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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and in this installment of Versus, we're seeing which side is really
00:11humanity's best hope, the Assassins or the Templars.
00:21Before we begin, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:26the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:41Assassin's Creed is well known for its cameos from many historical figures.
00:46The day's famous faces frequently show up to help or hinder our protagonists depending
00:50on which side they're on.
00:52The Assassins count a lot of significant people among their allies, though.
00:56Leonardo da Vinci, Suleiman the Magnificent, George Washington, Blackbeard, Charles Dickens,
01:01and many more.
01:03And in some ways, some of the series' most capable protagonists, namely Cassandra and
01:07Eivor, are allies of the Assassins, since they never truly joined the Brotherhood.
01:13You certainly wouldn't want these two as your enemies.
01:16The Templars, meanwhile, make far fewer allies.
01:19They have many historical figures actually in their ranks, like Charles Lee, George Monroe,
01:24and Alfred the Great, but they certainly make fewer friends.
01:27They can be found manipulating people like Robespierre and revolutionaries in Unity,
01:33but they're not exactly friends.
01:35Even Julius Caesar was really just a pawn of Flavius and Septimus.
01:39The Templars are so cagey about their true goals that it makes sense that they be more
01:44careful with their allegiances, while the Assassins make it clear that they're fighting
01:48for freedom, which generally appeals to people more, though we'll talk more about this later.
01:53Animus is an easy win for the Assassins.
01:56They're much more agreeable and helpful, and therefore manage to make inroads with
02:01powerful people despite their limited means.
02:04Winner, Assassins.
02:06Just a moment!
02:08Wait here.
02:09Round two, technology.
02:11Specific to the individual remembering the event.
02:14Yeah, sure.
02:16There are two pieces of technology that are vital to Assassin's Creed, the Animus and
02:21the Hidden Blade.
02:22The Animus has been invented by the Templars not once, but twice.
02:27The first time was in the 9th century when the Order of the Ancients built the Al-Ru'l
02:31in Baghdad, an early Animus that likely killed its subjects.
02:35But a non-lethal version was finally developed by Abstergo in the 21st century.
02:41While it wasn't directly fatal, it did run the risk of driving people mad due to prolonged
02:46use.
02:47We see this happen to Subject 16, and in later games, Leila Hassan clearly suffers physically
02:52because she's overusing it.
02:54Regardless, the Animus is the most important device in the franchise, and it was made by
02:59the Templars and only reverse-engineered and iterated on by the Assassins.
03:04The Hidden Blade, meanwhile, was created by proto-Assassin Darius.
03:09Darius is an ancestor of Aya in Assassin's Creed Origins, and is referenced in the Sanctuary
03:14in Assassin's Creed II as the Assassin of Xerxes I of Persia.
03:19We didn't get to encounter him ourselves until Odyssey's Legacy of the First Blade
03:23DLC.
03:24While he technically isn't an Assassin because the Hidden Ones haven't been founded yet,
03:28and wouldn't be for another 500 years, the technology behind the Hidden Blade has remained
03:33in Assassin hands.
03:35It's also rare that they give the Blade to non-Assassins, with Eivor being the only non-Assassin
03:40to have it that we know of.
03:42But unsurprisingly, the Templars use the Hidden Blade too, notably Hathem Kenway.
03:48But they still prefer other methods of murder.
03:50For the technology wonder of the Animus, this one has to go to the Templars, even though
03:55the Hidden Blade has been more resoundingly useful to the Brotherhood for most of its
04:00history.
04:01Winner, Templars.
04:02We've found similar reactions among patients who undergo hypnosis to relive traumatic events.
04:07They can't jump directly into the specific memory.
04:11Problem 3.
04:12Leaders.
04:13I have seen enough for one life.
04:17This one's a little trickier, because generally, the leader of the Assassins are our heroes,
04:23while the leaders of the Templars are the villains.
04:25For the Assassins, we have iconic characters like Altair and Ezio running the show.
04:30And later on, Jacob Frye takes a leadership role with the Rooks and the entire London
04:35Brotherhood by the time of the Jack Ripper DLC.
04:38Eivor's also a very strong leader, and while they're not officially an Assassin, they
04:42do keep an Assassin Bureau run by Hathem in Ravensthorpe and are responsible for eradicating
04:48the Order in England.
04:49Bayek and Aya also lead the Hidden Ones in Egypt and are capable, beloved characters.
04:54The Templars, meanwhile, don't have that many memorable leaders and frequently have
04:59weak villains.
05:00Jermaine and Stark chief among them.
05:03There's Alfred the Great again, but he's the one feeding Eivor information about the
05:07Order so that they can kill them.
