Rodrigo Borgia

"He is Rodrigo Borgia: one of the most powerful men in all of Europe, and leader of the Templar Order."

- Mario Auditore

Rodrigo Borgia (1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503), born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja, was the leader of the Templars during the Renaissance in Italy. He was elected Pope from 1492 to 1503 as Alexander VI. His enemies called him "The Spaniard" (due to his Spanish origins) while his Templar followers called him "Maestro" ("Master" in Italian and "teacher" in Spanish). He was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his surname (Italicized as Borgia) became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era. He is the main antagonist of Assassin's Creed II and returns in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though not as the main antagonist.

Biography
The Medici were the ruling family in Florence. But a conspiracy was being plotted in a attempt to overthrow the powerful Lorenzo de' Medici, and Rodrigo Borgia was at the center of it. One night in 1476, Borgia was on his way to leave Florence with few of his men in the dark streets of the city. Suddenly, Giovanni Auditore, an Assassin, intercepted him. Borgia fled immediately as the Assassin battled his men. Hidden behind a corner, he saw Giovanni capture one of his men. The prisoner revealed the plotted assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan and a powerful ally of Lorenzo de' Medici, to Giovanni. Giovanni quickly went to stop the attempt, but arrived too late. Rodrigo and his accomplices' plan had succeeded and Borgia began planning the next move.

Deducing the origin of the Duke of Milan's murderers by looting a Ducat from one of them, Giovanni headed to Venice. There, he intercepted a message from Marco and Silvio Barbarigo to their master, Rodrigo. After having decoded the letter by Uberto Alberti and Father Maffei, Giovanni carried the copied message to Rome, in order to discover who is behind the plots. Once arrived in the city, he gave the message to a man. By tailing this one, it appears that the letter travels in various hands before arriving in its final destination: Rodrigo's. Rodrigo headed next to see Pope Sixtus IV to obtain a military support in order to conquer Florence.

The night before the trial of the Auditore family, Rodrigo was at Uberto's house. Ezio Auditore, one of the sons of Giovanni Auditore, came by to give Uberto his father's letters which would prove him not guilty. Ezio noticed a hooded man (Rodrigo) behind Uberto, but paid no further notice to him. The following morning, Rodrigo attended the judgment of Giovanni and two of his sons. Years later, he would state that Ezio's brothers did not need to die, but he had them killed anyway to make a point to the assassins and to Ezio. Two years later, Rodrigo went to a meeting with the Pazzi family in San Gimignano and with the Templars in a catacomb under the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. There he reminded them to beware the assassins, and stated that the next day would be "a new dawn for Florence".

After Ezio thwarted the Templars in Florence, Rodrigo was to meet with the remaining conspirators in Tuscany. The Pazzi were going to ask for asylum with Rodrigo in either Venice or Rome. But before the meeting could even commence, most of the conspirators were killed by Ezio, one by one. Only Jacopo de' Pazzi actually made it to the meeting alive. There Jacopo claimed that the blame rested with his nephew, Francesco, for his impatience and with Emilio Barbarigo for supplying the Pazzi troops with sub-standard weaponry. Enraged by Jacopo's sniveling excuses, Rodrigo lectured his subordinate on his failure, then stabbed him, aided by an all-too-eager Barbarigo. Ignoring Jacopo's pleas for mercy, Rodrigo stabbed him in the neck, then called out Ezio who had tailed Jacopo to the meeting. Sarcastically apologizing for killing Ezio's target for him, Rodrigo mocked Ezio; saying that he had been doing "this" for far longer than the novice Assassin. He ordered his men to kill Ezio and left without bothering to make sure the deed was done. He might have guessed that Ezio would escape, and chose not to stick around for it.

