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He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. |
"Those Who Came Before" is the name of an ancient, and incredibly advanced race of beings who created the Pieces of Eden, as well as humanity itself. Exactly who they were, how long ago, or how they came to die out is still largely unknown. It is believed that they were worshiped by ancient cultures, for example, in ancient Greece, they were revered as Gods. The woman known as Minerva said they were not gods, but a race more advanced in time who "simply came before".
Domination of Humans
Minerva revealed that at some point; her kind created humanity, possibly as some sort of slave race as shown in The Truth video. In the recorded memory, Those Who Came Before appear to have enslaved humans into doing their bidding through the hypnotic power of the Pieces of Eden. Despite their attempts at mind control, The Truth video shows how Adam and Eve stole one of the mythical fruits of the tree of knowledge described in the Bible. It is possible that this was an attempt to free mankind from the oppression of their masters. Adam and eve were most likely naturally immune to the Pieces of Eden, much like Altair and several other Assassins where, as seen in the first Assassins Creed when Al Mualim attempted to use it on Altair.
According to Minerva, humans and her species had lived peacefully for some time, however, humans were not treated equally. Mankind is likely to have to been regarded as cattle or slaves, prompting some humans to rebel against their masters. Somehow Adam and Eve had a resistance to the Piece of Eden, which most likely controlled them.
Past Events
While the ancient race was more technologically advanced and powerful, humanity had the advantage of numbers. Minerva stated that both sides craved war, but they were so preoccupied with their fighting; an impending danger was approaching from the "heavens". Shaun Hastings and Lucy Stillman hypothesize that this "danger" could have been a massive solar flare which would have had a catastrophic impact on the Earth's weakening magnetic field, reversing the polarity, and making the planet geologically unstable. The geomagnetic reversal of Earth's poles is a possible cause of the destruction, however, it is a natural phenomenon which has occurred multiple times over Earth's history, the last of which was 780,000 years ago.
Despite the unknown cause of destruction, humanity and the ancient race survived. As Minerva said, "We built you in our image, we built you to survive", she confirms that Those Who Came Before altered the skeletal structure of the hominid form they found on Earth to match their own, as seen in one of the glyph puzzles. While both races still existed, they suffered dwindling numbers, and had to rebuild their lives. As the Earth and mankind worked to recover, the race "endeavored to ensure that this tragedy would not be repeated". This lead to the creation of the temples, such as The Vault in Rome, which were built by "those who learned to turn away from war".
Characteristics
Those Who Came Before appear to be all the Gods that have ever existed. As seen with the Monteriggioni statues, Minerva has connections with the Roman gods. Her kind is very similar to Sumerian' gods, who share a comparable theory of creation. Furthermore, Minerva also showed an ancient Egyptian picture of the people rebelling against the Egyptian gods, but still labels the Egyptian gods as "us". It can at least be established that by Ezio's time, the race was effectively extinct - Minerva states that she is the last of her kind.
"Those Who Came Before" seem to posses some form of precognition, or ability to predict future events. This is shown when Minerva told a confused Ezio within the The Vault that he was simply a conduit, and she spoke directly to the invisible Desmond, showing she knew that he would receive the message nearly 600 years into the future by viewing it through Ezio in the Animus.
Interestingly, Minerva is one of the 8 statuettes you can collect in Monteriggioni. As Minerva is one of "Those Who Came Before', the other statuettes could be as well. The figures depicted by the statuettes are Neptune and Pluto, Jupiter and Minerva, Dianna and Apollo, and Mars and Venus. It is also worth noting that they are all Roman mythological Gods - perhaps this means that they are remnants of "Those Who Came Before" and survivors of the cataclysmic event described by Minerva, or that they were the ones that helped humans build the temples that she mentioned.
Of further interest, is that Minverva mentions her former name and those of her compatriots. Mera, Uni and Tinia. (Minerva, Juno and Jupiter respectively) The former names mentioned by Minerva correspond to the Etruscan supreme Triad of Dieties, who were later modelled by the Roman Dieties, in the Capitoline Triad. (Jupiter, his daughter Minerva and wife Juno). From the ACII perspective this may explain why and how understandings of Those who Came Before bled into one another across different cultures. Most pantheons tend to have strong analogues in different cultural lores. I.e. Zeus, Jupitor, Thor, Etc.
Genetic History
Also in the Truth file, "Bloodlines", the player must highlight all of the painting of Gods who have had children with Humans, with the heading, "Behold the Assassins, the children of two worlds!'. This could mean that at some point in time, the "Gods" (Those Who Came Before) had children with humans. The Assassins who posses special abilities (such as Eagle Vision) are evidence of this relationship - this would explain why Subject 16 says: "Why do we have these gifts? Because it's in our blood!". Yet, Eagle vision might not be the only "power". So it could be hypothosized that mythical heroes and semigods, such as Heracles and Odysseus, were the offspring of a mortal and Those Who Came Before, and were possibly assassins as well.
Since Desmond and Subject 16 are both born assassins and that Altaïr, Ezio and Desmond have Eagle Vision this may prove that they are related to Those Who Came Before, and that the Eagle vision was passed on through their bloodline. This heritage could also explain the resistance to Pieces of Eden, and how the Vault recognized Ezio as the prophet, and not Rodrigo Borgia.