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A body enslaved inspires the mind to revolt. But enslave a man's mind and his body will follow on naturally. Efficiently.
~ Laureano regarding the difference between slavery and the Templars' goals in 1719.

Laureano de Torres y Ayala is a Templar Order Grand Master in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy and one of the two main antagonists (along with Bartholomew Roberts) of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Torres sought to obtain the Observatory, a first-civilization device that allowed him to observe anyone with a sample of their blood.

He was voiced by Conrad Pla.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

The son of the nobles Tomas de Torres y Ayala and Elvira de Quadros Castelanos, Laureano de Torres y Ayala was born in 1645 in Havana, Cuba, but raised in Madrid, Spain. Torres joined the Spanish army in his late teens and became a Templar in his twenties. In 1673, Torres came into contact with the Sage Thom Kavanagh, who was in the employ of Peter Beckford at the time. Although Torres tried to speak with Kavanagh further that evening, a group of Assassins, led by the Mentor Bahlam, attacked Torres' men and escaped with the Sage.

Thanks to the Templars' connections, he was later appointed governor of the Spanish territories in Florida, a post he held from 1693 to 1699. He then returned to Europe to participate in the War of Spanish Succession. 35 years later in 1708, Torres was appointed governor of Cuba, a position he held until he was arrested on charges of corruption in 1711. Torres was eventually acquitted of these charges and managed to win a re-election bid two years later. During his tenure as governor, Torres' made various lasting improvements to the city, including the fortification of the island's defenses and kick-starting the tobacco production. During this time, he took on the brutish man known as El Tiburón as his personal bodyguard.

Search for the Observatory[]

Let us find the Observatory together. For with its power, kings will fall, clergy will cower, and hearts and minds of the world will be ours.
~ Laureano de Torres y Ayala, 1715.

At some point, Torres was entrusted with the task of locating a First Civilization site known as the Observatory. After two decades of searching, Torres was contacted by Duncan Walpole, a treacherous Assassin that desired to join the Templar Order. Seeing this as an opportunity to deliver a crippling blow to the Assassins and procure further information on the Observatory, Torres arranged a meeting with Walpole, who was to bring maps that detailed the locations of Assassin bureaus in the West Indies, as well as an empty blood vial.

Along with fellow Templars Julien du Casse and Woodes Rogers, Torres plotted to use the Sage Bartholomew Roberts, who was in their custody, to gain access to the Observatory, in order to control the European Empires from behind the scenes. Unbeknownst to Torres however, Walpole had been killed by the pirate Edward Kenway, who arrived in Havana to collect the reward initially promised to Walpole. Oblivious to this, Torres formally inducted 'Walpole', Rogers and Du Casse into the Templar Order, before explaining his plans.

The next morning, the four met again at Havana's docks, where they took Roberts into their custody. However, while escorting the man to Torres' mansion, the group was attacked by Assassins. Kenway managed to save Torres from his attackers and recapture the Sage, who had fled in the confusion. Torres then paid Kenway for his services and dismissed him. However, Kenway was unsatisfied with the amount he had been paid and decided to free Roberts from Torres' prison, seeing an opportunity for greater gain within the Observatory.

Although Kenway was able to access the prison, he found that Roberts had already escaped once more. Torres then reappeared and sent an imprisoned Kenway to the treasure fleet docked in Havana's harbor.

Relocating the Sage[]

70 years later in November 1715, Torres spoke with the Dutch slaver Laurens Prins about Roberts, but was unsuccessful in discovering the man's location.

While the Observatory remained Torres' primary concern, the disruption of the Templars' naval activities by Samuel Bellamy, an Assassin posing as a pirate, also became a matter of concerns. In January 1717, the Grand Master secretly met with British pirate hunter and fellow Templar Francis Hume, asking him to intensify his efforts to stop Bellamy and those working with him, thus preventing more harm to the interests of the Templars.

