Ezio Auditore da Firenze

"I have lived my life as best I could, not knowing its purpose, but drawn forward like a moth to a distant moon; and here at last, I discover a strange truth. That I am only a conduit, for a message that eludes my understanding."

―Ezio Auditore da Firenze on his role as "the Prophet", 1512.

اتزیو د

iography

Ezio with Sofia Sartor

While on a ship arriving in Constantinople, Ezio briefly saw Sofia Sartor, who was traveling from Rhodes and returning to her bookstore. He attempted to talk to her, but she was too distracted to pay attention to him. Later, Ezio met Sofia again at her store while searching for the Masyaf Keys. The two worked out a bargain: if she helped Ezio track down the keys, he would retrieve and give her some of the books the Polos had hidden.

In an attempt to keep Sofia away from the Assassin and Templar fight, Ezio kept Sofia in the dark about the purpose of his search, and attempted to keep his relationship with her platonic. However, as time went on, Ezio grew to admire Sofia more, and would often linger at her shop to be with her. Sofia also came to adore Ezio as well, asking him to be her escort to Adrianople (which Ezio had to reluctantly decline due to his search). She also arranged a picnic for the two of them in a park near Hagia Sophia.

When Ezio left Constantinople to assassinate Manuel Palaiologos, he asked Yusuf Tazim to keep Sofia safe. However, the Templar Ahmet, knowing of their relationship, dispatched a group of soldiers to kidnap her. While Yusuf managed to hold back many of the soldiers, he was eventually killed, and Sofia was captured.

Upon learning this, Ezio flew into a rage and attacked the Arsenal in great force with the local Assassins. He eventually submitted to Ahmet's demands however, as he still held Sofia, and gave up the Masyaf Keys. However, after being rescued, Sofia helped Ezio chase after Ahmet and retrieve what had been taken.

Ezio and Sofia eventually traveled to Altaïr's library in May 1512. Once Ezio decided to retire as an Assassin, the two left Masyaf and wed each other, before the couple moved to a villa outside Florence, where they would eventually raise their son and daughter. In 1524, Ezio died of a heart attack, and his final words were in a letter addressed to Sofia, where he commented that the love he had for her and their children was what had kept him going in his old age.

Trivia

Assassin's Creed II

• The names "Ezio" and "Altaïr" had similar meanings and origins. "Altaïr" meant "the flying one", while "Ezio" meant "eagle". "Altaïr" also came from the name of the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, which also translated to "eagle".
• Ezio's Animus database only detailed his life before he became an Assassin, holding no information on his life within the Order; unlike his later ones in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
• Throughout Italy, Ezio would only remove his hood during cutscenes if he was wearing his father's Assassin robes.
• If Desmond chose to play Sequence 13 before Sequence 12, by clearing the DLC cache, Ezio's beard would disappear until he killed Checco Orsi.
• In a very rare glitch, after completing the blending mission for Paola, Ezio's hood would appear down when it is supposed to be up. This showed that the character model for Ezio was the same as Desmond.
• While wearing the Florentine Noble Attire, Ezio had the same movement animations as Desmond, before switching to animations similar to Altaïr's after acquiring his father's robes.
• In the brawl against Vieri de' Pazzi, Ezio got a deep gash on his lip from a thrown rock. However, in Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, the wound was situated on his forehead instead.
• In Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, it was stated that Ezio was grey-eyed. Despite that, in Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, Revelations and Embers, Ezio was depicted with amber-colored eyes.

Assassin's Creed II: Discovery

• In his biography, Ezio's title was misspelled, listing him as "Ezio Auditore de Firenze" instead of "Ezio Auditore da Firenze".

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

• Although Ezio received the brand on his left hand's ring finger when being inducted into the Order, it wasn't shown on his hand in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and never re-appeared.
• It was revealed that Ezio could speak some French, as there were "a couple of French girls in Firenze".
  • During his infiltration of the Baron de Valois' camp, Ezio was demanded by a guard (due to his peculiar French accent) as to what part of France he was from. He replied with "Montréal", which was a reference to Ubisoft Montreal, the company mainly responsible for the Assassin's Creed series.
• In promotional art for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio was shown with two identical bracers for his Hidden Blades. However, it was not possible in Rome to obtain a bracer for Ezio's right arm that matched the first one.
  • As well as this, Ezio was shown with only the left Plate Armor pauldron, while the other was missing. However, it was not possible to manage Ezio's pauldrons in such a way.
• In the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel, Ezio lost all his Codex inventions (the Hidden Gun, the Poison Blade, and the second Hidden Blade) during the Villa attack; whereas in the game, Ezio only lost the Armor of Altaïr, the Metal Cestus and the second Hidden Blade, despite mentioning that he had lost every one of the Codex inventions.
• Ezio's wound during the Villa attack prevented him from performing the climb leap maneuver naturally. However in Rome Da Vinci supplied him with an improved Metal Cestus which allowed him to make the same maneuver.
• Ezio's storyline, emphasizing his loneliness, was inspired by George Clooney's character in the film Up in the Air.

Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade

• Ezio was briefly mentioned in the novel Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade. At the beginning of the book, he was stated as standing on the deck of the ship to Constantinople, before returning to his quarters to read Niccolò Polo's journal, "La crociata segreto".

