Cryptic Messages

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File:Crypticmessages.jpg

The markings on Desmond's bedroom wall.

The Cryptic Messages refer to a number of images and texts scrawled onto Desmond Miles's cell at Abstergo by the previous occupant. They form the 'cliffhanger' ending for Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed

When Abstergo finally recovered the information they needed from Desmond Miles, they left him in the Abstergo laboratory. Alone, Desmond discovered he had gained Eagle Vision (via the Bleeding Effect). This enabled Desmond to perceive a number of markings around the laboratory and within his bedroom: Desmond quickly realized they were made in blood by his predecessor (known only as Subject 16) in the Animus.

Messages

The messages appear along the walls and floors of the Animus room, and above Desmond's bed in his quarters.

Animus Room Messages

Picture	Location	Description
File:Symbols2.jpg	On the ground before the Animus, at the end where Desmond's head rests.	The Eye of Providence
File:Pyramid apple.png	Immediately before the door Vidic and Lucy use to leave the laboratory.	Pyramid of Eden, an original design consisting of a series of circles bound within a triangle with a radiating apple directly above it.
File:Square.png	On the ground before the Animus, between the Eye of Providence and Pyramid of Eden.	The Square of Letters, when read from bottom to top and right to left, reads "Artefacts sent to the skies to control all nations, to make us obey a hidden crusade. Do not help them." Note the British spelling of Artefacts.
File:Symbols3.jpg	On the ground before the Animus, next to where Desmond's right hand lies.	Pentagram
File:Pyramid.png	On the floor before the Animus, where Desmond's feet rest.	The Pyramid of Letters, when read from bottom to top, from right to left, says "They drained my soul and made it theirs. I drain my body to show you where I saw it."
File:Barcode.png	On the floor before the Animus, behind the Pyramid of Letters	Barcode & Date: The numbers 12212012 make the date 21 December 2012 in the middle-endian format. The barcode, however, encodes the number 666.
File:Trinity.png	Found on the floor before the Animus, near where Desmond's head rests.	Borromean Rings
File:Nazcabird.jpg	In a corner, past the Pyramid of Letters.	Nazca Lines of a hummingbird, monkey, and spider.
File:Symbols4.jpg	Between the entrances to the conference room and Desmond's quarters.	Yonaguni (one word) is an island of Japan with an underwater formation that could be man-made.
File:Eye.png	Next to the platform near the entrance to the Animus laboratory	The Eye of Horus
	On the platform near the entrance to the Animus laboratory	Step pyramid
	On the platform near the entrance to the conference room	Mountain Valley

Desmond's Room Messages

File:Irreparable.jpg

Part of Subject 16's cryptic messages.

• 'We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each of them lies an IRREPARABLE truth'; a message found on the left side of the wall in Desmond's bedroom. The 'books' are in reference to humans, and how the 'thousands of pages' symbolize our ancestors' memories: therefore, the truth cannot be erased (or 'repaired'), even if the Templars try to 'rewrite' history.
• 13:16-18: A reference to the Bible, specifically the book of Revelation. This piece in the bible reads: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom, if anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person and its number is 666." The number 666 is widely known as the "Number of the Beast", and the beast is the Devil as depicted in the Bible. The number 666 is also a reference of man becoming god, the number 6 being of man and 3 of god. This may hint or reference to the Templars if they were to get any pieces of Eden.
• I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End: This is referenced to in Desmond's room, with the '22.13' symbol, which is the appropriate passage in the Bible.
  • Explanation: This is a well-known phrase from the Bible. It means that God is all-powerful. This yet again links back to the "New World Order" conspiracy.
• 13.0.0.0.0. This is also written in Desmond's room.
  • Explanation: References the Mayan Long Count calender; the Mayan calender also ties in with the 2012 conspiracy.
• Lorenz Attractor: The interlocking circular figures.
  • Explanation: The Lorenz attractor is a graphic representation of the Lorenz Oscillator, a 3 dimensional, fractal system that demonstrates chaotic structure, shows how a dynamical system evolves over time in a complex, non-repetitive pattern. Closely relates to Chaos Theory, which is an underlying theme of both games. Specifically how different occurrences at different times in history affect other separate events through a vast interlocking system of cause and effect throughout the annals of history. Also known as the "Butterfly Effect", which details how a butterfly could beat it's wings in Britain and cause a tornado in America due to cause and effect.
• Mandelbrot set: also on the bedroom walls.
  • Explanation: The Mandelbrot set pertains zn^2 + c the Mandelbrot set is the set of values of c in the complex plane for which the orbit of 0 under iteration of the complex quadratic polynomial zn+1 = zn2 + c remains bounded.
• In Desmond's room there are three more types of writing: Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese.
  • Explanation: Hebrew – עולם הבא ("olam haba": The writing in Hebrew means "The World to Come". It refers to the utopian world that will exist after the coming of the Messiah, possibly a reference to the world the Templars seek to create.
  • Explanation: Arabic – الزلزلة: The writing in Arabic means "The Earthquake" which is the name of the 99th Sura of the Qu'ran and tells of Judgement Day and one of the signs of the end of the world.
  • Explanation: Asian Texts – Several quotes relating to the game and its key protagonists.
    • 個人生死個人了，個人業報個人消 ("You reap what you sow.")
    • 欲知未來果，今生作者是 ("One who wants to read into his future simply needs to write his own past.")
    • 人無遠慮，必有近憂 ("A man without far sight, must have near worries.")
    • 不聞不若聞之，聞之不若見之，見之不若知之，知之不若行之 ("Hearing is better than not hearing, observing is better than hearing, knowing is better than observing, and doing is better than knowing.")
    • 若人欲了知，三世一切佛，應觀法界性，一切唯心造 ("As a human being, if you want to know the spiritual realm of Buddha, you have to observe, you have to know that everything you see in the world comes from your own mind.")
    • 前事不忘後事之師 ("One who does not forget what was before is the master of what comes after.")
• Within Emperor Jiajing's sin and Quetzcoaltz's hunger lies the Answers.: A message in Desmond's bedroom.
  • Explanation: The Jiajing Emperor was Emperor of China from 1521 to 1567. He is known to be a cruel ruler, and an assassination attempt was made on him in 1542 when his concubines tried to strangle him while he slept (a plot that ultimately failed). He was also obsessed with collecting elixirs and artifacts, in the hope that they would grant him everlasting life – this could possibly mean that within Assassin's Creed, he managed to acquire a Piece of Eden.
  • 'Quetzcoaltz' is probably a misspelling of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec deity. Quetzalcoatl was the God of the sky and creation, and was responsible for the creation of books and calenders. Depicted as a feathered serpent, he was also the symbol of death and resurrection. Among the Aztecs, the name 'Quetzalcoatl' was also a priestly title.
• Top Left Corner: A Mandelbrot set

Assassin's Creed II

Main article: Glyphs

When Desmond next entered the Animus, he discovered the messages were pointing him to files that Subject 16 had secretly planted in the Animus software. Once unlocked, these files provided information about the Templars, Assassins and Pieces of Eden throughout history.

Trivia

• When Desmond sleeps between Animus sessions in Assassin's Creed, and during the introductory narration of Assassin's Creed II, there are flashes of the cryptic messages.
• At the very start of Assassin's Creed II, if you view the Animus lab in Eagle Vision you'll find all of the cryptic messages from the ending of Assassin's Creed perfectly reproduced.
• 20 of the images painted on the walls form the shape of the Glyphs in Assassin's Creed II.
• The 'Eden Pyramid' and 'Letter Square' symbols also appear in the Lair of Romulus of Catacombe di Roma in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, although it is not clear who left them there.