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| “ | In a few short months my life changed forever. I know my easiest days are behind me, but I don't want them back – not now. My name is Desmond Miles, and I am an Assassin. I am an Assassin. | „ |
| ~ Desmond Miles |
Desmond Miles (13/03/1987 - 21/12/2012) is the main protagonist of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise. He was the main protagonist of the first five modern-day sections, and became the overarching protagonist throughout the series.
He was a member of the Assassin Brotherhood and was descended from many legendary master assassins, including Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton.
Desmond was born and raised into the Assassin Brotherhood dedicated to protecting mankind from Abstergo Industries (the modern incarnation of the Templar Order). But Desmond didn't believe the conflict was real and ran away to live a normal life but was kidnapped by Abstergo years later and used as test subject for the Animus, a device that allows the user to relive the lives of their ancestors via genetic memory. This device also enabled Desmond to obtain the abilities of his ancestors allowing him to absorb lifetimes of training within days and greatly improve his Assassin abilities. After unwittingly helping Abstergo locate the Pieces of Eden, devices created by an advanced race of beings called the Isu to control humanity in ancient times, Desmond escaped Abstergo and rejoined the Assassins war against the Templars. Through further exploration of his ancestors memories Desmond discovered messages from the Isu warning him of an impending catastrophe, one that had previously destroyed their world in ancient times, and pledged to stop its recurrence.
He is voiced by the famous video game actor, Nolan North, who also voiced Nathan Drake of the Uncharted series, Vashryon of Resonance of Fate series, Primis Edward Richtofen in the Call of Duty zombie series, Alex Mason in Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, Superboy in Young Justice, and Deadpool in numerous media. In the Japanese dub of the games, he was voiced by Hiroki Tochi, who also voiced Muneshige Tachibana of the Samurai Warriors series, Rig in the Dead or Alive series, and Chris Redfield in the Resident Evil series.
History[]
Background[]
The viewpoint and player character of the early entries of the series, Desmond is a genetic descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Ratonhnhaké:ton. He is a full-blooded Assassin, who is dragged into the Secret War against his will. Not the greatest fighter at first, but the "Bleeding Effect" of being constantly exposed to the Animus and his ancestors, coupled with his genetic ties, allows him to develop agility and fighting skills on a par with his forefathers.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Desmond Miles was born on March 13th, 1987 in "the farm" of Black Hills, South Dakota to William Miles and an unnamed mother. During his youth, Desmond was raised in "the farm" and was trained with the children there by his father, and the experienced scarred him due to the intensity.
He became tired of hearing of the Assassins war against the Templars, and started to believe that his parents were conspiracy theorists. When he was sixteen, Desmond escaped "the farm" and went to New York after being advised so while he was wandering through the "bad lands". Desmond managed to get a job as a bartender, and attempted to have a normal life, but did miss his family and friends. Around 2005, Desmond had a one night stand with an unnamed woman, who had his son Elijah, continuing his bloodline.
Though Desmond tried his best to hide himself from the Templars, he was founded by Abstergo, as they needed another subject after their previous subject, Clay Kaczmarek, committed suicide. He was abducted and taken to an Abstergo facility in Italy, and was forced to work with Dr. Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman into reliving his ancestor's memories.
Assassin's Creed[]
In 2012, Desmond was forced to relive the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, who was an assassin during the crusades. He was watched by the Templars while he was in the animus, but was allowed to rest in his own room to prevent his health from deteriorating. During nights, Desmond managed to escape from his room and look through emails from the Templars and Vidic's computer. The Assassins attempted to rescue Desmond, but failed and Lucy decided to reveal to him that she was a member of the Assassins. Eventually, Desmond reached Vidic's goal of reliving Altaïr's memories and finding the location of a piece of Eden. After being finished, three executives wanted to kill Desmond, but Lucy intervened, believing that they could use more of Desmond's memories to learn more about his ancestors. Desmond then learned that he had eagle vision, having suffered from the "bleeding effect" like Clay. He then went into his room and used his vision, seeing the scribbles and scrawling of Clay that were messages from his blood.
Assassin's Creed II[]
Desmond was freed from Abstergo by Lucy, who helped him escape from the facility after having him relieve the birth of his ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. The two arrived to an Assassin hideout, and met Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings, who were members of the order. Lucy informed Desmond that they wanted him to become a trained assassin, and since he had the "bleeding effect", he could achieve this by going into the Animus 2.0 and relive the memories of Ezio. Through the memories, Desmond learned that the bishop, Rodrigo Boriga collected a piece of Eden and made it into his staff. Ezio defeated Rodrigo, and entered the vault that was underneath the Vatican.
