how do you think ezio died in assassins creed embers *SPOILERS* | Forums

[EscoBlades]

7 pages huh?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ambiguity - just saying. Maybe best to just leave it be. It might have been written specifically that way. Maybe there is no grand revelatory answer. He may have just died...shocking i know, lol.

[oliacr]

It was a heart attack.

[darkstar6265]

Before I get a particular theory of how Ezio dies I want to interject some viewpoints. Also, keep in mind these are all just speculations and opinions though some of it has to do with facts from the game. If you just want to see my theory skip down to "now my theory..."

First, for those of you who believe that there is no reason to kill Ezio because he is old I feel doesn't make sense. This is covered earlier but I'd like to reiterate the fact. The reason that the Templar's would still like to kill Ezio is they seek to kill those who hold truth, or knowledge of something because they threaten the Templar's bigger picture. Ezio has a lot of knowledge of how the Templar order works (since he's been fighting and winning for so long against them), as well as the knowledge of how to build a successful Assassin order (his multiple orders throughout all three games). This comes from first hand knowledge of being a master assassin for 30 years as well as the knowledge that stemmed from the Masaf Keys to learn how Altair empowered his Assassin order. Also, we have to keep in mind that Ezio held the Apple of Eden for a while which grants more knowledge as well. So in the eyes of the Templar's even though he is old and can't fight as well he is still a threat because his knowledge can still bring down kingdoms (stemming from Altair returning to Masaf in Assassin's Creed: Revelations at a really old age and reclaiming the assassin order and then building upon that to make it really powerful again even though he could not fight (without the use of the Apple at least). Also, to add to this point he is teaching Jun or whatever her name is the ideals of the assassin order so that she can gain power and push back the Templar's. So Ezio is definitely still a threat.

Second, for those people who think the man who sat on the bench is a not important because he's no one special. There are at least two different meanings that "not important" and "no one special" can mean. The first, being he is a not important because he is simply a random character that was added only to add to the backround. The Second, being he is not important or special because the character itself serves no purpose to the story other than whatever connection he has with Ezio until his death. Meaning they do not continue to explore and go into the depth of this character at any other time. Personally I feel like the latter is true because when you create a movie or a work of fiction you do not put in things that do not pertain to the story you are trying to tell. Obviously this person is important because they show a close up of him interact and have dialogue with the main protagonists (Ezio) and show him walking away. If he were not important to the story then he would not have been in the story in the first place. It would have just been Ezio on a bench alone, who then dies. However, this is not what the writers/directors/animation dudes wanted. Therefore, in my opinion due to the process of elimination he is important.

Third, for those people who keep speculating that they see a hidden blade, or that Ezio is poisoned by a hidden blade I find this hard to believe. The reason for is because Templar's don't use hidden blades. That's the trademark of an assassin. So in my opinion if the man truly poisoned Ezio he didn't use a hidden blade to do so.

