In the first Assassin's Creed game, which Assassin is the playable protagonist during the Third Crusade?

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad is the playable protagonist of the first Assassin's Creed game during the Third Crusade.

Released in 2007, Assassin's Creed follows Altaïr, a senior Assassin whose rank and equipment are taken away after he breaks the Brotherhood's rules. His master, Al Mualim, sends him to investigate and eliminate targets across cities including Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus.

The game is set in 1191, during the Third Crusade, and its historical storyline includes figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Robert de Sablé. Altaïr's missions combine assassination, surveillance, investigation, and freerunning across reconstructed medieval cities.

Altaïr is sometimes confused with Ezio Auditore because Ezio became the series' most prominent early hero. Ezio stars in the next major historical arc, beginning with Assassin's Creed II, while Altaïr remains central to the franchise's mythology through later references and the game Assassin's Creed: Revelations.