Dahaka
artwork of the Dahaka
Origin	Unknown
Occupation	Guardian of the Timeline
Relatives	None
Items/weapons	Tentacles
Appearance(s)	Battles of Prince of Persia, Warrior Within

"You are quick mortal, quick to die!"

―Dahaka.

The Dahaka is the main antagonist in Warrior Within and it serves as the physical manifestation of the inevitability of fate. The creature is found during the events of Warrior Within, and also has a role in Battles of Prince of Persia. The beast is the guardian of the Timeline, and seems to appear only when the Timeline is disrupted; in The Sands of Time, the Prince uses the Sands of Time to massively manipulate the Timeline and cheat his own death. Therefore it is the Dahaka's duty to make sure that the Prince meets his death in order to restore the timeline, thus making it the primary antagonist of the game story. It is often said that it is due to the the sleepless nights spent running away from the Dahaka that the Prince has acquired his darker, more mature looks (although the events of Forgotten Sands may have been a contributing factor as well).

The Chase

The story starts with the Prince running through Babylon's streets, chased by an unknown black mass with tentacles. However, the Prince finds himself cornered and stands still, with his sword waiting for the unknown black mass, which is then revealed to be the Dahaka itself.

The Prince survived somehow and sails to the Island of Time. Unfortunately, another ship, full of enemies led by a girl in black (Shahdee) sent by the Empress of Time, attacks and destroys the Prince's ship. Still, the Prince manages to reach the Island and start his search for the Empress and the girl who tried to kill him in order to have revenge.

During his travels on the Island, the Prince gets chased once again by the Dahaka, who managed to find him even in that mysterious place. The hero has to flee, unable to harm the creature.

Soon the Prince learns that Dahaka cannot touch water and fight against it,so he's using this advantage to escape from The Dahaka. Later on when The Prince obtains The Sand Wraith's Mask,he journeys to the Hourglass Chamber to recieve Water Sword from the pedestal he had opened when he activated the 9 life upgrades mechanisms.

A Second Chance

"I am...the architect of my own destruction..."

―Prince

The creature managed to follow the Prince even in the past, making his journey even more difficult. After the death of the Empress, the Prince thinks that he's free to leave the Island, but suddenly the Dahaka arrives and smashes him in a secret passage. The Prince then realizes that by killing the Empress, he created the sands of time. However, he suddenly finds a mural that describes the Mask of the Wraith that could give him a "second chance".

The Prince managed to retrieve the mask, transforming into the Sand Wraith. He then assumes that the creature who was following him was in fact himself who was trying to warn him about the Empress. The Prince travels back in time to reach Kaileena, but once again, he's followed by the guardian of Timeline. The wooden bridge onto which the Dahaka steps collapses, but before falling to his assumed death, one of the Dahaka's tentacles reaches the prince, who slices it and screams with anger.

You Cannot Change Your Fate

After reaching the entrance to the passage for the Throne Room, the Prince finds his alter-ego from the past once again, but aware of the Dahaka's attack, he lets his past self get captured by the monster, allowing him to take off the mask.

The hero reaches the Empress and tries to convince her to come with him to the present. Kaileena refuses and attacks him. The Prince then forces Kaileena to go into the present by pushing her in a portal. The Prince reaches the woman, and after a long battle, kills her for good, so that the sands of time cannot be found by the Marharajah. The Dahaka then makes his appearance, absorbing the Empress's dead body and taking the Medallion of Time, the last relic of the Sands of Time. The Dahaka then disappears, leaving the Prince to his changed fate. The Prince is finally able to go home.

Dawn of a New Fate

"Together we built this vessel...
Together we left the Island...
And Together we returned to Babylon!"

―Prince

However, the true ending is different. The Prince managed to retrieve a special weapon: the Water Sword. After having reached Kaileena in the present, the Prince stops her from fighting. Suddenly, the Dahaka appears and tries to absorb Kaileena, who doesn't belong in the present.

