The story of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag takes place during the time of the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730), an era of legendary pirate activity around the Caribbean, when several pirates and privateers, mainly from Great Britain, Spain and France, would sail to the beautiful islands of the West Indies either in search of fortune and fame, if they were acting on their own account, or following the orders of their governments in cases where they were official "employees" tasked to attack and conquer ships of rivaling countries. Edward Kenway is our hero, the beautiful, charismatic and adventurous young man from Swansea, who got married at the tender age of eighteen to his sweetheart Caroline Scott, but less that two years later, sick of the deprived life that he was forced into, and wishing to provide better living conditions for his wife and himself, he decided to leave his home for a set period of time and become a privateer at the West Indies.

 

Our hero's journey in both the seas and life is fascinating, to say the least. Filled with danger, but also with thrilling, exciting experiences and valuable lessons. He makes new friends, is reunited with past companions, loses beloved people from his life; he also succeeds in becoming rich and gaining notoriety at first, but also eventually fame. In short, he makes an ambitious manifestation at the start of his journey; and everything he wishes for, he achieves it progressively. Of course nothing comes easy, and not without big, painful costs. But first he becomes a pirate captain, with his own brigantine which he calls The Jackdaw; and he returns to Nassau, the island where a group of pirates, previously his comrades during his privateering era, had established their own Republic, which they are now governing themselves having achieved a relative independence, free of all superior power and laws. Historical figures like Laureano de Torres y Ayala, Ed Thatch aka Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, Woodes Rogers, Stede Bonnet and Mary Read play a most important role both in the story and in Edward's development as a character, some of them being quite defining as personalities as far his emotional growth and self-awareness are concerned.

 

 

Edward's story unfolds amidst a gripping narrative; and in the lush and colorful paradise of the Caribbean islands, our golden-haired pirate hero rises as one of the most memorable characters of the Assassin's Creed series and maybe the most perfectly shaped and compelling of all. Evoking the life and legend of real-life pirate Samuel Bellamy, Edward is not simply one more well-designed character; he is a hero of fiction who stays with you, somehow finds his way into your heart and once this happens, he becomes part of your own being. Debonair but also blunt, beautiful and at the same time raw, innocent yet ingenious, unstoppable and fragile, he balances traits that are opposite to each other with the same agility with which he is equally sturdy and graceful. In spite of his weaknesses and imperfections - or, maybe, exactly thanks to them, he is the most inspiring and heart-warming hero of the saga. 

 

 

There is a lot of background when the story begins in medias res, but in the process enough information is being offered so that we get to know our hero soon enough and familiarize with his passionate and captivating character. Edward has all the traits of the Assassins (perception, eagle vision, high intelligence and instinct), but he does not even learn about the Brotherhood until Sequence 4, and he does not become an Assassin until the very end of the game, which renders his story even more powerful, interesting and unique. The references to the series' backstory concerning the First Civilization are minimal, something that helps keep the focus on Edward himself and his own view of everyone and everything around him. More specifically, the Assassins as a unit of interest only essentially come to the foreground during the very brief Sequence 4, which is practically the necessary path that Edward has to follow, guided by Mary, so as to essentially understand that he is a gifted man and has all the traits that could allow him in the Assassin Brotherhood, and similarly in the segment of memory To Suffer Without Dying where Mary, upon dying, urges Edward to help the Assassin cause, which he then considers doing in the follow-up memory Everything Is Permitted. The rest of the story is mainly independent, dealing mostly with Edward's emotional growth and the several stages from which he passes as some kind of unofficial ritual in order to finally find himself and realize that what in fact urged him to abandon his original stagnant life was not so much the promise of riches and fame, but his inner need to break free and live beyond limitations and obligations imposed by society. Edward always aspired to something greater, but in the beginning he did not realize that the privateer's life ahead of him was only a first step towards something much more important than wealth; it was the unique chance that he had to leave behind a predetermined, conventional life that would soon make him an unhappy man. 

 

On a theoretical level, Edward's idea of freedom which was pretty much the same with what the pirates had in mind for Nassau, co-incided with the ideals of the Assassins; something that Edward himself points out to Mary as she analyzes the philosophy of the Brotherhood in memory Overrun and Outnumbered. But in practice, and in their essence, the mechanics behind the Assassin Brotherhood are quite different, not to mention the several gray areas in which sometimes the Assassins tread, marginally identifying with the Templars. When Mary starts explaining the Creed's goals to Edward, the first thing she mentions is that "we kill people", meaning of course the Templars and those seeking to use power for evil purposes. This is something that, in theory, sounds solid and good, but when put to practice it can never remain pure and clean as a way of action, as it involves taking lives. Which is why Edward is so reluctant to join the Assassins, although he is sympathizing with them and their cause and acknowledges that, to a certain extent and as far as their ideals are concerned at least, they are in the right. 

 

As a lead character, Edward is essentially making his own story, either going with the flow or playing by his rules, according to how each situation commands. When he finds himself stranded on the beach of Cape Bonavista, with only the extremely dangerous Duncan Walpole as a surviving companion, he attempts to make a deal with him; when this fails and Duncan threatens to kill him, Edward kills him in self-defense and assumes his identity. Then in Havana, he goes through the brief initiation ceremony that Governor Laureano Torres holds and accepts the Templar ring, curious to see where all this will lead. During the meeting that follows the initiation ceremony, he is informed of the existence of the Observatory, the sacred site that holds a mythical treasure and the location of which is only known to Bartholomew Roberts aka The Sage; and finding the site with the latter's help immediately becomes Edward's ultimate goal. When his identity fraud is revealed and he is found chained in the hold of a prisoner ship, he manages to escape, he steals a Spanish brig and becomes a pirate captain. Edward is an adventurer, taking things as they come but also carving his own path, always alert to seize opportunities and change route if necessary.

