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Desmond Miles
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Desmond Miles
Assassin's Creed character
Desmond Miles in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
First game
Assassin's Creed (2007)
Created by
Ubisoft
Voiced by
Nolan North
Portrayed by
Francisco Randez
Desmond Miles is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the frame story uniting the first five installments in the Assassin's Creed series of video games. He is a descendant of a long line of other Assassins, including Aquilus, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton. Miles is voiced by Nolan North and is modeled after Canadian fashion model Francisco Randez.
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot appearances
1.1 Assassin's Creed
1.2 Assassin's Creed II
1.2.1 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
1.2.2 Assassin's Creed: Revelations
1.3 Assassin's Creed III
1.4 Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
1.5 Assassin's Creed Syndicate
2 Film
3 Reception
4 References
Plot appearances[edit]
Assassin's Creed[edit]
Desmond lives in New York and works as a bartender. In order to hide his identity, he lives under assumed names and uses only cash to protect himself. However, he is eventually tracked down by Abstergo Industries and captured. Once inside Abstergo's facility, Desmond is forced to enter the Animus, a machine that allows him to relive the memories of his ancestors stored in his DNA under the watch of Abstergo scientists Dr. Warren Vidic and Dr. Lucy Stillman.[1] The scientists explain they are searching the memories of Desmond's ancestors, specifically those of Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, for specific information, which they refuse to disclose.[2] Without much choice, Desmond begrudgingly agrees to help them.
After recovering the information for which Vidic was searching, Abstergo's executives order Desmond to be killed. Lucy's quick thinking saves him; she persuades Vidic to keep him alive until they know he is of no further use. Upon returning to his room, Desmond, suffering from the "Bleeding Effect", discovers the side effect has given him Altaïr's "Eagle Vision". This allows him to discern friend from foe and to read cryptic messages written on walls and floors by Subject 16, another Animus subject that Lucy and Vidic occasionally mention.
Assassin's Creed II[edit]
Desmond escapes from Abstergo with the help of Lucy, who is an undercover Assassin in Abstergo. He enters the Animus 2.0, supervised by Lucy and her team of assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, to be quickly trained as an Assassin via the Bleeding Effect. He relives the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, his ancestor from the Renaissance. After successfully navigating Ezio's early memories, Desmond is extracted from the Animus to avoid the mental degradation that Subject 16 suffered as a side-effect of the Bleeding Effect and spending too long in the Animus. Shortly after extraction, Desmond flashes back to one of Altaïr's memories, despite not being linked to the Animus. Desmond learns of Altaïr's lover Maria Thorpe, a former Templar used as a decoy by Robert de Sablé. As Altaïr leaves, Desmond wonders why he is not following the Assassin; instead he moves towards Maria and enters her womb, showing that Altaïr's child— another of Desmond's ancestors—has just been conceived.
After spending more time in the Animus 2.0, Desmond begins to adjust to his newly developed skills and becomes agile and an expert in the use of weapons Ezio learned to use. The last segment of Ezio's memories brings an astonished Ezio and Desmond to a futuristic chamber underneath the Sistine Chapel, where a hologram of the goddess Minerva addresses Desmond by name and through Ezio warns him of an impending cataclysm with the potential to destroy all life on Earth. Desmond is pulled from the Animus as Abstergo discovers their hideout. The team escapes; Desmond using the skills acquired from the Bleeding Effect to repel Abstergo's forces. Desmond enters the Animus while in transit, knowing Ezio and perhaps Subject 16 may have the answers they seek.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood[edit]
Desmond, Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca arrive at Monteriggioni, where they set up a safehouse in the Villa Auditore's sanctuary; Desmond re-enters the Animus 2.0 to discover the location of the Apple of Eden, one of the "Pieces of Eden" obtained by Ezio. Through Ezio's memories, Desmond and the others learn the Apple is hidden under the Colosseum. The Assassins find their way inside an ancient vault, where the Apple is located. Desmond takes the Apple and through it, Juno takes control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy, who is revealed to be a Templar double agent. Desmond falls into a coma, and is placed back into the Animus by William Miles and another Assassin in a bid to preserve his consciousness.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations[edit]
Within the Animus, Desmond finds himself in the Black Room, a "safe mode" area for the device. In the Black Room's "Animus Island", he meets the digital construct of Subject 16, who explains that Desmond must find a memory that links him with Altaïr and Ezio so he can reintegrate his shattered subconscious and awaken from his coma. While in this state, Desmond can hear conversations between his father, William "Bill" Miles, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. When the Animus begins to delete Animus Island, Subject 16 sacrifices himself to prevent Desmond's consciousness from being deleted, but not before transferring his own genetic memories onto Desmond. After awakening from his coma, Desmond sees Shaun, Rebecca, and Bill around him. When William asks if he is alright, Desmond simply states that he knows what they have to do.[3]
While in the Black Room, there are five sequences where Desmond talks about his life and how he came to be in the hands of Abstergo. In Desmond Sequence 1, he expresses regret for running away from The Farm, and also wishes that he could apologize to his parents. In Desmond Sequences 2 and 3, Desmond explains his early life on The Farm and the training he went through. He also describes his escape, which happened at the age of 16. He ran away into the Black Hills, before running into girls from Illinois who drove him to Chicago. After this, he moved to New York City. During Desmond Sequence 4, he talks of his life in New York, and the job he got at a bar. In the last sequence, Desmond Sequence 5, Desmond describes how Abstergo found him at age 25 and how much he regretted not taking his parents' warnings and training more seriously, and finally accepts his role as an Assassin.
Assassin's Creed III[edit]
Desmond awakes from his coma. With the help of his father, friends, and his ancestor Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), he must find his way into the Central Vault and stop the world from perishing. Using the new Animus 3.0, Desmond begins to live another of his ancestor's memories: Native American (Mohawk) Assassin, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who fought during the American Revolution. Desmond is noticeably thinner and frail in the game. After he relives the life of Ratonhnhaké:ton and kills Warren Vidic and Daniel Cross, he finds the key to the secret door. Desmond opens the door and speaks with Juno. Minerva suddenly appears and tells Desmond that while they were planning to save the world, Juno wanted to use the machines and set in motion her plans of global conquest and return of the old order.
Minerva warns Desmond that if he touches the pedestal, he will be destroyed and Juno will be released but the world will be saved. Juno shows Desmond how his divinity among the survivors of the catastrophe would end with the world going through another cycle of political and religious war. Desmond decides to use the device and save the world, believing it has a better chance fighting Juno. While Shaun, Rebecca, and William exit the temple, Desmond touches the pedestal and releases Juno. He saves the world, but kills himself by releasing Juno.
According to lead designer Steve Masters, Desmond's story ends in Assassins Creed III: "What we’re trying to do is bring some finality to Desmond’s story. To actually wrap up what you’ve opened and experienced with him." Creative director of the series, Jean Guesdon, said that Desmond is an important character in the Assassin's Creed series, and will be playing a large part in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[4]
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag[edit]
Despite his physical death, Desmond is still a powerful asset for Templars and Assassins. Shortly after Desmond's death, a sample recovery team from Abstergo is sent to collect his body and samples for the new Sample 17. Desmond's DNA is stored in Abstergo Entertainment's servers, where a crew of analysts are tasked with reliving his copied genetic memories and learning about his ancestors. One of them, the player character, is tasked with reliving the memories of Edward Kenway, Ratonhnhaké:ton's grandfather and a pirate, collecting enough data to lead the Abstergo to the Observatory, a First Civilization's temple hosting an advanced tracking device and several vials of First Civilization's blood samples. This allows Abstergo Entertainment to fund its operations by writing a movie about the Golden Age of Piracy.
The analyst steals and sends back to the Assassins several recordings left by Desmond detailing his initial doubts of leaving the farm, his acceptance of the role he had been chosen to play and his love for his parents. Because Abstergo can now collect anyone's genetic memories without having to use blood-related analysts, Desmond's body gives Abstergo full knowledge about his family life.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate[edit]
In 2015, a boy was brought by his mother to an Abstergo clinic in New York City. Abstergo analysts discovered that the boy shared exactly the same patrilineal lineage of Desmond Miles, indicating that he may have been unknowingly conceived by Desmond a few years after the latter's escape from the Assassins. On top of that, it was also revealed that the boy is a Sage, a modern-day reincarnation of a First Civilization member. An Abstergo researcher then proposes to kidnap the boy and conduct a vivisection on him. However, another researcher, Isabelle Ardant, opposed the idea, claiming that it would be better to abduct the boy when he is older and place him in the Animus for 50 years so that Abstergo can study his lineage.
Film[edit]
Michael Fassbender starred in and co-produced a film adaptation of the series, projected to be the first of several films.[5] Initially thought to be cast as Desmond Miles, Ubisoft stated that Fassbender would play a new character, named Callum Lynch.[6][7]
Reception[edit]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2013)
Desmond Miles received mixed reviews from critics[8] primarily due to his uneven characterisation and development.[9] He was voted the twentieth top character of the 2000s decade by Game Informer's readers.[10] PlayStation Universe rated Desmond one of the PlayStation 3's worst characters, saying, "While voiced admirably by the ubiquitous Nolan North, it's impossible to shake the feeling of pure monotony when stepping into Desmond's shoes when all you want to do is hop back in time and stab people in the face".[11] Watchmojo ranked Desmond in 10th position of the Top 10 Assassin's Creed Characters, whom stated 'Though cynical on the surface, Desmond's bravery and concern for others shines through, to say nothing of his williness to sacrifice himself for the greater good.'[12] According to Voice Actor Nolan North, the original plan for Desmond would be that he would feature in six respective games acquiring the skills of his Assassin ancestors and would eventually become ‘The Ultimate Assassin’ and would be able to time-travel between time periods; North became greatly interested in the concept, this idea unfortunately was scrapped, adding upon this, North personally noted Desmond as a ‘boring’ protagonist whom ultimately had no direction to go forward, describing the character as ‘a fork in the road'.[13]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Harris, Ron (November 16, 2011). "Review: 'Assassin's Creed' puts premium on stealth". BusinessWeek. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ http://www.theeagleonline.com/scene/story/assassin-hits-target-dead-on-brings-city-to-life
Jump up ^ Ubisoft Montreal (November 15, 2011). Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Xbox 360, PC. Ubisoft. Desmond: I know what we need to do.
Jump up ^ "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag references Desmond Miles as part of a "consistent mythology"". PC Gamer. March 7, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ Spangler, Todd (July 9, 2012). "Fassbender fastened to 'Assassins'". Variety.com. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ Gilbert, Ben (July 9, 2012). "Fassbender's Assassin's Creed character not necessarily Desmond". Joystiq. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ Doty, Meriah (August 27, 2015). "'Assassin's Creed' First Look: Here's Michael Fassbender as Brand New Character (Exclusive)". Yahoo.
Jump up ^ "Ubisoft Ready To Eliminate Desmond Miles From Assassin’s Creed". EGMNOW.com. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Assassin’s Creed: What Went Wrong With Desmond Miles?". Only SP.
Jump up ^ Vore, Bryan (December 3, 2010). "Readers' Top 30 Characters Results Revealed". Game Informer. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
Jump up ^ "PS3's top 5 worst protagonists". PSU.com. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Top 10 Assassin's Creed Characters".
