Lo Sparviero

They call me many things: Murderer. Cutthroat. Thief. But you may call me Lo Sparviero. This article is about a subject that lacks an official name and is known only by its nickname, title, or alias.

Lo Sparviero (English: The Hawk) was a member of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins, active in Rome, Florence, and Monteriggioni during the Renaissance.

Lo Sparviero played an important role in the struggle between the Assassins and Templars, mainly during the rise of a mysterious organization affiliated with the Borgias, the Crows.

Biography

Early life

Prior to 1501, Lo Sparviero was tasked with assassinating a corrupt guard harassing a civilian in Florence, but while carrying out his mission, he was discovered by other guards. After having cleared a bloody path among them, he had to flee, climbing one of the churches of the city to escape.

Protecting Monteriggioni

After Monteriggioni was besieged by the Borgias in 1500, the Assassins abandoned the city. Only Lo Sparviero was willing to stay and continue protecting the citizens and the secret chambers underneath Monteriggioni.

One day, around 1501, Lo Sparviero was tasked with eliminating three Borgia mercenaries disguised as tax collectors inside the walls of Monteriggioni. The mercenaries were successfully killed, though when Lo Sparviero later went to investigate the chambers under the Villa Auditore, he saw that someone had entered the tunnels and stolen a chest hidden there by Mario Auditore. He then understood that the thief had used the mercenaries as a distraction.

Lo Sparviero assassinating Pietro

Later, while patrolling Monteriggioni's rooftops in search of the mysterious thief, Lo Sparviero witnessed an injured old man being dragged out of the home of the local doctor, Pietro de Galencia. The man claimed that Pietro had kidnapped and tortured him, and so Lo Sparviero set about dealing with the traitor before he could flee Monteriggioni. Using Eagle Vision, he identified Pietro meeting with his henchman in front of the town church, and promptly assassinated them both.

Afterwards, Lo Sparviero returned to Pietro's home to search through his belongings, and found a number of letters from Cesare Borgia revealing that Pietro was an undercover Borgia agent. He also came to learn that the old man he had abducted was the father of an Assassin, and that he had been tortured into revealing the location of a secret entrance to Monteriggioni's tunnels. Putting two and two together, Lo Sparviero realized that Pietro was the one who had stolen the chest and that it was probably in Templar hands by now.

Fighting the Crows

Later, while on watch duty in Florence, Lo Sparviero was summoned by Leonardo da Vinci using a special Assassin signal and began discreetly following the inventor, who was fearing for his life. While keeping an eye out for any suspicious individuals, he noticed a man wearing black-feathered armor who was blending among the civilians and stalking Leonardo. Acting quickly, he killed the man and then escorted Leonardo to safety, fighting several corrupt Medici guards along the way. Lo Sparviero later reported the incident to Niccolò Machiavelli, who had been receiving similar reports of men clad in black-feathered uniforms attacking civilians throughout Tuscany.

A few years later, around 1506, Lo Sparviero was summoned by Machiavelli for an assignment. The senior Assassin sent him to eliminate a group of Borgia guards who had killed four Assassin apprentices tasked with the retrieval of a strange chest found in the Roman catacombs. Without a word, Lo Sparviero left and traveled to the Roman Forum, where he found and eliminated the guards. He then recovered the fallen apprentices' Hidden Blades, as well as the chest they had failed to retrieve, and brought them back to Machiavelli.

While Lo Sparviero took his leave, again without saying a word, Machiavelli inspected the chest and discovered that it was the same one stolen by Pietro from Monteriggioni years ago. Inside were the blueprints of a modified Hidden Blade, with the head of a crow carved deep into the steel.

Sometime later, Lo Sparviero accompanied Machiavelli to Florence, where the latter received a note from a man named Demetrio, who was planning to assassinate Cesare Borgia and requested the Brotherhood's protection. While looking over the Piazza della Signoria, Lo Sparviero recognized Demetrio as one of Cesare's weaponsmiths and saw him being dragged to the gallows. Acting quickly, Lo Sparviero descended from the building he was perched on and, after bribing a Borgia captain to grant him passage to the plaza, rescued Demetrio from his execution.