 

With no time to lose, he names his newly-acquired brig 'The Jackdaw'; a choice of name that feels - and is - very significant at that point. There are a few very interesting references to the jackdaw throughout the story, culminating in Woodes Rogers' speech during Edward's nightmare in Delirium, in which the now ex-governor narrates Aesop's fable about the jackdaw and the eagle. The Jackdaw and the Eagle as stand-alone entities and symbols represent Edward versus the Assassins: the Eagle being the Assassins' own unique symbol and the Jackdaw standing for Edward, since it is the name of his ship, as well as a bird species much loved in Great Britain, his homeland; in a connection that is very similar to that between Jacob Frye in Assassin's Creed Syndicate and the Rooks - his gang and the actual rooks that are the symbols of London. There is however another parameter which concerns the jackdaw and its connection to Edward. In one of my replays of the game, I noticed how much the features of Benjamin Hornigold, Edward's mentor in piracy and best-friend-turned-worst-enemy, evoke the image of a jackdaw: the way his ebony hair is tied back that resemble the bird's tail, his sideburns that remind the jackdaw's wings, the look and color of his eyes, the shape of his eyebrows and nose, his dark and mysterious personality. 

Benjamin is charismatic, handsome and smart; but he can also be sly and conniving - exactly like the literal jackdaw: a beautiful and intelligent bird which can be very cunning. The real Benjamin Hornigold was an intriguing historical figure, although little is known about his life. If anything, he must have been a man with a brilliant strategic mind and although he did not reach the legendary levels of fame that other pirates did - like, for example, Ed Thatch - he definitely played a major role in establishing the ambitious Republic of Pirates at Nassau, which was his own ideal - and, in the long run, utopian - vision of a land free of kings and strict laws. The motive that urged him to become a pirate in the first place is foggy, as is his later decision to eventually betray his comrades and become a pirate hunter, shifting to the other extreme. What is certain is that he envisioned a paradise of freedom for Nassau, and he got deeply disappointed when this vision eventually failed to succeed, at which point he did not want to have anything to do with it anymore - exactly how it is depicted in the game. Additionally, his rather reserved approach while he was a pirate captain, not resorting to violent acts unless it was absolutely necessary, and his insistence to never attack British ships, resulted in him being down-voted by his lieutenants, losing much of his allure among his sailors, in spite of his skills. The conditions of his death are blurred as well: his ship was caught in a hurricane while on a special mission and he was forced to run it aground on an uncharted reef. Although a few of his men managed to survive and leave the island on a boat, Hornigold himself died on the wreck site under mysterious circumstances. 

Although not openly evident, as we essentially watch the story via Edward's eyes, it is more than hinted throughout the story that Benjamin's relationship with our hero is neither light nor simple. Even though their main interactions are discussions and bantering concerning their common past as privateers and their current situation as pirates, there are subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) layers in their dialogues that indicate a rather strong and complex bond between them that possibly went beyond the limits of friendship and comradeship, although to which extent, remains deliberately lost in the mist. It is notable that when Edward arrives in Nassau in memory Now Hiring, Benjamin makes it very clear in the hearing of everyone and in a rather spicy way that he is extremely happy to see his old friend again, exclaiming "You are a sight for salty eyes", something that is received with reserved but obvious delight by Edward, judging by his subtle but hearty grin. 

In the next series of scenes in memories Prizes and Plunder and Raise The Black Flag, Benjamin has his eyes fixed on Edward and his stare keeps following him wherever he goes; and this is something that he seems to be doing quite consciously in front of others as well. Not really a surprise though; our Edward is such a stunner. Obviously not fully aware of the effect he has on people, something that makes him even more attractive. In another scene, when Ed Thatch does as little as to barely touch Edward friendly on the shoulder, Benjamin rushes to distract him, asking him for a docket so that he will have to take his hand off Edward to give it over. Although the old salty dog Thatch seems to be quite suspicious of what is going on at that point. Also his comment that he prefers "the Spanish stuff" when talking about ships, in the context that Edward's brigantine is Spanish, gets a quite spicy undertone. Benjamin is a smart man, we know it. Smart and cunning, just like the jackdaw.

Making the connection is not that far-fetched; Edward would watch the jackdaws in Swansea as a child and developed a love for them, like he says; then he went off to become a privateer, met Benjamin who reminded him of the jackdaws and the rest is history. Without having seen Benjamin yet, Adéwalé calls the jackdaw "a dark little creature", as if he senses something in the air (which he probably does, in fact). Benjamin is older than Edward by a bit more than a decade (he is in his early thirties at the beginning of the story), but he has a slim, delicate figure and although still a tall man, he is slightly shorter than the statuesque Edward. On a metaphorical, literary level, he matches Adéwalé's description of the jackdaw more than perfectly. There is also one more possibly missable detail that connects Benjamin to the jackdaw: upon learning the name of Edward's newly acquired ship, the pirates have different reactions: while Jim/Mary is completely indifferent and Ed Thatch teases Edward about how he named his ship "after a poxy bird", Benjamin just turns to look at Edward with obvious content. It is a blink-and-you-will-miss-it frame, but if you stay focused on Benjamin and Edward, you can clearly see them looking and smiling at each other right after the name of Edward's ship becomes known to the group.

Next up, another blink-and-you-will-miss-it frame shows Ben leaning back with a calmly triumphant look in his eyes just while the brief discussion about the name of Edward's ship is concluding. It is as if he is meaning to say, of course Edward would name his ship Jackdaw, what else could it be. And it is quite intriguing to consider how exactly Edward could have made the connection between his friend and the bird in the past. Obviously in a way that became known to Benjamin as well, judging from his reactions, either directly or indirectly through conversations or reminiscences during their privateering days. It is more than evident that Edward was open to all kinds of life's experiences anyway, given also his way of life as a pirate.

