Memory Block Three
Back in the Holy land, Altair stands in front of Al Mualim and his Assassin CEO desk. The chief does not tell Altair the entire story of the assassinations so he doesn’t get too full of himself again. But, to encourage his progression he gives Altair the counter move which
finally makes combat manageable. Practice this move in the courtyard because it is the single most important move in the game. The next two missions are in Jerusalem and Acre.
Before heading on to the rest of the mission, take a detour out the back door of the library to the Assassin’s garden. Take a look at the level design which is full of the typical flora and scantily clad women. Seems a little strange for these guys hiding in a mountain to have such a garden right? Well, there is a real reason the game’s designers put it in. Back in 11th century, the real-life, historical Assassins (known as Hashshashin) formed a militant clan. Their
leader, an old man named Hasan i Sabbah built an army by kidnapping 12 year olds, giving them a drug concoction of Hashish (a variation of marijuana) and opiates that would knock them out. He would wake them up, while still drugged, in the garden surrounded by beautiful women. The boys, of course, thought it was paradise and were willing to lay down their life to fight for Sabbah thinking him a deity. With such a sordid history associated with the Assassins it is no wonder that the Ubisoft team decided to leave it out of the story line. They did, however leave the garden and the fair maidens as a little wink to those who know the story. Jade Raymond even makes a passing reference to the Assassin’s hashished-out state in this video: Developer Diary Storyline.
(go to the 0:59 mark)
For more information on this history see this article: Entymology of Assassin
The ESRB, expectedly, missed the drug references too giving it an M for “Blood, Strong Language, and Violence” but not for Drug use.
