"Assassin's Greed"

Assassin’s Greed:

The Black Flag of Modern Morals

Synopsis

            Video game developer and powerhouse Ubisoft has recently dedicated their Montreal division to releasing one of the most anticipated, controversial, and highly rated video games of the past four years: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.  AC4, as is the proper abbreviation, follows multiple story lines in an Inception-like style, based on reading the memories within memories of test subjects.  The “memory” that you follow in this game, shadows the life of the privateer Edward Kenway in the colorful Caribbean during the eighteenth century.

            Kenway, having a thirst for alcohol and gold, convinces his wife to let him leave for a career in privateering in search of “a better life”.  His wife asks him why they need any more than they already have, to which Kenway replies that he wants “…clean water to drink, walls that keep the wind out, and food that don’t make me sick.”  Kenway and his wife are indeed in poorer circumstances. As the scenes with his wife develop, we see that he is more concerned with pockets full of coin than the professed support of his family.  His wife discerns his greed and leaves him just before he embarks on his journey. 

            Enraged at his loss, Kenway is driven by a mad fire to prove himself in the world, to his wife—and to a lesser extent—his wife’s disapproving father. Hell-bent on financial success, Kenway soon stoops to any level to increase the weight of his purse.  Privateering soon becomes piracy, and piracy devolves into contracted killing and spying.  Kenway couldn’t care less for the faces of the men he murders, as long as there is payment at the end of the day for his troubles.

            Eventually Kenway is betrayed by one of his contractors, and is imprisoned on a ship.  With the help of an African American slave, he escapes captivity, commandeers the ship, and begins his own fleet of pirates. Having developed a respect for his black-skinned comrades, Kenway accepts a contract to assassinate a barbarous slave trader in Havana. We soon see the knife pierce the heart of the target, and Kenway rebukes his mark as he lay dying. Kenway preaches to him of the wrongs of slavery and torture.  The victim asks Kenway why he did such a terrible thing as murder, and what did he personally have against him?  Kenway says that he was “just in it for a bit of coin mate.”  The slave trader, with his dying words, replies ironically: “So was I lad: so was I…”

            Disoriented by the event, Kenway finds himself questioning all of his morals and very way of life.  He returns to Nassau, (eighteenth century island-home of piracy), and sees the world there in a new light.  The freedoms of piracy have come at a dire cost.  The people are not subject to any specific ruler or magistrate, yet they lie sick and dying in the slums of poverty.  They are free to do as they will, but have not the will for anything grand or praise-worthy.  In their own quest for freedom from the kings of England and Spain, they have become slaves to themselves. Kenway rubs his hands into his face in bitter realization: in his attempts to better his life and find fortune, he has lost his wife: the best part of his life, and the most priceless treasure in the world.

Application

           

            How frequently is this same story played out in our own lives, and in the lives of the people we love?  As natural men, (to borrow from biblical terminology), we seek the vain and rich things of this world in attempts to better our own lives.  If we are confident in our abilities, we will generally push away anything that appears limiting or controlling.  Is not the great American Dream to get rich quick and be your own boss?  How different is society really than that of fictitious Edward Kenway? Feelings of entitlement to a better life are not innately wrong, but how do we want that betterment?

            The recent tag line for the current generation bounces from the “microwave generation” to “information generation” to “instant generation”.  Never before has information been so readily accessible to so many individuals. We now expect information to be available in minimal time, at minimal exertion of our own effort.  It has made many of us greedy, selfish, and expectant of almost instantaneously fortuitous searches.

            How many husbands have sought for instant satisfaction, and fallen victim to the shackles of pornography? How many lives have been destroyed in the search for stress relief, and become enslaved to the bottle?  How people, in defiance of high medical costs and a mistrust of doctors, refuse professional care, and let themselves or their loved ones lay sick or even dying?  Are we really that much different than Nassau of old?

            Yes, we are.  The difference is that we have not stooped to that level…yet.

            No longer are our ventures played out on pirate ships with black flags and canons.  The real black flags are in our own homes, on our own computers, in our favorite pubs, and in our living rooms.  The man addicted to pornography needs to remember that the most satisfying things is the love between him and his wife.  Lasting relief comes not from a bottle, but from dealing with our problems head on, and sometimes, it is necessary to humble ourselves to the knowledge and expertise of others, no matter how destructive we may think it is to our own image. 

            So here’s to hoping that we take our piracy and return to privateering: hoping that we take our privateering and return to our families: and hoping that when we have docked at the port of our homes, we realize that therein lies the potential of love through honesty and hard work and, as Kenway discovered, the greatest—and unfortunately rarest—treasure of all.