Benjamin was clearly an inspiration for Edward during their common privateering era; his skills and intelligence played a good part in forming the young man's perception and personality. But equally, it is more than obvious that Edward, who could very easily charm people with his graceful figure, his golden hair and bright blue eyes, his indomitable spirit and storming personality, had caught Benjamin under his own spell, although his raw innocence somehow did not let him realize this fully. Taking the flashbacks with Caroline into consideration, it gradually becomes clear that what Edward really wanted was a life of freedom - exactly what Benjamin envisioned by establishing the Republic of Pirates on Nassau. Benjamin's seemingly playful but on a second level quite serious advice to forget about Caroline and just enjoy life in Nassau, tells more than is obvious at that point. 

 

Things of course do not unfold very pleasantly, as Benjamin begins to reconsider his idea of the utopian Paradise on Nassau, which, in his eyes, starts to show as exactly what it is: a utopia. An illegal state is very hard to maintain, and more so with so limited resources available. He gradually distances himself from the Pirates Republic, attempting to make his comrades realize how vain their dream turned out to be and how badly it is going to end if they keep on that path. As Thatch strongly opposes him and Edward tries to find a solution somewhere in between, since he can clearly see what Benjamin means but at the same time he does not want to give up that dream so easily and partly backs Thatch up, Benjamin begins to seriously consider yielding to the Governor's proposal for a pardon, which means leaving his pirate days behind him. But what he eventually does is switch to the opposite extreme by becoming a pirate hunter, subsequently betraying his old friends by taking on missions to hunt them down, while accepting to become a Templar and aid the West Indies Rite in locating the Observatory. The process is not that simple though, as the route to the sacred site is a secret that only Bartholomew Roberts knows, so both Benjamin and Edward go on a race against time - and later against each other - to find Black Bart, each one for his own purpose.

 

 

After several chapters in which Benjamin is nowhere to be found, he appears again, side by side with the new Governor Woodes Rogers, although at that point his real intentions are not very obvious. Later on, while looking for Bartholomew Roberts, Edward overhears a conversation between Benjamin and the Governor and subsequently one more that his former friend has with Grand Master Laureano Torres and realizes Benjamin's ultimate betrayal. While confronting him about it during their brief and heated dialogue that follows, Edward yells out "pox on you, traitor", obviously a "curse" that was popular at the time due to life's conditions, but it sounds like a targeted choice of words at that point, again connecting Benjamin to the jackdaw, as it goes back to the comment that Thatch made earlier, when he teased Edward for naming his ship after a poxy bird. So Benjamin, being the living incarnation of the jackdaw, has all its fair and good elements when he is on Edward's side, then abruptly acquires all its negative attributes when his betrayal is revealed. But it is notable that his connection to the jackdaw, albeit negative from that moment and on, still remains till the end.

Although on a deeper level Edward and Benjamin had a common ground, it was in the details that their paths somehow diverted from each other. Benjamin's theory of an ideal utopia was too good to be true in literal, practical terms; this, combined with the fact that, in spite of his radical views, he was way less revolutionary in practice, resulted in him backing down from his own dream when things started to get stressing. Edward, on the other hand, had nothing to lose so he went on; and even if he did have things to lose, he was willing to take risks. What he always wanted was to be wealthy and free; and basically be wealthy as to be able to be free. Edward's longing for absolute freedom is also highlighted by how he tends to strip off uniforms and move around with as little covering as possible. This is part of certain activities in the game, but I always felt that it was incorporated also as a more obvious and symbolic indication of Edward's inner need for liberation. In Assassin's Creed Rogue, Haytham comments at some point that Edward had no sense of shame, something that hits as an insult if you just take it lightly, but in fact Edward, as a person, was completely free of social barriers; in which sense what Haytham says is true and, considering also how much he loved Edward, is anything but negative. We know what a master our beloved villain was with words; his fiendish mind would never operate on one level only. 

There is a twist in the main story about Bartholomew Roberts, but it is connected to the Modern Day sequences as well as the background of the Assassin's Creed saga; in Edward's story itself, Black Bart is a dominant character, who turns out to be a significant antagonist and eventually the only villain that Edward has to exterminate who does not belong to the Templar Order. As such, Roberts is essentially a character who serves as an important driving force in the story, being hunted by Edward, the Templars and the Assassins, as he is the only one who knows where the Observatory is. Edward wants to find the Observatory believing it holds mythical amounts of gold, the Templars want it because they know that with its secret they could rule all the governments and the population of the world, and the Assassins want to get to it so as to protect it by sealing it shut. Roberts himself is heading to the sacred place for his own purpose, but knowing that the path leading to it is extremely dangerous, he agrees to allow Edward accompany him there, seemingly because he trusts him enough to do so, but in reality because he senses that Edward, with his intelligence and skills, is the only one capable of overcoming all danger and clearing the path for him. When Roberts embarks on the first journey with Edward, it is just then when our hero starts suspecting what is going on; but still his mind is fogged as he is focused on finding the Observatory. Roberts essentially holds Edward and his crew hostages; just like he has the Portuguese captain whom he captures in Black Bart's Gambit in order to use as bait and camouflage. The only difference is that Edward and his sailors do not have their hands tied or a gun against their temples. 

I have played many games with fantastic narrative but I can hardly think of a more dense and compelling progression set-up than the one that unfolds in sequences 9 and 10 (Muddied Waters and Dead Reckoning) of Black Flag. Set exclusively around Edward, Hornigold and Roberts, the five episodes that comprise the two sequences are a succession of emotionally loaded scenes and fascinating gameplay, in a progression that is raw, mysterious and chilling without any unneeded bells and whistles. Having already lost his soul-mate Thatch in a most dramatic way, and having been betrayed by Benjamin who has meanwhile become a pirate hunter and a Templar, Edward finds himself at the start of Sequence 9 in a state where he still has control over himself but feels emotionally vulnerable. Realizing the actual extent of Benjamin's betrayal in Imagine My Surprise is a severe shock, so he furiously rushes to Africa in Trust Is Earned to find and rescue Roberts before the Templars get to him. Not only because he wants to get to the Observatory, but also in a spite of vengeance against his former friend and his betrayal. He achieves this, but Roberts puts him to the test by demanding he carries out a series of favors starting with Trust Is Earned and moving on to Black Bart's Gambit and Murder and Mayhem. These favors are in fact trials to prove his loyalty, but Edward is not able to clearly see that yet. Or even if he does see it, he stays focused on his, goal, which is reaching the Observatory. Among these trials, is a cunningly veiled mercenarial order to kill Benjamin Hornigold who is also on the hunt for Roberts and the Observatory by command of the Templars. Upon realizing that Benjamin is after both him and Roberts for this specific purpose, Edward goes off to kill him, while Adéwalé attempts to make him see sense. At the start of the hunt for Benjamin, Edward seems determined to kill his friend no matter what, but as the time draws near for their fatal encounter to take place, he is less and less inclined to carry out the painful deed. 

