The Prince

He is the Prince of Persia and the King of Blades.

The Prince is actually a title given to three different protagonists throughout the series of games. Each is seemingly unrelated to the last and even situated in a different universe completely. Though they are all acrobatic and swordsmanship prowess, the only characteristic they seem to share is their nickname.

Origin

There are three different versions of the Prince of Persia, however the prince from The Sands of Time series is the one most known. Throughout the entire franchise the prince has never had a name. In the Sands of Time series, he was the son of Sharaman, King of Persia. He was born in Babylon, the capital of the Persian empire, during his father's reign. Although not a lot is known about the prince's childhood, however he mentioned in The Two Thrones that as a child he was playing on the streets of Babylon, which at least reveals where he spent his childhood.

Creation

Prince of Persia is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner, originally developed for the Apple II computer in 1989. The first two games of the original trilogy were developed in 2D graphics. The third game was released in 3D graphics in 1999. Though Mechner was involved in every one of those games, they have been produced by many different publishers and developers. The first two games have been developed by Brøderbund. The third game, Prince of Persia 3D, was developed by Red Orb Entertainment and published by The Learning Company. In 2003 the french video game company Ubisoft began developing the reboot titles of the franchise, starting with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Character Evolution

Personal Profile

Characteristics

• Gender: Male
• Height: Average
• Weight: Average
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Black
• Place of Birth: Babylon
• Occupation: Prince of Persia, Warrior, Adventurer
• Marital Status: Single
• Known Relatives: King Sharaman (father, deceased), Queen Mehri (mother, deceased), Prince Malik (brother, deceased)

Appearance

In the Sands of Time, the Prince is described as a nimble and athletic man.

In Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, the Prince becomes more muscular, relying more on his swordplay and physical prowess in combat, though he maintains his athleticism.

Personality

The Prince begins his journey as a self-confidant, but arrogant young man. Eager to please his father in the heat of battle, the Prince steals the Dagger of Time from the Maharajah's treasure vault without thought to its reason for being there. He is easily persuaded into making foolish decisions on the appeal to his pride. In keeping with his upbringing as a royal, the Prince does not take kindly to be ordered around by Farah or women in general, even when conceding to their knowledge in any given situation. In the face of Farah's headstrong nature, the Prince looks forward to the challenge of taming her should they ever be married. Initially, he is quick to blame others for the consequences of his own actions. However, he is also quick to learn humility and accept his responsibility as the one who would bring to world to ruin with the Sands of Time on the basis that he should fail. The weight of his responsibility in regards to the Sands of Time forces the young Prince to mature and consider his actions and consequences more thoroughly as his journey progresses through

During The Forgotten Sands Prince is wiser, even shouldering the responsibility of his brother, Malik's, actions during the siege of King Solomon's Army and the battle against Ratash, the Ifrit who was imprisoned in the treasure vault of Malik's palace. He is stubborn and often does not follow the wisest route or advice until his own choices create an even worse situation.

Though the Prince sought wisdom and learning from his brother, he fears bearing the weight of any responsibility put before him and is quick to shy away from the heavier aspect of what it means to be a leader.

In the Warrior Within, however, after seven years of being hunted relentlessly by the Dahaka, the Prince develops a much more violent personality. He shows no mercy for his enemies during his battles. His emotional maturity regresses. He falls back on his selfish and arrogant ways. He ignores the council of his elders and thinks only of himself, desperate to survive the Dahaka's desire to kill him in order to restore the timeline. His defiance of the Dahaka's will and Kaileena's survival leads to a completely different timeline and unlearned lessons for the Prince.

In The Two Thrones, the Prince continues on his destructive path, caring nothing for the safeguard of the people around him in his quest for revenge and to save Kaileena. When she is killed, the negative aspects of the Prince are brought to sentient fruition through the Dark Prince.

Despite retaining his violent fighting style, he slowly begins to relearn lessons from Sands of Time and The Forgotten Sands. Without the fear of death promised by the Dahaka, the Prince becomes much less violent and angry.

The Dark Prince, the amalgamation of his darker personality's greed and lack of apathy for his environment, is a sharp contrast to his hesitation as he starts to think more of his people when reunited with a hardened Farah.

After finding his father dead and being taunted by the Dark Prince, who mocks him by suggesting he should perform another Grand Rewind or return to the Island of Time to save his father, the Prince finally snaps and accepts that his actions have been fueled by naivety, fear and arrogance. More importantly, that he never thought of how his actions effected other people around him. Seeing the error of his ways, the Prince finally overcomes his darker alter ego and relearns the lessons he was taught when his journey with the Sands of Time began.

