Assassins

Assassins (from Arabic: أساسيون‎ Asasiyun) is the name used to refer to the medieval Nizari Ismailis. Often characterized as a secret order led by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain", the Nizari Ismailis were an Islamic sect that formed in the late 11th century from a split within Ismailism, itself a branch of Shia Islam. In time, the Nizaris began to pose a military threat to Sunni Seljuq authority within their territories by capturing and inhabiting many unconnected mountain fortresses throughout Persia (and later also Syria) under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah (who is typically regarded as the founder of the Assassins), therefore founding the so-called Nizari Ismaili state. While "Assassins" typically refers to the entire medieval Nizari sect, in fact only a class of acolytes known as the fida'i actually engaged in assassination work. Lacking their own army, the Nizari relied on these trained warriors to carry out espionage and assassinations of key enemy figures, and over the course of 300 years successfully killed two caliphs, and many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders. Under leadership of Imam Rukn-ud-Din Khurshah, the Nizari state declined internally, and was eventually destroyed as the Imam surrendered the castles to the invading Mongols. Sources on the history and thought of the Ismailis in this period are therefore lacking and the majority extant are written by their detractors. Long after their near-eradication, mentions of Assassins were preserved within European sources such as the writings of Marco Polo, where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. Ever since, the word "assassin" has been used to describe a hired or professional killer, paving the way for the related term "assassination", which denotes any action involving murder of a high-profile target for political reasons.

List of Angels & Demons characters

The following characters appear in Dan Brown's novel Angels & Demons (2000).

Gunther Glick and Chinita Macri

Gunther Glick and Chinita Macri are, respectively, an investigative reporter and camerawoman who in the world of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, work for the British Broadcasting Corporation and are assigned to cover the papal election presented in the novel.

Glick is described as looking rather odd, with a thin face and slim build. Chinita is of African American descent (implying that she is originally from the United States), slightly overweight, with a jovial manner.

Macri is depicted as more conscious and less of a risk taker than Glick, but also very protective of him. They are considered nuisances by the protagonists for much of the novel because they come along to relate for the television audience the events of the night.

Glick has been hired away from a fictional British gossip magazine to work on "less important" (in Macri's estimation) stories for the BBC. Glick is called by an unknown individual (revealed as The Hassassin) who scoops him on the murder/torture of four members of the College of Cardinals and planned bombing of Vatican City.