Assassin's Creed: Inspirations: May 2015

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

An Assassin’s Creed Conspiracy Theory

I’m no expert in video game production, but I do know that your favourite video game was years in the making and that one of the starting points is the story. The story of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is the basic MacGuffin plot where various parties attempt to secure an object (or as Star-Lord, you know, the legendary outlaw, might put it, - something having a “shiny suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon vibe”).

In Black Flag, the MacGuffin in question is the Observatory, a structure built by the precursor race to observe people. This is done with a device that is basically a high-tech version of the animus that uses a crystal cube – a prism if you will – containing the blood (DNA) of the person whose eyes you want to see through. Using such a device and having ample blood samples would allow a person to spy on anyone in the world.

Black Flag was released to the general public on 29 October 2013. This is important because four months earlier in June 2013 The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom published the initial revelations of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The article revealed the existence of a data mining program called PRISM which enables government agencies to spy on people through their online activities.

Is it a coincidence or a conspiracy? Did someone at Ubisoft know about PRISM and sought to inform the public under the guise of a video game plot? Who knows? Stranger things have happened. But it is interesting to imagine a video game series set in the world of conspiracy and government control to be active in uncovering real life conspiracies and government control.

About This Collection

In April 2011, after playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for the umpteenth time, I wrote down some of the ideas that came to mind while playing the game. These became an article on my Evil Thoughts of a Decadent Mind page. This proved to be my most popular piece accounting for over half the hits on the site at about 54,000 views. Naturally when looking for an economically viable project the topic of Assassin's Creed seemed the most potentially successful. I wrote about five chapters and got stuck.

The Creed itself -- Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted -- proved to be, as Frederick Nietzsche described it, "labyrinthine". Rather than writing a critical analysis of the game series I found myself contemplating the Creed and its ramifications. In this I found another book topic, but I still wanted to write whatever came to mind about the ideas expressed in the game series. I decided that the best way to do this was to create a dedicated Assassin's Creed page. Especially since , with a new game being released each year, the book could never be truly finished.

As a video game, Assassin's Creed is judged primarily on its game play, but you won't find that here. No hints, no guides, and no discussion of combat mechanics. Another aspect of Assassin's Creed is story. Some folks love jumping off buildings but there is also the world or mythology of Assassin's Creed -- meaning the vast lore of the series. That plays a part, but you won't find the life story of Ezio Auditore or Edward Kenway here.

What you will find is another less talked about feature of games of this nature. There is story and stories have characters, settings, and plots, but also themes. The themes presented in narrative fiction dramatize the philosophy the creator is conveying, either with or without conscious intent.

You can call it the deeper or hidden meanings, but the truth is that it is just what I see in the games. They are my interpretations, which can be completely different from those laid out by the creative team in the offices of Ubisoft during late night meetings. Since "nothing is true" I accept on the outset that I could be wrong. That is for you to decide.

My focus here is real world philosophy applicable to real world living inspired by the themes found in the lore of Assassin's Creed. Hence the title -- Assassin's Creed: Inspirations.

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Tuesday, 5 May 2015

An Assassin’s Creed Conspiracy Theory