Enraged, the Prince attacks the monster, surprisingly hurting him. Kaileena runs away and the Prince fights the beast with his sword, now able to harm the monster. After a long battle, Kaileena throws a sand ball at the Dahaka, who gets caught on the limit of the platform where the final battle is taking place. The prince stabs the Dahaka's head, and the creature falls in the water down the platform. As the sea turns black, the Dahaka comes out from the water, only to explode, the ocean water returning back to normal.

The Prince has changed his fate.

Details

The Dahaka appears as a massive and powerfully built humanoid, clad in black. It has long ram-like horns that twist in the form of a lemniscate, the symbol of infinity, and its eyes burn with a fierce inner light, though the area around it is always covered in shadows. It also has the ability to shoot multiple tentacles from its abdomen. Every aspect of this being suggests it is a creature of a more supernatural world. Until the very end of the game, it is impossible to fight the Dahaka, as it is seemingly invincible to sword thrusts, and if the Prince doesn't keep enough distance from it, the Dahaka captures the Prince with its tentacles.

At several points in the game, (known amongst players as "Dahaka Chases") the Dahaka will catch up with the Prince and chase after him. The player will then have to flee through a series of obstacles in order to escape the beast. If it does catch him, it will reduce the Prince to sand and absorb him, thus eliminating him and his actions from the Timeline. The Dahaka appears blurry during these moments and can sometimes teleport a few yards at a time, and during these times an instrumental version of the song "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack will play in the background and, when the Dahaka is close enough, the screen will change to a black and white and/or sepia tone color scheme. During his adventures, the Prince discovers that, like all the Empress' sandy minions, the Dahaka has an intense aversion to water. Contact with water harms the creature, and it cannot pass through the curtains of water that cover certain palace doors and corridors. The Prince must exploit this weakness to escape the Dahaka. Because of this weakness to water, some fans speculate that the Dahaka is a sand creature and was probably created by the same beings that created the timeline, the Empress of Time and the many time artifacts (dagger, amulet, hourglass, etc) and was created for the purpose of preventing the misuse of the timeline by the sands.

Additionally, the Dahaka will appear in the past during two cutscenes. The first occurs after the Prince unlocks the throne room. In the Central Hall, the Sand Wraith suddenly appears before him, then the Dahaka blocks the exit, causing the Prince to surmise that the monster has somehow followed him to the past. Strangely enough, as the Prince begins to flee, the Dahaka grabs the Sand Wraith, kills it, and leaves. Later, after the Prince has himself become the Sand Wraith and traveled back in time using the Mask of the Wraith, he encounters his past self at the same time and place. Knowing of the attack beforehand, the Prince is able to elude the Dahaka, allowing his past self to perish and freeing himself from the Mask. Although no explicit explanation is given about the Dahaka's odd behavior in these scenes, it is likely that the Dahaka is only supposed to take the Prince's life one time (which would end the Prince's existence if he had not been wearing the Mask of the Wraith) and thus does not kill the remaining Prince (the Sand Wraith). Additionally, this helps the Prince because the Mask of the Wraith cannot be removed until the other version of the wearer is dead, and because the "past" Prince is killed, the "future" Prince can take the mask off and resume his life as the Prince. An alternative theory is that the Dahaka already exists in the 'past' time period as guardian and is reacting to the presence of two versions of the same person in the same place at the same time, it does not yet have any business with the Prince over events of the Sands of Time as for it these event have not yet happened. This assumes the Dahaka exists linearly in time. This is further supported by the fact that 'Dahaka Chases' only occur in the 'past' sections of the game once, and that too only after the Prince has turned into the Sandwraith.

Abilities

As shown from its powerful build, the Dahaka is immensely strong. It can shatter stone walls easily and reduce them to rubble. It has easily manhandled the Prince numerous times. It can teleport short distances and leap from great depths to great heights and vice versa without suffering any damage. It's body is incredibly tough and invincible conventional weapons or even some advanced weapons. It has the ability to shoot multiple tentacles from its abdomen and even send its tentacles through the ground to attack far away enemies.

