Il Carnefice

"It was not my best work, but it is hard to make art with poor materials."

- Il Carnefice, on the execution of a young woman.

Il Carnefice (1473 – 1500) was a member of the Templar Order, and an executioner active in Rome during the late 15th and early 16th century.

In 2012, his genetic memories were used as an Animi Avatar by the Templar company Abstergo Industries, in the first stage of training for their Animus recruits, under the title of the Executioner.

Working for the Borgia
"Everyone assumes that executioners love their work. [...] They wear masks to avoid this stigma when the mask comes off. Not Il Carnifice. He loves the work as well as the mask."

- Fiora Cavazza.

Around 1497, Il Carnefice worked under the direct employment of Cesare Borgia, often receiving instructions from him through Fiora Cavazza.

On one such instance, she brought him a list containing Cesare's next condemnations. Upon studying it, Il Carnefice acted serious, telling Fiora that her name was one of those listed, though he quickly revealed that he was only playing a prank on her and admitted that he could not read.

While under the Borgia, Il Carnefice performed any execution assigned to him with both enthusiasm and brutality, often chopping off the body parts of his victims and displaying them to his approving audience.

Fiora once described him as a beast, one she found more disgusting than intimidating.

Death
"Word has gone out that a peasant is resisting arrest. We will show him how things operate under the Borgia."

- One of Il Carnefice's guards.

In 1500, Il Carnefice forced himself onto a woman named Livia, only to have her hanged afterwards. The woman's husband later mourned her death, but was unable to remove her body from the noose at the threat of being executed by Il Carnefice himself.

Despite the threat, the man remained by her corpse mourning her, resulting in Il Carnefice sending several of his guards to arrest the grieving husband.

This caught the attention of the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who decided to aid the man by rescuing him from the guards. Upon hearing the man's sad tale, he gently instructed him to take his wife's body down when he was ready, and assured him that he would take care of Il Carnefice once and for all.

True to his word, Ezio infiltrated Il Carnefice's cliffside house in the northwest Centro District, where he was discussing his latest kill with an associate of his. Ezio then swiftly assassinated him from above with his Hidden Blade, bringing the executions of many innocent citizens to a halt.

Trivia

 * "Il Carnefice" simply translated to "The Executioner."
 * Il Carnefice fought like a Brute when encountered.
 * In the single-player, Il Carnefice's axe was not the same one that his counterpart used in the Animi Training Program. Instead, it was a Bearded Axe, a common weapon that was wielded by Brutes and could be bought from blacksmiths.
 * Il Carnefice was the first Templar agent to be encountered in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and was one of the three that Ezio had to kill in a main story memory, with the others being Malfatto and Silvestro Sabbatini.