When he does so, he is clearly devastated; and in this state of emotional turmoil, he is the most vulnerable and thus goes on to act without thinking much first, something that would be quite unlike him under normal circumstances; but Roberts, who had calculated everything beforehand and knows that Edward would end up emotionally wrecked and with his morale shattered after killing Benjamin with his own hands, lures him now to the Observatory, knowing that Edward will just follow along, aiming at the mythical prize inside the shrine with his instinct, which would otherwise warn him of the imminent danger, in a numbed state. The title of  Sequence 10 is Dead Reckoning, a nautical term which describes the process of calculating the position that a moving object has at a given time, by using a position that had been determined previously, while considering also its speed and direction and the remaining time until it reaches its destination; in the story's context, it refers to how Roberts manages to entrap Edward by following a series of carefully set steps, based on Edward's previous actions and reactions. Roberts is a cruel, calculating mind; he knows exactly how Edward will react and what will be his subsequent move every time. From the very first second that he saw Edward in Havana, after our hero helped the Templars re-capture Roberts following his attempted escape, until the time when Edward successfully tracked him down in Principe, Black Bart was able to study his temperament every time he had the chance to. Even when things just happened for him without a plan, he was able to direct them in ways that suited him best. 

After Edward falls in the cunning trap that Roberts set for him inside the Observatory, and manages to make it back, at which point our hero's crew has already abandoned him taking also his ship, Black Bart cruelly teases him by saying "Your Jackdaw has flown", a comment that refers to the obvious (his ship that is gone), but also comes right after Edward has killed Benjamin (the human incarnation of the jackdaw) following the order given by Roberts himself. Benjamin was a dangerous enemy for Roberts, and the latter wanted him out of the way; but although Benjamin was a Templar already, Edward might have dealt with him in a less fatal way if the search for the Observatory had not taken such monstrous extents under Black Bart's influence. It is obvious that, in spite of his smartness and intuition, Edward was deceived by Roberts's compelling personality and his way with words, and was unable to read between the lines until it was already too late.  

It's a recurring tragedy in Edward's life, that he is unable to prevent the loss of the people that are important to him: Thatch dies heroically during a battle where Edward is present but is unable to reach him in time as he is too far away and there are too many obstacles between them; Mary succumbs to her illness in jail in front of his eyes and again he cannot offer a helping hand; Stede is captured and hanged, and Edward only finds out while attempting to escape from prison, after accidentally overhearing a group of guards chatting; again he was unable to help his friend because he was not even there. Later in the story, he learns about Caroline's death during his absence. And worst of all, he is forced to kill Benjamin with his own hands - a devastating twist that also hints at how important Benjamin had been in his life and how much he could possibly be able to affect our hero overall. And vice versa, for that matter. Edward can see the honorable part of the creed that the Assassins represent, but he can also see the grey areas and all those elements that are heavily debatable about it. Which is why it takes him so long to finally become an official member of the Brotherhood. Edward may have the merits and gifts of the Assassins but for the most part in his story he is a civilian, and a particularly insightful and perceptive one. In fact he is a bit like Arno Dorian, who may have become an Assassin very soon after learning about his own gifts and abilities, but throughout the course of his first tumultuous years in the Brotherhood he often clashed with his superiors, most often than not disagreeing with their tactics and their rules. 

Both Edward and Arno view free will as the most important axis in their life, at which point we could say that their perception identifies with that of Shay Cormac. Shay as well operated through the path of free will, something that was frowned upon but his fellow Assassins. Like Edward, Shay was able to discern those grey areas that could easily render the decisions and actions of the Assassins questionable. Of course here we have to take into consideration the different approaches that individual Brotherhoods had by default. The British Brotherhood, for example, was way more balanced and just; acted with caution and flexibility although its members had to deal with extremely dangerous and intimidating adversaries. This is something that we can clearly see, judging by how Jacob and Evie approached their missions, as well as by their overall clear-minded and objective judgement. The French Brotherhood was much more strict and unforgiving, even having in its council Assassins that crossed so many permitted lines. The Brotherhood of the Colonies would often resort to nasty extremities in the name of their creed, actions that were not much different from those of the Templars, something that, in a sense, justifies even more Shay's decision to switch sides. 

Edward had the gifts of the Assassins without realizing that they made him special - one more element that he had common with Arno; in a most revealing scene in This Old Cove, he innocently confesses that he felt how all this - the eagle vision, essentially seeing through things, his high perception - was natural, connected to his dreaming, as he had it since he was a child. He would watch nature around him through his eagle vision, believing it was something that happened casually. He interpreted it as some kind of momentary vision, "like moonlight on the ocean". Later in his travels, which were many, he had seen several things; so all these experiences were stored as a few more wonders in the world that he witnessed around him. Yet this is one more indication that he would have never been able to go on living a conventional life, and even if he did, he would suffer and probably would make the people around him suffer too, because it would have been impossible for him to come to terms with an uneventful daily routine. This becomes even more clear during the final segment of Edward's nightmare in Delirium, when he has a brief vision of himself and Caroline on his ship, with Caroline wondering, in tearful anger, how it was not enough for him that he had her - meaning, a loving wife and a nice home. But Edward always felt that he was made for more. He was doomed to die young, but at least he led a fascinating life until then; with many sacrifices, but fascinating nonetheless.

