Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple

Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
어쌔신 크리드 - 잊혀진 사원 Eossaesin Keulideu - Ijhyeojin Sawon
Genre	Adventure
Author	ARC Adaptation: SHYATAN NOHT YEON
Illustrator	Tabii
Publisher	Redice Studio
Webtoon service	Naver Webtoon (Korean) Webtoon (English)
Original run	2023 – present
Volumes	2

Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (Korean: 어쌔신 크리드 - 잊혀진 사원; RR: Eossaesin Keulideu - Ijhyeojin Sawon) is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon, written by ARC, adapted by SHYATAN, NOHT, and YEON, and illustrated by Tabii. It has been released digitally on the Webtoon platform, in both English and Korean, since 25 April 2023, and is intended to run for 150 episodes, with new episodes releasing weekly.

Forgotten Temple is a creative partnership between Webtoon and Ubisoft, and serves a continuation of the story of Edward Kenway, the protagonist of Ubisoft's 2013 video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Set primarily in 1725, the plot follows Edward's search for Pieces of Eden in Southeast Asia, where he encounters new allies and enemies alike. The story also features modern-day segments centered around Edward's descendant Noa Kim, who discovers more about his family's history as he explores Edward's genetic memories.

Plot

Season One

Noa Kim, a Korean-American college student, is abducted by Abstergo Industries during a trip to Macau, China, and forced to relive the memories of his ancestor Edward Kenway, an 18th-century Assassin. During his captivity, Noa slowly befriends Dr. Shimazu Sei, who explains to him Abstergo's true nature as a Templar front company and the Templars' long-standing conflict with the Assassins. While Noa becomes interested to learn more about the Assassins in the hopes of understanding his family's history and why his father mysteriously vanished during his childhood, Sei seeks to use Edward's memories to locate a Piece of Eden and ensure the well-being of her own family, the Shimazu clan.

In 1725, Edward travels to Macau after being informed by the Assassins of a potential Precursor site in Southeast Asia. During his investigation, Edward befriends the Dutch navigator John Young and a Chinese laborer named Zhang, after protecting both of them from Shimazu ninja led by the Templar Shimazu Saito. Edward learns that John's late friend Hendrik had found a Piece of Eden in Angkor and documented his search in his personal sea log, which has been acquired by the businesswoman Madam Lee. After Saito steals Hendrik's sea log, Edward and Madam Lee form an alliance to recover the journal. In the process, Edward defends Madam Lee's company from her rivals Alan Jacob, Jan van Aert, and Master Sun, who are working together to sabotage her.

Edward and Madam Lee's partnership eventually falls through, so the former opts to create his own organization, the Zhang Wei Union. In addition to John and Zhang, he also recruits the pirate captain Rupiya, the Korean engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu, and the Chinese medic Xialun Qing, and secures a partnership with Jan and the Dutch East India Company. With the Zhang Wei Union firmly established, Edward sets out to recover Hendrik's sea log, which Saito entrusted to Master Sun.

While infiltrating Sun's gambling ship, Edward encounters Saito and learns that she has been betrayed by her followers, including her old mentor Fuma Sukuna, who branded her a traitor to the Shimazu clan. Seeking revenge, Saito and Edward form a truce and come into conflict with a group of Chinese Assassins led by their Mentor, Xiao Han, who also seek Angkor's Piece of Eden, so that they could use it to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Edward and Saito ultimately lose Hendrik's sea log to Xiao Han, who kills Sun and forms an alliance with Madam Lee and Fuma Sukuna.

In the present, Noa and Sei's attempts to trace Edward's footsteps are hindered by the Zhawang Corporation, the Zhang Wei Union's modern incarnation, which seeks to save Noa from Abstergo's captivity. While in Cebu, Philippines, Noa and Sei are attacked by the Assassin Nathan Zhang, whom the former fights off. However, before leaving, Nathan informs Noa that his father was also an Assassin and abandoned Noa to protect him from the Templars.

Noa continues to explore the memories of Edward, who travels to the Philippines alongside his fellow Zhang Wei Union members and Jan van Aert. However, the group is arrested by the Spanish authorities and taken to Manila, due to Jan's alleged involvement in the murder of Governor Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda. Edward and his allies escape after a monk starts a city-wide riot using a crescent amulet, revealed to be a Piece of Eden.

Season Two

Edward and Saito try to retrieve the crescent amulet from the monk, but he uses the Piece of Eden's powers against them, causing Edward to begin experiencing visions of the future. The monk is eventually killed by Rajah, the leader of a Visayan resistance against the Spanish, who claims the amulet for himself. Edward, Saito, and the other Zhang Wei Union members escape Manila, parting ways with Jan, who asks them to reconvene in the Sultanate of Sulu. En route to Cebu, the Union members are attacked by Rajah's rebels, leaving them temporarily stranded on Monkey Island. They rescue a number of native villagers who have been brainwashed by Rajah with the crescent amulet, and destroy the resistance's fort on the island. They then travel to Cebu, where Rajah has already retrieved another sea log hidden by Hendrik in the Basilica del Santo Niño. Edward battles and eventually defeats Rajah at Fort San Pedro while Saito recovers the sea log. However, the pair are then confronted by Xiao Han and his Chinese Assassins, who steal the sea log while Edward and Saito escape with the crescent amulet.