Ezio met Minerva, who warned him about the end of the world, and mentioned Desmond's name to Ezio. When this happened, Desmond was pulled from the Animus, as the group had to leave the hideout since the Templars found them. They managed to escape, and Desmond was then re-hooked into the Animus while in the van so he could continue to relive Ezio's memories.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood[]
The group managed to find another hideout in the "Sanctuary" that was underneath the Villa Auditore, and Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories in Rome. Desmond finished relieving the memories, learning that Ezio found a piece of Eden and placed into a vault that was underneath the Colosseum. The group made it to the vault, and Desmond touched the Apple of Eden, and Juno took control of his body. Juno showed Desmond that Lucy was secretly a Templar spy, and forced him to kill her to prevent Vidic and the Templars from finding them.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations[]
Upon killing Lucy, Desmond fell into a coma, and his body was taken to an unnamed location and was put into the Animus by his father. Stabilizing his condition, Desmond's mind entered the "black room", and met wit ha virtual creation of Clay, who told him that he would have to relive Ezio's memories to return to his conscious. When the island that the black room was located on started to disintegrate, Clay sacrificed himself to help Desmond enter Ezio's last memory. Once Ezio find the Apple of Eden that Altaïr possessed, he called out to Desmond and directed him to the Synch Nexus. Desmond met with Jupiter, who tasked him to find the Grand Temple, and allowed him to awake from his coma.
Assassin's Creed III[]
Desmond managed to find the Grand Temple with his father, Shaun and Rebecca, who placed their equipment and the animus there so Miles could relive the memories of Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké:ton. Though Desmond started to relive the memories to find the artifact, he was pulled out when they informed him that the Animus power supply was low. Desmond then journeyed to New York to get a power supply, and had a brief encounter with Daniel Cross before escaping. Desmond would return to the animus, but would journey to Brazil to get the second power supply, where he encountered Cross once again. Returning the temple, Shaun informed the group that the third power supply was in Egypt, but William decided to go after it so Desmond could continue going into the animus.
Reliving through some of Ratonhnhaké:ton's memories of helping the colonist during the American Revolution, Desmond was pulled out of the animus and was informed by Shaun and Rebecca that they received a video from Warren Vidic. The doctor informed the Assassins that his men intercepted William in Egypt, and brought him to Abstergo to be a bargain - to give him the Apple of Eden in exchange for William. Deciding to save his father, Desmond traveled to the Abstergo facility in Rome with Shaun and Rebecca, and was confronted by Cross. Before Daniel could get the piece of Eden from Desmond, Cross suffered from the "bleeding effect" due to being close the apple. Desmond chased Daniel across the facility, and managed to kill while Cross was panicking from the "bleeding effect".
Desmond then confronted Vidic in his office, and used the Apple of Eden to kill all of the guards and force one guard to kill Vidic. Desmond saved his father and returned to the Grand Temple with the third power supply, returning to the animus to relieve Connor's memoires. Eventually, Desmond reached the memory to learn of the Grand Temple's key, which was buried in Achilles Davenport's homestead. Inside the temple, Desmond was greeted by Juno and Minerva, and was given two choices - sacrifice himself to save the world, but allow Juno to escape, or let the solar flare burn the world. Deciding to save humanity, Desmond ordered William, Shaun and Rebecca to leave the temple, and touched the orb. Desmond sacrificed himself to prevent the solar flare, thus allowing Juno to escape.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag[]
Though not a main character in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Desmond appears as a corpse, as it was retrieved by Abstergo. His DNA was collected and his genetic memories were uploaded to Abstergo, and his ancestry to Edward Kenway was given to Abstergo Entertainment.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla[]
It's revealed in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla that Desmond's mind was in the Grey, a place where an individual's mind can live a digital afterlife. Desmond was transformed into "The Reader", and met with Layla Hassan, an assassin who showed him the possibilities of the timelines he didn't explore.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Isu Ancestry: Due to possessing a strong concentration of First Civilization DNA, Desmond possesses numerous physical and mental abilities beyond the level expected of normal humans.
- Eagle Vision: Desmond possesses Eagle Vision, a form of supernatural senses. With it he can differentiate friend from foe (though this can be fooled, as in the case of Lucy Stillman), and can track individuals with the Sight.
- Telepathic Immunity: Due to his First Civilization DNA, Desmond is highly resistant to the mind control properties of the Apple of Eden, although not immune, as shown in the Colosseum vault.
