Character Profile
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the_spaniardName: Rodrigo Borgia (Roderic de Borja i Borja) / Alexander VI (Papal name)
Series: Assassin's Creed (2/Brotherhood)
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Canon Point: 1492, right after he was elected Pope (between the Battle of Forli / ACII: Discovery and the Bonfire of the Vanities).
Background Link: Rodrigo Borgia- Assassin's Creed Wiki
Personality: Rodrigo Borgia is a complicated character. He is a ruthless man working to gain power for himself, yet at the same time he is a Templar working for the greater good. More than a mere Templar, he is the Grand Master of the Templar Order. Of course, both his personal purpose and his purpose as a Templar work together well. Templars wish to make a new world. One of eternal peace without war or suffering- In a word: Utopia. Yet they hope to accomplish this by suppressing free-will and they do not hesitate to be cruel to reach their end. In this design, Rodrigo sees himself as the one bringing about this new world. He expects to obtain the power that will allow him to make such a world a reality. And of course, with that power he sees himself as the one reigning over the New World Order.
He is very ambitious and sees himself as 'The Prophet' mentioned in the prophecies written by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad centuries ago. As such he thinks of himself as some sort of chosen one and sees it as only natural that he would be the one to reign over Italy (and maybe eventually, the world). Obviously for this to be achieved the ancestral enemies of the Templars must be exterminated: the Assassins. Rodrigo has worked to this end as well for a very long time. He nearly succeeded in wiping out a major family of assassins, the Auditore family. But Ezio Auditore escaped and managed to be reunited with his uncle alongside his mother and sister: his failure to completely wipe out this family will prove to be his undoing. In the end, Rodrigo created his worst enemy; he is the very source of his own demise.
Rodrigo is manipulative, patient and works with a lot determination. Words are weapons more deadly than swords when used by him. Whether his plots last one, ten or thirty years, Rodrigo will keep working to see them accomplished. The Templars' greater plan runs on centuries, millennia even. Rodrigo is aware that in order to succeed patience is a virtue. He also knows that relying on only one plan to see their purpose accomplished would be a mistake. In this sense he is a chessmaster, carefully laying out many plans which outcomes, as different as they appear to be, all lead to the accomplishment of his great plan. He never gives up and as a true chessmaster, does not allow his failings to break him. Instead he comes back with a new plan, a new back-up.
This can be seen throughout Assassin's Creed 2. Rodrigo planned to rule over Italy by having the leaders of each city killed and replaced by Templars under his control. Yet simultaneously he ran his plan to obtain the Pieces of Eden in order to open the Vault where he believes he will find God and obtain his power- Which if it is true would allow him to unify the world and rule over it. At the same time he took control of Rome and the Church while shaping his own family as a deadly weapon. All these plans work together and simultaneously act as back-up would one be to fail.
He can be seen as very cruel and slightly sadistic, as he very rarely shows compassion for anyone. Rodrigo only cares about himself, his family and his allies. And even for his allies, he won't shed a tear if something is to happen to them. Nevertheless, as he believes he works for the betterment of humanity and wishes to put an end to war and violence, it shows he at least cares for humans in a general way- Even though he despises what they are and couldn't care less at the death of some as long as it means his objectives will be accomplished. He shows himself generous toward those loyal to him and will grant them their desires. However toward those who disappoint or betray him, he shows no mercy and will not hesitate to slay them personally.
His relationship with his family is similar to that with his allies. As with everyone else, he sees his own family as tools for him to accomplish his goals. He arranged marriages for his daughter in order to gain access to privileged positions. Once he reached papacy, gave the most important positions to people from his own family. The way he treats his children is disputable as well. While one of his sons seems to have been favored and well treated, his other son, Cesare, appears to despise him and will grow to be even more ruthless than his father (and in the future, will eventually become the de facto head of the Templars). However the affection his daughter bear for him indicates he is not a totally emotionless man and can have his nice moments.
In spite of having spent most of his life working hand in hand with the Christian Church, he does not believe in God. In fact he despises Christianity as well as every other religion. He does not care about notions such as morality, good or evil- He is a firm believer that the end justifies the means. In his eyes the religion is little more than a fantasy created by people to reassure themselves. A tool that has to be used by those enlightened in order to offer a reassuring illusion to the masses, to ease their pain. To give them the belief there is some greater purpose to their existence. To make them believe they are not meaningless. In the end religion makes it much easier for people like him to control the masses. Having become Pope, the highest rank in the Christian Church, he has then accomplished one of his objectives. He is effectively one of the, if not the most, influential leader in the world.
Because he is the Grand Master of the Templar Order, Rodrigo has numerous allies both within and outside of the Templar Order. He can quite easily make new allies to help him in accomplish his purpose, either because their beliefs are the same than his own or because he offers them lies and illusions to control them. A master in the art or corruption, Rodrigo can corrupt people even amongst his oldest enemies thanks to false promises or threats made to them and their family- Their friends. Any means to reach his objectives are good. And disposing of ancient allies as mentioned above does not seem to be a problem for him either.
Because he is such a manipulative character, most people think of him as a respectable man who worked very hard in his life. As the Pope, some people even venerate him. The only ones to see through his mask are the Assassins. However on the long-term his methods will draw the anger of the people- He is not perfect.
While his plans are carefully laid out and well thought out, more often than not they are flawed, which leaves an open window for his enemies to strike if they are clever enough to see the flaw in his plan. He is mostly a normal human being; and so he cannot predict every possible outcome to his plan. As such, his enemies successfully countered his plans on many occasions. Yet again he is a very intelligent character who can think on the fly and come with back-up plans quite easily. He rarely commits twice the same mistake, learning from them and improving himself upon them. He rarely does underestimate his enemies as well, he knows to recognize a threat, yet at the same time he is confident that they'll be dealt with in the end.
As a matter of fact, his arrogance would be his true character flaw: convinced to be the Prophet, convinced that in the end he will win. This will prove to be his undoing in the future, as once his dream will be shattered he will become little more than the shadow of his previous self, letting his grasp over Rome and the Templar Order slip into his son's hands.
While he clearly appears to be a courageous man taking risks to see his plans accomplished, not hesitating to step on the field and fighting assassins if necessary, he also has a cowardly side. On at least two occasions he fled from a battle against the Assassin Giovanni Auditore, once when he felt his life threatened by him and left his own men to be slaughtered by the assassin. The other time he confronted Giovanni on his own, but he had prepared an ambush. And as his men were defeated, he threw a knife to strike down Giovanni and ran away once more. On one hand standing against an assassin whom he knew he couldn't hope to defeat and would end up with his death would have been stupid. In that sense, he is realistic and makes the best choices to preserve his life. His allies would call it being strategic. On the other hand, running away and hiding while his men are fighting isn't exactly a symbol of courage. His enemies would call it cowardice.
Last but not least, under his rule the city of Rome fell in disarray as he put more emphasis on strengthening the Templar's hold on the city, rather than having the city prosper. On the bright side, Rodrigo encouraged new architectural designs and evolution. He has a genuine interest in all form of art and is known to have protected artists. He encouraged education and issued papal bulls that created new colleges. Rodrigo Borgia is clearly a character made of shades of grey, who is neither good nor evil.
Abilities: While Rodrigo on his own doesn't posses any specific powers, neither magical skills, nor super human strength, he has full control over the Staff of Eden and all of its powers. He is also an experimented fighter both with a sword and a staff/spear, and also excels at hand to hand combat. Despite his lack of any specific power, Rodrigo remains the most formidable fighter the Master Assassin Ezio Auditore fought during his quest for vengeance.
Rodrigo's real strength is in his intelligence, his ability to plot, make plans that may take years to come to a conclusion, but that generally give excellent results. A Mastermind, Rodrigo spent an important part of his life at the head of the Templar Order, plotting to accomplish the Templars' dream to control humanity, to deprive every humans of free-will, thus leading to eternal peace. He proved his intelligence when he successfully corrupted close friends to the Auditore Family and took advantage of the absence of their friend and protector, Lorenzo de Medici, to execute most males within the family. A very patient man, he can plot shift of powers into the different cities of Italy and Europe, and planned for over twenty years his election as Pope.
