Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad

Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad is a fictional character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game series. He first appears as the main playable character in the original Assassin's Creed game, which takes place during the Third Crusade. His later appearances include the spin-offs Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles and Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, which also feature him as the protagonist, and the sequels Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, in which he is playable only during certain sequences. Philip Shahbaz voiced Altaïr in the original game, while Owen Thomas took over the role in Bloodlines and Cas Anvar voiced him in Revelations.
Within the series' alternate historical setting, Altaïr was born in 1165 into the Assassin Brotherhood, an organization inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins dedicated to protecting peace and freedom. Raised and trained by the Assassin leader in Masyaf, Al Mualim, following the loss of his biological parents, Altaïr rose through the Brotherhood's ranks to become one of its most skilled agents. Though initially arrogant and cruel, Altaïr manages to overcome his flaws to become one of the wisest Assassins to ever live. After killing Al Mualim for betraying the Brotherhood, Altaïr succeeds him as Mentor and works to reform the Assassins with the help of a powerful artifact called the Apple of Eden. His further adventures see him protecting the assassin cause from their sworn enemies, the Knights Templar, as well as the rapidly expanding Mongol Empire. Near the end of his life, Altaïr builds a secret library to safeguard his knowledge and the Apple, which would become his final resting place in 1257. Due to his many contributions to the Brotherhood, Altaïr would be honored as one of its most legendary Mentors for centuries after his death.
The character has been generally well received, with praise for Altaïr's skills as an Assassin and personal growth. However, some have criticized his lack of backstory in the first game, as well as Philip Shahbaz's vocal performance. Alongside Ezio Auditore da Firenze, he is typically considered the face of the franchise and one of its most popular characters, leading to several crossover appearances outside the Assassin's Creed series.
Conception and creation
After completing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2003, director Patrice Désilets was instructed to begin work on the next Prince of Persia game. However, he wanted to move away from the lead character being a prince simply waiting for his reign to start, onto a character that wanted to strive to be a king. He came upon one of his university books on secret societies and its material related to the Order of Assassins. Désilets recognized that he could have the lead character in the game be the second-highest Assassin, seeking to be the leader of the group. The game began work under the title Prince of Persia: Assassin, or Prince of Persia: Assassins, inspired by Hassan-i Sabbah's life and making heavy use of Vladimir Bartol's novel Alamut. The Assassin character was fleshed out throughout the game's three-year development in an iterative fashion. The team had some idea of how the character dressed from Alamut and other historical works in all-white robes and a red belt but had to envision how to detail this in the game. One of the first concept sketches, drawn by animator Khai Nguyen, suggested the concept of a bird of prey, which resonated with the team. The Assassin was named Altaïr, meaning "bird of prey" in Arabic, and eagle imagery was used heavily in connection to the Assassins. Altaïr was to be a heroic character with a bit of a badass edge, and the artist borrowed elements of the G.I. Joe character Storm Shadow, a similarly skilled hero. Rendering long flowing robes was impossible on the newer hardware, so they shortened the robe and gave it a more feathered look, resonating the bird of prey imagery.
Appearances
Assassin's Creed
Altaïr is an ancestor (on the maternal side) of Desmond Miles, the protagonist of most of the early series' modern-day sequences, who experiences Altaïr's life through the Animus, a device unlocking hidden memories inside his DNA. In the original Assassin's Creed game, Desmond is forced by Abstergo Industries (a front for the modern-day Templar Order) to relive Altaïr's during the time of the Third Crusade, to help the Templars locate a number of hidden Pieces of Eden—ancient artifacts of great power created by a mysterious Precursor race.
In 1191, Altaïr and two fellow Assassins, Malik Al-Sayf and his brother, are sent to Solomon's Temple to recover a Piece of Eden—the Apple—from the Templars. Altaïr inadvertently sabotages the mission when he arrogantly jumps at the opportunity to kill the Templar Grand Master, Robert de Sablé, who overpowers him. Although Altaïr and Malik manage to escape with the Apple, the latter loses both his brother and left arm, leading him to resent Altaïr. After fending off a Templar attack on the Assassin home base of Masyaf, Altaïr is tasked by his mentor, Al Mualim, to assassinate nine targets across the Holy Land to redeem himself.
Traveling between the cities of Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem, Altaïr identifies and kills his targets, all of whom are revealed to be Templars who have infiltrated both sides of the holy war to further the Order's goals. Altaïr also matures during his quest, becoming more humble and wise and making amends with Malik. Eventually, Altaïr attempts to assassinate his final target, Robert, but is tricked with a decoy: Maria Thorpe. Altaïr spares Maria after she reveals that Robert is meeting with King Richard I to negotiate an alliance between the Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins, and ultimately kills Robert, foiling his plan. Before dying, Robert reveals that Al Mualim betrayed the Assassins by helping the Templars find the Apple, only to later double-cross them so that he could keep the artifact for himself. Altaïr returns to Masyaf to confront Al Mualim, who has used the Apple to brainwash the residents and most of the Assassin Order as part of his plan to eradicate free will in the name of peace. Altaïr kills Al Mualim, but when he attempts to destroy the Apple, he accidentally unlocks a map showing the locations of more Pieces of Eden.
Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles and Bloodlines
Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles is a mobile spin-off released in 2008 that acts as a prequel to the original game. The title is set in 1190, and follows Altaïr as he attempts to retrieve an artifact called the Chalice, which he eventually discovers is a woman named Adha, whom he knew and had feelings for in the past. At the end of the game, Adha is captured by the Templars, and although Altaïr attempts to rescue her, killing the Templars' acting leader, Lord Basilisk, in the process, he is unsuccessful. In Assassin's Creed II, it is mentioned that Altaïr eventually found Adha again, but she had already been killed by the Templars, which greatly infuriated Altaïr and contributed to his arrogance.
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is a 2009 PlayStation Portable exclusive game that follows Altaïr roughly one month after the ending of Assassin's Creed, as he travels Cyprus to eliminate the last remnants of the Templar Order in the Holy Land. Here, he again runs into Maria Thorpe, and the two begin to develop feelings for each other as they reluctantly work together to learn more about the Apple of Eden and the mysterious Templar Archive on the island, where more Pieces of Eden are believed to be hidden.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
In Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Altaïr takes on the role of a secondary protagonist, as his legacy is explored by the main protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an Assassin from 15th-century Italy and another ancestor of Desmond, who is reliving Ezio's memories to find an event linking all three of them in order to awaken from a coma. In 1511, Ezio travels to Masyaf to find a library built by Altaïr and uncover its secrets, coming into conflict with Templars who also seek the knowledge within the library. After learning of five seals that serve as the keys to the library, Ezio travels to Constantinople to find and retrieve them before the Templars. Each seal contains one of Altaïr's memories he imprinted onto them, which serve to guide Ezio on his quest.
The first memory depicts Altaïr saving Al Mualim during a Templar attack on Masyaf in 1189. The second shows Altaïr becoming the new Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood after Al Mualim's death, and the opposition he faced from his former friend, Abbas Sofian. The third memory depicts Altaïr, his wife Maria and their eldest son Darim's return to Masyaf after assassinating Genghis Khan, only to find that Abbas has staged a coup and executed Darim's brother Sef during their absence. Altaïr tries to take revenge, but Maria stops him, resulting in her death and Altaïr and Darim being forced to flee Masyaf. The fourth memory shows Altaïr's return from his exile in 1247, where he gathers the other Assassins' support and kills Abbas, reclaiming leadership of the Brotherhood, which had nearly collapsed under Abbas' rule. The final memory depicts Altaïr fending off a Mongol attack on Masyaf in 1257, before passing the five seals to Niccolò Polo, trusting him to hide them and spread the Assassins' teachings.