Jump up ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3y_b3kP3E4. Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
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Permanent Settlement
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The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal which was an agreement between the East India Company and Bengali landlords to fix revenues to be raised from land, with far-reaching consequences for both agricultural methods and productivity in the entire British Empire and the political realities of the Indian countryside. It was concluded in 1793 by the Company administration headed by Charles, Earl Cornwallis, also known as Lord Cornwallis.[1] It formed one part of a larger body of legislation enacted, known as the Cornwallis Code. The Cornwallis Code of 1793 divided the East India Company's service personnel into three branches: revenue, judicial, and commercial. Revenues were collected by Zamindars, native Indians who were treated as the landowners. This division created an Indian landed class that supported British authority.[1] Permanent Settlement introduced first in Bengal and Bihar; and then to South district of Madras and district of Varanasi. The system eventually spread all over northern India by a series of regulations dated 1 May 1793. These regulations remained in place until the Charter Act of 1833.[1]

The other two systems prevalent in India were The Ryotwari System and The Mahalwari System.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Overview
3 Influence
4 References
5 Further reading
Background[edit]
Earlier zamindars in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha had been functionaries who held the right to collect revenue on behalf of the Mughal emperor and his representative, the diwan, in Bengal. The diwan supervised the zamindars to ensure they were neither lax nor overly stringent. When the East India Company was awarded the diwani or overlordship of Bengal by the empire following the Battle of Buxar in 1764, it found itself short of trained administrators, especially those familiar with local custom and law. As a result, landholders were unsupervised or reported to corrupt and indolent officials. The result was that revenues were extracted without regard for future income or local welfare.
Following the devastating famine of 1770, which was partially caused by this shortsightedness, Company officials in Calcutta better understood the importance of oversight of revenue officials. They failed to consider the question of incentivisation; hence Warren Hastings, then governor-general, introduced a system of five-yearly inspections and temporary tax farmers.
Many appointed as tax farmers absconded with as much revenue as they could during the time period between inspections. The British Parliament took note of the disastrous consequences of the system, and in 1784, British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger directed the Calcutta administration to alter it immediately. In 1786 Charles Cornwallis was sent out to India to reform the company's practices.
In 1786, the East India Company Court of Directors first proposed a permanent settlement for Bengal, changing the policy then being followed by Calcutta, which was attempting to increase taxation of zamindars. Between 1786 and 1790, the new Governor-General Lord Cornwallis and Sir John Shore (later Governor-General) entered a heated debate over whether or not to introduce a permanent settlement with the zamindars. Shore argued that the native zamindars would not trust the permanent settlement to be permanent and that it would take time before they realised it was genuine.
Cornwallis believed that they would immediately accept it and so begin investing in improving their land. In 1790, the Court of Directors issued a ten-year (decennial) settlement to the zamindars, which was made permanent in 1793.
By the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793, their power of keeping the armed forces were taken back. They remained just the tax collectors of the land. There were considerably weakened as they were now banned from holding any court, as it was brought under the supervision of collector appointed by the company. British officials believed that investing in the land would improve the economy.
They did not want to take direct control of local administration in villages for several reasons.They did not want to annoy those people who had traditionally enjoyed power and prestige in the village. To keep powerful people happy and collect better revenue, Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement. As per permanent system, rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars, who were supposed to collect the land revenue from the peasants.
The rate of revenue was never to be increased. The company officials believed that would give some motivation for land to be invested in, as zamindars would be assured of long-term returns of continuous flow of revenue.
Also was created a new social class of land owning nobility in Bengal and Bihar, loyal to the British.
Overview[edit]
The question of incentivisation now being understood to be central, the security of tenure of landlords was guaranteed. In short, the former landholders and revenue intermediaries were granted proprietorial rights (effective ownership) to the land they held. In addition, the land tax was fixed in perpetuity to minimise the tendency by British administrators to amass a small fortune in sluiced-away revenue. Smallholders were no longer permitted to sell their land, but they could not be expropriated by their new landlords.
Incentivization of zamindars was intended to encourage improvements of the land, such as drainage, irrigation and the construction of roads and bridges; such infrastructure had been insufficient through much of Bengal. With a fixed land tax, zamindars could securely invest in increasing their income without any fear of having the increase taxed away by the Company. Cornwallis made the motivation quite clear by declaring that "when the demand of government is fixed, an opportunity is afforded to the landholder of increasing his profits, by the improvement of his lands". The British had in mind "improving landlords" in their own country, such as Coke of Norfolk.
The Court of Directors also hoped to guarantee the company's income, which was constantly plagued by defaulting zamindars who fell into arrears, making it impossible for them to budget their spending accurately.
The immediate consequence of the Permanent Settlement was both very sudden and dramatic, one that nobody had apparently foreseen. By ensuring that zamindars' lands were held in perpetuity and with a fixed tax burden, they became desirable commodities. In addition, the government tax demand was inflexible, and the British East India Company's collectors refused to make allowances for times of drought, flood or other natural disaster. The tax demand was higher than that in England at the time. As a result, many zamindars immediately fell into arrears.
The Company's policy of auction of any zamindari lands deemed to be in arrears created a market for land that previously did not exist. Many of the new purchasers of this land were Indian officials within the East India Company's government. The bureaucrats were ideally placed to purchase lands which they knew to be underassessed and therefore profitable. In addition, their position as officials gave them opportunity to acquire the wealth necessary to purchase land quickly through bribery and corruption. They could also manipulate the system to bring to sale land that they specifically wanted.
Historian Bernard S. Cohn and others have argued that the Permanent Settlement led to a commercialisation of land, which previously did not exist in Bengal and, as a consequence, it led to a change in the social background of the ruling class from "lineages and local chiefs" to "under civil servants and their descendants, and to merchants and bankers".
The new landlords were different in their outlook; "often they were absentee landlords who managed their land through managers and who had little attachment to their land".[2]
Influence[edit]
The Company hoped that the Zamindar class would not only be a revenue-generating instrument but also serve as intermediaries for the more political aspects of their rule, preserving local custom and protecting rural life from the possibly rapacious influences of its own representatives. However, it worked both ways, as zamindars became a naturally conservative interest group. Once British policy in the mid-19th century changed to one of reform and intervention in custom, the zamindars were vocal in their opposition. The zamindars were adamant for it. The Permanent Settlement had the features that state demand was fixed at 89% of the rent and 11% was to be retained by the zamindar. The state demand could not be increased but payment should be made on the due date, before sunset, so it was also known as the 'Sunset Law'. Failure to pay led to the sale of land to the highest bidder.
While the worst of the tax-farming excesses were countered by the introduction of the Settlement, the use of land was not part of the agreement. There was a tendency of Company officials and Indian landlords to force their tenants into plantation-style farming of cash crops like indigo and cotton rather than rice and wheat. That was a cause of many of the worst famines of the nineteenth century. In addition, zamindars eventually became absentee landlords, with all that that implied for neglect of investment on the land.
Once the salient features of the Settlement were reproduced all over India, and indeed elsewhere in the Empire, including Kenya, the political structure was altered forever. The landlord class held much greater power than they had under the Mughals, who subjected them to oversight by a trained bureaucracy with the power to attenuate their tenure. The power of the landlord caste/class over smallholders was not diluted in India until the first efforts towards land reform in the 1950s, still incomplete everywhere except West Bengal.
In Pakistan, where land reform was never carried out, elections in rural areas still suffer from a tendency towards oligarchy reflecting the concentration of influence in the hands of zamindar families. This is because once Pakistan became separated from India, and the two began to fight over Kashmir, the goal of the government was revenue extraction instead of devotion to agriculture and infrastructure. As a result, the central leadership skewed the relationship between the elected and non-elected institutions of the state.[3]
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c "Cornwallis Code". Encyclopedia Britannica. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
Jump up ^ Cohn, Bernard S. (August 1960). "The Initial British Impact on India: A case study of the Benares region". The Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies. 19 (4): 418–431. doi:10.2307/2943581. JSTOR 2943581.
Jump up ^ Bose, Sugar; Jalal, Ayesha (2004). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. Psychology Press. p. 177. ISBN 0415307872.
Further reading[edit]
Agrawal, Pramod Kumar (1993). Land Reforms in India: Constitutional and Legal Approach. New Delhi: M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 8185880093
Guha, Ranajit (1996). A rule of property for Bengal: an essay on the idea of permanent settlement. Durham: Duke U Press. ISBN 0-8223-1771-0.
Keay, John (200). India: A History. Grove/Atlantic. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0.
Spear, T.G.Percival (1990). The History of India. 2. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-013836-6.
Washbrook, D. A. (1981). "Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India". Modern Asian Studies. 15 (3): 649–721. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00008714. JSTOR 312295.
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