O Brother, Where Art Thou? Easter Eggs
A collection of Easter Eggs in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I could use your help analyzing some of them.
Oh Yeah
The opening scene isn't exactly an Easter Egg. It's just something I noticed the first time I played Brotherhood a couple of years ago. Lucy follows Desmond as they search underground for an alternate entrance to the Villa. Usually Lucy will hang back just behind the camera but if Desmond walks slowly enough, she will remain in frame. That's why she's sort of shuffling rather than taking full strides.
Project Legacy
A well-known Easter Egg, Lucy is playing Project Legacy on her second monitor. Some have said "This is a Templar game. It proves she's a Templar!" I think it's just a cross-reference to the other Assassin's Creed game released with Brotherhood. Nothing more.
Hey whatsa-matta-you
A rather amusing but missable cutscene. (Contains strong language. 
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The writing is on the floor
Eagle Vision reveals symbols on the floor during this Lair of Romulus. Both originally appeared on the floor of the Abstergo laboratory at the end of Assassin's Creed 1. The Pyramid of Eden symbolizes the Templar plan to send a Piece of Eden into orbit and control all beneath it. The square of letters reads "Artefacts sent to the skies to control all nations, to make us obey a hidden crusade. Do not help them." Thanks to JoeyFogey for originally bringing this to our attention.
There are also some red arrows to guide your way with Eagle Vision (not shown). I find it easier to follow the well-lit path without Eagle Vision. Torches guide the way to the end of this lair.
Metal Gear Solid references
There are three things going on here. First, Ezio is wearing the Raiden outfit, a tribute to the Raiden character in Metal Gear solid. This skin is unlocked by earning bronze or better on all Virtual Training Programs in Brotherhood (which explains why I recently posted many mediocre scores in Virtual Training over the course of an hour 
).
Second, when Leonardo calls Ezio it is Ezio's lips that move. I believe this is a bug, not an Easter Egg. Leonardo isn't pre-staged anywhere yet still has lines to say. Somebody's lips must move and Ezio's were available. Blame it on sloppy programming.
Third, Ezio must interact with a cardboard box to trigger the scene. This box resembles those that Solid Snake would hide in to achieve stealth in Metal Gear Solid.
Red Footprints
Another well-known Easter Egg. Lucy is missing and Desmond's Eagle Vision reveals red (i.e. enemy) footprints outside the Villa. Again, many took this as evidence that Lucy was a Templar.
According to Ubisoft developers Darby McDevitt and Falko Poiker, it was introduced as a path to guide players back to the entrance of the sanctuary. The story explanation was that it was the footsteps of Rebecca and crew unloading equipment from the van. It was an unfortunate mistake that they were colored red.
Desmond Eats a Sandwich
After Shaun goes to get food, the table is set with burgers and sandwiches. Interact with it and you get this cutscene. Thanks to aurllcooljay for telling me about this one.
Save that key
If you grab and throw the Cardinal over the rail, you get this missable cutscene where Ezio snatches the key. Kill him any other way and Ezio simply loots the body.
Stab the hand that feeds you
After withdrawing money from a bank, you can stab the banker with a sword. I believe this works at any bank. The animation looks funny because of their separation. The banker looks shaken but otherwise unharmed.
I'm from Montréal
A funny line and reference to the home base of Assassin's Creed.
Unexpected Noises
It's quiet inside the Pantheon until Ezio climbs the cross. Then an indistinct voice can be heard echoing through the Cathedral. The voice can also be triggered by simply walking behind the cross.
It turns out the voice is coming from the Herald directly behind the Pantheon. You can hear him because Ezio is within earshot radius. It echos because of the Pantheon's acoustics.
Sex Sounds
This video ends where it began: in the gutter! Eavesdrop outside of Juan Borgia's estate and it sounds like there's an orgy going on inside. Ezio's imagination runs wild and takes an unexpected turn. The sounds can be heard at any time, not during the pagan party.
Would the Banker strangling the courtesan be considered an Easter egg?
Perhaps. A lot of people didn't notice it because they were, you know, busy trying to assassinate the Banker without being detected. It's certainly a missable scene.
