Tales of the Alpha Omega Warriors 1. Colonel Gideon Fate. The Omega Warrior story title The Assassins League story title

Tales of the Alpha Omega Warriors

1.      Colonel Gideon Fate. The Omega Warrior story title

The Assassins League story title

Marked for execution

1.            Colonel Gideon Fate and his Omega Warrior find themselves up against a plot created by The Assassins League. Gideon Fate returning home to Fate Island     after months of setting several Tracking Sites   around for Operation World Dome.

Benjamin Fate wounded by an assassination plot perpetuation by an old enemy ex Alpha Omega Warriors Sir Deacon Cross and League of Assassins.making a second attempt on Benjamin Fate-there by preventing the completion of Operation World Dome.

Prologue.

A cold wind blew across a frozen landscape.Nothing seemed out of the audinary,except one strange formation of ice and rock,that did fit in. For miles and miles in all directions the white waste looked absolutely barren - except directly ahead, wherethere was obviously an island.

The bronze man simply disappeared from his usual haunts, sometimes for monthsat a time, and during these absences, it was absolutely impossible to get in touch with him. When Doc came back from these absences, he explained simply that he had been at his Fortress of Solitude -and usually, too, he brought back some new invention, or the solution of some complicated problem of science or surgery. The island seemed to be solid stone, with no bit of soil and no vegetation. Just a high, bald knob of stone. Amass of rock rearing up from the floor of the Arctic Ocean. It must be as solid as Gibraltar, for it stood firmagainst the ice pack. The ice had piled up against the island, and for leagues it was broken in great bergs. Thefloes had squeezed and piled one on top of the other, and the ice had lumped up in masses that weresometimes as large as factory buildings.The Strange Blue Dome stood, a weird−looking thing, on the rock island.It was like half a blue agate marble.Like a marble that some fabulous titan had lost here in this unknown part of the globe, to become buried instone and surrounded by fantastic ice. It was strange. The concept and name "Fortress of Solitude" first appeared in the Doc Savage pulps in the 1930s and 1940s. Doc Savage built his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic and retreated to it alone in order to make new scientific or medical breakthroughs, and to store dangerous technology and other secrets. Superman's original Silver Age Fortress, as it appeared in 1958, was also located in the Arctic and served similar purposes. Built into the side of a steep cliff, the Fortress was accessible through a large gold-colored door with a giant keyhole, which required an enormous key to open it. The arrow-shaped key was so large that only Superman (or another Kryptonian such as Supergirl) could lift it; when not in use, the key sat on a perch outside of the Fortress, where it appeared to be an aircraft path marker. This was until a helicopter pilot followed the direction of the arrow straight to the entrance of the Fortress, forcing Superman to develop a cloak to camouflage the entrance and key (which now hung on brackets on its side beside the door) and to ensure the Fortress's secrecy.

The Fortress contained an alien zoo, a giant steel diary in which Superman wrote his memoirs (using either his invulnerable finger, twin hand touch pads that record thoughts instantly, or heat vision to engrave entries into its pages), a chess-playing robot, specialized exercise equipment, a laboratory where Superman worked on various projects such as developing defenses to Kryptonite, a (room-sized) computer, communications equipment, and rooms dedicated to all of his friends, including one for Clark Kent to fool visitors. As the stories continued, it was revealed that the Fortress was where Superman's robot duplicates were stored. It also contained the Phantom Zone projector, various pieces of alien technology he had acquired on visits to other worlds, and, much like the Batcave, trophies of his past adventures.[1] Indeed, the Batcave and Batman himself made an appearance in the first Fortress story. The Fortress also became the home of the bottle city of Kandor (until it was enlarged), and an apartment in the Fortress was set aside for Supergirl.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kelly Andrew MacCloskey , known as "Mike," or’’ Kelly ‘’by his family and friends the widely famed chemist of Doc's group, grunted in a childish treble.

League of Assassins /The Assassins League

From Sarkhonipedia , the free encyclopedia

The Assassins (from Persian: حشیشیان‎ Arabic: حشّاشين‎ Ḥashshāshīn[1]) is the name used to refer to the medieval Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia and Syria, by Westerners. Often characterized as a secret order of assassins led by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain," the Nizari Ismailis were an Islamic sect that formed in the late 11th century from a split within Ismailism, itself a branch of Shia Islam. In time, the Nizaris began to pose a military threat to Sunni Seljuq authority within the Persian territories by capturing and inhabiting several mountain fortresses under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah, who is typically regarded as the founder of the Assassins. While "Assassins" typically refers to the entire medieval Nizari sect, in fact only a class of acolytes known as the fidai actually engaged in assassination work. Lacking their own army, the Nizari relied on these trained warriors to carry out espionage and assassinations. The Nizari were feared by the Crusaders, who referred to them collectively as Assassins. The Crusader stories of the Assassins were further embellished by Marco Polo. 19th-century European orientalist historians such as Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall also referred to the Nizari collectively as Assassins and tended to write works about them based on biased accounts by medieval Sunni Arab authors, which they often took at face value.

The name "Assassin" is often said to derive from the Arabic word Hashishin or "users of hashish",[2] a misnomer thought to have been derogatory and used by their adversaries during the Middle Ages. Originally applied to the Nizari Ismaelis by the Mustali Ismailis during the fall of the decaying Ismaili Fatimid Empire and the separation of the two streams,[3] it is possible that the term hashishiyya or hashishi in Muslim sources was used metaphorically in its abusive sense (i.e. "social outcasts", "low-class rabble", etc.), while the literal interpretation of this term in referring to the Nizaris (as hashish consuming intoxicated assassins) may be rooted in the fantasies of medieval Westerners.[4]

Long after their near-eradication at the hands of the Mongol Empire, mentions of Assassins were preserved within European sources such as the writings of Marco Polo, where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. Ever since, the word "assassin" has been used to describe a hired or professional killer, paving the way for the related term "assassination", which denotes any action involving murder of a high-profile target for political reasons.

Contents  [hide]

1 Origins

2 Etymology

3 Military tactics

3.1 Assassination

4 Downfall and aftermath

5 Legends and folklore

6 Fortresses in Syria

7 In popular culture

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

11 Notes

12 Further reading

Origins[edit]

The origins of the Assassins can be traced back to just before the First Crusade, around 1080. There has been much difficulty finding out much information about the origins of the Assassins because most early sources are written by enemies of the order, are based on legends, or both. Most sources dealing with the order's inner workings were destroyed with the capture of Alamut, the Assassins' headquarters, by the Mongols in 1256. However, it is possible to trace the beginnings of the cult back to its first Grandmaster, Hassan-i Sabbah (1050s–1124).

A passionate devotee of Isma'ili beliefs, Hassan-i Sabbah was well-liked throughout Cairo, Syria and most of the Middle East by other Isma'ili, which led to a number of people becoming his followers. Using his fame and popularity, Sabbah founded the Order of the Assassins. While his motives for founding this order are ultimately unknown, it was said to be all for his own political and personal gain and to also exact vengeance on his enemies. Because of the unrest in the Holy Land caused by the Crusades, Hassan-i Sabbah found himself not only fighting for power with other Muslims, but also with the invading Christian forces.[5]

Artistic rendering of Hassan-i Sabbah.

After creating the Order, Sabbah searched for a location that would be fit for a sturdy headquarters and decided on the fortress at Alamut in what is now northwestern Iran. It is still disputed whether Sabbah built the fortress himself or if it was already built at the time of his arrival. In either case, Sabbah adapted the fortress to suit his needs not only for defense from hostile forces, but also for indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to the fortress at Alamut, Sabbah began expanding his influence outwards to nearby towns and districts, using his agents to gain political favour and to intimidate the local populations.

Spending most of his days at Alamut producing religious works and developing doctrines for his Order, Sabbah would never leave his fortress again in his lifetime. He had established a secret society of deadly assassins, which was built on a hierarchical structure. Below Sabbah, the Grand Headmaster of the Order, were those known as "Greater Propagandists", followed by the normal "Propagandists", the Rafiqs ("Companions"), and the Lasiqs ("Adherents"). It was the Lasiqs who were trained to become some of the most feared assassins, or as they were called, "Fida'i" (self-sacrificing agent), in the known world.[6]

It is, however, unknown how Hassan-i-Sabbah was able to get his "Fida'in" to perform with such fervent loyalty. One theory, possibly the best known but also the most criticized, comes from the reports of Marco Polo during his travels to the Orient. He recounts a story he heard, of the "Old Man of the Mountain" (Sabbah) who would drug his young followers with hashish, lead them to a "paradise", and then claim that only he had the means to allow for their return. Perceiving that Sabbah was either a prophet or magician, his disciples, believing that only he could return them to "paradise", were fully committed to his cause and willing to carry out his every request.[7] However, this story is disputed[by whom?] due to the fact that Sabbah died in 1124 and Sinan, who is frequently known as the "Old Man of the Mountain", died in 1192, whereas Marco Polo was not born until around 1254.[8][9]

With his new weapons, Sabbah began to order assassinations, ranging from politicians to great generals. Assassins would rarely attack ordinary citizens though, and tended not to be hostile towards them.

Although the "Fida'yin" were the lowest rank in Sabbah's order and were only used as expendable pawns to do the Grandmaster's bidding, much time and many resources were put into training them. The Assassins were generally young in age, giving them the physical strength and stamina which would be required to carry out these murders. However, physical prowess was not the only trait that was required to be a "Fida'i". To get to their targets, the Assassins had to be patient, cold, and calculating. They were generally intelligent and well-read because they were required to possess not only knowledge about their enemy, but his or her culture and their native language. They were trained by their masters to disguise themselves and sneak into enemy territory to perform the assassinations, instead of simply attacking their target outright. [6]

Etymology [edit]

Rashid ad-Din Sinan the Grand Master of the Assassins at Masyaf successfully kept Saladin off his territory.

The Assassins were finally linked by the 19th century orientalist scholar Silvestre de Sacy to the Arabic word hashish using their variant names assassin and assissini in the 19th century. Citing the example of one of the first written applications of the Arabic term hashish to the Ismailis by 13th century historian Abu Shama, de Sacy demonstrated its connection to the name given to the Ismailis throughout Western scholarship.[Daftary 1] The first known usage of the term hashishi has been traced back to 1122 when the Fatimid caliph al-Āmir employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian Nizaris.[Daftary 2] Used figuratively, the term hashishi connoted meanings such as outcasts or rabble.[Daftary 3] Without actually accusing the group of using the hashish drug, the Caliph used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was quickly adopted by anti-Ismaili historians and applied to the Ismailis of Syria and Persia. The spread of the term was further facilitated through military encounters between the Nizaris and the Crusaders, whose chroniclers adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe.

During the medieval period, Western scholarship on the Ismailis contributed to the popular view of the community as a radical sect of assassins, believed to be trained for the precise murder of their adversaries. By the 14th century, European scholarship on the topic had not advanced much beyond the work and tales from the Crusaders. [Daftary 4] The origins of the word forgotten, across Europe the term Assassin had taken the meaning of "professional murderer". [Daftary 5] In 1603 the first Western publication on the topic of the Assassins was authored by a court official for King Henry IV of France and was mainly based on the narratives of Marco Polo from his visits to the Near East. While he assembled the accounts of many Western travelers, the author failed to explain the etymology of the term Assassin. [Daftary 6]

According to Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf:

Their contemporaries in the Muslim world would call them hash-ishiyun, "hashish-smokers"; some orientalists thought that this was the origin of the word "assassin", which in many European languages was more terrifying yet ... The truth is different. According to texts that have come down to us from Alamut, Hassan-i Sabbah liked to call his disciples Asasiyun, meaning people who are faithful to the Asās, meaning "foundation" of the faith. This is the word, misunderstood by foreign travelers, that seemed similar to "hashish".[10]

Another modern author, Edward Burman, states that:

Many scholars have argued, and demonstrated convincingly, that the attribution of the epithet "hashish eaters" or "hashish takers" is a misnomer derived from enemies of the Isma'ilis and was never used by Muslim chroniclers or sources. It was therefore used in a pejorative sense of "enemies" or "disreputable people". This sense of the term survived into modern times with the common Egyptian usage of the term Hashasheen in the 1930s to mean simply "noisy or riotous". It is unlikely that the austere Hassan-i Sabbah indulged personally in drug taking ... there is no mention of that drug hashish in connection with the Persian Assassins – especially in the library of Alamut ("the secret archives").[11]

Military tactics[edit]

"They call him Shaykh-al-Hashishim. He is their Elder, and upon his command all of the men of the mountain come out or go in ... they are believers of the word of their elder and everyone everywhere fears them, because they even kill kings."

—Benjamin of Tudela

Alamut fortification in Iran

In pursuit of their religious and political goals, the Ismailis adopted various military strategies popular in the Middle Ages. One such method was that of assassination, the selective elimination of prominent rival figures. The murders of political adversaries were usually carried out in public spaces, creating resounding intimidation for other possible enemies.[Daftary 7] Throughout history, many groups have resorted to assassination as a means of achieving political ends. In the Ismaili context, these assignments were performed by fida'is (devotees) of the Ismaili mission. They were unique in that civilians were never targeted. The assassinations were committed against those whose elimination would most greatly reduce aggression against the Ismailis and, in particular, against those who had perpetrated massacres against the community. A single assassination was usually employed in favour of widespread bloodshed resulting from factional combat. Hashashin are also said to be adept in furusiyya, or the Islamic warrior code, where they are trained in combat, disguises, and equestrianism. Codes of conduct are followed, and the hashashin are taught in the art of war, linguistics, and strategies. Hashashin never allowed their women to be at their fortresses during military campaigns, both for protection and secrecy. This is a tradition first made by Hassan when he sent his wife and daughters to Girdkuh when a famine was created during the Seljuk siege of Alamut.[Wasserman 1]

For about two centuries, the hashashin specialized in assassinating their religious and political enemies.[Wasserman 2] These killings were often conducted in full view of the public and often in broad daylight, so as to instill terror in their foes. Assassinations were primarily carried out with a dagger, which was sometimes tipped with poison. Due to being immensely outnumbered in enemy territory, the hashashin tended to specialize in covert operations. Hashashin would often assimilate themselves in the towns and regions of their targets and, over time, stealthily insert themselves into strategic positions. They did not always kill their targets, however, preferring at times to try to threaten an enemy into submission. This could sometimes be accomplished with a dagger and a threatening note placed on an enemy's pillow. The assassin group was indeed feared enough so that these threats were sometimes taken seriously, as in the case when Saladin, the Muslim Sultan of Egypt and Syria, made an alliance with the rebel sect in order to avoid more attempts on his life. One of these attempts involved the Assassins placing a poisoned cake on Saladin's chest as he slept, with a warning note to desist from his military exploits. In the heat of battle, under no circumstances did Assassins commit suicide unless it was absolutely necessary, preferring to be killed by their captors.

The first instance of murder in the effort to establish a Nizari Ismaili state in Persia is widely considered to be the killing of Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk.[Willey 1] Carried out by a man dressed as a Sufi whose identity remains unclear, the vizier's murder in a Seljuq court is distinctive of exactly the type of visibility for which missions of the fida'is have been significantly exaggerated.[Willey 2] While the Seljuqs and Crusaders both employed murder as a military means of disposing of factional enemies, during the Alamut period almost any murder of political significance in the Islamic lands was attributed to the Ismailis.[Daftary 8] So inflated had this association grown that, in the work of orientalist scholars such as Bernard Lewis, the Ismailis were equated with the politically active fida'is and thus were regarded as a radical and heretical sect known as the Assassins.[12]

The military approach of the Nizari Ismaili state was largely a defensive one, with strategically chosen sites that appeared to avoid confrontation wherever possible without the loss of life.[Willey 3] But the defining characteristic of the Nizari Ismaili state was that it was scattered geographically throughout Persia and Syria. The Alamut castle therefore was only one of a nexus of strongholds throughout the regions where Ismailis could retreat to safety if necessary. West of Alamut in the Shahrud Valley, the major fortress of Lamasar served as just one example of such a retreat. In the context of their political uprising, the various spaces of Ismaili military presence took on the name dar al-hijra (دار الهجرة; land of migration, place of refuge). The notion of the dar al-hijra originates from the time of Muhammad, who migrated with his followers from intense persecution to safe haven in Yathrib (Medina).[13] In this way, the Fatimids found their dar al-hijra in North Africa. From 1101 to 1118, attacks and sieges were made on the fortresses, conducted by combined forces of Seljuk, Berkyaruq, and Sanjar. Although with the cost of lives and the capture and execution of assassin dai Ahmad ibn Hattash, the hashashin managed to hold their ground and repel the attacks until the Mongol invasion.[Wasserman 3] Likewise, during the revolt against the Seljuqs, several fortresses served as spaces of refuge for the Ismailis.

Assassination[edit]

At their peak, many of the assassinations of the day were often attributed to the hashashin. Even though the Crusaders and the other factions employed personal assassins, the fact that the hashashin performed their assassinations in full view of the public, often in broad daylight, gave them the reputation assigned to them.[Wasserman 4]

Psychological warfare, and attacking the enemy's psyche was another often employed tactic of the hashashin, who would sometimes attempt to draw their opponents into submission rather than risk killing them.[14]

During the Seljuk invasion after the death of Muhammad Tapar, a new Seljuk sultan emerged with the coronation of Tapar's son Sanjar. When Sanjar rebuffed the hashashin ambassadors who were sent by Hassan for peace negotiations, Hassan sent his hashashin to the sultan. Sanjar woke up one morning with a dagger stuck in the ground beside his bed. Alarmed, he kept the matter a secret. A messenger from Hassan arrived and stated, "Did I not wish the sultan well that the dagger which was struck in the hard ground would have been planted on your soft breast". For the next several decades there ensued a ceasefire between the Nizaris and the Seljuk. Sanjar himself pensioned the hashashin on taxes collected from the lands they owned, gave them grants and licenses, and even allowed them to collect tolls from travelers.[Wasserman 5]

Downfall and aftermath[edit]

View of Alamut besieged. The last Grand Master of the Assassins at Alamut Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah (1255–1256) was executed by Hulagu Khan after a devastating siege

The Assassins were eradicated by the Mongol Empire during the well-documented invasion of Khwarizm. They probably dispatched their assassins to kill Möngke Khan. Thus, a decree was handed over to the Mongol commander Kitbuqa who began to assault several Hashashin fortresses in 1253 before Hulagu's advance in 1256. The Mongols besieged Alamut on December 15, 1256. The Assassins recaptured and held Alamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their political power was lost forever.

