Piece of Eden

The Piece of Eden

The Piece of Eden is one of several ancient objects left by Those Who Have Come Before, possessing different effects, that is able to bend people to the will of the user. One of the greatest weapons known to man, it is capable of ending wars and (provided it is used correctly) ushering in a forced peace.

It is believed by the staff of Abstergo Industries and the Templars that the Piece of Eden, along with other artifacts like it, was the source of such miracles as the Parting of the Red Sea, the successful use of the Trojan Horse by the Greeks to win the Trojan War, the miracles surrounding "the Christ-figure" who founded the Christian faith and the Biblical plagues that ravaged Egypt, among other supernatural happenings.

Apart from its power to force almost anyone into serving its possessor,the Piece of Eden's greatest power is that its existence essentially disproves the existence of an all-powerful God. The Templar Order had already committed itself to exposing the claims of all religions as false, and the Piece of Eden is perfectly suited to the successful pursuit of this purpose.

Incidentally, each Piece of Eden also contains a holographic map of the Earth that shows the location of all the other Artifacts. The Masyaf Piece of Eden was destroyed during its experimental use by Abstergo Industries at the Denver International Airport. Using Altair's memory of events, however, the map showed the locations of the other Pieces of Eden.

After Altaïr took control of the Assassins, their new goal was to hunt down and destroy the last of the Templars and the Pieces of Eden. During the events of Assassin's Creed Bloodlines, Altaïr starts to study the artifact, writing about its powers and his own theories. When the Cypriots blamed Altaïr for the disasters that struck the island and tried to attack him, he used the Piece of Eden to control their minds, forcing them to hear the truth, that the real culprit was the Templar Grand Master, Armand Bouchart. After reaching the Archives in Limassol, and killing Bouchart, Altaïr kept the Masyaf Piece of Eden, not leaving it in the Archives as he had first intended. It is unknown what happened to the Masyaf Piece of Eden after Altaïr and Maria traveled "East". On an interesting note, the object is referred to as the "Apple of Eden" in the game.

In Assassin's Creed 2, it is revealed that the Apple itself has a rather extensive history of changing hands while decrypting the "Truth" files left by Subject 16. Notable figures in history have used it, although for varying purposes; including, but not limited to: Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Gandhi, Houdini, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and even Winston Churchill and Adolph Hitler. It is also revealed that there are at least 3 Apples remaining in the world, which represent the three divine Golden Apples of Greek mythology.

Free Will & Temptation

In the cut-out scene at Masyaf, after Altaïr assassinates his sixth target, Al Mualim makes some statements about the Piece of Eden other than those mentioned above. Altaïr asks Al Mualim, "What is it?" The answer is, "It is Temptation! It is what drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden." In other words, it was what was called "the apple" from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - the one the Serpent offered to Eve. What the Serpent was actually offering her was the free will to make her decisions based upon knowledge rather than blind obedience to God. Free Will, which Altaïr champions repeatedly is this temptation.

The "success of the Trojan Horse" - while implied - is not what is said. Al Mualim names the Greek deity Eris, the goddess of discord, specifically as being responsible for the Trojan War. Order is a highly valued principle throughout the game, as well as within our societies. We are shown throughout the game to what lengths men of power will go to maintain and hold onto that power through the pursuit of Order - an order that is imposed by them at any means or cost. Other people are merely pawns in their games.

And these are games of control and manipulation, through promises of a better life...one that does not come until death. One cannot achieve this unless one is obedient to the laws of one's society and lives them to the letter. To take on the temptation of Free Will and accept responsibility for one's self and whatever one does or says is to step outside these carefully laid boundaries of behavior. If too many people do this, then order ceases to exist. It is why books have repeatedly been burned throughout history; why scholars and intellectuals have been persecuted. They may know too much and "their words infect others" - as Madj Addin says. Several times through the game things are said that indicate the belief that mankind is incapable of doing this without crime and violence erupting in its wake. The "lies" told in the books that Jubair would burn speak of things like free will and other knowledge that would reveal the lies the Templars are telling to be untrue. Altaïr is described as being "arrogant" and "a traitor" - like a certain angel named Lucifer who rebelled against the laws of Heaven...for Altaïr believes that people should have the free will to decide their own destinies. He exhibits free will at the beginning, claiming his way is the "right way" and he knows better than Malik or Kadar. During the final cut-out scene with Al Mualim, Free Will and Illusion are mentioned extensively.

