Assassin's Creed: Full Timeline Revealed

Assassin’s Creed Shadows marks the latest installment in the renowned series, set during the feudal Japan era, which positions it at the midpoint of the series' historical timeline. The Assassin’s Creed franchise doesn’t follow a straightforward chronological path; instead, it jumps through time, covering pivotal moments from the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece to the brink of the First World War. With a total of 14 mainline games and counting, the timeline has become increasingly intricate. IGN has meticulously analyzed the series' lore to create a comprehensive timeline that connects all the key events in chronological order, providing clarity on the overarching narrative and how each game fits into the grand scheme.

The Isu Era
75,000 BCE

To understand the timeline, it’s essential to delve into the lore. In the distant past, the Isu, a highly advanced civilization resembling gods, ruled Earth. They engineered humanity to serve as their slaves, controlling them with powerful artifacts known as the Apples of Eden. However, humans, led by Adam and Eve, rebelled after stealing an Apple of Eden, sparking a revolutionary war. The conflict lasted a decade but was abruptly halted by a catastrophic solar flare that wiped out the Isu, allowing humanity to rise and take over the Earth.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
431 to 422 BCE - Peloponnesian War

Set during the Peloponnesian War in Greece, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey follows Kassandra, a mercenary who uncovers The Cult of Kosmos, a secretive group orchestrating the conflict. Among the Cult's ranks is her brother Alexios, who was abducted as a child and transformed into a powerful weapon due to their shared descent from the legendary Spartan King Leonidas, an Isu descendant. Kassandra’s mission is to thwart the Cult’s domination of Greece, which involves destroying an Isu device used to predict future outcomes. Along her journey, she reunites with her father Pythagoras, another Isu descendant, who entrusts her with the Staff of Hermes, granting immortality, and tasks her with guarding Atlantis.

Assassin’s Creed Origins
49 to 43 BCE - Ptolemaic Egypt

During Cleopatra's reign in Egypt, The Order of the Ancients, another shadowy organization allied with the Cult of Kosmos, kidnaps peacekeeper Bayek and his son in an attempt to access an Isu vault. After inadvertently causing his son's death, Bayek, alongside his wife Aya, vows to dismantle The Order. Their journey reveals The Order's global ambitions to control politics and religion using the Apples of Eden. In response, Bayek and Aya form The Hidden Ones, a secret society of assassins and spies operating from Egypt and Rome, dedicated to opposing The Order's tyranny.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage
861 - Islamic Golden Age

Nearly a century later, The Hidden Ones have established strongholds worldwide, including Alamut in Iran. Here, Basim, a street thief from Baghdad, is trained as an assassin to investigate The Order of the Ancients. He discovers their interest in an Isu temple beneath Alamut and helps defend it from The Order's invasion. Inside the temple, Basim finds a prison that once held Loki, an Isu now revered as a Norse god. Learning he is Loki's reincarnation, Basim resolves to avenge his past imprisonment.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
872 to 878 - Viking Invasion of England

Basim joins a Viking clan traveling to England to hunt down members of The Order of the Ancients. The clan's leader, Sigurd, and his sibling Eivor, seek to establish their settlement, Ravensthorpe, and uncover the tyranny of King Alfred, a leader within The Order. Sigurd's encounter with an Isu artifact leads to visions of his divinity. Basim reveals that Eivor and Sigurd are reincarnations of Odin and Týr, Isu who imprisoned Loki. After surviving Basim's attack, Eivor traps him in an Isu-generated simulation and leads the clan to victory against King Alfred at the Battle of Chippenham.