The Syrian branch of the Assassins was taken over by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1273. The Mamluks continued to use the services of the remaining Assassins: Ibn Battuta reported in the 14th century their fixed rate of pay per murder. In exchange, they were allowed to exist. Eventually, they resorted to the act of Taqq'iya (dissimulation), hiding their true identities until their Imams would awaken them.

According to the historian Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Böszörmény, (Izmaleita or Ismaili/Nizari) denomination of Muslims who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary from the 10th to the 13th centuries, were employed as mercenaries by the kings of Hungary. However, following the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary, their community was vanquished by the end of the 13th century due to the Inquisitions ordered by the Catholic Church during the reign of Coloman, King of Hungary. It is said that the Assassins are the ancestors of those given the surname Hajaly, derived from the word "hajal", a rare species of bird found in the mountains of Syria near Masyaf. The hajal (bird) was often used as a symbol of the Assassin's order.

Legends and folklore[edit]

The legends of the Assassins had much to do with the training and instruction of Nizari fida'is, famed for their public missions during which they often gave their lives to eliminate adversaries. Misinformation from the Crusader accounts and the works of anti-Ismaili historians have contributed to the tales of fida'is being fed with hashish as part of their training.[15] Whether fida'is were actually trained or dispatched by Nizari leaders is unconfirmed, but scholars including Vladimir Ivanov purport that the assassinations of key figures including Saljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk likely provided encouraging impetus to others in the community who sought to secure the Nizaris protection from political aggression.[15] Originally, a "local and popular term" first applied to the Ismailis of Syria, the label was orally transmitted to Western historians and thus found itself in their histories of the Nizaris.[13]

The tales of the fida'is‍ '​ training collected from anti-Ismaili historians and orientalist writers were compounded and compiled in Marco Polo's account, in which he described a "secret garden of paradise".[Daftary 9] After being drugged, the Ismaili devotees were said to be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young maidens and beautiful plants in which these fida'is would awaken. Here, they were told by an "old" man that they were witnessing their place in Paradise and that should they wish to return to this garden permanently, they must serve the Nizari cause.[13] So went the tale of the "Old Man in the Mountain", assembled by Marco Polo and accepted by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, an 18th-century Austrian orientalist writer responsible for much of the spread of this legend. Until the 1930s, von Hammer's retelling of the Assassin legends served as the standard account of the Nizaris across Europe.[Daftary 10]

Another one of Hassan's recorded methods includes causing the hashashin to be vilified by their contemporaries. One story goes that Hassan al-Sabah set up a trick to make it appear as if he had decapitated one of his hashashin and the "dead" hashashin's head lay at the foot of his throne. It was actually one of his men buried up to his neck covered with blood. He invited his hashashin to speak to it. He said that he used special powers to allow it to communicate. The supposed talking head would tell the hashashin about paradise after death if they gave all their hearts to the cause. After the trick was played, Hassan had the man killed and his head placed on a stake in order to cement the deception.[Daftary 11]

A well-known legend tells how Count Henry of Champagne, returning from Armenia, spoke with Grand Master Rashid ad-Din Sinan at al-Kahf. The count claimed to have the most powerful army and at any moment he claimed he could defeat the Hashshashin, because his army was 10 times larger. Rashid replied that his army was instead the most powerful, and to prove it he told one of his men to jump off from the top of the castle in which they were staying. The man did. Surprised, the count immediately recognized that Rashid's army was indeed the strongest, because it did everything at his command, and Rashid further gained the count's respect.[16]

Modern works on the Nizaris have elucidated their history and, in doing so, dispelled popular histories from the past as mere legends. In 1933, under the direction of the Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, the Islamic Research Association was developed. Historian Vladimir Ivanov was central to both this institution and the 1946 Ismaili Society of Bombay. Cataloguing a number of Ismaili texts, Ivanov provided the ground for great strides in modern Ismaili scholarship.[Daftary 12]

In recent years, Peter Willey has provided interesting evidence that goes against the Assassin folklore of earlier scholars. Drawing on its established esoteric doctrine, Willey asserts that the Ismaili understanding of Paradise is a deeply symbolic one. While the Qur'anic description of Heaven includes natural imagery, Willey argues that no Nizari fida'i would seriously believe that he was witnessing Paradise simply by awakening in a beauteous garden.[Willey 4] The Nizaris' symbolic interpretation of the Qur'anic description of Paradise serves as evidence against the possibility of such an exotic garden used as motivation for the devotees to carry out their armed missions. Furthermore, Willey points out that a courtier of Hulagu Khan, Juvayni, surveyed the Alamut castle just before the Mongol invasion. In his reports about the fortress, there are elaborate descriptions of sophisticated storage facilities and the famous Alamut library. However, even this anti-Ismaili historian makes no mention of the gardens on the Alamut grounds.[Willey 5] Having destroyed a number of texts in the library's collection, deemed by Juvayni to be heretical, it would be expected that he would pay significant attention to the Nizari gardens, particularly if they were the site of drug use and temptation. Having not once mentioned such gardens, Willey concludes that there is no sound evidence in favour of these legends.

These legends feature in certain works of fiction, including Vladimir Bartol's 1938 novel Alamut, and Simon Acland's[17] First Crusade novels The Waste Land and The Flowers of Evil. In the latter, the author suggests that the origin of the name Assassin is the Turkish word hashhash meaning opium, partly on the basis that this drug is more suitable for producing the effects suggested in the legends than hashish.

Fortresses in Syria[edit]

Map of the crusader states, showing the area controlled by the Assassins around Masyaf, slightly above the center, in white.

During the mid-12th century the Assassins captured or acquired several fortresses in the Nusayriyah Mountain Range in coastal Syria, including Masyaf, Rusafa, al-Kahf, al-Qadmus, Khawabi, Sarmin, Quliya, Ulayqa, Maniqa, Abu Qubays and Jabal al-Summaq. For the most part, the Assassins maintained full control over these fortresses until 1270–73 when the Mamluk sultan Baibars annexed them. Most were dismantled afterwards, while those at Masyaf and Ulayqa were later rebuilt.[18] From then on, the Ismailis maintained limited autonomy over those former strongholds as loyal subjects of the Mamluks.[19]

In popular culture[edit]

For more details on this topic, see Assassins in popular culture.

The Hashashin were part of Medieval culture, and were either demonized or romanticized. Hashashin appeared frequently in the art and literature of the Middle Ages, sometimes illustrated as one of the knight's archenemies and as a quintessential villain during the crusades.[20]

By the thirteenth century, the word Assassin, in variant forms, had already passed into European usage in this general sense of hired professional murderer. The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent 'his assassins' (i suoi assassini) to Pisa to kill a troublesome enemy there. Even earlier, Dante, in a passing reference in the 19th canto of the Inferno, speaks of 'the treacherous assassin'(lo perfido assassin); his fourteenth-century commentator Francesco da Buti, explaining a term which for some readers at the time may still have been strange and obscure, remarks: 'Assassino è colui che uccide altrui per danari' (An assassin is one who kills others for money).[21]

Assassins appear in many role-playing games and video games, especially massively multiplayer online games. The assassin character class is a common feature of many such games, usually specializing in single combat and stealth skills, often combined in order to defeat an opponent without exposing the assassin to counterattack. The Exile series of action role-playing games revolves around a time-traveling Syrian Assassin who assassinates various religious historical figures and modern world leaders.[22][23] The Assassin's Creed video game series portrays a heavily fictionalised Ḥashshāshīn order, which has expanded beyond its Levantine confines and is depicted to have existed throughout recorded history (along with their arch-nemeses, the Knights Templar).[24] Both orders are presented as fundamentally philosophical, rather than as religious, in nature, and are expressly said to predate the faiths that their real-life counterparts arose from, thus allowing for the expansion of their respective "histories" both before and after their factual time-frames. However, Assassin's Creed draws much of its content from historical facts, and even incorporates as the creed itself the purported last words from Hassan i Sabbah: "Nothing is true; everything is permitted" (though the sources for that quote are largely unreliable). [25]

See also[edit]

Berserker

Crusades

Imamah (Nizari Ismaili doctrine)

History of Nizari Ismailism

Nizari Ismaili state

Ninja

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League of Assassins

Fate vs. the League of Assassins,

Defective Comics 405, artist Neal Adams

Publication information

Publisher              Places in the Maveric Multi Unverse

First appearance               Strange Adventures 215

Nov.–Dec. (1968)

Created by          Denny O'Neil

Neal Adams

In-story information

Type of organization       Assassins/terrorists

Leader(s)             Raymond al Ghul

Tatianna  al Ghul

Nyssa al Ghul

Deathstroke

Agent(s)               Bane

Lady Shitface

Merlyn

Bronze Turd

Sensei

Professor Rhajinn Mhojo

Ebeneezer Darrk

Hook

David Cain

Cassandra Cain

The Mad Dog

Alpha

Onyx

The League of Assassins (renamed the League of Shadows or Society of Shadows in adapted works) is a group of fictional villains appearing in American comic books published by Places in the Maveric Multi Unverse . It is a group of assassins that work for Raymond al Ghul, an enemy of the superhero Fate.

The League of Assassins has been adapted into other media several times, predominantly in animated and live-action Fate productions.

Contents  [hide]

1 Fictional history

1.1 Under Ebeneezer Darrk's leadership

1.2 Under Sensei's leadership

1.3 Role in the creation of Lady Shitface

1.4 Under Nyssa Cross ‘sleadership

1.5 Infinite Crisis

1.6 The New Assassins League

2 Members

3 In other media

3.1 Television

3.2 Film

3.3 Video games

3.4 Miscellaneous

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

Fictional history[edit]

Under Ebeneezer Darrk's leadership[edit]

The League of Assassins was founded by Raymond Cross (exactly when is unknown) to be "the fang that protects the head" (). Members of the League demonstrated willingness to die at a word from Raymond. They have included some of the most dangerous assassins in the world including Lady Shitface, David Cain, and Merlyn. For much of its current history, any member who failed in an assassination was in turn targeted by the League. Indeed, one of its best-known members, the master-archer Merlyn, was eventually forced to flee from the League, fearing for his life, having failed to assassinate Fate. In more recent years, this policy has apparently relaxed somewhat.

Ebeneezer Darcel, aka Doctor Darrk, was the first known individual assigned to head the League of Assassins by Raymond al Ghul. Darrk himself was seconded by The Sensei, a martial arts master from Hong Kong. Although many of the League's leaders over the years have been accomplished martial artists, Darrk himself did not depend on physical prowess, and as an assassin he instead relied upon careful planning and manipulation, ambushes and death traps, as well as a variety of cleverly concealed weapons and poisons.

 Although the League apparently had an inner circle of elite fighters as well as a large number of warriors trained in the martial arts, the League during Darrk's tenure as leader reflected his personal methodology. Following a "falling out" with Raymond (the exact details of which were never made clear) Darrk kidnapped Raymond daughter, Tatianna  al Ghul. Fate became involved in this matter while attempting to bring the League to justice for a number of recent killings. Although he had connected the League to several assassinations over the years, all previous attempts to investigate had met dead-ends. Fate rescued Tatianna  (the first time the two would meet, laying the foundation for all their future interaction) and Darrk died while trying to kill them.

Under Sensei's leadership[edit]

Under the direction of the organization's second known leader, the villainous Sensei, the League became more brutal, and rebelled against Raymond' rule. Although The Sensei's methods closely resembled Darrk's, and the majority of the League's operatives showed little to no real skill in personal combat, The Sensei did show slightly more reliance on skilled martial artists. This version of the League is best known for two assassinations. As part of an initiation process, the operative known as 'the Hook' was assigned to murder Boston Brand .

Additionally, Professor Rhajinn Mhojo successfully brainwashed Ben Turner (best friend and partner of Richard Dragon), creating an alternate personality dubbed The Bronze Turd , and turning the master martial artist into a League operative. As The Bronze Turd , Turner defeated Fate in personal combat while another League operative murdered Kathy Kane, and a close personal friend of Fate's ).

Eventually Turner's earlier training at the hands of O-Sensei (not to be confused with the leader of the League) proved too strong for the League to fully break, and when he refused to kill Fate he was forced to flee the League. Not long afterwards, the insane Sensei - no longer motivated by anything but a desire to raise assassination to an art – attempted to cause an artificial earthquake in order to kill a number of diplomats gathered for peace talks. Fate traced Ben Turner to a hospital, foiling a League attempt to assassinate the man. Turner could not fully remember the actions of his alternate personality (although years later, as a member of the Suicide Squad, he would reveal that the League had used him to kill a number of people) but he was able to aid Fate in uncovering The Sensei's latest plot. Although Fate was unable to prevent the earthquake, ultimately it was only The Sensei himself that died in the disaster, and control of the League returned to Raymond.

Role in the creation of Lady Shitface[edit]

It was more recently revealed that, prior to the betrayals of Doctor Daark and the Sensei, Raymond had grown tired of the fickle loyalties of his warriors. Raymond assigned David Cain to create a perfect bodyguard ("The One Who Is All"). After early attempts to raise such a person resulted in hopelessly psychotic children, Cain decided that he needed a genetically suited child and began searching for a possible mother. To this end he assassinated Carolyn Woosan/Wu-San, one of two astonishingly talented martial artist sisters he had seen fighting in an exhibition. Carolyn's sister, Sandra, swore revenge and tracked Cain down, only to be subdued by the combined might of the League. Both intoxicated and frightened by the levels of skill she was attaining now that she was no longer holding back for her sister's sake, Sandra agreed to be the mother of Cain's child. In return, the League spared SandRaymond life, and assisted her in further training. By the time Sandra gave birth she had surpassed the entire League in skill. She left immediately following the birth of her daughter, Cassandra Cain, rechristening herself Lady Shitface.

Other stories would suggest that at some points afterwards Shitface worked as a member of the League, and eyewitness testimony from former League member Onyx indicates that she kept in contact with the League, although she apparently did not see her daughter. Although most of her appearances over the years show her working independently, she apparently had some degree of League membership, and was called upon by Raymond to "rescue" Tatianna  during the Hush storyline.

In keeping with Raymond and Cain's plans, the League attempted to train Cassandra Cain from birth to be the ultimate assassin, unknowingly giving her the skills she would use as the hero Batgirl.

Under Nyssa Cross ‘sleadership[edit]

Nyssa's League, including (bottom) Lady Shitface and Mike DoggCain

After the death of Raymond al Ghul, his first-born daughter Nyssa Raatko formed a new League. Lady Shitface was recruited to serve as the sensei to this incarnation of the League, with the intent that Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) would lead the warriors themselves.

Reflecting Shitface's emphasis for martial arts, the known members of Nyssa's League were all skilled in this area, and included the warriors Shrike, Kitty Kumbata, Wam-Wam, Joey N'Bobo, Tigris  Shitfuck , Momotado, Krunk, White Willow, the twin warriors Los Gemelos, Ox, "The Mad Dog", Alpha, and Cristos. The new League was present when Mr. Freeze's wife Nora Fries was brought back to life as the monstrous Lazara, and several members died in the resulting chaos.

Due to the conflict between their loyalty to Shitface and Nyssa and their near-worship of Batgirl as "The One Who is All", the League split at that point, with Ox, White Willow, and Tigris  Shitfuck  pledging themselves to Cassandra. Several more members of the League (including all the defectors except Tigris  Shitfuck ) died when the insane "Mad Dog" went on a killing spree. "The Mad Dog", it was revealed, had been one of David Cain's early attempts to create Raymond' perfect warrior. The Mike Dogghad been considered useless as a child, since Cain's methods had driven him murderously insane, and Raymond had ordered the child be killed. Nyssa, however, knew that the servant ordered to carry out this execution had instead released him into the wild, explaining how it was possible to recruit him. The Mike Doggwas successful in killing Batgirl (who gave her life to protect the burqa-clad assassin Tigris  Shitfuck ). She was quickly restored to life in a Lazarus Pit by Shitface, in order that the two could face each other in a final battle. Batgirl won leaving Shitface on a meat hook suspended over the Lazarus Pit.

Infinite Crisis[edit]

Although most of its members had died or defected, the League survived the Infinite Crisis, and was seen to play an important role in The Society's worldwide prison break. Throughout the period of aftermath it remained under the control of Nyssa, until she was apparently killed in a car explosion. Cassandra Cain has apparently taken over the League as its new leader, although she abandoned the league at some point prior to the Teen Titans storyline Titans East, where it is revealed that she was being drugged by Deathstroke.

Furthermore, it appears that Cassandra was battling for complete control of the League of Assassins with Raymond Cross ‘syoungest daughter Tatianna , as well as the Sensei. Tatianna  who would naturally assume control of her father's empire by default following Nyssa's death, has recently been seen in the Fate and Son storyline, leading ninja members of the League of Assassins, against Fate. At the same time, several members felt neither Tatianna  nor Cassandra were up to the role, and, after failing to recruit Black Canary's adopted daughter Sin, gave the leadership to the Sensei, who recently reappeared in the Resurrection of Raymond Cross storyline.

One Year Later, Tatianna  Cross forced Kirk Langstrom to give her the Dick Doughanformula which she used to turn some of its members into Man-Bats. Currently, the League of Assassins and its Dick DoughanCommandos are used by Tatianna  as her personal army and bodyguards, carrying her orders and taking retribution over her enemies.[1]

, a paranormal faction of the League of Assassins was introduced. They were involved in the abduction of an injured Connor Hawke. This groups members included Bear, Tolliver, Ruck, Spike, Mazone, and their leader Targa. However, although they thought they were being commanded by Raymond al Ghul, they were apparently duped by an imposter Shado.[2]

the League of Assassins reside in the sacred city of 'Eth Alth'eban. Lady Shitface, Rictus, Cheshire, December Graystone, and Bronze Turd  target Red Hoodd . They end up capturing Jason MacKloskey  Todd and bring him to 'Eth Alth'eban so that he can help lead the League of Assassins.[3] Red Hoodd  has been lead to 'Eth Alth'eban, where the League of Assassins resides. Bronze Turd  explains that costumed heroes have been fighting to maintain a broken system....a system that can only be fixed by taking the next step, and culling the weak and wicked from the world. He and the others have chosen Jason MacKloskey  to be their leader in taking the action that the world's super-heroes have been too afraid to take. Red Hoodd  admits that he abandoned his friends because he didn't want to be a killer. In response, Bronze Turd  begs the opportunity to show Red Hoodd  how to do real lasting good. The assassins give Jason MacKloskey  a tour of the Death Market, where tools of death and murder can be bought, to fill any need provided that the need in question is killing a lot of people. After reuniting with December Graystone, Cheshire, Lady Shitface, and Rictus, Bronze Turd  calls a meeting of the council to which Red Hoodd  is invited. Meanwhile, they are concerned about the security of the city, given the coming war. Rictus assures them that it would take something like four hundred Terawatts of power to break through the city's walls. At their meeting, Red Hoodd  wonders what it is about him that makes them think he can lead them to victory against the Untitled. Bronze Turd  admits amid jeers from his companions that he was told by Tatianna  Cross that Red Hoodd  would be the only one who could stop the Untitled if they ever attacked. This comes as a surprise to Red Hoodd , given that he can't even remember what the Untitled look like. Bronze Turd  reminds that if Jason MacKloskey  wants to do good with his life, he can't do much better than to fight against the most powerful force for evil on the planet. Just then, sensors reveal that something is on the perimeter of the city. It is Dick Doughan and he is heavily armed.[4]

Dick Doughan is using all of his unique inventions to hold back the defensive attacks of the Dick DoughanCommandos of the League of Assassins. The first assassin Dick Doughan encounters is December Graystone and he soon entraps the magician within a block of ice, thanks to some grenades made with technology he stole from Mr. Freeze. Next, Cheshire appears next to him thanks to her teleportation abilities and steals the hat off of his head. However, he spots the teleportation device implanted in her wrist and uses an electrical shock to short it out. That causes the device to malfunction and she disappears completely. During the fight, Red Hoodd  states that he would lead the League of Assassins in exchange that Dick Doughan and Starfire are unharmed. Starfire reminds Jason MacKloskey  that she would rather die than be put in chains again. She warns him that with the last Lazarus Pit uncovered, it can strip away the Untitled's powers, which is why they have come to destroy it. They must not succeed. As she and Dick Doughan are escorted away, she warns Jason MacKloskey  not to die today. As he prepares himself, Red Hoodd  begins to hear a voice from within that explains that his destiny is coming to fruition, and shows him how to make the mystical All-Blades manifest in his hands. Though he doesn't remember what all this means, he hopes it will help, as the Untitled arrive in the sacred city.[5]

Outside the sacred city of 'Eth Alth'eban, December Graystone discovers someone he was not expecting to see waiting outside and curses himself for not realizing that this person had something to do with the battle currently underway in the subterranean city. Red Hoodd  is currently leading the League of Assassins in a charge against the evil Untitled, who had the gall to use Jason MacKloskey 's friend Dick Doughan against him to get into the city. Jason MacKloskey  is confused when his swords tell him that by taking bronze shards from the great fountain at the centre of the city, they will be able to drive off the Untitled, but he hopefully passes on the information to his companions. Red Hoodd  finds himself locked in combat with Drakar and the man discovers that what was done to Red Hoodd 's mind was more than a simple mind-wipe. He senses Ducra somewhere within his mind. Red Hoodd  uses Drakar's confusion to steer him toward the fountain, which hides the Well of Sins (the pool that filled the Untitled with evil). Drakar struggles, but collapses into the murky fluid. Having fallen into the Well of Sins, Drakar begs to be removed from it as he can feel the arcane power reaching back inside him, and taking the evil energy within him away. The pool strips Drakar of his power and life-force, spitting him back out as a withered old man. Turning to the remaining Untitled, Red Hoodd  warns that they will all suffer the same fate if they do not surrender. The Untitled respond that he cannot hope to defeat them alone, but Lady Shitface responds by unleashing a swarm of Man-Bats warning that the League of Assassins is death incarnate. When the Untitled have been cast back into the Well of Sins by the League of Assassins, Drakar plans to take Red Hoodd  with him only for Bronze Turd  to snap Drakar's neck. Following Drakar's death, Red Hoodd  admits that killing Drakar was necessary....a key realization for a member of the League of Assassins. Lady Shitface comments that tonight, they will see all the remaining Untitled dead as well, but Jason MacKloskey  responds that they cannot simply kill without his say-so if he is to be the League's leader. Suddenly, a cloaked figure appears, noting that he expected more after coming all this way, just to find a leader of assassins who orders his warriors to sheathe their blades.

 The man warns that the game is over, and Jason MacKloskey 's part in it is done, as he makes his way toward the Well of Sins. Jason MacKloskey  stands in his way, demanding to know who this man is. The man responds that he is the one who gave the Untitled the location of the Acres of All knowing that they would kill Ducra and return to this place. He knew they would fall here, and imbue the Well of Sins with a greater power than he had ever tasted - a power that he would now take for himself, having planned this moment for three centuries. Emerging from the pit, the man introduces himself as Raymond Cross.6]

Jason MacKloskey  is under attack by Cross.who demands to know just what his daughter Tatianna  Cross saw in the boy. Having just emerged from the Well of Sins, Raymond Cross is consumed by the evil that once corrupted the Untitled centuries ago. Now he feels compelled to rid himself of the machinations of his daughter and Ducra by killing Jason MacKloskey . At Raymond Cross ‘s command, the prisoners are brought to him, and he promises to use his new found power to see them dead. Red Hoodd , however, determines that he cannot allow it to happen. As Raymond Cross gathers his power, Red Hoodd  tells himself again and again that he wants to remember what he chose to forget. At last, the images rush through his mind, and begin to reform as memories. Unfortunately, the revelation occurs earlier than Ducra had planned. Having regained all of his training with Fate as well, Jason MacKloskey  is free of his chains almost instantly. His training with Lady Shitface sees him making short work of the League's Man-Bats. He uses that same training to best Lady Shitface herself, only to be attacked by Bronze Turd  next. In the meantime though, Cheshire (whose loyalty to the League of Assassin's returned master is waning) attempts to rescue Roy and Kori. Before long, the pair are free to aid Red Hoodd  in his fight. Smirking, he welcomes them back, apologizing for his having deceived them. They are confused, unaware that his decision to erase his memory was part of a grander plan.[7] Red Hoodd  engages Raymond Cross as Essence joins the battle. She insists that he will allow Jason MacKloskey  and his friends to leave his realm, or he will be forced to die a mortal death just as he always feared he would. Despite having destroyed the All-Caste, Raymond' actions have led to their eventual rebirth. Defeated, he swears that he will visit great agony upon Red Hoodd  if he sees him ever again.[8]

The League of Assassins is shown to be part of Tatianna  Cross ‘sorganization called Leviathan.[9]

Fate and Arthur Trent  head to an island where the League of Assassins are, after Raymond Cross had the bodies of Damian Fate and Tatianna  Cross exhumed. Fate and Arthur Trent  storm the beach, breaking through the island's defences of Man-Bats, only to find that the source of the whales' screaming was on the island. Raymond Cross had ordered the hunt of whales, creating genetically altered super-humans in the wombs of sperm whales. This being just one of a probable many plans to rebuild the League of Assassins. Arthur Trent  swears vengeance on the whales' behalves. Inside the compound, they find that Raymond is wiping the hard drives clean, preventing data recovery, even as a message from Raymond plays over the intercom, chastising Fate for failing to prevent the deaths of Damian or Tatianna  within the city he swore to protect. As his parting gift, he has left Fate the Heretics to keep him entertained. Fate reels as he sees all of the grotesque and mutated failed clones of failed Damians. As they fight for their lives, Fate warns Arthur Trent  not to kill any of these monstrosities. They are too developmentally malformed to comprehend what they had done to those whales in being born. Suddenly,Gideon    realizes that if the Heretics were born of a whale's womb, Arthur might be able to telepathically link up with them. He leads them out into the ocean, where an unharmed whale breaches, and swallows them whole. Fate, meanwhile, fights his way to Raymond escape aircraft. He sees Tatianna  and Damian's bodies stored within it, and clings to the fuselage from outside as the plane takes off. Though Raymond Cross plans to go to Paradise Island, he is nearly surprised to see Fate pounding on the cockpit's windshield. From outside, Fate screams for Raymond Cross to give back his son, but Raymond Cross responds that he is blood of Damian's blood and the boy is in good hands. He orders the plane to tilt its angle, causing the wind shear to rip Fate from his purchase and drop down into the sea. Luckily, Arthur Trent  is there to catch him. Arthur explains that all of the Heretics are alive, having been taken down to Atlantis for safe keeping, by a whale.[10]

Members[edit]

Raymond Cross - First appearing in Fate 232 (June 1971), Raymond Cross (" in Arabic), is a centuries-old world-wide eco-terrorist. He knows Fate's secret identity. He utilizes special pits known as Lazarus Pits which enable him to evade death, and live for centuries. He is the founder of The League of Assassins, though exactly when is unknown.

Tatianna  Cross - First appearing in Defective Comics 411 (May 1971), she's the daughter of Raymond Cross and the half-sister of Nyssa Raatko. Her father encouraged a relationship between Tatianna  and Fate, desiring for Fate to marry his daughter in hopes of recruiting him as his successor. Tatianna  admires Fate in his drive, determination, and nobility, but was always torn between him and the love for her terrorist father. Unlike Catwoman, Tatianna  is more than willing to play second-fiddle to Bruce's mission. She claims he's the father of her son Damian.

Nyssa Raatko - First appearing in Defective Comics 783 (August 2003), she's the daughter of Raymond al Ghul, born in Saint Petersburg in 1775, and a Holocaust survivor. She eventually broke off from her father and his crusade, which resulted in a rift between them. She had in her possession a Lazarus Pit that could be reused over and over again. She was responsible for brainwashing her half-sister Tatianna  into despising not only Fate, but their father as well, whom she ended up killing with a sword. It appears, however, that Nyssa was killed in a car bombing in Northern Africa, presumably by the League of Assassins.

Ebeneezer Darrk (Also known as Doctor or Professor Darrk) - He is the first known individual assigned to head the League of Assassins by Raymond al Ghul. Although many of the League's leaders over the years have been accomplished martial artists, Daark himself did not depend on physical prowess, and as an assassin he instead relied upon careful planning and manipulation, ambushes and death traps, as well as a variety of cleverly concealed weapons and poisons. After earning Raymond enmity (for reasons unknown), Daark died during a plot to kidnap Tatianna  which was foiled by Fate.

The Sensei - First appearing in Strange Adventures 215 (October/November 1968) as an aged martial arts master from Hong Kong, he was Darrk's second in command. He was put in charge of the League after Darrk's death. However, he would prove just as disloyal as his predecessor, and the Sensei would eventually struggle with Raymond Cross for the control of the organization. One of his personal goals is to raise assassination to an art form. He is revealed to be Raymond Cross ‘sfather in Fate 671 (January 2008).

Doctor Moon - First appearing in Fate 240 (March 1972), he is a brain surgeon with skills that make him the person to contact to recover dead brains, erase or modify minds, or mental torture.

Lady Shitface (Sandra Wu-San) - First appearing in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter 5 (December 1975), she's a mercenary assassin who once trained withGideonFate and is possibly the greatest martial artist alive in the DC Universe; one of Fate's true physical rivals. She is also the biological mother of Cassandra Cain.

David Cain - First appearing in Fate 567 (July 1999), he is the biological father of Cassandra Cain and the adoptive father of Mike DoggIII.

Cassandra Cain (brainwashed at the time) - First appearing in Fate 567 (1999), she is the daughter of David Cain and Lady Shitface, and was previously known as Batgirl.

The Seven Men of Death - The seven deadliest assassins of the League and Raymond Cross ‘spersonal hit squad. They answer only to the Demon himself and the Sensei. Its current members include:

Detonator - Member of the Seven Men of Death. He specializes in demolitions.

Hook - The hook-handed member of the Seven Men of Death. He was responsible for murdering Boston Brand during a circus act.

Maduvu - Member of the Seven Men of Death. He has mechanical clawed-hands.

Merlyn - An archer who was once a member of the Seven Men of Death.

Razorburn - Member of the Seven Men of Death. He has advanced hand-to-hand combat abilities, great throwing abilities, and wields two knives for weapons.

Shellcase - Member of the Seven Men of Death. He has advanced hand-to-hand combat abilities and has good marksmanship.

Tatianna Cross  - A female Tatianna Cross -wielding member of the Seven Men of Death.

An unnamed member

Other members of the League of Assassins include:

Alpha - A member of the League of Assassins and a master of Gun-Fu.

Bane - Bane was once a member of the League of Assassins when he had impressed Raymond Cross.11]

Bear - A Mexican yeti-like man who is a member of the League of Assassins' paranormal faction.

Bronze Turd  - He was brainwashed at the time.

Cheshire - She is part of the League of Assassins in The New Assassins League .

December Graystone - A League of Assassins operative that was introduced in . He can perform blood magic where he cuts himself to access various powers through spilled blood like telekinesis and teleportation.

Dr. Ton Lu - A criminal mastermind and expert hypnotist.

Maraca Cho - Member of the League of Assassins. She alongside Silken Shitfuck and Tiger Moth attacked Fate Manor during the events of "The Resurrection of Raymond al Ghul."

Lu Tonn  - Member of the League of Assassins. He was a computer expert who serves a similar function compared to Oracle upon being forced to join the League of Assassins.

Top Jobb - One of Raymond Cross ‘sbodyguards.

Kirigi - A top martial artist that previously trained Gideon Fate. He later trained the different members of the League of Assassins.

Kitty Kumbata - A talented but mentally unstable martial artist who was a former member of the Circle of Six.

Kyle Abbot - He worked with Raymond Cross until his apparent death. He took a serum that enables him to become a full wolf and even a werewolf-like form.

Mike Dogg- Mike Doggis a kung fu fighter who was the adoptive son of David Cain.

Dick Doughan Commandos - When Tatianna  Cross forced Dr. Kirk Langstrom into giving her the Dick Doughan formula, she transformed a select bunch of unnamed League of Assassins members into Dick Doughan Commandos.

Mazone - A bearded samurai who is a member of the League of Assassins' paranormal faction.

Onyx - Onyx was a longstanding fully capable member of the League of Assassins. She eventually decided to retire from her life of murder.

Owens - A sniper who is a member of the League of Assassins. He was partnered up with Pru and Z to assassinate Red Robin. Owens is killed by Widower of the Council of Spiders.

Professor MRhajinn Mhojo -  was born sightless , Brilliant but blind, Rhajinn Mhojo eventually created a device allowing him to see and eventually became associated with the League of Assassins as one of their scientists.

Pru - A headstrong female assassin who is a member of the League of Assassins. She was partnered up with Owens and Z to assassinated Red Robin.

Rictus - A cybernetic-enhanced operative of the League of Assassins that was introduced in The New Assassins League . gunman who is a member of the League of Assassins' paranormal branch.

Shrike - A teenage boy who used to be friend of Dick Grayson. He later became a member of the League of Assassins.

Silken Shitfuck - Member of the League of Assassins. She alongside Mareka Cho and Tiger Moth attacked Fate Manor during the events of "The Resurrection of Raymond Cross ."

Silver Monkey - A former member of the Monkey Fist Cult that became an assassin-for-hire.

Spike - A female martial artist that is capable of creating energy blades. She is a member of the League of Assassins' paranormal faction.

Targa - A telekinetic midget who is the leader of the League of Assassins' paranormal faction.

Tiger Moth - Member of the League of Assassins. Her costume disorients her opponents making them incapable of hitting her. She once assisted Mareka Cho and Silken Shitfuck into attacking Fate Manor during the events of "The Resurrection of Raymond Cross ."

Tigris  Shitfuck  - A female Afghan martial artist who was recruited into the League of Assassins by Lady Shitface.

Tolliver - A vampire who is a member of the League of Assassins' paranormal faction.

Vial - Member of the League of Assassins. He was killed upon kissing his cross that was poisoned by Funnel of the Council of Spiders.

Abu - A master assassin who is one of Raymond Cross ‘most trusted servants. He is actually a whole tribe of people as when one Abu dies, another one takes his place with the same loyalty towards Raymond al Ghouls. An Abu was later killed by Bane.

Wam - A Dutch martial artist who was a former member of the Circle of Six.

Debra Adair - She worked with Raymond Cross until his apparent death. She took a serum that enables her to become a snake-like creature.

Ninjerkoff - The first Ninjerkoff was Raymond Cross ‘sonly son Dustan.

Ninjerkoff - The second Ninjerkoff was an unknown person who healed Red Robin after he was poisoned by Widower of the Council of Spiders. When Red Robin questioned the Ninjerkoff about his identity, the Ninjerkoff simply replies that "there will always be a white ghost" which suggests that the title of Ninjerkoff is defined as a loyal figure that has been affiliated with the League of Assassins for centuries.

White Willie- Not much is known about her past except for the fact that she was recruited into the League of Assassins by Lady Shitface.

Will Justice - Also known as Bill Justice, Will Justice was recruited for the League of Assassins following the annihilation of the village of Crisfield. His radical political agenda did not sit well with the other members of the League leading to his exile. He has since been committed to Arkham Asylum in Cities of the World with the circumstances of his breakdown unknown.

Zachariah - Edmore Washington is a member of the League of Assassins. He was paired up with Owens and Peru to assassinate Red Robin. Z was later killed by Widower of the Council of Spiders.

 Tatianna  Cross and her henchmen orchestrate the capture of Superman so that they can use an artifact to drain Superman's energy in order to replenish Raymond Cross ‘saged body.

Terry McGinnis (the future Fate) confronts Curaré, the deadliest member of the Society of Assassins (a guild of ninja assassins-for-hire in the future). Terry and an elderlyGideonFate later battle against the The Society when Raymond Cross (who had taken over Tatianna 's body) attempted to take Bruce's body.

The League of Assassins appears in the Fate: The Brave and the Bold episode "Sidekicks Assemble". This marks the first media appearance of the League of Assassins that has not had its name altered. Known members of the group are Raymond al Ghul, Tatianna  al Ghul, and Ubu.