Powers and Abilities

• Peak Human Conditioning: The prince is physically extraordinary trained and is a peak-level athlete. His speed, strength, stamina, endurance, agility and reflexes allow him to perform incredible physical feats, some of which even seem impossible like reaching the roof of a high building by jumping up between two walls or running along a wall, though only for a short distance of several meters.
• Peak Human Strength: Though it has never been considered how strong the prince really was, he is able to break through any unstable, damaged or just thin wall by using single-handed weapons that can that can withstand the impact. He has been seen kicking enemies several meters away and moving quite massive objects.
• Peak Human Stamina: The prince has got a high level of pain tolerance, as he has been taking powerful blows and continued fighting despite severe injuries. He has also been able to survive a supposed deadly fall from great height almost uninjured.
• Peak Human Endurance: The prince seems to have a great lung capacity, as he can run, climb and fight for a long period of time without tiring. As long as he has access to fresh water, he can even sustain several days without food, yet without forfeiting the efficiency of his physical abilities.
• Peak Human Agility: The prince's unusual agility allows him to perform incredible acrobatic feats and supports his fighting skills.
• Peak Human Speed: The prince is quite fast. The speed supports his acrobatic and fighting skills and allows him to dodge arrows.
• Peak Human Reflexes: The prince has shown incredible reflexes, which are of course supporting his acrobatic and fighting skills. In combination with his incredible speed he has been seen to defend himself against up to ten enemies and remain unharmed. He also is able to dodge arrows and even deflect several arrows with ease.
• Master Acrobat: He is a more than a gifted acrobat, who can perform any acrobatic trick, that a human being is capable of. In combination with his speed and agility he is able to perform incredible feats, some of which even seem impossible like reaching the roof of a high building by jumping up between two walls or running along a wall, though only for a short distance of several meters. All that allows him to have incredible free-running skills. There is almost nothing that can make him stop and almost no obstacle he couldn't pass.
• Indomitable Will: The prince is a very determined man and possesses the spirit of a true warrior. If he knows his purpose, there is little to possibly nothing that can keep him from fulfilling his task. In a flashback in Warrior Within a wise man warned him of the powerful Dahaka, yet even he did not stop the prince on his path.
• Ultimate Warrior: He might be the Prince of Persia, but he truly is the King of Blades. In combination with his physical abilities he is an unstoppable killing machine that can easily fight more than twenty enemies at once and remain victorious. Along with his indomitable will he becomes the ultimate warrior, a one-man army.
• Weapons Master: As the so called King of Blades he is a grandmaster swordsman, unmatched in the world known to him. He has fought hordes of men, undead, beasts, giants and other enormous monsters. He also defeated the powerful Dahaka in a sword fight, as well as Shahdee, an assassin with superhuman physical abilities and Kaileena, the Empress of Time herself, while she was in her mortal form and yet superhuman. He has a unique fighting style, which includes unseen techniques and considerably superhuman moves. These allow him to kill up to several people at once. Though his weapons of choice are two single-handed swords, he can wield any other single-handed weapon like axes, maces, hammers and every kind of swords and knives known to men in his time. The Prince of Persia may be considered one of the greatest fictional swordsmen in history.
• Master of Stealth: In The Two Thrones the prince turned out to be a master assassin. Appearing literary out of nowhere, he can kill up to several men in a matter of seconds. He was able to pass vast areas of Babylon undetected while it was under siege by the vizier.
• Master Assassin: Thanks to his incredible combat skills combined with his great mastery stealth literally popping out of nowhere, only to eliminate multiple enemies in a matter of seconds, as observed when using Speed Kill this allows the Prince to kill an enemy without them fighting back, and, as the name implies, kills a lot faster than normal fighting.
• Excellent Marksman: Though the prince has never been seen using any long distance weapons like a bow, he is able to kill a man by throwing any kind of single-handed weapons at him even on relatively great distances.
• Excellent Combatant: Due to his physical abilities and fighting skills, he is considerably a powerful unarmed combatant, as in many of his sword fighting techniques he uses blows, kicks and other moves that are also used in martial arts.
• High Intellect: Though the prince has made many fatefully wrong decisions being blinded by vengeance, he is very a intelligent man with a very good education due to his status as a prince of Persia.
• Intuition: The prince is not only intuitive in his swordfighting, but shows to be able to adapt to any possible situation and to always find a way out.
• Multi-lingual: He doesn't only speak Persian, but supposedly Arabian as well, as the Sultan of Azad is an ally and a close friend of his father. In addition he may considerably speak a Indian language, as he has been seen reading ancient Indian texts while the siege of the Maharajah's kingdom.
• Leadership: As a prince he is a born leader and able to lead men into battle, as well as commanding the crew of a ship.
• Word fluent: The prince doesn't only speak as prince should due to his royal education, but chooses his words advisedly.
• Horseman: During the events of The Two Thrones the prince displayed great skills in riding horses and also controlling chariots.
• Sailor: At the beginning of Warrior Within the prince turned out to be a skilled sailor and captain.

Powers

Despite his incredible physical abilities that allow him to perform considerably superhuman feats, the prince naturally possesses no superhuman powers or abilities. He obtains all his famous powers from powerful magical artifacts such as the Dagger of Time or mystical beings like Razia.

The Dagger of Time: Is a powerful artifact that prevents the owner from being transformed into a sandmonster, while the Sands of Time are released. While in possession of it the dagger grants the prince several abilities to control and manipulate time to a certain degree.