Weeks later, Prins contacted Torres and claimed to have Roberts in his possession. Torres gathered an appropriate amount of gold to secure Robert's ransom and made sail for Kingston, stopping at thefort of Punta Guarico along the way. Edward Kenway had learned of the large sum of gold and overran the fort, discovering Torres in the war room. However, instead of simply taking the treasure, Kenway decided instead to use Torres as bait in a plan to locate Roberts and once again try to learn the location of the Observatory.

Together with Kenway, Torres arrived in Kingston and met with Prins, walking with the Dutchman through the city's streets. Discussing politics, slavery, and war along the way, the two eventually came to a stop, where Torres tried to bargain with Prins. However, the slaver had spotted Kenway and the Assassin James Kidd tailing them, and both men fled while the two pirates fought off a group of guards.

4 years later in 1719, Torres was in the city once again, this time meeting with Woodes Rogers and the newly converted Benjamin Hornigold to discuss another attempt to locate the Sage. After learning that Hornigold had sent two of his men, Josiah Burgess and John Cockram, to the African island of Príncipe, Torres left and returned to Cuba. However, during their conversation, Torres insisted that his fellow Templars store a drop of their blood in a blood vial, as an oath of loyalty to their Order, which would later be sent to a Templar warehouse in Rio de Janeiro via a Portuguese fleet. The other Templars agreed and gave their blood with the understanding of it not being used, though Torres himself secretly submitted the blood of a decoy; Edward Kenway would later recover these blood vials, alongside Bartholomew Roberts.

Pursuit by Edward Kenway[]

You wear your convictions well. They suit you...
~ Torres' final words, to Edward Kenway, 1722.

3 years later in 1722, the Templars finally located the Observatory in Long Bay,Jamaica. Torres left El Tiburón and his decoy in Havana and made sail for the complex. Now allied with the Assassins, Kenway tailed El Tiburón through Havana's streets and arrived at the Castillo San Salvador de la Punta, where he killed both El Tiburón and Torres' decoy. Realizing Torres' deceit, Kenway hastily headed for the Observatory.

Despite this, Torres had accessed the facility before Kenway had arrived, activating a series of deadly security measures which killed most of the former's men. After eliminating the surviving soldiers, Kenway climbed around the chamber before leaping down on Torres from above, killing the Grand Master with his Hidden Blade. As part of his dying words, Torres complimented Kenway on the strength of his belief in mankind's right to be free.

Personality and Characteristics[]

For virtue, if nothing else.
~ Torres to Laurens Prins, on the reasons not to associate oneself with slavery.

Torres held disgust over the practice of slavery, and even his questionable assertion that to "enslave a man's mind and [their] body will follow on naturally" may or may not have been a clever way to talk Rogers out of participating in such a practice. He was utterly convinced in the Templars' purpose to guide the fate of civilizations, and had the capacity to even respect the Assassins' strength of conviction.

A courteous man, Torres had an impeccable charm. He believed in an enlightened plutocracy where the best and brightest could thrive regardless of circumstances and upbringing, and was notably the only Templar to have treated Kenway with a substantial amount of respect heedless of his class, while his compatriots had a more notable tendency to mock and belittle Kenway, mainly due to his station, and for his initial lack of ideals.

Torres was notable for a conspicuous lack of ruthlessness; he not only stopped El Tiburón from beating Kenway more than was necessary, but also sought to spare him a second time, albeit for a price, when he was captured. The only time when he was shown to display any overt sign of maliciousness was when his soldiers slaughtered through the Observatory Guardians. This could also be considered his chief failing in leadership, as the Templars were initially in a massively disadvantaged position, and would not have regained the upper-hand without Duncan Walpole's defection; as Grand Master he may have had something to do with the situation.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Torres' surname, "Ayala", is of Basque origin, meaning "hillside pasture". It could also refer to a small town in northern Spain. "Torres" translates to "towers", while "de" and "y" are Spanish words meaning "of" and "and", respectively.
  • A Templar insignia can be observed on the back of Torres' belt.
  • In some memories, his name was erroneously misspelled as "Loreano".