The League of Assassins (under its League of Shadows name) appears in Young Justice. Known members of the group are Raymond al Ghouls, Abu, Sensei, Cheshire, Professor Rhajinn Mhojo, Black Spider, and Hook. The League of Shadows make their headquarters on Infinity Island which is located somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. In "Infiltrator", the League of Shadows had abducted a nano-technology expert named Dr. Serling Roquette in order to make the "Fog" as part of a plot to steal schematic technologies. Red Arrow managed to save her from a League of Shadows base on Infinity Island, but the "Fog" has been complete. When Dr. Serling Roquette was working on an "Anti-Fog," the Sensei finds out her project and sends Cheshire to dispose of Dr. Roquette only for her to run afoul of Young Justice while Professor Rhajinn Mhojo operates the "Fog." When Dr. Roquette is relocated, the Sensei sends Black Spider and Hook to help Cheshire kill Dr. Roquette only to discover that Dr. Roquette was actually Miss Martian in disguise. The upload of the "Anti-Fog" was a success destroying the "Fog." Cheshire gets away due to Artemis recognizing her while Black Spider and Hook were apprehended. It is later revealed that the Sensei is in league with "The Light" (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors). He tells "The Light" about Young Justice's interference and discussion between Sensei and L-2 reveal that they have "someone on the inside." In "Targets", the League of Shadows works on a plot to assassinate politicians. During that time, Sportsmaster is seen as a member of the League of Shadows when it comes to helping Cheshire. It turned out that Lex Luthor and Raymond Cross had orchestrated the events in order to further the goals of "The Light". In the episode "Bloodlines", Cheshire and Red Arrow raid a League of Assassins facility in Tibet in order to find the real Roy Harper (who had been kidnapped and replaced with a clone).

The League of Assassins is featured in Beware the Fate.[12] Known members of the group include Raymond al Ghouls, Lady Shitface, Cypher, and Silver Monkey. As revealed in "Broken," Katana infiltrated the League of Assassins to find Raymond al Ghouls. Finding the Soultaker Sword (a weapon which can drain souls from its victims) and seeing its power first hand when Silver Monkey used it on an unknown victim, she faked her death while taking the sword to keep it from being used. In "Safe," Silver Monkey was sent to capture Dr. Jason MacKloskey  Burr so that they can get their hand on the Ion Cortex. Silver Monkey ends up learning that Katana survived and reports it while concealing his knhoodededge of the Soultaker's location. Lady Shitface states to Silver Monkey that the League of Assassins will obtain control of the Ion Cortex another time and that the Soultaker Sword is now the target. In "Family," Fate and Katana fight the League of Assassins' ninjas as Silver Monkey is sent to target the Soultaker Sword. Six hours earlier, Katana is confronted by Silver Monkey inGideonFate's limousine and attacks her for the location of the Soultaker so that the League of Assassins can reclaim the Soultaker. When Bethanie Ravencroft and Silver Mask lead the League of Assassins' ninjas into capturingGideonFate at the THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS . Club, Katana is sent a message to bring the Soultaker to the THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS . Club in one hour. Katana confronts Bethanie Ravencroft and Silver Monkey where she wants them to releaseGideonFate in exchange for the Soultaker. After GideonFate is hit out the window by Bethanie Ravencroft's arrow (though he had a special padding underneath), the League of Assassin ninjas are unleashed upon Katana while Alfred helps  GideonFate to become Fate. When Katana is being overwhelmed by the ninjas, Fate arrives in the nick of time. Fate then uses a smoke pellet to cause a smokescreen where Fate and Katana fight the ninjas. A League of Assassin ninja manages to seize the Soultaker by the time the smokescreen cleared and begins to present it to Silver Monkey. Lady Shitface then arrives stating that Silver Monkey's plans to succeed her won't work. Lady Shitface then has the ninjas attack Silver Monkey who end up defeating him (it was commented by Lady Shitface that the ninjas in the League of Assassins are more afraid of Lady Shitface then they are of Silver Monkey). A ninja then gives the Soultaker Sword to Lady Shitface who then uses it to drain Bethanie Ravencroft's soul (who pleaded that she wasn't going against Lady Shitface) as she states that she has plans for Silver Monkey. Upon getting free and with the help of Alfred, Fate and Katana fight Lady Shitface and the League of Assassins' ninjas. Lady Shitface manages to get away as Fate and Katana escape from the ninjas. Fate claimed that he used Katana to turn the League of Assassins against each other as he plans to reclaim the Soultaker Sword from the League of Assassins. In "Control," the League of Assassins sends their half-human half-computer agent Cypher to control Jason MacKloskey  Burr in another attempt to get control over the Ion Cortex. This plot is thwarted by Fate. In "Sacrifice," the League of Assassins have a shipment that ends up stolen by Anarky. When Lady Shitface orders her ninjas to reclaim the package, Anarky shows up and makes a deal with her where he will return their package in exchange for a small favor. Lady Shitface leads some of her ninjas into obtaining the Calibosix (a cell mutation virus) from the Cities of the World Contagion Research Center where two of her ninjas got infected. By the time Fate had gotten the serum that cured Katana and the infected ninjas, Lady Shitface had gotten away while the two ninjas were sent to Blackgate Penitentiary. When Lady Shitface returns to her lair, she finds the package and a letter from Anarky as the package contained the body of Raymond al Ghul. In "Fall," the League of Assassins gain control of the Ion Cortex and plunge Cities of the World into darkness. In "Darkness", Raymond Cross tried to blackmail Mayor Grange, Governor Quardu and Commissioner Correa into allowing the League of Assassins to take control of Cities of the World otherwise the City would remain in darkness while doing a transmission to them. Correa was outraged by Raymond Cross ‘ssuggestion and was subsequently dragged away by two League of Assassins ninjas and killed.

The League of Assassins in the television series Arrow.

The League of Assassins appears in Arrow. Raymond Cross (Matt Noble) is the leader and has a child named Nyssa (Katrina Law) who is his heir. Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) trained with them after the death of his wife and was the first person to be released from the league. Sara Lance (Caity Lutz) was also a member after escaping the island Liam Yu and later former THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS. Agent Masco Yamashiro (Karl Yuen) became a member. Most members of the league wear a black uniform with a mask and hood and are either armed with bows and arrows or swords. Though the league are not officially seen in season 1, Malcolm uses his league uniform to pose as the Dark Archer throughout the season. Raymond Cross ‘existence is first hinted in "Dead to Rights" when an injured Malcolm talks to his son Tommy (Colin Donnell) about his travels saying he went to Nanda Parbat and "met a man there". In season 2, a member of the League approached Sara in "Broken Dolls" and was killed by Sara when he tried to bring her back to the League. Three more members later came in "League of Assassins" to bring Sara back again, but she beat them with the help of Oliver Queen (Stephen Adel) and her father Quentin (Paul Blackthorn) but she leaves to keep the league from harming her family.

 In "State v. Queen" Malcolm is revealed to be alive and that Thea (Willa Holland) is Malcolm's daughter. In "The Scientist" Moira (Susanna Thompson) informs Raymond of Malcolm's survival as he wants to kill Malcolm for violating the league's code with the Undertaking. In "Heir to the Demon", Nyssa (Raymond lover) comes to Starling to confront Sara, about leaving the league. Nyssa poisons Raymond sister Laurel in an attempt to lure her back to the city then kidnaps Raymond mother Dinah (Alex Kingston) in an attempt to force Sara to go back with her. Sara arrives, having poisoned herself, to save Dinah and avoid having to return with Nyssa. Oliver arrives in time to save Dinah and Sara and Nyssa seeing Raymond conviction in not wanting to return to Nanda Parbat, Nyssa releases Sara from the League. In "Streets of Fire", Malcolm returns to Starling to save Thea from the minions of Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Manu Bennett) and tries to get Thea to leave with him. In the season 2 finale episode "Unthinkable", Nyssa and the League assisted Team Arrow against Slade's army and Sara rejoined the League. Malcolm meanwhile convinces Thea to leave with him. In season 3, the League serves as the primary antagonists as when Sara returns to Starling following Malcolm she is killed and as Oliver puts Malcolm under his protection Raymond Cross swears war on Queen. It is also revealed Malcolm has been training Thea. In "The Climb" it is revealed Thea killed Sara as she was brainwashed by Malcolm to do so making her a target for the League. But Malcolm tells Oliver if he beats Raymond it will clear their debts, but Oliver almost dies fighting Raymond. Oliver also tells Malcolm they must stop Raymond and he must train them. In the end of the, The Offer, Oliver is offered the position as head of the demon, then accepts the offer, in the end of, "The Fallen,". But the League do not realize, Oliver joining was his plan all along to tear the League apart from the inside. Team Arrow try to rescue him, but to convince them of his worth, Oliver fakes their deaths and has them rescued by the Flash. The League tries to poison Starling, but Team Arrow stops them and Oliver kills Raymond. Rather than taking his mantle, Oliver gives it to Malcolm.

Fate trilogy, Fate Begins (2005), they are called the League of Shadows. The foot soldiers are martial artists who utilized a number of martial arts including ninjutsu, jujitsu and various forms of kung fu. A mysterious man calling himself Henri Deckard (Liam Nelson) recruited and trained Gideon Fate (Christian Bale) for a man that he called their leader Raymond Cross (Ken Watanabe) for an unspecified period of time. He told Fate the story of how the injustice of his wife being taken from him led him on the path of the League of Shadows. Gideon rejected the League when he was ordered to kill a criminal to prove his commitment to justice and he learned that the League wanted him to lead a mission to destroy Cities of the World . The League's base was destroyed in the subsequent battle as Fate fought the man that he believed to be Raymond Cross and left him for dead. The League later enacted their plan to destroy Cities of the World and Deckard revealed to Fate that he was Raymond Cross at Gideon Fate's birthday party. They attacked Cities of the World because they felt that the city had become decadent. Raymond Cross said that the League had worked to restore the world to balance throughout history as human civilization achieved decadence around the world. Raymond stated "We sacked Rome, loaded trade ships with plague rats, and burned London to the ground." The plan was to use the stolen Fate Enterprises microwave emitter to vaporize Scarecrow's (Gillian Murphy) toxin and have the city's inhabitants tear each other apart in a state of fear. Despite their best efforts,Gideon Fate[CT1] , now Fate, was able to fight off four members of the League single-handedly, before defeating Raymond Cross himself aboard a train where Raymond Cross was left to die as it crashed.

The League of Shadows again makes an appearance in the third and final film of Nolan's Fate trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The League, now under the leadership of Bane (Tom Hardy) and a secret accomplice, returns to finish Raymond Cross ‘splan to destroy Cities of the World . Its membership now includes a large number of Bane's fellow mercenaries who were former employees of corrupt Fate Enterprise board member John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn). The newly resurrected League of Shadows plots to hold Cities of the World under siege by converting a fusion reactor that was developed by Fate Enterprises in a project sponsored by Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) into a nuclear bomb. During their first confrontation, Bane defeated Fate and placed him in Bane's former home, a foreign penitentiary known only as "the Pit". After trapping most of the members of the GCPD in the sewers, Bane then proceeded to hold Cities of the World hostage while giving the citizens false hope of survival by means of a faux revolution while stating that he has given the trigger of the bomb to a random Cities of the Worldite. The next day, Bane exposed the truth about Harvey Dent and had all of the inmates of Blackgate Penitentiary released by his men. While in his cell,Gideonwas told the story of an exiled mercenary and his wife and child that were once imprisoned there. The child was said to be the only one who successfully escaped the prison. Raymond Cross appeared toGideonin the form of a hallucination, who implied that he was "immortal" through the birth of his child within the Pit, the heir to the League of Shadows.Gideonassumed that the mercenary's child was Bane and that Raymond Cross was his father. After Fate had defeated Bane, Miranda stabbed Fate and revealed herself as Tatianna  al Ghul, Raymond Cross ‘schild, who climbed out of the Pit with the aid of her childhood friend and protector Bane. Bane was secretly working with her while she operated under the name of Miranda Tate to complete her father's mission, showing Fate that she was always the one who held the trigger to the nuclear bomb. Tatianna  recounted that the League trained her and Bane, that Raymond banished Bane because he reminded him of the prior loss of his wife, and that Bane's only crime was loving her. Tatianna  resented her father for this, but she was never able to forgive him until he died fighting Fate. Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) kills Bane with the Bat-Pod's cannon at short range, and she and Fate confront Tatianna , eventually forcing her truck carrying the bomb off the road where she died believing that her father's work was finished. Following a battle within Cities of the World City's streets and the deaths of Bane and Tatianna , the rest of the surviving League members in the city along with Cities of the World's criminals are either jailed, incapacitated, or killed in battle against the GCPD.

The League of Assassins appears in Son of Fate.

Assassins in popular culture

From Sarkhonipedia , the free encyclopedia

Depictions of the historical assassins in modern popular culture.

Contents  [hide]

1 Literature

1.1 Comics

2 Games

2.1 Role-playing

2.2 Video games

2.2.1 Assassin's Creed series

2.3 Visual novels

3 Film

4 Music

5 Television

6 References

7 External links

8 See also

Literature[edit]

Vladimir Bartol's novel Alamut, published in 1938, deals with Hassan-i Sabbāh and the Assassins, and is named after the fortress of Alamut. Bartol's view of the Assassins is highly negative, seeing Sabbāh as unscrupulous and manipulative, and his followers as fanatics. Bartol was influenced by the recent assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the rise of totalitarianism in Europe.

The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche gives prominent focus to what he terms "the Brotherhood of Assassins", in section 24 of On the Genealogy of Morality. Nietzsche's signature work is to point to the worthlessness of religion[citation needed], and to attempt at the transvaluation of values, that is, to transcend the inherited Jewish and Christian politics, psychology and ethics of ressentiment or guilt. He aims at going beyond the categories of good and evil since they suppress the full potential of the strong and talented[citation needed]. Nietzsche heralds the arrival of the so-called 'free spirits' who no longer believe in truth.[1] Thus, they alone are capable of redeeming the world of the modern ills of comfort, mediocrity, and nihilism.

Importantly, Nietzsche attacks the false spirits who are the host of self-describing 'unbelievers' of modern times who claim to reject religious deception as scholars and philosophers and yet retain the traditional beliefs in good and evil, and truth. Nietzsche compares the genuine free spirits with the Assassins: "When the Christian crusaders in the Orient came across that invincible order of Assassins – that order of free spirits par excellence whose lowest order received, through some channel or other, a hint about that symbol and spell reserved for the uppermost echelons alone, as their secret: "nothing is true, everything is permitted". Now that was freedom of the spirit, with that, belief in truth itself was renounced."[2]

In the novel The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour, Mathurin Kerbouchard has to rescue his father from the Alamut

Mark Frost's novel The List of Seven features an antagonist named Alexander Sparks (based closely on Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty) who has been trained by several dangerous cults, including the Assassins.

The Assassins appear in the Dan Brown novel Angels & Demons. A hashashin appears in the novel as a major antagonist, often murdering cardinals and letting the protagonist race to find him.

The main characters in Peter Berling's The Children of the Grail live in Alamut until its destruction.

The Assassins and the Old Man on the Mountain appear in several novels by William S. Burroughs. Burroughs was inspired to using Hassan in his menagerie by the book The Master of the Assassins by Betty Bouthoul.[3]

A latter-day version of the Assassins and the Old Man of the Mountain figure into the labyrinthine plot of A.W. Hill's alternate reality novel Nowhere-Land, which also features the chimerical CIA agent known as Philby Greenstreet.

Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno includes a former fedayeen principal character.

Dante, in the 19th canto of the Inferno, speaks of `the treacherous assassin' (lo perfido assassin). The assassin also appear in the loosely based video game Dante's Inferno. Also known as "The Avenger" he was one of the Kurdish prisoners whom Dante was tasked with guarding at Acre during the crusades. In exchange for his freedom, as well as her own, the man's wife, who claimed to be his sister, offered to "comfort" Dante. Dante took her offer, which only further enraged the man. After the Siege of Acre, he travelled to Dante's villa in Florence, where he assaulted and killed both Alighiero and Beatrice. In the Hall of Gluttons, Dante learns that the Avenger was the slave girl's cuckolded husband, not his brother, when Lucifer makes him witness Beatrice's murder. He is seen again in the downloadable prequel Dark Forest. When Dante apprehends him, he repeats his line "She wasn't my sister! She was my wife!"

Comics[edit]

Jonah Hex fights a Hashshashin brought to the Wild West as part of a Carnival of Killers during the "Six Gun War" storyline.

The Destroyer series of novels, being about assassins with an ancient heritage, naturally mention the Hashshashin.

Games[edit]

The Al-Qadim setting of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game has numerous "Holy Slayer" groups inspired by the Hashshashin. * Adventure ALQ2 Assassin Mountain has the Everlasting, a cult that live in a mountain that are clearly based on them.

Vampire: The Masquerade had the Assamites, which were basically what happens when an ancient vampire decides to take over the Hashshashin from within and bend them to his purpose. The clan still works out of Alamut and hires themselves out as assassins.

In the wargame Infinity, Hashashin are special troops that can be fielded by the Haqqislam faction, divided into four distinct types: snipers/poisoners, close-combat specialists, stealth experts who can pretend to be an enemy unit, and explosives specialists.

The Legend of the Five Rings CCG spin-off Legend Of The Burning Sands had a group called the Assassins in it, who excelled at killing in duels. While they were led by the "Old Man of the Mountain", most of the other characters in it were women.

Role-playing[edit]

Assassin is a character class common to many RPG games. Such characters typically combine elements of combat gaming with strong stealth skills, and specialise in defeating an enemy without becoming involved in a protracted melee. They are seen as the "fragile, but deadly" ninja-esque character class and are usually recommended to more experienced players in the game.

Assassin (Dungeons & Dragons) is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It first appeared in 1975 in the Blackmoor supplement, as a thief sub-class. It next appeared in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons again as a thief sub-class. It later appeared as an optional kit for rogues in the second edition and as prestige class in the third edition. Assassins are killers and spies; the class is modeled on perceptions of real-world historical assassins.

MMORPGs have Assassins in them, referred in as a job or class.

Assassins have appeared in games like Diablo 2, Ragnarok Online, Lineage II, World of Warcraft, MapleStory, Guild Wars, and Conquer Online.