 

There are so many events that mark his path as he goes; he is constantly on a rollercoaster of emotions as he navigates (literally and metaphorically) the turquoise waters and the green islands of the Caribbean; he risks his life many times, even more times he puts his good fortune to the test. The last words of the people that die by his blade seem to affect him much more than he lets on, as he always looks very thoughtful and concerned upon hearing them. Du Casse's "curse" (May the hell that you find be of your own making), Laurens Prins's sarcastic remark that, just like Edward, he was only after a bit of coin, Charles Vane's furious comment that Edward did not have the courage to live with no regrets, the bitter statement made by John Cockram and Josiah Burgess that, unlike them who had found a family in the Templar Order, Edward was left alone, Benjamin's painful warning that if he went on the path he had taken, he would end up alone at the gallows, all seem to vaguely foretell his future one way or another. And when Torres, upon dying, tells him that "You wear your convictions well; they suit you", it is as if he describes Edward's subsequent Assassin status. Witnessing the death of his good friend Ed Thatch leaves a scar that can never be healed. Edward was emotionally attached to Thatch; something that is only hinted at the start, but becomes more and more evident as the plot progresses, and especially during the beach gathering in North Carolina, where Edward is overwhelmed by sorrow knowing that his friend's decision to retire is final, moments before Blackbeard's tragic death. 

 

His silence when Adéwalé asks him about Blackbeard's fate, and his subsequent reply "he drinks Damnation" has me in tears every time. As does the part where, in the end, Anne sings the line from the "Parting Glass" that says "Of all the comrades that e'er I had / They're sorry for my going away" and a bit further down "But since it fell unto my lot / That I should rise and you should not / I gently rise and softly call / Good night and joy be to you all" as Edward had just had a "vision" of all his dead friends sitting around a table, drinking and being merry. Benjamin is also among them, looking back at him with a genuine smile on his face; which basically hints that Edward never truly wanted to kill him, and he still holds in his memories the good times that they shared together. The lines of that deeply emotional song that accompanies the story's final scenes practically describe Edward's nostalgia of the times that passed without return, all that he had gone through with his beloved friends, the good times and the bad times as well; the fact that he was destined to outlive all his comrades and painfully watch them go one way or the other, and he is now alone, raising a glass as a tribute to them and as one last libation.

The final segment of Sequence 10 where Edward, after managing to escape the Observatory, arrives back at the beach, heavily wounded, bleeding and unable to defend himself against Roberts and his mob of angry sailors, when the only prompt that you get there is plainly "survive", is one of the most compelling and numbing scenes of the story. It is when Edward comes to the bitter and painful realization that all was for nothing in the end, as he is almost dead at that point. He suffers a lot more after this, but manages to make it through and emerge partly healed, and with the knowledge that the secrets of the Observatory should remain unknown to the world forever. But this is what the Observatory essentially is, what it stands for: the higher goal, the elusive dream. What keeps us going on, even if we can never reach it. And if we do, is it worth all the struggle, all the pain, all the sacrifices? Is it what we truly expected to find? And how much do we really deserve it in the first place? Edward started off as a young man in search of a grand prize that would set him for life; he saw his one big chance in the hunt for the Observatory, but on the way he made a fortune and gained fame and notoriety alike. The Observatory itself proved to be a forbidden place, something to be kept sealed, unknown to the world. He managed to reach it but it nearly cost him his life, and meanwhile he had lost all the people that he loved and cared for. Considering also his own fate and the tragedy that hit his daughter and his beloved son later, it looks like the Observatory put a curse on him - or maybe it was Black Bart's curse, those words that he spelled like a mantra: A merry life and a short one. That is all. The world owes us nothing more than this.

Walpole, Conway, Kenway and Black Sam Bellamy

During the eventful beginning of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the pirate of our hearts Edward Kenway, ex-privateer and currently a sailor on a pirate brig called The Jacobite, survives a nasty naval battle and the even nastier sinking of his ship and finds himself on an idyllic tropical beach with white sand, palm trees and the crystal waters of the sea full of the remains of his fellow sailors and well as of those that were on the HMS Intrigue, the hostile frigate that attacked his brig. Very soon he realizes that he is not alone on that beautiful beach, as there is one more survivor, who not only was sailing on the HMS Intrigue, but he was the one who assassinated the captain of Edward's ship and would surely have killed more sailors had the Jacobite's magazine not detonated, which caused the sudden explosion and subsequent sinking of the brig. 

Edward and Duncan on the idyllic Caribbean beach

Heavily hurt but still resilient, the stranger, knowing that Edward is a pirate, asks him - well, more like, he demands - to help him get to Havana, which was his original destination, by offering a considerable amount of money. Sensing that he does not have any gold on him, however, Edward approaches the man to discuss the offer further. Although Edward's attitude is not really hostile, the man gets defensive and threatens to shoot him, only to find out that his pistol is temporarily jammed due to its exposure in the water. 

Duncan threatens to shoot Edward

He throws away the gun in a fury and runs away, and a long and rather exciting chase ensues, through a flourishing forest with vibrant tropical flowers, rainbow-bathed waterfalls, lovely lagoons and harmless fauna, while Edward makes failed attempts to convince the stranger that they could work together and get to Havana by helping each other out. The other guy becomes more hostile and even shoots Edward (thankfully our hero is only grazed by the bullet), obviously by using another pistol; the chase then becomes even more stressing until they reach a clearing where they have a face-off during which Edward is forced to kill the man on the spot, in clear self-defense.

