Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

2009-04-05T21:15:06Z

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|[[Image:1190119344.jpg|200px|Altaïr]]
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|'''Name:'''Altaïr
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|'''Age:''' 25
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|'''Weight:''' 170 lbs
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|'''Height:''' 6'
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'''Altaïr''' (الطائر in [[wikipedia:Arabic|Arabic]], full name: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad الطائر ابن لا أحد in [[wikipedia:Arabic|Arabic]]) is the main character and protagonist in [[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 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]]. His skills in the art of death are without question spectacular, able to infiltrate any fortification, brush shoulders with the target without alerting them, a testament of his skill. Altair, bound by the second tenet of the "Assassins Creed" has mastered the ability to become one with the crowd, so that his presence is masked from his intended victim. This ability to blend in makes it much more possible to get in close to a target and eliminate without alerting the immediate enviornment specifically the targets body guards that usually accompany them. As stated Altair's acrobatic skills help in both assassination and escape, he uses the skills to strike from different locations mainly from above when performing leaping assassinations which he has been known to perform to perfection. During escape such skills come in handy for quickly seeking high ground or space between the encroaching city guard. When ordered to start tracking his targets personally by the Master of Assassins Al Mualim, Altair showed in combination social stealth mastery and tracking skills. Blending into the crowd becoming simply another face in the crowd allowing him to carry out his target investigation more easily. His social stealth skills help when dealing with Crusaders and Saracen guards. When moving about a city looking for a highly public figure one must not call for attention, it runs the risk of possibly breaking the third tenet within the "Assassins Creed". Altair is trained extensively on how to traverse the city disguised as a holy scholar. This disguise makes travel easier as scholars have more freedom, and properly applying the proper mannerisms to aide the disguise help that much more. Through experience and insinct Altair keenly observes the enviornment 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 recent interviews, the game's producer, [[wikipedia:Jade_Raymond|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 Assassin Order. That same attitude cost the life of [[Malik]]'s brother (Kadar) at the beginning of the game, as well as his left arm. As the situation progresses and Altaïr is forced to hear 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, focused, driven,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 some time.

The fact that he had a descendant (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.

==Equipment==
Altaïr's most interesting weapon is a Hidden Blade 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 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 and a crossbow (Not in actual game play, only the beginning cut scene), 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 people and their intentions. Guards appear in red, allies in blue, citizens with information in white and assassination targets in gold.

==Trivia==
*Altair is the first student ever to be a master at an early age.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Altair.jpg
</gallery>

[[pl:Altaïr]]
[[Category:Characters|Ibn-La'Ahad, Altaïr]]

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Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad