Hey everybody, my names Eskimo and I have a problem. I am fucking obsessed with figuring out what's really going on in Assassin's Creed. Pretty much went through the whole wiki, a bunch of forums and re-watched all the endings and truth videos over and over 'til some of the dots started to connect. A few off the wall theories turned into the novel you see below so have a looksie if you please, if not - i can't blame you. haha.. Anyway, feel free to let me know if you think I'm crazy. (Edit: the spoilers should work now. hopefully.)
SUBJECT 16
I'm starting to think 16 is also the female computer voice you hear in the truth puzzles. If you pay attention to her babble in-between puzzles, she begins to sound suspiciously human as you get further along. She displays emotions like feeling lost, alone and afraid. Then, when she's building the model for 16 in "the truth" (AC:B), she says "compiling subsystems... infrastructure... tendons... heart..." and then 16 says, "voice." Like it was still her talking - but with 16's voice program running. Then he says "Too weak. Must replenish energy." like he needs to go plug-in and re-charge.
16 allegedly committed suicide to keep Abstergo from getting any more information out of him but I think what actually happened was they made him spend so much time in the Animus that his body died but his consciousness remained there. He became a ghost in the machine. That’s how he is able to hack the Animus and plant glyphs and rifts in Ezio's memories. And that's why Desmond says "You're dead, I saw your blood."
Maybe the best supporting evidence for this theory is the title of the achievement you unlock for solving all the puzzles in AC:B. Its ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." which is morse code for "I AM ALIVE". If you wanted to get a message out but you were trapped in a computer, how would that message look? Both truth videos we see contain a hidden message: one in binary and one in morse code, both languages more native to a computer than a human being.
I have this sneaking suspicion that he’s also the mysterious and talented hacker known as Erudito who breaks into Abstergo’s mainframe, leaking confidential files and notifying new recruits about the true purpose of the project they are participating in. Erudito is also the person who e-mails Desmond his team’s passwords, advising him to “stay in the loop.”
16 allegedly committed suicide to keep Abstergo from getting any more information out of him but I think what actually happened was they made him spend so much time in the Animus that his body died but his consciousness remained there. He became a ghost in the machine. That’s how he is able to hack the Animus and plant glyphs and rifts in Ezio's memories. And that's why Desmond says "You're dead, I saw your blood."
Maybe the best supporting evidence for this theory is the title of the achievement you unlock for solving all the puzzles in AC:B. Its ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." which is morse code for "I AM ALIVE". If you wanted to get a message out but you were trapped in a computer, how would that message look? Both truth videos we see contain a hidden message: one in binary and one in morse code, both languages more native to a computer than a human being.
I have this sneaking suspicion that he’s also the mysterious and talented hacker known as Erudito who breaks into Abstergo’s mainframe, leaking confidential files and notifying new recruits about the true purpose of the project they are participating in. Erudito is also the person who e-mails Desmond his team’s passwords, advising him to “stay in the loop.”
SIXTH SENSE
About this sixth sense Juno mentions. She tells Desmond to "awaken the sixth." She says, "You with 5 senses. Us with 6. The one we kept from you. To be safe. Now you can never know. Only try. Grasp. You can SEE. SMELL. TASTE. TOUCH. HEAR. Knowledge has been locked away."
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
About this sixth sense Juno mentions. She tells Desmond to "awaken the sixth." She says, "You with 5 senses. Us with 6. The one we kept from you. To be safe. Now you can never know. Only try. Grasp. You can SEE. SMELL. TASTE. TOUCH. HEAR. Knowledge has been locked away."
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
This one’s mostly just a gut feeling but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. I think Rebecca is a Templar. There are 3 things which lead us to believe there is a traitor in Desmond's midst. 1: Subject 16 says "she is not who you think she is." Seems like everyone automatically suspects Lucy at this point but keep in mind, he could also be talking about Rebecca, Minerva or Juno. If you're at all familiar with horror movies, you know that the killer is always the person you least suspect. 2. "The cross darkens the horizon." Its cryptic, but I think she's saying there is a Templar keeping you from getting to where you need to go / seeing what you need to see. 3. Erudito messages Desmond saying “stay in the loop” with an attached list of passwords to his team‘s email accounts. This leads me to believe 16 was talking about someone on your team, and not one of the Ancients. Since Shawn is not a "she", that leaves Lucy and Rebecca.
They railroad you into thinking its Lucy but I think they try to make it just a little too obvious. Everything that points towards her seems like a red herring to me. 1. She's missing for the last couple sequences when you exit the Animus, which is overtly suspicious. 2. Apparently there are footprints outside the Villa that appear red in Eagle Vision. I haven't verified this personally though. 3. Juno forces Desmond to stab Lucy in order to "open the path" but I think opening the path simply means killing the only woman Desmond had feelings for so he’d end up with this other woman Juno mentions ("There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight.") ("Only she remains to be found.") in order to create a child who was immune to the effects of the POE's - Adam. In the email to Vidic from Rikkin in AC1, he talks about dealing with "those who are either immune to - or protected from - its effects." Those from the Assassin bloodline, who lack the neurotransmitter in their brains which allow the POE‘s work (Juno: "We tried to pass it through the blood. Tried to join you to us. WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU AS YOU WERE!"). Keep in mind, this doesn’t make them immune (Desmond was still forced to stab Lucy), it simply allows them a fighting chance to resist its will and see through the illusions it weaves, as the Ancients could. Whereas every other human on the planet is pretty much fucked. The point is, Lucy would have yielded a child genetically ill-equipped to save mankind. So unfortunately, she had to get the stab-stabby.
But there’s no way she’s a Templar, it makes no sense! In her emails to William M., she seems genuinely concerned about Desmond. While she was at Abstergo, she was intentionally delaying their progress with Desmond and then she convinced Vidic to let him live when the others were ready to dispose of him. If you read her e-mails, you get the distinct impression that Abstergo killed her friend and co-worker Leila for leaking sensitive information and then Vidic says, “you don‘t want to wind up like Leila.” When you go through her deleted messages, you find out Lucy was leaking intel to the Assassins while she was still at Abstergo. And why would she break Desmond out just to continue doing what they already had him doing? No, I think it was foreshadowing when Shawn jokingly called Rebecca a Templar for ratting him out about the yogurt in the emails (the emails also seem to indicate that those two are banging but I don't think he's in league with her, I think he's just unaware of who she really is. Otherwise 16 would have said "THEY aren't who you think THEY are.") I don't believe she was able to reconstruct an Animus just from looking at the schematic Lucy stole from Abstergo. I think she knew very well how to build one already. As for her motivations for building an Animus for the Assassins? ...Haven't really gotten that far yet. I'm just convinced its not Lucy.
They railroad you into thinking its Lucy but I think they try to make it just a little too obvious. Everything that points towards her seems like a red herring to me. 1. She's missing for the last couple sequences when you exit the Animus, which is overtly suspicious. 2. Apparently there are footprints outside the Villa that appear red in Eagle Vision. I haven't verified this personally though. 3. Juno forces Desmond to stab Lucy in order to "open the path" but I think opening the path simply means killing the only woman Desmond had feelings for so he’d end up with this other woman Juno mentions ("There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight.") ("Only she remains to be found.") in order to create a child who was immune to the effects of the POE's - Adam. In the email to Vidic from Rikkin in AC1, he talks about dealing with "those who are either immune to - or protected from - its effects." Those from the Assassin bloodline, who lack the neurotransmitter in their brains which allow the POE‘s work (Juno: "We tried to pass it through the blood. Tried to join you to us. WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU AS YOU WERE!"). Keep in mind, this doesn’t make them immune (Desmond was still forced to stab Lucy), it simply allows them a fighting chance to resist its will and see through the illusions it weaves, as the Ancients could. Whereas every other human on the planet is pretty much fucked. The point is, Lucy would have yielded a child genetically ill-equipped to save mankind. So unfortunately, she had to get the stab-stabby.
But there’s no way she’s a Templar, it makes no sense! In her emails to William M., she seems genuinely concerned about Desmond. While she was at Abstergo, she was intentionally delaying their progress with Desmond and then she convinced Vidic to let him live when the others were ready to dispose of him. If you read her e-mails, you get the distinct impression that Abstergo killed her friend and co-worker Leila for leaking sensitive information and then Vidic says, “you don‘t want to wind up like Leila.” When you go through her deleted messages, you find out Lucy was leaking intel to the Assassins while she was still at Abstergo. And why would she break Desmond out just to continue doing what they already had him doing? No, I think it was foreshadowing when Shawn jokingly called Rebecca a Templar for ratting him out about the yogurt in the emails (the emails also seem to indicate that those two are banging but I don't think he's in league with her, I think he's just unaware of who she really is. Otherwise 16 would have said "THEY aren't who you think THEY are.") I don't believe she was able to reconstruct an Animus just from looking at the schematic Lucy stole from Abstergo. I think she knew very well how to build one already. As for her motivations for building an Animus for the Assassins? ...Haven't really gotten that far yet. I'm just convinced its not Lucy.
WHO'S IN THE ANIMUS?
When Juno releases Desmond from her control he and Lucy collapse but you clearly see Shawn and Rebecca still frozen in place as they were before Desmond activated the Apple. It could very well be that Desmond just collapsed from exhaustion but I'm going to make a leap of faith (wah wah) here and say the reason he dropped like a sack of potatoes was because someone was desynchronizing from him.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I‘m wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I‘m wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
When Juno releases Desmond from her control he and Lucy collapse but you clearly see Shawn and Rebecca still frozen in place as they were before Desmond activated the Apple. It could very well be that Desmond just collapsed from exhaustion but I'm going to make a leap of faith (wah wah) here and say the reason he dropped like a sack of potatoes was because someone was desynchronizing from him.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I‘m wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I‘m wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
If I'm right about the "the truth" in AC2 being 16's vision of the future, that means the Ancients have reawakened (you see one of them through the window, holding an Apple as Adam and Eve are climbing) And not just the friendly, talkative ones, but also their enemies, who still craved war after the others had made peace with the humans. There are a few things that are said which hint at two opposing factions among the Ancients. 1. "You, birthed from our loins and the loins of our enemies." 2. "Find the temples built by those who knew to turn away from war" suggesting there were those who did not.
PIECES OF EDEN
This might be my silliest theory yet but hear me out. I think the Pieces of Eden are more than just simple tools that the Ancients created in order to control the human race. I think they may also serve as spiritual capsules which contain their life essence while they are without physical bodies. It might be a stretch but chew on it for a minute. They seem pretty invested in a future they won't be a part of: building vaults all over the world for the right person to find, leaving behind pre-recorded holograms to guide mankind in the proper direction and making sure to hide all of the POE's before they died out. Minerva was supposed to have been the last of the Ancients and she supposedly died at the end of AC2, ("We are gone now from this world. All of us.") But then 500 years later, Ezio discovers Juno's temple. At first she appears to him simply as a non-interactive hologram that does nothing more than deliver pre-recorded messages but as soon as he touches the Apple, she takes direct control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy. How does a scripted message from a supposedly dead being possess a man and then tell him to cease his struggle? Its a pretty impressive feat for a previously non-responsive, non-sentient hologram.
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you’re not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you’re not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
This might be my silliest theory yet but hear me out. I think the Pieces of Eden are more than just simple tools that the Ancients created in order to control the human race. I think they may also serve as spiritual capsules which contain their life essence while they are without physical bodies. It might be a stretch but chew on it for a minute. They seem pretty invested in a future they won't be a part of: building vaults all over the world for the right person to find, leaving behind pre-recorded holograms to guide mankind in the proper direction and making sure to hide all of the POE's before they died out. Minerva was supposed to have been the last of the Ancients and she supposedly died at the end of AC2, ("We are gone now from this world. All of us.") But then 500 years later, Ezio discovers Juno's temple. At first she appears to him simply as a non-interactive hologram that does nothing more than deliver pre-recorded messages but as soon as he touches the Apple, she takes direct control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy. How does a scripted message from a supposedly dead being possess a man and then tell him to cease his struggle? Its a pretty impressive feat for a previously non-responsive, non-sentient hologram.
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you’re not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you’re not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
To be honest, I‘m still pretty in the dark about what‘s coming. We know the Templars have been gathering up as many Artifacts as they can get their hands on and Juno said “it does not take many to unwind the world.” She also talks about how “the world became undone” at one point and that they had to work together with the humans to rebuild. Was this the result of a misuse of the Artifacts? We know each piece contains a destructive potential comparable to a nuclear bomb when destroyed (the DIA satellite incident and the Tunguska blast) and there are 50 different locations marked on Altair’s map in the codex so that many could really fuck some shit up.
But then we’re also lead to believe this cataclysm Minerva and Juno talk about will return and that it was the result of something that came from space, like a stray meteor or a solar flare (Minerva: “So busy were we with Earthly concerns we failed to notice the heavens. And by the time we did the world burned until naught remained but ash.”) (Minerva: “If you can find them - if their work can be saved, so too might this world.”) A meteor would make sense because they could have predicted its return by calculating the trajectory of its orbit down to the day. But then again, they don’t really need to calculate anything since they’re precogs so there goes that theory. Subject 16 puts some weight behind the solar flare theory when he says “the sun… your son…” hinting that the sun might pose some threat in the future and that Desmond’s son will play an integral part in stopping it.
The phrase, “the beginning and the end” is mentioned twice that I’ve noticed. Once, as a reference to Revelations 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.") on the wall at the end of AC1 and once from Juno (“The end and the beginning, who we abhor and honor.”) Does this mean that the world is scheduled to end on that date? Or does it imply that things are about to come full circle with the 50 Pieces of Eden becoming whole once more?
We know Abstergo plans to make their power play for world domination on the 21st (an unintentional choice of date - the original date was delayed according to Vidic‘s e-mail) by launching a low earth orbit transmitter equipped with one or more Artifacts in an attempt to turn all of humanity into compliant zombies. Juno refers to this day as “the moment of awakening” so maybe Abstergo unintentionally resurrects the Ancients with the satellite? Since they seemed to have the same agenda and we’re told they were unable to deal with the humans’ numbers before, maybe they’ll welcome the assistance of a global corporation with all its resources, working together to enslave mankind under the will of the POE’s and forcing them to rebuild Eden / Abstergo HQ in Africa. Or maybe they’ll wake up in a death rage and the war between man and his creator will begin anew so you (playing as Adam) must break into Eden, find Eve (Subject 16: "In Eden, find Eve"), steal a Piece of Eden, escape from the compound (I think "the truth" in AC2 will be an actual playable escape sequence by the way) and liberate mankind from slavery.
Or maybe I’m just retarded and they won‘t wake up at all. I dunno. My brain hurts. Any thoughts?
But then we’re also lead to believe this cataclysm Minerva and Juno talk about will return and that it was the result of something that came from space, like a stray meteor or a solar flare (Minerva: “So busy were we with Earthly concerns we failed to notice the heavens. And by the time we did the world burned until naught remained but ash.”) (Minerva: “If you can find them - if their work can be saved, so too might this world.”) A meteor would make sense because they could have predicted its return by calculating the trajectory of its orbit down to the day. But then again, they don’t really need to calculate anything since they’re precogs so there goes that theory. Subject 16 puts some weight behind the solar flare theory when he says “the sun… your son…” hinting that the sun might pose some threat in the future and that Desmond’s son will play an integral part in stopping it.
The phrase, “the beginning and the end” is mentioned twice that I’ve noticed. Once, as a reference to Revelations 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.") on the wall at the end of AC1 and once from Juno (“The end and the beginning, who we abhor and honor.”) Does this mean that the world is scheduled to end on that date? Or does it imply that things are about to come full circle with the 50 Pieces of Eden becoming whole once more?
We know Abstergo plans to make their power play for world domination on the 21st (an unintentional choice of date - the original date was delayed according to Vidic‘s e-mail) by launching a low earth orbit transmitter equipped with one or more Artifacts in an attempt to turn all of humanity into compliant zombies. Juno refers to this day as “the moment of awakening” so maybe Abstergo unintentionally resurrects the Ancients with the satellite? Since they seemed to have the same agenda and we’re told they were unable to deal with the humans’ numbers before, maybe they’ll welcome the assistance of a global corporation with all its resources, working together to enslave mankind under the will of the POE’s and forcing them to rebuild Eden / Abstergo HQ in Africa. Or maybe they’ll wake up in a death rage and the war between man and his creator will begin anew so you (playing as Adam) must break into Eden, find Eve (Subject 16: "In Eden, find Eve"), steal a Piece of Eden, escape from the compound (I think "the truth" in AC2 will be an actual playable escape sequence by the way) and liberate mankind from slavery.
Or maybe I’m just retarded and they won‘t wake up at all. I dunno. My brain hurts. Any thoughts?
SUBJECT 16
I'm starting to think 16 is also the female computer voice you hear in the truth puzzles. If you pay attention to her babble in-between puzzles, she begins to sound suspiciously human as you get further along. She displays emotions like feeling lost, alone and afraid. Then, when she's building the model for 16 in "the truth" (AC:B), she says "compiling subsystems... infrastructure... tendons... heart..." and then 16 says, "voice." Like it was still her talking - but with 16's voice program running. Then he says "Too weak. Must replenish energy." like he needs to go plug-in and re-charge.
16 allegedly committed suicide to keep Abstergo from getting any more information out of him but I think what actually happened was they made him spend so much time in the Animus that his body died but his consciousness remained there. He became a ghost in the machine. That’s how he is able to hack the Animus and plant glyphs and rifts in Ezio's memories. And that's why Desmond says "You're dead, I saw your blood."
Maybe the best supporting evidence for this theory is the title of the achievement you unlock for solving all the puzzles in AC:B. Its ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." which is morse code for "I AM ALIVE". If you wanted to get a message out but you were trapped in a computer, how would that message look? Both truth videos we see contain a hidden message: one in binary and one in morse code, both languages more native to a computer than a human being.
I have this sneaking suspicion that he’s also the mysterious and talented hacker known as Erudito who breaks into Abstergo’s mainframe, leaking confidential files and notifying new recruits about the true purpose of the project they are participating in. Erudito is also the person who e-mails Desmond his team’s passwords, advising him to “stay in the loop.”
SIXTH SENSE
About this sixth sense Juno mentions. She tells Desmond to "awaken the sixth." She says, "You with 5 senses. Us with 6. The one we kept from you. To be safe. Now you can never know. Only try. Grasp. You can SEE. SMELL. TASTE. TOUCH. HEAR. Knowledge has been locked away."
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
TEMPLAR MOLE
This one’s mostly just a gut feeling but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. I think Rebecca is a Templar. There are 3 things which lead us to believe there is a traitor in Desmond's midst. 1: Subject 16 says "she is not who you think she is." Seems like everyone automatically suspects Lucy at this point but keep in mind, he could also be talking about Rebecca, Minerva or Juno. If you're at all familiar with horror movies, you know that the killer is always the person you least suspect. 2. "The cross darkens the horizon." Its cryptic, but I think she's saying there is a Templar keeping you from getting to where you need to go / seeing what you need to see. 3. Erudito messages Desmond saying “stay in the loop” with an attached list of passwords to his team‘s email accounts. This leads me to believe 16 was talking about someone on your team, and not one of the Ancients. Since Shawn is not a "she", that leaves Lucy and Rebecca.
They railroad you into thinking its Lucy but I think they try to make it just a little too obvious. Everything that points towards her seems like a red herring to me. 1. She's missing for the last couple sequences when you exit the Animus, which is overtly suspicious. 2. Apparently there are footprints outside the Villa that appear red in Eagle Vision. I haven't verified this personally though. 3. Juno forces Desmond to stab Lucy in order to "open the path" but I think opening the path simply means killing the only woman Desmond had feelings for so he’d end up with this other woman Juno mentions ("There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight.") ("Only she remains to be found.") in order to create a child who was immune to the effects of the POE's - Adam. In the email to Vidic from Rikkin in AC1, he talks about dealing with "those who are either immune to - or protected from - its effects." Those from the Assassin bloodline, who lack the neurotransmitter in their brains which allow the POE‘s work (Juno: "We tried to pass it through the blood. Tried to join you to us. WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU AS YOU WERE!"). Keep in mind, this doesn’t make them immune (Desmond was still forced to stab Lucy), it simply allows them a fighting chance to resist it's will and see through the illusions it weaves, as the Ancients could. Whereas every other human on the planet is pretty much fucked. The point is, Lucy would have yielded a child genetically ill-equipped to save mankind. So unfortunately, she had to get the stab-stabby.
But there's no way she's a Templar, it makes no sense! In her emails to William M., she seems genuinely concerned about Desmond. While she was at Abstergo, she was intentionally delaying their progress with Desmond and then she convinced Vidic to let him live when the others were ready to dispose of him. If you read her e-mails, you get the distinct impression that Abstergo killed her friend and co-worker Leila for leaking sensitive information and then Vidic says, “you don‘t want to wind up like Leila.” When you go through her deleted messages, you find out Lucy was leaking intel to the Assassins while she was still at Abstergo. And why would she break Desmond out just to continue doing what they already had him doing? No, I think it was foreshadowing when Shawn jokingly called Rebecca a Templar for ratting him out about the yogurt in the emails (the emails also seem to indicate that those two are banging but I don't think he's in league with her, I think he's just unaware of who she really is. Otherwise 16 would have said "THEY aren't who you think THEY are.") I don't believe she was able to reconstruct an Animus just from looking at the schematic Lucy stole from Abstergo. I think she knew very well how to build one already. As for her motivations for building an Animus for the Assassins? ...Haven't really gotten that far yet. I'm just convinced its not Lucy.
WHO'S IN THE ANIMUS?
When Juno releases Desmond from her control he and Lucy collapse but you clearly see Shawn and Rebecca still frozen in place as they were before Desmond activated the Apple. It could very well be that Desmond just collapsed from exhaustion but I'm going to make a leap of faith (wah wah) here and say the reason he dropped like a sack of potatoes was because someone was desynchronizing from him.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I'm wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
RESURRECTING THE ANCIENTS
If I'm right about the "the truth" in AC2 being 16's vision of the future, that means the Ancients have reawakened (you see one of them through the window, holding an Apple as Adam and Eve are climbing) And not just the friendly, talkative ones, but also their enemies, who still craved war after the others had made peace with the humans. There are a few things that are said which hint at two opposing factions among the Ancients. 1. "You, birthed from our loins and the loins of our enemies." 2. "Find the temples built by those who knew to turn away from war" suggesting there were those who did not.
PIECES OF EDEN
This might be my silliest theory yet but hear me out. I think the Pieces of Eden are more than just simple tools that the Ancients created in order to control the human race. I think they may also serve as spiritual capsules which contain their life essence while they are without physical bodies. It might be a stretch but chew on it for a minute. They seem pretty invested in a future they won't be a part of: building vaults all over the world for the right person to find, leaving behind pre-recorded holograms to guide mankind in the proper direction and making sure to hide all of the POE's before they died out. Minerva was supposed to have been the last of the Ancients and she supposedly died at the end of AC2, ("We are gone now from this world. All of us.") But then 500 years later, Ezio discovers Juno's temple. At first she appears to him simply as a non-interactive hologram that does nothing more than deliver pre-recorded messages but as soon as he touches the Apple, she takes direct control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy. How does a scripted message from a supposedly dead being possess a man and then tell him to cease his struggle? Its a pretty impressive feat for a previously non-responsive, non-sentient hologram.
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you're not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
DECEMBER 21, 2012
To be honest, I‘m still pretty in the dark about what‘s coming. We know the Templars have been gathering up as many Artifacts as they can get their hands on and Juno said “it does not take many to unwind the world.” She also talks about how “the world became undone” at one point and that they had to work together with the humans to rebuild. Was this the result of a misuse of the Artifacts? We know each piece contains a destructive potential comparable to a nuclear bomb when destroyed (the DIA satellite incident and the Tunguska blast) and there are 50 different locations marked on Altair’s map in the codex so that many could really fuck some shit up.
But then we’re also lead to believe this cataclysm Minerva and Juno talk about will return and that it was the result of something that came from space, like a stray meteor or a solar flare (Minerva: “So busy were we with Earthly concerns we failed to notice the heavens. And by the time we did the world burned until naught remained but ash.”) (Minerva: “If you can find them - if their work can be saved, so too might this world.”) A meteor would make sense because they could have predicted its return by calculating the trajectory of its orbit down to the day. But then again, they don’t really need to calculate anything since they’re precogs so there goes that theory. Subject 16 puts some weight behind the solar flare theory when he says “the sun… your son…” hinting that the sun might pose some threat in the future and that Desmond’s son will play an integral part in stopping it.
The phrase, “the beginning and the end” is mentioned twice that I’ve noticed. Once, as a reference to Revelations 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.") on the wall at the end of AC1 and once from Juno (“The end and the beginning, who we abhor and honor.”) Does this mean that the world is scheduled to end on that date? Or does it imply that things are about to come full circle with the 50 Pieces of Eden becoming whole once more?
We know Abstergo plans to make their power play for world domination on the 21st (an unintentional choice of date - the original date was delayed according to Vidic‘s e-mail) by launching a low earth orbit transmitter equipped with one or more Artifacts in an attempt to turn all of humanity into compliant zombies. Juno refers to this day as “the moment of awakening” so maybe Abstergo unintentionally resurrects the Ancients with the satellite? Since they seemed to have the same agenda and we’re told they were unable to deal with the humans’ numbers before, maybe they’ll welcome the assistance of a global corporation with all its resources, working together to enslave mankind under the will of the POE’s and forcing them to rebuild Eden / Abstergo HQ in Africa. Or maybe they’ll wake up in a death rage and the war between man and his creator will begin anew so you (playing as Adam) must break into Eden, find Eve (Subject 16: "In Eden, find Eve"), steal a Piece of Eden, escape from the compound (I think "the truth" in AC2 will be an actual playable escape sequence by the way) and liberate mankind from slavery.
Or maybe I’m just retarded and they won‘t wake up at all. I dunno. My brain hurts. Any thoughts?
I'm starting to think 16 is also the female computer voice you hear in the truth puzzles. If you pay attention to her babble in-between puzzles, she begins to sound suspiciously human as you get further along. She displays emotions like feeling lost, alone and afraid. Then, when she's building the model for 16 in "the truth" (AC:B), she says "compiling subsystems... infrastructure... tendons... heart..." and then 16 says, "voice." Like it was still her talking - but with 16's voice program running. Then he says "Too weak. Must replenish energy." like he needs to go plug-in and re-charge.
16 allegedly committed suicide to keep Abstergo from getting any more information out of him but I think what actually happened was they made him spend so much time in the Animus that his body died but his consciousness remained there. He became a ghost in the machine. That’s how he is able to hack the Animus and plant glyphs and rifts in Ezio's memories. And that's why Desmond says "You're dead, I saw your blood."
Maybe the best supporting evidence for this theory is the title of the achievement you unlock for solving all the puzzles in AC:B. Its ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." which is morse code for "I AM ALIVE". If you wanted to get a message out but you were trapped in a computer, how would that message look? Both truth videos we see contain a hidden message: one in binary and one in morse code, both languages more native to a computer than a human being.
I have this sneaking suspicion that he’s also the mysterious and talented hacker known as Erudito who breaks into Abstergo’s mainframe, leaking confidential files and notifying new recruits about the true purpose of the project they are participating in. Erudito is also the person who e-mails Desmond his team’s passwords, advising him to “stay in the loop.”
SIXTH SENSE
About this sixth sense Juno mentions. She tells Desmond to "awaken the sixth." She says, "You with 5 senses. Us with 6. The one we kept from you. To be safe. Now you can never know. Only try. Grasp. You can SEE. SMELL. TASTE. TOUCH. HEAR. Knowledge has been locked away."
When she says knowledge, I'm fairly certain she's talking about precognition. In "the truth" (AC:B), 16 seems to have knowledge of things that haven't happened yet. "The sun... Your son…” So I believe he may have already "awakened the 6th" and "the truth" in AC2 was a vision of the future, NOT of the past. For one thing, at the end, they briefly flash 4 lines of binary code which spell "EDEN." Now, there are twenty 0's and twelve 1's in the sequence so 20+12=2012. If Eden is a place that exists (or began construction, perhaps) in 2012, maybe the biblical story of Adam and Eve was a prophecy for the future and not a historical account as it is told in the bible. Juno does say "All the world is innocent once more. Innocent and ignorant." Another thing; in an e-mail to Vidic in AC1, you learn that Abstergo killed off 96% of the population of Africa with a biological weapon and divided up the continent for their own purposes. Now, go check out the mountain range behind Adam and Eve at the end of “the truth.” You’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When talking about time, Juno says "We can distract him. We can see past him. Feint left when he strikes right. But his reach is so very long. His stamina unending. We cannot evade his grasp. Not forever." The Ancients anthropomorphize time because it is so personal and tangible a reality to them; something they are very intimately familiar with thanks to that sixth sense.
TEMPLAR MOLE
This one’s mostly just a gut feeling but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. I think Rebecca is a Templar. There are 3 things which lead us to believe there is a traitor in Desmond's midst. 1: Subject 16 says "she is not who you think she is." Seems like everyone automatically suspects Lucy at this point but keep in mind, he could also be talking about Rebecca, Minerva or Juno. If you're at all familiar with horror movies, you know that the killer is always the person you least suspect. 2. "The cross darkens the horizon." Its cryptic, but I think she's saying there is a Templar keeping you from getting to where you need to go / seeing what you need to see. 3. Erudito messages Desmond saying “stay in the loop” with an attached list of passwords to his team‘s email accounts. This leads me to believe 16 was talking about someone on your team, and not one of the Ancients. Since Shawn is not a "she", that leaves Lucy and Rebecca.
They railroad you into thinking its Lucy but I think they try to make it just a little too obvious. Everything that points towards her seems like a red herring to me. 1. She's missing for the last couple sequences when you exit the Animus, which is overtly suspicious. 2. Apparently there are footprints outside the Villa that appear red in Eagle Vision. I haven't verified this personally though. 3. Juno forces Desmond to stab Lucy in order to "open the path" but I think opening the path simply means killing the only woman Desmond had feelings for so he’d end up with this other woman Juno mentions ("There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight.") ("Only she remains to be found.") in order to create a child who was immune to the effects of the POE's - Adam. In the email to Vidic from Rikkin in AC1, he talks about dealing with "those who are either immune to - or protected from - its effects." Those from the Assassin bloodline, who lack the neurotransmitter in their brains which allow the POE‘s work (Juno: "We tried to pass it through the blood. Tried to join you to us. WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU AS YOU WERE!"). Keep in mind, this doesn’t make them immune (Desmond was still forced to stab Lucy), it simply allows them a fighting chance to resist it's will and see through the illusions it weaves, as the Ancients could. Whereas every other human on the planet is pretty much fucked. The point is, Lucy would have yielded a child genetically ill-equipped to save mankind. So unfortunately, she had to get the stab-stabby.
But there's no way she's a Templar, it makes no sense! In her emails to William M., she seems genuinely concerned about Desmond. While she was at Abstergo, she was intentionally delaying their progress with Desmond and then she convinced Vidic to let him live when the others were ready to dispose of him. If you read her e-mails, you get the distinct impression that Abstergo killed her friend and co-worker Leila for leaking sensitive information and then Vidic says, “you don‘t want to wind up like Leila.” When you go through her deleted messages, you find out Lucy was leaking intel to the Assassins while she was still at Abstergo. And why would she break Desmond out just to continue doing what they already had him doing? No, I think it was foreshadowing when Shawn jokingly called Rebecca a Templar for ratting him out about the yogurt in the emails (the emails also seem to indicate that those two are banging but I don't think he's in league with her, I think he's just unaware of who she really is. Otherwise 16 would have said "THEY aren't who you think THEY are.") I don't believe she was able to reconstruct an Animus just from looking at the schematic Lucy stole from Abstergo. I think she knew very well how to build one already. As for her motivations for building an Animus for the Assassins? ...Haven't really gotten that far yet. I'm just convinced its not Lucy.
WHO'S IN THE ANIMUS?
When Juno releases Desmond from her control he and Lucy collapse but you clearly see Shawn and Rebecca still frozen in place as they were before Desmond activated the Apple. It could very well be that Desmond just collapsed from exhaustion but I'm going to make a leap of faith (wah wah) here and say the reason he dropped like a sack of potatoes was because someone was desynchronizing from him.
When subject 16 says "Its too late to save them. Everything that you hope to become, everything that you hold dear is already gone", I think its because 16 knows that Desmond only exists in memory at present. And AC3 is gonna kick off right after you stab Lucy and desync into the real REAL world, where you're playing as Desmond's son Adam after the 2012 event. My reasoning is this: we know Desmond will have a son because 16 mentions him and if you go back and watch "the truth" in AC2, you'll notice that both times Adam looks back towards the camera, the video distorts. This leads me to believe that we might recognize his face. I think we're not allowed to see it because he looks so much like Desmond that everyone would figure it out right away. When Adam finally speaks, it doesn’t sound exactly like Desmond, but its definitely similar.
As for the 2 unfamiliar voices you hear talking in the credits at the end of AC:B. I'm not positive but I think they mean well for voice #3 (we're lead to believe this is Desmond but like I said, I think its his son, Adam) and are therefore Assassins, not Templars. Now, the only other Assassins I'm aware of are the two from the emails in AC:B: William M, who emails Shawn and Lucy information about the other teams and Erudito (if I'm wrong about 16, that is). I'm assuming they have Adam in the Animus looking through Desmond’s memories for something important. Most likely, the location of the Apple.
RESURRECTING THE ANCIENTS
If I'm right about the "the truth" in AC2 being 16's vision of the future, that means the Ancients have reawakened (you see one of them through the window, holding an Apple as Adam and Eve are climbing) And not just the friendly, talkative ones, but also their enemies, who still craved war after the others had made peace with the humans. There are a few things that are said which hint at two opposing factions among the Ancients. 1. "You, birthed from our loins and the loins of our enemies." 2. "Find the temples built by those who knew to turn away from war" suggesting there were those who did not.
