Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (1165–1257) was born to an Arab Muslim father, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad, and his wife, Maud, who died of complications during childbirth. Umar was later executed by the forces of Saladin when he was revealed to have participated in a disastrous mission to assassinate the ruler, which resulted in Umar killing a nobleman who had caught him. He allowed himself to be executed and the last thing he heard was the voice of his son crying for him.

As the years passed, Altaïr grew to be a skilled Assassin, so he had to lose a finger.[9] He once led the retaking of Masyaf after Al Mualim, the Mentor of the Brotherhood, was captured, which earned him the respect of his fellow Assassins. He was then sent on a mission to Solomon's Temple to recover a hidden artifact. The mission was a failure, as Altaïr broke the tenets of the Order and left his fellow Assassins to face the Templars alone after he was thrown from the room by Robert de Sablé. Altaïr fled to Masyaf to report his failure but was followed, resulting in Masyaf being attacked by the Templars. The Assassins were able to fend off their enemies, but Altaïr was punished by being stabbed by Al-Mualim.[10]

Altaïr later awoke and discovered that he had been stripped of his rank, but was told by Al-Mualim that he would be able to recover it if he could kill nine Templars in the Holy Land. Altaïr was able to assassinate the first eight, then discovered that his last target was Robert himself. He then made his way back to Jerusalem where he met Robert. However, as he removed the helmet of the Templar, he found out that he had not faced Robert but a woman. He allowed her to live and she told him that Robert had made his way to Arsuf. Altaïr followed and finally killed Robert, who revealed that Al Mualim was actually using Altaïr to obtain the Apple of Eden, a powerful artifact left behind by the First Civilization. Altaïr returned to Masyaf, where Al Mualim confirmed what Robert had said. Altaïr, aided by a number of other Assassins, fought his way to Al Mualim, who had used to the artifact from Solomon's Temple to enslave the people of Masyaf. Altaïr and his mentor battled each other and Altaïr finally killed him, taking his place as Mentor.

After these events, Altaïr eventually began to study the artifact, known as the Apple of Eden, and recorded his findings in a journal known as the Codex. He also married Maria Thorpe, who was the decoy of Robert de Sable, after he convinced her to defect to the Assassins. He had two sons, Darim and Sef Ibn-La'Ahad. During this time, Altaïr used what he had learned from the Apple to create new techniques and innovations for the Assassins to use. He later journeyed in 1222 to Xingqing in Western Xia, China,[11] with Maria, Darim and Qulan Gal to assassinate Genghis Khan.[12][13][14] They returned ten years later to discover that Abbas, Altaïr's rival, had usurped control of the Order. Abbas tried to force Altaïr to give him the Apple, revealing that Sef had been executed and told that Altaïr had ordered it. Angered, Altaïr used the Apple but Maria told him to stop, resulting in her being stabbed by one of the Assassins loyal to Abbas. Altaïr and Darim fled Masyaf and Altaïr fell into a deep depression. Years later Altaïr retook the Order with the help of Assassins led by Tazim Al-Sayf, the son of Malik.

He began rebuilding the Brotherhood, splitting it up into small "guilds" located around the world and began construction of a large library hidden under Masyaf, sealed by five keys containing his memories. When Venetian explorers, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo arrived in Masyaf after they were invited by Altaïr and Darim, he told them of his experiences and put into action his idea of dividing the Assassins into smaller groups with their help. Later, Masyaf was attacked by Mongols and Altaïr helped the explorers escape by using the Apple to fend off the attackers. He then divided his books by giving some to the Polos and sending some to Alexandria. He also gave the Venetians the memory keys to the library, before sealing himself into the library along with the Apple after saying goodbye to Darim. While in the library, Altaïr recorded one last memory on a key he kept with him and died moments after. His remains were found centuries later by the 16th-century assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

The character was generally well received. In 2008, The Age ranked Altaïr as the fourth greatest Xbox character of all time, declaring "Not everybody was overly enamoured with Assassin's Creed, but we have nothing but respect for its protagonist ... If everything about the game he inhabited had been as polished and brilliant as him, we certainly would have felt very differently about Assassin's Creed."[19] The 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition lists the character as the 30th most popular video game character.[20] He was voted as the ninth top character of the 2000s decade by Game Informer's readers.[21]

IGN nominated and gave the award Altaïr for their "Stars' 2007 Badasssss!" award.[22] In 2008, Mikel Reparaz of GamesRadar ranked him as the sixth best assassin in gaming, stating "Cool talents aside, Altaïr's a pretty compelling character in his own right, gradually growing out of his arrogant-prick phase to become more noble and altruistic. And as he does, he begins to actually question the morality of what he's doing, something few of the other assassins on this list ever do."[23] That same year, IGN's Jesse Schedeen listed Altaïr as one of the fighters they would have in their ultimate fighting game, saying he was a slightly more realistic and efficient version of the Prince from Prince of Persia.[24] In 2009, he ranked first on FHM's list of most memorable hitmen in gaming.[25] Although Altaïr ultimately did not make the cut, Game Informer staff considered his inclusion in their "30 characters that defined a decade" collection, with Joe Juba saying, "Altaïr's rise to power is no less dramatic and impressive than Ezio's – it's just most of his transformation into a peerless master assassin took place off-screen."[26]

On the other hand, Philip Shahbaz's vocal performance, particularly his American accent, was criticized. Hilary Goldstein of IGN, in her review of the original Assassin's Creed, called the voice acting for Altaïr "abysmal," going on to say that he "speaks with an American accent and sounds as if he is auditioning for community theatre."[27] ZTGD's Joey Guacamole offered a similar opinion in his review of the game, calling it one of the worst voice acting performances of recent memory.[28] GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd was somewhat less critical of Shabaz's performance, writing that he did an "all-right" job as Altaïr, but still found him lacking compared to the other actors in the game.[29] Some critics also took note of his undisclosed backstory in the original game. GameSpy's Will Tuttle, when comparing the character to Assassin's Creed II's protagonist Ezio Auditore, wrote that while Altaïr was "undeniably badass," the lack of any backstory or motives made him difficult to care about.[30] IGN, using results from a reader's poll and comments, also listed Altaïr as the ninth most overrated video game character, calling him to a "poor man's Prince of Persia" and declaring him a two-dimensional, very formulaic character.[31]

Media related to Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad at Wikimedia Commons

• Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad on IMDb