Niccolò Machiavelli

"I am an Assassin. Trained in the ancient ways to safeguard mankind's evolution. Just like you, and each one of us here."

- Machiavelli to Ezio upon their first meeting

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright, but foremost he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. He was most famous for writing The Prince, which lays out guides to achieving political power through, among other techniques, the art of deception and manipulation, establishing what would later be known as "Machiavellian ideas".

Early life
Niccolò was born in Florence as the third son of attorney Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli and his wife Bartolomea di Stefano Nelli.

Niccolò was trained and inducted into the Assassin Order at an early age.

Acquiring the Apple of Eden
At age 19, Niccolò and a group of other Assassins gathered in Venice to acquire the "Apple of Eden" from Rodrigo Borgia, the Grand Master of the Templar Order. When the group arrived at Rodrigo's location, they found him fighting with Ezio Auditore, the son of the the late Assassin Giovanni Auditore. The other Assassins rushed to Ezio's aid, whereas Niccolò watched from the distance.

After the group killed the guards and severely injured Rodrigo, the group revealed themselves to be Assassins to Ezio, which was previously unknown by him. They went on to a tall tower in Venice, where they inducted Ezio into the Order before one after the other performing Leaps of Faith.

Battle of Forlì
Niccolò, Mario Auditore, Ezio and Leonardo da Vinci studied the Apple of Eden in Leonardo's workshop. Upon accidentally activating it, the four concluded that the Apple's power was too powerful and that Rodrigo would be relentless to get it back. Mario figured the best way to protect the Apple would be to take it to the Rocca di Ravaldino in Forlì, as Forlì was ruled by their ally Caterina Sforza.

Niccolò and Ezio met with Caterina in the countryside of Romagna. As they walked towards Forlì, Caterina explained that she killed her husband Girolamo Riario because he was a member of the Templar Order and for personal reasons. As they were nearing Forlì, they found a lot of its citizens running away scared. One of them explained that the city was under attack by the Orsi brothers, the same men Caterina hired to kill her husband. Niccolò concluded that they were hired by Rodrigo to obtain the map Girolamo made of all the Codex pages. By the time the group arrived at Forlì, the Orsi had already taken control of it and closed the gates. Ezio managed to stealthily enter the city by swimming under a gate in the water and after traversing the wall, opened the city gates.

Niccolò, Ezio and Caterina then proceeded on to the Rocca di Ravaldino, killing any Templar guard that stood in their way. When they finally arrived at the citadel and rid it of all Templars, they found out that the Orsi brothers had taken two of Caterina's children hostage. Ezio went to rescue the children and left the Apple in the hands of Caterina and Niccolò, who remained in the citadel. As Ezio left, the Templars attacked the citadel again and were victorious in retrieving the Apple, which was now in the hands of the remaining Orsi brother Checco (the other having been killed by Ezio to save Caterina's son). Ezio tracked down and killed Checco, but was stabbed himself by the latter as the latter spoke his final words. As he tried to walk back to Forlì, he lost consciousness and saw the Apple being stolen from him by a monk, which he later found out was Girolamo Savonarola. Hearing of the failure to retrieve the Apple, Niccolò went back to Florence.

Bonfire of the Vanities
In 1497, Niccolò met with Ezio again in Florence and informed him that Savonarola had taken control of the city by using the Apple. Ezio figured that if he killed all nine of Savonarola's lieutenants, his grip would weaken. Niccolò informed La Volpe and Paola of Ezio's plan and with each lieutenant killed, the three encouraged the people to stand up against Savonarola.

When all the lieutenants were killed, an angry mob swarmed Savonarola's residence, the Palazzo Pitti. Savonarola tried to calm the crowd with the Apple, but Ezio knocked it out of his hand with a well-thrown knife and one of Rodrigo Borgia's men acquired it, causing Ezio to chase him down and retrieve it. Savonarola was then taken to be burned alive and the Assassins watched from the distance. Ezio figured that no one should die in such agony and killed him before the flames could reach him. After Ezio gave a speech to inspire the crowd to follow their own ways, the Assassins left the scene.



War with the Borgia
In December 1499, Niccolò, Ezio, Mario Auditore, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, La Volpe, Antonio de Magianis, Paola and Teodora Contanto, some of the most high-ranking Assassins, gathered in the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni to discuss the location of "the Vault". They came to the conclusion that the Vault was located in Rome and that Rodrigo Borgia had become Pope because the Papal Staff was the second Piece of Eden. All of them left for Rome to distract the Borgia guards while Ezio infiltrated the Vatican.

Niccolò returned to Monteriggioni to listen to what Ezio had discovered inside the Vault. Upon hearing that Ezio spared Rodrigo, he furiously left for Rome to take down the Borgia once and for all. The following morning, Monteriggioni was attacked by the Borgia, under the command of Cesare Borgia. Niccolò's disappearance right in front of the attack aroused some suspicion with La Volpe, who thought that Machiavelli was secretly working for the Borgia. During the attack, Mario Auditore was killed and Niccolò took command over the chaotic Assassin Order, basing themselves on Tiber Island in Rome.