In the present, Abstergo discovers the amulet's location in the shipwreck of the SS Ourang Medan near the Strait of Malacca. Noa is sent to recover the Piece of Eden, but its powers negatively affect him, threatening his life. After Abstergo's executive committee orders Noa's termination, Sei makes a deal with Nathan Zhang, who helps the pair and Sei's bodyguard Yuki escape with the amulet. Nathan takes the trio to Singapore, where Sei decides to relive Saito's memories in search of another Piece of Eden that could save Noa.

With Edward corrupted by the crescent amulet, Saito assumes temporary command of the Zhang Wei Union and encounters a group of Japanese mercenaries led by Nagamasa, who were hired by Fuma Sukuna to hunt her. As the mercenaries share Saito's resentment of the Shimazu clan, they agree to help her exact revenge on it. Working together, the Union members and the mercenaries lure Fuma Sukuna and his men into an ambush, where they are all killed. Nagamasa and his men then decide to continue accompanying the Union members on their adventure.

After arriving in Sulu, the Union members are betrayed by Jan van Aert, who made a deal with the Sultan to surrender the crescent amulet to him. They manage to escape imprisonment, but while attempting to recover the amulet, they are forced to fight Xiao Han and his Chinese Assassins, who tracked them to Sulu. Edward defeats Xiao Han, but hesitates to kill him after being shown visions of both his own and his future son Haytham Kenway's deaths. When Xiao Han attempts to kill John Young, Xialun Qing sacrifices herself to save John, allowing Xiao Han to seize the amulet and escape, although he is left conflicted over his actions.

Following their escape from Sulu, the Union members travel to Singapore to recover from their defeat. Edward is unexpectedly with his wife Tessa and daughter Jennifer, who came to warn him about a Templar plot to eliminate him. After bidding farewell to his family, Edward and his companions resume their quest for the Pieces of Eden and sail to Burma, where another artifact is hidden in the Shwedagon Pagoda.

In the present, Sei, Noa, Yuki, and Nathan also travel to Myanmar to recover the Piece of Eden from the Shwedagon Pagoda. While Yuki and Nathan fend off an attack by Abstergo, Sei and Noa are forced to confront their deepest fears and desires under the Piece of Eden's influence. Sei battles the guilt she feels for blindly serving Abstergo for years, while Noa is tempted by the artifact, which offers to tell him the truth about his father. Overcoming his desire to learn more about his family's past, Noa decides to start following his own path and meets Edward face-to-face when the latter's consciousness is briefly transported to the future. Afterwards, Noa and Sei escape with the Piece of Eden and rendezvous with Yuki and Nathan, before the group attempts to leave Myanmar by stealing a seaplane from Yangon's harbor. However, they are again confronted by Abstergo, and Yuki sacrifices herself to buy the others time to escape. Sei uses the crescent amulet to temporarily subdue the Abstergo agents, allowing Noa and Nathan to escape with the second artifact while Sei is captured.

To track down the third and final Piece of Eden, Noa continues to explore Edward's memories in the Animus. Following their successful retrieval of the artifact from the Shwedagon Pagoda, Edward and Saito are betrayed by John, who reveals himself as a Templar spy. Blaming Edward for Xialun's death and revealing that the Templars promised him a way to resurrect Xialun if he helped them acquire the Pieces of Eden, John steals the second artifact and delivers it to Alan Jacob, the Grand Master of the Templar Order. The Zhang Wei Union's members pursue John's ship in an attempt to recover the Piece of Eden, only to be ambushed by both an East India Company fleet commanded by Alan and the fleet of Admiral Jeong, a pirate working for Madam Lee. Jan van Aert, having been contacted by Zhang, comes to the Union members' rescue, forcing Alan's and Jeong's fleets to retreat. In Batavia, Edward agrees to resume his partnership with Jan and recruits additional allies from among the city's pirates and privateers.

In the present, Noa and Nathan are attacked by Abstergo, but are saved by a group of Assassins sent by Claire Zhang, Nathan's sister and the Zhawang Corporation's director, as well as a hacking syndicate Nathan has ties to. Traveling to Jakarta, Indonesia, to meet Claire, Noa decides to unite the Assassins, the Corporation, and the hackers to fight against their common threat. After the three groups agree to an alliance to stop Abstergo's plans, the hackers inform Noa of the Templars using Sei as an Animus test subject to learn the location of the third Piece of Eden, which is hidden within Saito's grave.

Publication

Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple was first announced alongside several other Assassin's Creed projects in April 2021. Game Informer reported that the new webtoon would expand upon Edward Kenway's story following the events of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and be part of Ubisoft's new collection of 'Chronicles', new adventures featuring familiar characters.

On 12 April 2023, Ubisoft announced its collaboration with Korean art studio Redice Studio, which would be responsible for the publishing of Forgotten Temple. Planned to run for 150 episodes across three seasons, the series' first episode was released on the Webtoon platform on 25 April. It was initially available in English, Korean, French, and Japanese, with more languages being added at a later time.

External links

• Official website on Naver Webtoon (in Korean)
• Official website on Webtoon (in English)
• Official website on Webtoon (in French)
• Official website on Webtoon (in Indonesian)
• アサシン クリード：忘れられし伝説の寺院 on LINE Manga (in Japanese)