Saturday, September 22
Prince of Persia: 2 down 1 to go
Prnce of Persia: The Sands of Time
Passing through India en route to Azad, King Shahraman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah's daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Shahraman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures. But Shahraman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. So the Vizier, who wishes to harness the power of the Sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him conitself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass. When the Prince trol over time uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion (there are a handful of unimportant survivors, such as two people who escape with Farah and a guard who assists you during the Azad defence system puzzle, who is possessed after his part).
On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives the Prince limited control over the flow of time. Before they reach their destination, the Prince and Farah form a romantic relationship. However, the Prince knows that Farah has every reason to hate him for conquering her people, and he suspects that Farah plans to steal the Dagger of Time from him. While the Prince sleeps, Farah does at a later time take the Dagger, as well as his sword, and attempts to return the Sands to the hourglass herself, leaving only her medallion behind with the Prince. When the Prince catches up with her, she is being attacked by sand creatures, and falls to her death through the ceiling of the hourglass chamber atop the Tower of Dawn before the Prince can save her.
Afterwards, the Prince uses the Dagger to return the Sands to the hourglass, and the timeline reverts to the point prior to the battle against the Maharajah. As a result, the relationship between Farah and himself is a memory that only he possesses. However, the Prince still has the Dagger in his possession, even in the past. He goes to find Farah, to warn her of the Vizier's treachery before the Sands are released, and to give her the Dagger of Time. At this point, it is revealed all of the Prince's narration in the menus and cut-scenes from the game were actually him recounting his adventures to Farah, in an attempt to warn her. But as the Prince shares his epic story with her, he is confronted by the evil Vizier, who still yearns for the Dagger, and eternal life.
After defeating the Vizier, and preventing the opening of the hourglass, the Prince offers the Dagger to Farah. She questions why he needed to invent such a fantastic story. After he responds with a coldly-received kiss, he rewinds time a moment and instead agrees with her, that it was just a story. As he leaves, she asks him his name, and is left dumbfounded when he tells her to call him "Kakolookiyam.", the name of a fairy-tale hero that Farah's mother told her stories about as a child and that only she would know of (in the previous timeline, Farah had explained the significance of this word to the Prince).
Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
Seven years after the Prince used the Sands of Time to turn back time and rewrite history, he finds himself hunted by the Dahaka, the Guardian of the Timeline. Because the Prince escaped his fate, the Dahaka is sent to ensure that the Prince dies and thus restore order to the Timeline.
Seeking counsel from an old wise man, the Prince learns of the existence of the Island of Time - birthplace of the Sands of Time, governed by the Empress of Time. Thinking only of himself and his survival, the Prince sets sail for the Island to prevent the Sands of Time from ever being created. His belief is that if the Sands are not created then the Dahaka will have no reason to hunt him.
Many obstacles attempt to prevent the Prince from reaching the Island and his goal. First, his ship is attacked by an army led by a mysterious woman in black named Shahdee. The Prince faces her and during the ensuing combat she manages to throw him overboard; his ship sinks and his entire crew perishes; however, the Prince manages to survive and drifts ashore on the Island.
Wandering further into the island, he re-encounters Shahdee, whom he pursues deep into the fortress of the Island. By doing so, he accidentally steps into one of the many Portals of the fortress, which connects the present with the past. Continuing his pursuit into the Past, he finds her trying to murder an unknown woman in red named Kaileena. The Prince engages Shahdee once more in battle, kills her, and saves Kaileena.
Denied an audience with the Empress of Time to state his case, the Prince is then faced with the task of activating two towers, which in time will open the doors to the Empress' Throne Room. Kaileena aids the Prince by presenting to him the Serpent Sword, which will activate the bridges to reach both towers, and eventually the Lion Sword, an even more powerful weapon than the Serpent Sword. As the Prince explores the island, he occasionally encounters a mysterious, dark-looking creature. Shortly before reaching the throne room, the Prince is attacked by the Dahaka and almost killed, but the dark creature rushes in and is killed in his place. The Dahaka then leaves without attacking the Prince. The Prince eventually succeeds in reaching the Throne Room only to discover that Kaileena is the Empress of Time. She had sent Shahdee to kill the Prince, sent him on the perilous journey to the towers, and even cursed the Lion Sword - yet the Prince did not die.
Kaileena is also trying to defy her fate. She has seen hers in the Timeline, which is to die at the hands of the Prince. Therefore, her only concern is to get rid of him at any cost. Shahdee, feeling that her mission to help save Kaileena was foolish, illogical, and futile, had turned against her only to be killed by the Prince.
The Prince reluctantly fights and kills Kaileena. He returns to the present, hoping that he has escaped his fate, but soon discovers that when he killed Kaileena, the Sands of Time were spawned from her body. Realising that he has caused the event he intended to prevent, the Prince begins to lose hope, but soon discovers the Mask of the Wraith, which is said to have the power to defy fate. When he puts on the mask, he transforms into the Sand Wraith, the dark creature he saw earlier. The time portals have a greater effect on him in this state, causing him to relive the events of the past as the Wraith (and see his encounters with the Wraith from the opposite perspective). When he reaches the point at which the Wraith saved the Prince from the Dahaka, he instead lets the Dahaka kill the "other" Prince, causing the mask to fall off and him to return to the position he was in just before he entered the Throne Room.
The Prince decides that he may not be able to avoid killing Kaileena, but if he kills her in the present rather than the past, the Sands will not be created until after he had used them, thereby escaping his fate. The Prince confronts Kaileena again and forces her through a time portal into the present. At this point the ending forks, depending on whether or not the Prince has found all of the health upgrades and acquired his ultimate weapon, the Water Sword.