Series: Assassin's Creed (2/Brotherhood)
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Canon Point: 1492, right after he was elected Pope (between the Battle of Forli / ACII: Discovery and the Bonfire of the Vanities).
Background Link: Rodrigo Borgia- Assassin's Creed Wiki
Personality: Rodrigo Borgia is a complicated character. He is a ruthless man working to gain power for himself, yet at the same time he is a Templar working for the greater good. More than a mere Templar, he is the Grand Master of the Templar Order. Of course, both his personal purpose and his purpose as a Templar work together well. Templars wish to make a new world. One of eternal peace without war or suffering- In a word: Utopia. Yet they hope to accomplish this by suppressing free-will and they do not hesitate to be cruel to reach their end. In this design, Rodrigo sees himself as the one bringing about this new world. He expects to obtain the power that will allow him to make such a world a reality. And of course, with that power he sees himself as the one reigning over the New World Order.
He is very ambitious and sees himself as 'The Prophet' mentioned in the prophecies written by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad centuries ago. As such he thinks of himself as some sort of chosen one and sees it as only natural that he would be the one to reign over Italy (and maybe eventually, the world). Obviously for this to be achieved the ancestral enemies of the Templars must be exterminated: the Assassins. Rodrigo has worked to this end as well for a very long time. He nearly succeeded in wiping out a major family of assassins, the Auditore family. But Ezio Auditore escaped and managed to be reunited with his uncle alongside his mother and sister: his failure to completely wipe out this family will prove to be his undoing. In the end, Rodrigo created his worst enemy; he is the very source of his own demise.
Rodrigo is manipulative, patient and works with a lot determination. Words are weapons more deadly than swords when used by him. Whether his plots last one, ten or thirty years, Rodrigo will keep working to see them accomplished. The Templars' greater plan runs on centuries, millennia even. Rodrigo is aware that in order to succeed patience is a virtue. He also knows that relying on only one plan to see their purpose accomplished would be a mistake. In this sense he is a chessmaster, carefully laying out many plans which outcomes, as different as they appear to be, all lead to the accomplishment of his great plan. He never gives up and as a true chessmaster, does not allow his failings to break him. Instead he comes back with a new plan, a new back-up.
This can be seen throughout Assassin's Creed 2. Rodrigo planned to rule over Italy by having the leaders of each city killed and replaced by Templars under his control. Yet simultaneously he ran his plan to obtain the Pieces of Eden in order to open the Vault where he believes he will find God and obtain his power- Which if it is true would allow him to unify the world and rule over it. At the same time he took control of Rome and the Church while shaping his own family as a deadly weapon. All these plans work together and simultaneously act as back-up would one be to fail.
He can be seen as very cruel and slightly sadistic, as he very rarely shows compassion for anyone. Rodrigo only cares about himself, his family and his allies. And even for his allies, he won't shed a tear if something is to happen to them. Nevertheless, as he believes he works for the betterment of humanity and wishes to put an end to war and violence, it shows he at least cares for humans in a general way- Even though he despises what they are and couldn't care less at the death of some as long as it means his objectives will be accomplished. He shows himself generous toward those loyal to him and will grant them their desires. However toward those who disappoint or betray him, he shows no mercy and will not hesitate to slay them personally.
His relationship with his family is similar to that with his allies. As with everyone else, he sees his own family as tools for him to accomplish his goals. He arranged marriages for his daughter in order to gain access to privileged positions. Once he reached papacy, gave the most important positions to people from his own family. The way he treats his children is disputable as well. While one of his sons seems to have been favored and well treated, his other son, Cesare, appears to despise him and will grow to be even more ruthless than his father (and in the future, will eventually become the de facto head of the Templars). However the affection his daughter bear for him indicates he is not a totally emotionless man and can have his nice moments.
