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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Order. Purpose. Direction. No more than that. It's your lot that means to confound with this nonsense talk of freedom. Time was, the Assassins professed a far more sensible goal: that of peace. | „ |
| ~ Haytham, after Connor asks him what the Templars seek. |
| “ | Don't think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong. I will not weep and wonder what might have been. I'm sure you understand. Still, I'm proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction. Strength. Courage. All noble qualities. I should have killed you long ago. | „ |
| ~ Haytham's last words to his son. |
Haytham E. Kenway is a major antagonist of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise, serving as the titular main antagonist of the Kenway Saga.
He is the Grand Master of the Colonial Templar Rite, as well as the son of the pirate Assassin known as Edward Kenway, the father of the Colonial Assassin Connor Kenway, and an ancestor to both William and Desmond Miles. Though he was raised as an assassin, he would join the Templars in their quest to obtain absolute order amongst the world due to Reginald Birch orchestrating the death of his father. As such, he became his arch nemesis once Haytham learned the truth.
He was voiced by Adrian Hough.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He joins the Templar Order.
- He kidnapped a young assassin named Lucio Albertine so that the grandmaster of the British Templar Rite, Reginald Birch, could blackmail his mother into decoding a journal that Haytham stole from Juan Vedomir. They were kept in very harsh conditions because of him, though he pleaded with Birch to free them as he couldn't stand to see them suffer.
- He killed Miko, the master assassin of the British Brotherhood of Assassins that held a key to a First Civilization Precursor site, which would traumatize his nephew Duncan Little as the boy grew up, since he saw Haytham kill his uncle. This would also severely weaken the Assassin's hold on England so that the Templars could take over for many years to come, which makes him somewhat responsible for Crawford Starrick tyrannically ruling London during Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.
- Under the orders of Birch, Haytham would travel to the colonies in search of the Precursor sites.
- He tracked down Edward Braddock, and when he found Braddock, Haytham killed him, but to be fair, Braddock deserved it since he attempted to commit genocide against the French people, as well as playing a part in causing the death of his father, Edward Kenway.
- He and his sister Jennifer Scott would kill Birch as revenge for having their father, Edward Kenway, killed. (Even though he deserved it, Haytham would choose to stay as a Templar instead of redeeming himself and following his father's footsteps.)
- Once he and Jennifer part ways, Haytham would assume the role of Templar Grandmaster of the Colonial Rite, becoming more ruthless and just as bad as Birch was.
- He would recruit the defected Assassin known as Shay Patrick Cormac into the Templar Order. Then, he helped Shay in his mission of slowly destroying the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood by assisting him in hunting down every single assassin that held influence over the colonies. (Though most of them deserved it for corrupting the Brotherhood with their slaughter of innocents and compromising of the Brotherhood, going completely against everything that Bayek of Siwa, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze stood for in the very beginning)
- While fighting Adewale, Haytham would disrespect his late father Edward by mockingly saying that he didn't think he had any shame, which angered Adewale since he still respected him.
- When he and Shay were interrogating a gang member in order to find Hope Jensen, Haytham would kill him with his hidden blade even after he confessed. He also lied to Shay when he asked where he got his hidden blade.
- Christopher Gist implied that Haytham would have had no problems with killing and disposing of Shay if they failed to meet eye to eye. While he was respectful towards Shay, he still manipulated him into becoming a part of the Templar Order by using his disdain for the Assassin Brotherhood against him and by feeding him half-truths and omitting a lot of things about their true nature, especially that of William Johnson and Charles Lee.
- When he and Shay were maneuvering through the precursor site, he would push an Assassin goon into a laser wall instead of quickly killing him with a hidden blade, which resulted with the latter being horribly burned alive before disintegrating.
- Once the Colonial Brotherhood was near it's extinction, he would cripple Achilles Davenport by shooting his right knee, thus rendering him unable to stop the Templar takeover of the colonies. The only reason he decided not to kill him was because the moment Haytham was about to finish off Achilles in a sword fight, Shay interfered and asked to spare him instead because Shay was merciful, which led to Haytham reluctantly sparing and crippling Achilles instead. But this is not redeeming, because Haytham didn't spare Achilles out of the kindness of his heart.
- He tasks Gist with wiping out and removing all the remaining remnants of the Colonial Brotherhood across the country.
- He would lead a devastating attack on the Davenport Homestead even though Achilles was already defeated and unable to fight, which would result in the deaths of every remaining assassin on the property, except for Achilles and Robert Faulkner. This, combined with Shay's work on the colonies, ensured that the Colonial Brotherhood was weakened and dismantled, leading to the event being named the Great Purge.