Assassin’s Creed
1191 - Third Crusade

Three centuries later, The Hidden Ones have evolved into the Assassin Brotherhood, facing off against The Knights Templar, the evolved form of The Order of the Ancients. During the Third Crusade, assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad aims to retrieve an Apple of Eden from the Templars. After a successful theft marred by the death of a fellow assassin, Altaïr is tasked with eliminating nine Templar leaders. His mission reveals a deeper conspiracy, including the betrayal by his own mentor, Al Mualim, who seeks to use the Apple to enforce peace. Altaïr ultimately kills Al Mualim and assumes leadership of the Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed 2
1476 to 1499 - Italian Renaissance

During the Italian Renaissance, Ezio Auditore Da Firenze joins the Assassin Brotherhood to avenge his father and brothers, killed by the Templars. Armed with his father’s tools and innovations from Leonardo Da Vinci, Ezio battles the Templar-aligned Borgia family, ultimately securing an Apple of Eden. This leads him to an Isu vault beneath the Vatican, where he encounters Minerva, an Isu who warns of an impending doom in 2012 and suggests that a network of Isu vaults could be humanity's salvation.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
1499 to 1507 - Italian Renaissance

After sparing the Pope, Rodrigo Borgia, Ezio faces a siege on his Monteriggioni villa, resulting in the theft of the Apple of Eden. In response, Ezio revitalizes the weakened Assassin Brotherhood, becoming its leader in Italy. Their efforts dismantle the Borgia regime and reclaim the Apple, which Ezio secures in an Isu vault beneath the Roman Colosseum, away from Templar reach.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations
1511 to 1512 - Ottoman Civil War

In pursuit of Isu secrets, Ezio travels to Masyaf to explore Altaïr's library. The Templars have already begun their search, collecting keys to unlock it. Ezio allies with Ottoman Assassins in Constantinople to thwart the Byzantine Templars' plans. Inside the library, he finds Altaïr's remains and a message from Jupiter about crucial data stored in the Grand Temple that could help humanity survive the apocalypse. Realizing this knowledge is for a future observer, Ezio leaves the Apple locked in the library and retires, succumbing to injuries from his long service.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows
1579 - Sengoku Period

In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, set during Japan’s Sengoku Period, an African mercenary, Yasuke, arrives with a Jesuit missionary and joins forces with the powerful lord Oda Nobunaga, becoming a samurai. Alongside Naoe, the daughter of a shinobi master, Yasuke navigates the conflict in Iga province, eventually uniting with her to pursue a common goal.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
1715 to 1722 - Golden Age of Piracy

During the Golden Age of Piracy, Edward Kenway becomes entangled in a Templar conspiracy after assuming the identity of a slain Assassin. The Templars seek The Observatory, an Isu device that can spy on any human, hoping to use it for blackmail. Only the Sage, a reincarnation of the Isu Aita, can unlock it. Edward, in pursuit of profit, allies with pirates to find the current Sage, Bartholomew Roberts. Their partnership ends in betrayal, but Edward eventually retrieves the device, kills the Templar leader, and hides the artifact, choosing the world's safety over personal gain.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue
1752 to 1776 - French and Indian War

Shay Patrick Cormac, sent by the Assassin Brotherhood to retrieve an Isu artifact, accidentally causes a devastating earthquake in Lisbon. Stricken by guilt, he defects, stealing the Brotherhood's map of Isu temples. Rescued by the Templars, Shay rises through their ranks, targeting prominent Assassins. His pursuit leads to the Arctic, where he and Haytham Kenway, Edward’s son, confront his former mentor, Achilles, to prevent further Isu temple excavations. Shay later suggests sparking a revolution in France to counter the Assassins' actions in America.

Assassin’s Creed 3
1754 to 1783 - American Revolution

The Templars aim to unlock the Isu Grand Temple, with Haytham Kenway acquiring the key. His quest leads him to the American Colonies, where he falls in love with Kaniehti:io, a Mohawk woman, and fathers Ratonhnhaké:ton. Years later, after the Mohawk settlement's destruction, Ratonhnhaké:ton, now Connor Kenway, trains as an Assassin to avenge his mother's death. Amid the American Revolution, Connor eliminates Templar influences, eventually confronting Haytham. Their ideological differences lead to a fatal confrontation, with Connor burying the Grand Temple key, thwarting the Templars.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation
1765 to 1777 - Spanish Occupation of Louisiana

Parallel to Connor’s journey, Aveline de Grandpré, an assassin in New Orleans, uncovers a Templar plot to control Louisiana. Her investigation reveals a larger conspiracy involving the 'Company Man,' who uses slaves to unearth an Isu temple. Aveline collects components forming an Isu 'Prophecy Disk,' learning that her own stepmother is the Company Man. After killing her, Aveline activates the disk, which recounts the story of Eve's rebellion against the Isu.

