Clay Kaczmarek

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Subject 16 is an individual that Abstergo Industries kidnapped and forced in the Animus before Desmond Miles ("Subject 17") and another descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze. He is related to Desmond, as portions of their DNA matched in Assassin's Creed II, and it is also revealed that he had an ancestor at the Battle of Gettysburg, in the Roman forum and one connected with a Queen Isabella.

Assassin's Creed

Lucy reveals in one of her e-mails to Vidic that Subject 16 has Far Eastern origins, as one of his ancestors was "involved in an important event" there. A different e-mail indicates that his name is "Neumann". The same email also hints that ex-employee (and now deceased) Leila Marino of Abstergo Industries was romantically involved with Subject 16. This suggests a romantic involvement prior to his kidnapping or that Leilia worked with Subject 16 in the same way as Lucy works with Desmond.

During his sessions, Subject 16 was kept within the Animus for days at a time. This lead to a powerful "bleeding effect" as Subject 16 was then later able to revisit the genetic memories without the use of the Animus. Due to his inability to actually control this phenomena, Subject 16 slowly went spiraling into insanity, eventually culminating in suicide. Not much else is known about Subject 16.

At the end of Assassin's Creed, due to his own experience with the bleeding effect, Desmond is able to use Eagle Vision to view several cryptic messages that were drawn in blood. Subject 16 states in the triangle-shaped message on the floor that he drained his own body to paint the figures on the floor and walls of the main room where the Animus is located. But if he had used his own blood to paint the wall mural in the sleeping room, he would have bled out - literally - before he finished his work. It is possible but not confirmed that some of the messages were drawn with Leila Marino's blood and, in part, the cause of her death.

The symbols painted on the walls and floors later appear in Assassin's Creed II as Glyphs.

Assassin's Creed II

Subject 16 makes his first vocal appearance in Assassin's Creed II, voicing-over 20 encrypted files that he hacked from Abstergo's main frame. The files contain what he claims to be "The Truth" about the origins of humanity. The man and woman in "The Truth" video are Adam and Eve, activating, or proclaiming, that they have "the apple" (which is, in fact, one of the Pieces of Eden).

These files, as well as commentary from Lucy, reveal a bit more about the extent of the madness which lead to Subject 16's death: a severe case of the Bleeding Effect from massive overusing of the Animus. More specifically, from the sheer amount of time he was forced to spend in the Animus, with Lucy saying that Abstergo forced him to stay within it for full days at a time. As such, the number of genetic memories he was forced to relive completely overwhelmed him and finally, killing himself, as is implied from the 20th encrypted file (and his final words heard in-game); "Lucy, I can't wait any longer. I am ready to go now... She sees me raise the knife."

In the beginning of the game, Lucy searches for the closest genetic match between Subject 16 and Desmond, and the memory of Ezio's birth appears.