Desmond Miles

"I'm a bartender, for Christ's sake! What do you want me to do, teach you how to mix a Martini?"

―Desmond to Vidic and Lucy

Desmond Miles (b. 1987) is the main protagonist of the Assassin's Creed series and the descendant of a long line of ancestors who swore their allegiance to the Assassin Order. He is initially forced to use a machine, called the Animus, created by Abstergo Industries – the modern front of the Knights Templar – to relive the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad during the Crusader era, in their quest to locate the "Apple", a Piece of Eden.

Eventually escaping with the aid of modern day Assassins, Desmond once again uses an improved version of the Animus to explore the memories of his second ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, so as to learn the ways of the Assassins in a much quicker way than normal.

Characteristics and personality

Desmond's free-running skills.

Desmond has an uncanny resemblance to both Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, despite having very little in common with their personalities. And being a discreet individual, he does not wear extravagant clothing, accustomed to a white hooded jacket, jeans and, white sneakers. Interestingly, when up, the hood exhibited a beak-like feature similar to Ezio and Altaïr.

Desmond was a gruff and cynical individual, who held a serious outlook on life, due to being aware of the Templars and Assassins since his youth, although he was unaware of Abstergo Industries being a Templar company. Despite this, he was not above jesting over his situation, and would occasionally make jokes, although they rarely elicited a good reaction. After his emancipation from Abstergo, Desmond's demeanor became considerably more relaxed and spent a noticeable amount of time talking to Lucy.

Equipment and skills

Being that Desmond was trained during childhood as an Assassin, he learned basic reconnaissance skills of eavesdropping and pickpocketing as well as being a competent fist fighter. After about a week of being forced to relive the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr, Desmond began to experience the Bleeding Effect and developed an extra-sensory ability called Eagle Vision. Later on, after willingly exploring the memories of another ancestor, Ezio Auditore, Desmond learned how to free-run like an assassin. Not long afterwards, he was able to easily fend off a Templar attack with Ezio's combat skills. Desmond is now able to fight with a Hidden Blade and mace-like weapons. It can be assumed that Ezio's sword skills were carried over as well.

Trivia

• He is modelled after Francisco Randez and voiced by Nolan North. Curiously, Francisco Randez also used to be a bartender before he became a model. This may have inspired the makers of the game to give Desmond the same profession. His face slightly changes in Assassin's Creed II to match the look of Ezio, who's face also slightly differs from Altaïr's in the first game.
• Desmond possesses the same scar on his lip as his ancestors Altaïr and Ezio had.
• Desmond and Altaïr share the same age during the first game, both being 25 years of age in 2012 and 1191 respectively.
• Desmond is a descendant of Those Who Came Before and Humans, as many of his ancestor's abilities such as the Eagle Vision are product of the unification of those two races, what led to the birth of the first "assassins", Adam and Eve.
• Desmond has A+ blood type.
• Desmond's history shows he never wanted to be an assassin, nor does he have the skills yet before the second game to be one. However in the graphic novel, included with the limited edition of the first game, he does call himself an assassin and he shows skills of stealth and lethality.
• Desmond acquires a Hidden Blade at the conclusion of Assassin's Creed II. The original owner of the blade is uncertain, but it shares the same design as the one Ezio inherited from his father, Giovanni.
• The etymology of Desmond's name "The World" (or Man of the World in Celtic and Latin) is not related to either of his ancestors, whereas Altaïr's and Ezio's names pertain to avians; Altaïr's being "The Flying One" and Ezio's "The Eagle". His surname "Miles" is also the Latin word for "Soldier".
  • The name however suits him, as he wanted to leave his parents' watchful eyes to see the rest of the world outside the compound, and refers to his role in saving it from destruction.
  • Desmond is also known as subject 17, for he is the 17th person that was used to test the Animus.
  • Due to the fact that Desmond and subject 16 are both desendents of Ezio it is certain that they are somewhat related.
  • Desmond's hood changes subtly between the events of AC1 and AC2. It visibly begins to take the shape of Ezio's hood, becoming pointier, while in AC1 it was rounder and more similar to Altaïr's.

Video

thumb|480px|left|Real Life Storyline: Desmont Miles, Lucy Stillman and Warren Vidic