A map of many "Pieces of Eden"

Resistance

In an e-mail at Abstergo Industries it is revealed that the company's leaders are worried that the Pieces of Eden are not all that is needed to achieve their goal. It is mentioned that some people may be resistant to the mind control effect of the Piece of Eden and that other "Artifacts" must be found to ensure no one is left to cause trouble in the Templar's planned "New World". The only three people so far to show a resistance against the Pieces of Eden are an unnamed person present at the DIA incident, Altaïr, and Ezio. The first sends an e-mail to Dr. Vidic declaring "I know what you did" and gives a firsthand account of the artifact's failed experiment there. Of note is that this person seems to be acting alone and is therefore unlikely to know of the Templars or the Assassins and may not be a member of either organization themselves. Altaïr's resistance is shown when Al Mualim shows him the treasure but Altaïr simply says that to him it is just a piece of silver and does not understand how Al Mualim can believe it to be pure temptation as he describes. This response surprises Al Mualim who later reveals that he had shown the Piece of Eden to Altaïr in an attempt to hypnotize him, but for some reason he could not. However, even though Altaïr is resistant against its hypnotic effect, the Piece of Eden can still do some things to him such as: immobilizing him, causing him to hallucinate and clouding his mind, both of which can be observed during the final battle. Finally, Ezio's resistance is shown when he finally confronts Rodrigo Borgia in Rome. Although this instance has Ezio himself using the Apple while Rodrigo uses the Staff. But Ezio shows no resistance to the combined power of the Apple and the Staff.

There is a high potential that Altaïr passed on this gift to Desmond Miles and his other descendants. Although a small number of theories can be made upon decrypting Truth File #18 because while decrypting it Subject 16 makes comments about scientists finding a specific neurological receptor in the human brain that responds solely to the effects of the Eden artifacts.

Confirmed Artifacts

01: The First Apple: Designed to create illusions and control men's minds; can be used in conjunction with the Staff

Owners: Those Who Came Before, Eve, Cain(T), Al Mualim(T)*(!), Altair, Ezio,Unknown, Napoleon, Unknown, James Roosevelt(T), Franklin D. Roosevelt(T), Abstergo(T) (Destroyed)

02: The Second Apple: Same as above

Owners: Those Who Came Before,Unknown, Queen Mary"Bloody" (Tudor) I of England(T)*(!), Queen Elizabeth (Tudor) I of England,Unknown, Harry Houdini (Possibly Destroyed)

03: The Third Apple: Same as above

Owners: Those Who Came Before, George Washington, Ghandi, John F. Kennedy

04: The Fourth Apple: Same as above

Owners: Those Who Came Before, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison(T), Henry Ford(T), Adolf Hitler(T)

05: The Fifth Apple: Same as above

Owners: Those Who Came Before, NASA(T)

25: The Sword: Unknown

Owners: Those Who Came Before, Perseus, King Arthur, Genghis Khan(T)*(!), Joan of Arc, Templars

34: The Staff: Designed to control men's minds and bodies; it has a spot in the headpiece where an Apple of Eden can placed to enhance the mind control powers

Owners: Those Who Came Before, Moses, Alexander the Great(T)*(!), John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Rodrigo Borgia(T), Ezio,Unknown, Czar Nicholas II, Rasputin(T)*(!), Abstergo(T) (Destroyed in the Tunguska Incident by the Assassins with the help of Nikola Tesla)

66: The Shroud: Unknown, possibly designed to resurrect the dead

Owners: Those Who Came Before, Jesus, Templars (Possibly Destroyed or Lost)