In spite of having spent most of his life working hand in hand with the Christian Church, he does not believe in God. In fact he despises Christianity as well as every other religion. He does not care about notions such as morality, good or evil- He is a firm believer that the end justifies the means. In his eyes the religion is little more than a fantasy created by people to reassure themselves. A tool that has to be used by those enlightened in order to offer a reassuring illusion to the masses, to ease their pain. To give them the belief there is some greater purpose to their existence. To make them believe they are not meaningless. In the end religion makes it much easier for people like him to control the masses. Having become Pope, the highest rank in the Christian Church, he has then accomplished one of his objectives. He is effectively one of the, if not the most, influential leader in the world.
Because he is the Grand Master of the Templar Order, Rodrigo has numerous allies both within and outside of the Templar Order. He can quite easily make new allies to help him in accomplish his purpose, either because their beliefs are the same than his own or because he offers them lies and illusions to control them. A master in the art or corruption, Rodrigo can corrupt people even amongst his oldest enemies thanks to false promises or threats made to them and their family- Their friends. Any means to reach his objectives are good. And disposing of ancient allies as mentioned above does not seem to be a problem for him either.
Because he is such a manipulative character, most people think of him as a respectable man who worked very hard in his life. As the Pope, some people even venerate him. The only ones to see through his mask are the Assassins. However on the long-term his methods will draw the anger of the people- He is not perfect.
While his plans are carefully laid out and well thought out, more often than not they are flawed, which leaves an open window for his enemies to strike if they are clever enough to see the flaw in his plan. He is mostly a normal human being; and so he cannot predict every possible outcome to his plan. As such, his enemies successfully countered his plans on many occasions. Yet again he is a very intelligent character who can think on the fly and come with back-up plans quite easily. He rarely commits twice the same mistake, learning from them and improving himself upon them. He rarely does underestimate his enemies as well, he knows to recognize a threat, yet at the same time he is confident that they'll be dealt with in the end.
As a matter of fact, his arrogance would be his true character flaw: convinced to be the Prophet, convinced that in the end he will win. This will prove to be his undoing in the future, as once his dream will be shattered he will become little more than the shadow of his previous self, letting his grasp over Rome and the Templar Order slip into his son's hands.
While he clearly appears to be a courageous man taking risks to see his plans accomplished, not hesitating to step on the field and fighting assassins if necessary, he also has a cowardly side. On at least two occasions he fled from a battle against the Assassin Giovanni Auditore, once when he felt his life threatened by him and left his own men to be slaughtered by the assassin. The other time he confronted Giovanni on his own, but he had prepared an ambush. And as his men were defeated, he threw a knife to strike down Giovanni and ran away once more. On one hand standing against an assassin whom he knew he couldn't hope to defeat and would end up with his death would have been stupid. In that sense, he is realistic and makes the best choices to preserve his life. His allies would call it being strategic. On the other hand, running away and hiding while his men are fighting isn't exactly a symbol of courage. His enemies would call it cowardice.
Last but not least, under his rule the city of Rome fell in disarray as he put more emphasis on strengthening the Templar's hold on the city, rather than having the city prosper. On the bright side, Rodrigo encouraged new architectural designs and evolution. He has a genuine interest in all form of art and is known to have protected artists. He encouraged education and issued papal bulls that created new colleges. Rodrigo Borgia is clearly a character made of shades of grey, who is neither good nor evil.
Abilities: While Rodrigo on his own doesn't posses any specific powers, neither magical skills, nor super human strength, he has full control over the Staff of Eden and all of its powers. He is also an experimented fighter both with a sword and a staff/spear, and also excels at hand to hand combat. Despite his lack of any specific power, Rodrigo remains the most formidable fighter the Master Assassin Ezio Auditore fought during his quest for vengeance.
Rodrigo's real strength is in his intelligence, his ability to plot, make plans that may take years to come to a conclusion, but that generally give excellent results. A Mastermind, Rodrigo spent an important part of his life at the head of the Templar Order, plotting to accomplish the Templars' dream to control humanity, to deprive every humans of free-will, thus leading to eternal peace. He proved his intelligence when he successfully corrupted close friends to the Auditore Family and took advantage of the absence of their friend and protector, Lorenzo de Medici, to execute most males within the family. A very patient man, he can plot shift of powers into the different cities of Italy and Europe, and planned for over twenty years his election as Pope.