Ranking the best Assassin's Creed protagonists of all time

Who are the best Assassin's Creed protagonists across the iconic franchise? Well, to answer that, we need to go through several eras. Assassin's Creed is a series with, appropriately enough, a sense of history. It's been around for almost 20 years at this point, with the very first game releasing way back in 2007. Since then, we've had 14 mainline releases, several spin-offs, including the Chronicles series, and time periods as diverse as Hellenic Egypt and Victorian London.

The cast has shifted significantly over that time, too, featuring a whole host of different protagonists over the years. Well, with one of the most exciting new games for 2025, Assassin's Creed Shadows, due to release soon, complete with two protagonists of its own, the samurai Yasuke and the shinobi Fujibayashi Naoe, we thought it was time to assess previous heroes of all the best Assassin's Creed games. In this list, we're going to take a closer look at the series' 10 greatest protagonists and decide which are the best out of all of them. Let's get started!

The best Assassin's Creed protagonists to meet in 2025

10. Arno Dorian

Game: Assassin's Creed Unity
Played by: Dan Jeannotte

A likable enough character from a likable game, Arno Dorian from Assassin's Creed Unity is a noble in a period of immense upheaval, the French Revolution. Let's get one thing clear: AC Unity is underrated – it obviously had horrendous issues at launch, but it's still a very compelling game with a fantastic setting. Arno is a key part of what makes the game interesting – as a nobleman raised by a Templar family (and in love with one), he's a man who contains multitudes.

He's not the most charismatic lead, and his story suffers, which is why he's ranked at 10 on this list, but he's still interesting, nonetheless, and helps make Assassins Creed Unity a worthy entry in the franchise. It'd be interested to see what Ubisoft would do if they went back and took another crack at the French Revolution today. Maybe their approach to politics would be a little less milquetoast this time around.

9. Adewale

Game: Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry
Played by: Tristan D. Lalla

A much-loved figure in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Adewale was an escaped slave who served as quartermaster alongside Edward Kenway on the Jackdaw. He got top billing in Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry, where players helped him to free slaves in the Caribbean. Adewale isn't as light-hearted as his roguish captain, but his stern, serious manner serves the character well given the grim environments of his work, and he's an extremely admirable and likable figure with a truly vital goal.

Eloquent and principled, he's a genuinely nuanced and fascinating character, something that not all protagonists in the series are able to live up to. While he may not be ranked as highly as other characters on this list, he's definitely one of the most memorable. He's also the first protagonist who is a Black man, a shortlist soon to be joined by Yasuke from Assassin's Creed Shadows, allowing the game to tell a different type of story than we got in any of the other games.

8. Eivor

Game: Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Played by: Cecilie Stenspil and Magnus Bruun Nielsen

Putting Eivor on this list almost feels like cheating since it's two protagonists for the price of one, with players able to choose between a male or a female Eivor. They're quite different, too, and will impact your time in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with the male version being more spirited and the female version more stoic. This is a more important choice than it may appear as well, as Valhalla is a very long game.

Both protagonists have some excellent dialogue, and the sidequests allow them to explore more of their personality, revealing the complexity behind them. They're a charming protagonist to be around, and despite the overall length of Valhalla, the charm doesn't wear off, thanks to excellent performances on the part of both voice actors.

7. Evie Frye

Game: Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Played by: Victoria Atkin

Debatably the first female protagonist in the series (Aveline de Grandpre is the first, but only featured in a spin-off of Assassin's Creed 3), Evie Frye is another serious character. Compared to her brother, Jacob, who players can also play in Syndicate, she takes her duties as an Assassin far more seriously. This could have lent to making her a fairly boring character, but like Adewale, she's able to remain compelling. She also has a sense of humor, which shines through on occasion, and it's interesting to see a lead character in the series who takes the job of being an assassin deadly seriously.

It's also notable that a lot of missions in Syndicate revolve around her clearing up after Jacob, and we stan a competent king (or queen) at GamesRadar+. That goes a long way to making her a much more likable protagonist than Jacob – not that he's entirely unlikeable.

6. Basim Ibn Ishaq

Game: Assassin's Creed Mirage
Played by: Lee Majdoub

Like Eivor, Basim is an Isu incarnation of Loki specifically. In both his lead appearance in Assassin's Creed Mirage and his supporting appearance in Valhalla, he comes across as mysterious and suspicious, with some shady motives. In Mirage, we get to see more of his backstory and learn what made him who he is today.

