Who is the protagonist controlled by players in the first Assassin's Creed game?

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad is the protagonist controlled by players in the first Assassin's Creed game.

The game follows Altaïr, a Syrian-born Assassin operating during the Third Crusade in 1191. He begins as a highly ranked member of the Assassin Brotherhood, but a failed mission causes him to lose his rank and weapons. His mentor, Al Mualim, then assigns him a sequence of targets whose deaths gradually reveal a larger political and philosophical conflict.

Altaïr's name means “flying eagle” in Arabic, while Ibn-La'Ahad means “son of no one.” The character returns in later Assassin's Creed stories, especially through the life of Desmond Miles, who experiences Altaïr's memories using the Animus. This makes Altaïr important to the series' modern-day framing narrative as well as its medieval setting.

He is sometimes confused with Ezio Auditore, the lead character of Assassin's Creed II and its two direct sequels. Altaïr, however, is the central playable character of the original 2007 title.