Manuel Palaiologos



"I am not the only one with this vision, Assassin. The dream of our Order is universal. Ottoman, Byzantine... these are only labels. Costumes and facades. Beneath these trappings, all Templars are part of the same family."

- Manuel to Ezio Auditore in 1512.

Manuel Palailogos is the secondary antagonist of the video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations. He is the heir apparent to the Byzantine Throne, and a prominent member of the Byzantine sect of the Templar Order.

Biography
Under Sultan Bayezid II's rule, Manuel returned to Constantinople, where he received a pension in exchange for his rights to the Byzantine throne. Here he had two sons, Loannes and Andreas, and lived a luxurious life.[1][2]

In 1511, surviving members of the Byzantine Empire, who were secretly Templars, aimed to remove the Ottomans from power and resurrect their empire. It was unclear to the Assassin Order whether or not Palaiologos was siding with the Templars, and thus Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a Mentor in the Assassin Order, tasked himself with finding Manuel's true allegiance.

Ezio discovered Manuel was working for the Templars in Cappadocia, and went to the underground city to locate the Templar. While in Cappadocia, Ezio discovered that the Templars had an army stationed there, and that Manuel's lieutenant, Shahkulu, was torturing Ottoman spies. Ezio assassinated Shahkulu, and then chased after Manuel who fled and called for his guards. However, Ezio caught Manuel later and the two fought, with Ezio eventually killing Manuel.

In his final words, Manuel expressed his desire to be Byzantine emperor, and said he had devised many plans for the position. Ezio responded by saying that his empire was already dead and that Manuel's desire was only a dream. However, Manuel believed that his dream was also that of the Templars' dream, which was of universal order and peace. Manuel gave the Assassin the key he held to Altaïr's library, but told Ezio he would be killed before he even could even get to the secret library