For most of the game, the player assumes the role of a young nobleman-turned-assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze (which when translated to English means "Eagle of Florence"). In an interview with Patrice Desilets, the game's creative director, it was revealed that Ezio's father, Giovanni, a banker and secretly an assassin, as well as both of his brothers have been executed; thus, the essence of the plot is to get revenge on the rival families that murdered them while Ezio watches over his mother and sister. Like Altaïr in the first game, Ezio is an ancestor of Desmond Miles, the modern day bartender who was captured by Abstergo, with Ezio himself being a descendant of Altaïr.