History Headscratchers / AssassinsCreedII

* How about Lucy? She's a ReverseMole who managed to infiltrate [[AncientConspiracy the Templars' organization]]. The same Templars who have unlimited resources, and probably know at least a little bit about background checks. The Animus and AlternateHistory can't {{hand wave}} this one: somehow an Assassin, almost certainly descended from a line of Assassins, got put on an obviously high-priority project by the Knights Templar. Even if Lucy and the rest of the Assassins had faked evidence, the Templars probably have enough resources and training to spot faked evidence and find the original. You'd think that if there was even a sign of evidence-tampering anywhere near Lucy's backstory, they wouldn't have touched her, because she would have at least screwed with the Templars' version of the Animus, introduced faulty codes or something, which she likely did (the first game's Animus is surely less advanced than the second game's Animus 2.0), and what she ended up doing was certainly far, far more devastating. You'd think that before taking her and putting her on a sensitive project, they would have examined every corner of her background, making sure that her ancestors since Altaïr's time had never met anyone who knew someone who might have ever talked to the brother of anyone who ever passed an Assassin in the street, plus screened for misleading, tampered, or faked evidence. Unless Shaun Hastings is some kind of PhysicalGod of Computers, it would have been impossible to hide her involvement with the Assassins, too much cross-referencing.

** Given the ending to ''Brotherhood'', [[spoiler: it seems likely that Lucy was ''never'' a ReverseMole]].

*** It's possible that, like the novel's implied explanation of Ezio's scar matching Desmond's scar during the Animus recreation in the game, Ezio's ''appearance'' in the Animus is a reflection of Desmond's appearance to an extent, too.

* Why was Petruccio executed along with his father and brother? He's just a thirteen years old sick boy.

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* So there I was, standing on the wall of Monterrigioni, waiting for the sun to rise. And as I watched, the full moon, slowly, majestically, sunk towards the horizon, touched it, and disappeared. And then, [[YouFailPhysicsForever the sun rose from the spot it had vanished]].

** Remember, Yahtzee has never been terribly good at following the plot and in-game information of any story he's experiencing (for pity's sake, he had trouble following ''Black Ops''' story) so he's not likely to catch something like an optional codex page that explicitly spells out how Altaïr engineered the gun.

* How is it that all the codex pages written by Altaïr in 13th century Syria end up spread around renaissance Italy? Same goes for his armor and the tombs of six random assassins.

** Seeing as how Ezio is ecstatic on attacking minstrels halfway through Revelations, the minstrels are real, and they hounded after Ezio throughout Italy

** The best explanation I can think of is that by the time Rodrigo realized that Ezio was as big a threat as he was, Ezio had already secured his alliance with Lorenzo de' Medici ''and'' secured the Medicis' power in Florence, and attacking Monterigionni would incite the wrath of Florence as a result. Prior to that, Rodrigo seemed to consider the Auditores to be little more than an annoyance, especially after Giovanni was killed. Once Ezio brought Florence onto his side, Rodrigo realized that the Auditores were still a serious threat, but by then the Auditores had control over Monterigionni as well, and the strength of that city's walls and the alliance with Florence would mean that they couldn't directly strike at the villa itself.
** Venice was also on Ezio's side, being ruled by a friend of the Assassins.

** It was Cesare who ordered the attack, not Rodrigo. Much later in ''Brotherhood'', you see why Rodrigo had held back: Rodrigo has better things to do than attacking the Assassins in retaliation, he now dreads them since Ezio had soundly defeated him. Cesare meanwhile was [[SmugSnake too vain]] and {{stupid|evil}} to listen, and Ezio stole Rome from under him and sabotaged his grand conquest plans as a result. It was definitely ''not'' smart to attack Monteriggioni.

[[folder:Attacking Monterigionni]]

* Personally, I was wondering why Rodrigo Borgia never bothered attacking Monterigionni with his army. He knows where the Auditores are based, and he knows who Ezio is and that he's after him and his conspirators. Why doesn't he just attack and take the villa?

