Leonardo da Vinci

"Ezio! So good to see you! How can I be of service?"

- Leonardo’s greeting to Ezio

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist, writer, and best friend of the Assassin Ezio Auditore in the Italian Renaissance.

Early life
Leonardo da Vinci was born out of wedlock in Vinci, Italy, a town outside of Florence, in 1452, to a Florentine notary named Piero da Vinci and a local woman named Caterina. He spent most of his early childhood in nearby rural Tuscany so as to spare his father the embarrassment of a scandal. However, young Leonardo's innate artistic prowess was obvious to his elders even then, and when he turned fourteen he was returned to Florence, apprenticed to the workshop of renowned painter Andrea del Verrocchio; while there, he is said to have collaborated with the Verroccio on his masterpiece, Baptism of Christ.

Florence
At age 20, Leonardo was titled a master by the Guild of Saint Luke, and opened his first workshop in Florence where he continued to collaborate with his old master. During his time there, he also befriended the Auditore family.

In 1476, Leonardo met Ezio Auditore when the latter accompanied his mother to pick up some paintings from Leonardo’s workshop. On the way back to the Palazzo Auditore, Leonardo and Ezio conversed about his work, which sparked the lifelong friendship between the two young men.

After the execution of Giovanni, Federico, and Petruccio Auditore, Leonardo met Ezio once again, greeting him with a brotherly embrace. He was then requested by Ezio to repair the Hidden Blade and was immediately fascinated by its sophisticated and advanced design, despite its old age. After what is apparently several hours of work (as Ezio is shown to have fallen asleep for some time), Leonardo finally finished the repairs to the Hidden Blade. Just before handing the weapon over to Ezio, Leonardo claimed that Ezio's ring finger had to be removed because "the blade is designed to ensure the commitment of whoever wields it." It is shown that he was simply joking however, as the blade had been modified so that the removal of the finger was no longer necessary. Immediately after this, a Florentine guard took Leonardo into the latter's yard for interrogation, throwing him to the ground and kicking him several times in order to extract Ezio's whereabouts. Ezio promptly sneaked up behind the guard and assassinated him with his new weapon, before hiding the body inside the workshop with others that Leonardo used for anatomical research.



Leonardo and Ezio didn't meet again until 1478, when Ezio visited him with another codex page attained from his uncle Mario Auditore. He deciphered the page and, while Ezio practiced the new assassination techniques explained on the page, constructed a second Hidden Blade to be put at his friend's disposal. This was when Ezio inquired about Francesco de' Pazzi, which prompted Leonardo to discreetly tell him that he needed to seek out La Volpe (“the fox”). After this, Leonardo appeared at several instances in which Ezio simply visited him to decipher codex pages.

After Ezio stopped the Pazzi conspiracy, he received another codex page from Lorenzo de' Medici and again visited Leonardo in order to have it deciphered. He was astonished by the new blade design, as it has been developed to allow the wielder to inject poison into their enemies.

Leonardo met Ezio again in the Apennine Mountains after the fall of the Pazzi Conspirators. He was faced with the problem of a broken wagon wheel and asked Ezio to lift the carriage, causing him to notice the contraption in the back. This was the first conversation in which Leonardo mentioned his Flying Machine. Amused by Leonardo’s idea, Ezio offered to drive, and they set off for Romagna. During the trip, the wagon was attacked by the soldiers of Rodrigo Borgia, threatening their lives all the way through the Mountains. At the end of the trail, Ezio stayed behind to deal with the soldiers so Leonardo can get to Romagna safely. They met back up at the docks in Romagna where they were scheduled to set sail for Venice, after Ezio went through an ordeal involving Caterina Sforza.

Venice
Upon arrival in Venice, Leonardo and Ezio were given a tour of the city by a baggage handler by the name of Alvise da Vilandino before being led to his new workshop. He and Ezio parted ways there with a brotherly embrace.

