Cryptic Messages

The markings on Desmond's bedroom wall.

The Cryptic Messages refer to a number of images and texts scrawled into the cell of Abstergo Industries' Vatican City facility's laboratory by one of its occupants, Clay Kaczmarek.

Abstergo

When Abstergo Industries finally recovered the information they needed from Subject 17, Desmond Miles, they left him in the Abstergo laboratory. Alone, Desmond discovered he had gained Eagle Vision (via the bleeding effect), which enabled him to perceive a number of markings around the laboratory and within his bedroom. Desmond quickly realized they were painted in blood by his predecessor in the Animus. Known only as Subject 16, this man was in the Animus so long that he went mad and took his own life after the symbols were drawn.

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. It symbolises the Templar plan to send a Piece of Eden into orbit in order to control all beneath 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.	The Pentagram is associated by some people with evil , but in Neopaganism it is a symbol of protection, each point drawing on the power of the five elemental watchtowers to keep the person inside the circle safe. Note that one prong of the star points directly to the head of the Animus: this could be an attempt by Subject 16 to show the Animus is used for evil purposes, or it could be a sign that Subject 16 wants to try to protect whoever Abstergo forces onto the Animus next. Whilst recently the pentagram is usually affiliated with satanic rituals, its origin comes from the Roman god Venus, as the planet Venus forms a pentagram in space. This is Subject 16's way of explaining that Venus, along with many other gods of Greek and Roman mythology were actually First Civilization beings.
File:Pyramid.png	On the floor before the Animus, where Desmond's feet rest.	The Pyramid of Letters, when read from bottom to top and 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. See 13:16-18, below.
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. Reference to a Piece of Eden that is located in Nazca, Peru.
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. Adjacent to the text are 3 symbols: outlines of Mount Fuji, a Japanese garden arch, and two Nara-style pagodas.
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	Three Triangles, most likely indicating the Pyramids of Giza. Refers to Giza, Egypt, another location of a Piece of Eden.
File:Hut glyph.jpg	On the platform near the entrance to the Animus laboratory	Step pyramid, a common symbol of Mayan and Egyptian architecture.
	On the platform near the entrance to the conference room	Mountain Valley, most likely Machu Picchu

Desmond's Room Messages

Message	Description
	Mandelbrot Set
zn+1 = zn2 + c	Formula for a Mandelbrot Set
עולם הבא	Hebrew for Olam Haba, or "The World To Come" after the arrival of the Messiah in Judaism.
13.0.0.0.0	In the Mayan Long Count calender, this corresponds to the date 21 December 2012.
We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each of them lies an IRREPARABLE truth	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 (Revelation 13:16-18), which describes the Number of The Beast(666).Additionally, it describes the Mark of the Beast, a reference to an implantable microchip used by the Templars.
الزلزلة	Arabic for The Earthquake, the title of Sura 99 of the Qur'an.
	An Omega symbol with a dot in the centre. See also 22.13, below.
22.13	A Bible reference (Revelation 22:13): "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." This verse is a declaration of God's power over the world: power which modern day Templars strive to achieve.
	Lorenz Attractor
Within Emperor Jiajing's sin and Quetzcoaltz's hunger lies the Answers.	Emperor Jiajing's sins include ignoring established rites, isolating himself from court and relying on unqualified individuals to handle affairs of state, exiling or killing dissidents, overspending public funds on monuments, religious intolerance, self-aggrandisement and cruelty. 'Quetzcoaltz' is probably a misspelling of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec sun god. The Aztecs believed the gods required regular human sacrifices for nourishment.
I've entered the Abyss and never returned	Subject 16 briefly explains who he is and what happened to him.
不聞不若聞之 聞之不若見之 見之不若知之 知之不若行之	Chinese for "Hearing is better than not hearing, observing is better than hearing, knowing is better than observing, and doing is better than knowing."
個人生死個人了 個人業報個人消	Chinese for "You reap what you sow."
欲知未來果 今生作者是	Chinese for "One who wants to read into his future simply needs to write his own past."
人無遠慮 必有近憂	Chinese for "A man without far sight, must have near worries."
若人欲了知 三世一切佛 應觀法界性 一切唯心造	Chinese for "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	Chinese for "One who does not forget what was before is the master of what comes after."

Glyphs

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.