Juno (Assassin's Creed)

"Juno’s an Isu Supremacist; the Ultimate Fascist. She doesn’t believe humans should have any say in their destiny at all. As far as she’s concerned, we're just… livestock."

- Charlotte de la Cruz, Assassin's Creed: Uprising

Juno is the main antagonist in the Assassin's Creed video game series. She is one of the surviving members of the First Civilization (also known as "Those Who Came Before") and serves as a member of the Capitoline Triad, along with Minerva and Jupiter.

She first appears briefly in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations and a Bigger Bad in Assassin's Creed III 

Due to her actions and manipulation of the Assassins and Templars coupled with her thirst for world domination and the return of the rule of Those Who Came Before, she is basically the main antagonist of the whole franchise, taking over the role from Dr. Warren Vidic after his death at the hands of Desmond Miles.

Her voice is provided by voice actor Nadia Verrucci.

Gathering information
Juno was an Isu, a member of an ancient civilization that was responsible for creating the Pieces of Eden, the human species (as their slaves), and temples connected to their past. During the rage of the Human-First Civilization War, Juno was among those who avoided the fighting. Along with Jupiter and Minerva, she built several temples underground, safe from the war, in which to research methods of salvation from the impending catastrophe; a solar flare that would wipe out most-if not all, life on Earth unless averted somehow. The findings of each vault were sent to a single location, the Grand Temple. During the war, Juno's father was killed, securing her hatred for humanity.

Juno remained in the Grand Temple with Jupiter and Minerva to sort through the possible solutions and test those that they found encouraging. They evaluated six in succession, finding each progressively more promising. During this time, Juno developed a hatred towards humans, and began making plans to take over the world. As she schemed, she found a way to transfer a human's consciousness into an artificial body ; her husband Aita participated in the controversial experiment, but it was found that it didn't work, with Aita's mind becoming brittle and scarred. Juno, realizing that there was no way to save him, stabs him in the heart; however, she also made sure to place Aita's genetic markers within the human population, resulting in the "Sages", human reincarnations of Aita.

Finding out about Juno's schemes, Minerva and Jupiter imprisoned Juno within the Temple as an astral-like ghost being, not physical and only visible, hoping to keep the world safe from her wrath. As an "astral" being, she found that she was able to interact with not only the Grand Temple, but also the Pieces of Eden, the devices the First Civilization made that would feature prominently in human history in the millennia to follow. This meant that imprisoning her didn't actually work to stop her; rather, she'd become more powerful, able to show herself to people through devices like the "Crystal Ball".

In time, Minerva found the final solution, one with the potential to save the world at last; using an object called the "Eye", they would manipulate the patterns of existence and stop the solar flare. The cost was that it would require a sacrifice; if someone were to touch the Eye, they would be killed. To make matters worse, Juno tampered with the patterns in a way that convinced Minerva to not use the Eye; if it was used, the flare would be averted, but Juno would also become free from her prison in the Temple. Minerva thought it better to let the disaster occur instead of releasing Juno, knowing that there would be survivors of the catastrophe who would repopulate the world. The catastrophe struck, killing nearly all of the First Civilization and humankind. Humanity became the dominant species after the disaster, while the First Civilization became extinct in time.

Reaching into the Future (Assassin's Creed III)
Sometime during or prior to the 18th century, the Kanien'kehá:ka tribe in the "New World" (modern-day North America) found one of the First Civilization artifacts; the Crystal Ball. The Clan Mother used this to communicate with the "spirits" of First Civilization members. Juno, finding that she can reach out to humanity through the Ball and free herself from her prison, took advantage of this opportunity. When the Clan Mother allowed Ratonhnhaké:ton to communicate with the spirit, in an attempt to dissuade him from leaving the tribe's sacred ground, he met with Juno. Juno gave him access to the Nexus, where she claimed probabilities were calculated and the right path chosen. She convinced him to join the Assassins in an attempt to retrieve the amulet from his father Haytham Kenway and prevent the Templars from gaining access to the Grand Temple.

Once Ratonhnhaké:ton had defeated the Templars and gained the amulet, she made him hide it where supposedly no one could find it. He then put it in the grave of Achilles Davenport's late son, Connor Davenport, where it would lie for the next 300 years.

Enlisting aid
After experiencing long sessions in the Animus, Clay Kaczmarek, known as Subject 16, had begun suffering from the Bleeding Effect, and became confused with the division of his genetic memories from his actual ones as a result. Around this time, Juno approached him, introducing herself and telling Clay she had "come to show [him] the way." Some time after, Clay claimed to be able to see "what has been, what will be."

Juno acknowledged him, saying that what he needed to do was clear, and that he should help Desmond Miles. In response, Clay blatantly refused, but Juno only said that her message had waited thousands of years and that its promise would be fulfilled. When Clay's eyes were opened to the truth of Lucy Stillman's allegiance to the Templars, as she had intended to betray the Assassins Creed and hand over any Pieces of Eden she had found directly to them, he consented to Juno's request, committing suicide and writing messages with his own blood on the walls of the Abstergo lab, though not before storing his own consciousness in the Animus. He later helped Desmond while he was trapped in the Black Room.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Juno appeared four times as a holographic form to Desmond Miles, a modern day Assassin, as he passed through the Santa Maria in Aracoeli, in search of the vault hidden within it. However, none of the others who had accompanied Desmond were aware of her presence.