** Well, judging from ''AC: Brotherhood'', the next game, it looks like the Borgias ''do'' get smarter and decide to go on the offensive against Monterigionni.
** It was Cesare who ordered the attack, not Rodrigo. Much later in ''Brotherhood'', you see why Rodrigo had held back: Rodrigo has better things to do than attacking the Assassins in retaliation, he now dreads them since Ezio had soundly defeated him. Cesare meanwhile was [[SmugSnake too vain]] and {{stupid|evil}} to listen.

** Also, this game is essentially made for Americans and the first game came out during the Iraq War. ''Assassin's Creed'' is about a Middle-Eastern culture killing The Templars (pre-dominantly white/Europeans). It's so that any real-world allusions aren't made.

** Well, judging from the new demo shown at E3 for ''AC: Brotherhood,'' the next game, it looks like the Borgias ''do'' get smarter and decide to go on the offensive against Monterigionni.
** And much later, you see why Rodrigo had held back. Pretty simple, actually, when you think about it...

** When Ezio breaks into a sprint he sheathes his main weapon, because running flat-out while hold a large, sharp piece of killing in your hands is a Bad Idea. With guard weapons, he doesn't have a sheath to put them in, so he has to drop the weapon.

** Remember, he gets a fair amount of money after every successful beatdown, so in all likelihood he's just a plain 'ol crass mercenary...he'll gladly defend the honor of a jilted lady provided the jilted lady can pay up.

** The best explanation I can think of is that by the time Rodrigo realized that Ezio was as big a threat as he was, Ezio had already secured his alliance with Lorenzo de' Medici ''and'' secured the Medicis' power in Florence, and attacking Monterigionni would incite the wrath of Florence as a result. Prior to that, Rodrigo seemed to consider the Auditoris to be little more than an annoyance, especially after Giovanni was killed. Once Ezio brought Florence onto his side, Rodrigo realized that the Auditores were still a serious threat, but by then the Auditores had control over Monterigionni as well, and the strength of that city's walls and the alliance with Florence would mean that they couldn't directly strike at the villa itself.

** Machiavelli was not a proponent of strong-man government. He personally was more of a republican in beliefs and had served in Savonarola's attempt at republican government; he wrote ''ThePrince'' more as an "Ok, if we ''must'' have a Prince, let's make him a strong, ruthless prince. This isn't the way I like it; it's just the way that it works." Besides, he also wrote it in an attempt to get work after being blacklisted -- and tortured -- after Savonarola fell.

** It was also something of a mercy kill, too. At that point poor Dante was basically a mindless slave of the Templars.

** Except that in addition to suggesting the climate is warm, the Ezio we see at the Auditore dinner table is much younger than he appears in the game. He's supposedly 17 years old in 1476, but looks more prepubescent.

** I assumed that was a slight skip in the video since the video isn't of the highest quality and there are a lot of cuts previous to that that.

** There's another problem. They don't just want to get their hands on a Piece of Eden - [[GottaCatchEmAll they want to make sure that nobody else gets one either.]] Getting an Apple is one problem, but making sure none of those wascally wabbit Assassins get one is another. If they don't know how many there are and how many are still out there, they can't be sure that some upstart isn't going to blow a hole in their plans.

** You mean the DLC stuff in ''Assassin's Creed II''? After getting the apple back there's a minor scene where Desmond wakes up and then says something along the lines of "nah, it's ok" and then goes back into the animus and the DLC sequence starts with Rebecca telling Desmond that she's fixed the broken sequences.

** Back in the day, Italian City States like Florence, Milan, Venice and so on were ruled as either Principalities and/or Republics, with powerful families like the Medici, Sforza, and Borgia at the top of the heap. In a thirst for power, the larger city states tended to swallow up any smaller surrounding towns into their political fold, via either outright force, diplomacy/alliances against other competing city states, or shared culture. So a city state like Florence would try to exert control over a smaller but profitable town like Monteriggioni. As Mario says while giving Ezio the tour of the villa when he first arrives, sometimes Monteriggioni is Florence's enemy, who they try to forcefully control, and sometimes it's Florence's ally, to whom they give a little more autonomy.
** Also, Monteriggioni seems to be the Auditore seat of power. Considering that Uncle Mario inherited the villa since he is older than Giovanni, as was expected of the time, local rulers/Dukes who ran their town were [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething actually expected to be savvy soldiers, with their own companies of soldiers, who they paid for, trained, and even fought along side with]]. It was not uncommon for Dukes/rulers to be soldiering ''condottiero,'' which loosely translates to "mercenary." So it makes sense that Uncle Mario has a group of ''condottieri'' or mercenaries at his beck and call, since it's established that he's a ''condottiero'' himself. While Italian city states did rely on paid troops, a lot of times, those troops were made up of second and third sons of various powerful families that were from said state/area (since second and third sons had little chance of inheritance, and being a mercenary was a pretty good way to rake in cash). So likely, the loyal mercenaries of Monteriggioni are from that town, and therefore had a vested interest in protecting it. And for all we know, they could be lower-level assassins themselves, considering that the Auditores are as well.

* Ezio has ImprobableFencingPowers, is NotQuiteHuman, and comes from a city historically famous for inventing a swordfighting style where you use two weapons at once -- why can't you use your sword and dagger at the same time? Maybe they're saving that for the third game?

** It seems odd that Desmond could develop the same balance, reflexes, skills, etc. as Ezio while watching everything from a third-person perspective. Apparently the Animus compensates.

** I'm not sure if the Assassins of his time even practiced marriage. Altaïr talks about his parents in very distant terms, but beyond that we don't really know anything about marriage for his order.

** You forget that Ezio solves the Codex in 1499, seven years after Columbus set sail. By that time, Europe's intelligensia was already fully aware of the existence of the Americas. Ezio, an educated gentleman, (whose hobbies include running around on rooftops and murdering people) would already know this.

* Apart from holding the coveted title of Most Irritating Sons Of Bitches On The Face Of The Planet, they seem to legitimately sing in English, because they occasionally sing a verse in English and finish it with a word in Italian that rhymes with the English word. You could explain this away as part of the Animus 2.0 compensating but I don't think it has -- in its large, ''large'' list of Headscracher-defeating features -- a 'Turn Minstrel's Songs Into English Versions Of The Song With The Occasional Italian Word That Doesn't Break The Rhyme Of The Song' setting.

* So what's the deal with the fact that Desmonds free-running animations completely change from Assassin's Creed 2 to Brotherhood. In the training in 2 he has a much more loose and bouncy style that doesn't use his hands as much where as in brotherhood they seem to have just copy and pasted Ezio's

** Actually after looking closer, his free-running in ''Brotherhood'' is closer to Altaïr's than Ezio's, he lacks the hand over hand climbing, and the big jumps that Ezio can perform.

*** The game itself implies that the former is correct. The player can go after the tombs in any order (after the first one) but he can't complete all of them until 1486. By then he had been a de-facto Assassin for a decade. When he finally removes the grate he doesn't pluck the armor off its pedestal and leave. No, he places his hand on the pedestal and says, "Altiar, I thank you for this great gift. May it protect me from my enemies". That is nothing if not respectful.

* Perhaps this is a subjective question, or up to any interpretation, but what was Petruccio intending to do with the feathers? It is symbolic? Was there an explanation in a novel or assorted piece of media? Other than a heartwarming side activity, what was his intention?

** I think the warehouse was for all their ''other'' stuff. Their files, their supplies, their computers for analyzing the Animus data, that sort of thing. All the stuff they couldn't take with them when they made their getaway.
** Well, the game starts with Desmond still staring at his wall so any post-credits snooping/replaying events that the player does in the first game probably isn't canon. I'd guess that reviewing the memories on the road won't have much of an impact.

** No, she doesn't, but the novelization isn't really canon.

** ''Bloodlines'' for the PSP explains it. Altaïr goes to Cyprus because there are Templars there. Maria goes there too for the same reason. Much HilarityEnsues and Maria undergoes a HeelFaceTurn. The two of them get together and go east to study the Piece of Eden. It also helps that Adha (the love interest from ''Altaïr's Chronicles'') dies 'offscreen'.

