The Templars are the principal rival of the Assassins throughout the Assassin's Creed series.
The franchise presents the Assassins and Templars as opposing organizations with competing views of society. Assassins generally defend free will, while Templars seek order and control, although individual members and stories can complicate that broad contrast.
The Templars are linked to the historical Knights Templar, but the games use a fictional continuation of the order across later centuries. Their influence appears in many periods, including the Crusades, Renaissance Italy, colonial America, and industrial London.
The Assassins have also used different names in different eras. In Assassin's Creed Origins, they begin as the Hidden Ones, while the Templar Order develops later in the series' fictional chronology.