Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (الطائر ابن لا أحد in Arabic) is the character whom the player will play as most in Assassin's Creed, as well as the ancestor of Ezio Auditore de Firenze and Desmond Miles. His first name, "Altaïr", means 'Bird of Prey' or 'eagle' ('eagle' is also the meaning of the first name of his descendant Ezio). His last name Ibn-La'Ahad means 'son of none'.

Assassin's Creed
Altaïr is an ancestor of Desmond Miles and his memories are encoded into Miles' DNA. Abstergo Industries abducted Miles in order to use the Animus on him, which would decode his genetic structure and extract vital information from the memories of Altaïr, in a project bent on New World Order. Altaïr is a master assassin instructor, capable of extraordinary acrobatic feats, a master of social stealth, fully adept in the application of the deadly arts, and a member of the Assassins' Order. Near the beginning of the game, he is demoted to the Assassins' Rank of Novice and removed of all his equipment save for his robes. In order to regain his status, he must publicly assassinate nine men who are involved in exploiting the war hostilities in the Holy Land. However, his master, Al Mualim, isn't telling him that there is actually a tenth...

Altaïr travels between the four cities (Jerusalem, Masyaf, Damascus, and Acre) to kill his victims. His extensive knowledge in the deadly arts are without question at the level of an instructor, able to infiltrate any fortification completely unnoticed, brush shoulders with a primary assassination target without alerting them to his hostile presence and strike from any direction, a testament of his undeniable mastery over "Hiding in Plain Sight", showing his understanding of the "Assassins Creed" and the importance of the second tenet. Altaïr, bound by the second tenet of the "Assassins Creed" has mastered the ability to become one with the crowd, so that his deadly presence and approach is masked entirely from his intended target. His ability to blend in and appear as just another face in the crowd, makes it much more possible to get in extremely close to a target and silently assassinate them using the Hidden Blade without alerting the immediate surrounding environment. Whether investigating or silently assassinating, Altaïr constantly remains anonymous out of his instinctive assassins nature, remaining anonymous for Altaïr is second nature, very briefly exposing himself to the public's eye preparing (even though very rare and extremely short in length and for good reason) to strike during a public assassination of one of "The Nine", and even public assassinations do not guarantee Altaïr's exposed appearance, he is a master assassin instructor and is highly skilled in adapting to changing situations and the changing environment, knowing all too well in how to still maintain control in the constantly dangerous and changing environment, possession of such sharp perceptional skills carries over into how he reads the crowd for any slight sign of danger. Sharp sense of awareness, will aid Altaïr greatly in survival moving about the dangerous cities, and kingdom throughout the Holy Land. As stated Altaïr's acrobatic skills help in both assassination and escape, he uses these skills to strike from many different locations and directions, mainly from affront, above, and behind when performing public assassinations which have all been recorded in virtual history according to entry wound. Altaïr's assassination expertise is unquestionable, seeing how he can appear from the crowd undetected, and quickly kill anyone he focuses on silently, then blends immediately back into the crowd. During primary assassinations Altaïr clearly knows the meaning of subtlety. Altaïr stalks the district most affected by the targets corruption, obtaining information on where and when he will be so that he may plan to properly strike. Using that knowledge better prepares for the opportune moment to strike.

Observing, and moving silently about the large crowds that usually gather within the kill zone as only a "blade in the crowd". Altaïr strikes without flaw or mercy making him very efficient in the exact moment of the strike. Highly educated upon the politics involving the Crusaders and Saracens and their religious philosophies, this educational training will help Altaïr in better understanding their territories, and the numerous factions within. It will give better perspective on perhaps why men choose certain paths in life and as the Assassins better know themselves and understand not to judge their targets but embrace their perspective on what they call justifiable action, but to put it after our own philosophy of "peace in all things". For any who threaten our cause will die under the shining sun in public. Altaïr knows that when the opportune time presents itself to strike, he must not show mercy to the target for their politically sanctioned death will ensure peace returns or so our philosophy depicts it when taught. Altaïr's social mastery ensures that low-profile kills performed while hiding amongst the crowd will succeed, allowing him to eliminate any guards patrolling the streets. Altaïr is a master at anonymous travel and the silent approach, when moving about the city streets seeking out his target Altaïr moves with the crowd as the crowd, then at the moment to strike his target, he moves as a cloaked white ghost. To get caught in the crowd with Altaïr silently stalking you is imminent death. It is as if the target is lost in a heavy and thick fog shrouding a forest of death, only its a sea of people moving about in different directions until one of those sudden bumps turns out to be the sharp Hidden Blade being extended into one of your vital organs. During escape such skills come in handy for quickly seeking high ground or space between the encroaching city guard. When ranked a novice, Altaïr was ordered to start tracking his targets personally by Al Mualim. He showed that, in combination with social stealth mastery and tracking knowledge, blending into the crowd and becoming simply another face in the crowd allowed Altaïr to carry out his assassination target investigations more easily.

