Caterina Sforza

Caterina Sforza (1463 - 28 May 1509) was the Countess of Forlì and Imola and the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza. She married the Pope's nephew, Girolamo Riario, at only 14 years of age.

Meeting with Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Close to the departure of Leonardo da Vinci from Forlì, Caterina somehow managed to trap herself on a small rock in the middle of a lake. Luckily for her, Ezio Auditore da Firenze came and helped her back to land. Because he helped her, Caterina thanked Ezio by telling the captain of the Venetian ship to grant Ezio passage on the ship in order to get to Venice.

While sailing away from Forlì, Ezio stated that Caterina was "his next conquest", before being reprimanded by Leonardo, who explained Caterina's importance to Ezio and remarked that seducing her would not be such a good idea. Leonardo described her as being "as powerful and dangerous as she is young and beautiful." Ezio replied that makes Caterina his "type" of lady.

Battle of Forlì
In 1488, Caterina was contacted by her allies, the Assassin Order, who asked her if they could hide an "important artifact" inside the Rocca di Ravaldino in Forlì. Caterina agreed and met with Niccolò Machiavelli and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, whom she previously hadn't thought of to be an Assassin, in the countryside of Romagna.

While walking towards Forlì, Caterina informed Niccolò and Ezio that she had hired the Orsi brothers to kill her husband Girolamo Riario, as he was a Templar and "boring in bed", "a lousy father" and a "pain in [her] ass". After doing so, they found a lot of Forlì's citizens running away from the city. One of them informed them that Forlì was being attacked by the Orsi brothers. Niccolò concluded that they were working for Rodrigo Borgia and were looking for the map Girolamo made of all the locations of the Codex pages. Caterina took her soldiers to fight and retrieve her city, while Ezio served in the battle as both a soldier and protector to Caterina. By the time the group had reached the Rocca di Ravaldino, the Orsi brothers had taken two of Caterina's children hostage as a guise to steal the Apple of Eden, of which they heard was in the possession of Ezio. When they threatened to kill her children if she did not relinquish the Apple, she lifted her skirt, showing her genitals, and cried that she "had the instrument to make more." She didn't want the brothers to think they were victorious, but she was desperate to get her children back and requested Ezio retrieve them for her. Ezio left the city immediately, found the children and managed to kill Ludovico Orsi. Meanwhile, the Templars attacked the citadel again and retrieved the Apple, which Ezio placed in Caterina's hands. After Ezio returned with Caterina's children and found out about the attack, he left Forlì and followed Checco Orsi into the countryside, where he assassinated him and retrieved the Apple. Checco managed to stab Ezio right before dying and Ezio lost conciousness because of his wound, but not before seeing the Apple being stolen from him by a black robed monk who was missing a finger. Caterina's soldiers found Ezio's unconsious body next to Checco's and took him to the Palazzo Comunale, where Caterina nursed him until he regained conciousness. Ezio then set off to find the monk and Caterina gave him the map her ex-husband made of the Codex pages.

Florence
Caterina was exiled to Florence, where she married Giovanni de' Medici. They had one son, baptized as Ludovico. However, after Giovanni's death in 1498, Caterina re-christianised her son's name to Giovanni.

Siege of Monteriggioni
In 1499, Caterina and some of her soldiers went to temporarily stay in Monteriggioni. However, the town was besieged by the Borgia, under the command of Cesare Borgia, when Caterina and Ezio were sleeping together before being interupted by cannon fire. Caterina joined her soldiers outside the city, but was captured by some of Cesare's soldiers. She was held captive by Juan Borgia and witnessed the execution of Mario Auditore by Cesare.

Caterina was held captive in the Castel Sant'Angelo, where she was apparantly raped by Rodrigo and Cesare Borgia.

Later life
Caterina died on May 28th, 1509 at the age of 46, from pneumonia, after being exiled from Florence for 3 years.

Personality and characteristics
She is depicted as a strong, fierce woman, but also seems to be quite maternal and caring. Her colorful vocabulary was displayed in taunts and vulgarities shouted at her enemies during the Battle of Forlì.

Trivia

 * In the novel Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, the scene where Ezio first met her is a little different. She walked on the port as she was arguing with her husband, Girolamo Riario. Tired of her, he told Caterina to sit in the nearest gondola. While she entered the boat, Girolamo then gave a powerful shove to the prow and walked away. As the gondola drifted farther away from land, she began to shout and Ezio, who had watched the scene unfold, came to her rescue.
 * In the Battle of Forlì sequence, she used the sultan's knife as her weapon.
 * Caterina, like every other character in Assassin's Creed II besides Ezio, cannot swim, as when she is trapped on the small rock she will shout for help or swear, and will sometimes yell that she cannot swim.
 * Caterina Sforza's face has changed greatly by Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.