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Thoughts on Assassin's Creed
On November 13, 2007 a game was released that would become a legend. In both game play mechanic and in philosophical and theological voice, Assassin's Creed stands as the first of its kind. As a gamer, story line junky, and student of Theology I am particularly interested in how this series has handled both aspects.
I am particularly interested in the overwhelming theological and philosophical themes presented in the game, especially with the announcement of there newest release, Assassin's Creed Revelations.
Am I almost at a loss as to where to begin! As I listen to the sound track from Assassin's Creed 2 I can not but help remember feeling that in playing this game I was in some way participating in an epic story, so much bigger than myself. I suppose I'll start where my non-gaming readers get an introduction.
Click play to get some background music going and it will set the mood as you read. :)
Assassin's Creed was the first epic 'sandbox game' where the world is completely open and you can do whatever you feel like. Your character, Desmond Miles, was abducted by a group of scientists called Abstergo and put into a machine that allows Desmond to relive the memories of his ancestors. Desmond agrees to 'go back in time' through his ancestor's memories to help Abstergo find an important relic that they are looking for and in exchange they'll let him go home. As Desmond re-lives the memories of Altiar, an assassin from the Holy Land during the Crusades he makes many unsettling discoveries... The story line goes on an on going deeper and deeper and I just can't bear to try to type it all out without making it sound ridiculous. Needless to say I have been very impressed by the story telling.
I could go on about how the game play is innovative, the story depth, the emotion of the broad sweeping music of Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood, the awesome fight scenes and so on and so forth, but that's not really what I wanted to write about.
What I want to write about are the messages inherent in this game, because they are profound.
First of all I find it interesting that at the beginning of each game in this series there is a loading screen that informs you that this game was created by a multi-faith team. Given the amount of Biblical and other religious content as well as the big questions posed this becomes obvious quickly.
While you play Desmond Miles your character is strapped into a machine for 97% of the game and you are actually playing his ancestors, Altiar from the Holy Land in 1170 and Ezio from Florence in the 1500's. This group of Assassin's fight for freedom and against corruption. When the cause of corruption is located an Assassin will go and assassinate the cause.
Their creed is simple, "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted." At first I thought that this meant some sort of complete relativism which is so prevalent in our age and a very popular message of the time. The main character of Assassin's Creed 1 (Altiar) acts according the creed in exactly this way until he is chastised for his carelessness and foolish behavior by his peers as well as their leader. He is sent on a journey of redemption to prove his loyalty as well as to teach him the true meaning of the creed. However, what begins as a lesson in humility begins to descend into the uncovering of incredible and terrible secrets. Altiar finds a link between all the men he has been assigned to assassinate (be they Crusader or Islamic), all of them are part of a secret organization of Templars that are trying to bring about peace by destroying opposition, knowledge, and free will.
The leader of the Assassin's agrees that he also would like to see real peace, but it can only be accomplished by teaching it to others, not in forcing it upon them which is why the Templars must be stopped. Ok, I get that. But then as you play through the game you begin to become unsure of what is really real. You find that the war between Assassin and Templar didn't end in the 11th century, it rages on even till this day, and the Templar's have been succeeding. They have effected everything, every authority be it political or religious, history, philosophy, technology, education, and every major event in history, all of it has been shaped by the Templars to keep people from discovering the truth. Then Altiar understands, "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted," does not mean complete relativism, it means to be wise. As Assassins they must see the world for what it really is, an illusion dominated by Templar influence, and to not be restricted by the powers or expectations or temptations of that illusion. Then as Ezio, the leader of the Assassins 400 years later says "we work in the dark to serve the light."
I find this whole thing so amazing. At first it frustrated me, because as I was growing in my own education I was developing a profound appreciation for written history, first source materials, ancient Christian traditions and Creeds, and this game was basically saying that none of it was trustworthy. The beautiful craft of this series is how they base their story off of real life events and real people and organizations, but have added this conspiracy twist. This makes the atmosphere exciting and suspenseful. In the end it is still relativism, but one desperately searching for truth, untainted and not trying to control you as a slave like the Templars. I found this theme so fascinating, especially now that "Assassin's Creed Revelation" is hinting that it will finally reveal the answers that the Assassin's have been searching for.
I also thought that the game's take on Christianity (and Judaism) was fascinating. The First Assassin's Creed begins with a verse from Ecclesiastes.