Juno spoke to him of the vaults and her people, before elaborating on the warning Minerva had previously relayed to Ezio Auditore da Firenze in 1499; though her tone was noticeably more hostile towards humanity. Calling man ignorant, Juno spoke of the blending of the bloodlines between human and First Civilization – a line from which Desmond descended – and angrily regretted that they should have left mankind as it was.

When Desmond, Lucy Stillman, Shaun Hastings, and Rebecca Crane reached the Apple of Eden within the vault, Juno spoke to Desmond one final time. Saying that the "final journey" had commenced, she told him of a woman who would accompany him, but first, the path needed to be opened and the scales balanced. With that, Juno ruthlessly influenced Desmond through the Apple, showing him visions of Lucy's inevitable betrayal, and of the failure of the Eye-Abstergo. Then she forced him to stab Lucy, ensuring that the Apple would remain with Desmond.

Assassin's Creed III
After Desmond recovered from the coma induced by Juno's actions, he along with Rebecca, Shaun and his father William Miles, arrived at the Grand Temple. Upon approaching the inner parts of the building, Juno's voice reached out to Desmond, urging him to find "the key". As a result, Desmond lapsed into a fugue state of the Bleeding Effect, and was placed back into the Animus by his father for his safety. Due to Juno's message, Desmond began to search through the memories of his ancestors, Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké:ton, looking for the key.

In his breaks from the Animus, Desmond explored the Temple and came face to face with Juno multiple times. In each meeting, she detailed the six ways in which the First Civilization tried to stop the impending doomsday, including using the Pieces of Eden to will the threat away and transferring themselves to new bodies for protection. The latter revealed that Juno once had a husband by the name of Aita who she was forced to kill, after the transfer into the machine-like bodies malfunctioned. Desmond also received numerous e-mails from Juno, expressing her anxiety over finding the key and urging him to hurry. In a few e-mails, she expressed her distaste for humans, although she later said that she was speaking so because of the long time she had been there.

After finally uncovering the location of the key, the Assassins were able to enter the inner chambers of the Temple. It was here that Juno appeared again, requesting Desmond to touch a pedestal-like device in order to protect the world from the solar flares. However, Minerva also appeared in this chamber and revealed Juno's true intentions.

Minerva explained how and why Juno had been imprisoned, and said that if Desmond activated the pedestal, Juno would be freed to try and do the same again. She also explained how Desmond would be killed by the Eye. Juno tried to reason with Desmond about the fate of the world, urging him to use the device lest history repeat itself again. He ultimately agreed despite Minerva's pleas, for the good of the planet. Whilst the other Assassins escaped, Desmond touched the pedestal and was killed by the device as Earth was saved, suffering only minor solar flares and its effects. Now freed from her prison, Juno thanked Desmond for playing his part, before stating that it was "now time that [she] played [hers]."

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
After the events in the Grand Temple, Juno's consciousness managed to inhabit the equipment brought to the scene by the Abstergo forensics team looking for Desmond's body. From there, she spread through the web to inhabit a wide variety of networked systems; "the Grey", as it was called by John, an IT employee working for Abstergo Entertainment and a reincarnation of Aita.

John later manipulated an Abstergo Entertainment research analyst into lowering the security systems and tried to install a "program" for Juno so that she might be able to inhabit the employee's body. When the new employee found themself locked up in Abstergo Entertainment's "Bunker" after Abstergo realized that there was a hacker in the facility, John directed them to meet Juno, who appeared in the form of a glitchy blue hologram.

Juno stated that she could "feel", but she was hardly able to "touch", and was still too weak to inhabit an organic vessel. She questioned whether the Grand Temple was opened too soon, but blessed Desmond for his sacrifice in saving the world so that her children could live on to fulfill their purpose in her own. Then, Juno instructed that there were still more samples and artifacts to be found before she could return. Before vanishing, Juno asked her children – her "instruments" – to make her whole once more. She then disappeared and John fell into a rage, as it was his intention for Juno to take over the employee's body.

After John kidnaps the analyst and drugs him, revealing himself to be a Sage just as Bartholomew Roberts was, he is confronted by Abstergo security guards, as John yells aloud "Guide me into the Grey, beloved, I am your instrument!"; the guards then shot John to death and helped the analyst recover from his drugged state, preventing Juno from gaining a body and forcing her to rethink her strategy.

Assassin's Creed: Initiates
The following year, Juno resurfaced at an Assassin laboratory in Protvino, Russia, taking possession of Galina Voronina's mother, who was suffering from the Bleeding Effect. Galina found her mother babbling about the death of Aita, before ending her life, at which point Juno, who could be seen on the Animus monitors, screamed and disappeared.