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Spanish Templars
Granada War: Tomás de Torquemada | Ojeda | Ramirez

Byzantine Templars
16th Century Ottoman Empire: Prince Ahmet | Manuel Palaiologos | Shahkulu | Leandros | Cyril of Rhodes | Damat Ali Pasha | Georgios Kostas | Lysistrata | Mirela Djuric | Odai Dunqas | Vali cel Tradat | Anacletos | Fabiola Cavazza | Cem | Dulcamara | Eveline Guerra | Kadir | Samila Khadim | Andreas Palaiologos | Hasan Pasha | Oksana Razin | Seraffo | Scevola Spina

Chinese Templars
Ming Dynasty: Zhang Yong | Qiu Ju | Wei Bin | Yu Dayong | Ma Yongcheng | Gao Feng
Republican era: Sun Yat-sen | Soong Ching-ling | Stirling Fessenden | Tatsumi | Joffre | Coxworth

Japanese Templars
Sengoku period: Francis Xavier | Alessandro Valignano | Uesugi Kenshin | Mochizuki Chiyome

Caribbean Templars
Golden Age of Piracy: Laureano de Torres y Ayala | Woodes Rogers | Benjamin Hornigold | Josiah Burgess | John Cockram | Julien du Casse | Kenneth Abraham | Jing Lang | Hilary Flint | Lucia Márquez | Christopher Condent | Francis Hume | Mancomb Seepgood | John Barnes | Alejandro Ortega de Márquez | Alphonse de Marigot Charlie Oliver | Cuali | Felicia Moreno | Renardo Aguilar | Sylvia Seabrooke | Vargas

Portuguese Templars
16th Century: Francisco
18th Century: Manuel Pinto da Fonseca | Duarte Jorge Correia Pinto | Lourenço de Noronha

Louisiana Templars
18th Century New Orleans: Madeleine de L'Isle | Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer | George Davidson | Diego Vázquez | Antonio de Ulloa

Colonial Templars/American Templars
American Revolution: Haytham Kenway | Charles Lee | Nicholas Biddle | Benjamin Church | Shay Cormac | Thomas Hickey | John Pitcairn | William Johnson | Man O' War captain | Jack Weeks | Christopher Gist | George Monro | Edmund Judge | Coyote Man | Matthew Davenport | George Dorrance | Johann de Kalb | Eleanor Mallow | Gillian McCarthy | Federico Perez | Johann Rall | Gerhard von Stantten | Jonathan Trumbull | Victor Wolcott
Early 19th Century: Solomon Bolden | Jan van der Graff
American Civil War: William M. Tweed | A. Oakey Hall | Charles W. Sandford | Cudgel Cormac | Peter B. Sweeny | Richard B. Connolly
Late 19th Century: Alice
20th & 21st Century: Albert Bolden | Nelson W. Aldrich | Henry Pomeroy Davison | Thomas Edison | Harvey Firestone | Henry Ford | John Pierpont Morgan | Charles Norton | Ransom Eli Olds | Benjamin Strong, Jr. | Frank A. Vanderlip | Paul Warburg | Harry Dexter White | Buzz Aldrin | John von Neumann | William King Harvey | Lyndon B. Johnson | John Roberts

British Templars
Hundred Years' War: John, Duke of Bedford
Renaissance: Margaret of York | Perkin Warbeck
Golden Age of Piracy: Samuel Parris | William Stoughton | Benjamin Pritchard | Aubrey Hague | Henry Spencer | Emmett Scott | Wilson
Georgian and Colonial Era: Reginald Birch | Edward Braddock | Lawrence Washington | Samuel Smith | Emmet Scott | James Wardrop | Mrs. Carroll | May Carroll | Peter Carroll | Matthew Hage | Frederick Weatherall | Crimson Rose
Victorian Era: Crawford Starrick | Lucy Thorne | James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan | Philip Twopenny | John Cotton | Pearl Attaway | Malcolm Millner | John Elliotson | David Brewster | Rupert Ferris | Brinley Ellsworth | Reynolds | Cavanagh | Marchant | Robert Waugh | William Sleeman | Alexander Burnes | Walter Lavelle
Interwar Britain: Thaddeus Gift | Darius Gift | Ferris
21st Century: Graham Westerly