(T) = A Templar / Templar Group

 (!)= Confirmed Assassinated by the Assassins

Locations of the Artifacts

1. Giza, Egypt
2. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
3. The Gambia
4. Timbuktu, Mali
5. Atlas Mountains, Morocco
6. Canary Islands
7. Vologda Oblast, Russia - (The Staff?)
8. Chernobyl, Ukraine - (The Staff?)
9. Sighişoara, Transylvania - (The Apple #2)
10. Rennes-le-Château, France
11. Salisbury, England
12. Loch Ness, Scotland
13. Uluru, Australia
14. Nara, Japan
15. Xi'an, China
16. Lake Baikal, Siberia
17. Bareilly, India
18. Persepolis, Iran
19. Jerusalem, Israel - (The Apple #1)
20. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21. Machu Picchu, Peru - (The Crystal Skulls?)
22. Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
23. Aasiaat, Greenland
24. Chichen Itza, Mexico
25. San Antonio, Texas
26. Montréal, Quebec
27. New York City, New York
28. Washington D.C.
29. Lake Okanagan, British Columbia
30. Coloma, California

Theories About the Piece of Eden and the Other Artifacts

1. We are told by Dr. Vidic that they were left by Those Who Have Come Before. "They" could possibly be Aliens, and the artifacts are made of their advanced technology.
2. The Artifacts also seems to have other abilities like time travel (it is mentioned in the e-mails on Lucy Stillman's computer). It is possible that they were made in the future and, for some reason, sent back in time. Perhaps when the Piece of Eden was damaged in Assassin's Creed, the map was not showing where to find the other artifacts but it was picking a location for it to travel to safety.
3. There was a race of beings on Earth, whilst dinosaurs lived, that created the Artifacts. And it was no meteorite that hit the earth, but some huge explosion caused by the Artifacts that ended much of the life on the Earth at the time.
4. Desmond and his ancestors all have some sort of link with the Artifacts, which would explain why they can resist its power.
5. (Please edit later as the proof can be found on Youtube) Adam and Eve (who had blue, glowing lines) managed to steal "The Apple" by using free-running (Supporting theory 4) from the Garden of Eden (which looked more like a facility with seemingly enslaved workers working to build possibly more pieces). All of this can be found by finding all the glyphs left by Subject 16 and unlocking the video, "The Truth".
6. It has been suggested that at some point multiple pieces of eden became centralized and governed over by a council of Templars and dispatched to parts of the world in which they perceived there power to be in jeopordy. This can be assumed form the decoded glyphs Ezio helps Desmond uncover in Assassins creed II. In one such message a world map is shown with a number of high level dignitaries and historical figures, all implied targets of assassins, all of which were directly involved with restorations, or attempted restorations of trappings of power;IE: Mary I of England whom is on the list, Following her father (Henry VIII) creation of the first protestant state, as well as his standing objection against Pope Paul III, remained a catholic and on her coronation went about persecuting all whom rejected the church's power. It can be assumed she was given a piece of eden by the pope, or other machinations of the templars to bring England back into the fold. As she is cannonically refered to as assassinated by in game content, it can be assumed that instead of confiscating the Apple, the assassins respected the lineage and bestowed it upon Elizabeth I.((This is not fully true as some on this list also represent apparent Templar assassins whom were killed in vengeance for being successful in some measure (John W. Booth).))

Posssible Artifacts and Funtions

These artifacts are based on the locations given in Assassin's Creed, and the clues and hints found in all the games.

• The Philosopher's Stone: Converts any material into pure gold.
• The Holy Grail: Although the Templar's doubt it's existence, it could prove to be real. Possible Functions: Grants eternal life, among other things.
• The Crystal Skulls: Telepathic Communication. Currently possessed by the Templars.
• The "Philadelphia Artifact": Time Travel
• The Golden Fleece: A seemingly indestructible piece of armor or cloak. Referenced to in Altair's Codex as a possible Eden artifact.