Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The Movie: Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince.
  • Mythology Gag: In the movie:
    • One of the Hassansins wields the Dark Prince's Daggertail and the iron claw of the 2008 Prince of Persia.
    • While the movie was based on the Sands of Time trilogy, the prince wears some headscarves that are quite similar to the 2008 Prince of Persia's headwear.
    • Those who use the time rewind temporarily gain Power Tattoos on their dagger half of the body that look similar to Dark Prince from The Two Thrones.
    • The Prince's armor is heavily based on the outfit he wore in Warrior Within.
    • There's a short scene where the prince wears a turban on his head, which is something the prince from one of the first Prince of Persia games does.
    • When the Hassansins are first introduced, during their weapon training, upon being hit with a weapon, what looks like sand flies out of one of them. This is a direct reference to the Sand Creatures in the Sands of Time game, until it is revealed that they are indeed human.
    • Many of Dastan's outfits bear resemblence to the Prince's outfits throughout the games. During the fight between Dastan and a soldier, his appearance mirrors that of the Prince's appearance at both the end of Sands of Time (before turning back time) and his whole appearance throughout The Two Thrones. During the takeover of Alamut, his appearance mirrors that of the Prince's appearance in Warrior Within.
    • The Adipose Rex that Dastan is carrying during the king's funeral is a reference to the fat king from the game who is the king's friend.
    • Tamina's knowledge of the Sands of Time and what they can do somewhat mirrors Kaileena from Warrior Within. Likewise, her actions, aside from using weapons, mirror that of Farah from Sands of Time.
    • There's a scene in which Garsiv holds his sheathed sword. It's Lampshaded too. This is a reference to the 2008 Prince of Persia game in which the prince holds his sheathed sword all the time.
    • The film carries on the tradition of having the Prince's love interest die moments before the climax only to be resurrected in the end, in a manner suspiciously similar to Farah's Heroic Sacrifice in the original Sands of Time game.
    • While the Prince is scaling the walls of the city by grabbing onto arrows fired from the ground, one of the arrows hits his (thankfully armored) hand and he looks back with chagrin. This is a nod to the Sands of Time game, in which Farah had an annoying tendency to sometimes hit the Prince with arrows instead of the enemy she was aiming at.
    • As mentioned in the entry below, the fact that all the major characters have British accents is a nod to the Sands of Time game.
    • The Prince finds himself on the run from the royal army after being framed for his father's murder. The second game in the original series, The Shadow & The Flame, has a similar setup. Even better, the reason he's running in that game is because the Princess has been tricked into thinking that he's a beggar from the streets.
    • Early in the movie, we see Dastan attempting a vertical wall run with somersault, a move frequently used in the games, and failing. Later, however, he pulls out a perfect one while on the run.
  • Playing Against Type: Jake Gyllenhaal, an action hero? In this movie, yes. Note that he was almost cast to replace Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in Spider Man 2 (due to Tobey's health concern). He was even preparing himself for the role.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: The series and the movie adaptation gets a lot of flack for making the Prince "too white", due to Western audiences expecting everyone who lives in the Middle East to be brown as can be and not even vaguely similar to the rest of the world. In truth, the Persian people were close relatives of the Europeans, and the majority of modern Iran's population could be considered "white". And most people there identify as white. Compare Iranian prime minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Jake Gyllenhaal. Also, read Kotaku's article.
    • Even better, compare him to former deputy culture minister Mohammad Ali Ramin, who has a very light complexion.