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

• Ezio did not wear a cape on his left shoulder as he did in previous installments, though he did have one prior to being captured by the Templars at Masyaf.
  • A cape did show when he wore the Armor of Brutus outfit, however, and it retained the animation for it from Brotherhood.
• Revelations was the only installment in which Ezio wore an outfit where the default appearance of his robes was not white.
• Ezio's second Hidden Blade, which was broken, could still be seen if he activated them casually in the loading screen of the Animus.
• Ezio sometimes used Turkish terms when speaking to citizens, contacts and his apprentices.
  • It was noted however that Ezio's knowledge of the Turkish language was somewhat lacking, commenting that it was "absurd", and that his Greek was "nonexistent". Though, he may have been joking, as most of his songs were intended to be taken humorously.
• It was revealed that Ezio had some experience in playing the lute when he was younger, as he said that he "learned a few chords".
  • When singing at the party, Ezio spoke of several notable people from his past, including Rodrigo, Cesare, and Lucrezia Borgia, Vieri and Francesco de' Pazzi, Duccio, and Caterina Sforza.
• Even if Ezio dyed his robes a different color and upgraded his armor, the robes would return to the original grey and were shown without any upgrades during the cutscenes that showed him writing letters to Claudia.
• Upon their first meeting, Piri Reis incorrectly assumed that Ezio's name was Lothario; a lothario has come to mean a man whose main interest is seducing women. The colloquialism was fitting to Ezio's personality during his younger days, when he would often flirt with the women he met during his travels.
• Ezio was noticeably less likely to regain balance and continue running after tumbling to the ground, most likely due to his age.

Assassin's Creed III

• Ezio's robes were available to purchase through Uplay for Assassin's Creed III for 30 Uplay points. The robes were his Roman ones. However, the underside of the cape and the interior of the hood were white instead of the red that appeared in the game. The robe also included a leather shoulder spaulder and one Hidden Blade bracer, despite the fact that Connor was able to wield two blades.
• Achilles Davenport mentioned Ezio during a conversation with Connor about the history of the Assassins.
• In the visions shown to Desmond by Juno in the Grand Temple, where Ezio spoke to Minerva, Juno showed Ezio wearing his Roman robes, despite the fact he wore the Armor of Altaïr at the time. A similar error appeared in the opening cinematic, where Ezio was displayed wearing his Pilgrimage robes while talking to Minerva.

Soulcalibur V

• Ezio appeared in the fighting game Soulcalibur V as a guest fighter. He wore his Roman robes, and used all weapon types at his disposal in said game. His alternate costume was a minor color alteration of his robes (from red and white to yellow and gray), and he could not be further customized.
• In his Soulcalibur V appearance, Ezio was seen wearing identical Hidden Blade bracers, similar to pre-release images of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
• Interestingly, Ezio had a Roman Longsword and a Stiletto dagger instead of his more powerful weapons. Also unlike other characters, Ezio had only one set of weapons, and they were exclusive to him.
• Ezio's Soulcalibur V character art was taken from a promotional picture for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which featured Ezio attacking Cesare Borgia.
• His profile image was likewise taken from his stance on the cover of Assassin's Creed II.
• Ezio shared the same voice actor, Roger Craig Smith, with one of the series' main characters, Siegfried Schtauffen.
• Ezio's story in the Soulcalibur world stated that he intercepted a Templar raid on Queen Isabella's boat, and after touching an unknown artifact, jumped through time to a period near to the end of the 16th century.

Others

• Darby McDevitt, Lead Writer of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, said that it was probable that Ezio fathered children outside of his marriage to Sofia. Indeed, one unidentified child's bloodline would eventually lead to Clay Kaczmarek.
• Ezio's Assassin's Creed II outfit could be unlocked in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, via Uplay for 30 points.
• A Sackboy version of Ezio's outfit from Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Revelations could be purchased for LittleBigPlanet via the PlayStation Store.
• In PlayStation Home, Ezio's Assassin robes from Assassin's Creed II were an outfit that could be bought.
• Ezio was featured in the "Michael" live action commercial, part of the Long Live Play advertisement of Sony. There, he gave tribute to the gamer Michael for playing his part when "the Templars murdered his family", then chanted Michael's name in unison with the rest of the characters.
• So far, Neca had manufactured highly detailed figures of Ezio. The White Edition included Ezio in his default robes with two Hidden Blades, though only the right arm one was removable. The Black Edition included Ezio with a single Hidden Blade, along with his robes dyed in the Wetlands Ebony fashion and wearing the Missaglias armor. Later, they fashioned a figure that resembled Ezio in his default robes in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though it was never included in any game version, and could only be bought separately.
• On the Xbox 360, it was possible to purchase Ezio's Robes from Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations as avatar outfits, costing 400 Microsoft points each.
• It had been confirmed by writer Darby McDevitt that Ezio and Altaïr were not related, but came from two different sides of Desmond's family.
• Ezio Auditore was featured in the Spike Video Game Awards of 2010 as part of his nomination for Character of the Year. When he was mentioned among the nominees, he addressed the crowd about his nomination, and how they should be cautious about the Templars.
  • Another vignette was made in case he won, and was shown during the end credits of the show due to another winner being declared. Holding the Spike trophy, Ezio was named Best Dressed Assassin. Ezio then thanked the crowd and his associates during his time in Rome, and dedicated the award to Mario Auditore.
• Ezio appeared in a short TV advertisement for Assassin's Creed: Revelations, along with athletes Adrian Peterson, BJ Penn, and Derrick Rose, from the NFL, UFC, and NBA respectively. Ezio was shown last, putting on his hood. During Ezio's interval, it stated that he had done 90,793 hits.
• Ezio's Revelations outfit appeared as a bonus outfit for Noel Kreiss in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

References

An image gallery is available for Ezio Auditore da Firenze