The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I don't think spoiler tags are necessary, seeing as how the topic title has a spoiler warning.

Has this actually been confirmed anywhere? The one and only place I ever read this was in a hands-on preview, which seems to be nothing but speculation.

The events in-game do not necessarily allude to this fact. All we see is a cross reference between data gathered from Subjects 16 and 17. The data gathered is far more than just who their ancestors were. The very reason for keeping 16 in the animus for so long was for Abstergo to gather as much historical data from his ancestors' lives as possible.

16 doesn't have to be descended directly from Ezio to be aware of what went down in 1499 - he could have been descended from any one of the other Assassins who were there at the villa, or just someone privy to journals of what took place at that time. You can bet your ass that the confused Ezio would have spilled the beans to his friends once he got back from Rome, so amongst the Assassins this event would be somewhat common knowledge.

I still think everyone is related indirectly to Adam & Eve (which leads to question why don't they just go live out that memory directly) but that's just me.

I don't doubt that, but I don't really see any need to re-live that memory. What good would it do?

I think an entire memory block worth of information is more useful than twenty seconds of mystery

I think they did it the right way. They made a massive, ground-breaking reveal. It's supposed to be full of mystery, so it shouldn't be all fleshed out. That would really diminish the impact of the entire idea, IMO.

It's implied by the Animus text at the beginning of AC2:

"SUBJECT 17: DESMOND MILES"
"SUBJECT 16: CONFIDENTIAL"
"SEARCHING FOR RELEVANT MEMORY DATA..."
"MEMORY MATCH FOUND"
"ACCESSING MEMORY..." (birth of Ezio)

I take that to mean the Animus searched back through subject 16 and 17's memory until it found a common ancestor: Ezio. If you're less charitable, you could say it only confirms that 16 was descended from someone who was present at the birth of Ezio.

That's true in the biblical sense. AC2 presents Adam and Eve only as two of the early humans. Minerva says, "We built you in our own image." Adam and Eve's significance is that they stole a Piece of Eden and escaped control of Those Who Came Before, possibly leading to the war.

LadyVe and I have been discussing the possibility that Adam and Eve were hybrids (offspring of humans and TWCB) and ancestors to all Assassins. That would explain their resistance to Pieces of Eden and tie-in their Parkour skills.

Didn't one of the Truth puzzles actually say that the Assassins are the children of two worlds? If so, then that means your theory is probably correct.

That was stated in the Bloodlines glyph right?

Heh, I told you so....

http://forums.assassinscreed-maps.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1394

That would kill Assassins Creed....

Yes, glyph puzzle #14 says the Assassins are the children of two worlds. It doesn't hint about Adam and Eve though.

Hey there, I see stab already mentioned part of my theory here, but I'd like to add to it.

I do think Adam and Eve are hybrids of Those Who came Before and humans. Why? They have really strange blue markings on their body, similar like those Minerva has on her body and which the humans in the factory of the truth video do not seem to have. Also, why would they be able to resist the effects of the Piece of Eden (considering that they need to in ordeer to steal it) if they're normal humans?
As far as we know, the Pieces are made so that certain parts of the human brain respond to them and the brain of Those Who Came Before does not. So the only reason for a human not to react to it is if he was partially of the descent of Those Who Came Before.

Finally, Adam and Eve are, I think, just the ancestors of the Assassins, which would explain the parkour they use in the video. At least the ones with special gifts, like Altaïr and his bloodline. Their mixed blood is the reason people like him have Eagle Vision and are, at least for the most part, impervious to the effects of the Piece of Eden.
I don't think they're the ancestors of ALL humans because we actually see other ones in the Truth Video. And as a funny fact, this actually ties into Biblical stuff as well (the first part of Genesis says roughly: "And God said: 'Let us make HUMANS in our own image", meaning that Adam and Eve weren't the first ones nor the only ones).

Anyway, I think I've ranted long enough for now. If anyone is interested, I also made a story around this theory. Some things I filled in with my own imagination (as the Truth doesn't hint who Adam's fatehr is for example), but I think it covers my current idea of where the series is headed absed on the information we have:
http://ladyve.deviantart.com/art/Children-of-Two-Worlds-148067575

To me, all that meant is that information was used from 16 to find which ancestor for Desmond to witness the life of. It feels like a stretch to assume that 16 was also descended from the same ancestor. What would be the significance of that anyway?