Fourth, kind of stemming off the last one is I'm not convinced that Ezio is poisoned. Now obviously this is the point where a lot of controversy lies but allow me to try and argue my point. This next part you should take with a grain of salt since I only have a two examples and there may be other examples that disprove my point. But, Templar's usually are very vocal and public about the people they kill. For example in Assassin's Creed: II the Templar's kill your family by hanging them so everyone can see. Instead, they could have just come into your house and killed everyone and then covered it up. The second instance where Templar's assassinate somebody or try to at least is when they try to kill the Medici's. This takes place in the middle of Mass or something and is very public and sort of vocal. I feel there may be other instances but these are the only two that pop in my head. So, my point is that if the Templar's wanted to kill an Assassin, especially a Master Assassin they would do so in a public way. After all they usually have major players high up in the hierarchy. My other point is that only Assassin's kill people without anyone knowing. Since personally I've never seen a Templar go all stealth to go kill someone I find it hard to believe that this is a Templar. Now at this point you may be saying "you stupid dumb blind person haven't you seen all the pictures of the dude having a Templar sign on his vambrace?" My re****al to that is yes I have and no I don't have an answer for that. Now, you also might be saying "earlier you also stated that those who create fiction put everything in there for a reason, clearly this is in the video so what's the reason?" My answer to that is I really have no clue. Perhaps it's an easter egg. Or going off the theory that the man may be death perhaps it's symbolic in showing that the Templar's kill a lot of people, but so did Ezio, so instead of the symbol symbolizing Templar's it's a symbol for death. After all everyone that really dies is due to the quarrel between the Templar's and Assassin's so why wouldn't death take up that symbol. As well as perhaps death comes to us all in something that we can recognize. In Ezio's case it would be a Templar since that is how he always expected to die. Also, I do not believe Ezio was poisoned because he is still very aware of his surroundings. For example earlier in Embers when Jun first arrives he runs at her sensing a possible danger. A second example is when he is in the market and you see the first fight scene happen. A third is when the people bust into his house. The fourth is the horses appearing when Jun leaves. Also, being the assassin he is he knows the highest probability of being attacked is while he is in the city so he is going to be on edge. People have also already brought up how he is very protective of his family. Two examples would be him attacking Jun when they first meet and also when he sends his family away after hearing who is following Jun. So if he perceived any threat he would have made it known to his family. People also brought up eagle vision which he could use to perceive threats as well. So in my opinion the probability of Ezio being quietly assassinated while his family is so close is really very hard to believe.

Now for my theory of how Ezio died. Going off of what other people have said I believe the person that sat down next to Ezio is death. Mangaroca007 put it into really good words before he got to his numbering so you can just go back and find it since it would be a big quote in an already big text. Anyways I'm going to reiterate what he said but with examples. So, the man is death. Some things that back up my notion is if you notice at 2:30 in Assassin's Creed: Embers there is a figure in the distance that Ezio see's but then a moment later he is gone. Now this could be Jun, or people who are following Jun, but for my theory I'm going to say this is death. This figure symbolizes that death is on the horizon and getting close. Ezio also knows that he is probably close to death because he is writing a goodbye letter to Sofia. Also, throughout Embers Ezio is seen coughing. Someone else in this post pointed out that this could be caused by him running through the cave in Cappadocia. Though I find this hard to swallow because it was only for a little while and he was still youngish so the cilia and the years should have healed him from that it still could have played a factor into his death. Others have brought up tuberculosis which i doubt happened as well because that causes blood to come out when coughing which is never shown. However, near the end at 17:18 - 17:34 it shows Ezio coughing heavily and then clutching his chest leading into the fact that he is getting worse and he feels pain in his chest. Then moments after Sofia comes in and tells him they will be back after dark. He signals to give him a minute because he wants to go with them which hints that he knows he doesn't have a lot of time and he doesn't want to die alone without them and he also completed his goodbye letter so he is finally at peace to die. Then at 17:54 Sofia as she helps him sit down on the bench tells him he should have stayed home in which he replies with he is home. This hints at what better way to die than at home with two people that you love. As they walk away he smiles. Then comes the man, or I'm going to call death, that sits down next to him. Death then is kind of a shadow of what Ezio's life was like in the beginning with being a player and wanted to get out of Venice. Ezio then responds with "I don't think the problem is Venice" which means that Ezio has come full circle and finally realizes that places are only as good as the people who are in it. Death smiles before responding kind of saying non-verbally that he's glad that Ezio has finally come to that realization and then responds with "sorry" or "pardon" before he grabs Ezio's hand to comfort him before he goes into his coughing fit saying "have courage old man" which resembles what he has told people he has assassinated before they are carried away with death. In which Ezio responds non-verbally at first with confusion and then with understanding (since he realizes it is death since he is so familiar with it since he has given it over to so many) and then it shows death nodding to what he is thinking which is "so death you have finally come for me." Death then says "get some rest" before he walks away. Death then allows Ezio a moment before he takes him so that he may look up at his family. Ezio then smiles because he is at peace in his home and with his family and then he is carried off with death (So if he were poisoned I doubt that would be his expression).

