October's Character of the Month 2011: Ezio Auditore da Firenze

October, the month of Halloween, and in this time we need a character that manages to represent this holiday. And by that I mean someone who dresses in a costume and stabs people.

That's creepy, right?

Ezio Auditore da Firenze




History-
Ezio was born in Florence to the Auditore family, and trained from birth by the unimportant Giovanni Tornabuoni to be a banker (possibly a corrupt one). Like many teens he was chillin' out maxin, relaxin all cool and all, playin some medieval hoops outside of the school when the Pazzi family was up to no good. Started making trouble in his neighborhood. He starts one little fight and they all get scared. They're all "We're gonna be minor bosses much latair". He and his brother Federico celebrate with some rooftop climbing and Ezio gets celebratory sex (not with Federico >:[). After this, we get to see his Father, Giovanni, his Sister Claudia, his younger Brother Palazzo (Who starts a stupid feather sidequest), and his Mother Maria (Who is badass.). Maria gets Ezio to get some paintings from Leonardo Di Vinci which starts a friendship that will last for years (lol you didn't know. F- in History.). After this, Ezio's Father tells him to deliver some letters to some odd friends who never speak and are just part of Giovanni's money laundering scheme. Ezio returns to find that the guards have arrested his family (except the females....because the guards only wanted men?), and in a rage, climbs the prison wall to speak to his father. His Father tells Ezio to go to his secret chest and take what he finds, which turns out to be Giovanni's Creeper Clothes, complete with Shanking wrist-guard and Sword (and other things), and deliver a letter to someone who just betrays them later. Ezio shows up in creeper clothes to see the traitor guy kill his family. This is an emotional scene.

Ezio runs up like an idiot going "i kill u" while the traitor guy (Uberto) is all "u mad?", when a thief is all "hold on, you have tutorials to go through, first". Ezio groans and begrudgingly does his schoolwork. He also gets help from Leonardo, who proceeds to fix his Creeper Gear so he can Creep better. Ezio proceeds to get into Uberto's house and stabs him, cue touching moment, Ezio probably stabs him some more to shut him up. Ezio, now the most wanted man in Florence, just takes his family and ragequits Florence, deciding to continue his griefing in the Spain Server, but not before licking his wounds in Monteriggioni, but the Pazzi Punks show up and are all like "Remember Me? ". Suddenly, Mario Auditore (2nd cousin, twice removed of the Mario Family) shows up and saves the day. Mario hugs Ezio and says "I got your favorite: Tutorials!" Ezio rages. Mario tells Ezio of the rivalry between the Assassins (good guys), and Templars (bad guys).

What follows is the assassination of more Templars including one that starts this conversation:

Leonardo: EZIO! GRAB MY FLYING MACHINE!
Ezio: *grab*
*ADVENTURE*

All this leads to the Vatican and the main bad guy; Rodrigo Borgia, current Pope of Rome. Ezio had obtained the Apple of Eden from his adventures, which negated the Papel Staff, which is also a piece of Eden. Ezio ultimately bests him, but decides not to kill him, because if he did that, he wouldn't have another game later! Duh.

Like clockwork, Cesare Borgia appears and is all like "This is a great Inventory and Mario you have here, it would be a shame if something happened to i- SIEGE WEAPONS!". Mario dies and Ezio's city is ruined. This is an emotional scene. Undeterred, Ezio gets new robes and goes about relearning his stuff. He proceeds to go about killing the Templars like a boss. He also recruits citizens, eroding the Borgia's influence bit by bit. Ultimately, Ezio moves to kill Rodrigo and Cezare, only to find that Rodrigo tried to poison Cezare and Cezare kills his father in response. Cezare says "lololololololololololololollol" and runs off to get the Apple of Eden. Ezio follows using his best Creeper walk. Ezio gets there first and says "Nice Hustle tons of fun, next time eat a salad!" and takes the apple away. Cezare rages. He is also arrested, though he says "Prisons can't stop me, I'm the Juggernaut!" Ezio is troubled by both his words and his use of old Memes. Cezare manages to escape, but Ezio jumps onto a boat and beats the crap out of all of his guards. Ezio recaptures the point and returns to farming for kills. Cesare is moved to a secure location even Ezio doesn't know about, although Ezio does not trust this idea. He is recommended to use the Apple, but he believes this to be noobish. Eventually, Ezio puts the Apple in a vault, because it told him to do that, and the Apple is his 2nd Mother.

After saving Leonardo from kidnappage, the eventually find where Cesare was being held, only to find that he escaped and that he managed to capture Valencia. Leonardo responds by making bombs and being generally awesome. Ezio finds Cesare and unimportant guy I neglected to mention this whole time. The latter loses his face to a gun and Ezio's friend gets shot as well as Cesare escapes. Ezio is all like "You'll heal" and runs off. He ultimately fights Cezare on the city walls of Viana. The Final Boss proceeds to take about a million hits before Ezio is all like "Screw This" and throws him off the building, probably killing him.

After years of Retirement, Ezio finds a document about a library in the fortress of the assassins in the first game. Using seals, he got info about the first game's protagonist, Altair. Ezio's all like "gotta eat up 'dis shi!" and proceeds to collect them all. He later marries someone and dies after meeting a Chinese assassin. Then Desmond Miles wakes up.

Opinion-

Personally, I find Ezio to be somewhat like a journey. I mean, that's is something that's been done a lot, but it seems that he really grows as the game goes on. He goes from a rambunctious Teen to an Angry Revenge Seeking Vigilante to an Assassin and it takes him a while to understand his calling. It makes you feel for him and in the end, that can really push you to enjoy his game. His interactions, reasoning, and actions all manage to work together to bring his character to life, and I have to say that it's kind of interesting to see how he grows into a Master Assassin.


Rating:

Originality- How original is this character compared to most characters like him/her?
Personality- How does he/she act? Is the character ususally happy, sad, angry, and how is this portrayed in the game?
Character Arc- Does this character change over time, and if the character does, is the end result satisfying?
Consistency- Does the character fit the franchise and its characters?
Real- Does this character act appropriately? Do they show emotions, or react according to their race?

Originality- *****
Personality- *****
Character Arc- *****
Consistency- *****
Real- *****

Final Rating: 5

I can't find anything wrong with him as a character. That's pretty amazing. Granted that doesn't prove a game is perfect, but it does tell you that a game has that extra polish. UbiSoft tends to know how to make an interesting set-up for their games and this is no exception, stabbing people and walking around an open landscape and somehow making it not seem like a bore as fast as most games. Congratulations Ezio for being the first 5 on CotM.

It probably won't be the last, though *sigh*