When i first played Broken Sword, I had a unique experience... when I was installing the game I was wondering what the game was about. Yes I knowed witch kind of game i was installing but who were the Templars I read about on the game synopsis that was on the box? In those times internet was a rarity and wasn’t available in my home country Portugal, so I decided to play and give it a kick.

After an hour of game, I was still wondering what this was all about, are the Knights Templar just a ficticional organization that the game creators invented? As my progress on the game increased my curiosity started to grow more and more so I decided to search in libraries and shops for books about it, and I was amazed, not only the Knights Templar or the Knights of The Temple had many books, but they are an important piece in history and of my country. Despite I felt a bit ashamed of not knowing that I started to read and read things about them, ones were hard facts but others just suppositions of their rituals and traditions, and today I can say that after that day the knights templar are one of my great passions.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (a.k.a. Circle of Blood in some countries), like the name states is all about the templars with a north American tourist in paris that comes embroiled in a conspiration involving the so called templars. Are the templars really alive? In the game they say yes and history say yes too, The Order of the Solar Temple founded in 1984 by Luc Jouret claims that they are descended from the Knights Templar, and the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple Of Jerusalem created in 1804 is even recognized by United Nations as an non governmental organization, this are two examples of so called neo-templars groups and both of them claim also to follow the traditions and ideologies of the original Knights.

The game was based on some hard and proven facts and others are just rumors, suppositions and some even are lies created by the church to justify their suppression of the order. During the great gaming experience that Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is, we are given some information about the order, their origins, their occupation and their fall. Who doesn’t remember the great character Khan of the Hashashin, in truth the Hashashin was a religious sect of Ismaili Muslims, their weapon was assassination and the modern word assassin is a mutation of the Arabic word "assassin" (hashish-eaters), that they took before their killings in order to calm themselves. But these are theories, another theory states that the common muslim used the word assassin for outlaws that commonly used drugs.

Baphomet

But the game also revolves around areas of the Knights templar history that are not proven, are just theories or rumors, in this class we have The Idol Baphomet that is an important part of the storyline. Don’t misunderstand me, Baphomet is represented in history but his connection to the Knights isn’t proven. Baphomet as this illustration shows was commonly depicted as a demon and it’s worshiping was considered heresy, and the knights were stated to be worshippers and all their wealth came from their adoration to this pagan symbol. Some knights under torture admitted their worship, but then again who wouldn’t admit anything under torture just to end the torture and the torture in that time wasn’t the truth injection we see on movies, it was very cruel and make us think how a human being can do that to another human. Baphomet presence is felt on manuscripts and books but the connection with the templars is now assumed as and lie of the Inquisition to justify their eradication of a power group that even gave loans to King’s, and we know how that can top someone toes.

All in all Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars background is based on written reports, Inquisition files, history books and in my opinion the game portrayed a faithful picture of actual Knights templar research scene of our days.