Saladin’s demand for ransom for the people of Jerusalem is also omitted from the film, simplifying the climax’s resolution and making Saladin seem more generous.Īlthough the biographical details of Kingdom of Heaven’s Balian of Ibelin have no basis in history, the moral character of Balian does. A significant event that is left out of the film is Saladin ordering his Sufi mystics to execute the Templar prisoners after the Battle of Hattin. However, for the most part Saladin is seen more as the romanticized philosopher king. The episode where he slits Reynald’s throat and then beheads him after the Battle of Hattin is an example of his desire for revenge, a scene taken right out of historical fact. In a few instances, Kingdom of Heaven does show glimpses of Saladin’s ruthlessness. It was his dream to drive the Crusaders out of Jerusalem and reinstate Islamic control of the Holy Land. Saladin became the hero of the Islamic world by uniting the Muslim kingdoms together in order to oppose the Crusaders. In reality, Saladin was seen as magnanimous but also ruthless by both Christians and Muslims. When Balian first meets Tiberias, Tiberias comments that “Saladin and the King between them would make a better world.” Saladin is presented as the Muslim counterpart to Baldwin, another skeptical, moderate king who rules with honour and justice. William of Tyre saw Reynald’s aggression towards Muslims and his illegal raiding of caravans as the “pretext for the loss of the kingdom of Jerusalem.” The twelfth-century Muslim view of Crusaders was that they were courageous and skilled warriors, but barbaric in all other aspects. Even Christian historians agreed that Reynald was an evil figure. According to a contemporary Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir, “Prince Reynald, lord of Kerak, was one of the greatest and wickedest of the Franks, the most hostile to the Muslims and the most dangerous to them.” As the film depicts, Reynald had a running rivalry with Saladin, raiding his caravans and even capturing his sister in a raid that became the provocation for Saladin’s invasion of Jerusalem. The depiction of Reynald is the most historically accurate portrait of any character in the film. In Kingdom of Heaven Crusaders are seen mostly in a negative light, with Reynald de Chatillon, Guy de Lusignan, and the Templars occupying the necessary roles of villains.
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