Ezio Auditore da Firenze

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"The Auditore are not dead! I'm still here! Me! Ezio; Ezio Auditore da Firenze!"

―Ezio Auditore, 1476

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (b.1459) was a Florentine noble and member of the Assassins Order. A descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and ancestor of both Desmond Miles and Subject Sixteen, Ezio was unaware of his Assassin heritage until he was seventeen, when, following the execution of his father and two brothers, he fled to the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni and begun his training as an assassin under the watchful gaze of his uncle, Mario Auditore.

Following this, Ezio then proceeded on his quest for vengeance against Rodrigo Borgia and the Knights Templar, who had been responsible for the executions; traveling throughout northern Italy and even Rome, to do so. During his thirty year quest for vengeance, Ezio managed to not only unite the pages of Altaïr's Codex for the first time since Domenico Auditore, but also to save the cities of Florence and Venice from a Templar plot. Later still, Ezio was responsible for the successful rescue of Christoffa Corombo from Templar hands, uncovering a new plot to discover the new world.

Character Biography

Assassin's Creed: Lineage

Ezio portrayed by Devon Bostick.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze was born into the prestigious Auditore family in 1459 AD, to Giovanni and Maria Auditore. Silent at birth, it was not until his father first held him that he cried, reliving all those present. For the first seventeen years of his life, Ezio lived a life of luxury as a Florentine noble, unaware of his father's membership in, or even the existance of, the Order of Assassins.

Assassin's Creed II

The quest begins

One day, in 1476 AD, after getting into a fight with a gang led by Vieri de' Pazzi, a rival of his from the Pazzi family and later completing a series of errands for his family members – in the process meeting one Leonardo da Vinci – Ezio returned home to find his father and brothers gone and his mother and sister in shock. Learning that city guards had come for Giovanni and all his sons, Ezio made his way to the Palazzo della Signoria, the location of his family's imprisonment and was directed by his father to deliver a sealed letter to Uberto Alberti, personal assistant of Lorenzo de' Medici and close friend to the Auditore family. Doing so, Ezio found the letter to contain details of a plot against the city of Florence, and the Auditore family, and was told that his family would be released when said letter was presented as evidence.

The next day Ezio returned to the Palazzo della Signoria to find Uberto Alberti presiding over the execution of the Auditore's, deny any knowledge of the letter's existance. Voicing his anger, Ezio narrowly avoids being executed himself, and flees to a brothel in the city, run by the sister of the Auditore house-maid, Paola. Here, Paola teaches Ezio how to survive in the city, before directing him to Leonardo da Vinci to repair the Hidden Blade of the late Giovanni Auditore. Leonardo does so, allowing Ezio to continue begin quest to avenge his family; by killing Uberto Alberti.

Ezio does so, sneaking up behind Uberto before striking him up to seven times in the stomach, before proudly shouting out his name to all those still present.

Clearing the family name and destroying the de'Pazzi

Ezio man-handles the corpse of Vieri de' Pazzi.

Now the most wanted man in Florence, Ezio and his mother and sister fled Florence in the hopes of making their way to Spain, stopping of at the Villa Auditore in the town of Monteriggioni; run by Ezio's uncle Mario Auditore. On the way however, the three were acosted by Vieri de' Pazzi and his lackeys, but were saved by the timely arrival of Mario and his mercenary guards. Safe in Monteriggioni, Mario reveals to Ezio his heritage as an assassin, in the hopes of inducting him into the Order, but is met with rejection. Enraged, Mario leaves for the city of San Gimignano, the location of Vieri de' Pazzi, in the hopes of relieving Monteriggioni of his continual assaults. Ashamed, Ezio decides to take up Mario's offer and makes his way to San Gimignano.

Arriving outside the city, Ezio joins Mario and his soldier in their assault on the city, and makes his way to Vieri de' Pazzi. Briefly seeing a meeting between Rodrigo Borgia and the Pazzi family, Ezio proceeded to combat and kill Vieri, but was spurned at the last hurdle by Vieri's words.

