The Perfect Protagonist: Edward Kenway

When Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag released in October of 2013, the game was a huge success and many fans pointed to the cast as a key aspect in the game being a huge hit for Ubisoft. Many loved the main protagonist, Edward Kenway, partially due to his major difference to past main characters and also his connection to the same bloodline that Ubisoft had created for several games in a row. The connection to past installments and an overall satisfaction for Edward was a huge factor into why the game became such an instant classic. His charismatic personality and the great story that accompanied him is a strong reason why many fans see this game as the best in the entire series.

Many loved the main protagonist, Edward Kenway, voiced by actor Matt Ryan, because of how different he was as a character compared to previous leads. Edward was simply a very different protagonist, and still remains an outlier for the standard of all the great main heroes we have gotten in the series over the years. Edward was different because he was not a typical Assassin. In fact, he wasn’t really an Assassin at all, he was first and foremost a pirate in the West Indies who cared about nothing more than himself and personal gain. The Assassin’s Creed games had yet to feature a true protagonist that had basically zero ties to the famous Assassin Brotherhood. It was certainly a gamble from the developers, as they couldn’t have been sure that a character so far off from their standards would translate well to the fans. Some could see his resentment towards the main faction in the entire game as an insult. Some may have seen this as disrespectful to the main story, but that was far from the case, as instead it turned out to be a massive success despite taking a risk.

Edward’s story followed a path of a husband who lives an unpredictable and albeit selfish lifestyle and goes to chase riches in the Golden Age of Piracy. Edward goes through a serious transformation from being a person who only cares about himself to a man who could leave behind a life of notoriety to become a loving father and devoted master of the Assassin Brotherhood. Edward showed he could be so lost and self-centered but still turn his life around and make his impact on the world. Edward meets many characters along the way in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag that both help or deter his life and choices. In the end of his story, Edward shows one is never too far gone.

Edward Kenway was proof that the Assassin’s Creed series could branch farther beyond the expected. Edward did not even join the Assassin Brotherhood until basically the final 45 minutes of the game. That means for almost the entire story he resented the brotherhood and even mocked them. It very easily could have gone sideways for Ubisoft, but their execution with storytelling made the difference. Many gamers like to see characters with development. Not just a protagonist that starts as a proven hero and ends as one. Instead, watching a character being so far from the expected that eventually turns into the hero, most gamers like to see. Unfortunately, writing a story for a game is much easier when you don’t have to add any character development, as it takes way more work to come up with a great character arc that eventually comes full circle. Ubisoft and the developers of Black Flag had an opportunity to turn a reckless and selfish pirate into a Master Assassin that we all know to expect. There was a challenge in creating that true character arc, and Ubisoft aced the chance at creating a memorable character with a memorable story.

Many gamers loved the connection Edward Kenway had with past games and past characters. The Kenway family line went farther back than most would expect. Most of the family were the main focal points of the previous game, Assassin’s Creed III, and showed the main two playable characters as ancestors to Edward. His son, Haytham and grandson, Connor, were the two protagonists in the past game. Gamers enjoyed seeing a connection between games and bloodlines. Even the epilogue of Black Flag had a cameo of the young version of Haytham Kenway, who is the initial playable character in Assassin’s Creed III. Many enjoyed such a connected family line distributed among consecutive games in the series. 

Edward Kenway was loved for his differences and that was shown evident in Black Flag. The Assassin’s Brotherhood was mentioned and featured quite a lot in the game, but Edward the protagonist never joined or paid them any attention until the very end of the game. It was the first Assassin’s Creed game that was willing to take such a large risk and create a protagonist that had no initial resemblances to the main characters all the main games had seen over the years. The fan feedback could have gone either way, and potentially become an issue to the public opinion, but Ubisoft doubled-down on their storytelling ability and showed the players that they could create a protagonist so different and so unlike previous heroes the series has featured and still successfully pull it off. Much of the success Ubisoft found with their main protagonist owed credit to the story of the game, that showed anyone, no matter how different or how self centered, could come through in the end and make something of their life. Ubisoft showed that Edward, a man so occupied with personal greed and carelessness for those around him, could come home and turn his life around before it was too late. Giving him a true success and redemption arc all together.

Ubisoft found true success by taking a risk to go out of their comfort zone and creating a character so unlike what the games in the past have featured, and for it to pay off shows how impressive the writing of the game, and the protagonist Edward truly was. Even today, many consider Edward Kenway to be the best main character of the entire series, and that says a lot given the fact the game is over a decade old and there have been many main protagonists before and after Edward’s story was told. Fans of the franchise consider Edward to be the main star of the franchise aside from the most popular and well known character, Ezio Auditore, who received three mainline games, which shows how good Edward truly was to only have had one game to tell his story and still be so fondly remembered even so many years later. It is safe to say Ubisoft knew what they were doing when taking a risk that they hadn’t attempted before and turning it into universal acclaim. The writing that Edward Kenway received was some of the best the entire gaming world has ever seen, and he remains such a fan-favorite main character to this day.