Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Altaïr (الطائر in Arabic, full name: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad الطائر ابن لا أحد in Arabic) is the main character and protagonist in Assassin's Creed. His full name is Altaïr Ibn La'Ahad. He is introduced as the main character of the game and it is revealed that Altaïr is an ancestor of Desmond Miles, and his memories are encoded into Miles' DNA. Abstergo Industries abducted Miles in order to run the Animus on him, which would decode his genetic structure and extract vital information from the memories of Altair, in a project bent on New World Order.

He is a master assassin, capable of extraordinary acrobatic feats, and a member of the Hashshashin sect (also known as the trademark for the word assassin, even though there were many assassins before this time). During the beginning of the game, he is demoted to "uninitiated", so he loses most of his abilities. His objective is to kill nine men who are involved in a conspiracy against the Holy Land, however his master isn't telling him that there were actually ten men involved. If he succeeds, he will be redeemed. Altaïr travels between the game's four cities (Jerusalem, Masyaf, Damascus, and Acre) and kills his victims with a variety of weapons.

The name Altaïr is an Arabic word, which means "the flyer" or "The flying one." In recent interviews, the game's producer, Jade Raymond has stated that while in mid-air, Altaïr's shadow resembles that of an eagle. This is because of the design of his attire, which includes a point at the front of the hood (to resemble a beak) and cuts through the back of the outfit (to resemble tail feathers). The second part of his name, Ibn-La'Ahad means 'son of no-one', reflecting his mysterious origins. It has been revealed by Raymond that his father was a Muslim and his mother a Christian. His appearance is remarkably similar to Desmond's, only a few scars seeming to separate their appearances at first glance.

His rebellious nature would lead to his demotion, placing him on the same level as a raw initiate to the Hashshashin sect. That same attitude cost the life of Malak's brother at the beginning of the game, as well as costing the other assassin his left arm. As the game progresses and Altaïr is forced to deal with the words of his assassination targets, listening to their revelations about the land, his attitude changes and he becomes less impetuous and impatient, learning to see more between the lines and actions of his fellow assassins. By the end of the game, all of his brash and rebellious nature seems to have vanished behind a veneer of calm, cold intellect.

A few pieces of dialogue within the game hint that Altair was potentially in a relationship prior to the game with a woman named Adra, but has since become single, possibly due to the woman in question either missing or having left him (its indicated that she left, but whether it was leaving Altair, or for a mission was made unclear). Although this could actually be heard Adha, which is the woman who Altaïr saves in Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles, which is a prequel to Assassin's Creed. At the end of the game he finally kills Lord Basilisk, but Adha is taken away on a ship, and Altair vows to find her. The point of the game is to find "The Chalice", and you learn late in the game that the Chalice is actually Adha - so Altair does not know of her for quite a long time.

Equipment
Altaïr's most interesting weapon is a concealed dagger similar to that of a Katar used for close-range assassinations. It is mounted on the inside of his left hand gauntlet, and when deployed, extends between his middle and little fingers through the space left by his amputated ring finger. It is unclear if he presses a device to trigger the blade or if he simply flexes his hand in a manner to make the blade appear where his finger had once been. This amputation was part of the initiation for becoming an assassin of the Hashshashin sect.

Altaïr also uses a combination of throwing knives, a sword, a small dagger, and his fists. The throwing knives are very useful when taking down archers as you approach an assassination target. The sword is slower than the dagger but when attacking is much more powerful. The dagger is fast and light and can be used in tandem with the knives.Altaïr is also seen with a crossbow at the beginning sequence in which he uses for an assassination however it is not an available weapon and he isn't seen with it again. Altaïr also uses a special ability called "Eagle Vision" that lets him see the "auras" of people and their intentions. Guards appear in red, allies in blue, citizens with information in white and assassination targets in gold.