Hello everybody, my name is Robius and welcome
back to the second episode in the revival
series of Assassin’s Creed the Real History.
In these videos, I bring you through the actual
history of a component within the Assassin’s
Creed franchise, showing you what did and
didn’t really happen in the past, while
comparing the game’s interpretation to the
historical source material.
As always, please be aware of significant
story spoilers ahead.
Having said that, let’s proceed with today’s
episode in which we will take a look at one
of the better known mentors of the Assassin’s
order, Rashid ad-Din Sinan, who was historically
also referred to as “the Old Man of the
Mountain”, but that you likely better remember
as Al Mualim, or “the Mentor” as the title
is translated.
Before we get into the actual video, it’s
worth noting that the history of this individual
remains somewhat argued to this day.
Among the records covering his life, certain
western interpretations present different
stories than their eastern counterparts.
In general, it is predominantly agreed that
a large portion of the western records are
peppered with myths and legends, while those
kept by eastern historians from the area in
which he lived are considered to be more extensive
and factual.
However, in an attempt to remain as informative
as possible, I’ll cover his generally agreed-upon
history, while also touching on some of the
legends attributed to the Old Man of the Mountain.
Alright, so let’s begin by discussing the
historical period which occurred before his
appearance in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Rashid ad-Din Sinan is said to have been born
in the city of Basra, located within the contemporary
borders of Iraq, at some time between the
years of 1132 to 1135.
He travelled to the stronghold of Alamut in
his youth where he became a student of the
local Ismaili, a group who would eventually
come to be known in the West as "Assassins"
By the year 1162, Rashid had risen in the
ranks of the Assassins and was tasked by its
current leader, Hassan II to establish a new
stronghold in Syria from which he would spearhead
the efforts of his Nizari Ismaili religious
sect by disseminating contradictory Islamic
laws from the area.
This stronghold was Masyaf, and over the following
years Rashid ad-Din Sinan would consolidate
his control over most northern Syrian districts
from this seat of power.
In this period, Sinan entered into a varying
series of negotiations with the neighbouring
factions.
At this particular point in time, Nur ad-Din
and Salah ad-Din, the leaders of the Sunni
Ayyubid dynasty were waging a holy war against
the crusaders, which also represented a significant
problem for the Assassins who followed a minority
Shia branch of Islam.
For that reason, seeing the Crusaders as a
lesser threat, Rashid attempted to open peaceful
negotiations with them despite their on-and-off
hostilities over the past few decades.
By 1173, it appeared his attempts were leading
to success as the Assassins’ ambassador
met with the King of Jerusalem, Amalric I,
and the meeting ended on good terms.
Unfortunately, as the ambassador was returning
to Rashid he was killed by a Knight Templar,
who had been personally sent by the Grand
Master of the Order, as they opposed an alliance
with the Assassins.
In response, the King of Jerusalem led his
troops to the Templar’s lodge and arrested
the Knight.
Amalric sent his apologies to Sinan, and it
appeared that negotiations would continue,
however upon the king’s death in 1174, relations
with his successor did not bring about the
desired peace accords at that time.
Within the same year, Nur ad-Din died and
Salah ad-Din became the unequivocal leader
of this Sunni faction which was still expanding
in Egypt and Syria.
In hopes of eliminating this potential threat,
as was requested by his allies, in the next
two years Rashid sent some of his loyal assassins
to kill the sultan.
Both of these attempts failed and in response,
during a march on Aleppo, Salah ad-Din attacked
and destroyed many of the Assassins’ Syrian
positions.
By the year 1176 this conflict had reached
its peak and the sultan began to lay siege
to the stronghold of Masyaf.
Interestingly enough, the siege was soon lifted
and the struggle between the two powerful
men was put to rest.
Historically, due to the lack of records on
these negotiations, it is best to say that
their peace agreement was brokered under vague
circumstances.
However, there are many tales claiming to
explain this development, although they are
not confirmed.
One among these states that during the siege,
while sleeping in his guarded tent in the
middle of his camp, the sultan suddenly awoke
to see a figure leaving his bedside.
Upon further inspection he saw that next to
his bed was a plate of hot scones, shaped
in the Assassin’s symbol.
Beside the scones was a note, pinned by a
poisoned dagger that stated he would be killed
if he didn’t lift the siege.
Soon after, it is said an alliance was brokered
between the Saracens and the Assassins.
At this point, we’ll move on to the next
chapter in the video where we’ll cover the
period in which Rashid was depicted in the
Assassin’s Creed series.
Keep in mind that despite being shown in Assassin’s
Creed Revelations during 1189, the events
surrounding these depictions were all fictional.
In contrast, his coverage in the first Assassin’s
Creed game is a better starting point when
discussing his historical representation.
By 1191, the year when the first game began,
the Third Crusade was in full swing and Conrad
of Montferrat, the defender of one of the
few remaining crusader cities, Tyre, was becoming
a claimant to the throne of Jerusalem.
His claim was begrudgingly supported by Richard
the Lionheart and other leading crusaders
and he was soon designated as the new King
of Jerusalem.
However, before his coronation could occur
he was killed by two assassins disguised as
monks while in Tyre, the city he controlled
and had defended against Saracen forces.
To this day, historians on all sides disagree
on who ordered his death.
