Connor (Assassin's Creed)

Connor is voiced by Noah Watts, who also physically portrayed the character in a motion capture studio. Watts originally got a call from his agent about an unnamed film set during the American Revolution and, eager to star in a period-piece film, went to the audition, unaware it was actually for Assassin's Creed III. He began his work with Ubisoft for the title in January 2012. Despite his Native American heritage, Watts is not a fluent speaker of the Mohawk language, and required a language consultant to help him get Connor's lines in Mohawk correct. Watts, a fan of the Assassin's Creed series, enjoyed his time voice acting and performance capturing for the game, and appreciated the opportunity to portray a Native character in such a public platform.[2]

Connor is an ancestor (on the paternal side) of Desmond Miles, the protagonist of most of the early series' modern-day sequences, who experiences Connor's life through the Animus, a device unlocking hidden memories inside his DNA. As shown in Assassin's Creed III, Connor was born as Ratonhnaké:ton in Kanatahséton, a Kanien'kehá:ka village in Upstate New York, in 1756. His parents, Haytham Kenway and Kaniehtí:io, met after the former was sent by his order, the Templars, from London to the American Colonies in 1754 to establish a new Templar base on the North American continent and find the Grand Temple of the First Civilization—a precursor race that created humanity and powerful artifacts called "Pieces of Eden".[3] Although Haytham genuinely loved Kaniehtí:io, he left her after only a few months of relationship to focus on his Templar affairs; succeeding in wiping out the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood, but failing to find the Temple. As such, he would not learn about his son's existence until much later in life.[4]

Ratonhnaké:ton was raised by his mother until the age of four, when Kaniehtí:io was killed during an attack on their village. Ratonhnaké:ton vows to find and kill Charles Lee, the Templars' second-in-command, who he assumes ordered the attack. In 1769, when Ratonhnaké:ton is thirteen years old, the village elder informs him that it is their tribe's duty to prevent the Grand Temple's discovery, and gives him a Sphere which allows Juno, a member of the First Civilization, to communicate with him. Juno explains that it is Ratonhnaké:ton's destiny is to defeat the Templars and protect the Temple, and tells him to seek out the Assassin Brotherhood.[5] Ratonhnaké:ton leaves the village and eventually arrives at the homestead of Achilles Davenport, the retired mentor of the Colonial Brotherhood, who survived the Templars' purge. After impressing Achilles by defeating several bandits trying to rob him, he is allowed to stay and begins training as an Assassin. Achilles also gives Ratonhnaké:ton the name Connor (after his late son, Connor Davenport) to help him blend in with colonial society. While helping Achilles acquire supplies from Boston, Connor sees his father for the first time, and is framed by the Templars for instigating the Boston Massacre, but manages to clear his name with Samuel Adams' help.[6]

Over the following years, Connor continues his Assassin training under Achilles, with whom he develops a father-son bond, and assassinates Haytham's lieutenants to prevent the Templars from taking advantage of the American Revolution to further their plan of establishing a new nation under their rule. As a result, Connor becomes heavily involved in the Revolution and the Revolutionary War, helping the Patriots and the Founding Fathers in the hopes that they will in turn protect his people's land from incursions and assist him in his hunt for the Templars.[7] During this time, he also slowly rebuilds the Colonial Brotherhood, recruiting several new Assassin initiates after helping them liberate Boston and New York from British rule;[8] turns Achilles' homestead into a small secluded community by persuading a number of people to move there after assisting them with their problems;[9] and renovates a decommissioned Assassin brig, the Aquila, which he then captains in a number of naval missions alongside his first mate, Robert Faulkner.[10]

Around 1778, Connor runs into Haytham while they are both hunting a rogue Templar, Benjamin Church, and the two form an unstable alliance. As he spends time with his father, Connor comes to understand that the Assassins and the Templars' goals are not so different, as they both ultimately desire peace and aim to further the Revolution, but disagrees with Haytham's belief that humanity should be controlled.[11] Regardless, he still attempts to broker peace between the two orders, only for Haytham to reveal that George Washington was behind the attack on his village that killed Kaniehtí:io, leading Connor to angrily break ties with both of them. He then returns to his village, but learns that Charles Lee has recruited Mohawk warriors to fight back against the Patriots sent to eradicate them for their support of the Loyalist cause. Connor is forced to eliminate the warriros, including his childhood friend Kanen'tó:kon, to avoid conflict.[12]

