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This article is about the campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For the unit, see Saladin (unit). |
| “ | The paintings in Europe show Saladin as demonic, barbarian. Yet he is more chivalrous than any knight I'd met before and prefers the palaces of Damascus to slaughtering Normans in the desert. I had not expected hospitality from Saracens - we Normans execute any armed Arab we capture. | ” |
| “ | Outraged that the Holy Land is ruled by the Saracens, zealous European knights have descended upon the Middle East and carved out four Crusader kingdoms. A Saracen general, Saladin, rallies his troops in an attempt to drive back the invaders. In response to European vileness, the cultured Saracens have become ruthless. But will it be enough to save their homeland? | ” |
| —In-game campaign description | ||
| “ | Outraged that the Holy Land is ruled by the Saracens, knights from Europe have descended upon the Middle East in a series of Crusades. Now four European kingdoms have sprung up in the desert. The Saracen king, Saladin, rallies his troops in an attempt to drive back the invaders. In response to European Crusades, the Saracens have organized a Jihad. In response to European vileness, the once-cultured Saracens have become treacherous. But will it be enough to save their homeland? | ” |
| —In-game campaign description before the Definitive Edition | ||
Saladin is a campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The campaign is based on the exploits of An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, called Saladin by Europeans (1137 – March 4, 1193). The campaign consists of 6 scenarios. The player plays as the Saracens, and the player color is green:
- An Arabian Knight
- Lord of Arabia
- The Horns of Hattin
- The Siege of Jerusalem
- Jihad!
- The Lion and the Demon
The campaign is narrated by an anonymous knight from Normandy who gets lost in the desert while en route to join the Crusader invasion of Egypt. He is found by, and surrenders to, Saracen horse archers (who he initially mistakes for Turks), and they take him to their leader, the titular Saladin. The knight soon becomes fascinated with the chivalrous Saladin and Saracen civilization in general. Years later, he chooses to turn down Saladin's offer to recover his freedom and continues serving him willingly.
Co-op[]
The campaign is also playable as a co-op campaign, where the second player color is Purple, In The Lion and the Demon, the second player plays as the Persians.
- An Arabian Knight
- Lord of Arabia
- The Horns of Hattin
- The Siege of Jerusalem
- Jihad!
- The Lion and the Demon
Trivia[]
- The Saladin campaign is the only campaign made before The Forgotten to have a difficulty that is classified as not easy in the Definitive Edition.
- Saladin himself was of Kurdish origin. Still, he was possibly chosen as the protagonist for the Arabic-speaking Saracens' campaign because of his status as a Muslim military leader against the crusading Christians.
- In contrast to previous campaigns that take place over a few years in the lives of William Wallace and Joan of Arc, the first scenario in Saladin is separated from the second by 15 years. Consistently, Saladin's appearance in the cutscenes changes from a young man with black mustache and goatee in the cutscenes to an older man with full beard.
- The campaign icon is a Pavilion, used in numerous campaigns in the game.
- Save for a few indirect allusions, the campaign omits Saladin's wars against other Muslim powers and concentrates on his battles against European Crusaders.
- The narrator of the campaign might be Jean Gale, a knight who had been excommunicated from the Christian community for murder and had found refuge with Saladin in Muslim territory. Saladin charged Gale with the education of his nephew, but wanting to regain his standing among the Christians, Gale turned over Saladin's nephew to the Knights Templar, driving Saladin to vengeance. In 1188, Saladin placed La Roche-Guillaume Castle, located near the Syrian Gates in what is now the Hatay Province of Turkey, under siege because Gale was there. Saladin may have taken Roche-Guillaume, but news from Palestine that King Guy de Lusignan had led knights into Tripoli as forebearers of the Third Crusade brought an early end to his siege of the castle.
Gallery[]
The cutscene background in the Definitive Edition
The cutscene background in the HD Edition
Cutscene artwork depicting the Levant during the events of this campaign (Second and Third Crusades)
The narrator of the campaign, upon his capture by Arab horse archers
Saladin's army marching through the Egyptian desert
The centerpiece of the crusades, the holy city of Jerusalem
The Dome of the Rock
Crusaders and Muslim forces battling
Reynald de Chatillon's menacing raids on the trade routes
Reynald in battle
Richard the Lionheart, one of the three kings leading the Third Crusade
Frederick I, another monarch contributing to the crusade
Age of Empires II - Saladin campaign cutscenes (multilanguage)
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