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.

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 three 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
Upon Ezio's return to Monteriggioni in 1499, he told the other Assassins of what transpired in the Vatican. Machiavelli felt Ezio made a serious mistake by keeping Rodrigo alive. Furious, he left for Rome. Shortly afterwards, Monteriggioni was attacked by Cesare Borgia and, after the siege was over, Ezio made his way to Rome but passed out along the way due to his injuries. Ezio woke up bandaged in a house just outside of Rome, and found out that an unknown man and a citizen woman had saved him. Later, Ezio joined Machiavelli in Rome, but a rivalry developed between them as to who would be Grand Master of the Assassin's Order in Rome. Despite the newfound jealousy between Ezio and Machiavelli, they jointly took control of Tiber Island and made it their headquarters. Whereas Ezio went out to actively hunt the Templars, Niccolò stayed behind on the island to train new Assassin apprentices. He also informed Ezio of Templar targets that needed to be taken care of.

During the war in Rome, La Volpe was growing suspicious of Machiavelli, believing him to be a double agent for the Borgias. Volpe suggested that it was Machiavelli who betrayed them during the siege of Monteriggioni. After saving Pietro from Micheletto Corella in the Colosseum, Ezio recognised one of the thieves that was present during the Villa attack, and chased him down. After catching him, Ezio noticed documents with the Borgia emblem, and deduced that the thief was the traitor. Ezio put his hidden blade to the thief's neck, who declared "long live the Borgia" before grabbing Ezio's arm and stabbing himself with the blade. With no time to lose, Ezio made his way to Tiber Island to prevent La Volpe from killing Niccolò. After telling La Volpe about the real traitor, Machiavelli walked over to the two of them, and Volpe greeted him as an old friend, telling Machiavelli all about the play.

Trivia

 * Maciavelli_1.jpg real life, Machiavelli witnessed the execution of Girolamo Savonarola, and wrote about it the night of the event. The location, or even the name of these writings are unknown today.
 * The debate over Machiavelli's true intentions are often distorted due to the fact that many people concentrate on 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'). Machiavelli also wrote a thesis called the Discourses on 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.
 * 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 they were unreliable. However it is possible that mercenaries are meant to represent the Florentine militia that Machiavelli commanded in real life. This is supported by the fact that he made complaints about mercenaries in Bonfire of the Vanities.
 * 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.
 * If Ezio (via the player) chooses to do nothing during the moment where Savonarola tries to silence the crowd in Bonfire of the Vanities, Niccolò himself will step in and be the one to throw a knife at Savonarola's hand.
 * In Brotherhood, before Ezio does a leap of faith after inducting Claudia, Niccolo says that he wishes to write a book about Ezio. Ezio agrees, but only asks him to make it brief. This could be a reference to his book: The Prince.