After Lee is disgraced by Washington for attempting to sabotage the outcome of the Battle of Monmouth and takes refuge in Fort George, Connor plans to siege the fort with the French's help. However, when he infiltrates the fort, he finds Haytham instead, and is forced to kill his father after a lengthy battle.[13] During this time, Achilles dies of old age, and Connor buries him next to his wife and son.[9] In 1782, Connor tracks down Lee and both men are injured after a long pursuit throughout Boston. Lee takes refuge inside an inn, where Connor finally kills him after the two share a drink in silence; obtaining the key to the Grand Temple in the process, which Haytham gave to Lee before his death.[14] Returning to his village, Connor finds it abandoned and learns from a hunter that the land has been sold to colonists to settle the U.S. government's war debts. He also finds the Sphere left intact, and through it, Juno instructs him to conceal the key. Connor buries it in the grave of Achilles' son, before travelling to New York on Evacuation Day. There, he sees evidence of the slave trade still being active, and undestands that the Revolution only benefited some people, at the expense of others.[15]

Some time after the end of the Revolutionary War, Connor is visited by George Washington, who reveals that he has been receiving nightmares from an Apple of Eden he had seized. Concerned, Connor tries to take the Apple, only to be transported into an alternate timeline, created by Washington's nightmares. In this reality, Connor never became an Assassin, Kaniehtí:io is still alive, Haytham (who is implied to have stayed with Kaniehtí:io) died years ago, and Washington, mad with power, has crowned himself the "Mad King" of the United States. After Kaniehtí:io tries and fails to steal Washington's source of power, a Scepter with the Apple at the top, he massacres their tribe in retaliation, killing Kaniehtí:io and wounding Connor. After recovering, Connor, at the advice of the tribe's Clan Mother, brews the Tea of the Great Willow, which grants him several animal-based powers. He then battles Washington's forces in the frontier, Boston, and New York with the help of several allies, including Samuel Adams, Kanen'tó:kon, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, and ultimately faces Washington himself atop his pyramid-shaped palace. As Connor reaches for the Apple, both he and Washington are transported back to their original timeline, where the latter, terrified of the Apple's power, orders Connor to dispose of it. Connor tosses it into the sea, ending Washington's nightmares.[16]

Connor makes a minor appearance in the spin-off game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, set during the events of Assassin's Creed III. By linking the two games, the player can unlock an exclusive mission in Liberation featuring him; this mission is automatically included in the subsequent re-releases of Liberation. In 1777, Connor meets with Aveline de Grandpré, a fellow Assassin from the Louisiana branch of the Colonial Brotherhood, in the New York frontier to help her track down a Templar and Loyalist officer. The two work together to infiltrate the fort where the officer has taken refuge, with Connor creating a distraction while Aveline assassinates the officer. Afterwards, Aveline asks Connor if he is always certain of the ways of the Assassins; he responds that he only trusts "in his own hands", and the two part ways.[17] In the Aveline expansion pack for the 2013 title Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, it is revealed that Connor kept in contact with Aveline, who helped him in his mission to rebuild the Colonial Brotherhood after the Revolutionary War. In 1784, Connor asks for Aveline's help in finding and recruiting a former slave, Patience Gibbs, to the Assassins, because she fought him off when he tried talking to her.

Connor is the narrator of Assassin's Creed III's novelization, titled Assassin's Creed: Forsaken, where he recovers and reads through Haytham's journal sometime after the latter's death. After learning about his father's tragic life and the fact that he secretly saved Connor's life when the latter was almost hanged, he realizes he misjudged Haytham and regrets not being able to reconcile with him.

In the modern-day section of Black Flag, a market analysis for Abstergo Entertainment, the fictional video games subsidiary of Abstergo Industries, can be found via hacking computers. The Market Analysis reveals Abstergo was looking into the possibility of using Connor as the protagonist of a future project, but ultimately decided against it due to finding him too calm and stoic outside of the occasional flashes of anger, and thinking that most audiences would not be interested in learning about Mohawk culture.[18] Despite this, in Assassin's Creed Unity, Abstergo has produced a fictional video game starring Connor, titled Washington and the Wolf, which can be seen at the start.[19]

Connor is the main character of the fourth and final story featured in the Assassin's Creed: Reflections comic book limited series, published in 2017. The comic reveals that Connor eventually married a native woman from a nearby tribe and had a daughter, Io:nhiòte, who possessed a unique form of 'Eagle Vision' that allowed her to see through an eagle's eyes. In 2022, Connor became a playable character in the free to play role-playing mobile game Assassin's Creed Rebellion.

Like other series protagonists, Connor's outfit has been an unlockable cosmetic option in some of the subsequent releases; in this case, Black Flag, Assassin's Creed Rogue, and Assassin's Creed Unity.