(SPOILERS) Ending Discussion AC2

[Sinlore]

I couldn't really find a good discussion topic on the ending of AC2, so I decided to post one, giving my thoughts, and hoping for others as well.

So as we all know from the ending, you meet this image Minerva, who is not a God. She speaks directly to Desmond through Ezio, who is just there to transfer the information. This tells us that they can either see the future, or know somehow that people in the future would be trying to find these artifacts.

Anyways, she states that her people created humans in their image, the first obviously being Adam and Eve (the Truth). Adam and Eve took the Apple of Eden, betraying them, as we can see in the Truth clip, although we do not know how that ends.

We can also see from the Truth that Minerva's people were highly advanced, as Minerva also states many times, that we were not ready for their existence as they were too far ahead of us.

They built us to survive, and we did, eventually pushing her people out of the picture through some amazing catastrophic event, and that we are on the path to get another event that will wipe us out again.

So now, it would appear the whole of the story has shifted. It is no longer just about keeping the Templars from gaining the relics and becoming all powerful, it is now also about stopping this cataclysmic event from occurring.

The way I see it, Assassins Creed 3 will be the present Desmond, as he is now an Assassin, attempting to find out how to stop this cataclysmic event from happening, all the while trying to stop the Templars from getting the Pieces of Eden and becoming all powerful.

Finally, I don't see guns as having a part in AC3 because the Templar's want to keep Desmond alive so they can use him for his memory more.

One more side note, nothing to really do with the ending, but rather the first time out of the animus. Did anyone notice that the girl Altair was having a relationship with was named Maria, and obviously not the same Maria as Giovanni's wife, but maybe some sort of relationship? The whole thing was somewhat confusing to me.

[jasminam]

All threads containing spoilers should be posted in the Hints&Tips forum, thanks http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Reaper7707]

Actually the Maria Altair met in that flashback was in Assassin's Creed 1, as a decoy for Robert DeSable. Altair spared her life once he discovered she was not his target, as you may recall from that game.

One of the spin-off Assassin's Creed games (Bloodlines I think) as well as some Codex pages indicate that Altair's previous wife Adha (mentioned only in passing in AC1) was killed by Templars. He hunted the killers and exacted revenge.

He eventually reconnected with Maria (on Cyprus I believe) and had more than one child (evidenced by the word "sons" in the Codex).

One of those sons obviously became an ancestor of Ezio's.

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Also, with regard to the cataclysm you mentioned, your wording suggests that humanity caused the cataclysm.

My understanding of "The Message" as she called it, was that a geological or astronomical event decimated both civilizations and that NEITHER group was the cause, they were both merely victims.

We're talking pure speculation at this point but I'd wager the cataclysm THEN was the same as the predicted cataclysm that will be dealt with in AC3: The Mayan calendar is cyclic in nature. It famously ends on 12/21/2012 when the Mayans predict a unique planetary and solar alignment will occur. This alignment is SO RARE that the previous occurrence marks the creation of Mayan civilization (the beginning of their calendar).

If the story is branching off that idea, I'd say the ancient civilization was destroyed by geomagnetic shift caused by unique solar alignment, which is ACTUALLY something scientists have predicted in real life. (A possible shift in Earth's magnetic field is the only predicted major occurrence that might happen in real life on 12/21/2012) It's not a far stretch to suggest that this shift could weaken our magnetic field to the point where a major coronal mass emission (solar flare) could destroy us.