- Accelerated Learning: Thanks both due to the bleeding effect and his genetic ancestry Desmond can learn new skills at an accelerated rate, such as being able to utilize a great deal of Ezio's fighting and parkour skills after only a few hours in the Animus, bypassing potentially decades of training.
- Superhuman Physical Traits: Due to the Animus activating Desmond's dormant Isu genes and his bleeding of the majority his ancestors' skillsets, Desmond gained physical ability well above the normal human level.
- Superior Strength: Desmond has proven himself to be immensely strong, capable of easily overpowering or knocking down grown men and even breaking their necks, a feat normally extremely difficult for a normal human to accomplish without leverage, doing so rather easily and swiftly, much like his ancestors could.
- Superior Mobility: His reflexes, agility, and speed are also more potent, being able to easily counter and defeat hordes of opponents. He was able to kill many enemy guards before they could even see him approach.
- Superior Stamina: He could fight a near entire army without showing any signs of fatigue, as shown when storming the Abstergo offices in Rome.
- Superior Durability: Desmond also possesses an immense level of physical endurance, able to survive fighting dozens of Abstergo guards and agents, many of whom are former military, and could go toe-to-toe with Daniel Cross, a former veteran Assassin with the highest level of training in the brotherhood and Templar Order, enduring hits from them with little issue.
- Superior Metabolism: His metabolism is also presumably superior, as his ancestors all had immense resistance to the effects of alcohol and poisons.
Abilities[]
- Master Acrobat: Like his ancestors, he is a remarkable free-runner, parkour master & mountaineering expert. These abilities combined with his seemingly superhuman strength & speed, made his acrobatic prowess rare even among the Brotherhood.
- Gifted Intellect/Expert Tactician/Expert Investigator: Even prior to entering the Animus Desmond was already a very gifted and intelligent man, although he had never truly used his intellect to its full potential. Desmond was clever and resourceful enough to avoid the detection of both the Assassins and Abstergo, successfully evading the notice of both orders for over a decade. After living through the most significant of his ancestors' memories, Desmond gained a large portion of their militant educations, notably in strategy, tactics, and investigation, although he is likely to have also gained much of their academic educations as well in science, mathematics, and languages. As far as is shown in the series, Desmond did become a resourceful and proficient strategist, being able to adapt well on his feet to unexpected changes in his missions and move with the flow of things, though it should be noted that that was with the oversight and assistance of his team. Desmond was able to successfully pit Clay Kaczmarek's plan to prevent the destruction of the world into action, as well as being able to offer tactical insight to his father multiple times. Desmond later also gained a great deal of Clay's personal memories via his digital recreation, and may have gained a number of his skills along with them, although this is unconfirmed.
- First Civilization Wisdom: As his ancestors spent much of their lives studying the Precursors and their technology, it can be assumed that Desmond likely gained much insight from their memories about the First Civilization.
- Master Assassin: Through his ancestors, Desmond gained an understanding of much of their techniques in assassination. He learned a vast array of skills in combat and stealth, such as picking pockets, blending into crowds, armed and unarmed combat, alternative or multiple weapon attacks, and numerous assassination techniques.
- Master Spy: Even prior to entering the Animus, Desmond was a capable spy. He was able to avoid the detection of both the Brotherhood and Abstergo for over 10 years, despite the Assassins actively looking for him, an impressive feat in of itself. When a prisoner of Abstergo, Desmond was successfully able to gather information from his surroundings and from the offices adjacent to the Animus room, and even pickpocket an access key from Warren Vidic's pocket. He is also well adept in blending in his surroundings as well as sneaking around heavily guarded places. He could blend in with dense crowds and mimic their activities. He is extremely skilled in stealth, infiltration, thievery, and eavesdropping, and presumably more, though this is not shown.
- Master Escape Artist: Desmond is presumably gifted in escaping bonds and imprisonment.
- Indomitable Willpower: He was able to wield the Apple of Eden without even showing small signs of corruption or madness. He was the only one being capable of wielding the Apple of Eden to its full effect due to his part First Civilization DNA. When faced with the likeliness of his own death via activating Minerva's eye, Desmond was unafraid of the prospect, instead insisting his friends and father make their own escape from the temple while he activated the failsafe.