Ezio again consulted Leonardo for his expertise, but this time for something other than decryption. He inquired about Leonardo’s Flying Machine that he learned of on the way to Romagna in order to invade the Palazzo Ducale so that he can rescue Doge Mocenigo from the Templar Carlo Grimaldi. After one test flight, Leonardo deemed the machine useless and flew into a fit of rage, but was then inspired by a piece of burnt paper floating from the fire. He concluded that in order for Ezio to reach his destination, they had to light a dozen fires across the city which would cause the air to rise, therefore lifting the machine.

After being accused of the murder of the Doge, Ezio came to Leonardo asking for a Carnevale mask so that he wouldn't be noticed as the most wanted man in Venice. He also bore another codex page, much to Leonardo's interest, as he discovered it contains plans for a small firearm that could be concealed on Ezio's wrist. After testing the pistol, Leonardo gave Ezio the mask he requested and pointed him in the direction of Sister Teodora and Antonio de Magianis so that he could plot to assassinate the new Doge: the Templar Marco Barbarigo.

Leonardo and Ezio met again briefly outside the workshop, just after Ezio discovered the Templar ship was returning the next day. Leonardo pointed out several key facts that he discovered piecing together the markings on the backs of the codex pages such as the arrival of a 'prophet' on the day the Piece of Eden was brought to the floating city (Venice).

In 1488, Ezio, Mario, and Niccolò Machiavelli visited Leonardo to see if he was able to make sense of the Apple which they had successfully obtained from Rodrigo Borgia. To their dismay, he couldn't learn any more about it than the Assassins and, following its accidental activation, it was decided that it should be taken to Forlì to be kept out of Templar hands. Mario also asked Leonardo to come and visit him at the Auditore Family Villa, which he did at least once, in 1499.

Rome
In 1500, Leonardo was forcibly pressed into designing several war machines for Cesare Borgia, son of Rodrigo Borgia, who was in turn Grand Master of the Templar Order. Additionally, he was also forced to fashion the pistola used to kill Mario Auditore, and possibly the firearms used by the Papal Guards, and by Cesare in the Siege of Viana. Despite this, Leonardo remained an ally of the Assassins, privately informing Ezio of Cesare's plans, and also turning over the locations of the Templars overseeing the war machines.

To avoid Templar scrutiny, Leonardo and Ezio would meet at different locations, often by Leonardo drawing a picture of a hand on a bench as a signal for Ezio to wait for him there. Over time, Leonardo agreed to reconstruct a second, smaller Hidden Blade that could fit against a standard glove to replace the one Ezio had lost during the Siege of Monteriggioni, along with a reinforced glove to allow Ezio to climb leap, and a forearm-mounted poison dart launcher. However, due to being paid "very little" by the Templars, he would need Ezio to pay him for the raw materials. After the war machines were finally destroyed, he also agreed to design a parachute that could also be built by sympathetic Roman Tailors, though his design (or at least the materials used) would not survive the landings, and would need to be replaced after every use.

When the Assassins finally secured the Apple of Eden from the Borgia, Ezio and Leonardo met at the Assassins Guild on Tiber Island. Leonardo mourned the need to lock away the Apple, likening it to a masterpiece being hidden away from the world, though he did not oppose Ezio's decision. Additionally, as Leonardo's patron had been arrested and his income was still meager, Ezio turned over a sum of money to his friend, and they parted on good terms.

Legacy
He later worked in Bologna and spent his last years in France, at the home awarded him by Francis I. He took his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, with him when he retired to France in 1513. He died May 2, 1519. The exact cause of his death is unknown, but could presumably have been a blood infection, due to him suffering from Gout.

Leonardo is renowned primarily as a painter. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams and his thoughts on the nature of painting, are an invaluable contribution to later generations of artists; indeed, Da Vinci could arguably be considered the most iconic artist of the Italian Renaissance, with only a handful of his contemporaries (most notably Leonardo's chief artistic rival and fellow Florentine, Michelangelo Buonarroti) posing a realistic challenge. Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator, the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or even feasible during his lifetime, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. As a scientist, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, civil engineering, optics and hydrodynamics.

Characteristics and personality
His portrayal in Assassin's Creed II depicts Leonardo da Vinci as a cheerful and optimistic man. Ezio is his best friend, and as such, he treats him like a brother and has taken great risks to protect him, even though he says later in the game that courage is not his strong suit.

