Top 10 Historical Inaccuracies: Assassin's Creed
04. Anachronistic Doorknobs (Unity)
Okay this may SEEM like it is picking at nits, but really it is not. One of the things we noticed straight off the bat while playing Unity was that doors had knobs. And they should not have.
Oh sure, there were other equally disturbing anachronisms - for example let's talk about the Catacombs of Paris - which in case you don't know were a 19th Century creation and did NOT exist during the Revolution - which was an 18th Century event.
Burial of French people in the Catacombs began in 1810 - while the game core environment happens in the years 1776 thru 1808 (not counting the special missions that can thrust you through time to as recent as World War II).
But doorknobs?! That is so in-your-face that it HAS to be addressed!And before you start in with “hey how could you possibly KNOW that?!” we will tell you - we know it because our significant other is an anthropologist and archeologist, and as it turns out door latching devices are a significant marker for those digger-upper of dead-things people.
Can you even begin to imagine how embarrassing it was to be playing the game and excitedly pointing out to her how cool it is to be experiencing events that we KNOW relatives we descend from took part only to have her lower the book she is reading and say: “Ya know, that doorknob you just turned? And those locks? Didn't exist at the time...”
And she said it with a tone of voice that was so confident that we never even considered saying something incredibly stupid like “you wanna bet?!” Because if we had, we would have lost, and she always uses a week of doing the dishes as her bet.
For the record while it is possible that a knob-like shape may have decorated the odd door in Paris, an actual and functional doorknob - or for that matter the door locks that are depicted in the game did not.
From 1830 through 1873 over 100 patents were granted in the USA but those were mostly decorative - the first mechanical knob was patented in 1878 as a “door closing device” while the door lock as part of the knob system was patented later.
Pretty off point with some of the French revolution criticism.
For the record there are numerous texts that suggest that Leonardo has a relationship with his assistant. Additionally homosexuality was only coined in recent times, but has been practised since biblical times. did you actually do any historical research or is this article just your personal opinion?
I would like to clear up a misconception written on the first page. Other than a minority number of off sect extremists, like the assasins themselves, Shias have not been known to kill Sunnis. Rather, it was usually the other way around. Also, Shias do not believe they were the ones to lead after the Prophet. Shia means follower and accordingly Shias are the followers of Prophet Mohammad and his family. Shias believe the the rightful heirs to the leadership of the Islamic community belonged to the Prophet's cousin Ali, and his descendants. The Prophet stated and implied many times that Ali will be his successor but the power hungry people ignored the fact that the Prophet himself raised Ali after he was born in the Ka'aba in Mecca, and usurped the leadership of Islam while Ali was busy burying the Prophet after his passing. The Sunnis unfortunately follow those that usurped Ali's power while the Shias follow Ali. Shias view the Prophet and his progeny to be perfect exemplary humans.
the catacombs did exist at that point they were just less extensive the people of paris expanded upon what a previous civilization had expanded on the original catacombs, also the speed and ease of use in ships was something that is explained in the codex they were added by the animus to make it a little easier for the whole thing to happen
Actually, depending on the size of the ship, the guns will be on the main deck due to the fact that there is only 1 deck above the water line, like on the Jackdaw. So in truth, the "gun deck" and the "sail deck" would be on the same deck on a brig (Jackdaw) due to it's size. Same can be said about other ships like sloops, schooners and other ships where there is only 1 deck above the water line.
If you're going to question historical validity in a work, it's only fair to give credible sources in turn. "Significant other is archaeologist/anthropologist" doesn't cut it, particularly for evidence on this "advanced technological society" you talk of.
Ancient Aliens aside, some of your "facts" were incorrect. Example, some pirates were pressed from captured vessels. Bartholomew Roberts, in fact, was dragged into service reluctantly under Howel Davis. Roberts later forced captured officer Henry Glasby into service as navigator. To say it NEVER happened is wrong; that implies we know everything about pirates when we really know very little.
Historical fiction doesn't presume to be 100% accurate. Who wants to spend 45 minutes of gameplay unfurling a sail, or 2 in-game weeks careening? History itself is inaccurate; it relies on storytellers to tell us the "facts". People are unreliable narrators, storytellers moreso. After all, it's always about the best story you can tell.
People think Da Vinci's gay because some court files accusing him of "lieing with a man" are found and very real ._.
In his notebooks there are also some pictures of naked boys and men even more than the amount of naked women
Part of that was social attitudes toward women, too. While growing steadily more progressive toward women having education or women in arts, women posing naked in front of men was improper. Women artists were on the rise, as well, where previously art was strictly a man's job, but were still banned from male nude art model classes, something that's essential in any art training, as well as learning how to paint group pictures. Consequently, most of the nude or semi-nude paintings commissioned depicted religious scenes, which paid quite a bit more.
Many artists just used drawings of corpses, themselves (if they couldn't afford models), each other, or their apprentices, as was the case with Salai. Salai was clearly a favorite subject of many art classes, not just da Vinci's, and although Salai definitely has his share of mysteries and rumors which may or may not have aligned with the Assassin Creed storyline, he was definitely an interesting character if nothing else.
when playing assassin's creed one needs to remember that it's just a game
The only part of this that was't picky was the cannons on the top deck. The point of the game isn't to be exact, Warren Vidic says that what Desmond see's is different because that's how it actually happened.
You have a very rudimentary understanding of history. Being a Professor of world history, I would love a link or reference to your source. Not just for your historical "facts" but more importantly to the empirical evidence of this once great, technologically advanced, extinct society of which refer!
The word bloke came up and I stopped reading
Wow sorry to hear that mate... Where I come from the word is commonly employed to refer to a person of the male gender in casual conversation.
I'm originally from Australia, and while I learned American English as a Second Language at times I do slip up and use real English words. So yeah, sorry mate, didn't realise you were the sort of bloke whose word tolerance is so weak you have physical reactions to words you encounter on web pages.
Glad we got that sorted. You have a great day mate!
Cheers!