Basim is an interesting character with a well-written background – a devotee to the search for knowledge but who occasionally gets reckless with it, causing conflict and some surprisingly unpleasant outcomes. Part of what makes him a strong protagonist in Mirage springs from our knowledge of him in Valhalla, and having his story spread across separate games like this is a very interesting choice. Plus, the man is literally the reincarnation of a God, I mean, that's pretty cool. He'd rank higher on the list were it not for the slightly more intriguing and well-written characters still to come.

5. Kassandra

Game: Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Played by: Melissanthi Mahut

The de facto protagonist of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Kassandra may share the billing with Alexios, but, in reality, she's the clear winner. Don't get us wrong, Alexios is fun, but Kassandra is a much more interesting character. She's a muddle of contradictions in a very human way, very capable of showing compassion, especially to children, while also capable of showcasing the brutality that Sparta is renowned for.

Her story is expanded by the DLC as well, which sees her surviving until 2018. This is, of course, nonsensical, but that's part of the charm of the series. Not only is Kassandra a fun character to play as, she's also one of the most key figures in the entire series.

4. Altair Ibn-La’Ahad

Game: Assassin's Creed
Played by: Philip Shahbaz

The original protagonist of Assassin's Creed and one of the best, Altair, was our introduction to the assassins, their creed, and the world that they inhabit. While he may only have got one game, he's strikingly memorable. He was quite literally raised by the assassins, and reflects that upbringing through a cold, sometimes brutal nature. He was deeply flawed, often arrogant or objectionable, but his characterization developed a great deal throughout the game.

By the time you've reached the end, he may not be some towering Dostoevskian figure, but he's wiser and more mature, making him significantly more likable. Like Basim, Altair was a man in search of knowledge, which ultimately led him to repeat similar mistakes to his wayward master, Al Mualim, becoming obsessed and reliant upon the Apple of Eden. A deeply conflicted character, his writing was sharper than that of a lot of contemporary video games and made a huge impact on gaming culture.

3. Bayek

Game: Assassin's Creed Origins
Played by: Abubakar Salim

If you want to talk about Assassin's Creed characters with genuine emotion in their performance, they don't come much higher-rated than Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins. An Egyptian living under Greek occupation, Bayek is no stranger to strife, but it's the death of his son, Khemu, that puts him on the path to revenge. He carries himself as a figure of vengeance, radiating coldness and ruthlessness to all those who he considers his enemies.

While this could potentially lend itself to a one-dimensional character, Bayek is anything but. Despite all that he goes through, he's still capable of kindness, and he also occasionally feels guilt for the assassinations he carries out. Perhaps the most emotionally complex character that we've ever seen in an Assassin's Creed game, Bayek is a sensational hero in a sensational setting, he's a natural fit on this list.

2. Edward Kenway

Game: Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Played by: Matt Ryan

Edward Kenway is a man on a mission, but not for revenge – for glory and booty. A genuine Errol Flynn-type roguish character, Edward is the Welsh-born pirate captain of the Jackdaw, the most dangerous pirate ship on the seven seas. Shiver your timbers and board the ship alongside him, and you'll follow him on his quest for power and the desire to become more than his birthright. He's a bit of an idiot at times, frequently reckless, and definitely of questionable morals, bending the titular creed to his own whims at times.

Yet above all that, Edward's personality is roguish, as roguish as a pirate captain should be. His interpersonal relationships are a particular highlight of the game, with his friendship with Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard, a real highlight not just of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag but of the series as a whole. He's equally charming, enthralling, and foolish, all coalescing into a really well-rounded and likable protagonist. He's second only to the man who, for all intents and purposes, is the long-standing face of the series.

1. Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Game: Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Played by: Roger Craig Smith

As far as series protagonists go, they don't come much more important than Ezio Auditore. He's been the protagonist of three mainline games in the series, from Assassin's Creed 2 to Revelations. Part of what makes him number one is likely the fact that we spend so much time with him across so many different situations and settings, but that's not to take away from the fact that his characterization is fantastically done.

Ezio is, essentially, living quite a banal, if luxurious life to begin with. If there were a medieval Rich Kids of Instagram, he'd have been featured regularly, living a life of ease. Yet as events turn against him, he struggles with anger and a desire for revenge, juxtaposed against his former life of largesse. Over the course of three games, we witness him go through a lot, and it's impossible not to identify with him. A genuinely vital figure of Assassin's Creed, Ezio remains the face of the franchise to this day.

For more on this iconic franchise, check out our guide on how to play all the Assassin's Creed games in order. Or look ahead with our list of all the upcoming Assassin's Creed games on the horizon.