The role of Desmond Miles in Assassin's Creed 3 has been the hot topic of late, mostly because we don't really know what's going to happen. We're pretty sure, based on everything we've heard to date, that Assassin's Creed 3 will somehow tie-up Desmond's storyline.

Creative Director Alex Hutchinson has dropped numerous hints and, although he hasn't flat out said it, we're pretty sure this will be the end of Desmond's story. Hutchinson has already expressed his concerns that Desmond's story has gone on far too long. To that end, Assassin's Creed 3 is a 90% new game. We've got a new character in Connor, a new setting in Colonial America, and a new time period during the Revolutionary War. As Bob Dylan once wrote, The times, they are a-changin.

With that being said, Assassin's Creed 3 will still have plenty of Desmond. In fact, Hutchinson has already confirmed that it will have "more Desmond material than ever before", but that it will likely also end with this game. We just don't know how.

According to an interview Hutchinson had with EDGE, we'll at least be happy with how his story concludes.

"The story of Assassin's Creed, AC 2, Brotherhood and Revelations was to build Desmond up," Hutchinson started off. "He's this guy who's a bit of a nobody when it starts out, and gets new abilities through reliving the lives of his ancestors."

"So we've built this guy up over the course of the games, and I really believe that we can pay that off, and in retrospect he'll be terrific. I don't think anyone really liked Luke Skywalker in [Star Wars] A New Hope, but by the end of his character arc, this journey that he goes through, makes him amazing."

"We're really trying to pay off the investment of the people who've been with the franchise since Assassin's Creed 1, or even just somewhere in the middle, to make this guy cool," he added, basically echoing sentiments expressed in a previous interview.

Hutchinson went on to ease the concerns of players who may be diving into the franchise for the first time with Assassin's Creed 3.

"But at the same time [we] acknowledge those who are just playing Assassin's Creed 3," he said. "We catch you up on where he's been pretty quickly, and it absolutely works as a standalone game, but the full payoff will be for those who've been with us since the start."

Are you ready to say goodbye to Desmond?