* So Ezio spends 23 years hunting down Rodrigo Borgia for murdering his family, learns over and over again that Rodrigo is abusing his power as Pope to do all manner of vile evilness. And at the end of the game he... doesn't kill Borgia once he has him at his mercy? I wouldn't object to this so much if it weren't for the fact that Borgia is a ''monster'' who Ezio should have killed to end his reign of terror. Admittedly, beating the hell out of him with Ezio's bare hands is still pretty cool, but still.

** My interpretation: I don't think Ezio ever really believed in the Assassins' cause. I think that deep down, it was always about getting revenge for the death of his father and brothers. But by the time he finally made it to Borgia he realized his revenge wasn't really getting him anything (and was forcing him to miss out on a lot, like a potential relationship with Rosa) so he decided to stop. And since he never truly accepted his role as an Assassin (at least not yet) he didn't feel any personal obligation to kill Borgia. He'd beaten him, and that seemed like enough. I guess you could call that selfish in a certain sense, but remember that Ezio didn't choose to be an Assassin. He had it all pretty much thrust upon him. It's a bit unfair to expect him to accept a role that he never chose and may have refused had he been given a choice in the first place.
** ''[[HandsomeLech Just]]'' [[HandsomeLech Rosa?]]
** Well Rosa was the only girl I felt Ezio had any real chemistry with. The rest were just hot chicks he wanted to boink (notice he describes Caterina Sforza as "my next conquest" rather than "a beautiful lady" or something). But this troper swears he detected some serious sparks between Ezio and Rosa.

*** Even if they had skipped four more years, Borgia died ''because there was poison in his food'', so you would not have killed the pope. The murderer is known.

* In the final mission, Borgia stabs Ezio in the stomach. Blood pools on the ground, Ezio collapses and passes out, Borgia walks away triumphant. Fade to black. We're lead to believe that we have failed. Yet, moments later (as the priests are regaining consciousness), Ezio recovers. What the hell is going on?! It can't have been an illusion, because there's clearly blood around the wound. Was it some kind of trick on Ezio's part, then? Or did Borgia not stab deep enough -- which can't be right, as the blade went in all the way to hilt. So, has Ezio somehow recovered, or is he dying and using what's left to kill Borgia, or was healed afterwards? What is this I don't even

** Considering Ezio stabs Borgia ''first'', thinks he killed him and the man get back up just fine I'm guessing the Staff and the Apple do give you some mild immortality while using their power.

* So it's the last fight in the game, Vidic is hell-bent on capturing you and Lucy and finding those world-controlling Pieces of Eden. Abstergo essentially controls the world at this point, with basically limitless resources, technology, and manpower at their disposal. They have the political leeway to do whatever they want with no repercussions whatsoever from the public. So, when choosing the loadout for your elite squad of men to capture highly-trained killers, they decide to give them... metal sticks. I know they can't use lethal weapons, since they're trying to capture them alive, but metal sticks? You'd think the world's most powerful organization would have some tasers, rubber bullets, or even some airsoft guns or rubber bullets on hand. Just bugs me...

* What was going in the ending? What was the whole thing with the poles and stuff? It bugs me that I don't get that. Also why is Altaïr's sword for sale at the blacksmith's? It would make far more sense to just include it with his armour after you get the seals.

** Apparently, the developers of this series like throwing a {{mind screw}} of a plot twist at the player and then immediately cutting to the credits (at least the second game handles the cut better). The Codex and Subject 16's puzzles also provide some foreshadowing to the ending. Fully understanding the meta-plot requires more work than the casual player will realize but the coming apocalypse will probably be clarified in the sequels.

** It seems odd that Desmond could develop the same balance, reflexes, skills, etc. as Ezio while watching everything from a third-person perspective, though.

* When Ezio collects all of the Codex pages and brings them back to Monteriggioni and then solves the puzzle, he concludes (correctly) that it's a map of Earth. This makes absolutely no sense. How would he KNOW that, given the time period? There is no corroborating evidence to support his theory, making it an illogical conclusion, and beyond that... He just deciphered a map of the entire world! Why is no one astonished or excited? I--I don't even... ARRRRRRRGH!