PIECES OF EDEN
This might be my silliest theory yet but hear me out. I think the Pieces of Eden are more than just simple tools that the Ancients created in order to control the human race. I think they may also serve as spiritual capsules which contain their life essence while they are without physical bodies. It might be a stretch but chew on it for a minute. They seem pretty invested in a future they won't be a part of: building vaults all over the world for the right person to find, leaving behind pre-recorded holograms to guide mankind in the proper direction and making sure to hide all of the POE's before they died out. Minerva was supposed to have been the last of the Ancients and she supposedly died at the end of AC2, ("We are gone now from this world. All of us.") But then 500 years later, Ezio discovers Juno's temple. At first she appears to him simply as a non-interactive hologram that does nothing more than deliver pre-recorded messages but as soon as he touches the Apple, she takes direct control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy. How does a scripted message from a supposedly dead being possess a man and then tell him to cease his struggle? Its a pretty impressive feat for a previously non-responsive, non-sentient hologram.
I read something interesting on the AC wiki that got me started thinking about this; there's a page on a POE called the Shroud of Eden (the linen cloth Jesus wore which allowed him to heal the sick and rise from the dead). "Once in physical proximity the Shroud seems to "speak" to the user. When touched by Perotto Calderon it "told" him, through a voice in his head, that his son was "broken goods" and could not be healed. Francesco Vecellio experienced the same voice in his head as well as graphic hallucinations. When Niccolò di Pitigliano attempted to control the Shroud, his body was smashed from inside-out by the Shroud's power." These are not just tools the Ancients left behind. At least some of them are showing signs of intelligent, unscripted response to foreign stimuli.
Listen to the language the Ancients use. Minerva says, "When we were still flesh and our homes still whole, your kind betrayed us." indicating that they no longer exist in the flesh; their physical bodies have fallen victim to time but their essence is eternal, kept preserved and "contained" within the Pieces of Eden (Juno: "It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do.") Subject 16 said "The Pieces of Eden were once part of a whole." Their home (Eden) is no longer whole because something caused it to fragment into the Pieces of Eden, where they wait (Juno: "We wait for you Desmond.") for the day when they will be reawakened ("On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening."): Dec 21, 2012.
(Update: if you're not convinced, you should probably check this out. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Chalice)
DECEMBER 21, 2012
To be honest, I‘m still pretty in the dark about what‘s coming. We know the Templars have been gathering up as many Artifacts as they can get their hands on and Juno said “it does not take many to unwind the world.” She also talks about how “the world became undone” at one point and that they had to work together with the humans to rebuild. Was this the result of a misuse of the Artifacts? We know each piece contains a destructive potential comparable to a nuclear bomb when destroyed (the DIA satellite incident and the Tunguska blast) and there are 50 different locations marked on Altair’s map in the codex so that many could really fuck some shit up.
But then we’re also lead to believe this cataclysm Minerva and Juno talk about will return and that it was the result of something that came from space, like a stray meteor or a solar flare (Minerva: “So busy were we with Earthly concerns we failed to notice the heavens. And by the time we did the world burned until naught remained but ash.”) (Minerva: “If you can find them - if their work can be saved, so too might this world.”) A meteor would make sense because they could have predicted its return by calculating the trajectory of its orbit down to the day. But then again, they don’t really need to calculate anything since they’re precogs so there goes that theory. Subject 16 puts some weight behind the solar flare theory when he says “the sun… your son…” hinting that the sun might pose some threat in the future and that Desmond’s son will play an integral part in stopping it.
The phrase, “the beginning and the end” is mentioned twice that I’ve noticed. Once, as a reference to Revelations 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.") on the wall at the end of AC1 and once from Juno (“The end and the beginning, who we abhor and honor.”) Does this mean that the world is scheduled to end on that date? Or does it imply that things are about to come full circle with the 50 Pieces of Eden becoming whole once more?
We know Abstergo plans to make their power play for world domination on the 21st (an unintentional choice of date - the original date was delayed according to Vidic‘s e-mail) by launching a low earth orbit transmitter equipped with one or more Artifacts in an attempt to turn all of humanity into compliant zombies. Juno refers to this day as “the moment of awakening” so maybe Abstergo unintentionally resurrects the Ancients with the satellite? Since they seemed to have the same agenda and we’re told they were unable to deal with the humans’ numbers before, maybe they’ll welcome the assistance of a global corporation with all its resources, working together to enslave mankind under the will of the POE’s and forcing them to rebuild Eden / Abstergo HQ in Africa. Or maybe they’ll wake up in a death rage and the war between man and his creator will begin anew so you (playing as Adam) must break into Eden, find Eve (Subject 16: "In Eden, find Eve"), steal a Piece of Eden, escape from the compound (I think "the truth" in AC2 will be an actual playable escape sequence by the way) and liberate mankind from slavery.
Or maybe I’m just retarded and they won‘t wake up at all. I dunno. My brain hurts. Any thoughts?
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