Abu’l Nuqoud is a merchant king of Damascus in Assassin’s Creed and one of the primary assassination targets of Altair (the player-character) in the game. Nuqoud has several dialogue parts where he discusses how people hate him for being “different,” a monster in the eyes of their God, and he has some homoerotic moments with his guards as well as Altair himself. Other NPCs note that Altair “can tell” by looking at Nuqoud (referring to his mannerisms and affective speech), and this further supports reading him as an implicitly gay character. This video shows some of his dialogue as well as Altair’s interactions with him.

LGBTQ references in this game series:

Assassin’s Creed (2007): Abu’l Nuqoud

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2010): Leonardo da Vinci and Salaì

Assassin’s Creed III (2012): Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut Cunningham

Assassin’s Creed: Unity (2014): Marquis de Sade, Chevalier d’Éon

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (2015): Jacob Frye, Maxwell Roth, Ned Wynert, Lewis

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (2018): Romance Options and Controversy

See QRM’s entry for this game.

Citations

1. Various. (n.d.). Abu’l Nuqoud (character page). Assassin’s Creed Wiki. Retrieved from http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Abu%27l_Nuqoud
2. Various. (n.d.). List of video games with LGBT characters. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_with_LGBT_characters
3. Aaron Escobar. (2010, April 2). The Assassination of Abu’l Nuqoud – (Assassin’s Creed). YouTube Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpkq0cqvkgc
4. Various. (n.d.). Assassin’s Creed I (character page). TV Tropes Wiki. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/AssassinsCreedI