How Assassin's Creed Costumes Greatly Represent Different Cultures!

By Esteban Cepero

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Assassin's Creed franchise, which began eleven years ago in 2007, isn't just the video game's intense action-packed sequences but also how it plunges you into a whole different cultural world in the past. The early concept of the Assassin's Creed storylines follows Desmond Miles who enters a machine known as the "Animus" and relives the past as one of his ancestors.

In the very first Assassin's Creed, we followed the story of Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, who is an assassin in the 12th century that operates around the Holy Land while the Third Crusade is taking place in the year 1191.

In the second Assassin's Creed game, it transitioned to Desmond entering the memories of his Italian ancestor Ezio Auditore Da Firenze while the story takes place in Florence, Venice, and Forli in the 15th and early 16th century. Ezio's story also continues onto two more video games, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

In the third installment of the franchise, the cultural part of Assassin's Creed took an interesting turn as Desmond began to follow the past of his half-English, half-Mohawk ancestor,  Ratonhnhaké:ton, who also went by as Connor. His story took place while the American Revolution was in progress, both before, during, and after.

As for the fourth installment in the franchise, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the idea of a "pirate assassin" was introduced, showing the story of a Welsh pirate named Edward Kenway, who is actually the grandfather of Connor from the third Assassin's Creed. The timeline of the story still takes place in the 18th century in the Caribbean but during the "Golden Age of Piracy".

Getting into the Assassin's Creed costumes!

The reason most fans were intrigued by Assassin's Creed is mainly that of the amazing storytelling in a historical sense. To be submerged deeply back into the past and explore the world of those times will intrigue everybody's curiosity. Ever since Assassin's Creed launched, it caused a craze in the costume world. An immense amount of gamers wanted to rock Ezio's costume or Altair's costume for Halloween or Comic-Con! Each Assassin's Creed costume is designed differently but with same mysterious feeling to it. A lot of time is taken in designing these costumes because it has to match the era where the story takes place in and the culture as well. So let's take a look at how each Assassin's Creed costume greatly represents each culture!

Altair's Costume and The Culture of The Holy Land

As stated before, in the first Assassin's Creed, the story was set in the 12th century during the timeline of the Third Crusade around historical events. This era was greatly influenced by the rise of religion with the spread of both Christianity and Islam. It's even rumored that Altair is a Muslim as the story revolved around a "Secret Order of Assassins" based on the "Hashashin Sect", an Islamic Sect. In the Holy Land, Altair carries out his assassination tasks throughout Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre against the Templars who are also based on a real Catholic Military order, known as the "Knights Templar".

So when imagining Altair's Assassin's Creed costume, the concept had to revolve around the reservation of that time and the religious tones behind it. Altair's costume is designed to be simple, mysterious, and not too flashy as it was made easy for him to blend in with the people when tailing someone. Altair's Assassin's Creed costume served as the basic concept for all of the costumes in future video games in the franchise.

Ezio's Costume and the Culture of Renaissance Italy

The beginning of Ezio Auditore's story takes place far after Altair and still displays the centuries-long conflict between the Assassins and the Templars. Tho this story is in a much different continent in the world as the setting is in Italy. As you play as Ezio, you can travel to cities such as Florence, Venice, Forli, and Tuscany. The years of Ezio's story is in the late 15th century and the early 16th century. It's a fascinating experience as you get to explore the culture of Italy during the Renaissance, especially the fashion. The clothes worn by those in Italy is always flashy and outgoing. That's an aspect reflected in Ezio's costume.

Ezio's Assassin's Creed costume is a much more intensely designed version of the original costume from the first video game. Italy is always praised for their fabrication of clothes and intriguing so that's what had to stand out in Ezio's costume. With the sleek fabric, the cape, and the leather, Ezio's costume in Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood surely stood out the most with this beautiful luxurious concept.

Connor's Costume and the Culture of America's Past

The story of Connor Kenway, who mostly went by the name of  Ratonhnhaké:ton because of his Native American upbringing, took place in the 18th century before, during, and after the events of the Revolutionary War.  Connor's father was English but his mother is Native American. He fell onto the  Templar-Assassin conflict when his Native American village was attacked by an army of Templars. The village Elder gave Conner a sphere to speak to Juno who informs him of the Assassin symbol. Connor uses the symbol to find a retired assassin named Achilles Davenport and trained him to be an assassin. Connor then puts on the hood as the assassin who helped in the battles between the Patriots and the British.

Connor's Assassin's Creed costume is heavily influenced by the basic format for Assassin costumes in previous installments with the intimidating hood. This format for Connor's Costume is followed by Connor's Native American culture. Not only with the style but also with his choice of weapons. Such as the bow and arrow and famous Assassin's Creed symbol tomahawk. Connor's costume also followed the tone of how his story unfolds during the conflict between the Colonies and the British with his costume taking influence from the soldier's uniforms, mainly in the long coat. Connor's costume definitely fit into the "mysterious" genre. The colors in Connor's costume and the simplicity made it easy for Connor to get through towns unbothered.

Edward's Costume and the Culture of Piracy

Edward Kenway, the grandfather of Connor Kenway in Assassin's Creed III, lived a majority of his life as a contributor to the Golden Age of Piracy in the 18th century as a Welsh Pirate. Edward's story of being a pirate throughout the Carribean crossed paths with the Assassin Order as he killed a rogue Assassin named Duncan Walpole. After fighting Templars who actually were in high-ranks in the British and Spanish empires, Edward is elected into the Assassin Order by the Assassin mentor Ah Tabai.

After Edward killed the rogue assassin, he took his uniform and posed as him to see what the Templars were plotting. After interfering with the Templars goal is when he became involved and eventually kept the Assassin uniform and dawned the hood. Edward's Assassin Creed costume was complimented by his clothing style as a notorious pirate. Edward's costume had an interesting and fun concept of mixing "Assassin" with "Pirate". His personality was very free-spirited as all Pirate's personalities should be. Edward's costume held weapons that combined the dangerous skills of a pirate with the strategic skills of an Assassin with the guns, hidden blades, and two curved pirate swords. The Assassin's Creed costume was definitely something fun to see in action as you play through the installment.

Many More Culture-Based Assassin's Creed Costumes to Come!

The iconic hooded Assassin's Creed costume has evolved into countless variations as the Assassin Order is operative throughout many continents through many centuries in the never-ending conflict with the Templars. The constant excitement and curiosity that fans feel while exploring historical moments and cities are what has pushed the franchise into what it is today. There are still many more games to come that are already in production.

With more games on the way, comes more Assassin's Creed costumes with different influences in designs compared to different cultures. With the Assassin's Creed costumes that we've observed, we'll definitely see a bunch more well-designed and in-depth adaptations of the famous hood.