Following the death of Vieri, Ezio took up his father's mantle as an assassin and returned to Florence to prevent the planned de' Pazzi takeover and deaths of the Medicis. Arriving too late to save Giuliano de' Medici, Ezio manages to prevent the death of Lorenzo de' Medici – the ruler of Florence – and restore his family's good name in Lorenzo's eyes. Despite this however, the de' Pazzi had proceeded with their planned coup and brought the city to a state of civil war. Tracking Francesco de' Pazzi to the Palazzo della Signoria, Ezio assassinated him and left the body those loyal to Medici; although Jacopo de' Pazzi and several other conspirators were able to escape. Shortly afterwards, Lorenzo de' Medici publically cleared the name of the Auditore family and provided Ezio with the names of those conspirators who had escaped.

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Jacopo de' Pazzi and his fellow conspirators.

Learning the de' Pazzi conspirators were located in San Gimignano, Ezio made his way to and eliminated Antonio Maffei, Stefano da Bagnone, Bernardo Baroncelli and Francesco Salviati before finally locating and tracking Jacopo de' Pazzi to an ancient roman theatre. Once there, Ezio overheard a conversation between Jacopo de' Pazzi, Rodrigo Borgia and the Venetian merchant Emilio Barbarigo, and witnessed the stabbing of de' Pazzi for his family's failure to capture Florence. Within moments however, Ezio was apprehended by Templar guards; Borgia having anticipated his arrival. He managed to kill the guards, but not before Emilio and Rodrigo could escape, and was left to deal the killing blow to Jacopo de' Pazzi.

Venezia

Emilio Barbarigo: "The assassin is here, in Venezia?"

Carlo Grimaldi: "He's been here for weeks!"

—Emilio Barbarigo and Carlo Grimaldi discuss Ezio

With the Pazzi conspiracy ended, Ezio returned to Lorenzo and declared his success. Before leaving the city for Venice, Ezio was granted a gift; a Medici cape, that would keep the city guards attention from him. Ezio then made his way to the studio of Leonardo, only to find that he had just left for Venice himself. Meeting with Leonardo, the two made their way through the appenene mountains to the city of Forlì, norrowly avoiding the Templar soldiers sent after them by Rodrigo Borgia.

Eventually arriving in Forlì, the two made their way to the city docks, where Ezio was refused passage without a pass. It was at this moment that the two heard the screams of a noble lady stranded in the city's wetlands. Rescued, the lady introduced herself as Caterina Sforza, and forced the dockman to grant Ezio passage to Venice. Once in Venice, Ezio and Leonardo were given a brief tour of the city before Ezio begun to seek out a way into the Palazzo of Emilio Barbarigo, although in vain. Suddenly pushed aside, Ezio watched as a collection of thieves attempted to breach the palazzo, but failed, and subsequently aided in the escape of the thief Rosa, who had been shot through the leg with an arrow. After successfuly escaping the city guard, Ezio was intrduced to the leader of the Venetian thieves guild Antonio, and together the two concocted a new plot to kill Barbarigo and liberate the merchant district.

The plot was successful, and gave Ezio the name of another Templar conspirator – Carlo Grimaldi. A government official and member of the Council of Ten, Carlo was close to the Mocenigo, the Doge of Venice and hoped to turn him to the Templar cause. Overhearing another meeting between Borgia and Carlo, Ezio uncovered a changed plot to poison the Doge and replace him with the Barbarigo, Marco. Returning to Antonio, the two sought to find a way into the Palazzo Ducale – the Doge's Palace –, searching the front gates, the rear walls and even passing over the the Basilica de San Marco; but were hampered at every turn. Returning to the piazza below, an enraged Antonio remarked at how only birds might get into the Doge's palace, reminding Ezio of Leonardo's flying machine he had seen on the way to Forlì.

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Ezio fighting in Venice.

After removing the city guards at four seperate locations, the Antonio's thieves proceeded to light massive bonfires throughout the city, giving Ezio the lift Leonardo's flying machine needed to make it to the Palazzo Ducale. The plan worked and Ezio breached the Palazzo Ducale, although he was too late to save the Doge. Carlo fled, crying out that Ezio had assassinated the Doge, although he himself hid not survive long. Blamed for killing the Doge though, Ezio was now the most wanted man in Venice, and was forced to flee the city guards. Returning to Leonardo's workshop, Ezio was directed to the brothel of Sister Teodora, where Antonio was presiding. Under the cover of carnevale, Ezio made his way to the brothel and begun planning the death of Marco Barbarigo; competing in the four games of carnevale to win the golden mask that would gain him entrance to Marco's private party, Ezio was successful, but found himself denied the golden mask by Marco's cousin Silvio Barbarigo and his slave Dante Moro. The assassin was successful in regaining the mask and managed to assassinate Marco, leaving to door open for Agostino – a Barbarigo not entwinned with the Templars – to become Doge.