Without the Water Sword (alternate ending): The Prince and Kaileena fight again and the Prince kills her again. After the fight, the Dahaka appears, but ignores the Prince and takes Kaileena's body (since she is now the one who is out of place in the timeline). The Dahaka then heads for the Prince, but only to take his Time Medallion. Having escaped his fate, the Prince sets sail for Babylon.
With the Water Sword (true ending): The Dahaka appears and heads for Kaileena (since she is now the one who is out of place in the timeline). However, the Prince discovers that the Dahaka has a weakness to his Water Sword. The Prince fights the Dahaka and manages to defeat it. Having both escaped their fates, the Prince and Kaileena set sail for Babylon together. (This is the canonical ending.)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
The Two Thrones follows the second ending of Warrior Within, in which the Prince kills the Dahaka and successfully alters Kaileena's (The Empress of Time) fate. While on a ship en route to his home city of Babylon, the Prince tosses his magical medallion overboard, as he believes he no longer needs it. He has promised Kaileena that no harm will come to her in Babylon, but upon returning, he is horrified to find the city is burning and ravaged by war. His ship is attacked and he and Kaileena are thrown overboard. Kaileena is taken prisoner after drifting ashore.
After fighting his way through the city, the Prince discovers that as a result of his efforts on the Island of Time to prevent the Sands of Time from being created, the events of the original games never happened- the Vizier was never killed. Worse, he now possesses the empty hourglass, the Dagger of Time, and the magical staff. The Vizier is now in search of the Sands of Time, and has captured the Empress of Time to get them. Just as the Prince finds Kaileena, the Vizier kills her, and unleashes the Sands of Time, which strike and mutate the Vizier's lieutenants into hideous sand monsters. Then, by impaling himself with the dagger, the Vizier transforms into a terrifying immortal winged creature. The Prince is also struck by the Sands of Time, although the effects on him are not revealed until later in the story. The unleashed Sands of Time cause the palace to fall apart and collapse. The Prince falls as the floors collapse around him, but not before stealing the Dagger of Time.
Later, the Prince finds that the Sands of Time have split him into two personalities: his usual self, which although flawed strives to be good and noble; and the "Dark Prince" who represents the more cruel, avaricious, and arrogant aspects of his psyche, and is manifested as a bitter and cynical inner voice. Whenever the Dark Prince is dominant - in the absence of water, and when he is able to feed on the Prince's fear and anger - the Prince assumes his dark, corrupted form, although his mind remains intact. In his natural state, the corruption of the Sands is limited to a glowing wound on his left arm and shoulder, where the Sands had fused a razor-sharp chain weapon known as the "Daggertail" into his flesh. The Prince is alarmed to discover that the wound spreads further with each metamorphosis into the Dark Prince.
Meanwhile, the Vizier has transformed his army (and even some of the population of Babylon) into Sand monsters. While searching for a way to defeat the Vizier, the Prince once again encounters Farah, who does not remember him, and is surprised that the Prince knows her name. Although initially wary of the Prince, she agrees to help him defeat the Vizier.
As they travel together, the Prince continues to endure the inner struggle between his noble aspirations (which resonate with the brave and compassionate Farah, who is also developing feelings toward him) and the Dark Prince, whose voice is a constant reminder of the Prince's darker tendencies. The Prince's growing affection for Farah compels him to embrace a more selfless perspective, beginning with concern for Farah and developing into compassion for his downtrodden people. As this begins to happen, he realizes that the Dark Prince, who claims to be part of him, is in fact a Sand monster, who is vying for control of the Prince and his kingdom. A particularly heroic and selfless deed proves a turning point in his mission, as his heroism inspires a new hope in the populace. With their spirits lifted by the knowledge that their Prince is fighting to save them from the Vizier, they rise up in defiance of his army, and provide just enough of a diversion for the Prince and Farah to get through the horde of Sand warriors guarding the palace.
As they approach the throne room, however, they are ambushed by the Vizier. He captures Farah and sends the Prince plummeting deep into a dry well, who survives only by transforming into the Dark Prince. As he goes further into the well, the Dark Prince's voice grows stronger and more hostile, fuelled by the lack of water and the Prince's desperation. The Prince eventually comes across a dark room to find his father, King Sharaman, lifeless on the ground. Overcome with grief and taunted by the Dark Prince, the Prince finally recognizes his own immaturity underlying his constant efforts to undo his mistakes. He resolves never to walk down that path again, and to accept the consequences of his actions. With this resolution, he silences the Dark Prince and reverts to his natural form - without water. Taking up his father's sword he makes his way up the tower to complete his mission.
Using the Dagger of Time and his father's sword, the Prince is able to defeat the Vizier and free Farah. With the Vizier's death, his army vanishes and Kaileena's soul is freed from his grotesque form. She thanks the Prince by cleansing him of his corruption and removing the Daggertail, before leaving the world for another more suited to her presence, taking the Dagger of Time with her. However, as the Prince leans down to reach for his father's crown, he is confronted by the form of a dark warrior, as prophesied at the end of Warrior Within. Before the Prince's eyes, the dark warrior metamorphoses into the Dark Prince, who swings his Daggertail and draws the Prince into the mental realm where the two battle for control. With some help from the voice of Farah, the Prince realizes that battling his inner demon only serves to feed it, and will trap him forever within its realm. In the end he turns away and follows the voice of Farah up an ascending staircase leading to a bright cleansing light. Starved of anger, greed, and pride, the Dark Prince is finally defeated. The Prince awakens back in the real world to Farah's warm embrace.
Veterans of The Sands of Time are then treated to a tribute and reference to the first game in the trilogy. As they look out over Babylon, Farah asks the Prince how he really knew her name. He then begins to tell her the story of the first game, using the same monologue as the introduction and ending of that game, bringing the trilogy full circle: "Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you, they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I really am and why I say this. Come, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard...."
11:14 PM