- Master Martial Artist: Following his repeated journeys into the Animus, Desmond became extremely skilled in combat, gaining much of his ancestors' weapons training and combat prowess. Although it should be noted that he appears not to have gained the full combined knowledge and skills of his ancestors, he did certainly gain at least a significant fraction of each's knowledge, which when combined together makes him a formidable warrior easily a match to any of his ancestors. After reliving the memories of Altair, Desmond immediately showed visible improvement to his combat ability, being able to effectively fight while unarmed against Abstergo guards while escaping the Rome facility with Lucy, showcasing strong punches and effective blocking. After experiencing Ezio's memories, Desmond's unarmed skills improved even further, allowing him to disarm an Abstergo guard of his combat baton and use it against him and his fellows with lethal skill, showcasing his newly gained weapon mastery. Following his journey into Haytham and Connor's lives, Desmond's skills truly reached a level comparable to those of his ancestors, allowing him to effectively wipe out a contingent of Abstergo guards in Brazil even while unarmed, and was able to outmatch Daniel Cross in their first and second encounters, albeit the first only being due to him managing to catch Cross off guard. Later, when storming the Rome facility to rescue his father, Desmond was able to carve his way through the Abstergo guards, many of whom were ex-military, with little issue or fatigue, and was able to outmatch Daniel Cross in their final confrontation, Despite Cross' immense skill and experience that nearly rivalled Desmond's own.
- Master Swordsman: In his youth at the farm, prior to abandoning the Brotherhood, Desmond was trained in fencing by his father and presumably became competently skilled. Considering that all of his ancestors were exceptional swordsmen, It can be assumed that Desmond is now also far more skilled with a blade, though this unconfirmed as he never had a chance to wield a sword personally before his death. It should be noted, however, that during Warren Vidic's raid on the Assassin safehouse that Desmond was able to disarm one of the Abstergo guards of their collapsible combat batons and used it against them, and used it with the exact same animations as Ezio's swordplay style.
- Master Marksman: After living through Haytham and Connor's memories, Desmond became extremely skilled with firearms, being able to use a handgun taken off of Cross with lethal speed and skill. Considering his ancestors' preference for throwing knives, as well as Connor's expertise with archery, Desmond is hypothetically capable with both as well.
- Knife Mastery: On the mission to the Roman Abstergo facility, Desmond wielded a knife in his left hand opposite his hidden blade, due to Connor using his Pivot blade in that hand. Desmond was able to use the knife with formidable skill, effectively eradicating the Abstergo guards.
- Staff/Stick Mastery: During the Abstergo raid of the Assassin safehouse, Desmond could potentially disarm one of the guards of his combat baton and use it with immediate mastery, being able swiftly outmatch the other guards.
- Weapon Mastery: It is highly likely that Desmond can competently use any weapon his Ancestors could, presumably with the same level of skill.
- Gadgetry: He has access to a vast set of tools, weapons & equipment at his disposal, the main weapons being his Hidden Blades.
Equipment[]
- Hidden Blade: Desmond was given a hidden blade by Lucy, originally with a leather bracer similar to Ezio's own, although Desmond later took the bracer off. After living Connor's memories, Desmond began wearing the blade on his right wrist rather than his left (As is traditionally Brotherhood custom) so as to wield a knife in his left instead, due to Connor's wielding of the pivot blade in that hand.
- Collapsible Combat Baton: Potentially disarmed off of an Abstergo guard (Player determinant), Desmond could use this weapon to more quickly defeat the guard contingent brought by Vidic.
- Apple of Eden: While using the Apple of Eden, he had a vast of psionic abilities, ranging from telepathy, mind control, empathy, limited telekinesis & even accelerating his movement speed, giving him a form of slowed down time.
- Mind Control: Desmond was able to use he Apple's mind control properties in order to cause a guard to shoot Warren Vidic and then commit suicide himself. He even used it to cause every guard guarding the exit into committing suicide.
- Knife: After living through Connor's memories, Desmond began wielding a knife in his left hand, so as to emulate the Pivot hidden blade that Connor would wear in that hand.
- Handgun: Taken off of Daniel Cross' body, Desmond used this semi-automatic pistol with great efficiency, though only for a short period before gaining the Apple.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- The character was molded after Francisco Randez.
- His name comes from the etymologic of "Deasmhumhain", which means "South Munster".
- The reason why Desmond was killed off in the first place was likely because his character was not received well back then. But after his death in Assassin’s Creed lll, it became very clear that Desmond being killed was controversial and that he was a significant part of the Assassin’s Creed series.
- According to Desmond’s voice actor, Nolan North that Desmond was originally going to appear in five more Assassin’s Creed games, was going to the ultimate assassin and to time travel in the animus.