Lucy Stillman

"Sometimes I feel so disconnected from everything out there. Nearly a decade of my life gone, searching for those Pieces of Eden."

―Lucy to Desmond Miles, 2012.

Lucy Stillman (1988 – 2012) was a member of the Assassin Order and a genetic memory researcher for Abstergo Industries' Animus Project. During her infiltration of Abstergo, she reported information on the company's recent activities to the Assassins. However, Lucy's lengthy separation from the Assassin Order and her distrust of William Miles led to her secret defection to the Templar cause prior to 2011.

When Desmond Miles was brought into Abstergo for testing, Warren Vidic instructed Lucy to earn Desmond's trust, so that the Templars could ultimately find the Piece of Eden located within his memories, and use it for their Eye-Abstergo satellite.

As Desmond's condition began to worsen however, Warren and Lucy turned to more drastic measures, and formulated Project Siren. Lucy was ordered to take Desmond somewhere he would feel safe, and the two Templars orchestrated Desmond's and her escape from Abstergo. Lucy carried out her orders, relocating Desmond to a hideout to join his fellow Assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane.

After a month, and another relocation to the Sanctuary beneath the ruined Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, the Assassin team discovered the location of an Apple of Eden, which was inside the Colosseum Vault. When Desmond's hand made contact with the Apple, his body was possessed by Juno, a member of the First Civilization. With her knowledge of Lucy's true allegiance, Juno forced Desmond to stab and kill Lucy with his Hidden Blade.

Biography

Early life

"The university made it clear I had no future there. [...] Said keeping me on would discredit and embarrass them."

―Lucy to Desmond, 2012.

Lucy Stillman was born into the Assassin Order and received her training from William Miles. When she was seventeen, her ties to the Order were cut, in order for her to infiltrate Abstergo Industries without raising suspicion.

Before starting her work at Abstergo, Lucy attended university to study cognitive neuroscience, but was forced to leave when her mentors began to hold issue with her topic of study, which they considered a pseudo-science. Unable to remain at the university, she applied in a variety of locations, and tried everything to find work.

Eventually, she was contacted by Dr. Warren Vidic, who offered her a position at Abstergo Industries. She accepted the offer and immediately started working with Warren on the Animus Project. While Abstergo had a team of engineers to design the Animus' hardware and operating system, Lucy oversaw the assembly process of the still-evolving machine.

While Lucy was on fairly cordial and friendly terms with a few other employees at Abstergo, such as Richard, these same individuals were later ordered to kill her. However, Warren intervened and saved her life, ensuring they never came for her again.

Lucy was also a friend of Leila Marino, an Abstergo employee and apparent suicide victim whose death was filed under mysterious circumstances. Lucy became concerned about Leila, but her investigations were stymied by Abstergo staff. After this, Warren warned her to drop the subject or end up like her friend, though Lucy was never able to find out exactly what that meant.

Subject 16

Clay: "What's going to happen to me?"

William: "Don't worry. Lucy will get you out. We're a team."

—Clay and William discussing Clay's capture by Abstergo, 2011.

By 2011, William Miles, who had become the de facto leader of the Assassin Order, charged Clay Kaczmarek with infiltrating Abstergo's Animus Project, in order to discover their motives and interest in Assassin DNA. William's plan was to have Clay intentionally kidnapped by Abstergo as a subject, so that Lucy could give him access to their network at night without detection. Lucy was responsible for protecting Clay's research and physical well-being, and once Clay discovered the Templars' goals, Lucy and Clay were meant to escape Abstergo and return to the Order.

However, unbeknownst to the Assassins, Lucy's loyalties had already shifted. Years of isolation, coupled with William's withdrawn and careless personality, had driven her away from the Assassins and into the Templars' arms. Warren Vidic offered Lucy guidance and protection, and she willingly became a double agent for him.

Through Clay, who had been designated Subject 16, Warren discovered that the Renaissance Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze knew about an Apple of Eden and one of the First Civilization Vaults, both of which the Templars desired. Warren proposed that Ezio's Apple could be attached to one of their satellites, subsequently projecting its power across the globe, and ensuring Templar rule. However, Clay's health was deteriorating, thus Warren realized that they needed a new test subject related to Ezio Auditore. Abstergo managed to gather enough intelligence to learn that Desmond Miles, William Miles' son, was a living descendant of Ezio Auditore.