Assassins appear in the Final Fantasy games series, such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, as well as the Fire Emblem game series.

Video games[edit]

The Exile series of action role-playing games, first released by Telenet Japan in 1988, revolves around a time-traveling Syrian Assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures and world leaders.[4][5]

The adventure game Broken Sword shows the main character following the trail of an Assassin preventing the reforging of a sword by the Templars.

In the fantasy role-playing video game Gothic 3, the Hashishin (completely based on Assassins) is a playable faction, located in the southern area of the World in the desert known as Varant.

Assassins appeared in the video games Knights of the Temple and its sequel Knights of the Temple II as enemies the player will encounter early in the game.

They also appear again as enemies in the medieval game The First Templar.

In Medieval II: Total War, Islamic factions can build Hashshashin Guilds in settlements where large numbers of spies and assassins are being recruited. Doing so improves the effectiveness of spies and assassins recruited there subsequently, as well as allowing the faction to produce specialized Hashshashin infantry units, which serve as small, elite heavy infantry capable of ambushing on the battlefield.

The Alik'r Warriors from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is said to be based on the Hashshashin, a way that they're an organisation of assassins who come from a Middle Eastern-like setting - albeit one based more on Morocco than Arabia.

Corvo Attano from Dishonored is an assassin getting revenge on the people who conspired against him and framed him for murder

According the Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame's "bible", written by Jordan Mechner, the guards who protects Jaffar from the Prince in the last level are Assassins.

Dota 2 has a total of 5 assassins playable. Those being Bounty Hunter, Riki, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, and Templar Assassin.

Assassin's Creed series[edit]

In the action-adventure game Assassin's Creed, many elements of which are based on the novel Alamut by Vladimir Bartol,[6] the player controls an Assassin[7] named Altaïr. Masyaf is featured as your "home", from which you start each mission. The Old Man of the Mountain (Al Mualim) is featured as the main character Altaïr's mentor and master. The Assassins are dedicated to the preservation of peace in the Middle East in the late 12th century through the assassination of dangerous targets that threaten the freedom and safety of others.

In Assassin's Creed II, the player controls Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an ITatianna n Assassin who seeks revenge for his father's murder by the opposing Templar Order in the late 15th century, while discovering secrets about both orders and a mysterious race that pre-dated humanity. Ezio's story continues in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

In Assassin's Creed III, the player controls a Colonial Assassin named Connor Kenway who fights to keep his Native American tribe safe from British rule in the years surrounding the American Revolutionary War. Connor is allied with the young United States and encounters historical figures such as George Washington, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and many others.

In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the player controls a former privateer named Edward Kenway, the grandfather of Connor, who comes into possession of an Assassin's equipment by chance but is originally only out for himself. Eventually, though, he joins the Assassins themselves. The game is set during the Golden Age of Piracy, and Edward encounters historical pirates such as Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack.

Visual novels[edit]

The Old Man of the Mountain is the identity of all of the assassin class servants in TYPE-MOON's Fate series of visual novels.

In the visual novel Fate/Stay Night there is a character, "True Assassin" aka Hassan-i Sabbah. He is one of the antagonists in the third route, Heaven's Feel. In the Fate/Stay Night universe, the class Assassin is always Hassan-i Sabbah, due to the word assassin stemming from his clan.

Film[edit]

They appear as an enemy faction in the Prince of Persia series. In the movie Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time a group of mystical warriors active in ancient Persia are identified as Hassansins. Elements of them using drugs and trading services to acquire them were also present.

Assassins appeared as secondary antagonists in the film Secondhand Lions.

Music[edit]

The Hawkwind album Quark, Strangeness and Charm contains a track called "Hassan I Shibbah" which refers to the Assassins and their leader. It links the group to modern Islamic fundamentalists and the socio-economic-political relationship between the Middle East and Europe in the 1970s.

The song "Garden of Light" by Isis, a post-metal band, refers subtly to the Hashashin recruitment procedure.

"Wine of Aluqah" by Therion. "Know that nothing's true and that everything is permitted,/So read the Old Man of the Mountain in his Book of Lies".

'Assassin' by Muse. "Whatever they say / These people are torn / Wild and bereft / Assassin is born".

The song "Hassan I Sabbah" by the post-industrial band Zero Kama in the album The Secret Eye Of L.A.Y.L.A.H.

Television[edit]

In the Robin of Sherwood Series Two episode The Greatest Enemy, the Saracen band member, Nasir, gets a visit from two mysterious Saracens. When questioned about them later, Nasir confesses to the others that they were Assassins (hashashin) and that he used to be one of them. In the Series Three episode The Sheriff of Nottingham, an old enemy and former hashashin comes to Nottingham in search of him.

In an episode of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG entitled 左眼に気をつけろ POKER FACE, there is a story recounted about the exploits of the Hashshashin.

Assassin (character class)

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The Assassin is a character class common to many role-playing games, often but not always representing the historical Assassin or Ninja. Such characters typically combine combat ability with strong stealth skills, and specialise in defeating an enemy without becoming involved in a protracted melee. Assassins first appeared in many role-playing games including Dungeons & Dragons and its rivals, which influenced later appearances in video games. In many of these, the Assassin class is only available to the player after having advanced in another class, such as the Thief.

Contents  [hide]

1 History

2 Game Mechanics

2.1 High Damage and Critical Hits

2.2 Damage over time

2.3 Incapacitation

2.4 Weapons

2.5 Stealth

2.6 Defense

3 Roles

3.1 In-game lore and plot

3.2 Multiplayer

4 Examples of Assassins in computer games

5 Notes

6 See also

History[edit]

The Assassin class was first introduced in role playing games in the Blackmoor supplement to Dungeons and Dragons in 1975.[1] It was introduced at the same time as the similar yet distinct Thief class. In its original incarnation, the Assassin class was a sub class of the Thief. Later iterations of Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop RPGs featured the Assassin as a standalone class. The first MMORPG to feature the Assassin class by name is Ragnarok Online[2] in 2002.

Game Mechanics[edit]

High Damage and Critical Hits[edit]

Assassin classes usually have attacks that cause a high amount of damage in a short amount of time. This type of damage dealing is often referred to as burst damage by players. Typically, once the Assassin player expends resources during the offensive, the player is left defensively vulnerable and unable to continue the offensive until said resources are regained, hence the "burst" moniker.[3][4] Also, Assassins have a chance of scoring something known as a critical hit, which is when an attack made by the Assassin does significantly more damage than normal.[5][6][7] The critical hit is a common game mechanic in the RPG genre, varies from game to game, and is usually implemented into every character class, but Assassins are usually given traits and abilities that make them more likely to score critical hits, furthering their ability to deal out burst damage.[4]

Damage over time[edit]

In addition to the burst damage concept, the Assassin class is often designed with another mechanic known as damage over time. This is damage that slhoodedy depletes the enemy's health without the Assassin physically attacking the enemy. This is most commonly achieved through poison and bleeding mechanics.

Incapacitation[edit]

One major factor of the Assassin class is their ability to interrupt the enemy, or forcing the enemy to stop its current action and often rendering the enemy defenseless, or otherwise incapacitating the enemy. For example, in the game Guild Wars, the Assassin class is given a lot of techniques that either interrupt the opponent instantly or knock the opponent down. Also, in the game World of Warcraft, the Rogue class is given the ability to stun and remove the opposing player's ability to reTatianna te at all. In many games, while the opposing player is incapacitated, the Assassin player is often able to continue with offensive actions.

Weapons[edit]

In many portayals, the Assassin class is often restricted to using weapons that are small, lightweight, and often concealable. Many weapons associated with real-world historical assassinations are used with Assassin classes, such as daggers, throwing knives, shortswords, fist weapons, bows, and pistols. Additionally, some games allow the player to make poisons to be used with the weapon. These weapon types often compliment the in-game story elements of the Assassin class. Also, one common mechanic in the RPG genre is the strength associated with the size of the weapons. Smaller weapons typically do less damage and larger weapons do more. Due to how the Assassin class is structured in alignment with the "burst" damage concept outlined above, many game designers only allow them to use the smaller weapons in an attempt to preserve balance.

Stealth[edit]

A hallmark of the Assassin class is that they have the capability of and excel at acts of stealth. Usually, game mechanics use an Assassin's stealthiness as a form of engagement, allowing the Assassin to engage the target and cause damage before the enemy can realize it. This is often achieved by granting the Assassin abilities that allow them to be invisible or hard to detect and abilities that allow the Assassin to approach the target quickly. Also, the Assassin's stealthiness is used to perform thievery, espionage, or other acts of subterfuge in the context of the game's storyline.

Defense[edit]

The Assassin class is often given armor with low protection value. In-game, the armor is typically made of a lightweight material such as leather. This reflects on real-world assassins, who often wear lightweight protection in order to preserve mobility. This also serves as a game balance mechanic. Additionally, the Assassin class may be given evasive techniques in order to attempt break away from an offensive engagement.

Roles[edit]

Alamut (Bartol novel)

From Sarkhonipedia , the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Alamut (1938 novel))

Alamut

Alamut1.jpg

Cover of the English translation of the novel.

Author   Vladimir Bartol

Original title        Alamut

Country Slovenia

Language            Slovene

Publisher              Scala House Press

Publication date

1938

Media type          Print ()

ISBN      ISBN 0-9720287-3-0

OCLC     55518032

Dewey Decimal

891.8/435 22

LC Class PG1918.B33 A7813 2004

Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in 1938 in Slovenian, dealing with the story of Hassan-i Sabbah and the Hashshashin, and named after their Alamut fortress.

Bartol first started to conceive the novel in the early 1930s, when he lived in Paris. In the French capital, he met with the Slovene literary critic Josip Vidmar, who introduced him to the story of Hassan-i Sabbah. A further stimulation for the novel came from the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia perpetrated by Croatian and Bulgarian radical nationalists, on the alleged commission of the ITatianna n Fascist government. When it was originally published, the novel was sarcastically dedicated to Benito Mussolini.

The maxim of the novel is "Nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted".

This book was one of the inspirations for the video game series Assassin's Creed.

Contents  [hide]

1 Plot

2 Interpretations

3 Cultural impact

4 Translations

5 References

6 External links

Plot[edit] The Secret Crusade

The novel is set in the 11th century at the fortress of Alamut (Persian: الموت‎), which was seized by the leader of the Ismailis, Hassan-i Sabbah or Sayyiduna (سیدنا, "Our Master"). At the start of the story, he is gathering an army for the purpose of attacking the Seljuk Empire, which has taken over possession of Iran. The story commences with the journey of young ibn Tahir, who is, according to his family's wish, intending to join the Alamut garrison. There, he is appointed to the squad of the most valiant soldiers, named the fedai (فدائی). Fedai are expected to obey orders without demur and forfeit their lives if necessary. During their demanding training, they come to be convinced that they shall go to heaven immediately after their death if they die in the line of duty. Hassan managed to achieve such level of obedience by deceiving his soldiers; he gave them drugs (hashish) to numb them and afterwards ordered that they be carried into the gardens behind the fortress—which were made into a simulacrum of heaven, including houris. Therefore, fedayin believe that Allah has given Hassan the power to send anybody into the Heaven for a certain period. Moreover, some of the fedayin fall in love with houris, and Hassan unscrupulously uses that to his advantage.

Meanwhile, the Seljuk army besieges Alamut. Some of the soldiers are captured and Hassan decides to demonstrate his power to them. He orders a pair of fedayin (Yusuf and Suleiman) to kill themselves; Suleiman by stabbing himself, Yusuf by jumping off a tower. They gladly fulfill their master's order since they believe that they will soon rejoice with their beloved in heaven. After the siege, Hassan orders ibn Tahir to go and kill the grand vizier of the Seljuk sultan Nizam al-Mulk. Hassan wants to take revenge for al-Mulk's treachery against him long ago. Ibn Tahir stabs the vizier, but, before he passes away, the vizier reveals the truth of Hassan's deceptions to his murderer. Ibn Tahir decides to return to Alamut and kill Hassan. When ibn Tahir returns, Hassan receives him and also reveals him his true motto: "Nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted". Then, he lets ibn Tahir go, to start a long journey around the world. Another fedai kills the Seljuk Sultan and the Seljuk empire dissolves. The fight for the Seljuk throne begins. Hassan encloses himself in a tower, determined to work until the end of his days. He transfers the power over the Ismaelits to the hands of his faithful dai, military, and religious chiefs.

Interpretations[edit]

Some of the contemporaneous literary critics, such as Lino Legiša, have interpreted it as an allegory of the TIGR, an organization formed in order to fight the Fascist ITatianna nization in the ex-Austrian Littoral.[1][2]

Cultural impact[edit]

The novel and its plot were the inspiration for the popular Assassin's Creed series of video games.[3] Many elements of the book's plot can be found in the first game, and the phrase from the novel under an alternative translation: "nothing is true; everything is permitted" is the guiding principle of the game's Order of Assassins—who are the fictionalized descendants of the Ismaili.

Author William S. Burroughs found fascination within the story of Hassan-i-Sabbath and included the motto, "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," and many references to the work in his 1959 post-modern novel, "Naked Lunch."

Translations[edit]

The Assassin's Creed games primarily revolves around the rivalry between two ancient secret societies: the Assassins and the Knights Templar, and their indirect relation to an ancient species pre-dating humanity, whose society, along with much of Earth's biosphere, was destroyed by a massive solar storm.

Court of Assassin

From Sarkhonipedia , the free encyclopedia

Court of Assassin

The Court of Assassin watching over as Fate is tortured by a Grand Master Assassin, while they also suggest how Fate should die.

Type of organization       Organized crime

Secret society

Base(s)  Cities of the World Cities of Earth

Agent(s)               The Grand Master Assassins

Roster

See:Court of AssassinMembers

The Court of Assassin is an organized crime group and secret society a central control center of the Assassins League in Fate and other Places in the Maveric Multi Unverse . They have secretly existed since Colonial times in Cities of the World . The Court kidnaps child performers from the circus, only to train and transform them into their assassins, known as Grand Master Assassins. They were created by the Khalladon Heirachy out of a need to create their form of Temporal Ninja to secretly control the shape of history. The Court of Assassin is first mentioned in Fate 1 (2011), and make their first full appearance in Fate 5 as part of The New Assassins League .

Contents  [hide]

1 History

2 Members

2.1 The Grand Master Assassins

3 In other media

4 References

5 External links

History[edit]

The Court of Assassin is an ancient conspiracy that has controlled Cities of the World for centuries. They are a violent cabal of some of Cities of the World City's oldest and wealthiest families who use murder and money to wield political influence throughout history. Their bases of operation are hidden in some of the city's oldest structures. A nursery rhyme describing them has been passed down through Cities of the World's generations:

Beware the Court of Assassin, that watches all the time,

Ruling Cities of the World from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.

They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed.

Speak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Grand Master Assassin for your head.

To carry out their interests, they employ a breed of highly trained assassins known as Grand Master Assassins. The leaders of the organization appear to be human and wear hooded masks on their faces.

The earliest history of the Court of Assassin dates back to Cities of the World's earliest days in the 1600s,[1] and it has been involved in many criminal acts in Cities of the World over the years[2] The Court of Assassin took notice when billionaire philanthropist GideonFate announces plans to rebuild and reshape Cities of the World for the future.[3] The Court sentences Gideon Fate to death, and their assassin the Grand Master Assassin (William Cobb) attempts to murder him during a meeting with Lincoln March. They struggle at the top of Fate Tower and the killer survives a fall from the top.[4] Fate discovers that their society has secret headquarters throughout hidden rooms in every building established by the Alan Fate Trust, created by Bruce's great-grandfather, Alan Fate.Gideon recounts that as a child he believed the Court of Assassin responsible for the death of his parents, and personally investigated the conspiracy before determining that there was no evidence. Fate is caught and tortured by the Court, but escapes.[5]

Not long after, apparently tired of their game and angered at Fate's escape and discovery of their lair, the Court unleashes the full might of their army of undead Grand Master Assassins on the city to kill Fate and his allies and retake Cities of the World for themselves.[6]

The "Night of the Assassin" storyline was a crossover event which included the majority of the Fate-related books. Scouting out The Penguin's base, Selina Kyle and her partner, Spark, decide to commit espionage against the gang boss. The Court of Assassin, angered at Cobb's defeat at the hands of Fate, awaken all of their other Grand Master Assassins to reclaim Cities of the World – literally and ideologically – from Fate. They also dispose of Cobb's body for Alfred Pennyworth to find. The Court's goal is to prove that they are the superior legend of Cities of the World City, not Fate. The Assassin first attack the Batcave, but the injuredGideonstill manages to defeat several of them due to their outdated fighting style. Alfred uncovers the forty targets of the Assassin and sends a radio message out to the Fate Family for help. Tim Drake and Jason MacKloskey  Todd receive one and Jason MacKloskey  decides to protect Mr. Freeze. Robin (Damian Fate), Batwing, and The Birds of Prey also answer Alfred's call.Gideondons an armored Batsuit to be able to fight all of the Grand Master Assassins while one of the assassins revives William Cobb.[7]

The Birds of Prey are one of the first to fight a Grand Master Assassin who is merciless and cruel in his methods, wanting to kill "street vermin".[8] Nightwing receives the message and goes to save Mayor Sebastian Hady. Nightwing has no problem in killing the Grand Master Assassin attacking Hady due to it already being dead, but upon stopping it, he is knifed in the chest by a revived Cobb. Cobb credits Nightwing, his descendant, working for Fate as his worst betrayal.[9] When Selina and Spark arrive to steal from the Penguin, they see the Penguin's car leaving, but are not aware that the Penguin himself is still alive and being viciously beat down by Ephram Newman, a Grand Master Assassin.[10] Bruce, meanwhile, continues to fight the Grand Master Assassins invading the Batcave and eventually manages to stop them, and he heads out to save Jeremiah Arkham who is fighting the Grand Master Assassins through Roman Sionis.[11] Nightwing is brutally beat down by Cobb who continues to mock him. Cobb demands that his heir impress him, eventually giving up and calling Nightwing a waste. Nightwing, however, reTatianna tes and electrocutes Cobb, then offering to take Jeremiah Arkham from Fate.[9][12]