Once he was escorted to safety, a grateful Demetrio shared with the Assassins what he knew about Cesare's operations. He revealed that the Templar had hired him to build a deadlier version of the Hidden Blade dubbed the "Corvix Blade" and that, when he refused to continue production of the weapons, Cesare had him tortured and cut out his tongue. This led Demetrio to seek revenge, but after several failed attempts to assassinate Cesare, the latter finally decided to have him executed, until Lo Sparviero saved him. Demetrio further revealed that the Corvix Blades were intended for a unit of mercenaries in Cesare's service who specialized in countering the Assassins by imitating their own techniques; this group was known as the Crows.

One day, after Machiavelli was alerted to some strange happenings in the Borgia camp near the Colosseum, he sent Lo Sparviero to investigate. The Assassin discovered a large shipment of Corvix Blades and that the Crows were present in the camp. Tailing the camp's leader, a former Borgia captain named Matteo, he witnessed him speaking with a bald man and decided to eliminate him. He chased Matteo to the top of the Colosseum where, after a prolonged fight, Lo Sparviero emerged victorious and killed the Crow Leader. He then escaped the camp just as more Assassins arrived to raid it.

Working with Sirus

During their raid, the Assassins captured the bald man Lo Sparviero had seen speak with Matteo. Introducing himself as Sirus Favero, he claimed to be an arms merchant forced to work for Cesare and eagerly offered his aid to the Assassins, revealing his hatred of the Borgia and of Cesare in particular. Suspicious of him, the Assassins accepted Sirus' help on the condition that he tell them everything he knew about Cesare and the Crows.

After several weeks, Sirus managed to gain Machiavelli's trust by providing the Brotherhood with valuable information on Cesare's operations, as well as a device to decipher encrypted Borgia documents. At Sirus' suggestion, Machiavelli later sent Lo Sparviero to Florence to investigate one of Cesare's bookkeepers. Tailing the man through the city streets without being detected, the Assassin eventually found the chest where he kept his ledger and stole it. Machiavelli subsequently deciphered the ledger and uncovered that the Crows were led by someone called "Il Corvo".

Months later, with the Assassins no closer to discovering Il Corvo's identity, Sirus suggested intercepting letters delivered by Borgia messengers to the Crows. On Machiavelli's orders, Lo Sparviero tailed a messenger across the Ponte Sant'Angelo and through Rome's streets, eventually killing him in a secluded area and taking the letter he carried. He then delivered it to Sirus in front of Castel Sant'Angelo, though as he did so, he noticed Sirus acting suspicious, especially when he instructed the Assassin to stay hidden while he personally sought out the Crow hideout.

Deciding to act on his intuition, Lo Sparviero began tailing Sirus. However, the merchant had anticipated that the Assassin would disobey and follow him, and led him into an ambush, where Lo Sparviero was quickly beset by several Crows. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Assassin prevailed and killed his assailants, prompting Sirus to flee after announcing that he was Il Corvo and would avenge his son's death with the blood of the Assassins. Lo Sparviero gave chase, but Sirus' tricks allowed him to shake off the Assassin, leaving him to return to Machiavelli and inform him of Sirus' betrayal.

Savior of Roma

Sometime later, Lo Sparviero was sent by Machiavelli to investigate a disturbance at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, which had been recently taken over by Borgia forces. Learning that a Crow messenger was present in the city, Lo Sparviero quickly identified him using Eagle Vision, but rather than assassinate him, he devised a plan to uncover Sirus' whereabouts. He tailed the messenger for some time and, once it became clear he would deliver a letter to the courtyard of Santa Croce, which was under lockdown, he created a commotion by killing Vittorio, an undercover Templar agent.

The resulting chaos prevented the messenger from entering the courtyard, giving Lo Sparviero just enough time to retrieve a forged letter from a nearby pigeon coop. He then confronted the messenger who, terrified at the sight of the Assassin, agreed to trade letters. The document recovered by Lo Sparviero was a summons from Sirus, calling all Crows to Rome to organize an assault against the Brotherhood.

With this intel, Lo Sparviero journeyed to Rome, though by the time he arrived, he found the Assassins in the city already under attack by the Crows. Scouting the Castel Sant'Angelo, he discovered that Sirus had retreated there with his bodyguards, before being summoned by Machiavelli, who had just arrived in Rome himself. The two Assassins traveled to the Crows' hideout, but since it was abandoned, they decided to leave it for now and battle the Crows instead.