Despite being an accomplished and respected artist, as well as deeply curious about the world's wonders, Leonardo da Vinci was also a chronic procrastinator. Most of his commissioned works took years longer than anticipated, and many were never even finished. It is possible that this was because he did not feel his work to be important enough to devote his life to, as when he meets Ezio, he complains that it lacks purpose and he wishes to do something which has more impact on the world, such as architecture. Regardless, when Leonardo is intrigued by something, he becomes insatiably curious and often impossible to communicate with, as demonstrated when Ezio first brings him Altaïr Ibn'La-Ahad's Codex pages for decryption.

Trivia
thumb|250px|Leonardo da Vinci - Genius Inventor perspective.
 * All of Leonardo's modifications on previously existing Assassin gear are based on designs detailed in Altaïr's Codex. It is possibly from these that Leonardo also designed some of his other inventions.
 * Leonardo and Giovanni Auditore are the only known characters that can decipher and translate Altaïr's Codex.
 * In Assassin's Creed II, like other main characters, Leonardo's appearance does not change throughout the 23 years he is shown in the game, from his first encounter to the decoding of the Codex in the villa in 1499.
 * The cut-scene when Ezio visits Leonardo is the same each time (even after Leonardo moves to Venice), except when the Codex pages provide new modifications to Ezio's equipment.
 * Interestingly, in author Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, it is suggested that Leonardo da Vinci was the Grand Master of a secret society known as The Priory of Sion, an organization that was allegedly connected with the Knights Templar.
 * Historically, Leonardo would later become a close friend and military engineer for Cesare Borgia, son of Rodrigo Borgia.
 * When Ezio accidentally activates the Apple of Eden, images similar to Leonardo's later designs for the tank can be briefly glimpsed. This experience may have provided him with the ideas for his later inventions.
 * Also, when the Apple is activated, Ezio and Leonardo are able to stand, although blinded by the light. Mario and Machiavelli are crippled by the noise and unable to stand.
 * Ezio uses a wheel-lock firearm, based on a design found in the Codex pages, which historically wasn't developed until just after the time-frame of the game. Historically, Leonardo designed some of the first wheel-lock firearms.
 * Leonardo had no surname; "da Vinci" simply means "from Vinci," identifying his homeland.
 * Many gamers regret not hugging Leonardo in Venice during the quicktime event.
 * 8 of the 30 collectable Paintings that are placed in the Villa Auditore were painted by da Vinci.
 * At the time of Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Leonardo had been under Cesare Borgia's patronage from 1500 to 1503. Comments made by designers in an interview at E3 suggest that Leonardo may be a spy for the Assassins working undercover for them as Cesare's military engineer, and his character is more developed than in Assassin's Creed II.
 * A map of the city of Imola that Leonardo drew for Cesare Borgia appears frequently in Assassin's Creed II; on a wall in the Hideout, in Leonardo's workshop, as the Codex map that Caterina gives to Ezio, and in a Lair of Romulus, on the ground.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, after Leonardo mentions his work on the Mona Lisa, Ezio warns him not to allow pretty girls to distract him from making the designs he needs. His arm around him, Leonardo lightly assures Ezio that women would "provide little distraction" to his work, to which Ezio replies, "Wait, I don't get it." This is a reference to the widely-held belief that the real-life da Vinci was a homosexual. Another reference is that sometimes when Ezio hugs him, his head leans on Ezio's shoulder.
 * In one of Ezio Auditore's Cristina Memories in Venice, Leonardo tells Ezio that Cristina was attending Carnevale; even hinting that they might be close, despite Leonardo having nothing to do with Cristina in the rest of the story.
 * In Assassin's Creed II Leonardo is shown as right-handed, but in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, he is left-handed, as he was known to be in real life.
 * In the novel for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Leonardo is invited to join the Brotherhood. However, he declines, saying that though he will always support their goals, he is on a different path, one that is solitary.
 * The only time the player can explore Leonardo's Workshop is in Ace Up My Sleeve.
 * Leonardo had dyslexia in reality, possibly why he viewed certain things from a different