Edward searches the dead body of his mysterious assailant

By searching the items that he was carrying, Edward finds a letter addressed to the now dead assailant. His name was Duncan Walpole and he was on route to meet the Governor of Havana in order to give him a couple of maps and a glass cube of major importance, in exchange for gold. As it is revealed from the letter, the Governor had never seen Mr Walpole, so he did now know how he looked like, an information that instantly gave the ingenious Edward the idea to assume the man's identity and present himself to the Governor as Duncan Walpole so as to claim the dead man's promised reward. Stranded and without any resources as he was at the coast of Cape Bonavista, this looked like the only possible way out for him. So he puts on Duncan's outfit, takes the cube, the letter and the maps, and sets for Havana.

Edward with Duncan Walpole's Assassin uniform

What Edward did not know was that Duncan Walpole was an Assassin, just about to betray his Brotherhood and join the Templar Order, in which the Governor of Cuba belonged as well, being also the Grand Master of the West Indies Rite. Unaware of this crucial detail and completely ignorant about the existence of Assassins and Templars (they are secret societies, after all), Edward eventually reaches Havana and makes his acquaintance with the Governor, introducing himself as Duncan Walpole. During the meeting, he learns about the existence of the Observatory, a sacred place that carries a rare and special treasure but the location of which is unknown, and only one man, called the Sage, knows where it is. 

Edward in lively Havana

The sham works perfectly, and Edward gets his reward; however later, due to a series of miscalculated and hasty moves, his deceit is exposed and the Governor, furious not only because of having been deceived but also because Edward had killed a very promising and skilled future Templar, who also knew secrets of the Assassin Brotherhood, therefore would have been additionally valuable for the Order, has him captured and sends him off on a prisoner ship. From that point and on, our hero takes his fate in his own hands, manages to free himself with the help of Adewale, an escapee slave from Trinidad, steals a brigantine which he calls The Jackdaw, becomes a pirate captain and sets sail for Nassau, where a group of pirates who were his comrades during his privateering days had established an independent Republic state. A succession of adventures follows, during which Edward gets to know about the Assassin Brotherhood, realizes that he has all the gifts and skills that could make him an Assassin too, meets the Mayan Master Assassin Ah Tabai, who used to be Duncan's mentor and now feels betrayed and is skeptical about accepting Edward in the Brotherhood; he painfully parts with some of his friends one way or the other, and he eventually manages to locate the Sage, who turns out to be fellow pirate Bartholomew Roberts. Edward subsequently reaches the Observatory with him, only to fall in a nearly lethal trap that results in a bounty being put on his head and him ending up imprisoned in a Jamaican jail. 

Laureano Torres threatens Edward in the prison grounds

Because he is a pirate, because of the bounty but mainly because he refused to cooperate with Laureano Torres and his associates by not revealing the location of the Observatory, as part of his punishment he is locked in a cage for several hours each day, both as a deterrent for the other imprisoned pirates, but mainly in order to have him weakened and hopefully make him talk. This routine is repeated for several months until one day Ah Tabai sneaks in the prison grounds, still unsure about accepting Edward in the Brotherhood, but nonetheless willing to help him escape. Just before this happens, the guards who are responsible for keeping an eye on the prisoners in the cages take their positions and they start gossiping and mocking Edward for the unlucky state in which he found himself. As part of their cruel teasing, they call him Walpole, bringing back memories of how it all began; and they deliberately misspell his own name by calling him Conway.

Edward in captivity

There is a very interesting connection between these two names, Walpole and Conway, especially since they are heard the one after the other in the same context, with Edward's real surname being the link between them. Duncan Walpole, the "devilishly handsome" traitor of the Assassin Brotherhood, shares the same surname with Horace Walpole (1717-1797), politician and writer who authored the "Castle of Otranto" (1764), which is considered the first Gothic novel. Long before Gothic literature became popular through the writings of the Victorian era writers, Horace Walpole wrote his eery, chilling novel narrating the story of a family haunted by an accursed prophecy. Walpole himself was a restless spirit, and took on several professions throughout his life, but he was rather solitary, he never married and his closest friend to whom he was also strongly (and probably suspiciously) attached was a cousin of his, named Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795).

Horace Walpole (by Rosalba Carriera, left) and his cousin Henry Conway (right)

So see how Walpole and Conway, the names with which the guards call Edward, are already connected to each other. But there is one more connection, which again ties them with Edward Kenway. Henry Conway, an army general who had taken on several military operations and was also involved in politics, did marry unlike his cousin and although he too was attached to Horace since they came together for the first time at Eaton College. His wife, the young widow of an Earl, was called Caroline, sharing the name of Edward's wife in Black Flag.

Edward and Caroline in one of the story's flashbacks

Just like her real-life namesake, Black Flag's Caroline was also born in a wealthy family, and her romance with and subsequent marriage to Edward was frowned upon by her parents. For its own part, this fact connects Edward to the real-life pirate captain Samuel Bellamy, also known as Black Sam Bellamy, a London-born buccaneer, who operated in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy and whose personality and life story seem to have been a major inspiration behind Edward's character. 

 

Captain Samuel Bellamy, by Gregory Manchess

 

Before becoming a pirate and while serving the Royal Navy as a privateer, Samuel Bellamy was engaged to a girl named Mary Hallet, whose family disapproved of their romance. In order to prove himself worthy and become wealthy enough, Samuel turned to piracy, after connecting with Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teatch (or Thatch, the famous Blackbeard, to whom Hornigold was a mentor). Mary was pregnant when he left, something that Samuel ignored, exactly how things turned out for Edward; but unlike Caroline, who gave birth to Jennifer, Mary suffered a miscarriage. All these facts share many similarities with Edward's life adventures, as does the sinking of the real Spanish Treasure Fleet in 1715 during a disastrous storm, a historical event and the incident that in Black Flag gave Edward the chance to become a pirate captain: while sailing in the waters of the Treasure Fleet's wreckage looking for gold, just like lots of others buccaneers and pirates who had rushed to the site for the same purpose, Bellamy and his friend Henry Jennings eventually joined Hornigold and Blackbeard's pirate crew, similarly how Edward, after surviving the hurricane, in which the Treasure Fleet sunk, sailed to Nassau to reconnect with his old comrades, the very same Benjamin Hornigold and Ed Thatch, with Adewale and his newly acquired crew on his Jackdaw.

