Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Altaïr
Name:Altaïr
Age: 25
Weight: 170 lbs
Height: 6'

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. 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 Instructor, capable of extraordinary acrobatic feats, a master of social stealth, fully skilled in the application of the Deadly Arts 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 assassins quest, he is demoted to "novice", so he is removed of all of his equipment except for his assassins designed scholar robe. His objective is to publicly assassinate nine men who are involved in exploiting the war hostilities in the Holy Land, however his master isn't telling him that there were actually ten men involved. If he succeeds, he will stabilize the entire region and be fully redeemed. Altaïr travels between the four cities (Jerusalem, Masyaf, Damascus, and Acre) and kills his victims with a variety of weapons. His extensive knowlegde in the Deadly Arts are without question unmatched, able to infiltrate or exfiltrate any fortification comepletely unnoticed, brush shoulders with a primary target without alerting them to his hostile presence and strike from any direction hidden within the crowd, a testament of his undenying mastery in "Hiding in Plain Sight" showing his knowledge of the "Assassins Creed" and the importance of the second tenet. Altair, 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 lethal approach is masked entirely from his intended target. His ability to blend in and appear as just another face on the street makes it much more possible to get in extremely close to a target and silently assasinate them using the Hidden Blade without alerting the immediate surrounding enviornment, specifically the targets body guards that usually accompany them or any wandering innocents. Whether investigating or silently assassinating, Altair constantly remains anonymous out of his instinctive assassins nature, being anonymous for Altair is second nature, only very briefly exposing himself to the publics eye preparing (even though very rare and extremely short in length and for good reason)to strike during a public assassination of one "The Nine", and even public assassinations do not gurantee Altairs appearance, he is a master assassin and is highly skilled in adapting to changing situations and the changing enviornment knowing all too well in how to still maintain the upperhand in the constantly dangerous and changing enviornment, 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 greatly in your survival moving about the dangerous cities, and kingdom throughout the Holy Land. As stated Altair's acrobatic skills help in both assassination and escape, he uses these skills to strike from many different locations and directions, mainly from afront,above, and behind when performing Public Assassinations which have been recorded according to entry wound. Altairs' assassination expertise is quite clear seeing how he can appear from the crowd undetected, and quickly kill anyone he focuses on silently, then Blends back into the crowd. During primary assassinations Altair clearly knows how to remain subtle. Altair stalks the district occupied most by the target obtaining information on where and when he will be. Using that knowledge better prepares for the oppurune 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". Altairs social mastery ensures that low-profile kills performed while hiding amongst the crowd will succeed, allowing him to eliminate any guards partroling the streets. Altair is a master at silent travel and silent target approach, when moving about the city streets seeking out his target Altair moves with the crowd as the crowd, then in time of public assasination he appears as a cloaked white ghost, because to get caught in the crowd with Altair silently stalking you, is as if the target is lost in a heavy and thick fog shrouding a forest only its an ocean of people moving about in different directions until one of those sudden bumps turns out to be the Hidden Blade being inserted into one of your multitude of bodily vital organs. 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 allowed him to carry out his 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 third tenet within the "Assassins Creed". Altair is trained extensively on how to traverse the city disguised as a holy scholar. Dressing as a scholar allows the silent approaching assassin to get close enough to a target without raising suspicion before surgicaly 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 and the disguise masks your true appearance and intentions. Never just wear a disguise be the character 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 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, 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 and mission failure 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 story, as well as his left arm. As the situation progresses and Altaïr listens to the last words of his assassination targets, listening to their revelations about the Holy Land, his attitude changes and he becomes less impetuous,overconfident, and impatient, learning to perceive more between the lines and actions of the world . By the end of the conflict, 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

• File:Altair.jpg

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