Assassin’s Creed 4’s new protagonist seems like a selfish jerk

I don't know much about Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's new protagonsit Edward Kenway, but from how Ubisoft describes him, he seems like kind of a jerk. Speaking to OXM, Black Flag creative director Jean Guesdon describe Edward's motivations as "purely selfish."

Edward's story is that of a young British man who falls from privateering for the Royal Navy into piracy as the war between the major Empires comes to an end. He quickly finds himself embroiled in the war between Assassins and Templars.

"Previous assassins have always been driven by a sense of duty or revenge, or sometimes even both. Edward's motivations are purely selfish: he fights for glory," Guesdon said. "He has the skills of an Assassin, but he doesn't use them for the Creed. 

"He is, at heart, a pirate. And he's not a 'good' pirate like you see in children's tales – he is a criminal with a taste for infamy."

Guesdon went on to explain that Edward's being trained by the Assassin's leaves the player with "a lot to explore." As the original trailer teased, there's plenty of mystery involving this new captain, so I'm pretty anxious to see how his story unfolds.

"How does a criminal, who is only looking out for himself, reconcile these two different philosophies? The clash between these two ideologies within Edward is one of the most exciting things about him."

So while Edward Kenway doesn't sound like the nicest of guys, he certainly sounds like an intriguing character. Assassin's Creed 4: Flag will be available on October 29, 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4, Wii U, PC, and "other next generation consoles" — in other words, the next Xbox.

[OXM]