In AC3, didn't Desmond and several other modern characters die? That seems like a good reason to flush the deadweight.
Well, it was only Desmond, and some Assassin-turned-Templar character that they introduced in 3.
There's a scene in a later game where a character is wounded but AFAIK they don't address that in the games again, maybe in some of the files you can explore in Origins or something but I don't recall reading about it, then again I played Origins a long time ago and then played through all the other ones :\
Could've sworn annoying British quip machine at some point, but maybe I'm just mixing fantasy with reality. Everyone else has gotten some decent lines so far, though.
Not gonna lie, from the moment they introduced that character I was waiting for the reveal that he was an undercover Templar and you'd get to kill him.
I think they toned him down and made him into a likeable character with 3 though. ---