The Templars are the organization that traditionally opposes the Assassins in Assassin’s Creed.
Across the series, the Assassins and Templars represent competing philosophies. The Assassins generally value free will and resist centralized control, while the Templars seek order through authority and influence. Their conflict continues across different historical eras and modern settings.
The Templars are connected to the historical Knights Templar, but the games expand them into a fictional secret network that survives after the medieval order’s destruction. In the modern storyline, the corporation Abstergo Industries serves as the Templars’ principal public-facing organization.
A frequent confusion is treating Abstergo as a completely separate enemy faction. Abstergo is the modern corporate expression of the Templar cause, while the Templars themselves are the broader ideological and historical order.