• Recall: Pressing a button on the daggers handle the prince can reverse the course of time, and thus undo mistakes and escape death.
• Eye of the Storm: Allows the prince to slow down the time, which makes him move faster in relation to the surrounding.
• Ravages of Time: Allows him to move at blinding speeds and kill tens of enemies in a matter of seconds.
• The Power of Destiny: Shows the Prince visions of possible futures, during the course of Sands of Time, the Prince can use the powers of the Dagger and later the Medallion to use the power of prophecy and see what his future holds.

The Medallion of Time: A powerful amulet that prevents the owner from being transformed into a sandmonster, while the Sands of Time are released, and also grants its owner the powers of the Dagger of Time and adds some more. As like the dagger it can contain some amount of the Sands of Time that can be filled up, if exhausted.

• Breath of Fate: Allows the prince to blast away several enemies that surround him.
• Wind of Fate: Is the more powerful version of the Breath of Fate, which hurts the enemies that were blown away.
• Cyclone of Fate: Is the ultimate version of of the Breath of Fate, which kills most enemies that were blown away.
• Time Travel: In possession of the amulet the prince can use time portal, which are located on the Island of Time.

Sand Wraith: As the prince put on the Mask of the Wraith, he has been painfully transformed into the Sand Wraith, a creature that looks like a living corpse, who's skin is black and face is covered with the mask. It grants the prince limitless access to the Sands of Time, as his reserves of the sands permanently regenerate. However the mask drastically decreases the prince's stamina.

Dark Prince: In The Two Thrones the dagger prevents the prince from being fully transformed into a sandmonster, when the vizier unleashed the power of the sands by killing Kaileena. Instead it made his darkside come alive and think separately, which makes the prince transform into a dark inhuman creature with black skin, red glowing eyes, glowing signs on its body and superhuman abilities, which allow him e.g. covering greater distances while running along a wall. However this form relies on feeding on the mystical Sands of Time to sustain, otherwise the prince would die. Only contact with water can transform the prince back into his human form. However the prince manages to gain full control of his mind and free himself from his dark side.

Powers of the Djinn: In The Forgotten Sands the Djinn Razia gives the Prince special powers are strengths based within the elements of nature. As spiritual creatures, be they Ifrit or Marid, Djinn have untold control over their specific environment or elements. In certain cases, Djinn can grant humans control over elemental powers and time without the use or assistance of the Dagger or Sands of Time.

Known Abilities

• Power of Time: Gives the ability to manipulate Time.
• Power Of Flow: Gives the ability to freeze water.
• Power Of Flight: Gives the ability to attack from a Distance by turning into a streak of Blue Energy
• Power of Memory: Temporarily restores features such as walls and columns
• Ice Blast: Creates a wave of ice that damages enemies in it's path.
• Whirlwind: Creates a gust of wind that knocks enemies back.
• Trail of Flame: A trail of fire follows the prince, causing damage to any enemies that touch it.
• Stone Armor: Surrounds the prince in stone armor that stops any damage.

Equipment

Weapons: The prince usually uses two single-handed weapons, preferring blades. In times he wielded very powerful mystical swords.

• Eagle Sword: A powerful sword possessed by the prince, until Shahdee disarmed him and threw the blade overboard.
• Spider Sword: The first useful blade the prince achieves on the Island of Time.
• Serpent Sword: A blade that the prince received from Kaileena.
• Lion Sword: A powerful blade, which he also received from Kaileena. However it has been broken while he fought her, as she cursed it.
• Scorpion Sword: A powerful and indestructible blade, which the prince finds on the Island of Time.
• Water Sword: A powerful and indestructible blade, that can even hurt the Dahaka.
• King's Sword: A powerful blade that belonged to the prince's father Sharaman, King of Persia.
• Daggertail: A powerful weapon that has been bound to the prince as he nearly transformed into a sandmonster in The two Thrones. It originally belonged to Mahasti, one of the vizier's generals. However only the Dark Prince was able to wield it, as it was magically enhanced by the power of the Sands of Time. The Daggertail Increases the Prince's dramatically reaching range. While wall-running, the Dark Prince can hook onto the Daggertail lamps jutting from the wall in order to gain more momentum to continue further along the wall.

• And many more.

Artifacts: The prince also achieved several extraordinary powerful artifacts, that grant him incredible powers.

• Dagger of Time: The key to the Hourglass of Time, which contains the mystical Sands of Time. Though not very sharp, it is quite useful against sandmonsters and protects the owner from being transformed into one of them.
• Medallion of Time: An ancient amulet, older even then the Sands of Time themselves. It grants the owner the same powers as the Dagger of Time and even more, as it enables the owner to use the Time Portals on the Island of Time.
• Mask of the Wraith: Transforms the owner into the Sand Wraith. It grants the owner unlimited reserves of the Sands of Time and the chance to change his/her fate.

Armors: Usually the prince wears just a light leather armor to be able to move fast and agile and to support his fighting skills. Some times his armors are partially enhanced by metal plates.

Major Story Arcs

The Sands of Time

The Forgotten Sands

Warrior Within

The Two Thrones

Alternate Versions

Original Trilogy

Prince of Persia (2008)

Other Media

Film

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)