#he was freer than altaïr or ezio had been when they were his age

[teecupangel]

kinda late on the weekly schedule but, what do you think about the latest chapter?

My thoughts on Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (one of these days, I should really just make a tag for them like '#teecup analyze and reacts to acft webtoon' or something XD)

Official English translation (the free chapters anyway) here

Hahaha, it’s fine. I was pretty busy with the moving and unpacking anyway so I only got to read to the latest chapter yesterday XD.

Jennifer gets another mention which is nice.

This part is an important one as it does show what the Assassin Brotherhood is fighting for.

Free will and the right for everyone to decide their own fate, not be bound by the plans of dead ‘gods’.

We’ll get back to Edward’s speech later because I have a few things to say about that but, for now, the way this is presented:

The close-up of the Shimazu Clan’s crest would imply that the Shimazu Clan (or ‘Shimazu’ Sei) has a beef with the Assassins personally that ended in destroying their vision of order or something but, while I’m not all that familiar with how rich and powerful the Shimazu clan is today, they seem to still hold some power even if they are no longer a ruling family from what I can read.

I am unsure if she’s talking about the Constitution of Japan which rendered titles meaningless (which would have weakened the Shimazu Clan in general) or the destruction of the order kept by the Shimazu Clan in connection to the ‘results’ of the Battle of Sekigahara because that’s one of the main information that we have on the Japanese Brotherhood. They put their lot with Ieyasu Tokugawa while the Shimazu Clan (and, I suppose in AC lore, the Templars) placed their lot with Ishida Mitsunari. Tokugawa’s forces ended up victorious but Tokugawa didn’t really punish the Shimazu Clan and let them keep their lands and titles so… I won’t be surprised if these Japanese ‘pirates’ supposedly under the Shimazu Clan had gone rogue from the clan itself, disgruntled members of the clan who didn’t want to bow down to Tokugawa although that’s a bit sorta ‘???’ because the Battle of Sekigahara happened in 1600 and Edward’s parts are set in 1725. I mean, grudges can go on for a very long time so not that “???!!!” but still a “???”

(I will have to point out that my JP history is spotty at best and my familiarity with the Shimazu Clan is even spottier and wiki doesn’t even have a separate page for Shigehide Shimazu who should have been the lord of Satsuma and head of the Shimazu Clan during 1725 so, yeah, maybe something big did happen to the Shimazu Clan that would explain why ‘Shimazu’s Sei’s line of ‘destroying order’ is set in a panel showing the Shimazu Clan's crest)

Webtoon is a stealth promotion and prologue to AC Red Theory: The Assassin that we will play in AC Red is a rogue Shimazu shinobi (we already know that AC’s Shimazu Clan employs shinobis thanks to this webtoon) and they’re the Japanese ancestor of Noa Kim. ‘Shimazu’ Sei’s line of ‘destroying order’ is a reference to how this Shimazu assassin had destroyed the Shimazu Clan’s order in some way.

Anyway!

I guess this is confirmation that Edward has already married Tessa by this time.

Sidebar: not important to the plot (maybe) but Edward, if you’re hunting crocs, that means we can finally see you use a rope dart, riiigghhhttt???

With that out of the way...

Alright, let’s talk about Edward’s speech more.

First of all, this line:

Not an analysis but more of a comment. I would have gone with “gold and glory” instead of “glory and treasures” even if “glory and treasure” could have been a more accurate translation of the Korean version because “gold and glory” is a phrase most commonly associated with pirates which could have been used as a reference to Edward’s past as a pirate.

Now for the sadder analysis, there is something tragic about this line:

Edward is talking about this in reference to why he had become and stayed as an Assassin, even going as far as touching his hidden blade.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that he is touching the Assassin’s insignia with two of his fingers while his pinky is touching the pirate symbol. This is most probably to show that he remembers and learned from his past as a pirate and how being an Assassin is both his present and his future. More importantly:

“If you decide for yourself what’s right and do everything in your power to uphold that idea… Even mortals like us can overcome fate and leave behind something meaningful.”

That entire speech is meant to represent Edward’s loyalty to the Creed and believing he is doing the right thing and wishing to leave something meaningful behind.

The tragedy comes when you remember that there is one Kenway who did ‘decide for himself what’s right’ and ‘did everything in his power to uphold that idea’

Edward Kenway's own son and a Grand Master of the Templar Order: Haytham Kenway

Even if he was indoctrinated by the man who ordered the death of his father, he still stayed with the Order after learning the truth and even went as far as trying to kill his own son to keep the hold of the Order in the colonies although, yeah, an argument could be made that Haytham was planning to die by his own son’s hands during that final battle but that does not change the fact that Haytham remained loyal to the Order even after knowing the Order is the reason why his father died.

Not only that but Edward’s death and Haytham’s indoctrination were fated. The Isus needed Ratonhnhaké:ton to take the key from Haytham and hide it for Desmond to find when the time comes so Edward's life and death had been fated to happen so that Haytham may become a Templar and travel to the colonies.

In the end, Edward Kenway didn’t overcome fate, he became just another cog in the machine called the ‘Calculations’.

But…

His vision of what it means to defy fate? His thoughts of upholding the Creed which became what he believed to be ‘right’?

It was inherited by his grandson: Ratonhnhaké:ton.

Even if they never met… Ratonhnhaké:ton embodied what Edward wanted to leave behind. And Ratonhnhaké:ton’s life wasn’t dictated by the fates the moment he had buried the key for Desmond to find.

He wasn’t like Altaïr whose dying breath had been to give a final message to the prophet for Desmond to hear.

He wasn’t like Ezio who only finally stepped out of his role as Desmond's prophet after leaving the Brotherhood and having a family of his own when he was already in his 50s.

Ratonhnhaké:ton built his own future after he buried the key. The past of the American Brotherhood was built upon the choices Ratonhnhaké:ton made of his own free will.

To leave something meaningful behind.