European sources blame Richard I as having
asked Sinan to kill Conrad, Middle-Eastern
sources point the finger to Salah ad-Din as
having ordered the assassination, while other
individuals state it was solely the initiative
of the Old Man of the Mountain to kill the
soon-to-be King of the crusader state.
It could be argued that this assassination
was paralleled in the first Assassin’s Creed
game when Altair was tasked with killing William
de Montferrat, Conrad’s father.
Not long after this period, a peace treaty
was signed between Richard the Lionheart and
Salah ad-Din, thus ending the Third Crusade.
Interestingly enough, this peace treaty also
included a section which would have the Syrian
Assassins' territory respected as well.
For the remaining years of his life, Rashid
is believed to have lived in relative seclusion
from the outside world until his eventual
death in 1193, which is mainly attributed
to natural causes.
Moving on, we have now reached the final chapter
of the video where we will review everything
discussed so far and consider the differences
between the way the first Assassin’s Creed
game and Assassin’s Creed Revelations portrayed
the individual versus his relatively confirmed
history.
To begin, let’s quickly list the major ways
the games differed from history.
For starters, despite being one of the major
leaders of the real-life order of Assassins,
Rashid’s organization was not exactly as
was depicted in the game.
His men were trained in combat, infiltration
and assassination, however they weren’t
like the characters in the game, since they
weren’t trained in parkour and were never
expected to return from their missions.
The goal was usually to kill the target and
then die.
Next, although their fortress was historically
attacked by different factions, both major
sieges of Masyaf covered in the games were
fictional.
The Templars did not attack Rashid’s stronghold
in 1189 as was depicted in Revelations, nor
did they in 1191 as was shown in the opening
segment of the first Assassin’s Creed game.
Lastly, the Old Man of the Mountain was not
killed in 1191 by a former student but is
supposed to have died of natural causes in
1193.
Now, having said all that let’s look into
what the games did right and how they merged
their fictional elements with the real history.
A portion of the game I found particularly
interesting was when the fictional siege of
Masyaf led by Robert de Sable in the first
game, because it featured the first example
of Rashid ad-Din Sinan’s representation
being merged with stories about the original
leader of the Assassins from the fortress
of Alamut, Hassan-i Sabbah.
Specifically, I am referring to the moment
in the game where Al Mualim speaks to the
Templars and has three of his men, including
Altair, jump off one of Masyaf’s towers
to their apparent death as a sign of their
faith and complete lack of fear towards death.
Al Mualim: My men do not fear death Robert, they welcome it and the rewards it reaps.
Robert de Sable: Good. Then they shall have it all around.
Assassin: Follow me, and so without hesitation.
Al Mualim: Show this fool knight what it is to have no fear. Go to God!
In the game, this is a distraction that allows
Altair to deploy a trap and rout the Templars.
In reality, this is tied to a story about how Hassan
used the same method to dissuade the Seljuk
Turks laying siege to his fortress of Alamut,
however according to that account the men
actually jumped to their death as a sign of
absolute obedience.
Next, although the assassinations depicted
in the first AC game were predominantly all
fictional, they were representative of the
type of operations Rashid ordered in that
period, by having his men disguise themselves
or infiltrate an area, gather information
and eventually kill their target.
As a mentioned earlier, a good example of
this was the fictional assassination of William
de Montferrat, which held some parallels to
the actual assassination of his son Conrad
de Montferrat.
Lastly, another example of merging the stories
of the two aforementioned Assassin mentors
was when Altair returned to face and fight
Rashid in AC1.
This is reminiscent of another story attributed
to Hassan where it is said one of his students
returned from a botched assassination on the
Seljuk sultan, seeking answers from his mentor
who he blamed for lying to him.
It was at this point where the mentor revealed
his maxim of “Nothing is an absolute reality,
all is permitted”, which was clearly used
as the inspiration for the fictional Assassin
Brotherhood’s motto of “Nothing is True;
everything is permitted”.
Overall, I would say that despite the games’
tendency to lean more some of the legends
surrounding the real-world Assassin order
when depicting Rashid ad-Din Sinan, he was
generally well represented in the series.
Historically, he is recognized as an iconic
leader within his order, operating with independence
from his superiors in Alamut.
Historians refer to his as a master of diplomacy
and political manipulations, as was highlighted
by the well-timed alliances he developed with
the Crusaders and Saracens at crucial points
in the Assassins lifetime.
All of these traits were well represented
in the game as he led his forces with an iron
fist, bringing them to their peak in power.
The reach of his will was displayed in the
way he had his assassins slaying adversaries
across the Levant in his name.
The only two main exceptions were the way
he was depicted as a secret member of the
Templars and a traitor to his brotherhood,
as a plot device for the Assassin’s Creed
franchise, and the manner in which the game
had him partake in events which come from
tales that are solely attributed to Hassan-i Sabbah.
However, to be fair, I didn’t have a problem
with that last point as I liked the way it
further fleshed out the mystical European
interpretation of the Assassin brotherhood and its leaders.
And with that, we have concluded our second
episode in the revival series of Assassin’s
Creed the Real History.
I’d like to take a moment and thank you
all for watching.
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Thanks for watching, and I’ll be seeing
you in a future video.