Borgia was later found in Venice, planning with Carlo Grimaldi and the Barbarigos to murder the current Doge, Giovanni Mocenigo, so that one of them can replace him and take control of Venice. He chastised the Barbarigos for making their own plans and arguing over who would be the new Doge after they took Venice. He appointed Marco Barbarigo as the next Doge, and then left them to carry out his plans. While Ezio was hunting the Barbarigo's in Venice, Rodrigo was tracking the location of the Piece of Eden which Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad once took from the Templars. He sent ships to Cyprus in order to claim it from the Archives where Altaïr sealed it away before his death. He appeared in Venice to lay claim to the Piece of Eden; but then Ezio, disguised as the carrier of the artifact, attempted to kill him. Rodrigo was prepared for the attack, and told his men to stand down so that he could deal with Ezio personally (if the player missed the timing to kill them). The two began an intense battle, with Ezio emerging as the victor. Realizing he could not defeat Ezio alone, Borgia called in a supply of guards to overwhelm Ezio. Suddenly, many of Ezio's allies appeared, revealing themselves to be assassins. They held off the guards to allow Ezio to re-challenge Borgia, who then escaped from them before Ezio could kill him.

Rodrigo found out that Caterina Sforza's late husband had made a map of where all the codex pages were, so he hired the Orsi Brothers to retrieve it. The Orsi's found out that Caterina had the Apple, so they took it, planning to present it to Rodrigo for an extra pay off. Unfortunately for him, Ezio managed to kill both of the Orsi brothers, though the Apple eventually came into the hands of Girolamo Savonarola, an arch-enemy of Rodrigo.

With the Apple, Savonarola took control over Florence after Lorenzo's death. Rodrigo repeatedly kept sending his men to Florence in the hopes of acquiring the Apple.

In the following years, Rodrigo fooled the Spanish Inquisitor General Tomas Torquemada into capturing and killing Assassins in Spain. Tomas, who thought Rodrigo was as much as a believer of God as he was, blindly followed his orders. He also found out about Christoffa Corombo's plans to sail west. Rodrigo knew of the presence of the America's and the treasures that lay there, and did not want anybody to find it before he would. Therefore he arranged a meeting with Christoffa in Venice. Christoffa's friend Luis Santangel, in secret an Assassin, suspected a trap and called for the aid of Ezio. Ezio successfully rescued Christoffa, and eventually Christoffa did set sail west.

Rodrigo offered his daughter Lucrezia Borgia to Caterina Sforza's son Ottaviano Riario. Rodrigo figured that with a son-in-law like Ottaviano, he could control the regions of Forlì and Imola. Caterina declined the offer, as she knew of his plans and that Lucrezia 'never stayed married for long'. This enraged Rodrigo, and his son Cesare Borgia began an assault on Forlì.

Borgia was elected Pope in 1492 and established his power in Rome. Borgia's true intent however, was just to get in the Vault that lays under the Vatican, where, he believed, God rested.

In 1499, he was chased by Ezio, who tried to assassinate him. Ezio snuck into the Vatican and seemingly assassinated Borgia without being seen inside the Sistine Chapel. After Ezio finished speaking with Borgia he left only to see him rise from the ground and use his Piece of Eden, the Papal Staff, to strike down Ezio and everyone else in the room. However, he was surprised to see that Ezio was able to resist the power of his staff, Ezio brought out his own Piece of Eden: The Apple that Altaïr took from Al Mualim. Ezio then summoned four clones of himself to assist him in his battle against Borgia, eventually defeating him. But Borgia tripped Ezio with the Staff, and snatched the Apple from his hands, and combined it with the Staff to open up the door to The Vault, which had been underneath Rome the whole time. Ezio tried to stop him, but he was lifted into the air by Borgia, unable to resist two combined Pieces of Eden.

Borgia stabbed Ezio with a dagger and left him to die on the floor of the Sistine Chapel before escaping into the Vault. Though injured, Ezio eventually made his way to the Vault, with Borgia furiously pounding the door to the inner chambers. Ezio dropped down into the pit where Borgia was, and challenged him to one last fist fight, with no more weapons, no more plots, and no more decoys. Borgia accepted and the two had one last battle. During the battle, Borgia stated that he never believed in the Bible or in God, and only became Pope to get the Staff and access to the Vault, wanting to unify Italy under the Templar rule. Ezio defeated Borgia, holding the Pope at blade-point and telling him he was not the Prophet: he never had been.

