With 12 mainline entries, and over 15 spin-off games, it's only natural that not all Assassin's Creed games have been met with the same level of critical acclaim. Over the years, the general reception for each Assassin's Creed entry has varied quite a bit. While the series has rarely dropped below a 70 on Metacritic, there are a few entries that are considered a tad weaker than the rest, and Assassin's Creed Unity is one such title.
Releasing in the very midst of Assassin's Creed's franchise fatigue period, Assassin's Creed Unity was met with middling review scores and lacked any real impact on the market, with many viewing it as simply another Assassin's Creed to throw on the pile of yearly releases. And while Assassin's Creed Unity certainly isn't without its issues, with some game-breaking bugs and surprisingly awkward controls and mechanics, the game's main protagonist, Arno Dorian, is a little more complex than fans first gave him credit for. In fact, he is by far one of the most tragic characters in the entire series.
Arno Dorian's Tragic Life as an Assassin
Arno Dorian's life is filled with tragedy, loss, and grief, and the first evidence fans get to see of this comes within the very moments of Assassin's Creed Unity. Arno is born to Charles Dorian, and his wife, Marie. When Arno was young, his mother learned of his father's Assassin identity and abandoned them, leaving Charles to raise their son on his own.
At the age of eight, Arno accompanies his father to the Palace of Versailles. After meeting a young girl named Elise de la Serre, Arno finds his father, slumped on a bench, dead. Arno is taken in by Elise's father, Francois de la Serre, the Grand Master of the Templar Order in France. As a sign of respect for the late Assassin, Francois refuses to tell Arno of his father's true background, or the circumstances behind his death, that the Templars ordered Shay Cormac to assassinate him.
Around a decade later, Arno faces another tragedy, the death of his adopted father Francois. With no alibi, and no evidence pointing to anyone else, Arno is framed for his murder and is sent to the Bastille. While in the prison, Arno befriends his cellmate, Pierre Bellec, an Assassin that worked alongside his father Charles.
Using Arno's naivety and vulnerability to his advantage, Pierre encourages him to join the Assassin order once the pair escape the prison during the Storming of the Bastille. After an argument with Elise, who he has since developed romantic feelings for, Arno decides to join the Assassin Brotherhood, believing that doing so will redeem him for failing Elise and her father.
Over the next few years, Arno makes his way through the French Templar Order, murdering each member one-by-one as he continues to unravel the conspiracy behind his adopted father's death. Despite completing the missions he's given by the Brotherhood, the other French Assassins see Arno as an outsider whose reckless tactics betray the ideals of the Assassins.
Eventually, through his murderous deeds, Arno learns that Francois-Thomas Germain now leads the French Templar Order and conspired against Francois de la Serre, leading to his murder. Arno protects Elise from a Templar assassination attempt, and the two decide to join forces despite him being an Assassin and her being a Templar.
Upon presenting this alliance with the rest of the Brotherhood, Pierre Bellec expresses his distrust of Elise and refuses to allow the two to work together to defeat Germain. To discourage Arno even further, Bellec murders his mentor. In an act of revenge, Arno fights with Bellec, eventually gaining the upper hand and killing him in combat.
Following this, Arno decides to go against the Brotherhood's wishes and forms an alliance with Elise anyway. During the French Revolution, the two learn the whereabouts of Germain and confront him. During the fight, Elise is wounded, and Arno decides to tend to her rather than pursue Germain.
When Elise awakens, she rejects him, devastated that he let her father's murderer escape. Soon following this, the Assassin Brotherhood learn about Arno's secret missions and banish him from the Brotherhood, leading the former Assassin in a pit of despair without a purpose and without the love of his life.
Months later, Arno is visited by Elise, who apologises and convinces him to work with her once again. The two confront Germain once more, but Elise is killed when the Templar's Sword of Eden explodes, and Germain is left mortally wounded. Arno delivers a killing blow, finally achieving the revenge he was so desperate for, but losing his closest ally in the process.
Arno Learns to Fight for Another Cause
Following Elise's death at the end of Assassin's Creed Unity, Arno falls into a deep depression, finding little to live for. No longer a part of the Assassin Brotherhood and no longer fuelled by revenge, Arno drank away his days in the French countryside. Eventually, Arno is contacted by an old ally, Marquis de Sade, who tasks him with finding a manuscript in the tomb of Louis IX.
Reluctantly, Arno agrees to this mission, and travels to Saint Denis to find the manuscript. Arno's search leads him to come into contact with a young thief named Leon. While the two work together to track down the artifact, Leon's perspective on the world starts to break through Arno's grief, slowly showing him that there is more to life than the tragedies he's faced in his past.
With a new outlook and purpose, Arno finishes his mission and rejoins the Brotherhood in Paris, now with the firm belief that he can make a positive difference in the city. Over the years, Arno continued to work alongside the Assassins in France, eventually earning the rank of Master Assassin. It's not currently known how or when Arno died, but he presumably had children at one stage in his life, as he is directly related to Callum Lynch, the protagonist of the Assassin's Creed movie.
Assassin's Creed Unity is available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One