With his quest nearly at an end, Ezio tracked down Silvio Barbarigo and his slave Dante Moro, in the process liberating the mercenary leader Bartolomeo d'Alviano and his soldiers. Having tracked the Templars to the city Arsenal, Ezio managed to break in and kill Dante Moro and Silbio barbarigo, but was astonished to learn that the plot to remove the Doge was merely a distraction so that the Templar's could move their vessel to Cyprus, although the reasons for this were unknown to Ezio.

Induction into the Order and later years

"La shai wak'ion motlaq bal kollon momken
(Nothing is true, everything is permitted)"

―Mario Auditore at the initiation

Two more years passed before word of the Templar vessel reached Ezio once again; when Rosa brought him a shipping manifest detailing the return of the ship that very day. Sneaking into the Arsenal, Ezio watched as a templar soldier carrying a Piece of Eden disembarked from the ship and made his way to a Templar base in the city. Following the soldier, Ezio assassinated and impersonated the guard, carrying the Piece of Eden to a meeting with Rodrigo Borgia himself. Finally able to confront the man ultimately respnsible for the deaths of his father and brothers, Ezio spurned the Templar Grandmaster for the non-appearance of the supposed prophet detailed in the Codex properchy. Borgia responded, proudly naming himself the prophet before engaging Ezio in battle; the battle was short and Ezio easily bested the Templar. On the backfoot, Borgia called upon the city guards and insulted the assassin for the lack of "his people" showing up.

At this very moment Mario Auditore, Antonio, Paola, Teodora, La Volpe and Bartolomeo d'Alviano appeared, driving off Borgia and revealing themselves to Ezio as assassins. With the arrival of Niccolò Machiavelli, the Assassin Grandmaster, it as revealed to Ezio that he was in fact the supposed prophet, and that for the past decade they had all worked together to induct Ezio into the Assassins Order proper. That night, they all met up again, and Ezio was formally inducted into the Order.

Over the next few years Ezio continued to serve the assassin's faithfully, defending Forlì from the Orsi brothers and defeating the Templar Dominican priest Savonarola during his purge of Florence in 1498. In 1491, at the behest of the assassin Antonio, Ezio helped to rescue the Spanish explorer Christoffa Corombo.

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Ezio battles his way to the Sistine Chapel.

"I thought… I thought I was beyond this. But I'm not. I've waited too long, lost too much – Requiescat in Pace (Rest in Peace), you bastard!"

―Ezio to Rodrigo Borgia during his first, failed assassination attempt

The following year, in 1499 the assassins finally came together once more at the Villa Auditore, with the Piece of Eden and the completed Codex in hand. Using the two objects, they discovered the location of the Vault to be under the Vatican, in Rome. Unfortunately for them however, Rodrigo Borgia had become Pope in 1492, although Mario believed he had only done so to gain access to the Papal staff, another of the Piece of Eden’s. Undeterred, Ezio travelled to Rome with a mission to assassinate Rodrigo Borgia. Fighting his way along the entire length of the Passetto di Borgo, Ezio snuck into the Sistine Chapel and struck at Borgia from above. Preparing to deal the killing blow, Borgia surprised Ezio by using the Staff to blast him away and drain the energy of those in the room. Ezio though, possessing the Apple, was safe from the Staff’s effects and the two engaged in a duel; Ezio using the same technique Al Mualim had in his duel against Altaïr in 1191. The duel ended in success for Ezio once more, though Borgia did manage to obtain the Apple and make his way to the Vault. Outside the Vault, Ezio watches as Borgia tries, in vain, to open it. Laying down his arms, Ezio challenges and defeats Borgia in a fist fight, obtaining possession of both the Staff and the Apple, but refusing to take Borgia’s life.