His social stealth expertise helps when dealing with Crusaders and Saracen guards. When moving about a city looking for a highly public figure marked for assassination one must never call for attention, it runs the risk of possibly breaking the second and third tenet within the "Assassins Creed". Altaïr is trained extensively on how to traverse the city disguised as a holy scholar. Dressing as a scholar allows the silent eagle assassin to get close enough to a target without raising suspicion before striking. Scholar robe disguises aid in assassinations due to the simple facts they happen in broad daylight within the open public for the people to witness and spread news of its happening and the disguise masks your true appearance and intentions. Never just wear a disguise be the individual it mimics, in doing so your actions carry over into the disguise even more. This disguise makes travel easier as scholars have less restraint within the cities, and applying the proper mannerisms to aide the disguise helps that much more. Through experience and instinct Altaïr keenly observes the environment remaining alert at all times to the extremely active guard presence that surrounds him.

The name Altaïr is an Arabic word, which means "The Flying Eagle". In 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 his attire, which includes a point at the front of the hood (to resemble a beak) and slits 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 and mission failure would lead to his severe demotion, placing him on the same level as a raw initiate to the Assassin Order. That same attitude cost Malik his right arm, as well as the life of his brother Kadar at the beginning of the story. As the situation progresses and Altaïr listens to the final words of his assassination victims, listening to their revelations involving them and their justified corrupt deeds within the Holy Land and their cities, his attitude changes and he becomes less impetuous, overconfident, demanding, arrogant, self-centred and impatient, learning to perceive more between the lines and actions of the world while drawing upon the teachings of the "Assassins Creed". Near the end of the conflict, all of his brash and rebellious nature, has vanished behind a demeanour of calm, focused, driven, humble, more patient and higher wisdom of understanding. But with this he learns what it is the "Assassins Creed" truly means, and recommends of him as an Assassin.

A few pieces of dialogue hint that Altaïr 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 (it's indicated that she left, but whether it was leaving Altaïr, 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 Altaïr 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 Altaïr does not know of her for quite some time. The fact that he had a descendant, Ezio Auditore de Firenze and later Desmond Miles, however, confirms that he did at one point of his life father a child. Based on the game's premise of genetic memory storage, this would have to have happened after the events in Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed Bloodlines
Some point after the events of Assassin's Creed, Altair travels to the island of Cyprus in an attempt to eliminate the remaining Templars.

Equipment
Altaïr's most interesting weapon is the Hidden Blade--a weapon similar to a katar, which is used for close-range assassinations. It is mounted on the inside of his left hand gauntlet, and when deployed, extends between the space left by his amputated ring finger. He flicks a trigger on a ring 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, the Hidden Blade, and his fists. The throwing knives are very useful for taking down archers. Use of the sword is slower than use of the dagger, of which is fast and light and can be used in tandem with the throwing knives. However, attacking with the sword is much more damaging to the enemies than when using the dagger. Altaïr also uses an ability called "Eagle Vision," a sort of "sixth sense" that lets him see people's intentions. Guards appear in red, allies in blue, citizens with information in white and assassination targets in yellow.

Trivia

 * Jade Raymond, producer of Assassin's Creed, revealed during an interview at the Ubidays 2007 that Altaïr was born to a Muslim father, and a Christian mother.