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"Beware the easy path. Knowledge grows only through challenge."

―William Miles.

William "Bill" Miles (born 1948) is a member of the Assassin Order who acted as a contact for Assassin teams spread throughout the world.

Based in the Assassin headquarters, he regularly kept the teams informed about the situations of others. He had a wife and one son, Desmond.

Initially working from a remote compound known as "the Farm," William's dedication to the Assassin Order allowed him to develop the role of an unofficial leader, and he oversaw the activities of Assassin cells spread around throughout the world.

In late 2012, William joined the Assassin team consisting of Desmond, Shaun Hastings, and Rebecca Crane. The team had managed to obtain an Apple of Eden, and they eventually relocated together to the Grand Temple left behind by members of the First Civilization.

Biography

Early life

"One day you'll understand. All this unease will be worth something, I promise."

―William to Desmond during the latter's training.

William was born into the Assassin Order in 1948, and he eventually chose to devote his life to the Order. By 1987, William lived with his wife in an Assassin compound called "the Farm," located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, United States. He lived in the compound with approximately thirty other members, and it was there that his Desmond was born and raised.

William was responsible for the training of the young recruits, most notably his own son and Lucy Stillman. When Lucy reached the age of seventeen, he made the decision to raise her outside the Order. This was to ensure that she would be able to covertly infiltrate Abstergo Industries, and her ties to the Order were severed as a result.

William raised his son strictly and would always emphasize the importance of being careful, as well as being prepared for an attack by their enemies at any time.

Researching Daniel Cross

In 1998, William was contacted by Paul Bellamy, the Assassin in charge of a Brotherhood compound located outside Philadelphia. Paul asked William to search for information regarding an individual named Daniel Cross, who was brought into the compound by Hannah Mueller under the assumption that Daniel was an Assassin.

William collected information regarding Daniel's ancestry, and was led to the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov, who was closely tied to the Tunguska event. William relayed this information to Paul, and Daniel was brought into the Order. At some point, he met Cross face to face and believed his sincerity.

In November of 2000, Daniel was personally introduced to the Order's Mentor, but assassinated him upon an impulse covertly implanted into his brain by Abstergo during his youth. Cross also revealed to Abstergo the locations of all Assassin camps he had visited during his search for the Mentor. This resulted in the Templars initiating "The Great Purge," which was an endeavor to destroy these camps, though because William was warned pre-emptively, the Farm was left virtually unscathed.

Overseeing the Order

Having lost the Mentor and nearly all of the Assassin compounds to the Templars, the Assassins went into hiding, operating remotely from concealed compounds and cells. Eventually, control of the Order slipped into William's hands, and he began to oversee the Order's activities.

However, in 2003, Desmond abruptly departed the Farm, claiming he was fed up with his parents' paranoia about the Templars, and believing them to be nothing more than conspiracy freaks. Despite endeavors to locate Desmond, William and the Assassins were unsuccessful in retrieving him.

Despite Desmond's departure, William continued to loyally serve the Order, and kept in contact with the Assassin cells via the [[Hephaestus Email Network|Assassins' private email network]].

In 2012, Lucy Stillman was still working covertly in Abstergo Industries as the assistant of Warren Vidic, a member of the Templar's Inner Sanctum. After the death of teammate Clay Kaczmarek, who had been used in the company's Animus Project as "Subject 16," Abstergo's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition division managed to track down Desmond and capture him, using him in the Animus Project as "Subject 17."

Around this time, William and the other Assassins deserted the Farm shortly before a team sent by Abstergo arrived there.

Retrieving Desmond

Lucy eventually broke Desmond out of Abstergo's facility in Italy, and the two joined Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane to continue Desmond's Animus sessions, though this time pursuing the Assassins' interests. During this time, William kept in contact with Lucy's team and learned of Desmond's progress.

Eventually, through reliving the memories of Ezio Auditore, Desmond was able to ascertain the location of his ancestor's Apple of Eden. Ezio's Apple of Eden had been hidden for centuries in the Colosseum Vault, where the team entered the Vault and Desmond retrieved the Apple. However, Desmond's body was influenced by Juno, a member of the First Civilization, who made him stab Lucy with his Hidden Blade, killing her.

William dispatched several Assassins to retrieve the team from the Vault, and placed Desmond inside the Animus due to his conscious state worsening from the event and his prolonged exposure to the Bleeding Effect.

Back in the Animus, Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories, and eventually found a restored memory sequence from 1506. From there, he received an email from William which stated that the memory sequence he had found would lead the Assassins to crucial information regarding another Vault.

At the end of these memories, Leonardo da Vinci and Ezio Auditore located another Vault in Rome, located beneath the Temple of Pythagoras. When Ezio's DNA activated a pedestal, the room projected a set of coordinates: 43 39 19 N 75 27 42 W, which led to a small town in New York that was the location of the Grand Temple left behind by the First Civilization.

Once the sequence was completed, William instructed Harlan T. Cunningham to sedate Desmond, though it was too late; Desmond had entered a coma, and had fallen into the Animus' Black Room. Despite this setback, William was confident his son would recover, and so he and Harlan left Desmond in order to investigate the coordinates.

Relocating to New York

William: "Desmond, can you hear me? Son?"

Desmond: "I know what we need to do."

