The assassins of Assassin's Creed were the world's second suicide terrorists

I came across some historical background of the assassins in Assassin's Creed, and thought SW'ers might be interested.

"The Ismaili Assassins, a Shi'ite Muslim sect based in northwestern Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, created an effective organization for the planned, systematic, and long-term use of political murder that relied on suicide missions for success. For two centuries, the Assassins' daggers terrorized and demoralized the mainly Sunni rulers of the region as well as leaders of Christian Crusader states, chalking up more than fifty dramatic murders and inspiring a new word: 'assassination.'"

"Most of the Assassins' victims were political and military leaders who were so heavily guarded that even successful attackers would almost surely have to pay for that success with their lives. What made the Assassins so lethal was that their killers were willing to die to accomplish their missions and often, rather than attempting to escape, reveled in their impending death."

"The first successful Assassin, who killed the vizier to the Great Sultan Malikishah of Persia in 1092, exclaimed before himself being killed: 'The killing of this devil is the beginning of bliss.' Subsequent Assassins undertook suicide missions with similar enthusiasm. These killers were routinely highly trained in the art of murder, planned clever strategems to gain access to their victims, and also routinely expected to be caught, made no effort to escape, and considered that to survive a mission was shameful."

From Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. By Robert A. Pape.

Interesting. It seems that Jade Raymond and the crew at Ubisoft Montreal got it wrong, historically. Assassins considered it an embarrassment to flee from the scene of the crime. So when Assassin's Creed drops later this year, remember: don't run after you've killed your target and just wait there for the guards take you out.

(j/k about the waiting there part)

They got killed, that =/= suicideOGTiago

In this case, it's really just a matter of semantics. You're right, of course, but is there really much of a difference?

Whats ubisofts obession with persians?MGS9150

Didnt they beat the Spartans?

So what makes them terrorists? They are suicide assassins. They don't go around blowing up buses, just killing leaders.Gangans

I think he got the term from the title of the article he used as a reference:

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism By Robert A. Pape.

If we have a problem with it, we should take it up with Robert A Pape I guess. ;)

:lol: Good advice Fuzz.

Interesting stuff. I don't think the game is going to try and recreate history exactly (especially the part where you don't run away from your enemy) but I think the game itself is going to get you to go after political leaders and what not. Hopefully you can get your own team of assassin's or something like that and just go on a rampage.

The game is looking sweet, nice thread.

[QUOTE="MGS9150"]Whats ubisofts obession with persians?LegendKiller04

Didnt they beat the Spartans?

you son watch too mutch movies...lol

Im still waiting for another prince of persia title this game will silence my hunger for a while...

The leaders first lured potential recruits with weed, knocking them out. As they slipped into unconciousness, they were dragged up the Hasashim's (not sure if I spelled it right) mountain stronghold. There, they were brought awake and enjoyed a couple hours with dozens of females and servants. Then the leader approached and told them that this was heaven, and that if they succeeded, they would be brought back to heaven to enjoy these pleasures again. Then they are knocked out by weed again, and dragged down the mountain. The order was eventually exterminated by the Mongols I believe. Compression

Wow...that's pretty bad then -- luring all these assassins to die on false pretenses. Good for the Mongols!

And TC, this thread rocks, very interesting stuff you posted here.

The leaders first lured potential recruits with weed, knocking them out. As they slipped into unconciousness, they were dragged up the Hasashim's (not sure if I spelled it right) mountain stronghold. There, they were brought awake and enjoyed a couple hours with dozens of females and servants. Then the leader approached and told them that this was heaven, and that if they succeeded, they would be brought back to heaven to enjoy these pleasures again. Then they are knocked out by weed again, and dragged down the mountain. The order was eventually exterminated by the Mongols I believe. Compression

Wow, I thought this was a joke, so I did some quick research and this is indeed what some historians believe took place.

The leaders first lured potential recruits with weed, knocking them out. As they slipped into unconciousness, they were dragged up the Hasashim's (not sure if I spelled it right) mountain stronghold. There, they were brought awake and enjoyed a couple hours with dozens of females and servants. Then the leader approached and told them that this was heaven, and that if they succeeded, they would be brought back to heaven to enjoy these pleasures again. Then they are knocked out by weed again, and dragged down the mountain. The order was eventually exterminated by the Mongols I believe. Compression

Hashshashin, but yeah theres a lot of spellings, but also the whole using hashish to drug and control the recruits known as Fida'is is widely considered complete bull and no real substantial evidence has ever been found to support it. And yes the Mongols destroyed the Persian sect, which was the original sect. But the Syrian sect, which is what Assassins Creed deals with I believe, survived for a while longer before dying out and finding their services used elsewhere.

[QUOTE="Gangans"]So what makes them terrorists? They are suicide assassins. They don't go around blowing up buses, just killing leaders.mattbbpl

I think he got the term from the title of the article he used as a reference:

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism By Robert A. Pape.

If we have a problem with it, we should take it up with Robert A Pape I guess. ;)

Pape is just tracing the roots of suicide terrorism.

Suicide terrorism has evolved since the time of Assassins, but the basic objective has remained the same: to spread fear amongst the population for the purpose of changing the target country's foreign policies.

dude ... i'm not so sure about that

it's a job like an other, you want money, do you the job

so you have to kill somebody for money, than kill an other ... you can't risk your life or you won't get money (for family or w/e)

They got killed, that =/= suicideOGTiago

QFT, they didn't just lay there and take it. Risk and Certainty are 2 different things

dude ... i'm not so sure about that

it's a job like an other, you want money, do you the job

so you have to kill somebody for money, than kill an other ... you can't risk your life or you won't get money (for family or w/e)

waza000

This wasn't about money for them, it was about political ideology and the perceived betterment of mankind (or the promises of paradise, if the alternative theory is to be believed).

More western rubbish. I've come across and read plenty of crap like this.

You want to know the true terrorists of the crusades, the crusaders. Fact.

Just more hatred. :roll:

Oh and you want to know about suicide bombings and terrorism you should check out how the state of Israel was founded with bombings of civilian populations in Palestine and Jewish suicide bombers who were committed to the zionist cause. But they like to sweep that under the carpet. It's not civilised to talk of it.

[QUOTE="MGS9150"]Whats ubisofts obession with persians?LegendKiller04

Didnt they beat the Spartans?

I take it you left the theater when

[spoiler] Leonardis died [/spoiler]

and didn't watch the end.

Anyway, hopefully this game will not try to glamorize either side of the crusades. The Catholic Church had a lot of effed up reasons for going on them, but that doesn't make the people they were fighting any more honorable.

Also, did anyone else know that 10% of this game takes place in modern times? I hope they're not going to use this game to make some kind of flamboyant statement about terrorism.