Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Ezio Auditore de Firenze (Eagle of Florence) is to be the protagonist of Assassin's Creed II. Ezio is a young Florentian nobleman-turned-assassin in the year 1486. An article from GameInformer states that he is a descendant of Altaïr and ancestor to Desmond. An interview with the game's creative director, Patrice Desilets, confirms that the Ezio becomes an assassin to seek his vengeance on the rival families that killed his family, and it is possible that they are Templars. Ezio is also announced to be allied with the famous inventor/artist Leonardo da Vinci and the writer/philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Trivia

• The Italian name 'Ezio' derives from the Greek word 'Aetos', which means "Eagle", similar to Altaïr whose name means "The Flying Eagle".
• Ezio has all ten fingers, unlike Altair who had his ring finger on his hand removed to make space for the hidden blade. This is explained as Leonardo DaVinci inventing a hidden blade that placed the blade farther from palm, sparing the ring finger.
• 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 firearms to appear in Europe, thus many people may not know what the weapon is in game. The earliest firearms were single shot and took time to reload, so will most likely be only used as a last resort weapon. Also note that DaVinci created some of the first modern wheel lock pistols, so this could be a shortened version of one.