Haytham E. Kenway
Assassin's Creed character
First game	Assassin's Creed III (2012)
Created by	Ubisoft Montreal
Portrayed by	Adrian Hough
In-universe information
Origin	London, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Nationality	British

Haytham E. Kenway is a character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game franchise. He is introduced as the false protagonist of Assassin's Creed III (2012), in which players control him for the game's initial chapters, before being revealed as the true antagonist. Haytham also serves as a supporting character in Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014), which takes place between his playable chapters in Assassin's Creed III and the latter part of the game, and his backstory is further explored in the novel Assassin's Creed: Forsaken. In the games, he is portrayed by actor Adrian Hough through performance capture.

Within the series' alternate historical setting, Haytham was born in 1725 as the son of Edward Kenway, one of the leading members of the British Brotherhood of Assassins and the protagonist of the prequel game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013). Following his father's murder in 1735, he is manipulated into joining the Templar Order, the Assassins' arch-enemies, and eventually becomes one of the Order's leading members as the Grand Master of the North American colonial rite. Under Haytham's leadership, the Templars exterminate most of the Colonial Assassins, becoming the dominant force on the continent, and later attempt to build a new nation under their rule by influencing the American Revolution. During this time, Haytham sires a son, Ratonhnaké:ton / Connor, with a Native American woman, who in turn joins the Assassins and undoes most of his father's work. Though Haytham and Connor briefly become allies and consider unifying their orders, they both ultimately realise that peace between the Assassins and Templars is impossible, and their conflict culminates with Haytham's death at Connor's hands in 1781.

Prior to Assassin's Creed III's release, Haytham was not advertised as a playable character in order to surprise players. The twist that players were actually controlling a Templar during the first third of the game was praised for its cleverness and for being the first time in the series that players got to experience the Templars' point of view in the storyline, although some criticized the inclusion of Haytham's sequences for hurting the game's pacing. Unlike his son Connor, who had a divisive reception, Haytham was well-received for his charm and complexity, and is considered one of the best villains in the franchise.

Creation and conception

Haytham's inclusion as a playable character was kept secret from the press and was only known to the development team, with all advertisement solely focusing on Connor. Looking back on the game in 2019, Alex Hutchinson, the Creative Director of Assassin's Creed III, named the decision to make Haytham the surprise protagonist of the first third of the game as an effective idea to draw players into the narrative. It also offers a fresh perspective on the conflict between Assassins and Templars, as Haytham is the first playable Templar in the series. However, he noted that his character arc was far too long because there was no time for extensive product testing, which led to some backlash from players.^[1] According to series writer Susan Patrick, in Assassin's Creed Rogue, the emphasis of his role was placed on him being a role model for Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Patrick Cormac, because they both had similar backgrounds,^[2] while one of the main objectives of the game was to show the missing chapters in Haytham's life.^[3] Adrian Hough, the actor who performed Haytham's voice and motion capture, noted that the writing was very good for the character, and acknowledged that the development team gave him artistic freedom to make the character his own, ultimately considering him a product of his performance as well as writing and animation.^[4]

Darby McDevitt, the narrative director of the 2020 series installment Assassin's Creed Valhalla, found an opportunity to include a reference to Haytham in the game. Recalling that some fans had given feedback that Haytham sounded like an Arabic name, McDevitt suggested "Haytham or Hytham" for the name of a supporting character who brings the Hidden Ones back to England during the events of Valhalla, which serves as an in-universe basis for Edward Kenway's likely decision to name his son.^[5]

Fictional character biography

Born in 1725 in London to former pirate-turned-Assassin Edward Kenway and his second wife Tessa, Haytham belonged to the British nobility and was raised secluded from other children, being trained to be an Assassin from an early age. However, this changed in 1735, when Edward was killed by mercenaries who broke into their home to steal a journal containing Edward's research of the First Civilization. During the attack, Haytham was forced to kill for the first time to save his mother, but was unable to rescue his half-sister Jennifer, who was kidnapped by the mercenaries.^[6] Edward's acquaintance Reginald Birch, secretly a Templar and the one responsible for the attack, was appointed Haytham's legal guardian and took him on an unsuccessful quest throughout Europe to find Jennifer, during which Haytham was trained in the ways of the Templars, eventually joining the Order in 1744.^[7]

In 1754, after retrieving the key to the Grand Temple, a First Civilization site, from the Assassins, Haytham was sent by Birch to the Thirteen Colonies to find and access the Temple, as well as establish a permanent presence for the Order in North America as the new Grand Master of the Colonial Rite.^[8] Recruiting Charles Lee, William Johnson, Thomas Hickey, Benjamin Church, and John Pitcairn, Haytham was successful in establishing a new base for the Templars after killing his former associate Edward Braddock. However, his mission to locate the Grand Temple proved unsuccessful.^[9] During this time, he had a brief relationship with a Native American woman, Kaniehtí꞉io, but was eventually forced to leave her to focus on his Templar affairs.^[10]

Haytham returned to Europe in 1757 to resume his search for Jennifer, which eventually led him to the Ottoman Empire, where he recovered her from slavers.^[11] After she informed him that Birch was behind their family's demise, the siblings led an attack on his estate, during which Birch was killed and Haytham was gravely injured.^[12] While recovering, Haytham considered leaving the Templars due to Birch's actions, but ultimately concluded that the Order's goals were righteous, even if its methods were flawed.^[13]

In 1758, Haytham returned to the colonies to extend the Templars' influence, and inducted former Assassin Shay Patrick Cormac into the Order.^[14] After being informed by Shay about several First Civilization sites that could lead to devastating earthquakes, he worked with him to prevent the Assassins from accessing them, wiping out most of the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood in the process. In 1760, a final confrontation in the Arctic saw the last of the Colonial Assassins eliminated, although Shay convinced Haytham to spare their leader, Achilles Davenport.^[15]

After making the Templars the dominant force in North America, Haytham's main goal over the next two decades was to remove British colonial rule and establish a new state where Templar ideals would become law. However, his attempts to influence the American Revolution to this end were thwarted by Connor, his son with Kaniehtí꞉io, who had been trained as an Assassin by Achilles to take vengeance on the Templars, whom Connor blamed for his mother's death.^[10] Haytham was shocked to learn about Kaniehtí꞉io's death and the existence of his son, which had been hidden from him by his fellow Templars, and became torn between his loyalty to the Order and his newfound sense of paternal responsibility. When Connor was later framed by the Templars for a plot to assassinate George Washington, Haytham, not wanting to have his son's death on his conscience, secretly saved him from his execution.^[16]

In 1778, Haytham and Connor formally met and formed an uneasy alliance to eliminate former Templar Benjamin Church and further the Revolution.^[17] Realizing his son could become an important asset if converted to his cause, Haytham took this opportunity to try and convince him about the Templars' goals and motives. However, their alliance fell through after Connor discovered that Washington was responsible for Kaniehtí꞉io's death—a fact Haytham had deliberately kept hidden from him—and angrily cut ties with his father.^[18] Eventually admitting that he would not be able to reconcile with his son and realizing the threat he posed, Haytham decided to personally deal with him. In 1781, correctly predicting that Connor would target Charles Lee, who was residing in Fort George, Haytham sent the latter away and stayed behind to confront his son, who ultimately killed him after a lengthy battle.^[19] Sometime after Haytham's death, Connor recovered his journal, in which the former revealed that he did not expect to survive his final confrontation with Connor and that he wanted his son to have his journal, so that he would better understand his point of view and maybe forgive him, implying that Haytham let Connor kill him.^[20]

Other appearances

Aside from Assassin's Creed III and Rogue, Haytham has made cameo appearances in several other games in the series. In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which stars his father Edward, he appears as a young child in a post-credits scene,^[21] while the fictional video games subsidiary of Abstergo Industries considers him suited as a video game protagonist advocating the Templars' ideals, due to him being regarded as one of the greatest Templars in history.^[22] This idea has materialized in Assassin's Creed Unity, where the fictional video game The Lone Eagle, starring him, can be seen at the start.^[23] Alongside multiple other Templar characters from the series, Haytham appears in the 2014 online role-playing collectible card game Assassin's Creed Memories.^[24]

Reception

Haytham was well-received as a character and often contrasted with the divisiveness of his son, Connor. In a contemporary review of Assassin's Creed III for PC Gamer, Chris Thursten called Haytham a good villain but also observed that "the writers seem to like [Haytham] more than they do their ostensible lead [Connor]."^[25] However, a lot of contemporary reviewers refused to give a detailed account on Haytham, in order to not spoil the plot twist that he, a Templar, is the game's first protagonist.^[26][27][28] Alex Hutchinson, Creative Director of Assassin's Creed noted that the character faced some backlash as a surprise protagonist due to his arc being too long, but pointed out that he remains a fan favorite, making his way into other installments and selling a lot of action figures,^[1] whereas GamesRadar+ lauded this move as "bold" in a list of gaming's most satisfying character switches.^[29]

IGN described Haytham among the best new video game characters of 2012, claiming that "no man is as cunning, conniving, and sassy as Haytham Kenway".^[30] In 2020, IGN Brasil ranked Haytham as the second best villain in the franchise.^[31] In a ranking of all Assassin's Creed characters by PC Gamer, Haytham was ranked much higher than Connor (who finished last) and also eclipsed his father Edward, with the reviewer comparing him favorably to James Bond, noting that "his ruthlessness make him a joy to play as", in contrast to Connor.^[32] Frank Martin of DualShockers described Haythem as one of the best villain in Assassin's Creed and said that its "a very peculiar character given how likable he is. "His story is such a unique one that it should definitely be explored more in the Assassin's Creed universe."^[33] He was also described as one of the greatest protagonist in the franchises by German outlet GamePro, who noted that his moral ambiguity and complexity made players reflect on the nature of the Templar Order for the first time in the series' history.^[34] Likewise, GameRevolution featured Haytham in a list of "video game villains who were actually right", especially in regards to his vision of an ideal state.^[35]

Adrian Hough, the voice actor who portrayed Haytham, was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award in the "Performer" category at the 9th British Academy Games Awards ceremony for his portrayal.^[36] In an interview, the actor noted the positive fan response his character had received, especially in regards to cosplay.^[4]

While discussing which characters should be included in a future Netflix series based on the video games, Matthew Aguilar of Comicbook.com opted for Haytham, noting his charm and backstory, calling him one of the most interesting villains in the series.^[37]

Analysis

Writing for Heavy, Paul Meekin observed that the Templar Order seeks control of governments, finances, and the day-to-day lives of individuals they view as "too dangerous to themselves to be trusted" because they believe that this is the best solution for humanity's supposedly self-destructive nature; he highlighted a quote by Haytham from Assassin's Creed III where the character posits that it is within humanity's nature to be told what to believe and how to believe it.^[38] Nick Dinicola from PopMatters noted that while the Templars can produce good leaders, in truth their true goal is to consolidate power for personal gain: Haytham himself is "sympathetic to the plights of those beneath him, but he’s among terrible company: two tyrants and a slave trader". With regards to his position and legacy within his Order, Dinicola drew attention to in-game Templar propaganda presented in Rogue which contends that Haytham was “slain by the ungrateful [Assassin] son who could not appreciate the wisdom of his pragmatic, race-blind approach to politics and personal life” as an example of how the Templars use their position of power to rewrite history and promote themselves in a more favorable light.^[39]

References