Parachute

A folded parachute

A parachute is any fabric device carrying its user underneath that is utilized to slow a fall from any height by exploiting air resistance. Invented by the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, parachutes were first used by the Italian Assassins in their operations during the Renaissance. Since then, parachutes have been introduced to common society and are ubiquitously employed as a means by which people can be safely transported from great heights.

History

The first iterations of the device were devised by the Assassin ally and polymath Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance sometime near the turn of the 15th century. His parachutes were square in shape, woven from cloth, and bore ropes for straps from which its user could hang from. While basic in design, lacking safety measures for its user such as a harness, and good for one use only, they were effective and allowed limited maneuverability for its users.

In 1503, in gratitude to his friend, the Italian Assassins' Mentor Ezio Auditore, for destroying all of the War Machines he had been forced to create for the House of Borgia, Leonardo offered his parachutes as an addition to Ezio's arsenal. Soon afterwards, the same model of parachutes were provided to the tailors of Rome, from which Ezio could purchase more at any time, along with larger bags that allowed him to carry up to fifteen at once. The parachutes were much appreciated by Ezio, who found them convenient in his missions, such as allowing him reach a better position for air assassinations.

Ezio assassinating a guard from a parachute

By 1511, parachute technology had reached the Ottoman Assassins, a guild that Ezio worked closely with. The Turkish Master Assassin Yusuf Tazim as well as three other Assassins used parachutes to cross the wall of Topkapı Palace. One of Ezio's Assassin apprentices also used a parachute during their assassination of Lysistrata. Most critically, on 25 April 1512, during his pursuit of the Byzantine Templars' Grand Master Ahmet, Ezio rapidly deployed a parachute to stay anchored to his carriage as he was thrown off. Towed by the carriage driven by his lover Sofia Sartor as he hung in the air by the parachute, Ezio was able to keep up the chase against his adversary.

In 1725, the Chinese Assassins Xiao Han, Liu Qing and Xue Yan carried parachutes, which they used to escape from the Fenghuang and glide back to the ship of their ally, Admiral Zheng, following their defeat by Edward Kenway and his crew. Later, Xialun Qing, a member of Edward's Zhang Wei Union, used a parachute to land safely on Monkey Island after the Celestial Chariot, a hot air balloon she used to survey the island, caught fire mid-flight. During their infiltration of the Shwedagon Pagoda to retrieve a Piece of Eden, Edward and Shimazu Saito used parachutes to land on the pagoda's roof, after jumping from the Celestial Chariot.

On 16 November 2012, while searching for a power source for the Grand Temple, the Assassin Desmond Miles deployed a parachute to safely guide himself to a nearby skyscraper as he leaped from the top of the incomplete Freedom Tower in New York City.

In 2016, Abstergo Industries' Team Epsilon parachuted onto an island in Argentina housing a secret Erudito stronghold, with the objective of locating and eliminating an Assassin cell working with the group.

Trivia

• Historically, Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first inventors to design a parachute, detailing it in a sketch dated to c. 1485 in his Codex Atlanticus. However, there were concepts and sketches of contemporaries that predate his. While Leonardo's parachute designs have been tested in the 21st century and found to be feasible, they were never used during the Renaissance, since testing them would require a person to jump off a building.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, deploying a parachute while leaping off the Castel Sant'Angelo grants the "Fly Like An Eagle" achievement.
• After downloading The Da Vinci Disappearance, the "Special Delivery" achievement is granted by executing a double air assassination from a parachute.
• In Brotherhood, using the parachute momentarily and quickly releasing it will not consume any parachute supplies. However, this was not the case for Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
• Entering a Lair of Romulus removes all the parachutes from Ezio's inventory, requiring him to visit a tailor and resupply. This was fixed in a patch, but still occurs during War Machine and Da Vinci Disappearance memories.
  • The same bug occurs in Revelations, when entering either the Hagia Sophia or Vlad the Impaler's Prison.
• In Revelations, parachuting off the Galata Tower, and into the waters of the Golden Horn grants the "Almost Flying" achievement.
• In Revelations, parachuting onto a zipline grants the "Show-Off" achievement.

Gallery

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  Concept illustration of the parachute design
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  Parachute purchase menu at a Roman tailor shop
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  Render of Ezio using a parachute
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  Ezio using a parachute to air assassinate a guard
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  Ezio using a parachute over the Tiber
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  Liu Qing and Xiao Han using parachutes to escape the Fenghuang
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  Xialun Qing's parachute getting caught in a tree
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  Edward and Saito parachuting onto the Shwedagon Pagoda
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  Desmond using a parachute in New York
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  Whittaker and Team Epsilon parachuting onto the Erudito island

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (first appearance)
  • The Da Vinci Disappearance
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed comic
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple