Honestly, if you played Assassin's Creed II back in the day, you probably remember one specific scene. It’s not the hidden blades or the leap of faith. It’s a woman standing on the battlements of a fortress, screaming at a pair of kidnappers while lifting her skirts to show them exactly where her next batch of children will come from.
That was our introduction to the "Tiger of Forlì."
Caterina Sforza Assassin's Creed lore paints her as a fiery, foul-mouthed ally to Ezio Auditore, but the reality is much weirder—and frankly, much more impressive—than the game even lets on. Ubisoft didn't just invent a "strong female character" for the sake of it. They leaned into a historical figure who was so terrifyingly competent that even the Borgias were genuinely stressed out by her.
The Forlì Connection: How the Game Reimagined History
In the game, we meet Caterina in 1481. She's stuck on a wooden post in a swamp, yelling at guards. Ezio, being the charming Italian he is, ferries her across the water. It’s a cute "meet-cute" for a pair of legendary figures, but it sets the stage for a relationship that defines the middle chunk of Ezio’s life.
By the time we get to the Battle of Forlì DLC, she isn't just a damsel. She is a ruler.
The game does a decent job showing her political precariousness. After her husband, Girolamo Riario, is murdered by the Orsi brothers (who were basically Templar puppets in the AC universe), she takes over. This wasn't just a plot point. The real Caterina actually did hold the Rocca di Ravaldino against conspirators. That famous, vulgar scene where she defies the kidnappers of her children? That’s pulled straight from the accounts of Niccolò Machiavelli.
People often think Ubisoft was being "edgy" or "modern" with her dialogue. Nope. The historical Caterina was famously blunt and used her sexuality and motherhood as a psychological weapon.
The Siege and the Apple of Eden
In the Assassin's Creed timeline, Forlì becomes the safe house for the Apple of Eden. It’s a logical choice. The city was a fortress, and Caterina was the only person Ezio trusted who had enough cannons to back up that trust.
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When the Orsi brothers attack in 1488, the game blends the "Templar vs. Assassin" war with the actual historical siege. Ezio does the heavy lifting, obviously, but Caterina is right there in the trenches. She’s one of the few NPCs in the early games who doesn't feel like a burden. She’s a strategist.
That Complicated Relationship with Ezio
You’ve probably wondered if they actually "did it."
The game is pretty explicit that they had a fling. In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio and Caterina spend a very loud night together at the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni right before Cesare Borgia ruins everything. It feels like a romance, but then the game hits you with a cold bucket of water.
Later, when Ezio rescues her from the Castel Sant'Angelo, she basically tells him that their "night of passion" was a political move. She needed the Assassins’ support to keep Forlì. She liked Ezio, sure, but she loved power more.
It’s a brutal moment for Ezio’s ego.
- 1481: First meeting in the Romagna wetlands.
- 1488: The Battle of Forlì; the Orsi brothers are defeated.
- 1500: The Siege of Monteriggioni and Caterina’s capture.
- 1501: Ezio breaks her out of Rome.
This sequence shows a side of the Assassin Brotherhood we rarely see: the fact that they are often used by the nobility just as much as they use the nobility for their own ends. Caterina wasn't an Assassin. She was an ally of convenience.
What the Game Left Out (The Darker Side)
As cool as she is in the games, Ubisoft sanitized her a bit. The real Caterina Sforza was, by all accounts, kind of a nightmare to her enemies.
In the Assassin's Creed database entries, Shaun Hastings mentions her "passion for alchemy." This is a massive understatement. The real Caterina spent her life obsessed with "Experiments" (Gli Experimenti), a massive manuscript she wrote containing everything from cosmetic recipes to actual poisons. She was basically a Renaissance chemist who knew 50 different ways to kill you with a letter.
Speaking of letters, the game briefly mentions a plot where she tried to kill Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) with a poisoned letter. In reality, she allegedly tried to send him a letter wrapped in the bandages of plague victims.
She was playing biological warfare in the 1500s.
The Fall of the Tiger
The game ends her story on a somewhat hopeful note—Ezio saves her, she heads to Florence, and that’s that. The reality was much bleaker. After being captured by Cesare Borgia in 1500, she was taken to Rome in golden chains.
The rumors of her treatment in the Vatican are grim. The Assassin's Creed database implies she was tortured and abused by the Borgias for over a year. When she was finally released, her hair—which was famously blonde—had supposedly turned white from the stress and trauma.
She died in 1509 of pneumonia, aged only 46.
Why She Still Matters to the Series
Caterina Sforza remains a fan favorite because she represents the "grey" area of the Renaissance. She wasn't a hero. She was a survivor.
In a series that often boils down to "Assassins good, Templars bad," Caterina was just "Caterina." She worked with the Assassins because they were the only ones who didn't want to steal her land. She used Ezio's feelings to secure her borders. She was a master of the very "Social Stealth" the Assassins preach, just in a different arena.
If you’re looking to truly understand her character beyond the cutscenes, you should look into:
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- The "Experimenti" Manuscript: It’s her actual book of recipes and poisons.
- Machiavelli’s Discourses: He writes about her extensively, and his respect for her is why he's such a fanboy in the game.
- The Rocca di Ravaldino: You can actually visit this fortress in Forlì today. It looks surprisingly like the in-game model.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
If you want to dive deeper into the world of Caterina Sforza Assassin's Creed, start by replaying the Battle of Forlì (Sequence 12) in the Ezio Collection. Pay attention to her dialogue; almost every "crazy" thing she says is a reference to a historical document.
Next, check out the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood database entries for her children. It explains what happened to her son, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, who became one of the most famous mercenary captains in Italian history. He basically inherited his mother's "Tiger" energy and took it to the battlefield.
Finally, if you’re a lore nerd, track down the Assassin's Creed: Renaissance novel by Oliver Bowden. It fills in some of the gaps regarding her internal monologue during the siege of Forlì that the game's engine couldn't quite capture.