as John Wick's one-man vengeance-a-thon expanded that started with an ill-conceived puppy side I'll kill them I'll Kill Them All We've Come to know more and more about the complex world of Assassins who knew cold-blooded Killers had so many rules it's hard to keep track but I've got you covered somebody please get this man a gun starting from the top and working our way down there is the one who sits above all the Elder despite what the name sounds like it's not a lifetime appointment or maybe it is Wick has met with two Elders the first in Parabellum gives Wick a task to clear his excommunicado status and takes Wick's ring finger and wedding ring as Penance for his misdeeds that task was to kill Winston manager of the New York Continental for refusing to step down it went all kinds of wrong as these things do and Wick found himself face to face with a different Elder when he came to retrieve his wedding ring the new Elder tells Wick that the old Elder has the ring and that's pretty much all we know about the old Elder both Elders talk a lot about how there's no out but death and the Elder has his own governing body to answer to even if he's the head of that table and that table would be the high table consisting of the heads of 12 crime families the high table makes the rules that everyone else has to follow and seats at the high table are highly coveted John Wick's high table troubles began when Santino d'antonio calls in a marker Wick had given him during the impossible task he cashes in the favor by having Wick take out his sister who will inherit their family's seat at the table only it would be unseemly to off your own sister so d'antonio gets the big brain idea to set up the Baba Yaga himself who just eliminated an entire crime family for killing his dog the stakes are a touch higher in dantonio's case so he decides he'll just live in the Continental Hotel the whole time where Wick isn't allowed to kill him we'll get to that in a bit but also Wick decided that bass be damned d'antonio's gotta go this violation of high table rules sets in Motion in an Ever escalating series of events as they try to assert their Authority in the face of a top assassin who has nothing left to lose first up was the adjudicator when Wick shot dontonio on Continental grounds it was just one domino in a series of rule breaking Winston was supposed to execute Wick but instead gave him an hour ahead start before declaring him excommunicado and putting a bounty on his head the Bowery King gave Wick a gun with seven bullets one for each million for the bounty on Wick's head with all this rule breaking going on the high table sent an adjudicator they are meant to assess a member's transgressions and assign their punishment foodie assassin zero was sent to deal with wick for letting Wick go Winston was meant to step down as manager of the Continental the Bowery King received seven cuts for seven bullets seven cuts for seven bullets would be a way darker musical than Seven Brides for Seven Brothers just a thought when you're facing the adjudicator you have a chance to make your case when you've really mucked things up then you get a visit from the harbinger like the name suggests the harbinger is the bearer of bad news in chapter 4 that bad news was generally to tell anyone who was helping Wick that they were done that includes when the temporary high table head the Marquis De gramon decides to go scorched Earth and destroy the New York continental and decommission the Osaka one because even the high table has to play by the high table rules in order to kill Wick who they were sure was there the Osaka Continental had to no longer be a guild protected Place The Harbinger is high enough ranking that he's able to question Grandma's tactics and oversees the complex dueling rules you can't have a well-organized guild of Assassins if you don't have a way to communicate unless it's an in-person kind of message all communication goes through the switchboard at the administration all we really know is that the dress code is very rockabilly and technology is limited to sometime around the early 80s so what are these complex rules that require all this infrastructure to enforce let's just get the big one out of the way as well known as the first rule of Fight Club the one rule you can't break is no business on Continental grounds after rocket is an assassin Guild hotel if half their guests are stalking the halls trying to kill the other half not to mention the cost of cleaning in the first John Wick an assassin tries to skirt that rule and while she's lucky enough to not get killed by Wick she is later killed by Winston for violating that rule when Winston isn't so Johnny on the spot with Wick it sets in motion a series of events that will shake the high table to its core the rule is just that important equally important is you must honor your markers in the course of your adventures you might from time to time find yourself in need of a favor from a fellow assassin even John Wick needs a friendly hand now and then actually especially John Wick but when you're not asking friends you can exchange a marker sealed literally in blood the marker promises the bearer a favor to be determined in the future a favor you cannot refuse to honor Wick gave his marker to dantonio during the impossible task years earlier we could taken a marker from the manager of the Casablanca Continental Sophia al-azoir what caches that in to find the location of the Elder with some Peter Pan style directions follow a constellation into the desert all azwar was in a bit of a catch-22 not honoring the marker is a No-No but helping Wick also a No-No the rules can get tricky while assassin contracts are traded in regular currency assassins gain access to Guild resources via specially minted gold coins presumably you gain favor assisting the high table in their Affairs you get gold coins you take that gold coin and you access a wealth of resources a gold coin can get you assassin-specific Goods like armored suits that only let plot bullets through a wide variety of guns Maps hotel rooms and even drinks at the Continental Bar there's a reason for that last one since you can buy drinks with regular money we'll get to that in a moment one of the stranger things you start to notice watching the John Wick movies is how unfazed everyone is that an elaborate martial arts fight is taking place or even a shootout until the fight starts breaking things it rather seems like no one cares or even notices Creator Derek Kolstad has likened John Wick 2 and Beyond to a video game that seems open world but is really just about the world of these Assassins but in World why isn't everyone surrounding Wix fights with their phones out it's because these assassins are professionals no bystanders are hurt in the making of John Wick killing is restricted to killers and targets only and it appears to have created a world in which if you find two well-dressed people going for broke on each other just mind your business they won't hurt you what makes John Wick so unique is that he was able to do the impossible not just the task that veto set out for him but the reward that veto never thought he would have to honor Wick got out out of the life entirely bury his gold coins and weapons under the garage floor he's done trading blows and bullets and surrendered to a life of long walks on the beach holding hands at Sunset it's rare for a trained near duel to get a happy ending but Wick was on his way to one until his dog was killed before you know it Wick is back and he's not really happy about it for people like Sophia and Wick's old friends sent to kill him Kane they are kept in line via a threat to their children so maybe Wick either decided not to have kids or they didn't have enough time he was out you can get out of a member group of the high table John Wick was raised by the director of the ruska Roma before becoming the tarasab's killing machine when he needs their help to get out of New York he presents the director with a cross as a symbol of his membership Wick loses that membership in exchange for the favor an action that is punished by the adjudicator by having zero stab her through both hands this isn't an ideal situation however because now you're no longer protected by family at the high table a new layer was added to the complex world of assassins in chapter 4 as with tries yet another way to get out from under being excommunicado and an ever-increasing Bounty with the Marquis De glamon burning down everything with touches including blowing up Winston's beloved Continental Winston ever the rules lawyer suggests an old-fashioned duel when two families at the high table have a dispute they can request a duel Wick had to get his ticket back from the now rather irate ruska Roma for them to sanction The Duel on his behalf once the duel is accepted the harbinger oversees the process of setting the parameters of the duel things like weapons location and time are each chosen by the participants then they flip over a marker with playing card values on the other side and high card wins each duelist gets a second and seconds can ask for their own terms however they are also subject to the fate of the Duelist they serve meaning if the Duelist loses and dies so does the second so don't just second anyone if a duelist does not show up at the appointed time the duel is forfeit the second killed and well I'm not sure what they had left to threaten wickwith he'd even be more excommunicado and have a larger Bounty anyway his life is forfeit if he doesn't make it on time there's a lot of focus on the one thing you can't do on Continental grounds but the hotel is more than just a safe space for Assassins naturally there's a concierge who can provide assistance and recommendations and if he's cool he'll look after your dog but they also have a tailor service that makes those sharp looking bulletproof suits their sommelier doesn't dish out wine but rather Firepower and with the same reserved Glee as a regular Somalia there's also cartography Services should that become necessary all of these services are paid for with the gold coins in order to retain the services of the Continental you have to drop a coin so if you're not staying the night you can buy a drink at the bar while still under high table rules the managers of the individual hotels have complete discretion over how they're run cold sets on record is saying that a John Wick slash nobody crossover would feel desperate and if it were to happen it'd be the two leads passing each other at the airport but then in chapter 4 a Tracker showed up with the name Mr Nobody taking the Matrix 4 rule of if a studio sees potential The Impossible becomes a lackluster sequel to A beloved series or a shared Universe if that's the case nobodies would be the Auditors who clean up off-book operations by those three letter agencies and like WIC they're scary deadly and hard to kill a streaming prequel series on peacock will shed more light on the history of the Continental while a spin-off movie titled ballerina will focus on Rooney the titular ballerina assassin ballerina assassins are all the rage I think it's the tight buns they have to put their hair in make some stabby