Dastan
Prince Dastan as he appears in the film
Origin	Persia
Occupation	Prince of Persia
Relatives	Prince (Sands of Time) (game counterpart), Sharaman (father), Tus, Garsiv (brothers), Nizam (uncle), Tamina (wife), Bis (manservant), Sheik Amar (mentor), Seso (ally)
Items/weapons	Dual Scimitars Dagger of Time
Appearance(s)	The Sands of Time film, Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm

"We make our own destiny, Princess."

―Prince Dastan

Dastan is the name given to the eponymous protagonist of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie. Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Dastan, a street urchin in sixth-century Persia. The king adopts Dastan after seeing him prevent the death of another child. Princess Tamina joins Prince Dastan on a quest to rescue the Sands of Time - a gift from the gods which controls time - from the hands of the evil nobleman Nizam, played by Ben Kingsley.

The name "Dastan" translates to "the Trickster", a name Jordan Mechner originally found in the Shāhnāmé and which he found very appropriate for the character.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Prince Dastan's Name 2 Childhood of Dastan 3 Victory and Murder 4 On a journey to clear his name 5 Dastan's true destiny 6 The Fate of Prince Dastan 7 Trivia 8 Gallery 9 Quotes 10 See Also

BiographyEdit

Prince Dastan's NameEdit

Although the protagonist of every Prince of Persia video game is referred to as the Prince, there are actually three different, unrelated Prince characters. The Prince in the 1989 video game, Prince of Persia, was designed by series creator Jordan Mechner. This variation of the Prince appears in Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, and Prince of Persia 3D. The remake of the first game, Prince of Persia Classic, however, features the Prince as he appears in the Sands of Time trilogy, rather than the original trilogy. This second Prince also appears as the protagonist in the second trilogy of games, which includes Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. When Mechner originally wrote the story forPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time, it was suggested the game was a prequel to the original trilogy, the Prince being the same character in both stories.^[1] After the release of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Ubisoft Montreal stated they intended the new series to be a separate entity, because its players would be unlikely to be familiar with the storyline from the original games. A third variation of the Prince character appears in the 2008 game Prince of Persia. Ben Mattes, the game's producer said, "We never felt that it was the Prince of Persia. It's a Prince of Persia. There are many Princes of Persia within this fantasy universe that we call Prince of Persia". A name rumored to be his birth name is Amir Aalam, although this was not confirmed.

Throughout the history of the franchise, the protagonists are never given any explicit names, just the title of the Prince except for the film where the prince was known as Dastan.

Childhood of DastanEdit

Dastan grew up as an orphan in the slums of the Royal city of Nasaf, were King Sharaman and his Nobleman brother Nizam lived together with his two sons, Tus and Garsiv. One day, when the king visited the market square, he saw the young Dastan risking his life to save his childhood friend and another street urchin Bis against the guards, he saw the "Spirit of a Noble King" inside him and so he decided to adopt him as a son, making him next in line to the throne so that the two other Princes would not fight for the crown.

Victory and MurderEdit

15 years later, the three princes of Persia together

with their uncle set out to the Persian borderlands near the sacred city of Alamut. It was said that Alamut has been selling weapons to the Persian enemies in "Koschkan". Dastan leads a strike force into the city to open the main gates, giving the Persian soldiers the victory. Shortly thereafter, Dastan encounters a man on horseback and defeats him, discovering the Dagger of Time in the process. Alamut's princess, Tamina (Gemma Arterton), is captured and agrees to marry Tus in

order to achieve peace after noticing the dagger in Dastan's possession. Their father, Sharaman, got angry with them, saying that their "adventure" would not sit well with their allies.

Sharaman reproaches Tus for attacking the city and suggests that Dastan, instead of Tus, should marry Tamina. At the victory banquet, Dastan unknowingly presents a poisoned robe, given to him by Tus, to his father, who dies shortly after donning it. Dastan is blamed for the king's murder and flees Alamut with Tamina.

Together they venture into the wilderness.

On a journey to clear his nameEdit

In their first camp, Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger. During their fight Dastan hits the dagger out of Tamina's hand, and when he grabs it from the sand, accidentally presses the jewel button on the hilt that activates its rewinding power. Dastan is transported back to just before Tamina tries to kill him.

Shocked at what has just transpired, Dastan hesitates, allowing Tamina to slash him across the chest with his sword. Collapsing to the ground, Dastan pulls the dagger from his belt and activates it again, to Tamina's obvious horror. Again he is taken back to just before the princess tries to kill him.

Dastan realizes that the dagger can turn back time, and that only the one who holds it is aware of this. After this the two continue on into the desert. During their journey, the duo meets a shady ostrich racing-organizer and tax-averse entrepreneur, Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina), and his knife-throwing African friend Seso (Steve Toussaint). Dastan offers Tamina up as a slave in return for supplies; however,

Amar betrays him because he recognizes him as the murderer of the king, for whom there is an "obscene" reward being offered. Dastan and Tamina

escape and return to Persia for Sharaman's funeral. Dastan attempts to convince Nizam that he did not kill his father. Dastan discovers that Tamina has taken the Dagger; however, he then notices Nizam's hands are burned by the same poison put on the robe that killed his father. Nizam claims that his hands got burnt by his trying to pull the robe off his brother at the time, but Dastan does not remember Nizam ever touching it, realizing that Nizam must have been the one who poisoned the robe. Garsiv and the city guards appear and attack Dastan and he is forced to escape.

