User blog:Master Sima Yi/The modern day story

By now, every Assassin's Creed fan has seen the ending to Assassin's Creed III. Every fan has shaped their opinion of it. A number of fans loved the ending, while a much more overshadowing number was sorely disappointed in it. It does not take long to find an article on the internet saying that this game ruined the series and that somebody will no longer buy any Assassin's Creed games.

I admit that when I first saw the ending, my mouth dropped and my heart stopped for a bit. And that was not in a positive way. All previous games made me expect a lot of things from the ending and they did not turn out to be featured. It did not make me lose 'faith' in the series like it did for so many others, though I was very unhappy with it for days. Over time I learned to appreciate the ending more, and now that I have looked over a lot of conversations and hidden messages from the modern day story in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and The Lost Archive, I have come to realize the brilliance of the ending.

I will use this blog as an opportunity to explain all the various points that merged into the culmination of Desmond's story as best as I can, though I am afraid that some things may yet remain confusing. Some things I yet do not understand, and perhaps through discussion we may come to a conclusion on those things.

Samson and Delilah
The ending of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was the first ending that really left us in shock. For months people had been speculating about whether Lucy was really dead or just severely wounded. With the release of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, we got confirmation that she really died and quite a few fans were unhappy with this. They got even more upset when The Lost Archive directly revealed that Lucy had shifted sides to the Templars. But it was the speech Juno gave before she took control of Desmond's body that is still more intriguing to this day. It is particularly relevant to Assassin's Creed III's ending, and I think that quite a few of us have been misinterpreting its meaning for quite some time.

"There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight. The cross darkens the horizon." Many of us have been interpreting this as a reference to "Eve". That "Eve" would be accompanying Desmond through the gate and nobody else. Desmond would need to find this person, and remove Lucy as his love interest so that "Eve" could take her place. So it was quite weird to see William, Shaun and Rebecca follow him through the gate inside the Grand Temple, and to not have a single clue to who this "Eve" is.

There is a different meaning through this part of Juno's dialogue. It refers to there being someone in the group who wants to accompany Desmond through the gate, but that person cannot be there. She's not in the First Civilization's/Juno's predicted future, "not within [their] sight". That person refers to Lucy; the Templar sleeper agent. As revealed in Assassin's Creed III, if Lucy had lived, she would have taken the Apple to Abstergo. And even if Desmond, Shaun and Rebecca survived, they would not be able to get into the Grand Temple. In order for the First Civilization/Juno to get their way, Lucy had to be go so that Desmond's path to the Grand Temple was secured. "The Path must be opened. You cannot escape your part in this. The scales shall be balanced."

"It is done. The way lies all before you. Only she remains to be found. Awaken the sixth. Go. ALONE!" It is done. Desmond can now journey to the Grand Temple. So that he may find Juno. So that he would 'awaken' the sixth solution that Jupiter, Minerva and Juno invented - to leave their mortal bodies to enter a transcendent vessel, which only Juno agreed to use - so that Juno might be released. He would need to go alone, into his coma, where he would relive Ezio's memories from 1506 in which he found the Grand Temple coordinates inside the Pythagorean Vault so that Desmond would be brought there. And also where he would meet Clay Kaczmarek's AI construct.

Clay created Adam, Adam created Clay
"I am with you 'til the end. Find me, in the darkness."

- Clay to Desmond, at the end of their initial conversation in the Animus.

Clay helped Desmond out numerous times throughout Desmond's journey in the Animus. Ever since Assassin's Creed II he had been considered Desmond's guardian angel, helping Desmond learn about the history of the Assassin-Templar conflict through Glyphs and Rifts. He also send Desmond a lovely video of Adam and Eve trying to escape from Eden. But why did he help Desmond out and why did he send this video? We never really asked ourselves this.