3. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
I have mixed feelings towards Altair, but most of his shortcomings just come from the fact that Assassins Creed 1is one of the most monotonous and snooze inducing games ever made as far actually playing goes. Sitting on benches and pickpocketing people got old after the first 2 assassinations, doing it 8 more times was just torture. Thats unfortunately just a circumstance of Ubisoft not quite knowing what Assassins Creed was themselves yet. Remember the jump in quality and concept execution from Uncharted 2 to 1? Thats exactly what Assassins Creed 2 was reminiscent of, but well get into that more another time. Altair is the product of a mediocre game that hadnt entirely found its footing and direction yet, but hes still one hell of an entertaining character and the original assassin. He also had to have his finger completely lopped off to receive his hidden blade because Assassin technology was apparently still in the dark ages. Fortunately, a lot of exposition for Altair spilled over into multiple sequels, making up for a number of Assassins Creed 1s faults. Throughout the entire franchise theres a brooding sensation that the legacy of the guild is only possible because of his knowledge and extreme dedication. There are even flashback sequences in Revelations where youre controlling an elderly Altair who is seemingly in his 80s, yet still fighting the Templars tooth and nail. Furthermore, Revelations may be a weaker entry in the end but Altairs closure was one of the most emotional and genius moments in gaming.