72

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The Vault door

The number 72 plays a significant role in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It is used as the password to gain access to the Colosseum Vault, where it must be said aloud. When the team of modern-day Assassins ventured to Rome and entered said Vault, there were 72 days remaining until the Eye-Abstergo satellite launch on December 21, 2012.

History

Desmond discovers the numbers left by Ezio.

As evidenced by the Scrolls of Romulus, the earliest known user of 72 as the password to the Vault was Marcus Junius Brutus, circa 45 B.C. The next known person to open the Vault was Ezio Auditore da Firenze in 1507 to seal the Apple of Eden within.

Due to Desmond's vision of Ezio in the Sanctuary in 2012, it is known that Ezio came back to the Villa Auditore at an unknown later date to leave behind the password to a fellow Assassin and descendant for them to access the Vault and the Apple. Ezio left the clues to the password behind the bookcase in Mario's study that conceals the entrance to the Sanctuary. At the top of the stairs there is a large equilateral triangle with nine other equilateral triangles within - the same marking found on the door to the Vault - etched into the wall, and for those in the direct lineage of Those Who Came Before that can use Eagle Vision, there were three numbers written in blood, over the triangle: 1419, 1420, 1421.

Modern-Day

Desmond and Lucy examine the markings.

After discovering the location of the Apple through the use of the Animus 2.0, the modern-day Assassins pondered how to access the Vault.

• Rebecca: It seems to open with a verbally triggered mechanism. I've never seen anything like it.
• Lucy: You mean it needs a password?
• Shaun: Try humming Beethoven's Fifth.

With the power cut off, using the Animus to discover the password in Ezio's memories was no longer possible. However, Desmond found the markings in Eagle Vision at the top of the stairway and called the others.

Shaun Hastings then discovered the significance of the numbers 1419, 1420, and 1421 and explained to the rest of the team:

"The Tetragrammaton. The 72 names of God. You see? They're all contained within three verses: Exodus 19 through 21. And, get this, you'll like this, if you arrange the four Hebrew letters in God's name within an equilateral triangle; their numerical values add up to the same number: 72."

"

―Shaun Hastings explains the password to the Modern Day Assassins.

With the password, the Assassins made their way to the Colosseum. After making his way through the ruins of the Colosseum and the path of the Lair of Romulus underneath, Desmond eventually emerged in the Santa Maria Aracoeli with the other Assassins. After a free-running puzzle, Desmond activiated an elevator that took them down into Juno's Temple where the door to the Vault was. In front of the door, Desmond said aloud, "72," thus opening the Vault.

Trivia

• Coincidentally, both Rodrigo Borgia and Maria Auditore da Firenze died at the age of 72.
• Construction on the Colloseum started in the year 72 A.D. The entrance into the Temple of Juno underneath the Santa Maria Aracoeli was hidden under the Colosseum.