Is it just me or would the Shay situation end very differently if it happened under a mentor that wasn't, well... Achilles? How do you think other leaders of the Brotherhood/Hidden Ones would have handled him? (Also: what would the Templars do because I can't see Shay getting flipped by, say, Garnier)
Donât worry, itâs not just you. The very premise of Shayâs defection hinged on one important thing: miscommunication.
They handled this by making:
Shay be so traumatized by what happened in Lisbon that he had mistakenly concluded that the Brotherhood (Achilles) knew what the POE could do
Achilles being too indignant by all of Shayâs accusations that he didnât bother to try and hear Shay out
Everyone (especially Liam who is meant to be Shayâs best friend and Hope who is meant to be close to him) sided with Achilles with unflinching loyalty instead of trying to get Shayâs side of the story
Perhaps it was meant to show how far the Brotherhood had fallen, that they had grown arrogant, but there is also the fact that, one of the voice lines when Shay is in the Morrigan with Liam, Shay and Liam talk about how Achilles had not been the same since the death of his wife and son. That was meant to hint that Achilles was not in the proper headspace to continue being their mentor. This does not excuse Achillesâ actions but it is an indication that the other Assassins (who are all meant to be observant) should have been more cautious of his orders.
Anyway, Imma end that rant there and focus on your question concerning how the other known mentors would have done in Achillesâ position.
Honestly? Any other mentor would have done better in Achillesâ place.
AltaĂŻr is, well, AltaĂŻr. Heâs well-versed in the Apple so, if he didnât have any idea of what the POE in Lisbon (and Haiti) could do, he would have believed Shay if he told him how the POE caused Lisbonâs earthquake. Not to mention, by the time he was the mentor, he would be thick-skinned enough that he wouldnât be provoked by Shayâs shouting.
Ezio would know the danger of the POEs and would actually try to calm Shay down first. He wouldnât have dismissed his claims and Ezio would have been observing all his âstudentsâ enough that he knew something was wrong with Shay first and focus on calming him down first (sidebar: Ezio would definitely not have made Gaultier an Assassin as he would have seen how dangerously arrogant he is, his connections to the French be damn)
RatonhnhakĂŠ:ton (technically he would have taken the mentor title the day Achilles died) would have not lost his cool with all of Shayâs accusations. Heâd let Shay say his piece then order him to sit down and get Hope and Liam to calm him down, believing that Shay would have a hard time calming down if he was the one to do it since Shay believed that he knew what the POE could do and blame him for the earthquake. Once Shay is calmer, he would talk to him once more.
We have no confirmation that Arno, Evie and Jacob ever became the mentor of their specific Brotherhoods so Iâm going to skip them, especially Arno as the Parisian Brotherhood did have a council instead of a mentor during his time.
Bayek would have tried to understand Shay since he had seen just how frightening the POEs could be. He does have a bit of a temper on him but that was mostly contained to when he was grieving Khemuâs death. By the time he was a mentor, he had moved passed Khemuâs death so he would be more level-headed at that point.
Aya would be similar to Bayek as well. Although we do not have any actual scenes where Aya had to be the one to deal with all the Isu BS, she does respect the gods so she wouldnât dismiss Shayâs claims that a POE caused the earthquake.
Also, you know I believed a character has fucked up so badly when I say this: William Miles would have done a better job in keeping Shay from defecting. Sure, he failed with Lucy but thatâs because Lucy had little interactions with the Assassins so her emotional and mental state couldn't be observed properly. Bill would have most definitely let Liam and Hope take care of Shay while heâs in that state, either because he knew he wouldnât get anywhere if he was the one to talk to Shay or because he canât be bothered to deal with Shayâs âtantrumsâ. Bill is cold and distant, making it easy for him to be logical. The only actual time he loses his cool is when Desmond calls him the same as a Templar but that has like... 25 years of unresolved familial issues and discontent all rolled up into one short fused bomb so yeah, Bill would have done a better job than Achilles because heâs a cold bastard.
Now, for the Templar side: letâs be clear, Shay wasnât flipped by Haytham Kenway, he was flipped by George Monro. Haytham just finished the job when Monro died. Whether Monroâs kindness was an act to get Shay to the Templarâs side or not is irrelevant in this situation, what mattered was Monroâs actions towards Shay is the reason why it was âeasyâ for Shay to change side. (Of course, being hunted down by people he trusted and the trauma of Lisbon definitely helped Monroeâs case)
So, if any Templar was to try and flip Shay, the one with the highest possibility of making him flip would actually be someone who has shown kindness, which is kinda hard to find since a lot of the Templars weâve seen had been, well⌠aggressive douchebags. Someone like Monsieur de la Serre who has been characterized as both kind and more on the side of âwe can find peace with the Assassinsâ would work. If you want Shay to flip to the Templar side, you need someone kind or someone who would make Shay feel like he hasnât done anything wrong, that the Templars just want to help.
In other words, either go for the kindness route like Monro or go for the âProject Sirenâ route with someone like Lucy.
