One of the big themes of AC3 is the tragedy of colonialism. You play a native man who is aware of the colonial threats that loom over his people since he was a child, and the actions he takes in game are all in the name of protecting what’s left of his village after an attack that killed many in his community, including his mother. At first they imply that the blame is put on the templar order, because right before Ratonhnhaké:ton came to his village in flames, he was assaulted in a racially charged manor by Charles Lee. For most of Ratonhnhaké:ton’s life, he posited the blame of the attack on his village, and the death of his mother, onto the templars. I mean who can blame him. So this led him to become an assassin, and eventually siding with the patriots because, at the time, it seemed like the best course of action to stop the templar threat.
But later on he learns this isn’t how it went down. Turns out the templars he’s been targeting the whole game didn’t have anything to do with that attack (they absolutely were still a colonial force threatening his people, they just weren’t to blame for the arson) but it was George Washington and the patriots, the people he was aiding. This was during the begrudging partnership between Ratonhnhaké:ton and Haytham, the grandmaster templar, and Haytham was sick of him killing his underlings and being a general problem to him. So he set up this reveal as a sorta “gotcha” in attempts to Finally get his stupid justice loving son on his side and for him to stop throwing wrenches in his plans. This doesn’t go how he expected however, instead Ratonhnhaké:ton is just pissed that Haytham and Washington were just racist white colonists that lied to him to use him for their personal gain. Naturally he tells them both to fuck off and keeps doing him.
Of course, skipping ahead to the end of the game, his village ended up moving from their lands, something Ratonhnhaké:ton had tried to avoid happening this Whole time we were with him. This happens because we know how the story of America goes, the people native to these lands were killed, enslaved, and displaced, and this despicable country kept growing and growing. There was a lot of effort put into stopping it, but it couldn’t be done.
And that’s the core tragedy of AC3 and Ratonhnhaké:ton in general. He couldn’t stop colonialism, he couldn’t stop his people from giving up and moving from their land, he couldn’t stop so many of his own dying in the process, and he couldn’t stop being manipulated by the white men in power that made this a reality. But he knows trying to stop it regardless is the right thing to do. Which is what his epilogue speech was about. Which is why he killed Charles Lee despite learning he wasn’t to blame for his mother’s death. Even if he somewhat knows the bleak future of this reality, that doesn’t stop him from fighting, if anything, it incentivizes him.
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whenever i see people claim that zukkas don’t actually want their ship to become canon i have to disagree. you don’t understand the insane things i would be okay with as long as it had the end result of making zootaras mad. sure there is no way they could canonize it in a way that would actually make me happy. but you don’t understand the lengths i’ve gone to, the truly crazy things i’ve done, the sleep i have lost, and the war crimes i’ve committed just to piss z*taras off.
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