Black Flag is regarded as one of the best entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise: some are intrigued by the new mechanics, while others are drawn to becoming a true captain of the high seas. As for me, the game soared because of its main character, Edward Kenway; however, it's been so many years since I sailed the high seas with him. Would I still feel that way? Enter Black Flag: Resynced, a new chance for me to hang out with the legendary pirate-assassin again and feel the true freedom of his life. Everything seemed grand, until I was violently reminded of what history did to most of these buccaneers, and how Edward’s early mistakes shaped the rest of his life.
Kenway’s first major action, an event that marks the rest of his existence, involves killing an Assassin named Duncan Walpole (1679 – 1715). Sure, he was a bad man – a traitor – as was Edward at this point. So it isn’t too surprising that he went through with Walpole’s plans, meeting the Templars, and setting off a chain of horrible events. Even when our protagonist begins meeting his new allies, some of his closest companions, he does so in the midst of violence. Stede Bonnet must be rescued from the British, and Kenway awakens to find himself imprisoned alongside Adéwalé, relationships forged in conflict and bloodshed.
Soon there are more pirates, many people Edward calls friends, as they do their best to build a community together – an island, a Pirate Republic – away from the rule of others. It’s a neat idea, but one doomed to fail. When things fall apart, they do so quickly, and with each mission to find this blasted Observatory. Every time we believe ourselves ahead of the British and Spanish fleets, we are nearly thrashed against the waves. Fools seeking a fortune, most not swayed by King George I’s pardons, but most of us never had a future.
“For years I've been rushing around, taking whatever I fancied, not giving a tinker's curse for those I hurt. Yet here I am... with riches and reputation, feeling no wiser than when I left home. Yet when I turn around, and look at the course I've run... there's not a man or woman that I love left standing beside me.” - Edward Kenway
Edward Thatch (1680 – 1718) was the first to fall, slain by the bastard, Lieutenant Robert Maynard (1684 – 1750), whom we attempted to hunt down. Thatch was better known as Blackbeard, a man who presented himself as the devil and thought that in a world without gold, he could’ve been a hero. Kenway was there when he died, tried to save him, but had to watch in horror as he fell from the ship. Thatch may have been the first to go, yet he arguably left the greatest impression and was the group’s most significant loss. Then there was Charles Vane (1680 – 1721), who went crazy and tried to kill Kenway when they were stranded on Isla Providencia. Both eventually escaped, separately, but luck was not on Vane’s side, and the two would meet again in a Port Royal prison. Vane’s mind was gone. Edward felt sad for the man, and it wouldn’t be long before he’d hang, his dead body left on display as a warning to the rest of his ilk.
Kenway had help when escaping the Port Royal prison, and he returned the favor by looking for Mary Read (1685 – 1721), a woman he originally met going by the name James Kidd, who figured being seen as a man might better her career as a pirate. She and Anne Bonny had been captured, fouled by their crew being drunk, and both were able to remain alive a little bit longer, using their pregnancies as a stay of execution. Unfortunately, Read grew sick after giving birth, a victim of the unsanitary conditions, and she died just as she was being rescued. This all takes place over some time, but it feels like we lose all of our friends, our guiding lights, the people who helped anchor us, so quickly.
Many others died, not all as close as those previously mentioned, but several who Kenway once respected as fellow scoundrels. He stopped to pay his respects to the remains of “Calico” Jack Rackham (1682 – 1720) as they hung in a gibbet, though that man was a mutinous drunk. The new crew officers we can recruit in Resynced also have their own sad stories to explore. Even some of the men Edward counted as enemies, he understood why they were doing this, what the world makes of some men. I realized that there are just as many portraits of my enemies hanging in my manor as there are of my friends. That says a lot about the life we’ve led, and though Edward does seem to eventually figure it out, find out what’s really important, and stop being so damn selfish, it came at a cost.
“Though if you asked me now, I’d tell you it’s Friends, not Gold, that make for better Parties.” –Blackbeard, after his death
Blackbeard’s death arguably hit the pirates the hardest, but for me, it was the loss of Stede Bonnet (1688 – 1718). He’s one of the first people we met on this adventure, and though he has an incredibly different legacy than his mentor, Thatch, this man earned the moniker of “The Gentleman Pirate” for a reason. He once claimed to Kenway that their friendship was “more precious than any treasure,” and Bonnet felt like this beacon of joy in such a dark world. He died without seeing his wife and kids again. Supposedly, he cried and expressed remorse as he was faced with the gallows, but reading the final letter before his death, we know the man tried to muster courage in the face of his own mortality. In no world would Bonnet ever be remembered as the greatest pirate, but he certainly embraced the best parts of the lifestyle. His portrait hangs in a special place in my home.
Later, there’s a moment where Anne Bonny (1702 – 1743) and Edward sit down for a chat, listing off everyone they had lost, just after talking about the emotional distress of losing her own child in that prison. Two tormented, lost souls, who both admit to each other how empty inside they were. The emotional weight of everything that happened to them when they tried to live outside of the norms of society, to get rich, or be free, had all cost them so much. Now all that remained was the grief.
I think that’s the moment when he realizes how much Caroline Scott meant to him and how wrong he’d been to leave her, as well as their child, and much like Stede, he would never see his estranged wife again. She was dead, and though he helped raise his daughter, Jennifer Scott, there was a great rift between them. Jennifer wouldn’t even use his last name, and for good reason. Edward was a horrible father (see: Haytham Kenway), a worse husband, and it took him way too long to realize his massive shortcomings.
Edward Kenway was a selfish man who, like many who lived the pirate life, was fighting the light of a new age, pushing back against a changing world, as their way of life was being stamped out by the British Empire. In his greed, he had hurt the Assassins and helped the Templars, having to set right so much of what he put wrong. Even close friends like Adéwalé had to eventually leave him, cementing his own path and greater purpose – he has his own tragic ending on the horizon, after an excellent DLC – and hoping Kenway could see the light. That’s one of the things that makes Edward such a good character—he’s tremendously flawed, his hands are covered in blood, and so much of it could have been avoided. I can’t wait for others to see that too, to go on this amazing and painful adventure.
