While some are not happy with how focused on mythologyAssassin’s Creedhas become, the Isu have always been a core part of the franchise. They’ve played an important part in every game, even before fans knew too much about theAssassin’s Creedfranchise’s First Civilization. Then, of course, everyone knows thatDesmond dies at the end ofAssassin’s Creed 3, unleashing Juno onto the world (who is stopped later, in the comics by Desmond’s son Elijah).
However, a recent academic paper reveals how this wasn’t always the intended ending. Researcher Lars de Wildt, at the Belgian Catholic research unity KU Leuven, shared a paper that details how it made religion more palatable for a wider audience. ThisAssassin’s Creedpaper contains dev interviews, and as pointed out by Eurogamer, indicates that the original ending would have seen Desmond and Lucy leave on a spaceship.
RELATED:The Case for Assassin’s Creed Unity to Release on the Nintendo Switch
Back when the series was planned as a trilogy instead of a series, the original plan forAssassin’s Creed 3would have been Desmond and Lucy leaving Earth in 2012to start a new civilization elsewhere as Adam and Eve. Given the number of Adam and Eve references in Ezio’s games, this makes a ton of sense in terms of parallelism, and still, some of that connection remains today. This ending was explained in a lengthy footnote within the paper, where Wildt pieced together the ending via interviews withAC’s original creator Patrice Desilets andAC3’s creative director Alex Hutchinson, although Wildt was unable to contact Corey May.
This original ending was also, according to Wildt’s research, publicly hinted at by Nolan North at Metrocon 2015 and would have seen Desmond defeating Abstergo thanks to skills obtained viaAltair and Ezio. But, that doesn’t stop the impending apocalypse and so Desmond and Lucy escape—somehow obtaining a spacecraft, potentially from the Isu cave. Indeed, this “Adam and Eve” storyline also explains why Lucy was so named, that being after the Australopithecus afarensis.
Of course,Assassin’s Creed 3opted to unleash Juno on the world instead and Lucy died inAssassin’s Creed Brotherhood(allegedly becauseFrozenactress Kristen Bell requested royalties for future appearances). The series itself wouldn’t end withAssassin’s Creed 3,and the latest game is entering its second year of DLC, withDawn of Ragnarok set to launch forAssassin’s Creed Valhallain just a couple of months.
Assassin’s Creed 3 Remasteredis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