 

The Jackdaw sailing away from the sunken Treasure Fleet

 

Although he soon became legendary, Samuel Bellamy rarely resorted to violence, which is why he was fondly nicknamed Prince of Pirates and Robin Hood of the Sea. He was a strikingly beautiful young man, just like Edward; only he had black hair - pretty much like Duncan Walpole; and he used to have his hair tied back in a queue, ditching the wig that was a trend until then - a stylistic modernity that post-humously earned him the nickname Black Sam Bellamy (because he would show off his black hair). As we see in the game, both Edward and Duncan have their hair tied back; and they are both very handsome and attractive, like the real-life captain. It looks like several characteristics of Samuel Bellamy were split between the two characters, which makes their fatal meeting in the Caribbean Sea and the fact that they essentially became one person for the brief time during which Edward impersonated Duncan, even more interesting and intriguing. 

 

Samuel Bellamy (by Don Maitz), Duncan Walpole and Edward Kenway

Furthermore, when during the dialogue with Stede Bonnet on the latter's ship after their meeting, Edward comments that most pirates prefer to sail in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola, he is making a tribute to Samuel Bellamy in fact, as it was in that exact refererred location where the real-life pirate captain spotted the Whydah Gally, a grand slave ship which was carrying big amounts of gold, valuable materials and a large number of slaves. Bellamy went on to capture the ship and eventually claimed its ownership, becoming its captain. Incidentally, the name of Edward's ship, The Jackdaw, alludes to Samuel Bellamy's ship, as the Whydah is also a bird species. The original captain of the Whydah was the real-life Dutch buccaneer Laurens Prins who, in Black Flag, appears as the slave trader who had employed Bartholomew Roberts before attempting to sell him to the Templars. Captain Bellamy became the richest pirate in history, but this came with the biggest cost: he lost his life during a storm in which his ship was caught, after having plundered several other vessels and collected a big amount of gold from them. The Whydah went down and he was drowned with most of his men just off Cape Cod, when he was only 28 years old. Duncan Walpole was killed by Edward at the age of 36, and Edward was murdered when he was 42. They all died young, sharing the tragic fate that so often accompanies both heroes and villains, real and fictional alike. 

The Gothic and Victorian Affinities of Contemporary Horror Games

In the dark and twisted world of the villains in horror games, of the powerful evil characters who pull the strings from the shadows until they eventually make their grand appearance, there is one very special category that usually stands out, that of the evil masterminds who share a strong and unhealthy attachment to the past of their families. Whether their ancestors were glorious or not, most of the times does not matter, as what these complex personalities do is to appear as living representations of their illustrious past, something that, however, rarely - if not at all - gives justice to their noble past. The environments in which these people live, corrupted both literally and metaphorically, are characterized by the presence of gothic and Victorian-era elements which further support the pomposity of their owners and, occasionally, their sadistic tendencies.

The now iconic Spencer Mansion in the very first Resident Evil and its subsequent remakes is one such memorable case. The vast, intimidating villa, with its hidden passages, secret corridors, locked rooms, secluded gardens and spooky basements, is a most characteristic example of an environment that essentially stars in the story where it appears, as the lead characters, Chris and Jill, find themselves trapped inside the house almost as soon as the game begins, with no obvious way out as the area just outside the main entrance is guarded by bloodthirsty dogs. All other exits seem to be locked and getting out requires a long and suspenseful search for keys, mutli-functional objects and puzzle solving, as well as battling dangerous enemies that roam the mansion's grounds. Everything in the villa is vintagey, including its decoration, furniture and other items, but its most creepy feature is the absence of any other human beings, except for our protagonists.

Somewhere in the twisting corridors of a nearly separate wing, there is a vitraux portrait of a girl who once used to live in that place. This was not many years ago, but the vitraux depicts a woman dressed like she comes from a very distant era, alluring to a nostalgic - significant for the house's once human inhabitants - Victorian style, something that matches the overall atmosphere of the mansion and reaches the limits of tragedy when it is revealed that Lisa, the beautiful girl of the portrait, now wanders around the countryside outside the villa in the form of a terrifying, mutated creature. 

Locked in his vast, mazey castle, Ramón Salazar of the original Resident Evil 4 is a sad remnant of his aristocratic and once distinguished family, contemplating the glory of his ancestors while doing very little to live up to their example. The whole area where the castle is located, together with the village close to it and several other installations, seems to be lost in time altogether: the houses look like they belong to at least half a century back and there are farming systems that are made of defunct materials; but it is in the castle grounds where the whole "lost-in-time" eery feeling is intensified, as the heavy, rich decoration comes to contrast with the corruption that runs in all its halls, creating a chilling, unsettling atmosphere.

Salazar himself likes to dress like a gentleman of centuries back, although his whole attitude is not gentlemanly at all. Just like his residence, his appearance as well is a huge guise, like an attempt to make the other people, whom he basically hates, see him like he would have liked to be: an esteemed aristocrat with an illustrious past and an even more impressive present. Instead, he is a caricature of all this, something that is mostly intensified by his nasty demeanor, his innate sadism and the fact that he never felt accepted by his family. 

This last element was not so evident in the original game, but it is of major importance in the recent remake, where Salazar is presented as much more cruel and sadistic, also carrying a stigma which, apparently, he was never able to get over: it is hinted that he may have been his mother's illegitimate son, if you take notice of certain things that he yells out during Leon's final battle with him, and the fact that there are a few portraits in the castle that may be confusing as to who exactly all these ancestors were and what their relationship to Ramón might have been. Setting aside the tragic aspect of this, as a fact it also relates to stories of the Victorian era, about illegitimate children and lost families.

