Abstract
This contribution analyzes the character of Machiavelli in the popular video game series Assassin’s Creed. According to the author, Niccolò’s representation in the AC series as a digital, interactive narrative medium and related gamers’ reception shows that it generated interest in Machiavelli the historical character, his real life, times and works, even pushing users to fact-check events and Niccolò’s words and compare them with the actual text of The Prince. Moreover, the interactive nature of the medium responds well to contemporary modes of, and needs for, media consumption in contemporary society. For these reasons, the author also shows how video games such as Assassin’s Creed can effectively deliver cultural content and can be used as a learning device in class.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Other representations of Machiavelli in video games have little resemblance to the historical figure and his works. The 1995 MS-DOS video game Machiavelli —The Prince by Microprose, a turn-based strategy war game, and its predecessor, The Merchant Prince, are only loosely related to Machiavelli and his works. (“Finals” 1995).
- 2.
The quote from The Prince , chapter VI, and related explanatory paragraph are missing from the Database entry in AC Identity , most likely due to the mobile nature of the game.
- 3.
“Defence,” as in the British (& Canadian) English spelling. AC II and Brotherhood have been developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Québec, Canada.
- 4.
Connell’s study questioned the “myth” of Machiavelli’s exile, proving that: “Machiavelli was not living in forced isolation but instead moving back and forth between Florence and his farm” (Connel 2011, 111).
- 5.
- 6.
This sparked interesting discussions among players online, for example on the gaming website GameFAQs, where it drew comparisons, including an in-game clever and genuinely amusing euphemistic reference to Leonardo’s same-sex attraction, to conclude that indeed this sequence was meant to indicate Ezio as the inspiration for The Prince: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/996092-assassins-creed-brotherhood/57790617.
- 7.
- 8.
The simplified, mobile version of AC Brotherhood , set in 1486, lacks this element. Niccolò does not show cynicism regarding seeking aid from the masses. On the contrary, he instructs Ezio to enlist the help of the Assassin apprentices of Rome.
- 9.
For example, on the Ubisoft forum: https://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/350934-Machiavelli-a-Traitor; on GameFaqs: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/996093-assassins-creed-brotherhood/57224219
- 10.
Machiavelli ’s entry is four paragraphs long, plus the quote from The Prince ; Leonardo’s is two paragraphs, plus one in-game quote; Lorenzo’s is three paragraphs: assassinscreed.wikia.com.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
The full series is available at: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPMNunibwEpZsoGhAugbZC58UENJtzbt8.
- 17.
In the re-creation of Florence, for example, the architectural scale of the monuments is incorrect, and some are missing, notably the Baptistery; the plan of the city is not accurate, although the relative position of the monuments is correct; some buildings are chronologically wrong, such as Santa Croce’s façade, which was not built until the nineteenth century ( Aroni et al. 2019).
- 18.
These are the words of Gonzalo Frasca, creator of DragonBox, a video game series aimed at teaching mathematics in K-12. https://www.rosario3.com/noticias/Los-videojuegos-funcionan-no-porque-entretienen-sino-porque-desafian-20180131-0026.html.
References
Aroni, Gabriele, Simone Bregni, and Heidi McDonald. 2019. Assassin’s Creed (Series). In Learning, Education & Games, ed. Karen Schrier, 3rd ed., 35–41. Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon).
Asher, Jason J. 1996. Learning Another Language Through Actions. 5th ed. Los Gatos, CA: Sky Oaks Productions.
Assassin’s Creed Wiki. http://assassinscreed.wikia.com
Bowden, Oliver. 2009. Assassin’s Creed Renaissance. London, UK: PenguinBooks.
———. 2010. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. London, UK: Penguin Books.
———. 2011. Assassin’s Creed Revelations. London, UK: Penguin Books.
Bregni, Simone. 2018a. Assassin’s Creed Taught Me Italian: Video Games and the Quest for Lifelong, Ubiquitous Learning. Profession, Spring 2018 1a, profession.mla.org/assassins-creed-taught-me-italian-video-games-and-the-quest-for-lifelong-ubiquitous-learning/. Accessed 30 May 2020.
———. 2018b. Using Video Games to Teach Italian Language & Culture: Useful, Effective, Feasible? NEMLA Italian Studies, vol. 29, 2017 (Oct. 2018 1b), www.buffalo.edu/content/dam/www/nemla/NIS/XXXIX/NeMLA%20Italian%20Studies%202017%20-%20Using%20Video%20Games.pdf. Accessed 30 May 2020.
