Marcus Junius Brutus

2012-03-19T17:56:36Z

24.107.113.222:

{{Era|Brotherhood|PL|Assassins}}
{{WPAssassins}}
{{WP-REAL|Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger}}
'''Marcus Junius Brutus''' (early June 85 BC – late October 42 BC), more commonly known simply as '''Brutus''', was a politician of the late Roman Republic, and a member of the [[Roman Assassins|Roman Assassin Brotherhood]].

Most notably, Brutus held a leading role in the assassination conspiracy against the consul [[Gaius Julius Caesar]].

==Biography==
===Early life===
[[File:Intervention.png|thumb|250px|left|The Roman Senate.]]
Brutus was born of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great after having taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus, and his mother would later become Julius Caesar's mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being Brutus' real father.<ref name="Wikipedia">[[wikipedia:Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger|''Wikipedia'': Marcus Junius Brutus]]</ref>

Sometime prior to 45 BC, Brutus became a member of the Roman Senate, as well as the [[Assassins|Assassin Order]]. Many of his Assassin brothers also shared his role as both senator and Liberatore.<ref name="Project Legacy - Giovanni Borgia">''[[Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy]]'' - [[Chapter 2 - Giovanni Borgia|Rome: Chapter 2 - Giovanni Borgia]]</ref>

Around 45 BC, many senators began to fear Caesar's growing power following his appointment as dictator,<ref name="Wikipedia" /> and the Assassins began to plan bringing about his downfall. Around this time, they also discovered that the {{Wiki|SPQR}} was secretly a [[Templars|Templar]] organization.<ref name="AC2">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''</ref>

===Discovery of the Vault===
{{quote|Dreams of the cavern again! I run my phantom hands along its walls and recognize every flaw. There is writing here, but I cannot read it.|Brutus speaks of his dreams.|Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy}}

[[File:Scroll04.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Brutus' drawing of the vault.]]
For some time, Brutus' dreams were haunted by a mysterious cavern that he found himself compelled to find. Eventually, he was led to discover the sealed [[First Civilization]] [[Colosseum Vault|vault]], hidden beneath what would eventually become the [[Santa Maria Aracoeli]].<ref name="Brotherhood">''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]''</ref>

As he had been assigned by [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]] as the one to come of with the plan of assassinating Caesar, Brutus designated the [[Temples|temple]] preceding the vault as a meeting place for his co-conspirators.<ref name="Project Legacy - Giovanni Borgia" />

Whenever his fellow Assassins left after their council meetings, Brutus would explore the cavern on his own, coming across what had supposedly drawn him to the location, ''"Whispers. Lights flickering through cracks in the earth. A doorway that is also a puzzle."''<ref name="Project Legacy - Giovanni Borgia" />

Eventually discovering how to gain entrance to the vault, Brutus was struck to awe by "phantom radiance" of the otherworldly architecture, and found the ''"very pillars of [his] beliefs toppled."'' Upon approaching and activating the vault's pedestal, Brutus was shown [[Rome]] in flames; the aftermath of Caesar's assassination, which ultimately drove him into action.<ref name="Brotherhood" />

Brutus would later write several [[Scrolls of Romulus|scrolls]] describing his dreams and discovery of the vault, as well as include drawings of the chamber and [[Vault pedestal|its pedestal]]. Following the assassination of Caesar, Brutus also returned to the temple to store these scrolls, as well as his [[Armor of Brutus|heirloom armor]].<ref name="Brotherhood" />

===Assassination of Julius Caesar===
{{quote|I relay my plan; some details are my own, but others driven by my visions. My contributions are practical: we will attack as a group to prevent escape and to ensure each of us is committed to this task. We will lure him to the Senate, where none of his allies may enter.|Brutus planning Caesar's assassination.|Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy}}

[[File:Assassination of Julius Caesar.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Assassins striking at Caesar.]]
Inspired and encouraged by the visions he had seen in the vault, Brutus devised the plan for the assassination alongside forty of his fellow Assassins and senators.<ref name="Project Legacy - Giovanni Borgia" /> As dictated to him by his visions, Brutus scheduled their attack for the Ides of March.<ref name="Brotherhood" />

That day, however, Caesar's wife attempted to convince him not to attend the Senate, delaying his arrival and leading the Assassins to fear that the plot had been found out. Brutus persisted nevertheless, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and upon his eventual arrival, they attacked him.<ref name="Wikipedia" />

Caesar resisted at first, but resigned himself to his fate upon recognizing Brutus, and was eventually killed, ''"stabbed twenty-three times by his own countrymen, many of whom he once considered friends."'' Driven to severe guilt from his actions, Brutus later returned to the [[Colosseo|Colosseum]], and abandoned the [[Dagger of Brutus|dagger]] he had used to strike down Caesar within the vault.<ref name="Brotherhood" />

===Death===
{{Quote|Whatever power lies within this artifact, it has not returned our Brother to us. We close his eyes again. There is no sign that he had ever moved.|The attempted resurrection of Brutus.|Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy}}
After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the Assassins, which was proposed by Caesar's friend and co-consul {{Wiki|Mark Antony}}. Nonetheless, uproar among the population caused Brutus and the other Assassins to leave Rome. Brutus settled in Crete from 44 to 42 BC, but was later defeated in battle and upon fleeing, committed suicide.<ref name="Wikipedia" />

[[File:Philippi, Macedonia.png|thumb|right|250px|The Shroud being used on Brutus' corpse.]]
After Brutus' death, his followers gathered in Philippi, Macedonia, and tried to use the [[Shroud of Eden]] to bring him back. However, the Shroud was not capable of such restoration, and though Brutus opened his eyes and moved, he did not appear to breathe, and eventually fell still in a seeming second death.<ref name="Project Legacy - Ghosts of Christmas Past">''Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy'' - [[Chapter 1 - Ghosts of Christmas Past|Holidays: Chapter 1 - Ghosts of Christmas Past]]</ref>

Some time prior to 1500, the [[Followers of Romulus]] discovered the temple, and found Brutus' armor and dagger within. They took the artifacts, hiding them in a chamber in the tunnels beneath [[Colle Palatino]]. The chamber was to only be opened with six keys, spread across various landmarks throughout Rome, hidden alongside the scroll Brutus had written.<ref name="Brotherhood" />

In 1503, the [[Italian Assassins|Italian Assassin]] [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]] managed to obtain all six keys and retrieved the armor from its chamber.<ref name="Brotherhood" />

==Trivia==
* In 1503, [[Giovanni Borgia]] relived some of Brutus' memories, due to them both having been exposed to the Shroud of Eden.
*Brutus' ability to activate the vault pedestal suggests that he is a descendant of the First Civilization.
* The poet [[Dante Alighieri]] wrote in ''Inferno'', the first part of ''The Divine Comedy'', that Brutus, along with Cassius, were condemned to the lowest circle of hell because of their act against Julius Caesar, despite the fact that Dante was also a member of the Assassin Order.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brutus, Marcus Junius}}
[[es:Marco Junio Bruto]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Characters]]
[[Category:Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy Characters]]
[[Category:Assassins]]
[[Category:Historical Characters]]

Assassin's Creed Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

Marcus Junius Brutus