"I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."
Christianity, at least Catholicism, has been infiltrated and dominated by the Templars. The leader of the Templars eventually becomes Pope in Ezio's time, and there is a suspicion that magical artifacts (not God) was responsible for parting the Red Sea, and allowing a simple carpenter to turn water into wine. So Judaism gets mentioned and Christianity gets to play bad guy (sort of).
At the end of both Assassin's Creed 1 + 2 the main character speaks with King Richard and the Pope respectively about the God and Scripture. King Richard prays for wisdom in discerning truth and in the told tells Altiar that even though he doesn't believe in God, God believes in him. Ezio confronts the Templar Pope and as they fight he chastises him for not believing in the Scriptures of his own religion and the Pope laughs at him saying that they are just words that he uses to keep power. Both Christian faith and atheism are presented, but little or no progress is made in resolving an answer.
I found this attempt at being neutral fascinating. I doubt it will be resolved as the explanation of the Assassin's Creed mythos is further explored. The meta-story suggests that Christianity (as well as all other religions) are wrong and that instead of a Biblical creation the world was actually made by advanced alien creatures who became the gods of mythology and that supernatural phenomena is the result of relics of their extremely advanced lost civilization. However, the developers have taken special care to only hint at this and never actually speak against the tenants of a religious group. They have also kept it so that the plausibility / truthfulness of faith (any faith) is presented but left untouched. Old Testament stories, ancient mythologies, and famous pictures / paintings become riddles with hidden meanings in uncovering the Templar plot throughout history. The result is that the Assassins work together for the betterment of humanity in a sort of Gnostic-humanism that respects other religion but doesn't look to any of them for truth. There is also a fair bit of syncratization as one Assassin is a Christian nun who works as the mistress of a brothel. When Ezio questions her about how her faith and her occupation work together she explains that true faith is not restricted by the Church but it between her and God alone. A very fascinating combination of Christian, Assassin, Prostitute, and nun.
My concluding thought in this topic is that real Christianity has not made any appearance in this game and that Christian religiosity is all that we will see in this series. Faith and what religions are actually about / founded in is left nebulous, but not without respect by the Assassins who are far more willing to embrace true faith as opposed to the power crazed Templars. And so black and white becomes shades of grey.
Islam however is left alone completely. I found it odd, since Christianity lended so much of its history and flavor to be reinterpreted that Islam is not picked at like everyone else. My theory is that if anyone was going to be offended and react poorly it would be Islam. Any mention of Muhammad perhaps not being God's prophet would have been blasphemy. Of course hinting that Jesus was only empowered by alien artifacts and was in fact NOT the Son of God is also blasphemy, but Christianity has, for the most part, a different approach these days to non-Christian / multi-faith organizations misrepresenting the God of the universe out of ignorance.
Then there is 'The Truth,' something that you find pieces of throughout Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood. You see, as Desmond is running about through the memories of his ancestors in the machine some of the computer code has peculiarities in it. Someone left him a message and as he finds these 'glitches' in his memory he locates within each one a coded message. The stage is set for exploring just how far the Templars have corrupted all knowledge. You begin to see, just like in the Da Vinci Code, that all sorts of famous artworks and historical photos include relics that the Templars have been using to shape history in their image. Voice recordings, hidden number codes, and riddles begin to unlock the true nature of humanity itself, at least humanity in how UBI has recreated it. Adam and Eve were the first to escape Eden. They took with them a relic, the apple of temptation. They were created in the image of the gods to serve them.
There is so much more I could write about that intrigues me, from the symbolism to the how the game play itself reinforces the story and the messages inherent in it. Perhaps I will conclude with this. At face value the Assassin's Creed series is a long line of bloody assassinations. Search a little deeper and you find a top class conspiracy. Deeper still I think the game asks some incredible questions. How do I know what I've been told is true? How do I know what I believe is true? Is there Truth? Where can I find the Truth? What is the value of a life? As the main characters wrestle through these and other issues for themselves we are taken along for the ride. I think this is a profound tool that ideas are being channeled through today. Young people play these games, encounter the intrinsic ideas of the game they have been participating in, and the messages are heard.
Here are a collection of trailers for the series which give a snapshot of what this is all about.
Assassin's Creed I
Assassin's Creed Lineage (the background of the conspiracy and murder of Ezio's Father)
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (2.1)
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