Desmond Miles

Desmond Miles is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the first five installments in the Assassin's Creed series of video games. He is a descendant of a long line of other Assassins, including Aquilus, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton. Miles is voiced by Nolan North and is modeled after Canadian fashion model Francisco Randez.

Plot appearances

Assassin's Creed

Desmond lives in New York and works as a bartender. In order to hide his identity, he lives under assumed names and uses only cash to protect himself. However, he is eventually tracked down by Abstergo Industries and captured. Once inside Abstergo's facility, Desmond is forced to enter the Animus, a machine that allows him to relive the memories of his ancestors stored in his DNA under the watch of Abstergo scientists Dr. Warren Vidic and Dr. Lucy Stillman.^[1] The scientists explain they are searching the memories of Desmond's ancestors, specifically those of Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, for specific information, which they refuse to disclose.^[2] Without much choice, Desmond begrudgingly agrees to help them.

After recovering the information for which Vidic was searching, Abstergo's executives order Desmond to be killed. Lucy's quick thinking saves him; she persuades Vidic to keep him alive until they know he is of no further use. Upon returning to his room, Desmond, suffering from the "Bleeding Effect", discovers the side effect has given him Altaïr's "Eagle Vision". This allows him to discern friend from foe and to read cryptic messages written on walls and floors by Subject 16, another Animus subject that Lucy and Vidic occasionally mention.

Assassin's Creed II

Desmond escapes from Abstergo with the help of Lucy, who is an undercover Assassin in Abstergo. He enters the Animus 2.0, supervised by Lucy and her team of assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, to be quickly trained as an Assassin via the Bleeding Effect. He relives the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, his ancestor from the Renaissance. After successfully navigating Ezio's early memories, Desmond is extracted from the Animus to avoid the mental degradation that Subject 16 suffered as a side-effect of the Bleeding Effect and spending too long in the Animus. Shortly after extraction, Desmond flashes back to one of Altaïr's memories, despite not being linked to the Animus. Desmond learns of Altaïr's lover Maria Thorpe, a former Templar used as a decoy by Robert de Sablé. As Altaïr leaves, Desmond wonders why he is not following the Assassin; instead he moves towards Maria and enters her womb, showing that Altaïr's child— another of Desmond's ancestors—has just been conceived.

After spending more time in the Animus 2.0, Desmond begins to adjust to his newly developed skills and becomes agile and an expert in the use of weapons Ezio learned to use. The last segment of Ezio's memories brings an astonished Ezio and Desmond to a futuristic chamber underneath the Sistine Chapel, where a hologram of the goddess Minerva addresses Desmond by name and through Ezio warns him of an impending cataclysm with the potential to destroy all life on Earth. Desmond is pulled from the Animus as Abstergo discovers their hideout. The team escapes; Desmond using the skills acquired from the Bleeding Effect to repel Abstergo's forces. Desmond enters the Animus while in transit, knowing Ezio and perhaps Subject 16 may have the answers they seek.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Desmond, Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca arrive at Monteriggioni, where they set up a safehouse in the Villa Auditore's sanctuary; Desmond re-enters the Animus 2.0 to discover the location of the Apple of Eden, one of the "Pieces of Eden" obtained by Ezio. Through Ezio's memories, Desmond and the others learn the Apple is hidden under the Colosseum. The Assassins find their way inside an ancient vault, where the Apple is located. Desmond takes the Apple and through it, Juno takes control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy, who is revealed to be a Templar double agent. Desmond falls into a coma, and is placed back into the Animus by William Miles and another Assassin in a bid to preserve his consciousness.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Within the Animus, Desmond finds himself in the Black Room, a "safe mode" area for the device. In the Black Room's "Animus Island", he meets the digital construct of Subject 16, who explains that Desmond must find a memory that links him with Altaïr and Ezio so he can reintegrate his shattered subconscious and awaken from his coma. While in this state, Desmond can hear conversations between his father, William "Bill" Miles, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. When the Animus begins to delete Animus Island, Subject 16 sacrifices himself to prevent Desmond's consciousness from being deleted, but not before transferring his own genetic memories onto Desmond. After awakening from his coma, Desmond sees Shaun, Rebecca, and Bill around him. When William asks if he is alright, Desmond simply states that he knows what they have to do.^[3]

While in the Black Room, there are five sequences where Desmond talks about his life and how he came to be in the hands of Abstergo. In Desmond Sequence 1, he expresses regret for running away from The Farm, and also wishes that he could apologize to his parents. In Desmond Sequences 2 and 3, Desmond explains his early life on The Farm and the training he went through. He also describes his escape, which happened at the age of 16. He ran away into the Black Hills, before running into girls from Illinois who drove him to Chicago. After this, he moved to New York City. During Desmond Sequence 4, he talks of his life in New York, and the job he got at a bar. In the last sequence, Desmond Sequence 5, Desmond describes how Abstergo found him at age 25 and how much he regretted not taking his parent's warnings and training more seriously, and finally accepts his role as an Assassin.