- He would task Shay with finding the precursor box by any means necessary, even if it meant spending his lifetime by searching the world. This would result with Shay traveling to France and murdering the Assassin known as Charles Dorian inside of the Palace of Versailles. Not only would this lead to Arno Dorian being framed for his father's murder, being orphaned, and being prompted to join the Assassin Brotherhood as he grew older, but Shay implied that he and the Templars would start a revolution of their own when Connor Kenway, Haytham's son, undid all of his work, hinting towards the French Revolution that would claim countless lives. Haytham is to blame for indirectly causing this to happen since he sent Shay.
- He is directly responsible for the Boston Massacre, which endangered dozens of innocent people. Additionally, the massacre killed 5 people and fatally injured 6 people. And he ordered the British to go after Connor, who was watching from the rooftops.
- He kickstarted the Revolutionary War in his quest for power, which led to multiple countries fighting against each other and causing deaths and serious damage in most of the countries that partook in the war. It is also estimated that around 50,000 people died in the war.
- He intended to have Charles Lee take over the colonies and it’s implied Haytham is responsible for many of Charles’ crimes despite Charles being a racist and sadistic bigot, which shows Haytham has no problem with aiding racist villains in their plans.
- He attempted to manipulate his son Connor by keeping the truth about the raid on his village a secret until it becomes necessary for him to reveal it.
- He executes prisoners that he deems useless, and he shows zero remorse for killing them since he believes that his victims deserved to be executed. While this can be said for some of his victims, the same can’t be said for the rest of them.
- It is heavily implied that he became a brutal torturer by the end of the game, which indicates that he is willing to torture his victims to death in brutal, cruel, harsh, unusual and gruesome ways.
- Even though he cares for his son Connor, Haytham spends much of his interactions with Connor being a big jerk towards him and expecting him to do as he says just because he’s his father, which led to Connor developing extremely deep insecurities due to being forced to live up to his father's expectations and standards.
- Whenever Connor promised to spare someone after they were finished interrogating them, Haytham would go against his son's word and kill them.
- He tried to kill Connor just because he thought that Connor was threatening Charles Lee, even though Charles had an understandable reason to be threatened since he manipulated Connor’s best friend into attempting to murder him.
- In the Modern Era, his actions and personality served as one of the inspirations for Otso Berg, a modern Templar working for Abstergo Industries.
- While he does have some comedic moments such as his jerkish interactions with Connor, they don't detract from his heinousness in the slightest and he is still taken seriously in-universe.
- Even though Assassin's Creed has an extremely high heinous standard, Haytham stands out due to having lower resources than some of the worse villains like Flavius Metallus, Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Edward Braddock, etc, a high kill count and some personal villainy towards Connor. He also knows that Connor is his son, which makes his abuse towards him even more personally evil.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He is tragic, as he was originally a kind and innocent child until his entire family was murdered in front of him and he was then taken in by the Templars, which led to him undergoing a severe personality change and becoming a Templar Grand Master. Whilst this isn't particularly mitigating considering his personal villainy towards his own son, it still had a strong impact on shaping him.
- He is a well-intentioned extremist and anti-villain, as he genuinely wants to avenge his father’s death and further the goals of the Templar Order.
- He genuinely respects his comrades, and he was kind enough to introduce Shay into the Templar Order despite him being an Assassin.
- Despite his personal villainy towards his son Connor, Haytham still genuinely loves him, as he was protective of him and even states that he was proud of the person that he grew up to be.
- He has standards against slavery and the awful crimes that his former friend Edward Braddock committed.
- While he is not redeemed, as he didn't give up on his plans to further the goals of the Templar Order nor did he change his opinion on Connor's personality, he can be considered On & Off. Every now and then, he has committed some heroic deeds over the course of the game such as assisting his son Connor in defeating Edward Braddock, freeing several American slaves from the crime lord Silas Thatcher, and covering up the escape of his ally Charles Lee.
- He is affably evil, as he treats most people with respect and felt remorse for killing an assassin.
- His death was played for sympathy, as he refused to cry, told his son that he is a good person and succumbed to his wounds in peace.
Trivia[]
- So far, Haytham is the only Assassin's Creed villain to be IH.
- While he's IH, both his father and son are Inconsistently Admirable.
External Links[]
- Haytham Kenway on the Villains Wiki
- Haytham Kenway on the Assassin's Creed Wiki
- Haytham Kenway on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki