Glyphs

Glyphs were objects that Desmond Miles could find in the Animus when reliving his ancestor Ezio Auditore's memories. Each Glyph revealed significant details about the history of and conflict between the Assassin and Templar Orders.

Origins
The Glyphs were created by Subject 16, Desmond's predecessor in the Abstergo Animus. 16 had discovered 'The Truth' during his prolonged Animus sessions, but he could not share this information during his captivity. Instead, 16 hacked the Animus and hid the file in a number of encrypted fragments which Desmond experienced as Glyphs. In an effort to inform the next Animus subject of the hack, Subject 16 left a number of Cryptic Messages scattered around the Abstergo laboratory in his own blood.

Abstergo lab
Before Desmond Miles was placed in the Animus, Abstergo had cleaned away Subject 16's messages. These messages were impossible to be seen with the naked eye, but the Bleeding Effect eventually granted Desmond the use of Eagle Vision, which allowed him to perceive 16's cryptic messages. Although Desmond was able to see the messages, he was unable to make any sense of them during his captivity.

In the Animus 2.0
During the Escape from Abstergo Industries, Lucy Stillman stole the memory core from the Animus that Subject 16 had tampered with. When this core was transferred to the Animus 2.0, 16's Glyphs were transferred as well.

While reliving the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Desmond and his fellow Assassins discovered the existence of the Glyphs and surmised how they appeared in the Animus. They eventually reached the conclusion that after Lucy Stillman stole the Animus data core from Abstergo's Animus 1.28, it carried with it the imprinted glyphs originally placed on the core by Subject 16.

While Desmond relived Ezio's memories, he found numerous symbols that acted as a gateway to activating particular glyph file fragments. 16 only wanted Assassins to be able to access these glyphs so scanning a specific symbol in Eagle Vision was the only way to open the glyph, as Eagle Vision was only accessible to those of the Assassin bloodline. Desmond solved the puzzles, allowing him to access a short clip of The Truth video. Once all the glyphs were solved, these short clips combined to form a complete whole. The puzzles that Desmond solved described the activities of the Assassins and Templars and instances where Pieces of Eden had emerged throughout history.

Rome
When Shaun Hastings analyzed the results of the Glyph puzzles, he discovered the puzzles also contained coordinates to additional hidden locations. This led Desmond to another series of puzzles Subject 16 had placed in the Animus, accessible through locations around the city of Rome.

Glyph Locations
Each Glyph was located on a historical landmark within the Animus. After completing the first memory sequence, when approaching a landmark with a Glyph, the landmark's Database entry showed an 'Eye' icon. Proximity to one was also signalled by a 'shimmering' sound effect identical to the ones heard near feathers and treasure chests as well as the decipher fragments in The Lost Archive. Searching the landmark in Eagle Vision was the key to revealing the Glyph.

 Florence=====San Marco District====
 * Facing south on the roof of La Rosa Colta
 * Facing north on the eastern rooftop of the Ospedale degli Innocenti
 * Facing west on the northern lower roof of Santa Croce

Santa Maria Novella District

 * On the south face of the northern bell tower of the church of San Lorenzo
 * Facing east in the northeast corner of the Mercato Vecchio courtyard

Tuscany/San Gimignano=====Tuscany====
 * On the east face of the Monte Oliveto Maggiore tower
 * Just outside San Gimignano, facing west in the curved tunnel at the rear of Antico Teatro Romano

San Gimignano

 * Facing north on top of Torre del Diavolo
 * Facing south in the gap between the Torre dei Salvucci
 * Facing east at street level in Santa Maria Assunta

Romagna/Forlì=====Romagna====
 * On the north face of the Avamposto Veneziano lighthouse

Forlì

 * Facing east above the west colonnade of San Mercuriale

Venice=====San Polo District====
 * Facing west beneath the east end of Ponte di Rialto
 * Facing east between the dome and bell tower of San Giacomo di Rialto
 * Facing east on the roof top of Gilda del Ladri di Venezi

San Marco District

 * Facing up on top of Torre dell'Orologio, above the clock
 * Facing up in an open section near the top of Campanile di San Marco

Castello District

 * Facing north on top of Scuola Grande di San Marco
 * Facing east on top of San Pietro di Castello



Glyph Puzzles

 * The Glyph puzzles were solved in numerical order, regardless of where they were found.
 * Whenever stuck on a puzzle, a help option appeared and Shaun Hastings offered a hint upon activating it.
 * When referring to the picture ring puzzles, the innermost ring was called Ring 1 and the outermost ring Ring 5.

 1=====In The Beginning==== Subject 16 stated that "everything we've been brought up to believe was a lie" and explained he had proof. This proof had been split into 20 encrypted pieces and hidden in the Animus software as the Glyphs.

The puzzle to solve involved finding the "core similarity" in each painting. Desmond had to identify and select the pictures with apples: The Fall, Hercules in the Garden of Hesperides, Atalanta and Hippomenes, Judgement of Paris and Idun and the Apples.

