Ezio Auditore da Firenze

"Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito."

―Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (1459 - ?) is the protagonist of Assassin's Creed II. He is an ancestor of Desmond and a descendant of Altaïr, as well as being the earliest known link between the lineages of Subject 16 and that of Desmond.

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Background

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Young Ezio being approached by a guard after protesting at his fathers and brothers execution.

Ezio is a young Florentine nobleman who lives in during the 15th and 16th century. Unlike Altaïr, he is a seducer, and he easily blends with any social classes. He has an affluent lifestyle and many friends until a life-changing event, wherein he and his family are betrayed, victims of a conspiracy that takes his father's, elder brother's, and younger brother's lives. Forced to protect his mother and his sister Claudia, his remaining family, he becomes an Assassin, exacting vengeance on the conspirators who betrayed his family, his first victim the one who sentenced his father's and brothers' public execution. From that day on, Ezio and the rest of the Auditore family are considered criminals and traitors, and flees Florence to the safety of their ancestral home in the Tuscan countryside. Ezio is helped not only by his uncle Mario, but also Leonardo da Vinci, who becomes his best friend and his personal engineer, as well as Niccolò Machiavelli, Lorenzo de' Medici and other famous Renaissance figures.

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Ezio conversing with Lorenzo de Medici

Ezio will travel across Italy to various locations like Venice, Tuscany and Rome. In Assassin's Creed II, players will live approximately 23 years of his life from when he was 17 years old (a Novice), to 40 years old (a Master Assassin), or 1476 to 1499.

Equipment

Ezio is able to use a variety of weapons including two hidden blades, allowing him to eliminate two enemies simultaneously.

Combat is also available with the hidden blade, as when countering an enemy, Ezio will kill the enemy, whether by jabbing

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Ezio assassinating two guards at once with the Dual-Hidden Blades.

repeatedly in the chest/stomach, or stabbing in the head. He can also steal (and use) several enemy weapons such as axes, hammers, maces, spears, halberds and two different sword types (one- and two-handed). Ezio is also able to use Da Vinci's flying machine in some parts of the game, gaining altitude from fires set throughout the city by his allies. Ezio will gain many upgrades from Da Vinci on his wrist gauntlet like a wheel lock firearm concealed
near his left hidden blade, and poison needle. Ezio possesses the ability to use Eagle Vision while moving. He can visit Blacksmiths to purchase weapons and armors including Helmschmeid and Metal Plate, or tailors to customize the colors of his clothing.After obtaining all six seals from the Assassin's Tombs, Ezio can open the locked gate to Altair's Armor, created by Altair after the defeat of Al-Mualim. It is easily the best armor available in the game, giving much more health and resistance points than any prior suit or piece, and it is unbreakable.

The Codex alludes to the possibility of the armor being forged from, or including parts of, the Golden Fleece - which could be a Piece of Eden. Considering that the armor is unbreakable, this is likely.

The Sword of Altair can also be bought from the Monteriggioni blacksmith any time after the eighth scenario.

Trivia

• The Italian name 'Ezio' derives from the Greek word 'Aetos', which means "Eagle", similar to Altaïr whose name means "The Flying One".
• Unlike Altaïr (who had his ring finger removed to make way for the Hidden Blade), Ezio has all ten fingers. A modification to the Hidden Blade made sometime after Altaïr defeated Al-Mualim spared Ezio's ring finger. Leonardo Da Vinci deciphers a Codex Page written by Altaïr on which said modification was illustrated. Assassins have a mark burned into the ring finger as a sign of their lineage.
• It is stated in the Philosophical Codex that after Altaïr defeated Al-Mualim at the end of the first Assassin's Creed and became the leader, the Assassins were forced to realize the scope of their fight against the Templars, and had to abandon many of their traditions: like the removal of the ring finger or the ban on using poison, in order to survive.
• Ezio uses a wheel lock firearm, a type of weapon that Europe didn't start developing until the very late 1400's and early 1500's, making this weapon most likely one of the very first of its type to appear in Europe. Thus, many in-game citizens do not know what the weapon is. The earliest firearms were single shot and took time to reload, so will most likely be only used as a last resort weapon. Leonardo Da Vinci didn't create the Hidden Gun, but found instructions to make one from a Codex page, meaning Altaïr invented the Hidden Gun (and most likely the first firearm) through knowledge gained from the Apple of Eden. Also note that Da Vinci created some of the first modern wheel lock pistols, so this could be a shortened version of one.
• Ezio's face in Assassin's Creed II seems to be a mixture of Desmond's (Francisco Randez) and Devon Bostick's from Lineage .
• It would appear as though Ezio is unaware that he is the decendant of Altaïr, despite learning about Altaïr and what kind of assassin he was, he never truly understands why he is such a sucessful assassin himself.
• Ezio is 40 years old in 1499 (15 years older than Altaïr's age in 1191); the same age as his father when his father died in 1476.
• If you move the camera to a certain angle that shows Ezio's face, you see that his face has barely aged, except for the beard, even if you played through 20 plus years of his life.