Unlike the other pirates that appear in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag who opt for a less flashy appearance, the French captain and Templar Julien Du Casse has a spectacular style that seems to match his all-over-the-place attitude and personality like a glove. His impressive red cape is the first thing that you notice, as well as his wide-brimmed hat that occasionally conceals his ice-blue eyes. 

For its part, his hat is adorned with a collection of feathers, which no doubt once belonged to exotic birds.

The way that Du Casse chooses to present himself looks like it is inspired by old tales of adventuring in faraway lands. He can be seen wearing a white shirt which is unbuttoned to his waist, where it is tied around with a wide sash similar to the one that Edward is wearing with several of his outfits. Du Casse has two leather belts over his sash, and a leather strap diagonally across his chest.

The lower part of his outfit consists of loose brown breeches, obviously made of expensive fabric, with golden buttons on the sides, and fancy ankle boots.

In spite of his vibrant appearance, however, Julien Du Casse is a cruel man, whose dark and sadistic personality may not be directly exposed in the game, but it is implied, sometimes more or occasionally less directly, as the story unfolds. As early as in memory Mr Walpole, I Presume?, which marks Edward's first encounter with Du Casse, the French captain, noticing that Edward doesn't carry a hidden blade, offers him a collection of several Assassin blades to choose from. When Edward innocently asks him where he found all these, Du Casse replies with a chillinly evil grin that he took them as souvenirs. Apparently having massacred previously their original owners. And it is not random that it is he who aids Governor Torres and his trusty bodyguard El Tiburon neutralize Edward and send him off as a prisoner with the Treasure Fleet after discovering that he cheated them by impersonating Duncan Walpole. Later when Edward and Mary discover his secret hideout in the forest of the Great Inagua in memory This Old Cove, Mary wonders what this place could be hiding; to which Edward replies that, knowing Du Casse, he could have an array of medieval torture machines and instruments. Then in memory Delirium, one of the visions that Edward has while heavily drunk is that of Du Casse interrogating an assassin whom he keeps tied and, apparently, has been torturing for hours. 

Du Casse's overall appearance looks like it is inspired by the pirate depicted in the painting "The Buccaneer Was a Picturesque Fellow" by Howard Pyle, which accompanied the painter's article "The Fate of A Treasure-Town" in Harper’s Monthly Magazine published in December 1905.  

Ιf you exclude the shoes, the rest of the outfit is pretty similar. Contrary to other pirates of Black Flag who were real historical figures, Julien Du Casse is a fictional character, but as a hero of fiction he is related to a real-life privateer, Jean-Baptiste Du Casse; Julien is his nephew in the game, and he used to fight alongside his uncle before becoming a mercenary and a slave trader - two activities that partly explain the sadistic nature that he is hinted to have in the game. 

Ramón Salazar's Unlikely Legacy

When I played Assassin's Creed III a while ago, I was struck by how familiar Haytham Kenway's look and posture was to me, although back then I could not decipher any of his look's details that could lead me to the solution of this unexpected yet so interesting riddle. And how could it be possible, since the character he seems to nod to as far as his iconic outfit is concerned is no other than Ramón Salazar from the original - and now cult classic - Resident Evil 4, who is Haytham's exact opposite in terms of appearance, although they do share common elements when it comes to cunning and evilness. Released in 2012, Assassin's Creed III is a gloomy, deeply pessimistic tale with one of the saddest twists ever; and its protagonist-turned-antagonist Haytham Kenway is undoubtedly the most fascinating and complex villain of the Assassin's Creed Saga. As for Ramón Salazar, the villainous diminutive aristocrat whom we first met in Resident Evil 4 in 2005, he has left his own mark in the Resident Evil series, and the gaming world in general.

Haytham Kenway and Ramón Salazar do not have anything in common as far as their of physical appearance and temperament are concerned; Haytham is tall, good-looking and attractive, with a sharp, cunning mind and an even sharper arsenal, and equally uses his disarming charm, his mental gifts and his literal blades as lethal weapons in any given case. Gifted with high intelligence, intuition, insane physical strength, and all kinds of charisma, he is an unstoppable force of evil who is able to trap everyone around him in his seductive yet lethal web. What makes him so frightening as a villain is the fact that he is a debonair, stunningly handsome man who is always calm and collected and speaks like a nobleman; it is almost impossible to tell, by just looking at him, how merciless he can get and what extents his cruelty can reach.

 

 

Ramón on the other hand, hit by an incurable sickness and later affected by a devastating mutation, is trapped in a sick, diminutive body, doomed to look like an evil child for as long as he is destined to live; and his cleverness, albeit considerable, is consumed in spitting out smartass insults and setting up lethal traps to capture or even eliminate his enemies. His evilness is instantly obvious, but truth is he is incapable of reaching Haytham's level of cruetly because he lacks the self-confidence and physical strength to do so on his own.

 

Regardless, you cannot ignore the paranoia that shines in the eyes of both of them, although for each one it stems from different roots.

But it is their choice of outfits that is strikingly akin. Haytham and Ramón are dressed in a similar style, even wearing hats of the same type. Their preferred colors are also matching, with variations on their accessories and the details. They can be seen sporting blueish purple outfits with several layers and white shirts underneath. Ramón 's outfit is more simple, with rows of embroidered golden roses decorating its edges and part of the back and a yellow vest with what looks like vine motifs over his shirt, while Haytham's is more elaborate, with golden studs, buttons and threads, and he additionally has a red tie-ribbon and a red vest, as well as an impressive dark blue / grey cape which is red on the inside and has a fancy design on the back. They also both love to walk around with their arms behind their backs.

Haytham is always armed and ready to fight, with his Assassin blades, his pistol and sword, and wearing fancy leather brown boots with gaiters of the same color. Ramón does not carry any weapons and he prefers to show off his tiny calves covered with white stockings and wearing his favorite dress slippers.

They both have long hair, tied in queues with red ribbons. A style that was common in Haytham's era (mid-18th century) but not in Salazar's contemporary years. But we know how Ramón likes to dress like a nobleman of the old times.

Haytham Kenway's historical time is placed two centuries before Salazar's (Assassin's Creed III takes place in the mid-18th century, while the story of Resident Evil 4 unfolds in 2004), but his creation as a character follows that of Salazar by a nearly a quindecennium. Ramón may have influenced Haytham with his dressing style, but Haytham made that style grand and left the original bearer miles behind. Noticeably, the outfit that little Haytham is wearing in the epilogue of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (2013) where Edward is holding him in his arms at the theater loge, looks even more like Salazar's costume (minus the hat).

It is also worth-noting that there is a striking similarity between Ramón's outfit in the Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) and the one that Edward Kenway can be seen wearing in the very same epilogue of Black Flag, with all details matching as well: the deep purple colour (it may not be evident from the screenshot, but Edward's jacket is the exact same color as that of the revamped Salazar's), the decorative motifs made of golden thread and the voluminous white cravat. Edward has his golden hair tied back in his classic, trademark style, and Ramón has what looks like a wig set in a similar hairdo.

Just like his son, Edward as well leaves Ramón miles and miles behind with his unmatched style. Then again the Kenways are such a gorgeous bunch, that even if you dress them in rags they will still look dashing. Poor Ramón can never win.