Entering the Vault, Ezio stood in shock as he was confronted by a hologram-esque individual naming herself "Minerva", and claiming to be one of "Those Who Came Before"; Ezio was further confounded when the hologram sought not to speak to Ezio, but through Ezio, to an unseen figure named Desmond, before leaving abruptly and Ezio with many questions. At some point after this event, Ezio made his way to Spain once more, this time to liberate his fellow assassins in the country, who were being persecuted by the Templars under the guise of a religious inquisition.

After returning from Spain, Ezio sealed his piece of Eden under the statue of Altaïr at the Villa Auditore.

Personality and characteristics

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A young Ezio gets approached by a Florentine guard after protesting at his father’s and brothers’ execution.

"Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito. Requiescat in Pace."

―Nothing is true, everything is permitted. Rest in Peace.

Ezio was a young Florentine nobleman who lived during the 15th and 16th century. Unlike his ancestor Altaïr, he was a brought up without knowing of the assassins existence; a seducer of women and playful man, Ezio possessed acrobatic skills beyond those most had, save his family. Having left school at an early age, Ezio was without a formal education, perhaps explaining his playful nature. He came from an affluent background and had many friends until the deaths of his father and brothers drove him out of Florence. Forced to protect his mother and sister, Claudia, Ezio became an Assassin, exacting revenge on the conspirators who had betrayed his family and plotted to cease both Florence and Venice. His first victim, Uberto Alberti , the one who sentenced his father's and brothers' public execution, had died publicly, forcing the Auditore out of the city and to the town of Monteriggioni, where his uncle presided. At first, Ezio wanted only to stay briefly, wishing to move his family onwards to Spain, and away from those who conspired against him, however after considerable persuasion from his uncle, decides to remain, and exact his revenge upon the Templars whole. Aided not only by his uncle Mario, but also Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio managed to redeem the good name of his family in Florence, portraying the same level of loyalty his father had to the city’s ruler; Lorenzo de' Medici.

Quick to anger, Ezio often allowed his emotions to overcome him, going so far as to dis-respect the corpse of Vieri de’ Pazzi just after his death. Eventually however, Ezio did manage to control his anger, and by the time he had become a Master Assassin, could control it almost completely.

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Ezio conversing with Lorenzo de Medici

An explorer, throughout his quest Ezio scoured the cities looking not only for the Codex pages, but also to obtain the assassins seals from the six assassins tombs spread across northern Italy. After obtaining them, Ezio had access to the black Grandmaster robes of his ancestor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

Equipment and Skills

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An older and more skilled Ezio assassinating two guards at once with the dual-Hidden Blades.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze was a highly skilled assassin during the Italian renaissance and a leader amongst the Order of Assassins. A master of multiple fields, including theft, blending, armed and unarmed combat, free-running and long-distance combat; he is able to use a variety of weapons including two hidden blades, the longsword, throwing knives and more. As the years progress, Ezio's discoveries of the pages of the codex allowed da Vinci to upgrade his weaponry, including the addition of a wrist gauntlet, wheel lock firearm concealed beneath his left hidden blade, and a poison needle inside the other.

Born with the ability to use Eagle Vision, Ezio could access the ability to instinctively differentiate friend from foe. He also had access to a variety of weaponry and armor thanks to the various blacksmiths located throughout the region; including maces, longswords and daggers.

Trivia

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Ezio's database picture

• 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 as a commitment 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 left ring finger. Leonardo Da Vinci deciphers a Codex Page written by Altaïr on which said modification was illustrated, though he did mess around with Ezio and say that he had to cut off his finger as a joke. Instead of said removal of the ring finger, Assassins now 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, sometime during the Italian Renaissance, 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 firearm mentioned, but found instructions to make one from a Codex page, meaning Altaïr was the one who invented the Hidden Gun. 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 of his lineage to Assassins or that he is a descendant of Altaïr, despite learning about Altaïr in Monteriggioni and what kind of assassin he was, he never truly understands why he is such a successful 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 in the game, Ezio's face has barely aged, except for the beard, even if you played through 20 plus years of his life. His voice does deepen and mature through time, though.
• The scar on Ezio's mouth was acquired after the mission "Boys Will Be Boys", when Vieri De Pazzi threw the rock at his face during the first memory sequence
• If you look at Desmond's face and Ezio's, they have an identical scar on their mouths(this also applies to Altair).