Broken by this revelation and accepting defeat, Borgia told Ezio to kill him and put an end to it. However Ezio refused, saying that killing Borgia would not bring back his family. Besides, the knowledge that he was not the Prophet, as he had believed, was an even sorer blow than anything else that Ezio could have thought of.

"Final Words"
(First assassination attempt by Ezio)

Ezio: ''I thought...I thought I was beyond this. But I'm not. I've waited too long, lost too much... Requiescat in pace (Rest in peace), you bastard!''

Rodrigo: I don't think so!

(Second "death scene" with Rodrigo)

Rodrigo: ''You can't!! You can't!! It's MY destiny!! MINE!!! I am the prophet!!''

Ezio: You never were.

Rodrigo: Get it over with then...

Ezio: ...''No. Killing you won't bring my family back... I'm done. ''Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito. Requiescat in pace. (Nothing is true, everything is permitted. Rest in peace.)

Trivia

 * As Ezio enters the Sistine Chapel to assassinate Borgia, he is proclaiming the Nicene Creed in Latin to the congregation. It is ironic that he is assassinated as he proclaims this, as the Nicene Creed confesses the wholeness of the Christian doctrine, in which Borgia later states in the final battle that he does not believe.
 * Although Ezio did not kill Borgia, he is listed as dead in the Animus' Conspirator Web after the player completes the game and re-enters the Animus. This may be due to Ezio simply listing off Rodrigo as a target.
 * While it is known that Rodrigo would go on to have the most debauched, bloody papacy in human history, what occurs between him and Ezio is completely unknown, as Rodrigo dies of a fever 4 years later in 1503, leaving ample time to wage a sizable campaign against the Assassins himself. Some of this is elaborated on in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which will likely depict his final fate.
 * Throughout the entire game, Rodrigo is always wearing something that covers his head, where not once is he without a hat or a hood. He does appear without head coverings in Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, however.
 * In a scene in Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, he can be seen with an apple, which is perhaps a hint at the apple he later attempts to gain.
 * Rodrigo's cloak from before he becomes Pope resembles Al Mualim's robe from Assassin's Creed. Rodrigo also shares a trait with Al Mualim, as they both keep their hoods up throughout most of their respective games.
 * Rodrigo is the only assassination target Ezio has had to fight repeatedly, as well as one of only two that he spared (the other being Tomas Torquemada). He is also the most formidable fighter in-game.
 * It is possible to kill Rodrigo while in the Sistine Chapel if you poison him. After this you can wield the Staff of Eden, although unfortunately, you cannot use any of its powers.
 * Rodrigo's fate differs in the novel, Assassin's Creed: Renaissance to that shown in the game. In the game, after Ezio defeats and spares him, Borgia is left alone to come to terms with his misery as Ezio enters the Vault. He is not seen again, and it is presumed that he still lives. In the novel, however, when Ezio emerges from the Vault, Borgia commits suicide with poison. His last act is to ask Ezio what he saw in the Vault, to which Ezio replies "Nothing. No one," leading Borgia to die believing everything he had done in life was for nothing. However, this should not be considered canon, due to the fact that Rodrigo appears alive in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
 * In Rodrigo's assassination target video, there is a scene with Rodrigo in his Papal robes standing next to his fellow Templars, who are seated at a table. This is impossible, because by the time Rodrigo became Pope, Ezio had killed all the other Templars in the game. The Pazzi, the Barbarigos and Carlo Grimaldi, for example, are shown at the table.
 * Rodrigo had numerous children: Cesare, Lucrezia, Giovanni, and Gioffre from his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, a daughter, Laura, from his mistress Giulia Farnese, and an unknown number of children from other mistresses.
 * He was the first pope to be elected from a conclave in the Sistine Chapel.
 * Sometimes, during the fight with Rodrigo, he can be seen wielding a spear instead of the Staff.
 * Rodrigo told Ezio during their fight in Venice that he didn't have to kill Ezio's brothers, and that he did it only to prove a point.
 * He is an ancestor of virtually all royal families in Europe through his children Lucrezia and Juan.

Gallery
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