Calculations

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"They had these tools, these powerful machines, that could predict possible futures. Not what was going to happen, but wha-what could happen... probabilities. And... well, they spent a lot of energy trying to decide what was the most likely scenario for the future. Theirs and ours."

―Desmond Miles, 2012.

Minerva projecting herself into the future

Calculations allowed the Isu to study alternate, future timelines. Minerva was particularly proficient in their application from within the Nexus, a vaguely explained temporal disruption.

Jupiter, Juno and Minerva worked to influence several individuals throughout humanity in the centuries ahead of them to prevent a recurrence of a solar flare from devastating the planet after seeing one coming in their own species' near future.

The Nornir, a triad associated with the Asgardian Isu, were also able to read the calculations and counseled Odin in their probable outcomes. When Odin travelled to Útgarðar to search for the "Mead", he encountered the jötnar Gunnlöð, who referred to the Calculations as seiðr.

After his consciousness was uploaded into the Grey and the 2012 Second Disaster was averted, the human Desmond Miles discovered that the cataclysm, a particularly stubborn 'node' in the timeline, kept trying to reassert itself and Miles dedicated himself to the study of the calculations in an effort to reduce the chances of a recurrence. By the time Layla Hassan joined him in his efforts eight years later, Miles had morphed into an entity known as "the Reader."

Notable instances

Isu Era

The Nornir, a triad associated with the Æsir faction of the Isu, interpreted the calculations and counselled Odin on potential future events, and how best to make or avoid them happening. They were responsible for informing Odin about Fenrir's role in Ragnarök, driving Odin to try to find the means to avert his and the Æsir's end via Ragnarok which culminated with the Æsir using Yggdrasil to be reborn centuries later.

The Isu Loki used the calculations to successfully time his infiltration of the Yggdrasil site and plant a replica of his consciousness and genetics into the human genepool.

Minerva constructed two builds of the Eye based on her studies; the first to communicate with Desmond Miles through his ancestor Ezio Auditore in 1499, and the second to commune with Desmond again on the day of the impending Second Disaster in 2012.

Ancient Greece

Kassandra and Deimos touching the Pyramid

In the 5th century BCE, the Cult of Kosmos was in possession of a Piece of Eden known as the Pyramid, which allowed them to witness visions of both the past and possible futures. They used this information in their efforts to take over the Greek world by starting the Peloponnesian War.

In 431 BCE, when Kassandra infiltrated the Sanctuary of Kosmos and touched the Pyramid at the same time as her half-brother Alexios, who served the Cult as their enforcer Deimos, the siblings witnessed visions of their childhood which allowed them to determine each other's identities.

Several years later, when Kassandra returned to the Sanctuary after having eliminated the Cult, she again touched the Pyramid and saw a vision of her father Pythagoras who revealed that Kassandra had been destined to wipe out the Cult and restore the balance between order and chaos. Pythagoras then explained that the fight between order and chaos would continue for millennia afterwards, as Kassandra was shown visions of the conflict between the Assassins and Templars.

In 422 BCE, the Isu Aletheia explained to Kassandra—and through her, Layla Hassan, who was reliving the Spartan's memories—that the Isu had spent so much time looking for alternate futures where "everything remained the same", rather than ones where the Isu and humans might work together to survive, that it ultimately cost them any chance of survival.

Renaissance

Ezio using the Apple to see the future

Ezio Auditore once used his Apple of Eden to look into the future and discern what threat Cesare Borgia still posed following his arrest in 1503. What he saw immediately resolved him to eliminate the incarcerated Grand Master.

Age of Imperialism

In 1725, while under the influence of a crescent amulet, Edward Kenway experienced several visions of the past and the future, including one of the Dutch sailor Hendrik concealing a sea log within Ferdinand Magellan's cross. This confirmed to Edward that he was on the right path to find Magellan's "treasure" and that he needed to find the cross in Cebu.

Later that same year, the Visayan chief Rajah, who had acquired the amulet, was shown visions of the future conflicts that awaited the Filipino people, most notably the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II. These visions determined Rajah to prevent them from coming to fruition by securing his peoples' independence through a violent revolution, though he was defeated by Edward Kenway before he could succeed.

When Ratonhnhaké:ton communed with Juno via a Crystal Ball in 1769, she instructed him to join the Assassins and showed him the consequences should he not do so: the Templars would breach the sanctuary near Kanatahséton and the world would not be saved from the coming apocalypse.

Washington's Apple projecting a vision of an alternate timeline

Following the end of the American Revolutionary War, George Washington began suffering from nightmares caused by an Apple of Eden he had retrieved during the Siege of Yorktown, which showed him a possible future where he ruled the United States as a tyrant. When Washington showed the Apple to Ratonhnhaké:ton, the latter was subjected to the same visions, revealing that if he had never joined the Assassins, he would not have been present to prevent Washington's corruption by the Apple and the United States' collapse into civil war.

Modern times

When Nikolai Orelov touched the Imperial Sceptre, a Staff of Eden, during the Tunguska event, he saw events from the past and future. Through the Bleeding Effect, his descendant Daniel Cross saw his eventual meeting with the Mentor.

Inside the Colosseum Vault, Juno showed Desmond Miles what would happen if he did not kill Lucy Stillman: Abstergo Industries would have arrived to claim Ezio's Apple of Eden and placed it in the Eye-Abstergo satellite, dismissing its importance in preventing the Second Disaster.

When Clay Kaczmarek's consciousness merged with Desmond, he acquired Clay's knowledge of calculations, which he later documented in a series of cell phone message memos. In the messages, he noted several versions of himself: one who got married early and had a son, the reality who stayed single in New York, one who went to San Francisco to be a waiter, one who got a job at an auto body shop in Chicago, and one who never left The Farm in the first place.

Minerva later showed Desmond that if he did not use the global aurora borealis device and release Juno from the Grand Temple, then the cataclysm would destroy humanity, but he would lead the survivors in a restart of civilization. Long after his death, history would repeat itself, with Desmond worshipped as a god while his teachings would be twisted to justify mass genocide.

Behind the scenes

Darby McDevitt, the lead writer for the 2011 video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations, has stated that "Calculations" was the in-house term for parallel universes in the series and added that Clay Kaczmarek went insane because he saw too many possible futures, in addition to suffering from the Bleeding Effect.

In the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, the jötnar Gunnlöð referred to calculations as seiðr. In real life, seiðr is a form of magic practiced by Scandinavians during the Late Iron Age. The practice of seiðr is believed to be a form of powerful magic which primarily revolves around precognition, prophecy and shaping the future.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only) (first identified as 'Calculations')
• Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
  • The Tyranny of King Washington (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple