- "There's something I have to show you. We've been lied to this whole time. Everything we know, everything we've been brought up to believe. It's wrong."
- ―Clay Kaczmarek.[src]
The title frame of the Truth video
The Truth referred to a video hidden inside the memory core of the Animus by the 16th subject of Abstergo Industries' Animus Project, Clay Kaczmarek, with the intent to enlighten and warn his successor in the project, Desmond Miles.
Its twenty pieces could be unlocked by solving the puzzles hidden behind the twenty Glyphs scattered throughout the Animus' projection of Renaissance Italy.
Similarly, the puzzles also contained the coordinates where Clay had hidden ten Rifts in the virtual machine's programming. Solving the cluster puzzles behind these unlocked another video labelled "the Truth", as well as a hidden executable file referred to as "the Miracle".
The Truth
Humans being controlled with an Apple of Eden in the Truth video
In the Truth video, it displayed Adam and Eve, dressed in skin-colored or translucent bodysuits, who were seen running through an open area, followed by something off-screen.[1]
The scenery contained a mixture of flora, a reflective blue material that resembled glass, and a white surface that sounded like stone. The garden was decorated in a futuristic style. Moving through a circular automatic door, Adam and Eve used freerunning to scale a large, futuristic building.[1]
While they were climbing up the building, they stopped momentarily at a large window, through which a silhouette of a humanoid figure could be seen holding a Piece of Eden, along with several human slaves. These workers appeared to be in an environment similar to that of a metal refinery, with one slave in the foreground clearly using a hammer to shape a metal object.[1]
Adam and Eve as seen in the Truth video
Adam and Eve continued climbing until they reached the roof of the building, with other futuristic buildings visible surrounding them. Further in the background, a mountain was clearly visible, while there was little other elevation in land elsewhere. The terrain was lush, and a large forest's boundaries were visible.[1]
Eve could then be seen holding a Piece of Eden, before saying "Adam, I have it!" Adam then called out to Eve by name, as both turned to look at what was presumably chasing them. She then shouted to Adam "Look out!", before the video cut to black, and a binary code flashed up.[1]
The binary code, "01000101 01000100 01000101 01001110", translated to "EDEN". Another point of interest was that there were 20 zeros and 12 ones, a reference to the supposed doomsday year of 2012.[1]
The Miracle
- "I am with you until the end. Find me in the darkness."
- ―Clay to Desmond.[src]
Desmond navigating the Miracle file's environment
Along with the video clips hidden behind the Glyphs, small strings of numbers were included at the end of each.[1] Upon Desmond reliving Ezio Auditore da Firenze's later memories, Shaun discovered that the numbers corresponded to further coordinates in Rome; where ten Rifts were hidden.[2]
These rifts could only be seen with Eagle Vision, and needed to be climbed into, rather than simply being found and scanned. Behind each was one of ten Cluster puzzles that, when completed, unlocked a small video clip that displayed a series of seemingly corrupted data with unintelligible words on the top left corner.[2]
Immediately after solving the final cluster, a short video was unlocked that stated "The miracle is in the execution" while the ultrasound of an unborn child was shown. At this point, Rebecca Crane noted that, unlike the Truth video, the Cluster puzzles actually concealed an executable file.[2]
A digitized avatar of Clay appearing before Desmond
Upon accessing the file, Desmond was then uploaded to an unknown area within the Animus, where he was free to run through a somewhat long virtual maze similar to those within the Animus Virtual Training Program. At the end of the maze, Desmond found a hologram of Clay – partially broken and made of computing code – who told Desmond that all hope was lost, and that he must go to Eden to find a woman named Eve.[2]
Dialogue
- Desmond: Subject 16?
- Clay: Yes, Subject 17.
- Desmond: You're dead. I saw your blood.
- Clay: No time. It is far later than you know. Too late to save them.
- Desmond: Who?
- Clay: She is not who you think she is. Everything you hope to become, everything you hold dear. It's already gone.
- Desmond: Explain. Please.
- Clay: Eden. She... in Eden. Find Eve. The key. Her DNA...
- Desmond: Tell me!
- Clay: I can not... The sun... Your son... Too weak... Must replenish energy...
- Desmond: Don't go.
- Clay: I am with you until the end. Find me in the darkness.
The program ended with the ground collapsing from under Desmond's feet, and a loading screen showing Desmond in free fall.[2]
Trivia
- The mountain in the Truth bore a striking resemblance to Mount Kilimanjaro, thus placing the scene in Africa. This would coincide with the theories of humanity originating from Africa.
- The Codex map also showed that a Piece of Eden was located in the vicinity of Kilimanjaro.
- Lucy Stillman mentioned that Warren Vidic tagged several of Subject 16's memories in ancient Africa.
- The music played during Adam's and Eve's escape, titled "Wetlands Escape" in the Assassin's Creed II soundtrack, was the same track that played during Desmond and Lucy's escape from Abstergo facility, and Ezio's escape from the Auditore execution.
- In the PS3 version, Eve did not say "Look out!" At that point, there was silence, and the binary code for "Eden" appeared.
- The DLC pack The Lost Archive, which followed the story of Clay, contained a memory named "The Truth".
- On a wall in the Miracle's obstacle course, the climbing cubes formed the Assassin insignia.
- The figure shown controlling the humans with the Piece of Eden bore a passing resemblance to Minerva.
Gallery
References