Bonfire of the Vanities
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- "Silencio, silencio...Twenty-two years ago, I stood where I stand now- and watched my loved ones die, betrayed by those I had called friends. Vengeance clouded my mind. It would have consumed me, were it not for the wisdom of a few strangers who taught me to look past my instincts. They never preached answers, but guided me to learn from myself. We don't need anyone to tell us what to do. Not Savonarola, not the Medici. We are free to follow our own path. There are those who will take that freedom from us, and too many of you gladly give it. But it is our ability to choose- whatever you think is true- that makes us human...There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the way. Choose your own way! Do not follow me, or anyone else."
- ―Ezio Auditore to the people of Florence.
The Bonfire of the Vanities was an event centered in Florence, in the year 1498, instigated by the Italian Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola; who believed that the Renaissance idea had corrupted Italy, and preached for a return to medieval life. Savonarola, after acquiring the Apple of Eden from a mortally wounded Ezio Auditore, usurped control of the city of Florence following the expulsion of the Medici in 1494, and proceeded to use the Apple to assume control of the city.
In the year 1498, Ezio once again returned to the city of his birth to find it in the grip of Savonarola and his lieutenants. Meeting with Niccolò Machiavelli on one of the Arno bridges, the two passed into the Oltrarno district of Florence and discovered the bodies of a contingent of soldiers bearing the mark of Rodrigo Borgia; Borgia knew of the Apple's presence in Florence. Learning that the Apple only held sway over the minds of Savonarola's nine lieutenants, whilst the city's populous were controlled by fear, Ezio decided to assassinate the nine, whilst La Volpe and Paola brought the people of the city to Savonarola’s door.
Killing Savonarola’s nine lieutenants, whose expertise varied as merchants, nobles, priests and condotierri, the city was liberated and Savonarola trapped by the rioting crowd. Watching, as Savonarola tried to use the Apple on the people themselves, the assassins' disarmed the priest and let the citizenry carry him away. The Apple in hand, the assassins followed the crowd to the Piazza della Signoria, where a pyre stood ready to burn Savonarola alive. Ezio, deciding that no-one deserved to die in such a way, killed the Dominican priest with his hidden blade before the flames could reach him; revealing himself to the crowd. He makes a speech to the crowd, telling them to follow their own path.
Trivia
- After meeting with Niccolò during the sequence, Ezio saw a vision of his family members with Eagle Vision in the Palazzo Auditore courtyard.
- Through the whole of this Sequence (#13) you will come across many battles between Borgia's and Savonarola's guards. If you decide to participate, they will fight each-other and you
- This is the second of two DLC's that came out. They are the corrupt Sequences 12 and 13 (this one being 13).