In the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed, which assassin does the player control in the main story?

In the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed, the player controls Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

Altaïr is a Syrian Master Assassin serving the Levantine Brotherhood during the Third Crusade. The story follows his fall from rank after a reckless mission, followed by a period of redemption in which he investigates targets across cities including Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus.

Altaïr's name is sometimes confused with later protagonists because the series repeatedly uses the framing device of a modern descendant reliving ancestral memories. In the first game, Desmond Miles experiences Altaïr's memories through the Animus, a machine that reconstructs genetic memories.

The game established recurring series ideas such as social stealth, parkour, synchronized viewpoints, hidden blades, and the conflict between Assassins and Templars. Altaïr later appears in expanded stories, including Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which explores his life at several different ages.