogue and felt remorse for what he did but by the end of the game you can see that he doesn’t feel that anymore.

[@jaieregilmore971]

@@KesslersArcade honestly I see shay would retire at one point.

[@Mephilis78]

The assassins are anarchists. Anarchy is inherently self destructive, and it takes everyone else down with it. They were always the bad guys.

[@heistbros8575]

Not necessarily, they are often doing good but I'd make the argument that the templars aren't inherently bad

[@KesslersArcade]

Assassin's are inherently bad a lot of them are just trying to do the right thing and follow their beliefs in the Creed. Is some of the things they do bad of course but it's more complex than simply saying Templars good, Assassins bad, there's a lot of gray areas in how both factions follow their philosophies.

[@KesslersArcade]

You got it

[@Falconwing66]

The Templars are bad in every game. Did we forget they’re goal? Subjugation of the masses? They’re noble reasons for doing so are irrelevant.

[@KesslersArcade]

That’s because you’re seeing it from one point of view.

[@Falconwing66]

@@KesslersArcade Templars want to eradicate points of view from society. It’s literally their mission statement.

[@KesslersArcade]

@@Falconwing66 that’s an oversimplification you have dive deeper into both Templar and Assassin philosophies to understand

[@Falconwing66]

@@KesslersArcadeno it isn’t. Templar philosophy blames individuality and opposing views for all that’s wrong with society. “To guide guide all wayward minds, to safe and sober thought”. Ahmed, Haytham, Torres and Vidic directly talk of this.

[@KesslersArcade]

@@Falconwing66 yes but the Assassin’s are just as terrible both groups have done a lot of harm to society. I don’t agree with the Templars but I have to see both point of views to understand them it’s worth noting their ambitions and how both groups are very similar with their end goal being what divides them.

[@yanmay9824]

Jesus dude take a breath once in a while or at least leave a tiny gap between words rather than making 100 words sound like one super long word. It's OK your recording yourself no one is going to interrupt you if make each word an individual word.

[@KesslersArcade]

I took plenty of breaths the audio is edited from different parts that I recorded but you'd be surprised how many people click away for hearing breathing or pauses. It's just a thing you have to do for KZbin to make it sound more cohesive.