—William and Desmond, upon the latter's awakening.

While Desmond was still in the Animus, William transported Rebecca and Desmond to New York, while Shaun stayed behind to attend Lucy's funeral. During this time, William examined the Apple of Eden, though he surmised he did not have the genes to properly wield it.

Upon arrival, William helped Rebecca stabilize Desmond, as well as monitor his condition. While overseeing Desmond, William questioned Rebecca and Shaun about him. William also mentioned that Desmond's DNA had a high concentration of First Civilization DNA, which would allow him to wield the Apple of Eden.

William beside Desmond, as the latter regains his consciousness.

When his son finally woke from his coma, William was the first to greet him, with Desmond seeming surprised to see him, but recognizing him immediately. Desmond, after seeing the Apple nearby, stated to his team that he knew "what we need to do," and William proceeded to lead the team out of their van.

Into the Grand Temple

Upon entering the Grand Temple, William ordered his son back into the Animus when Desmond began suffering from the Bleeding Effect again. After completing Haytham Kenway's memories, Desmond exited the machine, to which William demanded that Desmond enter it again, in order to find the key to the Temple's gate faster.

Having had enough of his father, Desmond yelled at William for provoking his own son too far, and accused him of being no better than the Templars, to which William responded by punching his son in the face. William revealed that the driving force of his whole career as an Assassin was to make a better place for his son, and that the impending countdown did not afford Desmond the luxury of time to relax. However, he did acknowledge that he had been a poor father to Desmond, though the two still avoided each other for some time.

Later, Desmond conversed with his father, who apologized for snapping at him, and the two set their differences aside, with Desmond asking about his father's activity upon leaving the Farm.

Meanwhile, Abstergo had been tracking William for some time, as they wanted to use him as bait. Vidic planned to capture him in the hopes that Desmond would exchange the Apple for his father's safety, or attempt to rescue him.

Capture by Abstergo

William held captive in Vidic's office.

When Shaun located the third power source in Cairo, William volunteered to go there, as they were running out of time and he wanted Desmond to focus on locating the key. On his way there, he emailed his son, telling him to relax, as he had been "fighting these bastards before [Desmond] was even born."

Recognizing the opportunity, Vidic sent his Master Templar, Juhani Otso Berg to capture William in the Cairo museum. Seizing William, Abstergo brought him to the same building where Desmond had been incarcerated a few months prior.

Vidic then sent the team a video message which bargained for a trade between William and the Apple of Eden in Desmond's possession. In response, Desmond complied, but chose instead to begin a raid on Abstergo's Roman headquarters before reaching William and Vidic.

On his arrival, Desmond navigated the facility and eventually used the Apple to influence Abstergo's guards into killing Vidic and then themselves, before leaving the Templar facility with his father.

Opening the Grand Temple door

Eventually discovering the Grand Temple Key's location and retrieving it from the grave of Achilles Davenport's son, Desmond unlocked the final barrier that separated the group from the Grand Temple's inner chambers.

Inside, the group located a pedestal, and Juno explained to them that it would shield the planet from the solar flares with Desmond's touch. However, Minerva suddenly appeared hoping to discourage Desmond, commenting that touching the pedestal would also unleash the dormant Juno to conquer the Earth for herself.

However, on deciding that Juno could be combated, Desmond made his choice and went to touch the pedestal. William made a final attempt to dissuade him, but Desmond was unfazed and simply told his allies to run far from the Temple. Following the departure of the rest of his team, Desmond touched the pedestal, giving his life to save the planet.

Alternate timeline

William with his son in the desert.

In an alternate timeline, William lived with his family in a desert community, sometimes taking his son on trips through the barren wasteland surrounding their home. During one such trip, when they were watching an eagle in flight, William warned his son to always be careful of the "vultures," who were the Templars.

Desmond escaped the desert community some time later, and settled in Paris.

Characteristics and personality

"Focus, Desmond, focus! Strength, speed, agility, no excuses!"

―William motivating his son during training.

Concept art of William.

William was truly devoted to the Assassin Order, sacrificing social relationships he had with those around him for its sake. While William's wife was able to deal with his emotional distance, his son could not, which became one of the main reasons Desmond elected to flee his parents. To this effect, William would admit to Desmond years later that he did a terrible job at raising him.

William was also a highly proud man, going so far as to punch Desmond when his son compared him to the Templars. Despite this, he had no value for his own life when his death may have been necessary to safeguard the Assassins, scolding Desmond on one such occasion for rescuing him from the Templars.

Throughout his life, William appeared to remain focused more on the Order than his own son. However, William constantly cared for his son, as Shaun revealed in an email that William never left Desmond's side while his son was in a coma, sleeping next to him in the Animus. Following his rescue from Abstergo, William's feelings towards his son were made clearer, as he admitted to Desmond that though he found it hard to express himself, he did love his son.

His somewhat cold personality also occasionally disturbed other members of the Order, including Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. Both were taken aback at how William showed little remorse over Lucy Stillman's death. However, this may have been because he was aware of Lucy's betrayal, whereas Rebecca and Shaun were not.

Nonetheless, the driven personality and intelligence that William used to serve the Order earned him the loyalty and respect of the Assassins, allowing him to become their de facto leader in the absence of an official Mentor.