Glyphs



Glyphs were one of the side quests that Desmond Miles could find in the Animus virtual machine through controlling his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze. They 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 experiences 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
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 1.03, it carried with it the imprinted glyphs originally placed on the core by Subject 16.

While Desmond relived Ezio's memories, he would find numerous symbols that acted as a gateway to activating the glyph file that was contained within. These were the same symbols scrawled by Subject 16 on the floor and walls of the Abstergo laboratory. 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 is only accessible to those of the Assassin bloodline. Desmond would then solve a number of puzzles that would allow 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 would solve described the activities of the Assassins and Templars, and instances where Pieces of Eden have emerged throughout history.

Rome
When Shaun Hastings analysed the results of the Glyph puzzles, he discovered the puzzles also contained co-ordinates 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 is located on a historical landmark within the Animus. When approaching a landmark with a Glyph, the landmark's Database entry will show an 'Eye' icon. Search the landmark in Eagle Vision for your best chance of 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 Salvuci.
 * 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

 * You must always solve the Glyph puzzles in numerical order, regardless of the order you locate in the Glyphs.
 * Whenever you are stuck on a puzzle, a help option will appear and you will receive a hint from Shaun upon activating it.
 * When referring to the picture ring puzzles, the innermost ring is called Ring 1 and the outermost ring is Ring 5.

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

The puzzle to solve involves finding the "core similarity" in each painting. 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.