Fighting their way to the Ponte Sant'Angelo, which was heavily guarded, Lo Sparviero told Machiavelli to wait while he crossed underneath the bridge to reach Sirus. He then confronted the Crows' leader and, driven by an unexpected hatred, single-handedly killed him and all of his bodyguards. This prompted the surviving Crows to flee while Lo Sparviero returned to Machiavelli and simply bowed his head.

With their enemies defeated and scattered, the two Assassins returned to the Crows' hideout to investigate it. Machiavelli found letters of correspondence between Sirus and Cesare Borgia revealing that the former had gone rogue and abandoned the Templars, as well as a painting of a "Crystal Cube", which he took for himself. Before they could discover more, Lo Sparviero and Machiavelli were forced to escape as Borgia forces arrived to destroy the hideout. Nevertheless, their victory that day ensured the Crows were effectively disbanded as an organization and no longer posed a threat to the Brotherhood.

Legacy

In 2016, Lo Sparviero's genetic memories were researched by the Templar front-company Abstergo Entertainment, forming the basis of their Identity Project.

Personality and traits

"As my body was no longer capable to sustain the attacks of these fanatics, the Assassin asked me to wait near the bridge and witness his action. It was neither the place nor the time to argue with him. Driven by an unexpected hatred, the Assassin ended the life of the bodyguards that were there to defend their Master; before he jumped onto Il Corvo and killed him in cold blood."

―An excerpt from Niccolò Machiavelli's journal.

Lo Sparviero was a man of few words who let his actions speak for him instead. He was loyal to the Assassin Order and dutifully followed the instructions of his superiors, such as Niccolò Machiavelli, who noted on multiple occasions throughout his journal that Lo Sparviero was among his best and most efficient Assassins. At times, Lo Sparviero's deadliness was enough to make even a veteran Assassin like Machiavelli feel uneasy, such as the time he returned from a mission with blood still dripping from his blades and left without saying a word.

Because he rarely spoke, Lo Sparviero almost never let his true emotions and feelings show. However, from his actions, it can be inferred that he genuinely believed in the Assassins' cause of fighting to protect the common people, as he was the only Assassin left defending Monteriggioni long after the city had fallen. Following Sirus Favero's betrayal and attempt to kill him, Lo Sparviero became vengeful and sought to exact retribution on the Crows' leader. During his final battle against Sirus, Machiavelli noted that Lo Sparviero was driven by an uncharacteristic hatred, which allowed him to gain the upper hand. Yet, he became just as calm moments later, respectfully greeting Machiavelli with a head bow.

Skills and equipment

Lo Sparviero was a master swordsman, able to fight against multiple soldiers at once. He could even hold his own against and defeat multiple members of the Crows, who were elite agents specifically trained to mimic and counter the Assassins. Lo Sparivero was also skilled in freerunning and stealth, and could tail a target from only a few meters away without his presence ever being detected.

Lo Sparviero possessed the rare ability of Eagle Vision, which proved particularly useful during his conflict with the Crows, as he could detect and identify the organization's members even as they tried to blend in with the civilian populace.

Behind the scenes

Lo Sparviero's face as featured in the game's prologue

Lo Sparviero is the main protagonist of Assassin's Creed: Identity, where his appearance can be customized from among a range of preset faces. Canonically, his appearance is unverified although some of the faces can be ruled out due to being identical to those of major characters such as Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Notwithstanding this, in the prologue and tutorials, his face is always predefined as the default selection which may potentially imply his canonical appearance. His prologue appearance is also the Berserker class type.

Lo Sparviero also has a number of preset names for the different classes;

Berserker Agnostino Scarpa Antonello Acerbi Antonio Mazza Demetrio Montagna Giulio d'Este Shadowblade Adriano Arongheri Daniele Gritti Giovanni Uberti Sirus Silvestri

Trickster Adamo Maestri Cesare Cellini Emilio Drago Lorenzo Fontana Thief Carlo di Fini Donato Gismondi

Gallery

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  Concept art of Lo Sparviero hiding from a guard
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  Concept art of Lo Sparviero fighting guards in Rome
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  Concept art of Lo Sparviero climbing the Castel Sant'Angelo
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  Portrait of Lo Sparviero
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  The different possible appearances for Lo Sparviero

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Identity
  • Forlì – A Crimson Sunset (non-canon)