So, in my humble opinion Ezio died sitting next to his long time friend death, in the company of his family, and in his home Venice. Requiescat in pace Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

[FilipinoNinja67]

Well, considering Ezio only wore about 5-6 different outfits throughout his entire life, im guessing he got his robes dirty at some point, never washed it, then BAM! All of the antigens built up on his outfit finally come together and formed a templar disease that supports the templars! They then attempted at taking Ezio's life back when he was 17 and finally succeded when he was older!

[Streifeng]

Even though I know that arguing on the internet is about as fundamentally useless as arguing with rain, I'd like to at least point out some things:

1. Ezio is afraid of his past coming to get his family. That's a recurring theme in the story.

2. He is old and wheezing & coughing, but medically speaking, that has nothing to do with heart attacks. Look up "heart attack symptoms" if you need to.

3. The man who sits down next to him has a thin facial scar. His face wasn't smashed or anything - there's a higher chance of it being a blade scar than anything else considering the time period.

4. The scarred man is wearing a vambrace. A vambrace is typically worn for combat purposes and it is odd that this man is wearing normal clothes other than the 1 vambrace on his right arm. I'd have a hard time believing it's a fashion thing.

5. The symbol on the vambrace. Although I clearly can see the red templar's cross on the vambrace, people who can't see it or claim that it is irrelevant will probably not be convinced otherwise. Despite this, I'd like to point out that if the symbol had no relevance, why would the animators even bother putting it in there in the first place?

6. He touches Ezio with the hand wearing the vambrace twice - when he grabs his hand, and when he sorta pats his shoulder. There IS a sound when the scarred man gets up, but it's arguable as to what we are hearing, so it could be something important or not, but I have a hard time believing that this scarred man was just being supportive when he touches Ezio.

7. What the scarred man says: "Courage, old man" = Have courage in the face of your death old man.
"Get some rest" = "Rest in peace" remember how Ezio would often say "Requiescat en Pace" or "Rest in Peace" after his assassinations?

I find it hard to believe that this "random nobody" (which was already retracted) would tell Ezio to have Courage in the face of his sudden "heart attack" and that he would say "get some rest" because he was concerned about Ezio's health.

What seems much more likely is that he is a templar that has poisoned Ezio, tells Ezio to have Courage facing his death, and to get some Rest (RIP).

In this context, Ezio's facial expressions make quite a bit of sense. Ezio's final look of relief is from seeing that his daughter and Sofia are not this man's target.

Using the "Occam's Razor" theory that the simplest explanation is the most likely, in a story whose lore is based on "Assassins versus Templars", it seems highly likely that an old knowledgeable assassin who has just proved that he still has knowledge that he can pass on, is being killed in broad daylight by a Templar so that he cannot share his wisdom with anyone else. Even the scarred man's comment about the women of Roma being like fine grapes implies that he already knows that Ezio is currently a grape farmer (because both Assassins and Templars do their research on their targets).

One last comment - Ezio being a charming ladies' man is pretty different from the other man complaining about the women of Florence look. I'm surprised that this needs to be pointed out.

[Gold333]

Time to put this to rest: Ezio was poisoned.

It seems most posters here are just very young kids or know nothing about acting or storyboarding animation.

Here are 3 consecutive frames captured from Embers 720p (filename: AcEmbers_English_1280x720_GAMESTOP.mov). The frames are captured consecutively using VLC as a player and slowing down the video to 0.125x.

Remember these 3 frames are consecutive, i.e. there exist no frames in between them

Frame 1:



Frame 2:



Frame 3:




You can clearly see in the middle frame that the Templar cross has been layered on to the single frame (yes 1 frame) at twice the resolution of the surrounding graphics. It has been inserted in that 1 frame (1 frame and therefore essentially hidden), layered at twice the resolution of the other frames by Ubisoft.

Brightened:




Animation of those 3 consecutive frames:




It looks like a bad Photoshop job, but this is from the official Ubisoft release of Embers (filename: AcEmbers_English_1280x720_GAMESTOP.mov).

People arguing against Ezio being poisoned clearly know little about acting or how storyboards run or don't recognise it.

1. The young man sits, clutches the top of Ezio's hand, something comes out of his vambrace and poisones Ezio at the back of the hand. You can see the fabric of Ezio's sleeve pulled taught as the video runs.



2. The young man smiles and says "Have courage old timer".



3. Ezio's looks down at his own hand where he was stabbed. He is breathing heavily (as throughout the video) due to his age and condition.



4. Ezio stops breathing and freezes completely still as he looks the young man in the eye. He is shocked as he realizes what has happened.



5. The young man smiles and nods in acknowledgement. He says: "Get some rest huh?"
Requiescat in pace.





The reason not everything is clear is that Ubisoft wanted people to keep guessing what happened and to leave Ezio's end an enigma of sorts. That is why it is so ambiguous. Ezio is coughing all the way through Embers to set up this ending enigma. Unfortunately the 1-frame of the superimposed Templar cross on top of the 720p background gives it away. He was in fact poisoned. Gabe also gave it away when he said he had spoken too soon about the young mean being a nobody and that he didn't know the full story when he was quoted.

So stop asking why the Templars would have an old Ezio killed, ask yourself if you were tasked to write the ending of Assassin's Creed Embers, from a studio standpoint; this ambiguous way is how it would be done by a professional canon writer in order to keep people talking about it.

He was going to die anyway so it is a shame Ezio was killed by the templars in the end. But this death in terms of Creed canon reminds us even more of why we will be rooting for Connor Ratohnhaké:ton to fight the templars in AC3. It is a wise and (through its ambiguity) a beautiful ending for ACII-ACB-ACR. But it is sad.

In terms of end result the sequence could have been story boarded and written better. As written dialogue the bench sequence leaned so far towards the young man being a random/vague/innocent character that Ubisoft felt obliged to insert the 1 frame templar cross layer, which very crudely kills any ambiguity.

PS: That Abeonis guy on page 2 and 3 of this thread had his head so far up his own *** it was remarkable.

[NinjaSpartanII]

Before I get a particular theory of how Ezio dies I want to interject some viewpoints. Also, keep in mind these are all just speculations and opinions though some of it has to do with facts from the game. If you just want to see my theory skip down to "now my theory..."

First, for those of you who believe that there is no reason to kill Ezio because he is old I feel doesn't make sense. This is covered earlier but I'd like to reiterate the fact. The reason that the Templar's would still like to kill Ezio is they seek to kill those who hold truth, or knowledge of something because they threaten the Templar's bigger picture. Ezio has a lot of knowledge of how the Templar order works (since he's been fighting and winning for so long against them), as well as the knowledge of how to build a successful Assassin order (his multiple orders throughout all three games). This comes from first hand knowledge of being a master assassin for 30 years as well as the knowledge that stemmed from the Masaf Keys to learn how Altair empowered his Assassin order. Also, we have to keep in mind that Ezio held the Apple of Eden for a while which grants more knowledge as well. So in the eyes of the Templar's even though he is old and can't fight as well he is still a threat because his knowledge can still bring down kingdoms (stemming from Altair returning to Masaf in Assassin's Creed: Revelations at a really old age and reclaiming the assassin order and then building upon that to make it really powerful again even though he could not fight (without the use of the Apple at least). Also, to add to this point he is teaching Jun or whatever her name is the ideals of the assassin order so that she can gain power and push back the Templar's. So Ezio is definitely still a threat.

Second, for those people who think the man who sat on the bench is a not important because he's no one special. There are at least two different meanings that "not important" and "no one special" can mean. The first, being he is a not important because he is simply a random character that was added only to add to the backround. The Second, being he is not important or special because the character itself serves no purpose to the story other than whatever connection he has with Ezio until his death. Meaning they do not continue to explore and go into the depth of this character at any other time. Personally I feel like the latter is true because when you create a movie or a work of fiction you do not put in things that do not pertain to the story you are trying to tell. Obviously this person is important because they show a close up of him interact and have dialogue with the main protagonists (Ezio) and show him walking away. If he were not important to the story then he would not have been in the story in the first place. It would have just been Ezio on a bench alone, who then dies. However, this is not what the writers/directors/animation dudes wanted. Therefore, in my opinion due to the process of elimination he is important.