Clay, still acting on his mission from William, discovered Abstergo's plans, as well as security tapes detailing Lucy's true allegiance. The tapes included Warren's plans for Desmond: Lucy would allow Desmond to see her emails, and would give him access to Abstergo's network in order to gain his trust.

If Desmond began to suffer from the Bleeding Effect, Lucy would help him "escape" the lab and take him back to the Assassins, where he would feel safe. Throughout this, Lucy was also to keep Warren informed of their actions, and was to bring the Apple of Eden back to Abstergo as soon as the Assassins discovered it. Despite realizing that Clay had discovered her true intentions, Lucy still protected him, though she refused to let him leave or make contact with the Assassins.

Soon thereafter, Clay left clues and messages for his successor in the Animus Project, Subject 17. He programmed clues into the Animus itself, and even used his own blood to write messages on the walls of the facility he was being held in. His health quickly worsened, and he committed suicide in August 2012.

Following Clay's death, Lucy expressed regret for her role in his confinement, having promised to protect him while ultimately refusing to let him leave Abstergo. During the subsequent Animus Project sessions involving Desmond Miles, she adopted a protective stance toward the subject. Lucy frequently clashed with Warren Vidic over the duration of the sessions, arguing that pushing him too hard would cause him to "shut down" or suffer severe psychological trauma. She maintained that her interventions were necessary to stabilize the genetic memory and ensure the subject's survival.

Subject 17

"Vidic said he'd been following my career since undergrad. That he believed in my work and wanted to meet to discuss my future. You have no idea how good it felt to hear that."

―Lucy explaining how she ended up at Abstergo, 2012.

Lucy looking down at Desmond in the Animus

In September 2012, Desmond Miles was located and transported to the Abstergo research facility in Rome. Lucy was responsible for pulling Desmond out of the Animus after she noticed that his subconscious would not let him view the specific memory Abstergo wanted. As Warren explained to Desmond what the Animus did and what genetic memories were, she explained Abstergo's goal in limited detail.

In a seemingly sincere attempt to gain his trust, Lucy talked to Desmond between Animus sessions, asking him questions concerning his past, and trying to answer his questions about Abstergo without revealing too much. She also stated that he was not the only person Abstergo was detaining, and that she was also an unfortunate captive. She also clarified technical aspects of his experience, explaining that the Animus translated historical speech into modern English to ensure he could comprehend his ancestors.

She then told him the story of how, in the past, Abstergo had decided to silence her to keep her from speaking about the Animus. However, before her assailants could eliminate her, they were ordered to stand down by Warren. She claimed that he had saved her life that day and told Desmond not to judge Warren so harshly, seeing as he was under a lot of pressure.

Lucy and Vidic monitoring Desmond

As more time passed, Lucy left the door access codes in Desmond's wardrobe so that he could finally leave his room, and she later claimed to have hacked the surveillance feeds to disguise Desmond's wanderings. On top of the Animus, Desmond found Lucy's access pen, which had also been left there for him to use. This allowed him to go through her computer and read her emails.

Lucy also left hints for Desmond to gain access to the conference room, and to steal Warren Vidic's access pen, giving him access to the internal Abstergo Email Network. Following an argument with Warren, Lucy disclosed to Desmond the true nature of their captors, revealing that Abstergo was a front for the Templar Order. Lucy later revealed that the Templars needed Desmond because the artifact they previously possessed, the Piece of Eden originally found in Masyaf, was destroyed in an accident at an underground facility beneath Denver International Airport. She later sought to earn Desmond's absolute trust after a failed rescue attempt by Modern Assassins left him feeling hopeless. She revealed her true allegiance by bending her left ring finger to imitate its absence, a characteristic trait among Assassins during the era Desmond experienced in the Animus, and asked him not to lose faith.

When Desmond finished the memory of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad that revealed a map to several Pieces of Eden, three Abstergo executives decided to dispose of Desmond; concluding that the information they had retrieved rendered Desmond an unnecessary burden. However, Lucy intervened and convinced them to keep Desmond for more testing, as his memories could still reveal more about the locations of the Pieces of Eden.

Project Siren

"We're going to train you. Turn you into one of us."

―Lucy to Desmond, 2012.

Lucy attacking an Abstergo guard

A few hours passed after Lucy and Warren left, leaving Desmond trapped in the lab where he had used his new skill to view Clay's hidden messages. Suddenly, Lucy rushed into the room with bloodstains on her shirt from fighting her way through the Abstergo facility.