Assassin's Creed III

Desmond awakes from his coma. With the help of his father, friends, and his ancestor Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), he must find his way into the Central Vault and stop the world from perishing. Using the new Animus 3.0, Desmond begins to live another of his ancestor's memories: Native American (Mohawk) Assassin, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who fought during the American Revolution. Desmond is noticeably thinner and frail in the game. After he relives the life of Ratonhnhaké:ton and kills Warren Vidic and Daniel Cross, he finds the key to the secret door. Desmond opens the door and speaks with Juno. Minerva suddenly appears and tells Desmond that while they were planning to save the world, Juno wanted to use the machines and set in motion her plans of global conquest and return of the old order.

Minerva warns Desmond that if he touches the pedestal, he will be destroyed and Juno will be released but the world will be saved. Juno shows Desmond how his divinity among the survivors of the catastrophe would end with the world going through another cycle of political and religious war. Desmond decides to use the device and save the world, believing it has a better chance fighting Juno. While Shaun, Rebecca, and William exit the temple as Desmond touches the pedestal and releases Juno. He saves the world, but kills himself by releasing Juno.

According to lead designer Steve Masters, Desmond's story ends in Assassins Creed III: "What we’re trying to do is bring some finality to Desmond’s story. To actually wrap up what you’ve opened and experienced with him." Creative director of the series, Jean Guesdon, said that Desmond is an important character in the Assassin's Creed series, and will be playing a large part in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.^[4]

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Despite his physical death, Desmond is still a powerful asset for Templars and Assassins. Shortly after Desmond's death, a sample recovery team from Abstergo is sent to collect his body and samples for the new Project 17. Desmond's DNA is stored in Abstergo Entertainment's servers, where a crew of analysts are tasked with reliving his copied genetic memories and learning about his ancestors. One of them, the player character, is tasked with reliving the memories of Edward Kenway, Ratonhnhaké:ton's grandfather and a pirate, collecting enough data to lead the Abstergo to the Observatory, a First Civilization's temple hosting an advanced tracking device and several vials of First Civilization's blood samples. This allows Abstergo Entertainment to fund its operations by writing a movie about the Golden Age of Piracy.

The analyst steals and sends back to the Assassins several recordings left by Desmond detailing his initial doubts of leaving the farm, his acceptance of the role he had been chosen to play and his love for his parents. Because Abstergo can now collect anyone's genetic memories without having to use blood-related analysts, Desmond's body gives Abstergo full knowledge about his family life.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

In 2015, a boy was brought by his mother to an Abstergo clinic in New York City. Abstergo analysts discovered that the boy shared exactly the same patrilineal lineage of Desmond Miles, indicating that he may have been unknowingly conceived by Desmond a few years after the latter's escape from the Assassins. On top of that, it was also revealed that the boy is a Sage, a modern-day reincarnation of a First Civilization member. An Abstergo researcher then proposes to kidnap the boy and conduct a vivisection on him. However, another researcher, Isabelle Ardant, opposed the idea, claiming that it would be better to abduct the boy when he is older and place him in the Animus for 50 years so that Abstergo can study his lineage.

Film

Michael Fassbender announced he will star in and co-produce an upcoming film adaptation of the series, projected to be the first of several films.^[5] Initially thought to be cast as Desmond Miles, Ubisoft stated that Fassbender will play a new character named Callum Lynch.^[6][7]

Reception

Desmond Miles was voted the twentieth top character of the 2000s decade by Game Informer's readers.^[8] He received mixed reviews from critics.^[9] PlayStation Universe rated Desmond one of the PlayStation 3's worst characters, saying, "While voiced admirably by the ubiquitous Nolan North, it's impossible to shake the feeling of pure monotony when stepping into Desmond's shoes when all you want to do is hop back in time and stab people in the face".^[10]

References