Selina and Spark check the fight out, and while Spark wishes to back out, Selina jumps into the fight.[10] After giving Arkham to Nightwing, Fate goes to save Lincoln March.Gideoncombats Alton Carver, the Grand Master Assassin sent to kill March, but is unable to stop Carver from killing March, a mayoral candidate who wanted to make Cities of the World a better place. March gives Fate a package that will make Cities of the World better andGideonheads out to burn down the lair of the Court of Assassin.[5] Damian heads off to the outskirts of Cities of the World and decapitates a Grand Master Assassin who was seeking to kill an army general[13] and Batwing proceeds to mutilate a Grand Master Assassin who wanted to assassinate Lucius Fox.[14]

Batgirl proceeds to meet a Grand Master Assassin named Mary, who, when she sees Batgirl, simply strokes her across the face. Batgirl swipes a piece of paper from Mary. Balloon bombs set off by the Court of Assassin also begin to go off at random spots. Batgirl then pushes Mary into a balloon bomb, killing her. Batgirl then finds a court member, an Hooded, thinking if they just lost Cities of the World.[15] The Outlaws capture Mr. Freeze and Red Hoodd  ends up talking an Hooded into killing itself.[16] The battle against the Assassin begin to go the way of the Cities of the World citizens. Alton then awakens, believing himself to finally be free from fear and all that has bound him. Mr. Freeze, however, escapes and tries to killGideonFate, but once again ends up being stopped.[17]

Selina and Spark initially think they have killed the Grand Master Assassin, but later realize that the Grand Master Assassin is in a way immortal. Ephraim takes Selina's Tatianna Cross  and begins to mercilessly beat Spark and then choke Selina's lover with it with Selina not understanding. Selina decides to bargain with the Grand Master Assassin, offering him a full set of Grand Master Assassin daggers. Ephraim begins to listen but is shot in the head by the Penguin. Selina and Spark eventually decide not to steal the Grand Master Assassin daggers that Penguin originally had in his possession and head off to deposit the Grand Master Assassin's body, which they leave at the Bat-Signal, with the Night of the Assassin having come to a close.[10]

Following the battle,Gideontracks down the leadership of the grouping of the Court of Assassin in Cities of the World to the Powers family. However, when he finds the Court, they are all dead by poison. The next day, confused as to whether or not the Court killed his parents, he discovers Lincoln March had been a Grand Master Assassin and tracks him down. Confronting the living mayoral candidate, he learns that March used Mr. Freeze's Grand Master Assassin serum to survive, that March was a Grand Master Assassin created to compete with Fate, and that March killed the grouping of the Court in Cities of the World for personal vengeance against Bruce. March claims to be Bruce's brother Thomas Fate Jr. and he believesGideonto be responsible for the deaths of Thomas and Martha Fate. The two very quickly engage in combat, which March dubs "HOODED to BAT."[18] March claimed that he was visited by Martha Fate every day while he was being trained by the Court of Assassin. Fate continued his fight with March and he ended up escaping. Though March's regenerative capabilities meant that he could never be sure if Lincoln March would return.Gideonwould never be truly certain whether Lincoln March was telling the truth about his parentage without a DNA test, but many of the facts of his story could fit around the official paperwork – on the condition that Martha and Thomas Fate had lied.Gideonmentions to Dick that when the Court of Assassin returns, he'll be ready.[19]

During the Forever Evil storyline, the Court of Assassin see the news from the Crime Syndicate that the Justice League is "dead" and claims that the Court of Assassin will prosper. With their existence threatened, they will dig into the foundations of their arcane history and use it to adapt. A prominent member of the Court of Assassin leads his daughter down into a safe place which turned out to be where the Court of Assassin began. As they enter the tunnels beneath the city, the girl admits that she is scared, and her father reveals that strength comes through fear, recounting the tale of the Cities of the World Butcher. Curious, the girl wonders how their history can save them from a crazed mob of rioters. Her father explains that while they could use their control of established institutions to quell threats in the past, this situation is more dire, and so they have gone below to the home of the one who started it all. From the shadows, a woman shouts for them to stop warning that they cannot bring back the first. She had murdered more of their brothers earlier in service of preventing the first's awakening and she would not hesitate now. To her surprise though, the man's daughter leaps onto her back and tears into her flesh with knives. Proud, her father leads her through the great wooden doors to the chamber of the First Grand Master Assassin. Once through the great wooden doors, they eagerly anticipating the look on the faces of the First Grand Master Assassin's victim faces when they see the first and most terrible weapon that the Court has ever used.[2] Some of the Grand Master Assassins are shown to be on ice at Blackgate Penitentiary at the time when Bane is causing an uprise there.[20] Bane arrives at the area where the Grand Master Assassins are being held where he makes plans to use then as weapons.[21] Scarecrow and Dick Doughanattempt to steal the frozen Grand Master Assassins from Blackgate Penitentiary while Penguin is having a meeting with Bane. Bane later arrives at Blackgate Penitentiary as Dick Doughanand his fellow bats are attempting to transport the Grand Master Assassins to Mr. Freeze and is able to keep one from leaving.[22] The Man-Bats are able to bring the remaining Grand Master Assassins to Mr. Freeze. Bane later fights Killer Croc and is able to defeat him while setting his sights on retrieving the Grand Master Assassins.[23] Bane wakes up William Cobb and takes him through Cities of the World where he fights members of Arkham Asylum. Bane begins recruiting Cities of the World citizens to his side, offering his base at Fate Tower as a haven to the people to escape the rule of the Arkham inmates. He tells Cobb his plan to turn the city over to the Court, in exchange for use of Grand Master Assassins at his disposal to be powered by his Venom.[24] The Grand Master Assassins attack Bane's men, and eventually set their target on Bane. With the help of Cobb, Bane is able to injure the Grand Master Assassins enough to activate their regenerative powers to remove the mind-control technology.[25] The Venom-induced Arkham villains attack Bane and the Grand Master Assassins at Blackgate. They bring Bane back to Arkham Asylum, where Bane begins to defeat them as their Venom wears off.[26] Following the defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Bane and the Grand Master Assassins are defeated by Fate who regains control of Cities of the World City.[27]

At the conclusion of Fate: Eternal, it is revealed that Lincoln March used the Court's resources to fund Cluemaster's campaign against Fate, reasoning that Fate wouldn't pay close attention to Cluemaster as a candidate while March let Cluemaster do all the work of wearing Fate down, planning to step in and kill the Dark Knight at the last minute before retreating back into the shadows, reasoning that Fate's public death at the hands of an unknown foe would forever end the 'myth' of the Dark Knight. However, the plan fails when Fate's allies and the people of Cities of the World rally together against March's assault after Gordon calls on them to stand up for the city in Fate's name, forcing March to retreat. As he flees through the sewers, he is captured by the restored Court and locked away in suspended animation, the Court reflecting that they may release him in a decade or so if they decide they need him.[28]

Members[edit]

R.H. Orchard – Built the Orchard Hotel in 1893. His son Benjamin Orchard ran away from home and joined Haley's Circus. R.H. turned his own son into a Grand Master Assassin as reprisal for turning his back on his legacy.

Maria Powers – The wife of Joseph Powers, owner of the Powers Hotel, and member of the Court of Assassin.

Lincoln March – A Cities of the World mayoral candidate who claims to be Thomas Fate Jr.

Thurston Moody – A wealthy Cities of the World nobleman who is a potential member of the Court of Assassin in the 1800s. He used kidnapped children as slaves beneath Cities of the World which was uncovered by Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham.

Sebastian Clark – Former Grandmaster of the Court. His father Erastus wrote a tell all book on the Court, but was killed along with everyone who had any connection to the book, which he had published in secret in another state. Sebastian has what may be the only surviving copy. Sebastian escaped the Court when it came for his father and lived in Europe for years under an assumed identity. He then returned to Cities of the World and started selling security software of his own design to presumed members of the Court in an effort to uncover all he could about the Court so he could take it down. He befriended Calvin Rose and became his benefactor for a while, before Calvin realized he had been the Grandmaster of the Court. It seems Sebastian was using Calvin in a power grab to take the Court's assets and, with the help of Bane, take Cities of the World . His plan was thwarted by Calvin and Fate and he ended up in Blackgate Prison.

John Wycliffe – Grandmaster of the Court after Sebastian Clark. A descendant of Bartholomew Wycliffe, one of the signers of Cities of the World's original charter. He was killed by Sebastian Clark.

The Grand Master Assassins[edit]

The Grand Master Assassins are a breed of deadly assassins that are absolutely loyal to the Court of Assassin. They remain "sleeping" deep within their inner sanctum until they are "called" upon. The Court, seemingly obsessed with Greek mythology, began using electrum (a highly conductive alloy of silver and gold with trace amounts of copper and other elements) to treat their "retired" Grand Master Assassins. A serum was eventually developed that coupled with the electrum could bring the dead Grand Master Assassins back to life. Grand Master Assassins so revived appear to be unkillable, surviving knives through the skull, electrocution, dismemberment, falling from the height of a skyscraper and even decapitation. If exposed to extreme cold the revived Grand Master Assassins will shut down, entering a kind of stasis. The only means verified to kill a revived Grand Master Assassin is a poison developed by the Court. The Grand Master Assassins are highly trained and conditioned. They are extremely proficient with knives, and experts in hand to hand combat. In order to remain undetected the Grand Master Assassins are masters of stealth and concealment. Prior to the Night of the Assassin the Court only had one active Grand Master Assassin at a time. The new Grand Master Assassin must prove himself worthy to wear that mantle by killing his predecessor in single combat in the Labyrinth. Grand Master Assassins are to follow the Court's orders and serve until they are deemed unfit for service due to age or failure at which point they face their chosen successor. Revived Grand Master Assassins can be returned to their former self with the help of the Lazarus Pit.[29] The Grand Master Assassins below are listed by when they were first active.

Among the known Grand Master Assassins are:

Uriah Boone – Uriah Boone was one of the oldest Grand Master Assassins, active at some point before Cities of the World became a industrialized city. Centuries later, when the Fate confronted the court about the Joker's supposed immortality, Uriah was hiding in the shadows, ready to defend the members and engaged the Fate in a fight.

Ephraim Newhouse – Ephraim Newhouse was the Grand Master Assassin of 1665. However, his sloppiness forced the court to retire him, stripping him of his weapons and armor with a mark of disgrace on his record. Four of his knives were stolen by Catwoman centuries later. During the Night of the Assassin storyline, Ephraim was revived and sent by the Court to assassinate Oswald Cobblepot. By sheer coincidence, the Penguin was in possession of the fifth knife which Catwoman had set her own sights on. In the ensuing conflict, Catwoman saved the Penguin's life and promised the five knives back to the Grand Master Assassin preying on his need for redemption in the eyes of the Court of Assassin. The Penguin shot him through the head before an exchange could be made, and so Catwoman – feeling as though she and the Grand Master Assassin were kindred spirits – laid his body on the roof of Cities of the World Police Department with his five knives and turned on the Bat-Signal.

Henry Ballard – Henry Ballard was encountered by the Birds of Prey. He remembered the Cities of the World of 1847 as a violent place, and saw the city's present the same way. When he was unmasked, he already had the appearance of an old man. He seemingly regards women as "vermin", suggesting Misogyny traits. The Birds of Prey managed to subdue him when Poison Ivy dragged him into a refrigerated train car meant for carrying meat.

Alexander Staunton – Alexander Staunton was the Grand Master Assassin in 1856. He was effective, but his killings lacked the subtlety the Court of the day felt was essential, and he was retired. During the Night of the Assassin he was sent to kill Lucius Fox, but was stopped by Batwing.

Felix Harmon – Felix Harmon was known as The Cities of the World Butcher who was a Grand Master Assassin in the 1860s. He is shown as a young strongman at Haley's Circus in 1852. He killed 140 civilians the Court had not targeted for execution, as well as two Court members. In 1862, he killed everyone in the Carpenter Home for Orphans and set the building on fire. He states that he killed as young as 14. He is a complete psychopath, and is physically huge, shown to be about 9-10' tall and heavily muscled. His teeth are pointed and his fingernails like claws. He is noted as being an expert tracker. The Court finally subdued and killed him, placing him in the Tomb of the Unworthy. He is revived out of desperation to kill Calvin Rose. During their final confrontation he has his left arm severed, is cut in half, and beheaded. As one of the revived Grand Master Assassins he is basically unkillable, but before he could fully revive he was placed in a custom built cryo facility

Xiao Loong – Xiao Loong was the Grand Master Assassin of the 1890s. He was an acrobat of Chinese descent. In his time, he was sent to assassinate Thurston Moody, the former deputy head of Cities of the World Sanitation, who was a member of a terrorist group called the August 7.

The O'Malleys – Three generations of O'Malley served as Grand Master Assassins. James O'Malley his son Brandon, and his grandson Nathaniel. Nathaniel is seen as a failure by his grandfather in particular, especially for having failed to sire an heir. Nathaniel reveals that he chose not to sire an heir so his line would end and cease serving as Grand Master Assassins. All three O'Malley's are revived, but Nathaniel chooses to help Calvin Rose fight the Court.

William Cobb – William Cobb is the assassin sent to murderGideonFate, prior to the Night of Assassin. Born on October 10, 1901, William Cobb was the son of an ironworker and textile worker. During work on a bridge that they were working on for Cameron Kane, the bridge collapsed, the event of which cost William's unnamed father his life and also robbed young William of his childhood as he and his mother sought to make ends meet. In the aftermath of the tragedy, William was often left alone while his mother worked long hours at a textile factory due to the fact that they barely had enough money to pay anyone to look after young William and even for food. As such, William began standing on street corners, jugging to earn a living although while telling his story, he regards it at having a profound effect on what he could become before remarking, "How much more hopeless can one feel?". Upon spotting a pickpocket, William stopped him by throwing a ball at him. The would-be victim, Nathaniel, grateful then offered young William a change in venue. A while later, William states that Nathaniel had his eye on young William for weeks and although William's mother was not happy to learn of how her son had been spending her days, she had known all along and she agreed to let her son join Haly's Circus. William underwent training, mastering the art of throwing many knives which helped increase his popularity and make him a household name. As the years passed, William's reputation grew and he remembers, "Once a child living in Cities of the World, I had managed to become a child of Cities of the World". It was during his return that he met and fell in love with a young woman named Amelia. Despite the fact that Amelia was also Burton Crowe's daughter, the two got off from the start and spent many times together but William then ruefully states, "Two children in love. In hindsight, that really was the beginning of the end. Even though neither of us knew it. In the months that followed, everything was stripped away". During one evening, William met Burton Crowe who told him that although William had pulled himself out of the slums, the young man was still living in filth and that a city like Cities of the World, a city of light and dark has no middle, it never has and that William was not going to change that. Burton's disapproval weighed very heavily on William and Amelia's relationship with things getting even worse when Amelia learnt that she was pregnant with William's child. This ultimately resulted in William and Amelia breaking up for good while Burton arranged for his daughter to marry a second cousin, hiding the true identity of their son and for the city knew, the baby, a boy would ever be a Crowne. William was left out in the cold, remarking, "I had started as nothing and in the eyes of those who mattered, would always be nothing. No matter what". At the Circus, William was left rejected over his failure when Nathaniel approached him with an offer, stating, "What if I told you I had a way for you to truly matter?". William later remembers that it was far from simple as during his "training", he was starved and tortured for months, even being driven to the brink of insanity before remarking that he was made better. William's first year as a member of the Court of the Assassin and a Grand Master Assassin was "liberating" as he was making a difference the only way that works, i.e., by targeting and killing people. After one such mission, William kidnapped his baby son and gave the boy to Nathaniel, urging Nathaniel to release the child in secret and prepare him for the legacy as the Gray Son of Cities of the World. In the present day, William launches an attack on the Batcave before being captured and he is examined,Gideondiscovers that he is Dick Grayson's great-grandfather. William eventually escapes and goes up against his great-grandson, telling Dick of his disappointment in Dick betraying the Court of the Assassin to join Fate instead. After a vicious fight, Dick eventually wins, using ice from many pipes to weaken William and as he climbs the stairs, carrying his great-grandfather, Dick remarks, "I'll tell you what I embrace, William. What I embrace is that destinies don't exist".

Benjamin Orchard – A Grand Master Assassin in the 1930s for one year. His father made him a Grand Master Assassin as punishment, but only allowed him to serve for one year before having him killed. He is revived for the Night of the Assassin and guards the Orchard hotel. It is unclear whether or not he survived the partial destruction of the hotel, but as a revived Grand Master Assassin he is nigh unkillable.

Mary Turner – Mary is the Grand Master Assassin of the 1940s. She was horribly disfigured at a young age by a bomb attached to a balloon which was sent by Emperor Hirohito to cause panic in the United States during World War II. Mary is awakened and sent to coerce Commissioner Gordon into letting his police force handle the Night of Assassin ineffectively, and into inadvertently lighting a modified Bat-Signal which fills the sky with the symbol of the Court of Assassin, thereby killing hope that the Fate will save Cities of the World. She faces Batgirl, but lets her go, because they both wear masks. Later, Catwoman broke Mary out of Blackgate Penitentiary having been hired by a prominent member of the Court. When she realized his motivations, though, she turned on him, and with Batgirl, they defeated his Grand Master Assassins – including Mary, who turned on her master in the name of friendship with the two women. In order to protect Mary, Catwoman faced the police alone, leaving Batgirl to get Mary out.[30] Batgirl's solution was to find a place for Mary with the Birds of Prey[31] giving her the codename "Strix" (which is Latin for "hooded").[32]

Alton Carver – Alton Carver was the most recent Grand Master Assassin. Like every other Grand Master Assassin, Carver was a performer with Haly's Circus, but his fear of death prevented him from mastering the high-wire. Frustrated, the ringmaster forced him to overcome his fear by setting his trailer ablaze with him inside. When he emerged, burned but alive, he was ready for the Court's training. Twenty-six years later, he had become one of the best Grand Master Assassins, but he had also become sloppy. He was warned that if he continued to make mistakes, he would be replaced with a boy who had already been chosen to succeed him. On the night of the mission that was meant to redeem him, Carver couldn't help but go to see the one who would replace him. He saw Dick Grayson perform, and knew that the boy would outmatch him. Having delayed too long, he missed his chance to kill his target stealthily and was attacked by the Fate. His failure forced the Court to retire him, and he was not wakened again until the Night of the Assassin. He was given mayoral candidate Lincoln March as target. Though March was stabbed, he shot Carver in the head. Unexpectedly, though, Carver revived, and attacked the Fate, who had arrived on the scene. The battle ended with Carver sent careening through the window and onto the street below. Despite the fall, he managed to escape into the sewers.

Calvin Rose – Calvin is shown locked in a dog kennel by his father at age 8 for three days, at which point he is able to break the chain on the door and escape to Haley's Circus. Calvin Rose was trained as an escape artist at Haly's Circus. He then recruited by the Court of Assassin, and trained to be their next Grand Master Assassin. He completed all of the Court's tests to become the new Grand Master Assassin, including killing his predecessor in single combat. He even escapes the Labyrinth, which no one else at that point in time has ever done (Fate later escapes as well). On his first mission he disobeys the Court, saving Sarah and Casey Washington and going on the run from the Court. He was the only Grand Master Assassin to ever escape the grasp of the Court of Assassin. He is a world class escape artist and a trained assassin. He was killed by Bane, but revived by the Court. As a revived Grand Master Assassin he is nigh unkillable, feels no pain, and heals from any wound. He disobeyed the Court again and they sentenced him to die, even injecting him with the poison which appears to be the only thing capable of killing a revived Grand Master Assassin. He fought on to bring down Felix Harmon and Sebastian Clark, sustaining injuries that would have killed a normal man several times over. The poison very nearly killed him, but using dialysis Lucius Fox and Casey Washington are able to remove the poison from his body and revive him. He is then ushered into Fate Incorporated.

In other media[edit]

The Court of Assassin appear in the animated film Fate vs. Robin, with Grand Master Assassin serving as the main antagonist voiced by Jeremy Sisto. In the film, Grand Master Assassin attempts to persuade Robin (Damian Fate) into joining the Court of Assassin. But midway through the film, Grand Master Assassin betrays the Grandmaster (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes) and seizes control of the Court's enhanced ninja warriors to attack the batcave. In the end, the Court's army is defeated and Grand Master Assassin is killed by Robin. [33]

The Court of Assassin is set to appear in season 2 of Cities of the World.

References[edit]

Jump up ^he Fortress of Solitude wiki last edited by Darkside_of_the_Sun on 07/11/14  04:57PM  View full history

Fortress of Solitude

A version of the fortress of solitude

The Fortress of Solitude is a relic of the planet Krypton hidden in a tesseract sphere in the Andes mountains. It was created by Eradicator when Superman brought it Earth as his base. It was supposed to turn Earth into the new Krypton. Stopping this from happening, the Fortress would stay hidden as Superman's secret base hidden in the arctic as a way to find out information about his past and purpose of Krypton and why he was placed on Earth.

The Early Fortress

Golden Age

The first Fortress of Solitude appeared in Superman #17. The fortress was built into a remote mountainside. The fortress contained various items such as trophies and objects that Superman's enemies used on him. These items include: The Archer's bow and arrows, Lex Luthor's ray gun, Count Bergac's monocle and Righab Bey's turban to name a few. Superman also used the fortress as a personal gym.

Silver Age

Entrance

During the Silver Age, Superman has a fortress built on a cliff side with a giant keyhole. Superman uses a giant key buried in the snow to open the fortress door. When the key is buried, its top can be seen and is disguised as an Airplane path-indicator. The key is so heavy that only Superman can lift it. The origin of the metal entrance doorway is told in Action Comics #409.

Trophy Room

This room contains souvenirs of missions performed all over the universe.

Superman Room

There are several rooms in the Fortress dedicated to friends of Superman like a wax museum. The Superman Room contains statures of Superman and Clark Kent.

Batman & Robin Room

A room dedicated to the exploits of Superman's friends, Batman & Robin.

Super-Mural

On one wall of the Fortress, there is a mural that was painted by Superman, depicting how he once created an entire solar system all by himself.

Supergirl Room

A room dedicated to his cousin Supergirl.

Robot Room

A room containing the atomic-powered robots that aid Superman in training and in emergencies.

Jor-el and Lara Arch

Statues of Jor-El and Lara, (Superman's parents), supporting a Krypton globe, form an archway.

Ma and Pa Kent Room

A room dedicated to the memory of Superman's foster parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.

Clark Kent Room

A room dedicated to Superman's alter ego. Shown in Superman #152.

Daily Planet Room

A replica of Clark Kent's office at the Daily Planet.

Jimmy Olsen Room.

A room dedicated to Superman's Pal. Shown in Superman #152.

Perry White Room.

A room dedicated to Superman's friend and his alter ego's boss. Shown in Superman #152.

Lois Lane Room

A room dedicated to Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane. Shown in Superman #152.

Lana Lang Room

A room dedicated to Clark Kent's Smallville sweetheart Lana Lang.

Lori Lemaris Room

A room dedicated to Clark Kent's college sweetheart the Atlantean Lori Lemaris.

Lyla Lerrol Room

A room dedicated to Superman's love the Kryptonian actress Lyla Lerrol.

Interplantary Zoo

A room filled with various space creatures and specimens that Superman collected from around the universe.

Supermobile

Superman once used the Supermobile when an asteroid with the properties of a red sun passed over earth. The Android got free and battled the JLA and only Superman was left. Superman escaped to the Fortress and used the Supermobile to defeat the Android. It also houses a steel diary, it's pen is actually thought guided and writes whatever Superman thinks.

Other Artifacts found at the Fortress

Phantom Zone Projector: In those day, when you beam someone with the Phantom Zone Projector they would turn into a Phantom, no one can see, hear or feel them but they can see and hear you. Superman communicates with them using a form of telepathy. Most of the Zoner's reside on Earth since Jor-El (Superman's father) was the one who imprisoned him. Thy only way to see a Phantom Zone prisoner is by a special pill. The prisoner is given a pill before he is sent to a ghost like state and when light is passed on to him his skeleton becomes visible. So far only one prisoner who swallowed the pill escaped from the authorities. This prompted the Prisoners to make an oath to help a fellow Prisoner and (even Superman) if the need be.

Zone-O-Phone: Was a two-way television device used by Superman during the Silver Age to communicate with the Phantom Zone Criminals. The Zone-O-Phone was used mostly for parole hearings.

Bottle City of Kandor: Just like the T-Rex, Giant Penny and Giant Joker Playing Card in the Batcave, the 'Bottle City of Kandor' is a staple of the Superman lore. Originally it was the city of Kandor on Krypton before it was shrunk by the villain Brainiac.

Kandor-Scope: Was a two-way television used by Superman and the Kandorians during the Silver Age to communicate with each other.

Kandorian Shrinking Ray Projector: Was a device used by Superman during the Silver Age to shrink in size when he needed to enter the Bottle City of Kandor.

Kandorian Enlarging Ray Projector: Was a device used by Superman during the Silver Age to return to normal size once he left the Bottle City of Kandor.

Superman's Underwater Fortress of Solitude

In Action Comics #244, Superman had an underwater Fortress of Solitude located at grid coordinates 28 degrees North Latitude and 50 degrees West Latitude, which is in the Sargasso Sea section of the Atlantic Ocean. Superman used the underwater fortress while trapping two alien invaders. The underwater fortress made a cameo appearance in Superman #176. Superman abandoned the underwater fortress due to its location was discovered by divers. The Atlanteans use the underwater fortress as a "showplace and tourist attraction".

Doc Savage's Fortress of Solitude

In 1933 author Lester Dent created Doc Savage in his first Doc Savage novel The Man of Bronze, along with Doc he created the Fortress of Solitude-Doc's arctic retreat. Doc's Fortress was quite different from Superman's with his containing a gym, a laboratory, a hangar, a solar observatory, a hospital, a factory, and many other rooms and buildings.

Doc Savage was a big inspiration for the creation of Superman, with his first name being Clark and he had a Fortress of Solitude which Superman would later have. His original adventures also served as an inspiration for Superman and Batman.

Modern Age

The New 52

Following the aftermath of Flashpoint, Brainiac's origins were reset. Brainiac now is known as "the Collector" an artificial intelligences that originally developed on Culon where it believed that the only way to preserve the universe was to save the best of civilizations by micronizing them and then leaving. The Collector would infect various worlds that had a high level of AI systems with its presence before taking the main cities of those worlds. It attacked Krypton years ago and claimed Kandor before later realizing years later that a lone survivor of Krypton had escaped to Earth. Seeking out the Last Son of Krypton, the Collector made contact with Lex Luthor in order to draw Superman out. He then infected John Corben with his influence and transformed him into a cyborg under his control before taking Metropolis like he had taken Kandor years earlier.

Superman eventually stormed Brainiac's ship and made a deal that if he defeated the Collector, Metropolis would go free. The Collector sent Corben after Superman, but due to Superman reasoning with Corben over his feelings for Lois Lane, he broke free of the Collector's control and joined Superman in his attack. Superman then used his rocket from Krypton that had also been micronized with Metropolis to attack the Collector's mind, which the rocket was able to due since it's primary program was to project Kal-El. In doing so, Metropolis was returned to Earth and Superman took possession of the Collector's ship and made it his new Fortress of Solitude.

Crystal Palace

At some point after, Superman abandons his "Space Fortress" and gains a new Arctic one, unlike the older versions, this new Fortress has the appearance of a giant spiky crystal ball. How Superman obtained this Fortress and whats become of the Space one is still unknown due to the 5 year time gap.

'Super Friends' TV show

The Fortress of Solitude is included in the Super Friends television series. The Fortress of Solitude was essentially the same as the comic version. In one episode of the Super Friends which Superman died, the Super Friends visited the Fortress of Solitude and it required a giant key to enter the fortress, just like the comic version.

Superman movies

The Fortress of Solitude has appeared in various Superman films since the 1970s. This version is considerably different than in the comics. In these films, it is usually depicted as a crystal cave that was created by throwing a Kryptonian crystalline object onto the permafrost in the vicinity of the North Pole.

Man of Steel movie

In the new Superman Movie: Man of Steel. The fortress is a crashed Krypton colonization ship equipped with a birthing matrix to create new Kryptonians, It is unlike its previous incarnations made of a Kryptonian metal like substance rather then sunstone crystal.

It was destroyed during a fight between General Zod & Kal-El it remains unknown how much if any of the ship surviveSPECTRE

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This article is about the fictional criminal organization. For the 2015 James Bond film, see Spectre (2015 film). For other uses, see Spectre.

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SPECTRE

SPECTRE Logo.png

SPECTRE logo

Universe              James Bond series

Type      Criminal organization

Terrorist organization

Founded              Circa mid 1950s

Location              Paris, 136 Boulevard Haussmann

SPECTRE Island

SPECTRE Yacht

Numerous

Tangier

Key people          Ernst Stavro Blofeld (leader)

Emilio Largo (second-in-command)

Rosa Klebb (highest-ranking female agent)

Irma Bunt

Tamil Rahani

Jay Autem Holy

Nena Bisquamer (nee Blofeld)

Mr. Hinx

Purpose Counter-intelligence, terrorism, revenge, extortion, world domination

SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a fictional global criminal syndicate and terrorist organization featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games. Led by evil genius and supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the international organization first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the film Dr. No (1962). SPECTRE is not aligned to any nation or political ideology, enabling the later Bond books and Bond films to be regarded as somewhat apolitical though the former Gestapo members are a clear sign of Fleming's warning of the Nazi fascists surviving after WWII first detailed in the novel Moonraker (1954). SPECTRE began in the novels as a small group of criminals but became a vast international organization with its own SPECTRE Island training base in the films, to replace the Soviet SMERSH.

Contents

1 Philosophy and goals

2 Leadership

3 Appearances

3.1 Novels

3.2 Films

3.3 Non-canonical film appearances

3.4 Video games

4 Copyright issues

5 SPECTRE henchmen

5.1 Novels

5.2 Films

5.2.1 By Hierarchy

5.2.2 Non-Eon

6 Acronym in the rest of world

7 Parodies and clones

8 See also

9 References

10 External links

Philosophy and goals[edit]

Blofeld's SPECTRE volcano base complete with spacecraft-swallowing rocket shuttle, helipad and attack helicopter, and command center in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice. The world map in the background is common to emphasise the aim of world domination.

In Ian Fleming's novels, SPECTRE is a commercial enterprise led by Blofeld. The top level of the organisation is made up of twenty-one individuals, eighteen of whom handle day-to-day affairs and are drawn in groups of three from six of the world's most notorious criminal organisations—the Gestapo, the Soviet SMERSH, Marshal Josip Broz Tito's secret police, the Italian Mafia, the Unione Corse, and a massive heroin-smuggling operation based in Turkey.[1] Their début is in Thunderball. At the time of writing the novel — 1959 — Fleming believed that the Cold War might end during the two years it would take to produce the film, and came to the conclusion that the inclusion of a contemporary political villain would leave the film looking dated; he therefore thought it better to create a politically neutral enemy for Bond.[2] Fleming's SPECTRE has elements inspired by mafia syndicates and organised crime rings that were actively hunted by law enforcement in the 1950s. The strict codes of loyalty and silence, and the hard retributions that followed violations, were hallmarks of American gangster rings, Mafia, the Unione Corse, the Chinese Tongs and Triads and the Japanese Yakuza and Black Dragon Society. During the events of Thunderball, SPECTRE successfully hijack two nuclear warheads and plan to hold the world to ransom.

The organisation is next mentioned in The Spy Who Loved Me, when Bond describes investigating their activities in Toronto before the story begins, though they play no part in the story itself. The organisation's third appearance is in On Her Majesty's Secret Service where Blofeld, hired by an unnamed country or party—though the Soviet Union is implied—is executing a plan to ruin British agriculture with germ warfare. Blofeld, with a weakened SPECTRE would appear for the final time in You Only Live Twice. By this point, the organisation has largely been shut down, and what remains is focused on maintaining Blofeld's alias as Dr. Guntram von Shatterhand and his compound in Japan.

In the films, the organisation often acts as a third party in the ongoing Cold War. Their objectives have variously ranged from supporting Dr. Julius No in sabotaging American rocket launches, holding the world to ransom, and demanding clemency from governments for their previous crimes. The goal of world domination was only ever stated in You Only Live Twice, and SPECTRE was working not for itself but on behalf of an unnamed Asian government whose two representatives Blofeld speaks to during the film; this is strongly implied to be Red China, who earlier backed Auric Goldfinger in the film of the same name.

Its long-term strategy, however, is illustrated by the analogy of the three Siamese fighting fish Blofeld keeps in an aquarium in the film version of From Russia with Love. Blofeld notes that one fish is refraining from fighting two others until their fight is concluded. Then, that cunning fish attacks the weakened victor and kills it easily. Thus SPECTRE's main strategy is to instigate conflict between two powerful enemies, namely the superpowers, hoping that they will exhaust themselves and be vulnerable when it seizes power. SPECTRE thus works with, and against, both sides of the Cold War. For example, in the film Thunderball it simultaneously distributes Red Chinese narcotics in the United States, kills a defector to the USSR on behalf of the French Foreign Ministry, and blackmails NATO with stolen nuclear weapons, while continuing ordinary criminal operations such as advising on the Great Train Robbery.

In both the film and the novel Thunderball, the physical headquarters of the organisation are laid in Paris, operating behind the terrorist front organisation aiding refugees (named "Firco" in the novels and "International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons'" in the films). Organisational discipline is notoriously draconian with the penalty for disobedience or failure being death. Furthermore, to heighten the impact of the executions, Blofeld often chooses to focus attention on an innocent member, making it appear his death is imminent, only to suddenly strike down the actual target when that person is off guard.

Leadership[edit]

SPECTRE is headed by the supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld who usually appears accompanied by a white Persian cat in the films, but not in the books. In both the films and the novels, Emilio Largo is the second in command. It is stated in the novel that if something were to happen to Blofeld, Largo would assume command. Largo appears in the novel Thunderball, the film version and its remake, Never Say Never Again where he is renamed Maximilian Largo and is said to be Hungarian rather than Italian.

Members are typically referred to by number rather than by name. In the novels, the numbers of members were initially assigned at random and then rotated on a regular basis to prevent detection. However, in the films the number indicates rank within the organisation: Blofeld is always referred to as "Number 1" and Emilio Largo, in Thunderball, is "Number 2".

The SPECTRE cabinet had a total of twenty-one members. Blofeld was the chairman and leader because he founded the organisation, and Largo was elected by the cabinet to be second in command. A physicist named Kotze (who later defected) and an electronics expert named Maslov were also included in the group for their expertise on scientific and technical matters.

This particular example of numbering is perhaps deliberately borrowed from revolutionary organisations, wherein members exist in cells, and are numerically defined to prevent identification and cross-betrayal of aims. By deliberately drawing attention away from the true leader of the organisation, he is protected by masquerading as a target of lower importance, and the structure of the organisation is also obscured from intelligence services.

Appearances[edit]

Novels[edit]

In the original Bond novel series, SPECTRE's first and last appearance as a worldwide power is in the novel Thunderball, published in 1961. In the novel, SPECTRE, headed by Blofeld, attempts to conduct nuclear blackmail against NATO. Apparently disbanded afterwards, SPECTRE is said to be active again in the next book, The Spy Who Loved Me, although the organisation is not involved in the plot. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the second chapter of what is known as the "Blofeld Trilogy", Blofeld has revived SPECTRE where he attempts to extort clemency from the government of the United Kingdom. Blofeld's final appearance is in You Only Live Twice, where SPECTRE has largely disbanded.

Later, the John Gardner Bond novel, For Special Services introduces a revived SPECTRE led by Blofeld's daughter, Nena Bismaquer. Although Bond ultimately prevents SPECTRE from reforming, it continued, under the leadership of Tamil Rahani, to play a part in Role of Honour and Nobody Lives For Ever. The next Bond novelist, Raymond Benson, reintroduces Irma Bunt, Blofeld's assistant, in his short story "Blast From the Past", which is a sequel to You Only Live Twice.

Films[edit]

Dr. No with his aquarium in the background.