Following the attack, Ezio left for Rome as well, but succumbed to a gunshot wound he received during the attack on his journey. Niccolò brought him to a woman living in Rome's countryside, who took care of Ezio's wounds. He also left Ezio a message to come meet him in front of the Mausoleo di Augusto. Upon meeting Ezio there, Niccolò informed him of Rome's corrupt state and lended him some money to buy himself some equipment. He also 'introduced' him to the Followers of Romulus, who he expected to be working for the Borgia, and showed him a faster way of travelling via the city's sewer system, which they used to get back to their hideout. One of the Assassins' few allies, Fabio Orsini, who had lent the hideout to the Assassins, was waiting for them there.

In 1503, La Volpe believed he had gathered enough evidence that Niccolò was working for the Borgia and therefore told Ezio to "do what he had to do". As Ezio was sure that Niccolò wasn't a traitor, he did not kill him. Instead, La Volpe himself left for Tiber Island, ready to assassinate Niccolò. Ezio, however, found out that one of La Volpe's own thieves was the traitor and managed to inform La Volpe of this, seconds before he would kill Niccolò. La Volpe, pretending that nothing had happened, came back into contact with Niccolò afterwards.

Over the course of three years, Niccolò began to realize that Ezio was the better leader, as he was the one who was actually leading the war against the Borgia and had revived the Order back to its former glory. Thus, after Ezio's sister Claudia Auditore da Firenze's initiation into the Brotherhood, Niccolò placed Ezio at the head of the Assassin Order. When Ezio asked why he had a sudden change of heart, Niccolò admitted that he had always stood by Ezio and had helped him in various tasks, saying that he always had faith in him. Ezio in turn made Niccolò his "most trusted advisor". Niccolò planned to write a book about Ezio, with the latter asking that it be short before performing a leap of faith to finally kill the Borgias. Whether he ever did so is unknown, although it may be a reference to his notoriously short story "The Prince."

Florentine militia
Shortly afterwards, between 1503 and 1506, Machiavelli returned to Florence, where he was responsible for leading the Florentine militia. Strangely, he noted on multiple occasions he distrusted mercenaries, while he in fact led the Florentine mercenaries. His militia managed to defeat Pisa in 1509. However, in August 1512, they were defeated by the Medici, aided by Spanish troops and Pope Julius II. Florence was dissolved as a city-state. Machiavelli was deprived of office in 1512 and arrested in 1513, accused of conspiracy. He was tortured in prison, though he denied involvement in any conspiracy. He was released and he retired to his estate in Sant'Andrea in Percussina.

Later life
During his stay at his estate, he wrote Il Principe ("The Prince"), which was one relatively short book, written in a few months. The Prince was written for a specific reason during a specific time in Italian history (a period when the Medici family had the opportunity to build a strong Italian state in central Italy and drive out the 'barbarians'). He also wrote the Discourses of Livy. This thesis (which was written over a significant period of his life) reflected Machiavelli's more republican notions of government, and is a far more comprehensive thesis than The Prince. Together the Discourses and The Prince show us that, in real life, he was an individual who preferred a republican government, but was prepared to accept a principality if it ensured the survival of the state.

Machiavelli died on 21 June 1527, aged 58. His final resting place is the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.

Trivia

 * The fact that the in-game Machiavelli was the leader of Florence's mercenaries doesn't match with his real-life counterpart. In real life, Machiavelli was against the use of mercenaries, because he believed that they were unreliable. However, it is possible that mercenaries were meant to represent the Florentine militia, which Machiavelli commanded in real life. This is supported by the fact that he made complaints about mercenaries during the Bonfire of the Vanities.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, Machiavelli himself tells Ezio Auditore that Christina Vespucci and her husband Manfredo Sodernini were murdered by Savonarola's men, however in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio manages to get to them both individually just moments before they both die and Machiavelli is not mentioned at all during this memory.
 * Despite being only 19 when he first met Ezio Auditore, Machiavellli acted very mature towards his elder Assassin.
 * If Ezio (via the player) chooses to do nothing during the moment where Savonarola tries to silence the crowd in Bonfire of the Vanities, Machiavelli himself will step in and be the one to throw a knife at Savonarola's hand.
 * Historically, Machiavelli had good relations with the Borgia family. In 1502, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Cesare Borgia. He called Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VI a very successful politician, because he was the prototype of a leader who has no scruples to reach his target, and historically, it is also said that Machiavelli greatly admired Cesare Borgia.
 * In Brotherhood, it is suggested that a few of Machiavelli's later works were inspired by his interactions with Ezio.