Assassin’s Creed Unity
1789 to 1794 - French Revolution

Arno Dorian, orphaned after Shay Cormac kills his father, is raised by the French Templar Grand Master. Framed for murder, Arno joins the Assassin Brotherhood to find his father's killer, uncovering a Templar schism led by François-Thomas Germain. Amid the French Revolution, Arno and his adoptive sister, Élise, pursue Germain to a Templar crypt, where he uses an Isu Sword of Eden. The sword's explosion kills Élise and wounds Germain, who reveals himself as the Sage. Arno seals Germain's remains in the Paris Catacombs, keeping them from the Templars.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
1868 - Victorian England

In Victorian London, twin assassins Jacob and Evie Frye seek The Shroud, an Isu device. They find the city under Templar control via industry and crime. Jacob targets the Templar leadership, while Evie searches for The Shroud. Despite Jacob's success in eliminating the lieutenants, Templar leader Crawford Starrick steals The Shroud. The twins assassinate Starrick, returning The Shroud to its vault. Jacob leads the London Assassins, and Evie later confronts Jack the Ripper. During World War I, their daughter Lydia, an Assassin, thwarts a Templar espionage network.

Transition Period
1914 to 2012

The Assassin’s Creed series employs a modern-day framing story, with the Templars establishing Abstergo Industries in 1937 as a pharmaceutical company to control the world through capitalism. In the late 1970s, Abstergo develops the Animus, a virtual reality machine that allows exploration of ancestral memories, aiming to uncover the past to control the future.

Assassin’s Creed 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3
2012

In 2012, Desmond Miles, a bartender, is abducted by Abstergo and forced to use the Animus to locate Isu artifacts. Assisted by an Assassin mole, Lucy Stillman, Desmond escapes and joins the Brotherhood. Exploring Ezio’s memories, Desmond learns of an impending apocalypse and the potential salvation through Isu technology. After a traumatic event involving Juno, an Isu, Desmond sacrifices himself to activate the Grand Temple's technology, preventing the apocalypse but unleashing Juno.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
2013

Using Desmond's DNA, Abstergo explores Edward Kenway’s memories to find The Observatory. An Abstergo researcher, dubbed "The Noob," uncovers the modern-day Sage, John Standish, who intends to use The Noob as a host for Juno. However, Juno isn't ready to emerge, leading to Standish's death at the hands of Abstergo security.

Assassin’s Creed Unity
2014

Abstergo releases Helix, allowing the public to experience genetic memories. An Assassin, Bishop, guides an initiate to explore Arno Dorian’s life and locate François-Thomas Germain’s remains, safely sealed away in the Paris Catacombs.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
2015

The initiate searches for The Shroud through Jacob and Evie Frye’s memories, learning its location beneath Buckingham Palace. Abstergo beats the Assassins to it, intending to create a living Isu. Juno manipulates Abstergo employees to sabotage these plans.

Assassin’s Creed Origins
2017

Layla Hassan, an Abstergo researcher, develops a new Animus version to explore memories via DNA samples. In Egypt, she relives Bayek and Aya’s lives, leading to her recruitment by the Assassin Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
2018

Using DNA from the Spear of Leonidas, Layla explores Kassandra’s memories and locates Atlantis. Kassandra, kept alive by the Staff of Hermes, explains the need for balance between the Assassins and Templars, gifting Layla the Staff before passing away.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
2020

Layla investigates Earth’s magnetic field disturbances, leading her to Eivor’s memories and the Yggdrasil computer in Norway. Inside the simulation, she works with a manifestation of Desmond’s mind to prevent future apocalypses. Basim escapes, claiming the Staff of Hermes, which contains Aletheia, and joins the Assassins to find Loki’s children.