On March 13th, 1987, 38 years ago, a man designated as Subject 17 by Abstergo Industries was born, but for most Assassin’s Creed fans and members of the Assassin Brotherhood this man was simply known as Desmond Miles. For five years, Desmond Miles was the anchor and primary protagonist of the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise as his Assassin and Templar-filled lineage was the subject of all mainline Assassin’s Creed games until his death in 2012.
While most players focus more on the escapades of historical figures long gone, Miles was an important present-day throughline for the games who used his ancestors’ memories to help the world. With Assassin’s Creed Shadows releasing later this month, here’s an in-depth look at Miles’ life, death, and legacy for the franchise.
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The Life and Assassin Birthright of Desmond Miles
Born as the lone son to Assassin Mentor William Miles and a currently unknown mother, Desmond Miles was initially raised in an isolated, nomadic, Assassin holdout compound simply known as the Farm in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Here, he was taught about the Assassin’s millennia-long war against the Templars and taught the Creed— nothing is true, everything is permitted—but he never truly understood its meaning until adulthood. For most of Miles’ childhood, he was taught simple Assassin skills, though he lacked much of a social life as he was forbidden to interact with civilization for fear that the Templars might find the compound and attack. As he reached his teenage years, Desmond began to no longer believe in the threats of the Templars and ran away at the age of 16.
Through adulthood, Miles distanced himself from the Assassin’s tenants and lifestyle, striving to live a life of his own, and traveled to New York City. For nine years, Miles lived a relatively normal life and ended up becoming a bartender, but his life changed in an instant when he was kidnapped by Abstergo and brought to their Animus Project laboratory in Rome in September 2012. Now designated Subject 17, Miles was utilized by Templar Warren Vidic to relive the DNA memories of his 12th-century ancestor Altair Ibn-La’Ahad during the Third Crusade to locate powerful devices called Pieces of Eden (POE). As Miles relived Altair’s memories within the Animus, he slowly began to acquire the Master Assassin’s skills via a phenomenon called the Bleeding Effect.
Desmond Miles’ Return to the Assassin Brotherhood
While at the Animus Project laboratory, Miles was aided by Vidic’s assistant, Lucy Stillman, an undercover Assassin. After revealing the locations of several POEs across the globe from Altair’s memories, Miles was freed by Stillman and rescued by fellow Assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. From here, Miles would relive the memories of his 15th-century ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, during the Italian Renaissance to locate an Apple of Eden and improve his combat skills. During Miles’ time as Ezio, he learned that the creators of the POEs, the ancient Isu, warned of an incoming disaster from the sun occurring on December 21, 2012. Eventually, Miles and his allies were forced to flee to Monteriggioni, where they learned of an Apple of Eden hidden beneath the Roman Colosseum.
The Death and Afterlife of Desmond Miles
When Miles touched the Apple, consciousnesses of Isu forced him to kill Stillman and subsequently put him in a coma. Hastings, Crane, and a returning William Miles put Desmond into the Animus to hopefully heal his mind where Desmond encountered the remnant consciousness of Abstergo Subject 16 and fellow Assassin Clay Kaczmarek. Here, Desmond had to live through the final significant moments of Altair and Ezio to stabilize his mind, but also learned the truth of the Isu’s fall and how to stop the disaster that destroyed them from occurring again. It was also here that Kaczmarek revealed that Stillman was a Templar spy and that Desmond’s escape from Abstergo was all planned as part of Project Siren.
Desmond woke up in New York where he and the rest of his allies found a hidden Isu temple designed to shield the world from the sun and save the planet again. However, Desmond needed to locate a POE key to activate the temple and so had to live through the memories of his 18th-century Templar ancestor Haytham Kenway and Assassin ancestor Ratonhnhake:ton, otherwise known as Connor Kenway and son of Haytham. In between living through memories, Desmond was tasked with conducting Assassin missions in the present day, such as recovering Isu power sources from Templars, rescuing a kidnapped William Miles, and assassinating Templars Daniel Cross and Vidic. Once the key was recovered, Desmond activated the planet’s shield but, in doing so, sacrificed his life and freed the consciousness of the Isu conqueror Juno.
Desmond Miles’ Afterlife Explained
Following the events of Assassin’s Creed 3, the modern-day plotline became less and less prominent, but Miles’ legacy still persisted in a few entries. After Miles’ death, Abstergo recovered his body and sequenced his DNA memories so that Templar agents could relive through his ancestors’ memories, such as Edward Kenway, father of Haytham Kenway, to locate the Isu Observatory. In Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, it’s revealed that in 2005, Miles unknowingly fathered a son named Elijah who turned out to be a Sage with stored memories of an Isu. Miles himself wouldn’t appear in another Assassin’s Creed game until Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, where it’s revealed his consciousness survived within the Isu network called the Grey, becoming an entity known as The Reader, striving to save humanity from catastrophe.
Desmond’s illegitimate son Elijah doesn’t appear physically in any Assassin’s Creed game, but he does appear prominently in the comic series Assassin’s Creed: Uprising, where he helps defeat the Isu Juno.
The Impact and Influence of Desmond Miles
For many players, the modern-day segments of the first few Assassin’s Creed games were regarded as the worst parts of the game due to how often they stopped the flow and action of the historical sequences. However, Desmond’s story was the glue that kept these stories together and highlighted how events from hundreds of years ago can still impact events today, for better and for worse.
His story further added a sense of mystery as players slowly learned about Assassin and Templar ties to major world events, organizations, and historical periods, just as Desmond did. In a way, Desmond’s journey from Assassin’s Creed 1 to Valhalla, showcased how the modern-day plotline can be just as important and intriguing as the more famous historical outings.
Leading up to Assassin’s Creed 3 and even after Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, many still wondered which Assassins or Templars could be found in other parts of Desmond’s family tree, such as those who lived before Altair or after Connor. It’s this lack of a family connection that makes some games post-Black Flag feel disconnected, as no modern-day protagonists have been related to historical protagonists in Assassin’s Creed games since 2013. Despite this lack of family ancestry, Desmond’s portrayal and modern-day mystery still paved the way for the escapades of Layla Hassan in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, the first true modern-day protagonist since Desmond’s death. Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ executive producer Marc-Alexis Cote even claimed that Ubisoft intends to restore the balance between the past and modern-day that Desmond best represented.
- Released
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March 20, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language