Part 2: Episode 02: "What're you doing in the Holy Land?" "Mind your own business!"

Episode 02: "What're you doing in the Holy Land?" "Mind your own business!"

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Notes -
 - The scene where Altaïr and Rauf leap from the castle walls (seemingly to their deaths) was actually taken directly from the Alamut book that was mentioned in the opening post. According to the book, the Hashshashin leader at one point, in order to show how absolute his power over his men was, ordered two of them to jump to their deaths. They did so without hesitation, smiling all the while. Yes, smiling. 

- It is hard to spot, but Al Mualim is blind in one eye. Close-ups and pictures show that his right eye is completely white.

- "Malik A-Sayf" means "King/Owner of the Sword". "Kadar A-Sayf" means "Destiny of the Sword".

- "Rauf" means "compassionate", which fits his character-type quite well. It isn't implied that he is under Altaïr in rank, but still treats him with respect. He's also one of the few folks that Altaïr responds to with a kind tone of sorts.

- On the other hand, "Abbas" means "austere" or "strict". Not as perfect a fit as Rauf, but it typically doesn't imply friendliness Also, Nolan North (who voices Desmond) also voices Abbas.

- The oft-mentioned phrase "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted" was coined by Hassan i-Sabbah, the founder of the Hashshashin.

- It's never really addressed up-front, but you'll notice that Al is missing his left ring finger. The space that the finger occupied serves as a "path of entry" for the hidden blade, so to speak (the mechanism of which will be touched upon in a later episode). The story mentions off-hand (edit: totally unintentional pun) that Assassins have their ring finger removed as a rite of passage or initiation. Altaïr is the only person we've seen who is missing his ring finger, though (Al Mualim included). A few things could be interpreted from this:

• It was a screw-up. I've seen some far-along (or so it seems) concept art of Altaïr where he still has ten fingers, so maybe it was a last-minute change.
  
  
• It's required of those who hit the tip-top Assassin rank in the Brotherhood. This could explain why Al was the only guy missing the finger (he does snap at Malik, stating he outranks him). If this were the case, though, then how did Al Mualim (who has ten fingers) attain the top-most rank without doing wetwork, or being the "best of the best" at some point? Before siding with this as a slam-dunk reasoning, bear in mind that there are other jobs within the Brotherhood, such as scholars. Al Mualim could have attained rank by being a source of information and a renowned scholar in his youth.

- Touching on the ring finger topic once again here (rimshot). The Christian adoption of the wedding ring began around the late 15th century (the concept of engagements established around the early 13th), but the idea itself was borrowed from ancient Egyptians. The concept of the wedding ring was pretty unheard of to Europe, but there are frequent mentions in ancient Egypt and Persia where rings play a central role in marriage. Even dismissing the wedding ring notion/idea, the ring finger (in Persian culture amid others) is said to be directly connected to the heart, and is symbolic of love in general. Its removal signifies a commitment to the Brotherhood, placing it before oneself. Given how Fida'i (the guys who did all the wetwork) within the Hashshashin were openly used as fodder, this thought process (unwavering support/faith) kind of fits.

 - The second video (which was my primary test video) is recorded on the PS3, while the remainder of the LP (first video, third & onward) will be on the 360. The reason for this? Well, after I passed this through the Sandcastle a few times and was done with subtitling/commentary, I came across something. Some screen tearing in the test video was *really* getting under my skin, and I wasn't sure of the cause until I did a bit of googling (and removed the PVR from the list of causes). Ubisoft apparently has a bad track record on the PS3 versions of its titles. AC games have screen tearing issues by nature, but for AC1 & AC2 (thankfully, not Brotherhood), the PS3 experiences 3-4 times more frame tears on average than its 360 version. An example from AC2: in one particular early scene, the 360 had 5% of its frames torn whereas the PS3 experienced 17% in that same part. Now that's just silly.

Anyhow, the tears aren't so bad that they cripple the video, but it's definitely noticeable (particularly during close-ups or whenever the screen flickers/fades quickly to white). It's just one of those things that I can't "un-see" now that I've spotted it. I'm mentioning all of this after-the-fact (and spoiler'd) so folks don't end up inherently "looking" for these tears when they first watch the video. If you didn't see 'em, then good stuff. If they bugged you, then I'm sorry. This should be the worst offender on that front!

Also, the commentary will loosen up once we lose the early-game "training wheels" Just trying to get everything out in the open. On that note, my microphone broke yesterday! But I'll have a better one in the next few days. Hopefully the ol' voice will come across clearer.