10 More Video Game Villains Hiding In Plain Sight

The OG Assasin's Creed saw players taking control of Altair, a skilled assassin who is sent to kill high-profile targets across the Holy Land during the Third Crusade.

The one dishing out the orders is his mentor, Al Mualim, the leader of the Assassins. Al Mualim is constantly berating Altair for his brashness and dealing lessons in patience, humility, and understanding.

All of this makes the final reveal that Al Mualim has been the big bad puppet master behind the events of the game that much more shocking. Having secretly been working alongside the Knights Templar, Al Mualim becomes ensnared by the power of the Piece of Eden. He uses Altair as a means of eliminating his nine collaborators and ultimately keeping the power the artefact possesses all to himself.

Hoodwinks, unreliable narrators and betrayals are something the Assassin's Creed series came to embrace in later entries, but there's still no beating the one that kicked them all off.