Lucy told Desmond that there was no time to waste, and that he had to get into the Animus to retrieve the memory core data. Lucy wrote the data on a disk and, along with Desmond, fled the laboratory. The two successfully fought their way out of the facility and began their escape.

They eventually found themselves confronted by more Abstergo guards, but Lucy quickly disposed of them. They continued onward through aisles of office blocks and Animi, until they reached another coded door. Unexpectedly, Lucy's access key did not work, but Desmond was able to unlock it through his newly acquired Eagle Vision. As they entered the parking lot, they were blocked by more Abstergo guards, though the two fought them off and managed to reach Lucy's car.

Lucy ordered Desmond to climb into the trunk for "[his] own protection," and when the journey was over, the pair had arrived at the Assassin hideout. There, Lucy told Desmond that she intended to have him train to be an Assassin, using the Animus 2.0 and its Bleeding Effect to imprint skills onto him through another ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Lucy introducing Desmond to Rebecca and Shaun

As they entered the main room, Lucy's fellow Assassins, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, introduced themselves to Desmond and began preparations for the sessions. Later that day, Lucy evaluated Desmond's progress by tasking him with setting up the security system. In between sessions, they also discussed issues such as the Templars and the status of other Assassin teams.

After Desmond had discovered the Vault in Rome through Ezio's memories, the alarm went off as Abstergo invaded their hideout. Hurriedly, Lucy gave Desmond a Hidden Blade similar to Ezio's, and they made their way downstairs.

When they encountered Warren Vidic in the warehouse, he reminded Lucy that he had saved her life, before sending some Abstergo guards to try and incapacitate them. However, both Lucy and Desmond engaged in a fight with the guards, quickly defeating them. With little defense left, Warren climbed into the back of a truck, stating that the attack was only the beginning, before fleeing the hideout.

Lucy and Desmond outside the Villa Auditore

As Desmond started to go after him, Lucy stopped him and said that they would eventually bring Warren to justice for what he had done, and that Abstergo would surely be back with reinforcements if they did not leave. Following this, Lucy and the others evacuated the hideout, though not before Lucy left behind several important updates on what they had discovered from Desmond, for Warren to find later on.

The Assassins left in a van to hide in the mountains, and Desmond prepared to enter the Animus again to continue their search for clues. Meanwhile, Lucy continued to study the session notes to try to figure out what the message Desmond had received from the "goddess" Minerva had meant, telling Desmond that everything she had feared was starting to happen.

Death

Desmond: "Think how great you'll feel when we finally stop the Templars."

Lucy: "I'm not sure it will ever end, Desmond. I can't do this forever."

—Desmond and Lucy outside the Villa Auditore, 2012.

After a long drive, the Assassins finally arrived in modern-day Monteriggioni on 16 September, setting up their new hideout in the Sanctuary underneath the Villa Auditore. Lucy and Desmond opened the door to the Sanctuary by passing through the underground sewers and tunnels.

As Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories, he eventually discovered another message from Clay Kaczmarek. Clay warned Desmond that "she is not who you think she is" and everything he wanted "was already gone". He instructed Desmond to find Eve and Eden, though Desmond was not able to fully understand what Clay meant.

At this time, Lucy monitored Desmond's condition alongside the other two Assassins, but began to grow concerned that the Animus was having too great a toll on him. Despite a potential breach to her cover as a Templar, she contacted Warren Vidic by voicemail, stating her concerns and claiming that she "couldn't handle another 16". Warren replied to her through e-mail – while posing as William Miles – to not fail them now, as they had been waiting nearly a decade to get their hands on a Piece of Eden.

Desmond killing Lucy

After Desmond relived Ezio's memories in Rome, the Assassins discovered that Ezio had hidden his Apple of Eden in a Vault underneath the Colosseum. On October 10, 2012, the team left to retrieve it.

As soon as Desmond reached the Apple within the vault, Juno, who was aware of Lucy's true allegiance, took control of Desmond's body and warned him that "the cross darkens the horizon". Desmond was then forced to stab Lucy in the stomach with his Hidden Blade, killing her.

These events put Desmond under a great deal of emotional stress, and he fell into a coma as a result; Desmond would later elaborate to the rest of his team that when Juno forcefully influenced him through the Apple, he had brief visions of Lucy's acquisition of the artifact and its ramifications. He also stated that he could have fought Juno's hold on him but upon seeing the visions, he was reluctantly compelled to stop Lucy at any cost.

