For others named Rodrigo Borgia, please see Rodrigo Borgia.
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| “ | Are you so naive? I became Pope because it gave me access! It gave me power! Do you think I believe a single god-damned word of that ridiculous book? It's all lies and superstition. Just like every other religious tract written over the past ten thousand years. | „ |
| ~ Rodrigo denouncing the Bible to Ezio Auditore during their confrontation in the Vatican in 1499. |
Rodrigo Borgia (born: Roderic Llançol i de Borja, also known as Rodrigo Lanzol de Borgia) is the main antagonist and final boss from the 2009 video game, Assassin's Creed II and the Bigger Bad in Assassin’s Creed II Discovery and a supporting antagonist in the 2010 video game sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. He was the leader of the Italian Rite of the Templar Order during the Renaissance in Italy. He was one of the most powerful men in Europe during the Renaissance, and was elected Pope from 1492 to 1503 as Alexander VI. His enemies called him "The Spaniard" because of his Spanish origins, while his Templar followers called him Maestro, which is Italian and Spanish for master.
He is voiced by Manuel Tadros.
Biography
The Medici were the ruling family in Florence, but a conspiracy was being plotted in an attempt to overthrow the powerful Lorenzo de Medici, and Rodrigo Borgia was at the center of it. Rodrigo's men took down important leaders all over Italy, so they could seize control. He was the one that ordered the execution of the Auditore family, from which only Ezio, Claudia and Maria escaped. Two years later, Rodrigo attended a meeting with the Pazzi family under the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. There he reminded them to beware of the Assassins, and stated that the next day would be A new dawn for Florence.
After Ezio had thwarted the Templars in Florence, Rodrigo went to meet with the remaining conspirators in Tuscany. The Pazzi were going to ask for asylum in either Venice or Rome. But before the meeting could even start, most of the conspirators were killed by Ezio. Only Jacopo de Pazzi made it to the meeting. Rodrigo blamed him for the failure in Florence and stabbed him. He then left, after sending his men after Ezio.
Borgia was later seen in Venice, planning with Carlo Grimaldi and the Barbarigos to murder the current Doge, and replace him with a Templar. He was angry with them for making their own plans, and appointed Marco Barbarigo as the new Doge. While Ezio was hunting the Barbarigo's in Venice, Rodrigo was tracking the location of a Piece of Eden in Cyprus. He planned to use the Piece of Eden to create a new world, with himself as its leader. He appeared in Venice, claiming the Piece of Eden, but Ezio attempted to kill him, resulting in Rodrigo to flee without the Piece.
Borgia was elected Pope in 1492 and established his power in Rome. Borgia's true intent however, was just to get in the vault that lays under the Vatican, where he believed to find God.
In 1499, Ezio chased him to assassinate him. Ezio sneaked into the Vatican and seemingly assassinated Borgia without being seen inside the Sistine Chapel. After Ezio spoke to Borgia, Borgia used the Staff of Eden to strike down everyone in the room, including Ezio. Ezio later managed to resist the power of the staff, and took out the Apple of Eden. Using the Apple of Eden, Ezio created 4 clones of himself, which aided him in his fight against Rodrigo. Rodrigo beat Ezio, and managed to combine the Apple of Eden with the Staff of Eden, making him very powerful. He stabbed Ezio, leaving him for dead, and entering the Vault. After awaking a short while later, Ezio made his way into the Vault and found Borgia furiously pounding the door to the inner chambers. Ezio challenged Borgia to a fight without any weapons, and he eventually won the fight. Rodrigo stated that he never believed in the Bible or in God, and only became Pope to get the Staff and access to the Vault. After beating Rodrigo, Ezio told him he was not the prophet, as Ezio was the prophet. Broken by this revelation and accepting defeat, Borgia told Ezio to kill him and put an end to it; however Ezio refused, saying that killing Borgia would not bring back his family. Besides, the knowledge that he was not the Prophet was an even sorer blow than anything else that Ezio could have thought of.
In the sequel to Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Rodrigo Borgia is still the Pope, but is later killed by his son, Cesare Borgia out of rage.
Personality and Characteristics
| “ | It's not approval I'm after. Just power. | „ |
| ~ Rodrigo, while dueling with Ezio. |
Initially an ambitious middle-aged man, Rodrigo was intent, watchful, and circumspect, as Cesare later would be, on taking Italy in the name of the Templar Order and exterminating the Assassins. After becoming Pope, his obsession of not only conquering Italy but also of realizing what he believed to be his true calling as the Prophet intensified. He actively sought to take the Apple of Eden from Savonarola, as demonstrated when he sent battalions of his family's soldiers to Florence to retrieve it. As he said while fighting Ezio in the vault, he didn't even believe in religion.
After his duel with Ezio in the Vault, and the shattering revelation that he was not the Prophet, Rodrigo was reduced to being an empty shell, and instead of continuing to pursue his dreams of infinite power and the extermination of the Assassin Order, he focused on maintaining his monopoly over Rome.
Abilities and Equipment
- Swordsmanship: He was able to engage a very skilled swordsman Ezio and all of his assassin allies with some difficulty. He was even able to battle Ezio and his illusionary doppelgängers with the Staff of Eden.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat: He was able to go toe-to-toe with Ezio in the temple entrance before eventually loosing to Ezio.
- Master Strategist: He proved to be a very capable strategist, even predicting Ezio's moves and actions in almost every encounter they had. Eventually he became the head of the Vatican Church due to his schemes.
- Resources: As the Grandmaster of the Templar Order and Pope of the Vatican Church, he had access to all the resources of Italia.
- Influence: As the Pope of the Vatican Church, he was highly influential even without bribery.
- Intimidation: Due to his strong devotions and beliefs, even members of the Templar Order are afraid of him.
- Priesthood: He seems to have great deal of knowledge about christianity and possibly other abrahamic religions, even though he is an atheist only using such knowledge for sinister purposes. He even recites verses of the bible in the original Latin.
- The Staff of Eden: Once he became the Pope, he had access to the Papal Staff which was actually one of the Staffs of Eden, an extremely ancient artifact of supernatural power.
- Mind Control: He was abel to make the entire Vatican Church and the pilgrims in the church bow to him.
- Invisibility: The Staff was able to render him invisible, so as to sneak up on Ezio and take the Apple of Eden.
- Energized Strike: The Staff's energized strike allowed for him to deliver s superhuman blow to Ezio.
- Telekinesis: He was able to lift Ezio off the ground and levitate Ezio in the air, restraining him as he delivered a fatal blow.
Trivia
- Rodrigo was called "The Spaniard" by the Assassins, due to his Spanish origins.
- During some of Rodrigo's appearances, a dim red lighting effect could be seen on Rodrigo's hood and upper body, even though there was no source for this light.
- Historically, Pope Alexander VI ordered the execution of Savonarola, the mad monk of Florence.
- In the simulated training map of Castel Gandolfo in the Animi Training Program, portraits of Rodrigo could be seen on the walls of the location's interior.
- In Assassin's Creed: Revelations, while Ezio was disguised as a minstrel, he sang a song about Rodrigo before and after he became Pope.
- In the Revelations novel, Giovanni Auditore mentioned Rodrigo indirectly, implying him as the new Grand Master, "A man in Rome has taken command of our enemies who is perhaps the greatest power you and I will ever know."
- Jeremy Irons, who plays Alan Rikkin in the 2016 movie, also portrayed another fictionalization of Rodrigo in "The Borgias".
- Battling Rodrigo
- When Ezio entered the Sistine Chapel to assassinate Rodrigo, he was proclaiming the Nicene Creed in Latin to the congregation. Ironically, Rodrigo later stated that he did not believe the concept of the Nicene Creed, which confesses the wholeness of the Roman Catholic doctrine.
- It is possible to kill Rodrigo while in the Sistine Chapel, if Ezio poisoned him. After this, the Assassin could wield the Staff of Eden, although he could not use any of its powers.
- Occasionally, during the fight with Rodrigo in the Sistine Chapel, he could be seen as wielding a spear instead of the Staff. This could be due to him using the other end of the weapon as a spear.
- Although Ezio did not kill Rodrigo, he was listed as dead in the Animus' Conspirator Web after Desmond Miles completed the main memories of Assassin's Creed II and re-entered the virtual machine.
- If you tried to kill Rodrigo in the battle in Venice or in the Sistine Chapel using the Hidden Gun, no damage would occur, nor would any sign of being hit be displayed. This is obviously so he does not die until near the end of Brotherhood.
- Rodrigo was the first Pope to be elected from a conclave in the Sistine Chapel.
- In Rodrigo's assassination target video, there was a scene with Rodrigo in his Papal robes standing next to his fellow Templars, who were seated at a table. This was impossible, because by the time Rodrigo became Pope, Ezio had killed all the other Templars present. The Pazzi, the Barbarigo, and Carlo Grimaldi, for example, were shown at the table.
- In the assassination target video for the Orsi brothers set in 1488, in the Battle of Forlì DLC, Rodrigo was again shown in his Papal robes, even though he was elected Pope in 1492.
- Rodrigo's fate in Assassin's Creed: Renaissance differed from that shown in Assassin's Creed II. In the game, after Ezio defeated and spared him, Rodrigo was left alone to come to terms with his misery as Ezio entered the Vault. In the novel, however, when Ezio emerged from the Vault, Rodrigo committed suicide with poison. His last act was to ask Ezio what he saw in the Vault, to which Ezio replied "Nothing. No one," leading him to die believing everything he had done in life was for nothing.
- In the novelization of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, however, Rodrigo evidently survived this suicide attempt, and Mario Auditore suggested that he had not taken enough poison, or that he had been faking.
- Rodrigo died at 72, a recurring factor in the Assassin's Creed series.