Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It  

Desmond Miles is an iconic modern-day protagonist of the early Assassin’s Creed games. He perfectly fits into the game’s lore revolving around the ages-long conflict of Assassins and Templars, as he is also the son of the current mentor of the Assassin Order, William Miles.

Sadly, since Desmond’s valiant sacrifice to save the world from The Second Disaster in Assassin’s Creed III, Ubisoft has failed to provide another likable or even recognizable modern-day protagonist until AC Origins. 

Assassin’s Creed fans are now waiting for Desmond to return for a long time, and it seems like the wait has finally paid off.

Desmond Miles makes an appearance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as “The Reader” during the modern-day ending when Layla Hassan, the latest modern-day protagonist, finds him in the Grey, along with Yggdrasil which is the ISU supercomputer. Desmond has a purpose now.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Desmond Miles as The Reader

As The Reader, Desmond has a glowing metaphysical body with no recognizable features (except that his figure is similar to that of Desmond’s) and it turns out that his death in AC III did not prevent the great catastrophe but merely delayed it. 

Now he uses Yggdrasil, an ISU supercomputer capable of uploading memories, reincarnation, and creating simulations like Animus to analyze various branching timelines and look for ways to prevent the upcoming catastrophes.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
The Reader

Will Desmond Miles return in future Assassin’s Creed games?  

Desmond Miles will more than likely return in the future Assassin’s Creed game as The Reader along with his physical self possibly making an appearance as the Assassin’s Creed universe now seems ready to explore alternate timelines and outcomes of the previous games.

During the modern-day ending of the Valhalla, Layla Hassan (modern-day protagonist of Origins) meets The Reader/Desmond in the Grey. The Reader tells her that he is analyzing millions of timelines emerging from the present to find the one where the Earth can be saved, but he has not found a single one so far.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Layla Hassan Meets The Reader/Desmond in the Grey
Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Analyzing Millions of Timelines Emerging from the Present

As a response, Layla advises him to look at the timelines emerging from the past and see what would have happened if Desmond didn’t sacrifice himself to save the world. Layla, in the process, abondons any attempt of saving herself and stays with Desmond in order to determine ways to prevent future cataclysmic events.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Conversation between Layla and The Reader

This conversation between Layla and The Reader has now opened up a wide window for Assassin’s Creed storyline to expand throughout the various alternate timelines emerging from the previous games. If Ubisoft decides to take that path, we will definitely see Desmond make a comeback in his physical form in alternate universe seperate from the main timeline.

Alternatively, he may only appear as a digital entity like Subject 16 (Clay Kaczmarek) in AC Revelations to interact with other modern-day Assassins subjected to the Animus project.

Is Desmond Miles related to Subject 16?  

Subject 16, also known as Clay Kaczmarek, is Desmond’s distant cousin by virtue of their joint descent from Assassin Ezio Auditore. Before committing suicide, Clay managed to create an AI personality of himself within the Animus in order to help Desmond in the Animus Project.

Clay was a modern-day member of the Assassin Order, whose mission was to infiltrate the Abstergo Industries, a modern Templar organization, as a subject of their Animus project. At Abstergo, he was forced to relive the numerous memories of his ancestors to find the pieces of Eden.

Prolonged exposure to these memories caused him a mental disorder where he could not differentiate his real self from the personalities of his ancestors, leading him to commit suicide.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Desmond meets Clay inside the Animus

Does Desmond Miles have a son? 

Desmond Miles has an illegitimate son named Elijah in Assassin’s Creed series. Elijah is not only a descendant of well-known assassins like his father, but he is also a sage, a human incarnation of the ISU Aita. Elijah is not a significant part of Assassin Creed yet.

Desmond Miles Appeared in AC Valhalla and You Probably Missed It
Elijah

The only mention of him appears in the “Reconstructed Data #010” file of the Assassin Intel database in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.

It is an audio file of the conversation between Álvaro Gramática and Isabelle Ardant, who works for the Abstergo Industries. Isabelle tells Álvaro that Elijah came to one of his clinics in New York City, and she will “collect” him to put into an Animus when the time is right.

This interesting file hints that we may see Elijah in future Assassin’s Creed games. If he does become playable in future games, then it could be a pretty big deal since he has the genetic heritage of Altair, Ezio, Edward, Haytham and Connor.

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About Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Developed and Published by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the latest instalment in the Assasin’s Creed series launched in November 2020. The action-adventure, role-playing video game is available to play on Playstation 5/4, Xbox One/ Series X/S and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes players back to the Vikings’ glory days around the 9th century through the eyes of a Viking invader from Norway named Eivor. By playing as Eivor, gamers must represent the clan and help fellow warriors in the battle against Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. The game brims with phenomenal main quests along with noteworthy side quests. AC Valhalla will also embrace many new features like dual-wielding of various weapons and armours.

Vansh Gulati

Vansh Gulati

Meet our very own Hinata Shoyo! - There is no anime or manga that he’s not aware of. Also the go-to guy for all things Epic at EML. He’s on a journey to discover life one bottle of sake at a time!
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