Third, for those people who keep speculating that they see a hidden blade, or that Ezio is poisoned by a hidden blade I find this hard to believe. The reason for is because Templar's don't use hidden blades. That's the trademark of an assassin. So in my opinion if the man truly poisoned Ezio he didn't use a hidden blade to do so.

Fourth, kind of stemming off the last one is I'm not convinced that Ezio is poisoned. Now obviously this is the point where a lot of controversy lies but allow me to try and argue my point. This next part you should take with a grain of salt since I only have a two examples and there may be other examples that disprove my point. But, Templar's usually are very vocal and public about the people they kill. For example in Assassin's Creed: II the Templar's kill your family by hanging them so everyone can see. Instead, they could have just come into your house and killed everyone and then covered it up. The second instance where Templar's assassinate somebody or try to at least is when they try to kill the Medici's. This takes place in the middle of Mass or something and is very public and sort of vocal. I feel there may be other instances but these are the only two that pop in my head. So, my point is that if the Templar's wanted to kill an Assassin, especially a Master Assassin they would do so in a public way. After all they usually have major players high up in the hierarchy. My other point is that only Assassin's kill people without anyone knowing. Since personally I've never seen a Templar go all stealth to go kill someone I find it hard to believe that this is a Templar. Now at this point you may be saying "you stupid dumb blind person haven't you seen all the pictures of the dude having a Templar sign on his vambrace?" My re****al to that is yes I have and no I don't have an answer for that. Now, you also might be saying "earlier you also stated that those who create fiction put everything in there for a reason, clearly this is in the video so what's the reason?" My answer to that is I really have no clue. Perhaps it's an easter egg. Or going off the theory that the man may be death perhaps it's symbolic in showing that the Templar's kill a lot of people, but so did Ezio, so instead of the symbol symbolizing Templar's it's a symbol for death. After all everyone that really dies is due to the quarrel between the Templar's and Assassin's so why wouldn't death take up that symbol. As well as perhaps death comes to us all in something that we can recognize. In Ezio's case it would be a Templar since that is how he always expected to die. Also, I do not believe Ezio was poisoned because he is still very aware of his surroundings. For example earlier in Embers when Jun first arrives he runs at her sensing a possible danger. A second example is when he is in the market and you see the first fight scene happen. A third is when the people bust into his house. The fourth is the horses appearing when Jun leaves. Also, being the assassin he is he knows the highest probability of being attacked is while he is in the city so he is going to be on edge. People have also already brought up how he is very protective of his family. Two examples would be him attacking Jun when they first meet and also when he sends his family away after hearing who is following Jun. So if he perceived any threat he would have made it known to his family. People also brought up eagle vision which he could use to perceive threats as well. So in my opinion the probability of Ezio being quietly assassinated while his family is so close is really very hard to believe.

Now for my theory of how Ezio died. Going off of what other people have said I believe the person that sat down next to Ezio is death. Mangaroca007 put it into really good words before he got to his numbering so you can just go back and find it since it would be a big quote in an already big text. Anyways I'm going to reiterate what he said but with examples. So, the man is death. Some things that back up my notion is if you notice at 2:30 in Assassin's Creed: Embers there is a figure in the distance that Ezio see's but then a moment later he is gone. Now this could be Jun, or people who are following Jun, but for my theory I'm going to say this is death. This figure symbolizes that death is on the horizon and getting close. Ezio also knows that he is probably close to death because he is writing a goodbye letter to Sofia. Also, throughout Embers Ezio is seen coughing. Someone else in this post pointed out that this could be caused by him running through the cave in Cappadocia. Though I find this hard to swallow because it was only for a little while and he was still youngish so the cilia and the years should have healed him from that it still could have played a factor into his death. Others have brought up tuberculosis which i doubt happened as well because that causes blood to come out when coughing which is never shown. However, near the end at 17:18 - 17:34 it shows Ezio coughing heavily and then clutching his chest leading into the fact that he is getting worse and he feels pain in his chest. Then moments after Sofia comes in and tells him they will be back after dark. He signals to give him a minute because he wants to go with them which hints that he knows he doesn't have a lot of time and he doesn't want to die alone without them and he also completed his goodbye letter so he is finally at peace to die. Then at 17:54 Sofia as she helps him sit down on the bench tells him he should have stayed home in which he replies with he is home. This hints at what better way to die than at home with two people that you love. As they walk away he smiles. Then comes the man, or I'm going to call death, that sits down next to him. Death then is kind of a shadow of what Ezio's life was like in the beginning with being a player and wanted to get out of Venice. Ezio then responds with "I don't think the problem is Venice" which means that Ezio has come full circle and finally realizes that places are only as good as the people who are in it. Death smiles before responding kind of saying non-verbally that he's glad that Ezio has finally come to that realization and then responds with "sorry" or "pardon" before he grabs Ezio's hand to comfort him before he goes into his coughing fit saying "have courage old man" which resembles what he has told people he has assassinated before they are carried away with death. In which Ezio responds non-verbally at first with confusion and then with understanding (since he realizes it is death since he is so familiar with it since he has given it over to so many) and then it shows death nodding to what he is thinking which is "so death you have finally come for me." Death then says "get some rest" before he walks away. Death then allows Ezio a moment before he takes him so that he may look up at his family. Ezio then smiles because he is at peace in his home and with his family and then he is carried off with death (So if he were poisoned I doubt that would be his expression).

So, in my humble opinion Ezio died sitting next to his long time friend death, in the company of his family, and in his home Venice. Requiescat in pace Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

i think darkstar6265 is right, to an extent, and to be shorter , yes the guy could have been death. But what i think is a bit different. I think that Ezio was having health issues, and he knows he is going to die, since he wrote the letter. And since he knows he is going to die, he goes to the market to see his family, and sits on a bench. But what he doesn't realize is that at that point, he starts hallucinating. He sees the guy, who really wasn't there. Then, it shows him with the templar cross because since ezio is hallucinatung, he is being paranoid about his last day on earth. So, to be discreet, he keeps a normal face. Then, as the guy is talking, he says things ezio would have said as a young man, which leads to me vagely thinking he might be a form of Ezio when he was young. Ths is supported by him having a scar on his mouth, and although in a different place, Ezio also had a scar, and it means the kid wasn't afraid to fight, like Ezio. Then, as the kid grabs Ezio's hand and comforts him, Ezio realizes with the look on his face that it is a lot like him, and realizes he is going to die, and this is a form of warning. Then the hallucination "Ezio" nods to confirm it is a form of Ezio. and as he leaves, he takes Ezio's life with him, and Ezio smiles at his family before dying. I also don't think the guy poisoned him since he does not do anything that shows him poisoning Ezio, and doesn't have a poisoned blade on his vambrace. This is what i belive

[Gold333]

Then, as the guy is talking, he says things ezio would have said as a young man, which leads to me vagely thinking he might be a form of Ezio when he was young.

Ubisoft gave the young man the specific lecherous dialogue ("the filthy, ugly women of Firenze") so it would be obvious to the viewer the young man was not Ezio's early years, but a foreign templar (possibly from Roma or Venezia) who came to Ezio's beloved Firenze to poison him.

[dannyboy1487]

Actually he did not poison him because ezio was already having heart problems so it is either a teenager just there to remind him of his young life or its his brother signaling that it is his time because if you look at ezio when he looks at him his face lights up with delight, but i wish they didnt show him die because it is sad

[JmOrbe]

As you can see that young man had a bracer arm guard or whatever you call it so it means that the man has a poison blade