After recovering all the seals, Ezio enters Altaïr's library, finding it empty except for Altaïr's skeleton holding a sixth seal. Imprinted on the seal are the final moments of Altaïr's life, revealing that he locked himself inside the library to safeguard his Apple of Eden. Understanding the lesson Altaïr tried to convey through his memories, Ezio leaves the Apple there and retires from the Assassins, refusing to dedicate his entire life to serving the Brotherhood like Altaïr had. He then acknowledges that Desmond is observing him and puts his faith in him that he will succeed where both Altaïr and Ezio could not; effectively linking all three protagonists and allowing Desmond to awaken from his coma.
Other appearances
Assassin's Creed series
Altaïr's legacy plays an important role in Assassin's Creed II, where a statue of him is located in an underground sanctuary underneath the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, alongside other statues of legendary Assassin figures. The sanctuary also contains the Armor of Altaïr, a set of virtually indestructible armor which he created using knowledge gained from the Apple of Eden and which was sealed away. Additionally, pages of Altaïr's journal, the Codex, serve as in-game collectibles, and contain instructions on various weapon upgrades, such as the Poison Blade and the Hidden Gun, which will be built by Leonardo da Vinci upon delivering the pages to him. At one point during the game, Desmond begins to experience the "Bleeding Effect," which causes him to relive a memory of Altaïr outside of the Animus. This is the only instance in the game where Altaïr is playable.
In the present-day section of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, a market analysis for Abstergo Entertainment, the fictional video games subsidiary of Abstergo Industries, can be found via hacking computers. The Market Analysis reveals Abstergo was looking into the possibility of using Altaïr as a role model for Abstergo's outreach programs, but found his habit of flouting his cultures taboos (demonstrated by video of him burning Al Mualim's body) and passed on using Altaïr, instead deciding to focus on Abbas Sofian, whose character they found more suitable for their purposes. Despite this, in Assassin's Creed Unity, Abstergo has produced a fictional video game starring Altaïr, titled Murder in the Levant, which can be seen at the start.
Altaïr's outfit has been an unlockable cosmetic option in every mainline Assassin's Creed game since Assassin's Creed II, with the exception of Syndicate and Odyssey. In 2018, Altaïr became a playable character in the free to play role-playing mobile game Assassin's Creed Rebellion.
In literature, Altaïr has appeared as the protagonist of the novel Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade by Oliver Bowden, which chronicles most of his life (as described by Niccolò Polo in his journal), including events not depicted in any of the games. He is also featured in the second issue of the 2017 comic book miniseries, Assassin's Creed: Reflections, which details his role in the assassination of Genghis Khan, carried out in 1227 by Altaïr's son Darim and the Mongolian Assassin Qulan Gal.
Other
Altaïr is a playable character in the video game Academy of Champions: Soccer.
In the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, player character Solid Snake can disguise himself with Altaïr's outfit.
In the video game Prince of Persia (2008), Altaïr's outfit is unlockable for the Prince to wear.
Altaïr's outfit also appears in the video game Rayman Raving Rabbids 2.
In the video game The Saboteur, the player can obtain an Altaïr trophy.
In the video game The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, there is an Easter egg which shows a dead assassin resembling Altaïr in a haystack.
Altaïr's outfit appears as an outfit for Noctis in the "Assassin's Festival" DLC for Final Fantasy XV.
Altaïr's outfit appears as a Mii Sword fighter costume available via DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Promotion and reception
Like other protagonists in the series, Altaïr has been subject to merchandise. Altaïr's likeness, along with five other series protagonists, was used for a line of character-themed wine labels as part of a joint collaboration between Ubisoft and winemaker Lot18 in 2018; the full name of his label is "2017 Altaïr Ibn-La'ahad Loire Valley IGP Cabernet Franc".
The character of Altaïr 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." 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." 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."
However other sources were more critical of the character. 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." 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. 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 IIs protagonist Ezio Auditore, wrote that while Altaïr was "undeniably badass," the lack of any backstory or motives made him difficult to care about.
References
Bibliography
External links
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad on IMDb
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