Merchant

Ezio purchasing items from a merchant.

Merchants are citizens who sell various items in the many cities featured in each game.

Assassin's Creed

The role of merchants in Assassin's Creed is simply to provide atmosphere and a handy escape option if you dive through their stands to avoid running through a crowd of citizens. In the PC version, there is also a secondary mission called Merchant Stand Destruction, in which you must destroy a set number of merchant stands within a time limit. The explanation for this is that the targeted merchants are selling products that are causing illnesses. In the Xbox 360 version, there is an Achievement for diving through a certain number of them.

Assassin's Creed II

In Assassin's Creed II, merchants become a vital part of Ezio's progression. Aside from some of their stalls providing escape routes, you can now purchase various items from them.

• Art merchants: Art merchants sell paintings, which increase Monteriggioni's value, and treasure maps, which specify where treasure chests can be found.
• Blacksmiths: You can buy certain pieces of armor and weaponry from blacksmiths. They also sell various forms of ammunition (such as smoke bombs) and repair broken armor.

• Doctors: Doctors can heal Ezio's wounds for a small fee. They also sell medicine vials and poison vials (for the poison blade).
• Fast travel booths: Fast travel booths allow easy travel to different locations throughout Italy for a sum and act similarily to fast forwarding a memory did in Assassin's Creed.

• Tailors: Tailors sell pouch upgrades to increase the ammunition carrying capacity. They also allow you to customize most of Ezio's armor by dyeing it with different colors. This has no real in-game function, however, save for the Perfect Harmony Achievement.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, merchants play an even more important role than in Assassin's Creed II. Once in Rome, Ezio finds out that the Borgia have ruthlessly commandeered the city; under the system of Borgia towers placed around the city, merchant shops have been forced to close and Rome has fallen into disrepair. Similar to the renovation of Monteriggioni in Assassin's Creed II, Ezio has the ability to revitalize the city of Rome over the course of the game. After killing a region's Borgia Captain and burning his tower, Ezio can begin to rebuild that region's buildings, including ancient ruins, underground tunnels, and merchant shops. These merchants include:

• Art merchants: Art merchants still sell paintings and treasure maps, but the selection of treasure maps has expanded to also include Borgia flags and feathers.
• Banks: Banks perform the same role that Claudia did in Assassin's Creed II: keeping a record of your restoration efforts and a bank account open for Ezio's income.
• Blacksmiths: Much like in the second game, blacksmiths sell armor, weaponry, and ammunition as well as repair broken armor. However, the crossbow is now available, allowing for silent and distant kills.
• Doctors: Just like before, doctors can heal Ezio's wounds or can sell him vials of medicine or poison.
• Tailors: Also like before, tailors sell pouch upgrades to increase the amount of ammunition available at one time and can dye his clothes in different colors.

New to Brotherhood is the ability to sell items. In a similar manner to selling items in Project Legacy, virtually any item that can be stolen or looted can be sold for a portion of its value. Of even greater importance are the new "shop quest" side missions. These missions involve trading a certain number of specified rare objects to merchants located on Tiber Island; in return, the merchant will offer an item for sale that is normally unavailable to the player. These items include:

• Vatican treasure map - art merchant
• Seusenhofner armor pieces - blacksmith
• Fast-acting poison - doctor
• Large pouch for crossbow bolts - tailor

Trivia

• Merchant stands in both games do not sell any food or drink.
• Merchant stands can only be broken by throwing someone into them, killing them (and the resident merchant) instantly. Vigilantes and scholars do not die from being thrown into a merchant stand, however, as they cannot be killed.
• The merchant stands that can be traded with cannot be broken.
• When you climb a building with a merchant, in Assassin's Creed II or Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the counter acts as a wall.

Gallery

• An art merchant.
  An art merchant.
• Ezio and Frederico talking to a doctor.
  Ezio and Frederico talking to a doctor.
• Ezio trading with a Blacksmith
  Ezio trading with a Blacksmith