The Holy Grail is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a "holy grail" by those seeking such.
Galahad, sometimes referred to as Galeas or Galath, among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot du Lac and Lady Elaine of Corbenic and is renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works, such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.
Hugues de Payens or Payns was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In association with Bernard of Clairvaux, he created the Latin Rule, the code of behavior for the Order.
Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Roslin was a Scottish noblesse. Sinclair held the title Earl of Orkney and was Lord High Admiral of Scotland under the King of Scotland. He was sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel. He is best known today because of a modern legend that he took part in explorations of Greenland and North America almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus. William Thomson, in his book The New History of Orkney, wrote: "It has been Earl Henry's singular fate to enjoy an ever-expanding posthumous reputation which has very little to do with anything he achieved in his lifetime."
Geoffroi de Charney, also known as Guy d'Auvergne, was preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar. In 1307 de Charny was arrested, along with the entire Order of Knights Templar in France, and in 1314 was burned at the stake.
Knights of the Cross is the eighth studio album by German heavy metal band Grave Digger, released in 1998. It is the second album of the Middle Ages Trilogy.
Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles is a 2008 action-adventure video game developed by Gameloft and published by Ubisoft. It is the first spin-off installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise, and a prequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed. Taking place in the year 1190 AD, one year prior to the events of Assassin's Creed, the game revolves around Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad's search for an artifact called the Chalice, which brings him into conflict with the Templar Order. Altaïr travels to several cities in the Middle East during the game, including Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, as well as Tyre and Aleppo, which are new to the series.
The original historic Knights Templar were a Christian military order, the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, that existed from the 12th to 14th centuries to provide warriors in the Crusades. These men were famous in the high and late Middle Ages, but the Order was disbanded very suddenly by King Philip IV of France, who took action against the Templars in order to avoid repaying his own financial debts. He accused them of heresy, ordered the arrest of all Templars within his realm, put the Order under trial and many of them burned at the stake. The dramatic and rapid end of the Order led to many stories and legends developing about them over the following centuries. The Order and its members increasingly appear in modern fiction, though most of these references portray the medieval organization inaccurately.
Brethren is a novel written by Robyn Young set in the ninth and last crusade. It was published by Hodder and Stoughton in 2006. It took her seven years to write the novel where she was "intrigued by the idea of these medieval warrior monks".
Dragon Age is a Canadian media franchise centered on a series of fantasy role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The franchise takes place on the fictional continent Thedas, and follows the experiences of its various inhabitants.
Assassin's Creed is a historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the Assassin's Creed video game series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar, who desire peace through order and control. The series features historical fiction, science fiction, and fictional characters intertwined with real-world historical events and historical figures. In most games, players control a historical Assassin while also playing as an Assassin Initiate or someone caught in the Assassin–Templar conflict in the present-day framing story. Considered a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia series, Assassin's Creed took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, based on the historical Hashashin sect of the medieval Middle East.
Assassin's Creed II: Discovery is a 2009 action-adventure side-scrolling video game developed by Griptonite Games and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Nintendo DS in November 2009, and for the iOS operating system in January 2010. Part of the Assassin's Creed series, it is a spin-off to Assassin's Creed II and is set during that game's events, between Sequences 12 and 13. The story takes place from 1491 to 1492, and follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze as he travels to Spain to help his fellow Assassins, who are being hunted by the Templar Order under the guise of the Spanish Inquisition.
Dragon Age II is a 2011 action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts (EA). It is the second major game in the Dragon Age series and the successor to Dragon Age: Origins (2009). Set in the world of Thedas, players assume the role of Hawke, a human mage, rogue, or warrior who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee, and becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict. In the game, players explore and engage in combat from a third-person perspective. Players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay. Depending on players' decisions and dialogue, a companion will either recognize Hawke as a friend or a rival.
The Cursed Crusade is an action hack and slash game developed by Kylotonn and published by DTP Entertainment for Europe and Atlus USA for North America.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a 2014 action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The third major game in the Dragon Age franchise, Inquisition is the sequel to Dragon Age II (2011). The story follows a player character known as the Inquisitor on a journey to settle the civil unrest in the continent of Thedas and close a mysterious tear in the sky called the "Breach", which is unleashing dangerous demons upon the world. Dragon Age: Inquisition's gameplay is similar to its predecessors, although it consists of several semi-open worlds for players to explore. Players control the Inquisitor or their companions mainly from a third-person perspective, although a traditional role-playing game top-down camera angle is also available.
Assassin's Creed Unity is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the eighth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the successor to 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It also has ties to Assassin's Creed Rogue, which was released for the previous generation consoles on the same day as Unity.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third main video game in BioWare's Dragon Age series, is the most successful video game launch in BioWare history based on units sold. The game features a large number of characters who are members or potential allies of the organization known as the Inquisition; its formation was sanctioned by Divine Justinia V of the Andrastrian Chantry, the dominant religious organization in the Dragon Age series, prior to the events of Inquisition. The organization's primary purpose is to restore order to the continent of Thedas, the setting of Inquisition, where civil unrest and civil wars have already plunged entire nations and societies across the known world into chaos. A supernatural calamity in the beginning of Inquisition led to the deaths of the Divine and the majority of the Chantry leadership, and the subsequent opening of a mysterious metaphysical tear in the sky called the "Breach", which is unleashing dangerous demons upon the world and sends Thedas deeper into crisis.
Assassin's Creed Rogue is a 2014 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Sofia and published by Ubisoft. It is the seventh major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and is set between 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and 2012's Assassin's Creed III. It also has ties to Assassin's Creed Unity, which was released on the same day as Rogue. It is the last Assassin's Creed game to be developed for the seventh generation of consoles, being released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2014, and for Windows in March 2015. A remastered version of the game was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2018. It was also released on the Nintendo Switch as part of The Rebel Collection alongside Black Flag in December 2019, and for Google Stadia in October 2021.
Cassandra Pentaghast is a fictional character in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. She is the "Right Hand" of the Divine, the leader of the dominant religion in the Dragon Age setting, and a Seeker of Truth, an order of said religious organization. The character made her debut in 2011's Dragon Age II, where she appeared as part of the game's framing device. An anime film prequel, Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, was released in 2012, covering the character's backstory. She appeared again in 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition, where she serves as a party member. Cassandra makes a cameo appearance in the first episode of the 2022 Netflix animated series Absolution.
Dragon Age II, the second main video game in BioWare's Dragon Age series, features an ensemble cast of characters. Several returning characters from its antecedent Dragon Age: Origins may appear in a major or minor capacity, including Flemeth, Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Alistair, Zevran, Leliana, Marethari, Bodahn and Sandal Feddic.
