List of Assassin's Creed characters
List of Assassin's Creed characters
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List of Assassin's Creed characters

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List of Assassin's Creed characters

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List of Assassin's Creed characters

The Assassin's Creed media franchise, which primarily consists of a series of open-world action-adventure stealth video games published by Ubisoft, features an extensive cast of characters in its historical fiction and science fiction-based narratives. The series also encompasses a wide variety of media outside of video games, including novels, comic books, board games, animated films, a live-action film, and an upcoming Netflix television series. The series features original characters intertwined with real-world historical events and figures, and is centered on a fictional millennia-old struggle for peace between the Assassin Brotherhood, inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will and embody the concept of chaos; and the Templar Order, inspired by the real-life Knights Templar, who desire peace through control over all of humanity, and embody the concept of order. A convention established by the first game involves the player experiencing the lives of these characters as part of a simulation played by a protagonist from the modern day, using technology known as the Animus developed by Abstergo Industries, a corporate front of the Templar Order in the modern era.

The first five games feature modern-day protagonist Desmond Miles, a direct descendant of their respective lead characters who are members of familial lines that had sworn an allegiance to the Assassins. By exploring his ancestors' memories, Desmond searches for powerful artifacts called "Pieces of Eden", which are connected to the Isu, a precursor race that created humanity to serve them and went extinct following a catastrophic event tens-of-thousands of years ago. However, they left behind clues to guide humanity to their technology, which could be used to prevent the same disaster from happening in the future. Following the events of Assassin's Creed III, Abstergo develops a more advanced version of the Animus technology called the Helix, which can explore the genetic memories of any historical individual using their DNA without relying on the user being a direct descendant of them. From Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the player assumes control of unnamed research analysts working for the entertainment branch of Abstergo or the Assassin Brotherhood; the analysts are intended to be the embodiment of the player in the Assassin's Creed universe. From Assassin's Creed Origins to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the modern-day protagonist is Layla Hassan, an ambitious former Abstergo employee who developed a portable version of Animus technology and is eventually recruited to the Brotherhood.

This article describes major historical and fictional characters that appear in the video games and the 2016 live-action film adaptation. Most games tend to feature standalone or self-contained stories told within a fictionalized version of real-world historical civilizations, with at least one lead character from that setting and time period. However, some games are more interconnected than others, as is the case with the "Ezio Trilogy", consisting of Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations. These games feature interconnected characters and plot points, so to avoid listing a character multiple times, this article organizes character by their first or most significant appearance and describes their entire history there.

Desmond Miles (13 March 1987 – 21 December 2012) is a fictional character from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game series. He is the protagonist of five Assassin's Creed installments, with his journey uniting the frame story of the first five installments. Desmond has also appeared in smaller capacity in subsequent games in the series, as well as various spin-off media. He is voiced by actor Nolan North, and modeled after Canadian fashion model Francisco Randez. According to several video game journalists and authors, Desmond's character is meant to represent a form of transcendence symbolically from the necessity of the human body.

In the franchise, Desmond is a descendant of a long line of important characters, including Adam, Aquilus, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, Haytham Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton / Connor, most of whom were members of the Assassin Brotherhood, a fictional organization inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins that is dedicated to safeguarding peace and freedom. Born into the Brotherhood, Desmond is trained as an Assassin from a young age, but his desire to lead a normal life eventually prompts him to run away from home and cut ties with the Assassins. However, he is eventually kidnapped by the Templar Order, the Assassins' mortal enemies, who force him into a machine called the Animus that allows Desmond to experience the genetic memories of his ancestors. In doing so, the Templars hope to locate powerful artifacts called Pieces of Eden and enslave all of humanity. Desmond manages to escape and, after accepting his Assassin heritage, rejoins the Brotherhood to help them stop the Templars. In the process, he learns that he is destined to save humanity from an impending solar flare, and continues to explore his ancestors' memories to find the technology of a precursor race called the Isu, who were wiped out by a similar disaster.

Critical reception of the character has been mixed. Many reviewers and video game journalists criticized Desmond as a dull and uninteresting protagonist, whose story arc does not match the quality of the historical plots featured in each of the games, though more positive commentary focused on North's performance and Desmond's character development. The decision to have Desmond killed off in Assassin's Creed III also proved controversial, as both critics and players noticed a significant decrease in the importance of the series' modern-day storyline after his death. Nevertheless, Desmond is considered to be a significant part of the franchise's identity.

According to his voice actor Nolan North, the original plan for Desmond was that he would feature in six games, acquiring the skills of his Assassin ancestors to become "The Ultimate Assassin", and at some point would be able to time-travel between different time periods. North became greatly interested in the concept but was scrapped. Adding upon this, North commented that he saw Desmond as a boring protagonist who ultimately had no direction to go forward, describing the character as "a fork in the road". Desmond has been defined as a MacGuffin, namely that "he exists to move the story forward, but he provides little substance."

Following the release of Assassin's Creed III and the conclusion of Desmond's storyline, lead designer Steve Master said: "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." Jean Guesdon, the creative director of the series, later said that Desmond is an important character in the Assassin's Creed series, and that despite his death, he would continue to play an important role in the franchise.

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