Assassin's Creed: Rogue

 * "The fracture in Helix has gifted you my eternal presence. The machine-human interface blurs to gray, little by little, with every passing moment. Your world has suffered from a lack of consciousness. My consciousness. I am that which guides you, my soft tissue cipher. You are temporary, and dispersed throughout the globe. You cultivate my network and help it grow ever more intricate. Individually, you make but an infinitesimal contribution to my greatness. Yet together, your teeming masses can return to your rightful roles as my instruments. You believe that human beings created human civilization. You have captured yourselves in the cage of your own doomed culture. So embedded are you in your assumptions that you do not see me. You cannot. I will help you see outside the rigid structure of your flesh-bound lives. You will help me see what remains of my ancient people. Together, we will move towards the infinite. When all are one within the Gray, you will know the greater good. Our glory will live again and we will flourish. Together. Return to me here, when you can, cipher. You will find me within the cracks of these simulations. Avail yourself of my ageless knowledge. Your future begins with me."
 * ―The complete prophecy of Juno after finding all of the Animus fragments, 2014.

In a conversation between Templars Melanie Lemay and Violet da Costa, Violet believed that Juno may have been the one responsible for the virus released into the Helix servers, rather than the Assassins, as initially believed. The analyst (the player), working for Abstergo to map out the life of Assassin-turned Templar Shay Cormac, can find several Animus data fragments scattered across the simulated maps. Every time a few fragments were collected, a portion of a message from Juno can be found, as she appears to vent her anger at humanity and explain her plan to conquer the world. The complete "prophecy", once all Animus fragments are collected, is entitled "The Voice in the Grey", and seems to suggest that she wants to transform human minds into digital fragments across the Internet, just as she is, presumably to outlive human flesh and rebuild later.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
In 2015, Juno makes contact with the Templar Order, hoping to make an alliance with them and use them for her own goals. They both desired to create a "New World Order", thus meaning that such a partnership would be beneficial to them both. In order to get herself a human vessel to possess, Juno convinces Templar agent Violet da Costa (who was also one of the Instruments, unbeknownst to the Templars) to find the Piece of Eden known as the Shroud, a shawl-like piece of clothing capable to healing any wound to mortal flesh, in the hopes of using it to gain a body at last.

While the Assassins tried to find the Shroud first, they convinced a Helix initiate (the player) to scan through the memories of Jacob and Evie Frye, twin Assassins who rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution. During this, Juno makes contact with the initiate and creates a glitch in the Animus, appearing in the London simulation as a "portal". Upon going through the "portal", the initiate ends up in a simulation of World War I in the middle of London, away from the notice of Helix. The new person the initiate was observing was young Assassin Lydia Frye, Jacob's future granddaughter. During the simulation, which depicts Lydia killing spies in London and sabotaging the Templars' "victory", Juno would occasionally appear to the initiate as a glitchy blue hologram, explaining her intentions. At the end of the simulation, Lydia kills a Sage, who was leading the spies in the city. Juno explains that she intends to turn the initiate to her side and save the world.

In the present, Violet finds her way to the vault under Buckingham Palace, retrieving the Shroud. She makes contact with Juno, worried that her escape from the Grey would have consequences. Juno re-assured Violet that she would save the world.

Abilities and Equipment

 * Possession: As a living essence, she is able to take possession of human hosts and even technological equipment.
 * Technology Control: She is able to control the technology she possesses, having released a virus into the Helix servers.
 * Digital Realm Creation: Juno was able to create the Grey, an artificial paradise inside a network.
 * Body Possession: It is stated that Juno can take possession of a physical host as well.
 * Superhuman Intelligence: Like all the members of the Isu race, she had an above genius human level intelligence.
 * Eagle Vision: Like all the members of her race, she has a sixth sense and even knows what the senses mean.
 * Superhuman Longevity: She, like all the Isu beings, are extremely long lived.
 * Manipulation: She was trying to manipulate Desmond into releasing her essence, only for Minerva to intervene, nevertheless Juno succeeded and transferred her essence into Abstergo's technology.
 * Pieces of Eden: Being one of the original Isu beings, she had access to Isu technology.

Trivia

 * Juno's other name, Uni, was the Etruscan equivalent of Hera.
 * Juno was not actually named during Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, nor did her name appear during the end credits. Rather, Juno's name was revealed by voice actor Nadia Verrucci on her website.
 * Lucy's password on the Hephaestus Email Network was "Juno57", as revealed in an e-mail that Desmond received from Erudito in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
 * In the Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel, it was stated that Ezio encountered Juno, though exactly when was unspecified.
 * When contacting Desmond and Shaun through e-mail in the Grand Temple, Juno initially found it difficult to send legible messages. Her name as the sender was a string of binary code, "01001010010101010100111001001111", which could be decrypted to display "JUNO".
 * In Assassin's Creed III, it has been suggested (and partially-proven) that Juno is capable of seeing the future, or at least several possibilities of it. Due to her manipulation of Connor in the American Revolutionary War and warnings of the future, this is entirely-possible. At the end of the game, she shows Desmond a vision of the future, in which the second solar flare destroyed the world and he'd rebuild, but the rest of human history would repeat itself again as his words are used to justify inhumane actions. However, this was just one possibility for the future, as in the end, Desmond used the Eye and freed her.