Legacy

Lucy's grave

After her death, Lucy was buried in a small cemetery in Marino, Italy. Shaun was the only one of her team to attend the funeral, as Rebecca was presiding over the comatose Desmond with William. Later, during Desmond's time in the Grand Temple, he asked his father if Lucy felt regret. William admitted that he honestly could not guess, though he cautioned against believing her sincerity, saying that even he had believed Daniel Cross, who had betrayed the Assassin Order twelve years prior.

In 2014, the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg acknowledged Lucy's betrayal of the Assassins and believed that her defection was a sign that there would always be Assassins willing to abandon their cause and serve the Templars. The following year, the Assassins used a camera drone named Lucy during Shaun and Rebecca's London operations.

In 2023, the Templar Shimazu Sei indirectly mentioned Lucy as Desmond's "female accomplice" while recounting their escape from Abstergo to Animus test subject Noa Kim, who displayed the highest known synchronization rates since Desmond.

Personality and traits

Desmond: "Let me guess, you're more the in-bed-at-six type."

Lucy: "What? Desmond! I know how to have fun."

—Desmond teasing Lucy, 2012.

In contrast to Warren Vidic's personality, Lucy was a warm and appreciative individual with a bright personality. She always lent encouraging words and sympathy to Desmond, though this often annoyed him. On a few occasions, when Warren attempted to force Desmond to go deeper into the Animus memory, Lucy stopped him from doing so, and pleaded with him to allow Desmond to rest, as forcing Desmond to continue would cause more harm than good.

However, it appeared that after Lucy left the Assassin Order, she became much more jaded and disheartened by the world. In a letter to Clay, she explained that William Miles was using them to fuel the war, while Abstergo cared about people and understood humanity's limitations. However, she still showed Clay compassion, as she promised to protect him.

Lucy proved to have a gift for deception, since she was able to hide her Assassin ties during her infiltration of Abstergo, and later, her affiliation to the Templars from her Assassin colleagues. Despite her true allegiance, she appeared to show genuine care and compassion to her team, and her regrets about Clay still haunted her to the end of her life. Her feelings towards Desmond were also implied to be genuine, to the point where Warren Vidic felt that he needed to tell her not to let them get in the way.

Romantic life

Lucy embracing Desmond after their escape from Abstergo

The only connection Lucy had that was close to romance was that of her relationship with Desmond Miles. She showed great concern for his well-being while he was a subject of the Animus Project, and when he started exhibiting the early symptoms of the Bleeding Effect. She also hugged him, saying that she was glad for him being with the Assassins.

A secret e-mail that Lucy received stated that she shouldn't keep Desmond out of danger "just because of feelings she may or may not have" for him. Following her death at the unwilling hands of Desmond, William asked Lucy's teammates about her feelings for the then-comatose Desmond. Rebecca replied that there were a few "misty-eyed moments" between the two, and Shaun confirmed that Lucy had told him that she had liked Desmond.

Behind the scenes

Lucy Stillman is a character introduced in the 2007 video game, Assassin's Creed, where she was voiced by Kristen Bell. Her character was killed off in the 2010 video game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood; former Assassin's Creed creative director Patrice Désilets alleged the reason for this was because Bell had demanded royalties for her appearances in future instalments of the series.

In Assassin's Creed, when Lucy was viewed with Eagle Vision, her aura was blue, confirming Desmond's—and by extension the player's—belief that she could be trusted, despite the later revelation that she was secretly a Templar. The "Conversationalist" achievement could be unlocked by talking to Lucy every time Desmond exited the Animus. For the achievement to trigger, Desmond had to talk to her until she said that she was too busy to talk, or asked if he was tired.

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, within the team's Monteriggioni hideout, Lucy had Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy up on her computer in the Sanctuary, set to the memory sequence for Mario Auditore. Additionally, from Sequence 6 to 8, Lucy was missing from Monteriggioni, though the reason for this is unknown. Lucy's password for her e-mail account was Juno57. This proved to be foreshadowing, as it was Juno who forced Desmond to stab her.

Etymology

Lucy is an English feminine given name ultimately derived from the Latin word lux, meaning "light." Her surname Stillman refers to a person who owns or operates a still, or oversees the distillation process.

See also

• Lucy Stillman (non-canon)

Appearances

An image gallery is available for Lucy Stillman

• Assassin's Creed (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
  • The Lost Archive
• Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned in Database entry only) (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun (cameo)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (cameo)