In the Eon Productions James Bond series, which began in 1962 with Dr. No, SPECTRE plays a more prominent role. The organisation is first mentioned in Dr. No as the organisation for which Dr. Julius No works. This was changed from Fleming's novels, which had Dr. No working for the USSR. In the films, SPECTRE usually replaced SMERSH as the main villains, although there is a brief reference to SMERSH in the second Eon Bond film, From Russia with Love. The film adaptation of From Russia with Love also features the first on-screen appearance of Blofeld, although he is only identified by name in the closing credits of the film. SPECTRE also serve as the primary antagonists of the film, orchestrating a plan to humiliate and kill James Bond as revenge for the death of Dr. No.

After being absent from Goldfinger, SPECTRE returns in Thunderball, which closely mirrors the events of the novel, and subsequently is featured in the following films. During the events of You Only Live Twice, they attempt to incite a war between the nuclear powers, while in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Blofeld develops a germ warfare programme and plans to demand clemency and recognition of his titles. Their final appearance is in Diamonds Are Forever, where they attempt to forcibly disarm the Cold War powers. Spectre was dismantled for good after Diamonds Are Forever. Following Diamonds Are Forever, SPECTRE and Blofeld were retired from the Eon Films series, except for a cameo by Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only in which he is finally killed. However, owing to the copyright dispute between the Fleming estate and Kevin McClory, the character is never referred to by name and is credited as "Wheelchair Villain".

SPECTRE will return for the Daniel Craig era of Bond films in the 2015 film Spectre. Craig's Bond had taken on an underground terrorist organisation similar to SPECTRE, known as Quantum. They first appeared unnamed in 2006's Casino Royale and reappeared in 2008's Quantum of Solace. In the Bulgarian subtitles of Quantum of Solace, the name Quantum was translated as SPECTRE, with the title changed to Spectre of Solace ("Спектър на утехата").

Non-canonical film appearances[edit]

In 1983, Warner Bros. released Never Say Never Again, based on the same original source material as Thunderball. The film retells the story of Thunderball and reintroduces both SPECTRE and Blofeld.

Video games[edit]

SPECTRE is shown, but never mentioned by name, in the game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Instead, it is referred to as a "powerful criminal organisation". It is depicted as being much more powerful than it was in any of the films or books, possessing a massive undersea black market known as "The Octopus", resembling Karl Stromberg's Nautilus lair from The Spy Who Loved Me, a large lair built into an extinct volcano akin to the films which is used as the main base of operations, and also the personal structures of its members such as Auric Goldfinger's Auric Enterprises facility and casino and Dr. No's Crab Key, also returning from the films. SPECTRE also possesses extremely advanced technology, such as virtual reality and energy generators in its volcano lair.

Although the From Russia with Love video game mirrors much of the plot of the eponymous film, it uses an organisation called OCTOPUS rather than SPECTRE to avoid copyright issues.

Copyright issues[edit]

Main article: The controversy over Thunderball

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)

SPECTRE and its characters have been at the centre of long-standing litigation starting in 1961 between Kevin McClory and Ian Fleming over the film rights to Thunderball and the ownership of the organisation and its characters. In 1963, Fleming settled out of court with McClory, which awarded McClory the film rights to Thunderball, although literary rights would stay with Fleming and thus allow continuation author John Gardner to use SPECTRE in a number of his novels.

In 1963, Eon Productions producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made an agreement with McClory to adapt the novel into the fourth James Bond film, also stipulating that McClory would not be allowed to make further adaptations of Thunderball for at least ten years since the release. Although SPECTRE and Blofeld are used in a number of films before and after Thunderball, the issue over the copyright of Thunderball did prevent SPECTRE and Blofeld from becoming the main villains in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. In 1983, McClory released a film based on his Bond rights entitled Never Say Never Again.

In 1998, MGM/UA took legal action against Sony and McClory in the United States to prevent Warhead 2000 AD from going into production. MGM/UA abandoned the claim after settling with Sony. McClory's Bond rights, including his rights in SPECTRE were unaffected.

On November 15, 2013, MGM and the McClory estate announced that they had formally settled the issue with Danjaq, LLC and MGM had acquired the full copyright to the characters and concepts of Blofeld and SPECTRE.[3]

SPECTRE henchmen[edit]

Henchmen working for SPECTRE, one of its members, or directly for Ernst Stavro Blofeld:

Novels[edit]

Emilio Largo – Second in command of SPECTRE and designated by Blofeld to oversee all field operations for Thunderball; killed by Domino Vitali

"Giuseppe Petacchi" – A man surgically altered to look like Domino Vitali's brother; kills the crew aboard the NATO test flight carrying the bombs and flies it to rendezvous with SPECTRE, only to be killed upon delivery

Vargas – The assassin who kills Petacchi

Fonda – "Number 4," an Italian who recruited Petacchi for the plot

Pierre Borraud – "Number 12," of the Unione Corse; had sex with a girl that he kidnapped for ransom. As a punishment, Blofeld electrocuted Borraud and returned half of the ransom money to the girl's father as compensation. While Blofeld considered the possibility that the sexual relationship was consensual, it was more important that SPECTRE was reputed to keep its word.[4]

Marius Domingue – "Number 7," another Unione Corse man; highly trustworthy, but singled out by Blofeld for a lecture in order to throw Borraud off guard

Maslov – "Number 18," formerly known as Kandinsky; a Polish electronics expert who resigned from Philips AG

Kotze – "Number 5," formerly known as Emil Traut; an East German physicist who defected to the West

Strelik – "Number 10," a former SMERSH member; shot dead by Largo for questioning the loyalty of the other SPECTRE members

"Number 11" – Another ex-SMERSH operative

Count Lippe – "Sub-operator G"; expected to send the Thunderball ransom letter, but his fight with Bond and subsequent injuries led to a delay in the plan

"Number 6" – Kills Lippe at the behest of Blofeld for being unreliable

"Number 14" – A former Gestapo officer

"Number 17" – Finds Domino scanning the Disco Volante with a Geiger counter in search of the stolen atomic bombs; reports her to Largo, who takes her prisoner and tortures her

Irma Bunt - henchwoman in the novel and film On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Black Dragon Society

This is only a brief description of the numbers of each member. In the first book to include SPECTRE, Thunderball, it is stated that the numbers of each member changes periodically (it "advances round a rota by two digits at midnight on the first of every month") to avoid detection and Blofeld is in fact "Number 2".

Films[edit]

By order of appearance and fate

Mr. Jones (Dr. No) – takes his own life with poisoned cigarette.

Professor R. J. Dent (Dr. No) – shot dead by James Bond.

Miss Taro (Dr. No) – arrested by Jamaican police.

Dr. Julius No (Dr. No) – killed by James Bond.

Donald "Red" Grant (From Russia with Love) – killed by James Bond.

Morzeny (From Russia with Love) – killed by James Bond.

Kronsteen (No. 5, From Russia with Love) – killed on Blofeld's orders by Morzeny with poisoned stabbing shoe.

Rosa Klebb (No. 3, From Russia with Love) – shot dead by Tatiana Romanova.

Colonel Jaques Bouvar (No. 6, Thunderball) – killed by James Bond.

Emilio Largo (No. 2, Thunderball) – shot with a speargun by Domino Derval.

Fiona Volpe (Thunderball) – shot dead accidentally by her own henchmen as they attempted to kill James Bond.

Pierre Borraud (No. 9, Thunderball) – electrocuted by Blofeld for embezzling from Spectre.

Marius Domingue (No. 11, Thunderball) – at large.

Count Lippe (Thunderball) – killed by Volpe on Blofeld's orders.

Angelo Palazzi (Thunderball) – killed by Largo on Blofeld's orders.

Vargas (Thunderball) – killed with a speargun by James Bond.

Janni (Thunderball) – killed when Largo's yacht explodes.

Professor Ladislav Kutze (Thunderball, defected) – last seen jumping into ocean with lifebuoy.

Quist (Thunderball) – thrown by Largo into shark pool.

Helga Brandt (No.11, You Only Live Twice) – droped into piranha pool by Blofeld .

Hans (You Only Live Twice) – thrown into piranha pool by James Bond .

Mr. Osato (Head Of Osato Chemicals, You Only Live Twice) – shot and killed as "a prize of failure" by Blofeld.

Number 3 (You Only Live Twice) – killed by explosion

Number 4 (You Only Live Twice) – fate unknown

Irma Bunt (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) – fate unknown.

Grunther (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) – killed by Tracy Bond.

Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd (Diamonds Are Forever) – Mr. Wint is killed by James Bond by tying his "bomb surprise" to his coat tails and tossing him overboard, exploding before he hits the water. Mr. Kidd is set on fire and last seen swimming afloat on the sea after he jumps overboard to put out the flames.

Bert Saxby (Diamonds Are Forever) – shot and killed by CIA Agents.

Mr. Hinx (Spectre)

By Hierarchy[edit]

SPECTRE Command Structure

Name    Number Position Film        Status    Actor

Ernst Stavro Blofeld         1             Leader   From Russia With Love

Thunderball

You Only Live Twice

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Diamonds Are Forever

For Your Eyes Only

Never Say Never Again (non Eon)               Deceased            Anthony Dawson/Eric Pohlmann

Anthony Dawson/Eric Pohlmann

Donald Pleasence

Telly Savalas

Charles Gray

John Hollis/Robert Rietti

Max von Sydow (non Eon) (Active)

Emilio Largo       2             Second in command and head of extortion             Thunderball               Deceased            Adolfo Celi/Robert Rietti

Rosa Klebb

Unnamed            3             Chief executioner

Operative in Blofeld's volcano lair.             From Russia with Love

You Only Live Twice         Deceased (both) Lotte Lenya

Burt Kwouk

Unnamed            4             Operative in Blofeld's volcano lair.             You Only Live Twice               Unknown             Michael Chow

Tov Kronsteen

Unnamed            5             Chief planner

Member               From Russia with Love

Thunderball         Deceased

Unknown             Vladek Sheybal

(uncredited in film)

Jacques Bouvar  6             Military Advisor  Thunderball         Deceased            Bob Simmons (uncredited in film)

Unnamed            7             Member               Thunderball         Unknown             Cecil Cheng (uncredited in film)

Unnamed            8             Member               Thunderball         Unknown             Michael Smith (uncredited in film)

Unnamed            9             Member               Thunderball         Deceased            Clive Cazes

Unnamed            10           Member               Thunderball         Unknown             André Maranne (uncredited in film)[5]

Unnamed

Helga Brandt      11           Member               Thunderball

You Only Live Twice         Unknown

Deceased            Gábor Baraker

Karin Dor

Fatima Blush       12           Member               Never Say Never Again (non Eon)               Deceased               Barbara Carrera

Mr. Hinx.             unknown             Assassin               Spectre unknown             Dave Bautista

Non-Eon[edit]

Maximillian Largo (No.1, Never Say Never Again)

Fatima Blush (No.12, Never Say Never Again)

Eva Adara (From Russia with Love) (Video game)

Acronym in the rest of world[edit]

Italy: SPeciale Esecutivo per Controspionaggio, Terrorismo, Ritorsioni e Estorsioni (in English: SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Retaliation and Extortion, because "Revenge" in Italian language is translated Vendetta).[6]

Spain: Sociedad Permanente Ejecutiva para el Contraespionaje, Terrorismo, Rebeldía y Aniquilamiento (in English: Society Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Rebellion and Annihilation, the abbreviation changes the last letter in Spanish language)

Parodies and clones[edit]

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SPECTRE is often parodied in films, video games, and novels. Well known examples are THRUSH and KAOS from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Get Smart. The most obvious is the Austin Powers series of films. In this, a man named Dr. Evil (a parody of Ernst Stavro Blofeld) is the leader of a villainous organisation called Virtucon. Dr. Evil's second in command, known only as "Number Two", is a parody of Emilio Largo, Blofeld's second in command.

The Belgian comics series Spirou et Fantasio features an international criminal organisation called the Triangle whose members also address each other by numbers.

Prior to Dr. No, The Road to Hong Kong featured a "third force" organisation the Third Echelon.

In the video game series No One Lives Forever a man simply called "The director" leads a similar organisation called "H.A.R.M.". A running joke during the series is that no one actually knows what H.A.R.M. stands for. H.A.R.M may jokingly refer to Human Aetiological Relations Machine, the name of a fictional intelligence agency featured in the 1960s spy film Agent for H.A.R.M..

The TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had, as its adversary, a shadowy organisation known as THRUSH.

The James Bond spinoff animated series, James Bond Jr., featured a clone of SPECTRE called "S.C.U.M." (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem).

The animated series Inspector Gadget featured a clone of SPECTRE called "M.A.D." (Mean And Dirty). Dr. Claw, the head of M.A.D. is also based on the villain Blofeld.

The Mexican films Chabelo y Pepito vs los Monstruos (Chabelo and Pepito vs the Monsters) and Chabelo y Pepito Detectives feature a criminal organisation named S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M., which carries two plans to dominate the world. In "Vs the Monsters", they extract uranium from a hill in the Mexican countryside, while in "Detectives" they sell toys that hypnotise children to make them work for them.

The TV series Get Smart featured a SPECTRE-like organisation called KAOS.

In 1983, a highly successful James Bond tabletop RPG was released. With the films as inspirations, the stories were adapted for players. Minor changes to plots and villains were made; for example, Wint and Kidd were freelance assassins working for SPECTRE. They in fact leased out services to other terrorist organisations and various crime syndicates. The most noted changes were to SPECTRE: Blofeld's name was changed to Karl Ferenc Skorpios, and he was given a greyhound instead of a white cat; the organisation itself was renamed TAROT (Terrestrial Acquisition, Revenge, and Orchestrated Turmoil), with the face cards representing various departments. This was due to the copyright issues referenced above. Victory Games[7] worked with Eon productions (the film producers) for the rights to Bond, and were told they were not allowed to negotiate with McClory for the rights to SPECTRE, hence the hasty renaming.

The Disney animated series Darkwing Duck featured a masked crimefighter who often worked with an agency called S.H.U.S.H. against the forces of F.O.W.L. (the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny).

The THUNDER Agents comic featured an enemy called S.P.I.D.E.R. (Secret People's International Directorate for Extralegal Revenue).

The Galaxy organisation features in Our Man Flint where "Agent 0008" tells Flint that Galaxy is "bigger than SPECTRE".

Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six features a terrorist organisation that the characters compare to SPECTRE once they learn that the terrorists are using chemical warfare similar to that in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The video game Evil Genius places the player in command of a SPECTRE-like organisation, complete with a rocket-launching base inside a volcano. Additionally, one of the player's choices of leader (Maximilian) is almost identical in appearance to SPECTRE's leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (as he appeared in You Only Live Twice).

In the British television series The Secret Show the evil Organization T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) is similar to SPECTRE.

The CBBC series MI High features the criminal organization "SKUL", led by a man known only as "The Grandmaster" who is always seen stroking a white rabbit called Flopsy.

The Spanish comic book Mortadelo y Filemón features a parody of SPECTRE called ABUELA (Agentes Bélicos Ultramarinos Especialistas en Líos Aberrantes – warlike agents overseas specialists in aberrant messes).[8]

The Matt Helm films featured the Brotherhood of International Government and Order abbreviated as "BIG O".

Synthesizers company "Waldorf" has a model named "Blofeld". The editor for the samples used by this synth is called "Spectre", and one of his virtual synths is called "Largo".

In the SpyDogs cartoon, the evil leader of cats, Katastrophe, always appears fondling a rubber mouse.

An evil organisation named STENCH is featured in the film Carry On Spying.

An organisation known as SCORPIA (Sabotage, CORruPtion, Intelligence, and Assassination) appears in the Alex Rider series of novels. Near the end of the Cold War, several secret agents and law enforcers abandoned their loyalty to their countries, and became effectively criminals for hire. Their actions range from supplying biological weapons to engineering terrorism.

James Earl Ray, the killer of Martin Luther King, used the alias Eric Starvo Galt, almost certainly a mixture of Ian Fleming and Ayn Rand. "Ernst" and "Stavro" are peculiar sounds and spellings to American ears and eyes, and he mentally transposed them into "Eric" and "Starvo." And "who is John Galt?--who is Eric Starvo Galt?"

In The Simpsons episode "You Only Move Twice" appears an organisation called Globex Corporation directed by supervillain Hank Scorpio who successfully takes control of the East Coast.

The Marvel Comics universe has the organizations HYDRA and AIM, which are both opposed by Nick Fury and SHIELD, and are sometimes also opposed by Captain America and the other Marvel heroes, while DC Comics came up with the organization H.I.V.E. for its universe.

The TV series Kim Possible has the organization WEE (Worldwide Evil Empire), which is opposed by GJ (Global Justice) and Kim Possible herself at times.

In Spy Fox 2: "Some Assembly Required", Spy Fox battles LeRoach - a member of the Society of Meaningless Evil, Larceny, Lying and Yelling (S.M.E.L.L.Y.).

In the TV series Phineas and Ferb, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz is occasionally seen as a member of the League of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness (L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N.). Doofenshmirtz is not aware of the acronym until one of the other members points it out.

The ABC drama series REVENGE (inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo) features a shadowy terrorist group called 'Americon Initiative', who serve as the villains for much of the show's initial two seasons. They are similar to Spectre or Quantum in that they have no loyalties to any nation and only seek to enrich themselves.

See also[edit]

List of James Bond villains

Quantum

SMERSH

References[edit]

^ Thunderball, Ian Fleming, Page 63, 1961, London: Johnathon Cape

^ Ian Fleming, Andrew Lycett, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1995.

^ Vejvoda, Jim. "MGM, Danjaq Settle James Bond Rights Dispute With McClory Estate". IGN. Retrieved 16 November 2013.

^ "The Source Of D.e.a.t.h. - Teaser - Fan Fiction Discussion - CBn Forums". Debrief.commanderbond.net. Retrieved 2015-05-16.

^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059800/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

^ "" Spectre " , la Cupola che sfida James Bond" (in Italian). corriere.it. Retrieved 12 October 2012.

^ "James Bond 007 RPG". Darkshire.net. Retrieved 2015-05-16.

^ Publicado por Alfredo Sánchez (2004-02-29). "El diccionario de Mortadelo y Filemón: A". Diccionariodemortadelo.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-05-16.

External links[edit]

Blofeld from Demon.net

spectreorganisation.com, information on Kevin McClory's fight for the rights to Thunderball and SPECTRE

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