Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s most iconic line was originally way longer

Writer Darby McDevitt tells Polygon how Blackbeard's most iconic quote changed mid-shoot Assassin’s Creed has had no shortage of quotable lines from the past two decades. “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” “We work in the dark to serve the light.” Even Ezio’s “requiescat in pace” refrain, simply Latin for “rest in peace,” has been canonized by fans over the years. But one of the series’ most enduring quotes comes from a single character: Blackbeard’s final words. Edward Thatch, better known as the pirate Blackbeard, is a supporting character in 2013’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, which sent the historical fiction series to the Golden Age of Piracy (the early 1700s). Thatch is a comrade of protagonist Edward Kenway, and instrumental in the mission of establishing a pirate utopia in the Caribbean. At one point, while the duo fight aboard a galleon against overwhelming odds of British redcoats, Thatch shouts to Kenway, “In a world without gold, we might’ve been heroes!” A soldier strikes him down. Cue the slow-motion and dramatic music. “This quote came about from a desire to give Blackbeard a final line that encapsulated the main theme of Black Flag’s narrative — namely,