Assassin's Creed

Overview

The overall story within Assassin's Creed is set in September of 2012, where barkeeper Desmond Miles has been kidnapped by an unknown person prior to the start of the game, and is brought to Abstergo Industries, where researchers are working on the Animus project. The Animus is able to read memories from ancestors of the user that have been stored in DNA, allowing the user to replay those memories as if he were there himself. Desmond was "chosen" for the project due to his relationship to his ancestor Altaïr, a member of the Assassins during the Third Crusade of the Holy Land; the researchers express interest in understanding more of how the Assassins worked and reviewing a specific memory. Though initially Desmond's sub-conscious rejects the specific memory sought by the researchers, he learns to accept it by proceeding through the earlier memories leading up to it.

The memories of Altaïr that Desmond experiences start in AD 1191: Richard the Lionheart has just recaptured the port city of Acre from occupying Muslims. With a base of operations established, the Crusaders prepare to march south. Their true target is Jerusalem - which they intend to recapture for Christianity. However, Saladin, leader of the Islamic army, currently rules the city. Stinging from his army's defeat at Acre, he will not allow Richard to humiliate him again. The Muslim forces are massing in the ruins of Arsuf, intending to ambush the Crusaders and prevent them from reaching Jerusalem. These war maneuvers have left the rest of the Holy Land wide open. While Richard and Saladin battle one another, the men left to govern in their stead have begun taking advantage of their newfound positions of power. Exploitation, manipulation, and provocation rule the day.

The first memory Desmond experience 24524q167y s is that of Altaïr failing to assassinate the Grand Master of The Templar Knights, Robert de Sable, and recover the order's treasure. Due to this, Altaïr is demoted to Novice (the lowest rank in the Assassin Order). But Al Mualim, leader of the Assassins, offers him an opportunity to redeem himself. Altaïr must venture out into the Holy Land and assassinate nine men said to be exacerbating and exploiting the hostilities created by the Third Crusade. In doing so, he will stabilize the region, thus allowing peace to reign.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Along the way, however, Altaïr discovers that his targets are bound by more than just a shared interest in personal gain, but are in fact Templars themselves, with the goal to unite all mankind under common rule. Desmond further learns, from emails left overnight between sessions, and conversations with his fellow captive, Lucy Stillman that Abstergo Industries is run by modern-day Templars, who are seeking the locations of several artifacts that they can use to continue the Templars' plans. Desmond learns that he was kidnapped by the company so that they may learn, through Altaïr's memories, the location of other artifacts like the Piece of Eden, which was destroyed six years prior to Desmond's capture, in Abstergo's Denver Facility. What remains of the Assassin's Guild in the modern day, tries, and fails, to recover Desmond before that information could be discovered.

Robert de Sable, the last of the men Altaïr kills, plans to unite the Crusaders and Muslims against the Assassins. In doing so, Saladin and Richard The Lionheart would instead work together and fight the Assassins, and in the process, bring peace. Altaïr finally catches up with Robert de Sable, his last assigned target, and defeats him. De Sable reveals, in his dying words, that Altaïr's master used him to destroy the others who knew of the Piece of Eden, which is capable of altering what men can see and can be used for mass hypnosis. Altaïr travels to face his Master, who wields the Piece of Eden, using it in an attempt a lethal misdirection, but eventually falls to Altaïr's blade. As Altaïr recovers the "Piece of Eden," the device activates one more time to reveal multiple locations across the globe in an holographic manner. With Altaïr's memory complete, Desmond wakes up out of the Animus to learn that Abstergo Industries is already sending out recovery teams to those locations, hoping to find additional artifacts. Desmond, now having no use for Abstergo Industries, was to be silenced. Lucy's intervention, claiming that he could be of further use, spared his life temporarily.

It is learned later that Abstergo is attempting to gain access to another 'Piece of Eden' so that they may use it against all of humanity. They plan to launch it within an orbiting satellite, set to launch on Dec 21, 2012.

In the conclusion of the game, Desmond, having become "synchronized" with Altaïr, and using Altaïr's eagle vision, and is able to see messages scrawled across the floors and walls, ostensibly written in blood, that only he can see, that refer to the end of the world described by several religions and other writings. Such writings include references to the biblical passage Revelations 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."), a Lorenz Attractor, the Eye of Providence, the word Al-Zalzalah (الزلزلة) which is Arabic for The Earthquake which symbolizes the end of the world, and other writings in foreign languages. Additionally, there is the Mayan date of 13.0.0.0 - December 21, 2012 - which is also the projected date, on the Mayan calendar, for the end of this age of the world. The mysterious email (Titled "I KNOW") was sent at 13:00 (1:00 pm), though whether this is coincidental or not is unclear.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Science Fiction Element

Assassin's Creed is a game that has dual settings, one in the year 1191 during the Third Crusade where the player plays with Altair, and the other in a more modern era, between July and October in 2012 where the player takes control of Desmond Miles.

One subtle example appears in the high definition version of the Ubidays '07 trailer. Near the end, while the game's logo is visible, the screen glitches two different times. During each glitch, a single frame is displayed showing a molecular diagram. (To view this for yourself, click the Ubidays trailer link. Under the video click the Download link. Open the file with the appropriate player. Skip to 1:39. Then pause it and advance the video one frame at a time.)

Another example occurs during the demo at X06 (download the HD version here). At the end, after Altair dies, what looks like a side-scrolling menu appears with the following choices: "hard drive," "memories," and "options." Above each choice is the word "animus," which is Latin for mind or spirit. Below "memories" the phrase "access your genetic memory" can be seen.

The most interesting piece of evidence is from an interview with Kristen Bell (an actress whose voice and likeness will appear in the game), in which she states:

It's sort of based on the research that's happening now, about the fact that your genes might be able to hold memory. And you could argue semantics and say it's instinct, but how does a baby bird know to eat a worm, as opposed to a cockroach, if its parents don't show it? And it's about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into people's brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and find out who that person was.

Ubisoft has confirmed that Assassin's Creed is part of a trilogy and has stated that one or both of the sequels may have a futuristic setting.

[edit] Potential Sequel Hypotheses

• Additional sequels could focus on new "test subjects" and be played out similiar to Desmond's situation. Each story would be able to introduce a new "subject", ancestor, time period, location, and artifact. Each subject and their ancestor could contribute to the greater storyline from different parts of history, similiar to the story of Eternal Darkness on the GameCube. This would allow the theories of additional ancestors and time periods to be explored while allowing the Animus to continue as a literary device. Each "subject" could, like Desmond, eventually synchronize with their ancestor and become an Assassin/Templar(depending on what their ancestor were), adopting their creed and abilities. Each subject could be located in additional Abstergo facilities, or possbily even the same facility as where Desmond is located in the first game. Throughout these subsequent games, the main character could uncover clues like Desmond that would ultimately lead them to either escaping or joining forces with other Assassins, possibly even Lucy or Desmond. Subsequent games could even focus on multiple subjects at a time, now that some of the storyline has already been introduced. Or possible each new character's story could be played out in additional downloadable episodes/expansions. If this story were to continue in this way, they could even rally together in order to lead a modern day revolution against the Templars and Abstergo with their new found abilities. This revolution could be prompted by or even led by Desmond himself. It would also be the ultimate irony if the Templars ended up being the creators of their own destruction by unknowingly breeding these new Assassin's via their invention, the Animus.

• The name, Yonaguni (Though in the game written Yona Gani), is written on the floor in a top-over-bottom fashion, in the research chamber, when viewing through eagle vision. It is a reference to a mythical Japanese island with a history not unlike that of Atlantis, being the resting place an ancient civilization that was far more advanced than our modern civilization. Potentially, this explains the origins of some, if not all, of the Templar treasures. Additionally, this also foreshadows the setting of the coming sequel, Japan. Of course this would mean that Desmond would potentially be out of the picture, assuming they use the Animus again, as he is not Japanese and would likely have no Japanese ancestors. This would also mean that, again assuming the Animus is used once more, that the game would take place before 1191 and the Third Crusade.

• One of the Templar treasures mentioned is capable of altering the space-time-continuum, referred to as the Philadelphia Experiment where a ship was phased out of normal space time for 18 minutes. Although Abstergo halts research on this artifact, fearing paradoxical consequences, it is likely that we will hear of it again. Will we go back in time and meet with Altair? Will we go forward and see mankind under the control of the Templars? Who knows...

• We may also see what happened to subject 16 (and 1-15), and whether Lucy is an actual Assassin, or just works for them.

• One of these subjects was referred to in an email to having an ancestor in the far east. This may be related to the "Yona Gani" writing on the floor mentioned above.

• It is also possible that the planned sequel will continue to develop the story of Altair, after his failure to destroy the piece of eden.

• Finally, The Bleeding effect is mentioned in the emails as well. This occurs when a subject interfaces with the Animus for too great a period and eventually becomes unable to distinguish between their ancestor's memories and their own. Potentially this might mean we will see Altair's persona take over Desmond. Note that this also explains the fact that Desmond is able to use Eagle Vision at the end of the Game. It is quite likely the game may drop the Animus plot device in future titles and take place in the game's present tense, with the blending of Altair memories with Desmond's reality creating for some pretty unique and interesting gameplay.

• There are three animal pictures: a hummingbird, a spider, and a monkey. All three pictures are drawings of the Nazca lines (a series of lines in Peru that, when viewed from above, reveal giant animals). These three drawings could signify that there is another ancient artifact is somewhere nearby, or they could be clues to a deeper mystery...

• Even though the game is constantly hinting that Christianity is a lie, there are many distinctive Christian elements that seem to hint towards the Piece of Eden covering up the truth about Christ, not supporting a lie. This could mean that, contrary to what the Templars would like everyone to believe, there really is a God of some sort, though whether he is in control of the world or not is yet to be seen. Apart from stating all miracles to be a product of the piece of eden and even mentioning a "poor carpenter who turned water into wine".

There is a Eye of Horus at one of the corners, in addition to three triangles, two large and one small, resembling the Pyramids of Giza, possibly indicating a sequel in Ancient Egypt.

• The game may drift for the generic and continue the story as Desmond trying to complete his ancestor's work, gathering the remaining pieces of Eden along with Lucy

• Rumors seem to support this being a trilogy of games with the next being set in fuedal Japan and a third to follow in Germany during World War II. It is unclear how to work in the "Assassin" portion to the more modern WWII setting however.

Possibilities include sniping or very covert spying, requiring great patience to handle a lot of sneaking around.