El Tiburón

"You humbled me once, and I took that hard lesson, and I bettered myself. Die knowing that for all of our conflict, you helped make a soldier out of a scoundrel."

―Edward Kenway to El Tiburón, as the latter lay dying, 1722.^[src]

El Tiburón (English: The Shark; unknown – 1722) was the mute personal bodyguard of Laureano de Torres y Ayala, the Grand Master of the Caribbean Templars.

Biography

Merchant: "Good lord! Is that big brute your captain Mendoza?"

Soldier: "No, sir. He is El Tiburón. El Tiburón Governor Torres' man."

—A merchant and soldier discussing El Tiburón's vocation, 1715.^[src]

Very little is known of El Tiburón before he entered into Torres' service. As the governor's bodyguard, he gained a frightening reputation that soon spread throughout the Cuban capital of Havana. El Tiburón was also known to enjoy overseeing the hangings of criminals, which only added to his menacing character.^[1]

In July 1715, El Tiburón attended an execution, at which the pirate Edward Kenway was also present. Although they did not interact with each other at said moment, they would later meet at Torres' mansion, where Kenway pretended to be the Assassin-turned-Templar Duncan Walpole.^[2] During the induction, El Tiburón kept an eye on Kenway, suspicious of the man's true motives.^[1]

The next day, El Tiburón accompanied the Templars to their meeting with Bartholomew Roberts, a Sage, and subsequently defended them from an organized group of Assassins who attempted to free Roberts. Although the Sage was able to break free, he was soon recaptured by Kenway and imprisoned at the mansion for further interrogation. That night, Roberts broke free from his cell, with the Templars only finding Kenway in his place.^[2]

Realizing he was an imposter, El Tiburón swiftly incapacitated Kenway and prepared to beat him up, but was stopped by Torres. After a short interrogation, during which it became clear that the Sage had escaped by himself, Kenway was taken hold of by El Tiburón and Julien du Casse, who sent him with the Spanish Treasure Fleet as a prisoner.^[2]

In 1719, he accompanied Torres to Kingston to meet with fellow Templar Woodes Rogers and his newest recruit, Benjamin Hornigold. Years later, after the assassination attempt on Rogers and the death of Roberts, El Tiburón was tasked with guarding a body double of Torres at the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, in an attempt to delay Kenway from pursuing the governor to the Observatory. As Edward assassinated the imposter, El Tiburón engaged him in combat, swiftly gaining the upper hand thanks to his training as a soldier.^[1] However, he was eventually killed by Kenway, who used his pistols to penetrate his armor.^[2]

Trivia

It is possible, though difficult, for Edward to kill El Tiburón through other means than just pistols.
Despite his death occurring in 1722, El Tiburón's database entry is never updated to include the date.
Due to El Tiburón's unwavering loyalty towards Torres, the Abstergo Entertainment employee that wrote El Tiburón's database entry speculated there might have been a familial connection between the two.
If Edward were to attempt to attack El Tiburón during the events of "...And My Sugar?" memory, he would kill Edward with a single blow.
It is possible to pickpocket El Tiburón in Mister Walpole, I Presume?. Interestingly, doing so will only give the player 1 reale, the least amount possible in the game.
Originally, Edward and El Tiburón were planned to have a confrontation at the end of Sequence 2, which would end with Edward losing the battle. For gameplay reasons, the fight was cut during development, though Edward's final lines to El Tiburón still refer to it.^[3]
- However, this confrontation does appear in the novel adaptation.