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“ | As gentlemen of fortune we enjoy plenty and satisfaction, pleasure and ease, liberty and power... What man with a sensible mind would choose the former life? For I have dipped my hands in muddied waters, and withdrawing them find 'tis better to be a commander than a common man! | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts to his crew before his first voyage as a pirate. |
“ | A merry life and a short one, as promised. How well I know myself. And what of you, Edward? Have you found the peace you seek? | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts after being mortally wounded by Kenway. |
Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, born John Roberts is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Laureano de Torres y Ayala) of the 2013 video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
He was a Welsh pirate, a Sage, who raided ships in the Caribbean and on the West African coast between 1719 and 1722, as well as Edward Kenway's archenemy.
He was voiced by Oliver Milburn who also voiced John Standish in the same game.
Biography[]
Past[]
John Roberts was born on May 17th, 1682 in Castell Newydd Bach, Wales, Kingdom of England to unnamed parents. Roberts was the reincarnation of Aita, the Isu scientist who created the First Civilization site, the Observatory. During his conversation with Edward Kenway in the Observatory, Roberts appeared to know that he was a reincarnation of Aita. He would later go by the name Bartholomew, and presumably became a sailor by his teens.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag[]
The Templar Order located Roberts and took him to Havana. The Assassins Mentor, Ah Tabai sent his finest student, Duncan Walpole who secretly planned to defect to the templars, to free Roberts and bring him to the Assassin city of Tulum. Unbeknownst to both sides Walpole was murdered by the pirate Edward Kenway who then decided to take his place in so he could get the money the templars had promised Walpole.
In Havanna Roberts was brought before the Templar Grand Master Laureano de Torres y Ayala. Torres escorted Roberts to the prison of Havanna alongside Kenway his bodyguard El Tiburón and his Templar accomplices Julien du Casse and Woodes Rogers. However the templars were attacked by the assassins and one of them freed Roberts only to be killed by him his own hidden blade, Roberts then attempted to escape but Kenway caught up to him and brought him back to Torres.
Roberts was then brought back to Torres manor but he still managed to escape after killing all the soldiers that were guarding him. Later the slaver and templar ally Laurens Prins claimed that he had captured Roberts and tried to sell him to however after a failed meeting with Torres Kenway who had now allied himself with the assassin broke into broke into Prins' estate together with the assassin Mary Read. While Kenway assassinated Prins in his garden, Read searched the place for Roberts but was captured by him and held by gunpoint. As Roberts declared that he actually worked for Prins Kenway informed him of Prins' attempt to sell him he replied that he really couldn't trust anyone shot an alarm bell and used this distraction to escape.
Kenway later found Roberts hiding in the African jungle in 1719, and struck a deal with the Sage to free his imprisoned crew in exchange for Roberts leading him to the First Civilization site known as the Observatory. Kenway killed the Templars in Príncipe, freed the crew, and recaptured the Princess. Roberts gave a speech to his crew declaring his intentions to sail as a pirate, and the two captains returned to the West Indies. A few months later after he had made a name for himself and become a successful pirate, Roberts needed Kenway again and convinced him to help him steal crystal vials from a Portuguese camp that contained the blood of many templars and pirates. After obtaining the vials the pirates escaped in the Portuguese flagship that Roberts claimed and made into his own flagship afterwards.
Roberts then realized they were being followed by the pirate hunter and former friend of Edward Benjamin Hornigold and told Kenway to kill him. After a sea battle, Hornigold's ship crashed onto an Island where Kenway assassinated him. Afterwards the two met again in Jamaica at the beach of Long Bay where Kenway and Roberts searched the island together with four of Roberts men. They made their way through the jungle with Kenway knocking out the guardians that were protecting it, despite Roberts' advice to kill them. As they reached the observatory Roberts killed his four men claiming to Kenway that they would have gone insane and told him to carry the vials for him.
While they were making their way deeper through the observatory Roberts told Kenway about his life as a sage and his pirate creed and mentioned his previous visits to the observatory in his other lives. They then reached the antechamber of the observatory where he showed the function of the observatory to Kenway by inserting the vials into a crystal skull in the centerpiece of a golden armillary sphere which enabled them to see and ear through the owners of the vials.
After showing Kenway the current actions of Jack Rackham and Woodes Rogers, Roberts removed the skull, rendering the observatory inoperable. Kenway then proposed using the observatory to make a fortune, but Roberts betrayed him and knocked him down into the water below, taunted him that their partner ship was done and left. Kenway managed to get out of the observatory and reached Roberts on the beach, but succumbed to his injuries as his ship the Jackdaw sailed away. Roberts mocked Kenway about the mutiny of his crew and then decided to collect the bounty on his head and turn him over to the British government.
He then went on to capture hundreds of ships in the following two years making himself a name as one of the most successful pirates of all time. However eventually, Kenway who had survived and become an assassin at this point found him at his hideout in Principe. Recognizing Kenway, Roberts jumped onto his ship and attempted to flee, which was thwarted when Spanish and British ships attacked. In the pursuing battle Kenway boarded his ship and fought and killed Roberts. With his dying words, Roberts lamented being born to early like many before him and asked Kenway destroy his body so it wouldn't fall into the templars arms. Kenway agreed with Roberts' last request, and threw his body overboard. Roberts would later be reincarnated with John Standish, who would attempt to resurrect Juno via the body of a Abstergo Entertainment employee.
Quotes[]
“ | In honest service there are thin commons, low wages, and hard labor. Yet as gentlemen of fortune we enjoy plenty and satisfaction, pleasure and ease, liberty and power... so what man with a sensible mind would choose the former life, when the only hazard we pirates run is a sour look from those without strength or splendor! Now, I have been among you six weeks, and in that time I have adopted your outlook as my own, and with so fierce a conviction that it may frighten you to see your passions reflected from me in a stark a light. But... if it's a captain you see in me now, aye then... I'll be your bloody captain! For I have dipped my hands in muddied waters, and withdrawing them find 'tis better to be a commander than a common man! Ah, man... you flatter me with your persistence. | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts |
“ | For I have dipped my hands in the muddied waters, and withdrawing them find, 'tis better to be a commander than a common man. | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts. |
“ | A short life and a merry one. That is all. The world owes us nothing more than this. | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts' creed. |
“ | There's nothing in my code about loyalty, boy! You played your role, but our partnership is done! | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts betraying Kenway. |
“ | Remember my creed, boy? A short life and a merry one. That is all. The world owes us nothing more than this. So take what you will, and then die before you live to see yourself made a fool. | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts |
“ | Calm... little puppy. And slink back to your kennel. You haven't the mettle for my brand of madness. | „ |
~ Bartholomew Roberts |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Along with several of the other pirates featured within Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Bartholomew Roberts was based upon a historical character of the same name. Several quotes, historical facts and legends attributed to the real life Robert's were incorporated into this fictional portrayal.
- Much of Bart Roberts' early life is unknown. Like in the game however, he was forcefully conscripted into piracy after the vessel he was working on was captured by the Pirate Captain Howell Davis.
- One month after Roberts' conscription, however, Davis was killed in an ambush on the isle of Principe. In the aftermath, Roberts, despite having only served for a short time, was elected the new captain by his fellow pirates. The speech Roberts' gave in the game upon his appointment is based upon the one given by the real life Roberts following his appointment.
- In both the game and real life, Roberts' first act as a captain was to avenge Davis' death. In the game, he had Edward attack a group of Portuguese soldiers and liberate his men. In real life, however, Roberts' retaliation was far more brutal. He and his men attacked the residents of the local settlement that tricked them, stealing most of their valuables and killing many innocents.
- Roberts did famously wear a red coat throughout his career as a pirate.
- Roberts' pirate code, which he mentioned to Kenway within the Observatory included historical tenants of the life Roberts' code of conduct.
- In the game, Roberts was portrayed as teetotaler, another fact attributed to his historical counterpart.
- Both the real and fictional versions of Roberts were portrayed as very successful pirates. According to the historical records, Bartholomew Roberts is reported to have plundered more than 400 vessels during a 3 year career. As a result of this, he is considered to be the most successful pirate of both the Caribbean and Western history. He is also regarded as one of, if not the most successful pirate of all time.
- In both Assassin's Creed and real life, Bartholomew Roberts' life came to an end in early 1722. Unlike in the game, the historical attack upon the Royal Fortune was carried out by a single British vessel, the HMS Swallow. According to the accounts, most of Roberts crew were drunk from a celebration the previous evening. In real life, Roberts did not participate in the fight, as he was killed in the early stages of the engagement by a grapeshot.
- Kenway's destruction of Roberts' body to prevent the Templar's from ever using it was based upon the historical fate of Roberts' corpse. According to the testimony of his captured crew members, Roberts, knowing that his body would be displayed as a trophy in the event of his defeat, instructed his crew to bury him at sea in the event of his death. When he fell during the engagement with the Swallow, his men honored this request. They wrapped his corpse in one of the ships sails, weighed it down and tossed it overboard. Bartholomew Roberts' body was never recovered.
- Although glossed over in the game, Edward's comments to his daughter, Jennifer, during the credits, makes it clear that following Roberts' demise, pirates were longer as common or successful as they had once been. This is based upon the modern conscensus of both amateur and professional historians, who consider Roberts' death marking the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
- Bartholomew Roberts could be seen wearing a portrait necklace, depicting a visage of a woman, identical to the one worn by John, one of Aita's later incarnations.
- Bartholomew Roberts acquired his outfit from Howell Davis, the Princess former captain, after the latter's death at Príncipe.
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Villains | ||
Isu Proto-Templar Organizations Cult of Kosmos (Peloponnesian War) Order of the Ancients
Knight Templars Mongolian Templars Egyptian Templars Italian Templars Spanish Templars Byzantine Templars Chinese Templars Japanese Templars Caribbean Templars
Portuguese Templars Louisiana Templars Colonial Templars/American Templars British Templars Parisian Templars Austrian Templars Russian Templars German Templars 21st Century Templars (Abstergo Industries, mainly)
Assassin Brotherhood & Their Allies Bellatores Dei Girolamo Savonarola's forces The Tyranny of King Washington Xiongnu Jack the Ripper Mythological Creatures Miscellaneous |