Understanding Assassin's Creed Animus story line/ brilliance/ Isu

[Reality vs Adventure]

Where to even begin to tackle this feat in making sense of the animus story in the entire series. It is definitely something under appreciated and I aim to make sense of everything for the love of the series and the brilliance of that aspect in everything. The series jumps around in different time periods, but the animus story continues chronologically throughout tying in the modern world. I personally love the whole animus story and exploring ancient places always keeping in mind all the different aspects going on. I like to categorize Assassin's Creed as a Sci Fi RPG, with fantasy integrated in the more modern games. I will mainly focus on the Sci Fi part in this discussion, but the fantasy and history will work its way in there too. I am no way gonna be 100% complete as I haven't completed every single game. I'll add what info I can to make sense of everything. And the developers really did create a whole timeline of events like you would get from something like the Lord of The Rings and those ages involved. But I won't go far into so much detail. 

We have the modern world events where the Assassins are trying to stop the Templars who are hell bent on taking over the world. The templars created a corporation called Abstergo which controls pretty much everything as an umbrella corp. They created a machine called the animus which reads the DNA of a descendant of ancient people. Reading that DNA allows the person inside the machine to basically time travel to past events. The templar and assassins have differing reasons for using the machine and the question is why? The templars are looking for powerful objects created by an early first civilization before the humans. And those powerful objects have the ability to control people and grant immortality. The assassins are trying to find those objects before the templars do. And there is also a cataclysmic event threatening to wipe out the whole planet. Say what? 

Let's start from the beginning...There is the 1st civilization called Isu who populated Earth before humans. The Isu actually created humans in their own image. Sound familiar? Yes, like they say God created humans in his image. There are a lot of cool religious references like this. In what we see as God and all our religious beliefs actually come from the Isu. They are stronger and more intelligent than humans. The Isu created humans in order to control them and make them slaves for work and to fight. The Isu has a triple DNA helix giving them superiority over the humans which they created with our double helix. What ends up happening is two humans escape, Adam and Eve, and revolt against the Isu. They enter an age of war and I think there are several different ages where humans and Isu fight. The Isu are divided in that some want to enslave humans or annihilate them and others want to help humans. 

What ends up happening is a cataclysmic event damages Earth and wipes out most of the population. Most of the Isu population died leaving more humans than Isu. Over time, the Isu were becoming more and more extinct. While the humans populated Earth once again. To put a little time in perspective, all this happened way before any history modern humans know about. Eventually the Isu became extinct, but not really. They have found the ability to keep themselves alive forever in a sort different realms that we know of being Heaven and Hell, Elysium, Hades, Eden etc. They are memories that are consciously aware. Kind of like AI constructs or something, but more than that because they are living multiple time periods at once. Insane right??? It goes deeper than that and I can't find the right words. That is why I am summarizing sort of. 

All of this has some very extreme importance in human history and all our ideologies, religion, science, all in one. What we think is a God and religion, it was the Isu. They tried to control us. The templars try to control us. That is why the assassins were born, to protect the world from evil. The assassins wants humanity to have a choice in things. The templar wants complete order and control. And it's cool in the series how we see parts of history, the wars and events, and how it is all tied to the templars always trying to rule the world with the Isu being God like, some trying to help the assassins, other Isu against humanity as a whole. 

I will let this digest for now and hope there are comments for discussion. I just wanted to show the very interesting brilliance of all this and how it is played out in the series. It really has blown my mind away at times. Another thing to add, is the person inside the animus, while they time travel to past events, they are living as the protagonist in the game. So as you play the game, it's as if it is yourself that is in the animus playing in a past historical period. 

[Shagger]

Thanks for posting this. The only AC game I remember playing to completion was AC4: Black Flag, so I never really got the full purpose of the Animus and the parts of the story told in modern times all that well. Nor, I admit, did I particularly like them either. I was always more interested in the historical settings and events in these games. It's nice to get a new perspective on this. So thanks for sharing.

[Kane99]

I always saw the animus as a tool for the bad guys to find the apple of Eden and other artifacts with special abilities. I played the second, Brotherhood, and Black Flag, and from all of those games, the Animus is utilized, but in different capacities. Well, the first three games focus a lot on the animus, including the past and present settings, but I think by AC3 and Black Flag, they kinda drop the animus storyline and just focus all the time on the past. I think in Black Flag you could walk around some gaming company you work for, that utilizes the Animus (I forgot their name, I think it's to do with the Templars), and so on. I don't even remember if the Animus was a part of AC Syndicate, and that was the last one I officially played. 

I do remember the story branching off to this whole crazy thing about some gods or something. I forget, but to be fair I couldn't get into that story so much, so I kind of forgotten most of it. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

1 hour ago, Kane99 said:

I always saw the animus as a tool for the bad guys to find the apple of Eden and other artifacts with special abilities. I played the second, Brotherhood, and Black Flag, and from all of those games, the Animus is utilized, but in different capacities. Well, the first three games focus a lot on the animus, including the past and present settings, but I think by AC3 and Black Flag, they kinda drop the animus storyline and just focus all the time on the past. I think in Black Flag you could walk around some gaming company you work for, that utilizes the Animus (I forgot their name, I think it's to do with the Templars), and so on. I don't even remember if the Animus was a part of AC Syndicate, and that was the last one I officially played. 

I do remember the story branching off to this whole crazy thing about some gods or something. I forget, but to be fair I couldn't get into that story so much, so I kind of forgotten most of it. 

Remember in Syndicate, I'm not sure if it was DLC, but when you go out onto some boats on the river on the outskirt of the map you have a huge hologram of an Isu talking to you. Then you can enter a WW1 setting where London is under siege. It was a glimpse into the future the Isu was trying to show you. It was pretty cool to jump from London 1800's with horse carriages to the 1900's with cars and planes. But you are right, there wasn't much else, or at least anything major in that animus story outside that WW1 skit. Here is the Isu conversations during that WW1 mission. 

 

[Scorpion]

The animus storyline in *Assassin's Creed* is fascinating! It connects ancient history to modern struggles, exploring themes of control and freedom. The tension between the Assassins and Templars reflects real-world issues of power and choice. This sci-fi narrative, enriched by historical contexts, truly enhances gameplay. The idea of ancient beings influencing humanity is intriguing! It makes every exploration in the game layered with deeper meaning. I love how the games intertwine myth and reality, creating a rich tapestry of lore for players.