Equally his revamped castle in the remake features extravagant objects and overwhelming decoration, always inspired by a past where Gothic and Victorian elements were prominent. Notably all the portraits that can be seen on the walls are of people that belonged to past eras; and all the paintings depict dark and gloomy landscapes, and even disturbing, morbid scenes with a strong gothic element as well.

Alfred Ashford of Resident Evil: Code Veronica has some things in common with Ramón Salazar, albeit he is much more dangerous because, thanks to his rank as an army officer, he can additionally handle weapons excellently. Alfred appears dressed in an old-fashioned army uniform with a red jacket adorned with medals and white pants; we can't know for sure if the medals are his or belonged to his ancestors, but it is obvious that he too, just like Ramón, is a delusional, paranoid man who refuses to connect to reality as it is, something that has an explanation, since he may have always been marginally insane, but he completely lost his mind after the "death" of his beloved twin sister, Alexia.

Alfred lives in a lush vintage mansion which, in spite of its undeniable charm, is quite cold and eery, due to the gothic-like decoration which sometimes reaches the limits of grotesque and kitsch. There is too much gold all around, as well as huge, intimidating statues that mostly have negative or unpleasant connotations. Like Ramón's castle, the Ashford Mansion as well is a maze of twisting staircases, hidden passages, secret doors, lethal traps, complete with a well-concealed path to a secluded private manor, the Ashford palace, which used to be the residence of Alfred's family. Both villas share the same eery atmosphere, which makes wandering in their grounds a living nightmare.

When Alexia eventually wakes from her slumber and makes her appearance, we see her dressed in a luxurious but very vintage fashion, with a long purple dress, white silk gloves that go over her elbows and exquisite, precious jewellery, evoking the image of ladies in century-old portraits as well as heroines of Victorian novels and Romantic poetry.

Notably, as can be seen in the screenshot above, the family portrait behind her depicts the patriarch of the family, Alexander Ashford, Alexia herself and Alfred. All three are again dressed in a vintage fashion, and the overall style of the portrait is following guidelines of family portraits of the past.

James Marcus, the twisted scientist from Resident Evil Zero who experimented on his students in the most appalling ways, appears as a young man with long hair who is wearing a long, white gown, pretty similar to those worn by men in the distant past. Albeit operating in the mid-60ties mostly, Marcus has a fascination with the old times, something that is also evident from several objects found in his lab. It is notable that details on his outfit, specifically the shape of the collar, resembles leeches, which were part of his experiments before he became the terrifying Queen Leech himself.

Much less creepy in appearance, but quite unsettling as a personality, Donna Beneviento from Resident Evil: Village walks around dressed exactly like a mourning Victorian lady, a look that is preserved also in the huge portrait that decorates one of the walls of her old-fashioned residence. The house itself has several vintage objects, and even mechanisms that are not particularly modern (like the elevator leading to the basement the technology of which is rather old), but you could say that is more or less a typical village house which has not modernized itself enough yet. Donna herself, however, as a presence and appearance, is the exact incarnation of the gothic and Victorian affinities of horror games, maybe more than any other villain similar to her.

In the same spirit, the coach that the Duke can be seen driving near the end of the game, transporting Ethan to the altar to fight against Miranda and save Rose, looks eerily like a Victorian hearse, complete with its black horse and the lanterns to light the way in the darkness.

Taking place almost entirely inside an insane man's mind, The Evil Within is comprised of images that are mixtures of past and present, of memories and a distorted reality, and as such its environments defy any normal perception of how they truly are, if they even exist for real. Once trapped in Ruvik's twisted game, Sebastian constantly finds himself, scene after scene, in places that do not make sense, as they seem to be lost in time and space. Starting with the village where all the houses are old, derelict and deserted, including the narrow spaces with the vintage mirrors that work as passages back to the safe haven, nearly all the areas that Sebastian has to cross are a tangle of elements that could never co-exist in real time.

As the story approaches its tragic revelation, the environments become more and more unsettling and confusing, as Ruvik's memories get mixed with the memories of his victims, creating a nightmarish and nauseatic space where everything is messed up and which offers no obvious way out. Old buildings, vintage installations, objects from the past, all thrown together in places that seem to carry a significance for the people involved, yet all this is too blurred to even make sense. 

In the heart of all this, Ruvik's family mansion finally comes to the foreground, appearing as a compelling villa with both gothic and Victorian elements which of course come together with the unavoidable atmosphere of fear and disturbing mystery. Drowned in fog, in the center of a rotting garden, Ruvik's home turns out to be the beginning and the end of his life's tragedy.

But most of all, The Evil Within's Gothic and Victorian affinity is shown in the characters themselves: after Sebastian solves one of the phrenology puzzles in the secret room behind the fireplace in the bedroom of Ruvik's parents and gets back out in the room itself, he has a vision of Ruvik standing over the dead bodies of his mother and his father, whom he had just killed with his own hands. Both his parents are dressed in a fashion going centuries back.

And like in Donna Beneviento's case, the Victoriano family showcases all its Gothic and Victorian gloominess in the portrait that depicts its four members, dressed like they come straight out of a novel by Wilkie Collins or Charles Dickens.

This peculiar mix of past and present is one of the most charming elements of horror games, as its roots go back to classic thrillers, both of literature and cinematography. For the environments specifically, think about novels like Rebecca or Bleak House, where the mansions as ambiences play a major role in both the development of the stories and the overall feeling of uncertainty and fear. Such emblematic fictional settings are a constant point of reference in contemporary horror fiction, video games included; and so are their lead characters, equally protagonists and antagonists. As to why in video games it is always the villains who choose to present themselves as figures of the past, maybe it is because for most of them it is by default impossible to exist among people, as they all carry huge traumas that they cannot or are not willing to even try to heal, and their attachment to the old times keeps them secluded in a world of their own, while at the same time distinguishes them from the masses that they usually despise as well.