Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
The third and final game, released in 2005, in a Continuity Reboot series of the Prince of Persia games, which attempted to balance out the previous installment's Darker and Edgier elements by returning somewhat to the original's fairy-tale tone (with the arrogant Prince as a "dark side" of the character). It retained the basic combat changes made in Warrior Within with minor adjustments, but toned down the graphic violence. As well, the Prince was much more likable, and even had regrets over his behavior in the previous game.
Following the events of the previous game, the Prince returns to his home Kingdom of Babylon only to find war erupting and enemies everywhere. He learns that messing with the timeline so much has skewed any sense of proper history, and the Vizier of the first game is still alive. Seeking to complete his original goal of the first game, the Vizier unleashes the curse of the sands once more, this time partially corrupting the Prince himself. Finding a darkness within himself that transforms him into a dark creature, the Prince seeks to stop the Vizier once more and return things to their proper state.
Penny Arcade made an eight-page comic for it.
- Action Commands: "Speed Kills". More on the trope page.
- Affably Evil: The Dark Prince is often little more than a Voice with a Supernatural Connection; it never actually lies to you, since he's just the shadow of the Prince brought to life by the sands of time. Nor does it seem particularly malicious until much further into the game.
- Bash Brothers: The Ax and Sword twins, which are only beaten when you know that they work together.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: The climax of The Two Thrones, where the Prince pursues and finally rejects the Dark Prince.
- Big Damn Heroes: When the Prince and Farah attempt to get inside the palace, they quickly find themselves surrounded by a literal army of hundreds of sand monsters of all sizes; far too many to fight. Just when it seems like the heroes are about to be slaughtered, the voice of the Old Man rings across the noise, and everyone turns to see him standing at the front of what appears to be the entire population of Babylon.
- "All hail the Prince of Persia: a greater hero the land has never known! You have saved the people of this city, and we have come to repay the favor!"
- Body Horror: When the Vizier plunges the Dagger of Time into him to gain immortality, his back sprouts a scorpion which attacks him!
- Death of the Hypotenuse: Kaileena being killed by the Vizier and becoming the Sands of Time in order to set off the plot make way for Farah. She is revived in the end, and declares that she will now seek out other worlds so that no one can ever abuse the power of the Sands again. This was actually quite well received given that most fans liked Farah better.
- Does Not Like Shoes: Initially, it might look like Farah's also barefoot, but if you look closely, she's wearing flat sandals.
- Free Wheel: The game does it at the end of one of the chariot-driving sequences.
- Genre Savvy: Prince:
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Farah: Try moving the switch forward. |
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- A God Am I: In a rather tragic twist of fate, the Prince finds out early that the Vizier, who he killed in The Sands of Time, has returned to life thanks to the Prince's actions in Warrior Within (since the sands of time were never created, the battle between the two never took place). Worse yet, he has found the Dagger of Time, which he promptly uses to kill Kaileena and become immortal.
- Heroic Resolve: When the Prince finds the dead body of his father, he decides to quit trying to change the past and accept his fate, which gives him the strength he needs to reject the Dark Prince once and for all.
- Hide Your Children: Children can be heard among the captured citizens, but none are ever seen.
- Hilarious Outtakes: The Two Thrones includes a blooper reel of things like the Prince fumbling his acrobatics and getting the Dagger of Time replaced with a rubber chicken.
- Morality Pet: Farah acts as one for the prince.
- Power Tattoo: The Dark Prince form is covered in these, and they're glowing. The Prince also has normal tattoos while not transformed. Battles of Prince of Persia reveals that the one on his shoulder is a mark of the kingship which he will inherit.
- Interestingly, the dark prince tattoo starts out small at first on the prince's normal body, but when he turns back from the dark prince, more and more of the his tattoo remains until it eventually covers his entire left arm and most of his back, perhaps symbolic of the dark prince's efforts to take over his body?
- Ring of Fire: The battle with the Axe and Sword twins.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Kaileena.
- Super-Powered Evil Side: The Dark Prince. As part of the corruption of the Sands, the Prince will occasionally transform into what he considers an abomination; his flesh turns to sand with Power Tattoos, and he is able to use the daggertail as a weapon. His health instantly regenerates upon absorbing sand, but constantly deteriorates otherwise. He also gets a handy little voice in his head that stays with him whether he's transformed or not. The voice is the mental manifestation of all his darkest desires, who tempts him with power and constantly belittles him whenever he tries to be anything except ruthless, arrogant and violent. It's implied that the health draining out of the Prince is actually going into him, and when the former dies, then he will have full control over the body. The Prince has to face him down and ultimately reject him in order to finally put his past behind him.
- Volcanic Veins: On the cover.
- Whip Sword: The Daggertail.
- World of Cardboard Speech: Given in conjunction with the above Heroic Resolve.
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Dark Prince: What now then? Gather up enough sand, perform another grand rewind? Or perhaps you can return to the Island and travel back to a time when he might still be saved. Maybe rescue a Damsel in Distress along the way! |
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