It seems far more likely to me that throughout 16's ancestry there was simply enough information to direct Lucy to the right time period and location to find the appropriate ancestor for Desmond.

Another way to look at things is that while 16 knew a lot of stuff, he didn't know about Minerva's warning, yet he did know that there was something important that needed to be found. Why would he have tipped off Lucy with clues instead of just telling her to look up that memory? It seems more likely that he is not a descendant of the Prophet, otherwise Lucy wouldn't have needed Desmond. I think he instead would have used his last minutes of sanity having her pull up that memory, rather than leaving clues for the next subject. And Minerva's message would have been for him instead.

Nah, I don't really buy that 16 is descended from Ezio. It doesn't fit the facts and it wouldn't serve any actual significance anyway. It would also serve to slightly diminish the significance of Desmond's role when 16 could have filled his shoes instead had there been slightly better planning. This would make Desmond Lucy's second attempt after failing the first time. I'm not fond of such ideas.

Let me just say that even if everyone isn't related to Adam and Eve, if both of them can resist the effects of the PoE's to a certain extent, and if Altair and Ezio have inherited this trait, than at least Desmond must be indirectly related through Altair and Ezio, so using the animus to go back to TWCB era would be completely possible.

I think there might be a reason we don't know Sub17's name yet. Why would it still be confidentioal if Des is there now?

You mean Sub16, right?

Lucy would know his name, but since Desmond doesn't know the guy (and there isn't a lot of reference to him anymore), there just doesn't seem to be a need to introduce his name.

I have a question, why don't we see the glyphs when we were playing as Altair in the first game? If S16 was the last person in the Animus before Desmond, and he programmed the glyphs onto that memory core, then why didn't they appear the first time we were in the Animus? Instead they only appeared once the memory core was transferred to a different Animus.

Edit: Im actually going to anwser my own question with a theory, obviously S16 didn't know what memories the next person in the Animus would be viewing, so what if his glyph program randomly placed the glyphs in the Animus envirorment? That would mean the first time Desmond was in the animus, the glyphs were there, just in inaccessable places, which meant that everyone, including Lucy, failed to notice them.

Aha, yeah I meant Sub16. I'd be a bit disappointed if we never found out his name.

I think Sub16 figured that the next location that they would visit in the Animus would be the "closest relevant match" or whatever, so he put them there.

*sigh* How I wish we knew more about the wonderful, and somewhat dark, mind of S16...

There's definitely going to be more to it in AC3, so we'll find out eventually.

Well, one thing's for sure: That AC2 DS game better resolve some of these questions.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really resolve much of anything.

Lucy says that Subject 16 got obsessed with Italy, so he did not leave the glyphs in the Holy Land, he left them in Italy. And considering the fact that Assassin's and Templar tombs with all their secrets are located there as well (as well as the Papal staff), it would make sense why Subject 16 would obsess with Italy.

But I'm curious. We're taking on the idea that the Assassins, all of them, are immune to the effects of the PoE. We know that Altair was not born into the order because Al Mualim says when he strips Altair of his rank, that he is a child again, like when he first came to them. So are all Assassins immune or just the Prophets. I am going to assume that Altair was also a prophet, but because he did not have access to the papal staff or the hidden room in the Vatican he was unable to reach the "Gods" if you will. Also, I was always curious as well about this: The guards at Masyaf, obviously they are aware of the assassins. Remember Malik's brother was dressed in guard's uniform. So are the assassins choosen from the best of the guards? The guard's place was always a bit confusing to me mostly because Malik's brother was not dressed in apprentice robes or anything like that, just like the 'brother' to be executed. Any theories on that? And the guards were affected by the PoE. So if they can be initiated into the Assassins, then some assassins are not immune to the PoE. Just a thought.

Yeah but the codex, specifically page 24, says

I think this shows he WAS born into the brotherhood, but Al Mualim discoureged them showing affection towards their son, I think he could have meant when Altair began training, probably from a very young age.

I think you could be right about the guards though. Everyone in Masyaf was hypnotised, includiing any other Assassins, so I think Altairs immunity from the POE comes from him being the prophet, not because he is an Assassin.

"Assassin -DIE"
Ten minuets later...
"Welcome to the brotherhood fred"

Fred?

BTW, most of the Assassins by the time that Al Mualim hypnotised them were not direct descendants of previous Assassin's that were in turn theoretically descended from Adam and Eve. Rather, many were recruited. Altair's parents could have been one of the few direct descendants.

Yeah, Fred. Guards don't get cool names.