Is the name of this video based on the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? I see some similarities.
Is the name of this video based on the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Yes. I wanted a more creative title than just "Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Easter Eggs". My AC1 Easter Eggs video was named "Eagle's Hunt" based on the Xbox achievements having names like "Eagle's Will", "Eagle's Flight", etc. I chose "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" because it conveys searching and mentions Brother (as in Brotherhood). I didn't consider the things you mentioned in the spoiler.
RE the red footprints at Monteriggioni. bobbyrk at GameFAQs - who we know and love as YurkleNorf - explained them thusly:
As for the footprints in Monteriggioni, the developers actually came out and said they made a mistake with the coloring. It was simply a path to guide testers back to the entrance, and they forgot red = bad.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/996092-assassins-creed-brotherhood/64318902
As for the footprints in Monteriggioni, the developers actually came out and said they made a mistake with the coloring. It was simply a path to guide testers back to the entrance, and they forgot red = bad.
It took some effort but I finally traced this statement back to the developers. Darby McDevitt and Falko Poiker explain the red footprints here in an audio interview. I don't know whether we should trust these guys. They also spent 5 minutes explaining why there was no air assassination move in AC1. *facepalm*
UPDATE: McDevitt and Poiker go on to mock rumors that the red footprints suggest Lucy is up to no good.
Lair of Romulus writing:
"Artefacts sent to the skies to control all nations. To make us obey. A hidden crusade. Do not help them."
Pause at 2:24 and read from the bottom right going up. Then the next column going up.
. O E S
. C H T
. O T C
. T O A
L S T F
O E T E
R I N T
T K E R
N S S A
Then there's a picture of the Apple being lifted above everything.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
"Artefacts sent to the skies to control all nations. To make us obey. A hidden crusade. Do not help them."
Cool! So this is the same Letter Square from Abstergo. For some reason I find this one harder to read. Text updated.
The red footprints are there the whole game.
It's the same path Ezio took in Monteriggioni after getting injured at the bottom of the stairs. I'm pretty sure it's just Ezio's blood trail escaping out the back (similar to 16's blood showing up in AC1). I'm pretty sure it's just meant as a way to show the player the path back to the gang.
EDIT: I'm actually not sure if it was Ezio or someone else that he was carrying out the back. Either way, I don't think it's Lucy...
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
This was all so awesome. It's cool to see Brotherhood easter eggs (because AC1 and 2 ones have been done much more, and for good reason - there were probably more in them.) I noticed a few of these myself the first time I played the game 
Ever since i saw that you can throw the cardinal over the edge and still get the key i do that every time just for that cutscene. Not only is it the fastest way to kill him if you're going for Full Synch, it's also kind of poetic justice since you see him push that civilian to his death just a few seconds before.
Nice video. 
The Unexpected Noises one I think is supposed to be people talking as heard from up high. I'm pretty sure this is what you hear when you enter from the roof for that one specific mission where there's a group of them talking down below. You hear it echoing through the entire chamber like that.
Why it sounds when you're not doing the mission and standing on the cross is anybody's guess, though. 
Excellent video! The noises in the Pantheon are from the herald behind it. Apparently his voice goes through walls.
The noises in the Pantheon are from the herald behind it.
Confirmed. I killed the Herald and the voice inside the Pantheon went away. Text updated.
It's a good thing I didn't put half-baked theories in the video itself. There are about 100 comments on my AC1 Easter Eggs video that all say "That's the inside of Desmond's face." I even put an annotation over that part of the video asking people to not comment if that's all they have to say. Yet the comments continue. Asaic was the first to tell me that. I wasn't convinced until al-Assas manipulated the camera years later.
I see now that AC Wiki also mentions the herald. That's weird you can only hear him at one end and his voice echos. I'll try to verify before updating the text. Asaic has a different theory.
Yes! I was referenced! Great video, Stab.
Thanks, Joey. Sorry there were no end credits in this video. With Easter Eggs it's hard to track down who was first to discover them. They're often found independently by multiple players. Besides you and Aurel, credit is due to YouTuber scottupsdale who found (and poorly documented) sex sounds.