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).

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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, that some of these pirates (certainly not all!) would have fought for greater causes had they not been thrust into a world or milieu that valued superficial or fleeting pleasures over more righteous causes,” Black Flag writer Darby McDevitt told Polygon over email.

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“Blackbeard is one of those men.

Edward is another.” Blackbeard’s death is one of Black Flag’s major emotional beats, and his final words are regularly quoted in Reddit posts and fan videos 13 years later.

But there’s an alternate universe where that version of the line didn’t even make it into the game.

McDevitt said the line in the original script was longer: “In a world without wine, women, and gold, we might have been heroes!” Image: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft But during rehearsals, it didn’t feel right.

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Richard Mark Bonnar (the actor who portrays Blackbeard) didn’t click with the pacing ## Editor's Note The implications of this news could be significant for the industry. Source: [Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/assassins-creed-4-black-flag-blackbeard-best-quote/)