William Miles

William "Bill" Miles (born 1948) is a high-ranking member of the Assassin Order, who has become the de facto leader of the Assassins by 2012. He is the father of Desmond Miles.

Initially working from a remote compound known as "the Farm", William's dedication to the Assassin Brotherhood allowed him to slip into the role of leader, overseeing the activities of Assassin cells spread around the globe.

In late 2012, William joined the Assassin team consisting of Desmond, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, who had managed to obtain one of the Apples of Eden. Together, they relocated to New York to find the Grand Temple left behind by the First Civilization.

Early life
William Miles was born in 1948, into the Brotherhood of Assassins, eventually devoting his life to the Assassins' cause. In 1987, William was living with his wife in an Assassin compound called "the Farm", located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, outside Rapid City. Living with approximately thirty other Assassins in the compound, William's son Desmond was born and raised there.

William trained Desmond extensively, insisting to him the importance of being careful, and of being ready for an attack from their enemies at any time. William also trained several other Assassins, which would also go on to include Lucy Stillman.

Researching Daniel Cross
In 1998, William was contacted by Paul Bellamy, the Assassin in charge of an Assassin compound located outside Philadelphia. Paul asked William to look for information about an individual named Daniel Cross, who was brought into the compound by Hannah Mueller, under the assumption that he was an Assassin.

William found information about Cross' ancestry, which led to the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov, who was closely tied to the Tunguska event. William relayed this information to Paul, and Cross was accepted into the Assassin Brotherhood.

In November 2000, Daniel was personally introduced to the Mentor, and assassinated him upon an impulse secretly implanted into his brain by Abstergo Industries during his youth. The Templar sleeper agent also revealed the locations of all Assassin camps he had visited during his journeys, resulting in the Templars initiating the "Great Purge" to destroy these camps, though the Farm was left unscathed.

Overseeing the Order
With the loss of the Mentor and nearly all Assassin compounds gone, the Assassins went into hiding, operating from remote and secluded compounds and cells. Eventually, control of the Order slipped into William's hands, and William started overseeing the Order's activities.

However, in 2003, Desmond ran away from the Farm, fed up with his parents' paranoia about the Templars and believing them to be nothing more than conspiracy freaks. Despite efforts to find Desmond, William and the Assassins were unsuccessful in retrieving him.

William continued to loyally serve the Order nonetheless, keeping in contact with the Assassin cells via the Hephaestus Email Network, the Assassins' private email network.

In 2012, Lucy Stillman was working undercover in Abstergo Industries as the assistant of Warren Vidic, one of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. After the death of her teammate Clay Kaczmarek, used in Abstergo's Animus Project as "Subject 16", Abstergo's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition division managed to track down Desmond and captured him, also using him in the Animus Project as "Subject 17". Around this time, William and the other Assassins deserted the Farm, some time before a team sent by Abstergo arrived there.

Retrieving Desmond
Lucy eventually broke Desmond out of Abstergo's facility in Italy, and the two of them joined Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane to continue Desmond's Animus sessions, though this time for the Assassins' interests. William kept in contact with Lucy's cell, occasionally hearing of Desmond's progress.

Eventually, by reliving the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Desmond was able to attain the location of his ancestor's Apple of Eden, hidden for centuries in the Colosseum Vault. The team entered the First Civilization Vault, and Desmond retrieve the Apple; however, his body was taken possession of by Juno, a member of the First Civilization, who forced him to stab Lucy, killing her. William dispatched some Assassins to retrieve the team from the Vault, and placed Desmond inside the Animus due to Desmond's conscious state worsening after his body was taken possession of.

Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories, finding a restored memory sequence from 1506. Desmond received an e-mail from William telling him that the memory sequence he had found would lead them to some information that the Assassins required. At the end of the memories, Leonardo da Vinci and Ezio Auditore found another Vault in Rome, located beneath the Pythagorean Temple. When Ezio's DNA activated a pedestal, the room projected a set of coordinates: 43 39 19 N 75 27 42 W, which led to Turin in the American state of New York; the location of the Grand Temple left behind by the First Civilization.

Once the sequence was completed, William instructed the other man to sedate Desmond, though it was too late; Desmond had entered a coma, and fell into the Animus' Black Room. Despite this, William was confident that his son would recover, and he and the other man then left in order to investigate the coordinates.

Relocating to New York
While Desmond was still in the Animus, William transported Rebecca Crane and Desmond to New York, while Shaun stayed behind to attend Lucy's funeral. William examined the Apple of Eden, but didn't believe he had the genes to properly wield it, while Desmond did. Upon arrival, William helped Rebecca stabilize Desmond, as well as monitor his vitals. While watching over Desmond, William asked Rebecca and Shaun about him, such as what his relationship had been with Lucy. He also mentioned that Desmond's DNA had a high potency of First Civilization DNA, allowing him to wield the Apple of Eden. He also discussed with them their next move, and how to transport Desmond in his comatose state.

When his son finally woke from his coma, William was the first to greet him, with Desmond seeming surprised to see him, but recognizing him immediately. Desmond, seeing the Apple, told his team that he knew what to do next, and William proceeded to open the doors of the van they were in.

Meanwhile, Abstergo had been tracking William for some time, as they knew he had become the de facto leader of the Assassin Order. Once William's location became known, Warren Vidic and Laetitia England assigned their Master Templars to find and eliminate him.

Characteristics and personality
William was truly devoted to the Assassin Order, sacrificing the social relationships he had with those around him for the sake of the Order, including those he had with his own wife and son. While his wife was able to deal with the emotional distance, Desmond was not able to do so, which became one of the reasons why Desmond decided to run away from his parents.

This somewhat cold personality of his also occasionally disturbed other members of the Order, including Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane after William showed little remorse over Lucy Stillman's death. Nonetheless, his driven personality and intelligence that William used to serve the Assassin Brotherhood earned him the loyalty of the Order, allowing for him to become their de facto leader in the absence of a Mentor.