Crawford Starrick
Crawford Starrick is the main antagonist of Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Grand Master of the British Templars and the industrialist who controls London in 1868 through his factories, railways, banks, the Blighters gang and a ring of Templar lieutenants. Every major target the Frye twins kill is one of his people, and the main story builds toward a final confrontation with him at Buckingham Palace.
- Role
- Antagonist
- Affiliation
- Templars
Good to know
- Portrayed by the Canadian actor Kris Holden-Ried.
- Born in London's West End in 1827, the younger son of the wealthy Robert Starrick.
- Built a rail and industrial empire from a single inherited factory, partly by quietly removing competitors.
- His inner circle includes Lucy Thorne, John Elliotson, Pearl Attaway, Philip Twopenny and the Earl of Cardigan.
- Starrick's Soothing Syrup, an opium-laced tonic sold across the city, carries his name.
- Pearl Attaway is his cousin; he once proposed to her and she turned him down.
- Henry Green compares his influence to that of the earlier Templar Reginald Birch.
What he wants
Starrick wants order and control. He believes only the Templars can move civilisation forward and that most people are born to serve. Late in the story he plans to seize the Shroud of Eden and use the Queen's ball to wipe out Britain's heads of church and state at a stroke.
Where you see him
Starrick appears in cutscenes between the twins' memories: brushing off Cardigan and Twopenny after Elliotson's death in Overdose, arguing with Pearl over the Millner Company, grieving her in End of the Line, learning of Lucy's fate in A Thorne in the Side, and threatening Cardigan with a knife in A Bad Penny. He carries a dagger and a revolver.
The ball and the vaultSpoilerShow
At the Buckingham Palace ball in A Night to Remember he forces Evie into a dance and points out snipers on the roof. Jacob clears them, Evie knees Starrick, but he takes her key and puts on the Shroud in the vault. It heals every killing blow and lets him choke both twins at once, until Henry's thrown knife gives them an opening. Working together, the twins strip the Shroud from him and finish him with their Hidden Blades.
Lucy and PearlSpoilerShow
When news of Lucy Thorne's death arrives, Starrick is in the middle of writing her a letter ending their partnership once the Shroud is found; he has it burned. When Pearl dies he shoots a servant for interrupting his piano playing.
- Unnatural SelectionUnnatural Selection takes Jacob into the Starrick Brewing Company's distillery, where he meets Charles Darwin snooping at the window. Together they get inside, and Jacob blows up the tanks that brew Soothing Syrup.
- On the Origin of SyrupOn the Origin of Syrup is a carriage interrogation: Darwin points Jacob at his old rival Richard Owen, and you hijack Owen's coach and drive it recklessly until he names the man who created Soothing Syrup.
OverdoseOverdose is the assassination of Dr John Elliotson inside Lambeth Asylum. As Jacob you explore the asylum, help a trapped nurse and stop a brutal electroshock session, then reach Elliotson's lecture theatre by hiding under the sheet of a cadaver.- Friendly CompetitionFriendly Competition introduces Pearl Attaway, the omnibus owner competing with Starrick's Millner Company. Jacob finds her beside a burning bus, protects her fleet from Millner's raiders and then blows up Millner's own omnibuses in his storage yard.
- Survival of the FittestSurvival of the Fittest is the hit on Malcolm Millner: with the engines secured, Pearl Attaway sends Jacob to the Thames to sink Millner's smuggling boats and kill him at the docks. What Jacob overhears afterwards changes everything.
- End of the LineEnd of the Line ends Sequence 5 at Waterloo station, where Jacob has to reach Pearl Attaway's fortified train carriage before Starrick's men collect the engines. You free a hostage station chief, clear the crowd and find a weak point in the carriage roof.
- A Case of IdentityA Case of Identity opens Sequence 6 with Jacob chasing a name in a letter: Plutus, Starrick's banker, and a meddler called Mr Dredge. You infiltrate the Royal Exchange to kidnap Dredge and find out what he knows.
- A Thorne in the SideA Thorne in the Side sends Evie into the Tower of London, where Lucy Thorne and Templars disguised as Royal Guards are hunting for the Queen's casket that her stolen key opens. You can rally loyal guards, free a jailed constable and walk in as a fake prisoner to get close to Thorne.
- A Bad PennyA Bad Penny ends Sequence 6 inside the Bank of England. Jacob joins a guided tour, interrogates the guard captain and bank manager, and reaches Philip Twopenny in the vault before his men can finish the robbery.
- Motion to ImpeachMotion to Impeach is the assassination of the Earl of Cardigan inside the Palace of Westminster. Jacob steals a password, takes a policeman hostage to walk into Westminster Hall, and has an opposing MP lead him straight to Cardigan's office.
- Strange BedfellowsStrange Bedfellows is Jacob's first outing with Maxwell Roth, leader of the Blighters, who invites him to dinner at the Alhambra Music Hall and proposes they hurt Starrick together. Roth's first idea is to blow up a dynamite shipment at St Pancras station.
- Triple TheftTriple Theft is a kidnapping tour of London with Maxwell Roth riding along: Jacob grabs three of Starrick's people, an art procurer at the National Gallery, a security chief in St James' Park and a police informant inside Scotland Yard, and delivers them to Roth's boat.
- Fun and GamesFun and Games has Maxwell Roth take Jacob to one of Starrick's weapons workshops to rig it with dynamite. It turns into a rescue when children are seen walking inside just as Roth's Blighters move to light the fuses.
- Double TroubleDouble Trouble begins the finale: after a bitter argument, the twins agree to one last job together, and Jacob has to steal William and Catherine Gladstone's invitations to the Queen's ball. The two split up, so you pickpocket each one in turn.
- A Night to RememberA Night to Remember is the final main memory: the twins enter the Queen's ball at Buckingham Palace, Evie retrieves the vault plans from the White Drawing Room while Jacob rescues captive Royal Guards on the roofs, and both face Crawford Starrick in the vault below.
Related characters
- Image: UbisoftProtagonist
Jacob Frye
Jacob Frye is one of the two playable Assassins in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the brawler of the Frye twins. In 1868 he founds the Rooks gang, fights the Blighters for every borough and goes after Crawford Starrick's inner circle one Templar at a time, from Rupert Ferris in Croydon to the Earl of Cardigan in Parliament.
- Antagonist
Lucy Thorne
Lucy Thorne is Crawford Starrick's second-in-command and the Templars' expert on Pieces of Eden in Assassin's Creed Syndicate. She is Evie Frye's rival through the search for the Shroud of Eden and the target of the memory A Thorne in the Side, set in the Tower of London.
- Protagonist
Evie Frye
Evie Frye is the second playable Assassin in Assassin's Creed Syndicate and the planner of the Frye twins. While Jacob tears down Starrick's businesses, her memories follow the hunt for a Shroud of Eden across London and her rivalry with the Templar occultist Lucy Thorne. She is also the playable lead of the 1888 Jack the Ripper story.
- Antagonist
Maxwell Roth
Maxwell Roth is the showman and crime boss who leads the Blighters for Crawford Starrick. In Sequence 8 he invites Jacob to the Alhambra Music Hall and offers an alliance against Starrick, and his story becomes the game's darkest look at what Jacob could turn into.