Ezio Auditore da Firenze

"Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito."

Ezio Auditore da Firenze is the protagonist of Assassin's Creed II. He is an ancestor of Desmond and a descendant of Altaïr, as well as being the earliest known link between the lineages of Subject 16 and that of Desmond.

Assassin's Creed: Lineage
Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, is a young member of the Florentine Nobility and the second son of Giovanni Auditore, an Assassin. He is ignorant to his father's true profession, and his hereditary duties. He has slight skills at playing chess, and he is "learning fast" according to his mother (though he lost against his older brother, Federico).

Assassin's Creed II
Ezio Auditore da Firenze's story begins moments after he exits the womb of his mother, Maria Auditore. A sense of threat is clear at the sight of the baby boy. Giovanni Auditore, dismisses the trepidation of the wet nurse and his Mother by welcoming Ezio into the world and bestowing his name upon him. We rejoin Ezio years later during a rousing pre-fight speech, addressing the other members of the House of Auditore. Ezio is holding one side of a bridge against Vieri Di Pazzi and his men, whom insult the House of Auditore, and Ezio's mother and father personally. Reprimanded gently by his elder brother, Frederico and his father, Ezio becomes more involved with his family's affairs. He would then sleep with Cristina Vespucci that night. His father, Giovanni, and another man, Uberto Alberti are discussing secret matters that Ezio can't make sense of, but seem urgent. Eventually, guards raid the Giovanni home and arrest Giovanni, Federico, and Petruccio. Ezio delivers evidence that can prove his family's innocence to Uberto, who promises to defend them at the hearing. But it turns out Alberti is a traitor who destroyed the evidence and sentenced the three Auditore men to death. Swearing vengeance, Ezio has to hide his mother and sister and learn the ways of the assassin. He is first taught stealth by Paula of the Courtesans, and later combat, by his uncle Mario, of the Mercenary faction. After assassinating Uberto, apparently a city official in charge of the law, Ezio has to balance his life between assassinations and protecting his sister and mother, who refuses to speak after Ezio's father and brothers were taken. Now wanted in Florence, Ezio has to flee Firenze to Tuscany with his family to the Auditore villa. He meets up with Uncle Mario, whose mercenaries save his family from an attack by Pazzi.

Background
Ezio is a young Florentine nobleman who lives in Florence during the 15th century. Unlike Altaïr, he is a seducer, and he easily blends with any social classes. He has an affluent lifestyle and many friends until a life-changing event. He and his family are betrayed, victims of a conspiracy that takes his father's, elder brother's, and younger brother's lives, forcing him to flee from guards and become an Assassin, not just to protect himself, Mother and Sister, but to get vengance on the conspiritors who betrayed him.

From that day, Ezio is considered a criminal and a traitor, and has to protect his mother and his sister. He becomes an assassin to accomplish his vengeance against the ones responsible for the tragedy that befell him and his family (it is likely that those men are Templars (see the last shot of Lineage Part II - The swords are lain down in the shape of the Templar symbol). Ezio is helped not only by his uncle Mario, but also Leonardo da Vinci who becomes his best friend and his personal engineer, as well as Niccolò Machiavelli and other famous Renaissance figures.

Ezio will travel across Italy to various locations like Venice, Tuscany and Rome. In Assassin's Creed II, we will be playing approximately 23 years of his life from when he was 17 year old (a Novice), to 44 year old (a Master Assassin), 1476 to 1499.

Equipment
Ezio is able to use a variety of weapons including two hidden blades, allowing him to eliminate two enemies simultaneously. Combat is also available with the hidden blade, as when countering an enemy, Ezio will kill the enemy, whether by jabbing repeatedly in the chest/stomach, orr stabbing in the head. He can also steal (and use) several enemy weapons such as axes, hammers, maces, spears, halberds and two different sword types (one- and two-handed). Ezio is also able to use Da Vinci's flying machine in some parts of the game, gaining altitude from fires set throughout the city by his allies. Ezio will gain many upgrades from Da Vinci on his wrist gauntlet like a small pistol of some sort (most likely an early wheel lock firearm) concealed near his left hidden blade, or a poison needle. Ezio possesses the ability to use Eagle Vision

while moving. He can visit Blacksmiths to purchase weapons and armors including Helmschmeid and Metal Plate, or tailors to customize the colors of his clothing. After obtaining all six keys from the Assassin's Tomb Ezio can open the lock to Altair's Assassin uniform and hidden blade.

Trivia

 * The Italian name 'Ezio' derives from the Greek word 'Aetos', which means "Eagle", similar to Altaïr whose name means "The Flying One".
 * Unlike Altaïr (who had his ring finger removed to make way for the Hidden Blade), Ezio has all ten fingers (as evidenced by the fact he wears a ring marked with the Assassin's symbol). This was due to a modification of the Hidden Blade by Leonardo da Vinci.
 * It is stated in the Philosophical Codex that after Altaïr defeated Al-Mualim at the end of the first Assassin's Creed and became the leader, the Assassins were forced to realize the scope of their fight against the Templars, and would have to abandon many of their traditions, like the removal of the ring finger or the ban on using poison, in order to survive.
 * Ezio uses a wheel lock firearm, a type of weapon that Europe didn't start developing until the very late 1400's and early 1500's, making this weapon most likely one of the very first of its type to appear in Europe, thus many people may not know what the weapon is in game. The earliest firearms were single shot and took time to reload, so will most likely be only used as a last resort weapon. Once again Leonardo Da Vinci didn't create the Hidden Gun, but found instructions to make one from a Codex page, meaning Altaïr invented the Hidden Gun (and most likely the first ever firearm). Also note that Da Vinci created some of the first modern wheel lock pistols, so this could be a shortened version of one.
 * Ezio's face in Assassin's Creed II seems to be a mixture of Desmond's (Francisco Randez) and Devon Bostick's from Lineage.
 * It seems that Ezio is the only one that grows older (shown by his beard) at 1499.