#everyone i know who genuinely cares about ratohnhaké:ton hates achilles ten times more than they hate haytham

[anli-rambles]

I legitimately do not understand the people who think Achilles was a better father figure to Ratonhnhaké:ton than Haytham was. Haytham was a shit dad let's be real but Achilles was so much worse and I keep wondering if I played the same game as these people, genuinely.

Achilles giving Ratonhnhaké:ton his dead son's name wasn't some cutesy, 'aw look he sees him as his son' thing, it's really fucking weird especially since he gave him the name 'Connor' when he barely knew the boy. He stripped Ratonhnhaké:ton of his identity bc he couldn't be bothered to learn how to pronounce his name (yeah sure Haytham couldn't do it with Ziio either but at least he fucking tried and went on to call her by the name she told him to use, he didn't go 'yeah I'm not gonna bother with that, your name is Stacy now') and went on to treat the boy like a tool to enact revenge against Haytham.

Achilles never respected Ratonhnhaké:ton's agency. When he comes back to the homestead saying he thinks an alliance between the Assassins and the Templars could be possible if Charles is out of the way, Achilles gets angry, refuses to listen to him, and once again tells him to kill his own dad whom he's just started to somewhat get along with. Ratonhnhaké:ton is hopeful that he can work things out with his father and you can tell he wants to have that bond with him but every single step of the way, Achilles keeps pressuring him to kill Haytham (something Ratonhnhaké:ton goes on to sincerely regret, btw) and won't offer any justification other than "he's the bad guy". Even if Haytham is basically only a threat to other Templars at this point.

But Haytham is the one who expects too much from his son ? All Haytham does is talk about the way he sees things and yeah he's telling Ratonhnhaké:ton that he's naive and all that but he's not wrong when he tells him not to trust Washington either, and even Ratonhnhaké:ton admits that Haytham is making a point when he says the people he seeks only care about the freedom of white men. Haytham isn't pushing Ratonhnhaké:ton into killing Achilles, and aside from telling him not to trust Washington, he doesn't order him to kill the guy either. Or to kill Achilles. He doesn't even ask him to join the Templars or leave the Assassins, just to try and see things the way he does. He's leaving the choice up to him and still follows him even if he thinks he's wrong.

Again, Haytham isn't a good father by any means, but at least he has the decency to let Ratonhnhaké:ton be his own person even if he disagrees with what he's doing. Meanwhile Achilles is just using him to process his grief and get back at Haytham in the way he knows would hurt the most. He doesn't care about Ratonhnhaké:ton's motivation for doing the things he does (protect his people).