Glyphs



Glyphs are a side quest in Assassin's Creed II that allow the player to learn more about the back history of the Assassin's Creed universe.

Origins
The Glyphs were created by Subject 16, Desmond Miles's predecessor in the Abstergo Animus. 16 had discovered 'The Truth' in his 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 the Animus user experiences as Glyphs. In an effort to inform the next Animus subject of the hack, Subject 16 left a number of Cryptic Messages in his own blood.

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

Assassin's Creed II
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. Scanning a specific glyph in Eagle Vision would open the Glyph; 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 themselves described the activities of the Assassins and Templars, and instances where Pieces of Eden have emerged, throughout history.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
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.

Glyph Locations
Each Glyph is located on a historical landmark within the game world. 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/Fiorlì=====Romagna====
 * On the north face of the Avamposto Veneziano lighthouse.

Fiorlì

 * 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. 2=====Sixty-Four Squares==== You must solve 3 picture rings: spin the various rings in turn until they form an image. The centre circle of the puzzle is fixed, so work you way from the inside out. Sometimes rotating the thickest circles first makes understanding the correct positions of the smaller ones easier.

Each picture is of a famous historical leader who held an Apple of Eden during their career. These leaders are Queen Elizabeth I (Piece #2), Napoleon Bonaparte (Piece #1) and George Washington (Piece #3). 3=====Descendants==== You are presented with a series of pictures, which you will see normally and then under a red light. When the picture is under the red light, you'll have to search the images for the hidden Apple of Eden. While you're searching the paintings, you will also uncover some hidden Morse or Mason Pigpen symbols that contain a hidden message.

Subject 16 explains that each photo subject was murdered by the Templars and their Piece of Eden stolen.


 * Franklin D. Roosevelt: Apple #3 is located just below Roosevelt's knee. On the blackboard you will also find a Pigpen cipher.  This text reads "The Masons brought it across the sea. George Washington passed it on".
 * Harry Houdini: Apple #1 is located below Houdini's head, on the water torture chamber. Above Houdini's feet you'll find a Morse cipher that reads "They hit him in the stomach".
 * Mahatma Gandhi: Apple #2 is located atop Gandhi's staff. Another Morse cipher is hidden in this picture, reading "The bullet hit him in the chest".