Dastan's true destinyEdit

Dastan catches up with Tamina and explains that Nizam was behind the murder. Once Tamina finally explains everything about the Dagger, Dastan realizes why Nizam wants the Dagger of Time: to use it with the massive Sandglass to go back in time and undo saving Sharaman from a lion so he could become king. He fabricated the false allegations that Alamut had been dealing weapons to Persia's enemies so that he would have the opportunity to search the city for the Sandglass. However, opening the Sandglass will trigger an apocalyptic sandstorm that would end the world. Meanwhile, Nizam tries to convince Garsiv and Tus that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and should be killed immediately; when this fails, he hires the Hassansins to slay Dastan.

Dastan and Tamina are again captured by Sheik Amar and Seso, seeking to rebuild his ruined business by turning them in for the enormous bounty. But that night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader, Zolm (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) attacks the group by controlling a number of vipers.

Many of the group die, but Dastan uses the Dagger and manages to kill all the snakes and save everyone. The next day, the pair, accompanied by Sheik and Seso, travels to a secret sanctuary in the mountains near India, where it's possible to seal away the Dagger. However, they run into Garsiv's men. Dastan manages to persuade his brother that he is innocent, only for Garsiv to be fatally wounded by a Hassansin. The Hassansins attack, killing most of the group, while Dastan and Tamina sneak away to the secret cave where they can hide the Dagger. Tamina says she is ready to give up her life to protect the Dagger, but Dastan stops her and tells her that he is not ready for her to die. They are found and attacked and Zolm manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina. However, Dastan is saved from the last Hassansin by Garsiv, who then dies of his wounds.

The group returns to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the Dagger to Tus. They learn that the dagger is being guarded by Setam, the Hassansin who killed Garsiv. Seso volunteers for the task of defeating Setam and recovering the dagger. He defeats Setam in a duel but is himself mortally wounded. He manages to fling the dagger to Dastan before he succumbs to his wounds. Dastan confronts Tus and explains the dagger's mechanics to him and then stabs the dagger into his heart, killing himself; Tus brings Dastan back to life by rewinding time and realizes his brother has been innocent all along. Soon after, however, Nizam arrives and kills Tus, leaving his Hassansin guard, Ghazab, to kill Dastan. The Dagger is once again in Nizam's hands, but Dastan manages to defeat Ghazab with Tamina's help. Nizam goes to the Sandglass caves beneath Alamut,

as Dastan and Tamina take a more secret route: an underground tunnel. After a short battle with Zolm, Tamina grabs one of Zolm's snakes and stabs its fangs into Zolm's eyes, fatally wounding him and sending him plummeting to his death in a chasm. Dastan and Tamina kiss for the first time. They then reach Nizam before he can pierce the Sandglass with the Dagger, but he knocks Tamina and Dastan over the edge. Dastan grabs hold of Tamina; knowing he cannot stop Nizam and also save her, Tamina tells Dastan to let her go because it is his destiny to save them, but Dastan refuses to let her go. Tamina professes her love for Dastan, wishing they could have been together, and lets go, plummeting to her death and sacrificing herself to stop Nizam. Heartbroken, Dastan watches her fall. Driven to fight on, Dastan manages to pull himself up. Nizam stabs the Sandglass with the Dagger, but Dastan grabs hold and opens the Dagger, rather than activating it, causing the Sands of Time to flow through freely, rather than destroying the world. Time reverses to when Dastan first obtained the Dagger, now fully aware of all that has occurred.

The Fate of Prince DastanEdit

Dastan stops the siege of Alamut, revealing Nizam's treachery; Nizam attacks Dastan, but is killed by Tus. After apologizing for the ransacking of her city, Tus suggests that perhaps Tamina should and Dastan's wed as a sign of good will. The Prince returns the Dagger of Time to her, which changes Tamina's view of Persians. Later on, the two take a walk together, Dastan and Tamina have a polite conversation, in which Dastan hints at his knowledge of the Dagger's powers and tells Tamina that he looks forward to the day when they know each other better.

TriviaEdit

• The name "Dastan" means "the Trickster" in arabic and "Story" in Persian.
• In the Shaname, the book from were Jordan Mechner got the character names, "Rostam Dastan" has a wife named "Tahmina" which is also the name of Dastan's love interest.
• The costumes of Dastan are based from the armors of the Prince from the different games such as:

1. The armor he wore during the invasion of Alamut resembles that of the armor in Warrior Within .
2. The costume he was wearing when he was brawling with a thug mimics that from The Two Thrones .
3. The costume he was wearing in the desert when he was pursuing Tamina mirrors the costume of the Prince from the 2008 game Prince of Persia.

• Before Jake Gyllenhaal was chosen for the role, both Zac Efron and Orlando Bloom were rumored for the part.
• During his fight with Garsiv and his wrestling match, Dastan said "That's all you got?!?". He was referencing to what the Prince says during combat in Warrior Within .

GalleryEdit

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QuotesEdit

"We make our own destiny, Princess."

―Dastan

" If we don't stop him, our world could end. "

―Dastan

"You had what every man could ever dream of. Love, respect, and family. But that wasn't enough for you, was it? "

―Dastan

"Oh, I hardly think we know each other well enough for that, Princess, but I look forward to the day that we do."

―Dastan

"My brother murdered my father and let his blood in my hands! If I die trying to set that right, then so be it! "

―Dastan

"Incredible! Releasing the sands...turns back time!!!And only the holder of the Dagger is aware of whats happened!"

―Dastan

See AlsoEdit

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (movie)
• Prince (Original Trilogy)
• Prince (Sands of Time)
• Prince (New)