Sweet Sixteen
After starting a new campaign on AC2 I got to thinking how subject sixteen fits in all of this. Other than the truth videos Lucy talks about his stay at Abstergo and the memories he went through. How he suddenly got fixed on Italy. I was wondering who his ancestor was in Italy. I assume he comes from a line of assassins like Desmond. This would most likely be the reason for his abduction and there were only so many assassins in Italy at the time. This could narrow down the search to any one of the asassins Ezio met with in the game. Hell he could have been reliving Mario's life (if he had a child, Ezio's cousin?) Just wanted your guys thoughts on the subject. I'm sure more of it will be revieled in Brotherhood and in AC3. 
NINJA!
I seem to recall one of the devs saying that Ezio was the last common ancestor between Desmond and Subject 16, but I could be wrong. If they did say so, it was from an older interview.
Desmond and Subject 16 are related through Ezio and ancestors before him so Ezio is the last common ancestor. Originally, Abstergo wanted to use Subject 16 to find the Vault but after his suicide they planned to use Desmond instead as the two are related through Altair and Ezio. So Desmond and Subject 16 actually come from the same line of Assassins, from Altair down to Ezio.
Subject 16's obsession with Renaissance Italy probably comes from the fact that he realised what Abstergo were trying to do there when forced to relive Ezio's memories. He killed himself to prevent them finding the Vault through Ezio but knew they would use someone else if he died (Desmond). Because of this, hehacked the system while inside the Animus and hid the encrypted Truth files in the form of Glyphs around Italy for the next ancestor to find and discover what really happened. That way, after Subject 16 killed himself, Abstergo's next 'puppet' would know what was going on and literally see the truth (although Desmond already knew what Abstergo were trying to do).
I think Brotherhood probably will reveal more about Subject 16. Hopefully anyway 
(Sorry guys, my computer had to be cleaned out for almost a week.)
I've heard from several sources that Ezio is the last common ancestor, as well. Everything patrick said above is what I've heard. Go with that info.
Originally, Abstergo wanted to use Subject 16 to find the Vault but after his suicide they planned to use Desmond instead
I don't believe that this is correct.
It was made quite clear in AC1 that Desmond's role was to locate a Piece of Eden. Once they had that memory recorded revealing the world map and the PoE locations, the bigwigs told them to terminate Desmond. Lucy stuck up for him by saying he might have other uses, so they let him live. But this makes it pretty clear that his sole use to the Templars was for the location of the PoE's.
Lucy knew of the vault* through Subject 16, but neither of them revealed anything about it to the Templars. Nor should they have needed to, as the Templars knew full well the location of the vault and that it didn't contain "God" like originally believed. They wrote it off completely after Borgia's failure to stop Ezio and the fact that Ezio came out of the vault confused and empty handed. I believe the novel might have touched on this in even greater detail than the game.
* I'm not convinced that Lucy really knew much of anything ahead of time. I don't think she knew of the vault or any other details. All she knew was that there was an important ancestor of Desmond's who was somehow connected to the seeds of a threat more serious than the Templars. She really had very little information in the beginning and she seemed to be winging it as she went. She was following a lead given to her by Subject 16 and she was adamant to see it to the end. He deserved at least that much. The entire world is at stake, so she couldn't ignore his warnings anyway.
I've heard from several sources that Ezio is the last common ancestor, as well.
Several people have said this, yet no one has been able to provide any legitimate sources.
Prior to AC2's release, I was keeping up on every interview and preview I could possibly find, and I only heard of that reference once. It was in a magazine preview where the Ubi rep (read: a press liaison) said something of the sort to the media while they were playing that scene. I don't recall any other articles from those press hands-on sessions mentioning anything of the sort. Sounds to me like something that one rep just made up off the top of their head. I can see how they would arrive at such a conclusion based on the limited amount of game that was publicized at that time, but knowledge of the full story seems to contradict the concept.
Can anyone link to said ancestral reference in an interview or writing from an official source, preferably by someone who would actually have been involved in any such creative decision, like Patrice Desilets or Corey May? You guys can believe whatever you want, but I'll only accept it coming from them. And even then I wouldn't be happy as I have my theories on this and why Ezio being a common ancestor of the two just doesn't make any sense. I've already gone into detail in another thread so I won't repeat it here.
I was thinking about the same question yesterday, when I started a new game of ACII.
Because I noticed that when at the beginning Desmond enters the animus to witness the birth of Ezio, two rectangles appear on the display. One reads subject 16, the other subject 17. And then the two rectangles merge into one.
Which I thought was quite an obvious indication that Ezio was a common ancestor of s16 and Desmond.
I'm among those who believes Ubisoft intended the character of Ezio to be the last common ancestor of Subject 16 and Desmond. However, Asaic is correct that they haven't officially confirmed it (to my knowledge).
In April I did some research and the best source I could find was issue #207 of BUZZ magazine (published Sep 29, 2009) which says, "[Desmond] and Lucy use the Animus to find the last common ancestor of Desmond and Subject 16. This gives you a few moments of controlling a new born baby Ezio." Click the spoiler tag here for the complete context. Now, one could say that the journalist came to that conclusion on his own by playing the beginning of the game and observing the rectangles like al-Assas did. On the other hand, the full version of the article is an interview with Patrice Desilets and the author writes as though he didn't get to play the game himself: "That's all they tell us about that section."
Because I noticed that when at the beginning Desmond enters the animus to witness the birth of Ezio, two rectangles appear on the display. One reads subject 16, the other subject 17. And then the two rectangles merge into one.Which I thought was quite an obvious indication that Ezio was a common ancestor of s16 and Desmond.
But if it was just searching for a common ancestor, wouldn't it simply have been a list of names, rather than full detailed blocks of information? Seems more to me that it was matching a specific common reference among memories rather than simply an ancestor's name.
Not to mention that there is absolutely no significance for finding the most recent common ancestor. Especially since Subject 16 died before they decided to find and bring in Subject 17 (Desmond). There's no way that Subject 16 or Lucy could have known that the next guy's most recent ancestor in common with Subject 16 would be the ancestor who received this message through time. The whole concept sounds ridiculous when you think about it.
It makes much more sense that Lucy was merely trying to find information in Desmond's ancestral memories that correlate with the hints she got from Subject 16 in order to continue following the clues.
Since I doubt that a person's name is written down in their genetic memory, I think searching through a list of names and searching through blocks of information are the same thing.
Since I doubt that a person's name is written down in their genetic memory, I think searching through a list of names and searching through blocks of information are the same thing.
If they're broken up into text information, it only makes sense that they would be labeled by name and time period. There's really no other way to do it.
As i've said in another topic, i'll believe the "S16 and Desmond common anscestor" theory when they confirm it in the game.
Lucy tells Desmond that she knew he had an ancestor in Italy but she didn't say anything else. If Ezio was S16's ancestor aswell as Desmond's then she wouldn't have had to search for him cause they would already have data on him.