Micheletto Corella

"Micheletto. The best killer in Roma. No one escapes him."

―La Volpe to Ezio Auditore, 1503

Micheletto Corella (1470 – 1506), also known as Michele di Coreglia or Miguel de Corella, was a condottiero and a member of the Roman Rite of the Templar Order, as well as the personal bodyguard and assassin of Cesare Borgia. At one point, he was also the Governor of Piombino.

Biography

Early life

Micheletto was born in Valencia, Spain, but was taken to live in Rome, Italy at a fairly young age. As a young boy, he and Cesare Borgia were very close, and Micheletto would always act as his protector.

Micheletto and Cesare grew up together in Rome, and Micheletto was given a lofty position due to his relationship with the son of one so high in society. They never left each other's side, and eventually grew into the men that went on to conquer Rome with pure force.

Micheletto stayed with Cesare in the position of loyal bodyguard and pet assassin, advancing his skills with the strangling cord until he became the perfect killer. Apart from strangulation, his preferred method of execution, Micheletto knew approximately 150 other ways to kill a man.

Cesare's right-hand man

Micheletto would go on to become the most loyal of Cesare's servants, often acting as the executioner of those who stood in his master's way. All these services led to him being named Cesare's right-hand man, though he still served the Borgia family as a whole. Around this time, he became a condottiero and was named the governor of Piombino for a short period of time.

In January 1500, Micheletto accompanied Cesare, Lucrezia Borgia, Juan Borgia, and Octavian de Valois to lay siege to Monteriggioni. After destroying the Auditore's defenses, the group walked through the gates of the town, having subdued Mario Auditore and captured both Caterina Sforza and the Apple of Eden.

Micheletto then watched his master speak to Ezio Auditore da Firenze, before Cesare shot Mario through the head. Successful in their objective, the party returned to Rome.

Murders

Many of Micheletto's murders went unrecorded, though knowledge of a few were kept known throughout the years. The Church, controlled by the Borgia, often aided Micheletto by covering up or ignoring his killings.

On 18 August 1500, Alfonso of Aragon, the husband of Cesare's sister, Lucrezia Borgia, was killed by Micheletto on Cesare's orders, as the latter was jealous of Alfonso.

In 1502, Micheletto killed Giulio Cesare da Varano and three of his sons, enabling Cesare to take over Camerino. Later that year, on June 9, he killed Astorre III Manfredi, the Lord of Faenza, in the Castel Sant'Angelo.

On 31 December 1502, Cesare ordered the arrest of all the top captains who had once left his ranks, who he later invited to rejoin him. Two of these, Oliverotto da Fermo and Vitellozzo Vitelli, were strangled back to back by Micheletto. The rest were thrown in prison.

Teaching Giovanni

"Micheletto asks if I have learned anything. I tell him no, but I am lying. I have learned to hate him."

―Giovanni Borgia.

Micheletto in a "lesson" with Giovanni

At times between 1500 and 1503, Micheletto was left to guard and teach Giovanni Borgia, Cesare's adopted son and Lucrezia's biological child. He attempted to instruct Giovanni in how to be both tough and merciless, often beating him to force him to learn how to defend himself.

At one point, Micheletto brought Giovanni into the city and instructed him to engage an old man in conversation. As the boy spoke with him, Micheletto approached the old man from behind and strangled him to death, merely to teach Giovanni the cruelties of the world. These lessons only resulted in Giovanni hating Micheletto, and eventually prompting him to run away from home.

Final tasks

"You cannot save Pietro. The wine he drank was poisoned. As I promised Cesare, I made doubly sure."

―Micheletto to Ezio.

Francesco Troche being killed by Micheletto

In August 1503, not long after the death of Octavian de Valois, Micheletto accompanied Cesare to a meeting with Francesco Troche, who had told his brother Egidio of Cesare's plans for Romagna. Egidio had sent letters to the ambassador of Venice to warn him, though these letters had been intercepted.

Francesco pleaded Cesare to spare his life, but he was ultimately strangled to death by Micheletto, and his body was thrown in the Tiber river.

Micheletto then went on to meet with a few Borgia guards, giving them costumes with which they could infiltrate the Colosseum play to kill Pietro Rossi, Lucrezia's latest lover. Unknown to him, he was being followed by the Assassin Ezio Auditore, who had sent his apprentices to assassinate all the aforementioned guards and steal the costumes they had been given.

Ezio continued to follow Micheletto to the Colosseum, where he assassinated all the Borgia arquebusiers posted there. Donning his own costume, Ezio followed Micheletto onstage, where they both joined the play.

Ezio about to kill Micheletto

As soon as Ezio came close to Micheletto, he stabbed him with his Hidden Blade. With the conversation that followed between the two, Micheletto revealed the fact that he had poisoned Pietro's wine as a fallback plan, and that Ezio would be too late to save him. However, Ezio did not kill Micheletto, instead sparing him and saying that in his quest to empower Cesare, Micheletto would cause his own downfall.

Cesare later killed his father, Pope Alexander VI, after the latter attempted to poison Cesare. As a result, the Borgia's influence over Rome disappeared and Cesare became powerless.