Byram, Michael, ed. 2000. “Total Physical Response”. Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning, 631–633. London: Routledge.
Connel, William J. 2011. New Light on Machiavelli’s Letter to Vettori, 10 December 1513. In Europa e Italia. Studi in onore di Giorgio Chittolini / Europe and Italy. Studies in Honour of Giorgio Chittolini, 93–127. Florence: Firenze University Press.
Cook, Vivian. 2008. Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Hodder Education.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1996. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Cunzelman, Cameron. 2018. A Fan Is Fact Checking the Assassin’s Creed Games. Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/a-fan-is-fact-checking-the-assassins-creed-games-1828909197. Accessed 30 May 2020.
Donovan, Tristan. 2010. Replay: The History of Video Games. Lewes, East Sussex: Yellow Ant.
Farber, Matthew. 2017. Gamify your classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning. 2nd ed. New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang.
Featherstone, Mike. 1995. Postmodernism and the Quest for Meaning. In The Search for Fundamentals, ed. Lieteche van Vucht Tijssen, Jan Berting, and Frank Lechner. Dordrecht: Springer.
“Finals.” Next Generation, Imagine Media UK, No. 7, July 1995, pp. 72, 74.
“Gaming and Gamers.” 2015. Pew Research Center. www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/gaming-and-gamers/. Accessed 30 May 2020.
Gaudiosi, John. 2014. Ubisoft Banks on History with Two New ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Games. Fortune. http://fortune.com/2014/11/13/assassins-creed-ubisoft/. Accessed 30 May 2020.
Gee, James P. 2005. Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul: Pleasure & Learning. Altona, VIC: Common Ground.
Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
———. 2012. Video Games, the New Lively Art. http://web.mit.edu/~21fms/People/henry3/GamesNewLively.html. Accessed 30 May 2020.
Jonason, Peter K., Gregory D. Webster, David P. Schmitt, Norman P. Li, and Laura Crysel. 2012. The Antihero in Popular Culture: Life History Theory and the Dark Triad Personality Traits. Review of General Psychology 16 (2): 192–199.
Juul, Jesper. 2001. Games telling stories? - A Brief Note on Games and Narratives. GameStudies, 1, 1, 1. http://gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/. Accessed 27 May 2020.
Kasper, Eric T., and Troy A. Kozma. 2015. Machiavelli Goes to the Movies: Understanding The Prince through Television and Film. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Lee, Myung Kyung. 2015. Effects of Mobile Phone-based App Learning Compared to Computer-based Web Learning on Nursing Students: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Heathcare Informatic Research 2: 125–133. http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434061/. Accessed 27 May 2020.
Menon, Lakshmi. 2015. History First-hand: Memory, the Player and the Video Game Narrative in the Assassin’s Creed Games. Rupkatha Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 7 (1): 108–113.
Mitchell, Alice, and Carol Savill-Smith. 2004. The Use of Computer and Video Games for Learning. London UK: Learning and Skills Development Agency.
Najemy, M. John. 2010. The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ngangamol, Apirath. 2014. A Narrative Analysis of Assassin’s Creed Gaming Series. M.A. Thesis. National Institute of Development Administration. Bangkok, Thailand.
Scott, John T., and Vickie B. Sullivan. 1994. Patricide and the Plot of The Prince: Cesare Borgia and Machiavelli’s Italy. American Political Science Review 88 (4): 887–900.
Strathern, Paul. 2009a. The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior. London: Bantam.
———. 2009b. Machiavelli, Leonardo & Borgia: A Fateful Collusion. What Happened When a Philosopher, an Artist and a Ruthless Warrior—All Giants of the Renaissance—Met on Campaign in Northern Italy? Paul Strathern Explains. History Today 59 (3): 15–19.
Vogler, Christopher. 2007. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: M. Wiese Productions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bregni, S. (2021). “Unarmed Prophets Have Always Been Destroyed, Whereas Armed Prophets Have Succeeded:” Machiavelli’s Portrayal in the Assassin’s Creed Series. In: Polegato, A., Benincasa, F. (eds) Machiavelli in Contemporary Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73823-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73823-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73822-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73823-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)