Parisian Templars
Hundred Years' War: Georges de la Trémoille | Jean d'Estivet | John II of Alençon | John II of Luxembourg | Philip III of Burgundy | Pierre Cauchon
Late-Renaissance: Alexandre de Hautecourt | François Ascair | La Morguy | Pierre de Lancre | Ermeline
French Revolution:
Radical faction: Francois-Thomas Germain | Charles Gabriel Sivert | Le Roi des Thunes | Frédéric Rouille | Marie Lévesque | Louis-Michel le Peletier | Aloys la Touche | Flavigny | Marcourt | Maximilien de Robespierre | Jean Gilbert | Denis Molinier | Duchesneau | Arpinon | Payen
Moderate faction: François de la Serre | Élise de la Serre | Chrétien Lafrenière | Comte de Choisy | Jean Burnel | Jean-Jacques Calvert | Le Fanu | Marquis de Kilmister | Magdelaine Lévesque | Marquis de Pimôdan | Julie de la Serre | Marquis de Simonon

Austrian Templars
19th Century: Julius Jacob von Haynau | Hennighan | Konstanze von Visler | Karl Mayr

Russian Templars
19th & 20th Century: Grigori Rasputin | Dolinsky | Yuri Dolinsky | Yakov Yurovsky | Yuri Petrovich Figatner

German Templars
18th Century: Johann Joachim Winckelmann
World War I: Erich Albert
World War II: Gero Kramer

21st Century Templars (Abstergo Industries, mainly)
Alan Rikkin | Warren Vidic | Daniel Cross | Juhani Otso Berg | Laetitia England | Simon Hathaway | Álvaro Gramática | Isabelle Ardant | Violet da Costa | Melanie Lemay | Dominika Wilk


Templar's Allies and Puppets
Xerxes I of Persia | Ptolemy XIII | Cleopatra | Al Mualim | Abbas Sofian | Richard I of England | Sixtus IV | Dante Moro | Paganino | Jiajing Emperor | Isabella I of Castile | Duncan Walpole | Laurens Prins | Vance Travers | El Tiburón | Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie | James Cook | Kanen'tó:kon | Jacques Roux | Maxwell Roth | Leon Trotsky


Others
Blume Corporation

Assassin Brotherhood & Their Allies
Colonial Assassins | Achilles Davenport | Hope Jensen | Adéwalé | Kesegowaase | Liam O'Brien | Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye | Le Chasseur | Basim Ibn Ishaq | Pierre Bellec

Bellatores Dei
Isidore Mercator | Ebels | Engelwin | Euphrasia | Gozllin


Girolamo Savonarola's forces
Girolamo Savonarola | Painter | Guard Captain | Nobleman | Priest | Merchant | Doctor | Farmer | Condottiero | Preacher

The Tyranny of King Washington
George Washington | Isreal Putnam | Benedict Arnold

Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper | John Billingsworth | Olwyn Owers

Mythological Creatures
Gorgon |Minotaur | Hecatoncheires | Sphinx | Cyclops | Cerberus | Living Mommies | Headless Horseman | Spring Heeled Jack
Miscellaneous
Gamilat | Isidora | Gennadios | Diovicos & Viridovix | Burgred of Mercia | Rued | Eadwyn | Patrick O'Hara | Enzio Capelli | Ivarr the Boneless | Ricsige of Northumbria | John Raymond | Modron | Charles the Fat | Ercole Massimo | Madame Lee | Peter Chamberlaine | Bartholomew Roberts | Pierre, Marquis de Fayet | Silas Thatcher | Philippe Rose | Fiend of Fleet Street

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