In a desperate attempt to retake the city, Cesare sent Micheletto to gather an army to take back Rome, though he never arrived. Instead, Cesare was captured by the forces of the Papal Guard, under the command of the new Pope, Julius II. With his master imprisoned, Micheletto fled Rome.

Confinement and escape

"Chains will not hold me. Any more than they will hold my master."

―Micheletto, upon being captured by the Assassins.

After Cesare's imprisonment, Micheletto fled from place to place, finally holing up in Zagarolo. Not long after, the Assassins located him and met him with a small battalion, and while Micheletto and his men fought bravely, they were no match for the Assassins.

After arresting Micheletto, the Assassins took him to Florence, where he was imprisoned in the Palazzo della Signoria. He was then interrogated by Niccolò Machiavelli, Piero Soderini, and Amerigo Vespucci. Though subjected to considerable torture, Micheletto did not break and gave nothing away, and was then sentenced to execution.

However, the day before the sentence was to be carried out, he escaped with the help of a few Borgia die-hards. Disguised as a priest, one of the die-hards gave Micheletto a file which he used to cut through the bars of his cell.

Rescuing Cesare and death

"Is this my reward? For all my years of faithful service?"

―Micheletto arguing with Cesare.

After escaping from his prison, Micheletto traveled to Valencia, where he stayed at the Lone Wolf Inn. He and his followers set up shop in the inn, however, they were confronted there by Ezio and Machiavelli. After a brief skirmish, in which most of Micheletto's men were killed, he fled the scene.

Micheletto then made his way to the Castillo de la Mota, where Cesare had been imprisoned. Using an intricate plan, Micheletto and his followers were able to free Cesare from his cell.

Along with his master, Micheletto once again traveled to Valencia, where Cesare set to work mobilizing his forces. Their troops, however, were soon broken after an attack by the Assassins, and following this, Micheletto met with his master at their headquarters, the Lone Wolf Inn.

While Cesare explained his further plans, Micheletto stated that he would aid him with his conquests. Cesare, however, merely commented that Micheletto had failed him, and enraged by this, Micheletto attacked his master, leaping across the table to strangle him.

However, Cesare reacted faster than Micheletto, pulled a pistol and fired a shot into his head, killing him. Ironically, Ezio had previously said that by working for Cesare, Micheletto had engineered his own destruction.

Personality

"I obey, Cesare."

―Micheletto to his master.

Micheletto receiving orders from Cesare

Micheletto was the most loyal of Cesare's followers, complying with his every demand, even after his fall from power. A man of steely determination, Micheletto often went to great lengths to see that his master's will fulfilled.

Micheletto proved to be quite an insecure man as well, showing extreme discontent when his master did not reward him for his services, as was clear from his outburst when Cesare refused to acknowledge that he had saved him.

Also a very cruel man, Micheletto had no qualms about killing the innocent, and even seemed to take enjoyment from doing so. His preferred method was strangulation, which he used to kill many people on Cesare's orders, including his brother-in-law. In addition to his strong exterior, Micheletto was also very steadfast, traits which were useful to ensure that he did not give away his master's location when tortured.

Trivia

Real history

• Historically, Micheletto later worked in Florence from 1505 to 1507 and was killed in Milan in January 1508 by an angry mob. He was not known to have killed Francesco Troche and his execution of Oliverotto and Vitellozzo was hinted by Machiavelli in a letter. Ironically, Julius released him at Machiavelli's own mediation.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

• In the memory "Exit Stage Right", upon Micheletto's "assassination", he is wearing his passion play costume, however, when he utters his "final" words, he is shown wearing his ordinary clothes.
• During Micheletto's "final" words, Ezio Auditore holds his right Hidden Blade to Micheletto's throat, regardless of whether he has purchased the second blade from Leonardo da Vinci.
• Ezio's last statement to Micheletto, "He who is the cause of someone else becoming powerful, is the agent of his own destruction," can be found in Chapter 3 of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, albeit in more detail.
• In the Tiber Island Headquarters painting gallery, Micheletto 'disappears from the history books' as said in the database to which his fate was later revealed in the novelization.

Mobile adaptation

• In the mobile adaptation of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Micheletto is named Michelotto instead, and he is assassinated by Ezio Auditore at the Pantheon rather than being spared by the Assassin at the Colosseum. As Michelotto tries to leave the Pantheon with four of his guards—two of them guard captains—Ezio suddenly closes one of the gates barring their exit. His group hastily turns around for the other exit, only to have an Assassin apprentice close that gate as well. Trapped, they are beset by the apprentice, who throws a smoke bomb and swiftly kills everyone, save for Michelotto. The helpless Michelotto pleads with Ezio for mercy as he joins the scene, only to have the two Assassins execute him with their halberds in revenge for Mario Auditore's death. Though the event occurs after the Siege of Monteriggioni, it, like the rest of the game, is set in 1486.

Gallery

• 
  Micheletto's portrait in the Tiber Island headquarters
• 
  Early concept art of Micheletto Corella
• 
  Models of Micheletto
• 
  Micheletto strangling Oliverotto and Vitellozzo
• 
  Micheletto strangling a man in front of the young Giovanni

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel
• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
• Assassin's Creed: Ascendance
• Assassin's Creed: Recollection
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)