05:09Septimus is responsible and a very strong leader for the group, and Cheshire Borja remains
05:14a standout villain, but he's more concerned with building his own power than unlocking
05:18the secrets of the Isu.
05:20There is, of course, one Templar leader that we all know of and love, Hathem Kenway, Grand
05:26Master of the Colonial Rite of the Templar Order.
05:29Alas, Hathem never got his own game, though he did show up as a major character in Assassin's
05:35Creed Rogue as well and was just as enjoyable there.
05:38Ultimately, though, this is a numbers game, so it's a win for the Assassins.
05:43Hathem may be one of the most effective leaders in the entire franchise, but he's still only
05:48one man.
05:49Winner, Assassins.
05:50Come, my friend.
05:51Help me charter a ship to Navarre.
05:52I must finish with Cheshire Borja.
05:58Round four, power.
05:59Let us leave this place.
06:01We cannot, Ezio.
06:03Not without reaching the final room of the temple.
06:06Despite their many friends in high places, the Assassins are always the underdogs.
06:12It's the Templars who live and breathe power, infiltrating the highest levels of society.
06:17Kings, popes, presidents, ultra-capitalists, they've all been beholden to the Templars
06:23at one point or another.
06:25And the Templars are so powerful that when they do get monarchs that they can't manipulate,
06:30they may back a violent revolution and execute them, as in the case of Louis XVI.
06:36The Templars are even involved in helping Britain win the Seven Years' War, giving
06:40the Royal Navy control of the seas for hundreds of years.
06:44They're always in power, and the Assassins are always trying to dismantle these structures.
06:49On the other side, the Assassins do, again, have powerful allies.
06:54They befriend the Medicis in Florence, and much later, Queen Victoria asks the Fry Twins
06:59for help.
07:00But the Assassins wield the most power before the Seven Years' War and during the French
07:04Revolution, when Mirabeau brokers a temporary truce with the Templars.
07:09Otherwise, they're always getting left in the dirt.
07:12This makes for a better and more interesting story, as we work to dismantle the Order's
07:16influence piece by piece.
07:18But it does mean that the Assassins are always on the back foot, no matter how much work
07:23they do.
07:24Of course, a lot of that is also because of what they ultimately believe.
07:28In the end, the Templars always have the power, and always come back with their unscrupulous
07:33ways, so they win this round.
07:36Winner, Templars.
07:37How did you find me?
07:40The apple you stole from Mario Auditore led me here.
07:45Round 5, Ideology
07:47To say that nothing is true is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile,
07:52and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization.
07:55Just what does each side believe?
07:58Both sides are aware of the Isu and the pieces of Eden, and want to take those pieces of
08:03Eden either to use to control people, or to lock away forever.
08:07The Assassins have their famous creed, nothing is true, everything is permitted, which Ezio
08:12explains more thoroughly than any other Assassin in Revelations.
08:17The Assassins believe that humanity needs to be free.
08:20That's why they date back, in some form or another, to Adam and Eve freeing humankind
08:25from the control of the Isu and the apples of Eden.
08:28They want to keep the Isu technology previously used to control us away from the people who
08:33might misuse it, except in Rogue, where the Templars are the ones warning people of the
08:38dangers of precursor relics.
08:40To say that everything is permitted is to understand that we are the architects of our
08:45actions, and that we must live with our consequences.
08:49The Templars, meanwhile, believe that the true road to lasting peace for humanity is
08:54through total control.
08:56They believe that human nature is violence, and that by controlling people, they can unify
09:01our species.
09:03Sometimes they want access to pieces of Eden to do that, but more pragmatic Templars like
09:07Hathim see the flaws in both sides, and know that the pieces of Eden are just too dangerous
09:13for any humans to be trusted with.
09:16But they are similar enough that from time to time, the groups work together to prevent
09:21a greater evil.
09:23Hathim and Connor teaming up during Assassin's Creed 3, while Arno and Elise also manage
09:28to put their different beliefs aside.
09:30If it's a choice between flawed freedom and peaceful slavery, we choose freedom any day.
09:35And if the Isu couldn't control humanity, the Templars trying to do so are just as doomed.
09:41Winner, Assassins.
09:42I know what we need to do.
09:47After all that, while the two groups are more similar than they're not, it's definitely
09:52the Assassins that win.
09:54They have their hypocritical moments, wanting peace through murder for instance, but they
09:58believe that humanity deserves to be free to make its own choices and face the consequences.
10:04Should you choose to spare Lee's life, then I will take it myself.
10:09Let us know in the comments which side you'd pick to join in the real world.