Baresark said:
It's true, Altaire's religion was implied as he answered directly to a Muslim leader. But also the naming convention is that of Islamic background, specifically the use of term "ibn" within his name, which means "son of". But I recognize that it could also be a result of his regional upbringing.
As noted, he had a Muslim father - and a Christian mother. His religious beliefs have never been stated as far as a I know (nor have Al Mualim's). Considering the theme of the game was focused more on the Control/Safety of the Templars vs. the Freedom/Chaos of the Assassins, religion simply wasn't important. They were two factions which have philosophical opposition which have
nothing to do with religion.
Baresark said:
The Knights Templar are among the most famous Western Christian Military Orders. They were representative of the Christian role in the Crusades, as well as many other knightly orders. Some of the more famous of those others being units like the Hospitallers (not sure if this is spelled correctly).
"The Knights Templar" are not the Templars of the AC series. The real version may be a Christian order but the AC version is nothing of the sort especially since the Templars as an AC faction predate Christianity by hundreds if not thousands of years.
Baresark said:
As far as Al Mualin being the puppet master, you didn't know till the end that was the situation. The staging ground were the Crusades which was a war between Islam and Christendom, though that conflict is in the backround. That is not to say the background conflict to this title will not be the revolution. But Altaire clearly killed men of Christian descent, and I will say it again, no one had an issue with this.
Yes, he killed men of Christian descent. He also killed men of Muslim descent. Saracen men. And, as noted, Altairs own religious affiliations were never stated and indeed weren't important. The background conflict may have been religious, but the conflict of Altair was Assassins vs. Templars. We can draw a rather clear parallel to Assassins Creed 3, where the purported conflict of Connor is Assassins vs. Templars and the
background conflict is the Colonial Rebellions, but thus far we've seen no evidence of this being the case. At all.
All the press demos, the trailers, the screenshots, indicate that the background conflict and primary conflict of our protagonist are one and the same cut across the lines of American Assassins vs. British Templars.
You see why some people may have a problem?
Baresark said:
Second, a person of Native American descent would have equal reasons to hate the British and colonists. Yet, there were many situations, historically, where Native Americans did not hate the colonists. There was a great divide among the various Native American tribes, some fought on the side of the Colonists, other on the side of the loyalists. Also, with a name like Connors, he is not specifically Native American, he is a mix. His name sake is Irish, who historically have had plenty of reason to hate and despise the British.
He's indeed a mix - half-British, half-Native American. From the Assassin's Creed wikia [http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Connor_Kenway]:
Born to a British father and Mohawk mother, Ratonhnhaké:ton was raised among his mother's tribe. He suffered severely during his childhood, largely from the tribe's encounters with European colonists; a conflict that reached its peak when his village was destroyed by a colonial force.
Connor was raised Native American, had a British father and had his home village destroyed by Colonists. "Connor" isn't even his real name. He took it later on. He had no reason to side with the Colonists given his history. If they don't address this it'll be an enormous mis-step
Baresark said:
Once again, no proof is given that it's not even handed. Such statements can't even be argued till someone has played the game. You know nothing about the game, as I know nothing about the game. All we have seen is a handful of action shots. But regardless of the outcome, the broad spectrum anti american sentiment caused by this is what annoys me.
We know some of the game - they've given press demos. All of which focused on killing British people. The Kotaku article linked above indicates as such.
