Detailed Analysis - Side Narrative
The Templar Agents
Returning from Brotherhood are the Templar Agent missions. In Brotherhood the Templar agents scattered throughout the city are working for the Borgia and are terrorizing the citizens of the city and increasing their influence. Ezio would usually find traces of these agents by looking for signs of distress and after doing that, would be able to hunt them down usually effortlessly and swiftly eliminate them. While Shaun would usually create a bio for them so we could learn a little bit about the Templars themselves, they were very shallow and we never really felt a sense of accomplishment. This was partly due, we never saw through the gameplay if anything changed because of the Templars we were eliminating but this was never clear.
Revelations takes the narrative of the Templar agents and massively improves on them. Constantinople is a city with many districts that the Assassins held possession of until the Byzantines came and took over the district. After liberating districts, it is possible to lose them again at which point the Assassins and Byzantines will engage in open combat. If Ezio succeeds the district remains under your control or if the Byzantines win, the district falls back into the hands of the Templars. When a district is liberated Ezio can recruit civilians to join the Assassins and after giving them sufficient training can make them the head of a district. As new heads of the district, they keep an eye on all the comings and goings of anything suspicious and make note of any Templar activity.
When they do, Ezio comes to help the new Assassin investigate. Through these missions, we learn a lot more about what the Templars do to take control of a district, from flooding the pockets of the merchants to turn public opinion against the Assassins, to causing friction between the city authorities and city factions. Where originally Ezio hunted these agents on his own, now he is training Assassins in how to look for these agents and how best to eliminate them. This doesn’t always go smoothly, however as these Assassins are novices and have not been Assassins for long, they are prone to making mistakes. At one point, Ezio and an Assassin chase a templar, a former church deacon, who blends in with a group of them. In haste, the Assassin recruit accidentally kills an innocent man. After scolding the recruit, Ezio helps them hide the body, which is an odd turn for the seasoned Mentor, who, by Creed, should have killed the recruit or at the very least expel them.
As Ezio continues to train the recruits to be mindful, wise, and more skilled, Ezio can arm the next generation of Assassins to continue to keep the city and its citizens safe. Through these missions, we can learn more about the Templar’s interests and motivations and while they still do not provide a massive agency to the story, it does help to understand a bit more about the Templars themselves. One Templar, named Vali, was a former Assassin, but when his home was conquered by the Turks and his idol, Vlad Tepes, was killed, he defected to the Templars. It’s good to learn more about the Templars as we have only ever seen them as the villains, but with Templars like Vali, you can better understand their reasons, though that doesn’t stop you from killing them.
After eliminating the Templar agents, the Assassin recruits become full fledge den Master and are thus in control of the district Ezio gave to them. After they are in full control of the district, it will be their job to protect the districts from Templar threat and so Ezio will no longer be needed to coordinate defenses and can instead fully focus on his mission for the Masyaf keys. Ubisoft bought back the Templar agents and changed them in ways that felt relevant to the main story, provided more context for the Templar’s and added agency and gameplay changes that made the player want to complete them more. Along this road, Ubisoft also started to humanize the Templars we would fight and it would be an unwise decision to stop here but I think it’s fair to say Ubisoft has managed to find an equilibrium between the main targets and side targets.
Duccio
A funny one-note narrative was Duccio. He has never contributed anything to the series, nor has he done anything to warrant his agency but he has appeared in every game that had Ezio in it and it was always fun to interact with the character. First appearing in AC2, Duccio was engaged to Claudia Auditore, Ezio’s younger sister. After hearing of rumors that he was cheating on her, Ezio investigated and beat Duccio to a pulp when this rumor was proven right. In AC Brotherhood, while searching for Leonardo’s villa paintings, Ezio encountered Duccio again. Despite Ezio’s calm approach to the situation, Duccio is as disrespectful as ever causing Ezio to initiate a fight which does not take long. Ezio again leaves Duccio in the street and continues with his goal. In Revelations, while looking for Sofia, he again encounters Duccio who was trying to flirt with her. Upon immediate recognition of Ezio, Duccio panics and runs away leaving Ezio to explain what happened to Sofia. In his bio, it is explained, that Duccio eventually died penniless and later rabies. A sad end for a very sad man, Duccio gradually became a laughing stock for the series as many fans begin to recognize him. While Duccio’s narrative provides no major significance to any of the stories, it is still fun to see how this man develops the mentality that Ezio is hounding him.