Strategy

(The battle with the Dahaka occurs only when the player has collected all the life upgrades and collected the Water Sword from the Hourglass room, otherwise, the final boss is Kaileena and not the Dahaka.) As a first requirement other than the Water Sword, are the Glowing Sword or the Hockey Stick, as these unbreakable weapons with maximum damage are a true requirement against the Dahaka, especially in the Hard difficulty. Sands appear around the area. You can collect them, but be careful not to get hit by the beast. Don't hang on the edge of the platform, as the Dahaka will send its tentacles through the ground, making you fall. As the cutscene ends, hit the Dahaka, then roll around the beast and hit it again before it has the time to hit you or you will lose a considerable piece from your lifebar. Don't stray away, as it will shoot its tentacle through the ground to hit you, damaging you severely. After the beast's lifebar reaches half, Kaileena will attack the beast, sending it towards the edge of the platform and hanging from it. Attack the beast again. Eye of the Storm(slow time) or the Ravages of Time/Haste is recommended, as after the beast gets up, only the damage sustained during the time hanging off the platform is retained, and the damage sustained before is regenerated. After some time it will jump off the platform and will try to jump on the Prince. Roll to dodge, and if possible try to get some hits, but don't get trampled. After some time, it will calm down, and shoot its' tentacles through the ground at you. Weave in an S-pattern to get close to the Dahaka. If you get close enough, it will shoot its' tentacles directly at you. Roll to avoid them, attack the beast and start the old pattern again. When the beast's lifebar comes really low, the Empress will smack it again, hit the beast using the time powers untill its lifebar becomes empty, and the Prince will kill it in a cutsene. Enjoy the ending cinematics.

Quotes

- Your end is near.

- Come to me... come to your death.

- All who have come before you have fallen.

- You are very quick,mortal,quick to die

- You will be removed.

- No one escapes the Dahaka.

- Disrupt the Timeline no further.

Trivia

• The Dahaka can be compared to the Marut, a somewhat similar creature from Dungeons & Dragons. Both are massive, dark-colored, extra-planar beings who eternally hunt down those who have cheated death, seeking to bring about their rightful and inevitable demise. Both creatures are known to walk steadily toward their prey when they've located it, and use short-range teleportation (a dimension door spell, in the Marut's case) to gain ground during such chases. They are both extraordinarily powerful creatures that are impossible to defeat by all but the greatest of characters, and both have resistance to damage from all normal means save for one weakness (Water in the Dahaka's case, and Chaotically-aligned damaged for the Marut)
• The Dahaka is also compared to Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms from Shadow the Hedgehog (game). Both have dark colors, violent tendencies and use short-range teleportation (Chaos Control, in Black Doom's case) and even have a weakness. (Water for the Dahaka's case, and violence on Black Doom's eye in his case.)
• The Dahaka's horns resemble the infinity symbol ( ∞ ), perhaps indicating its eternal existence.
• The Dahaka may have very likely been named off a creature from Persian/Iranian mythology known as Aži Dahāka. This creature's name then translates to titles such as "Dragon-King" or "Serpent-King".
• The Dahaka's height seems to change, sometimes appearing to be huge, then sometimes just a little over the Princes height. It is not known how the Dahaka can change height, but if the Dahaka is a sand creature, it may have a limited shape-shifting capability.
• The Dahaka speaks in reverse. When the Dahaka speaks, if time is turned back, its sentence can be understood.
• Strangely, despite being set between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, The Forgotten Sands does not feature or mention the Dahaka. It could be argued that it's only a matter of time before it hunts the Prince, that and it may have considered Ratash and the sand army too powerful to fight.
• When you fight Kaileena for the first time, she says: "I hoped that the Dahaka would finish you off...", but when you fight her for the second time with the Water Sword and the Dahaka appears, Kaileena says "What is that thing!" She either didn't know what the Dahaka looked like, didn't see it clearly to begin with, or this was simply created by a minor plot hole.
• There is a trick (or glitch) that causes the Prince to be invisible while being disintegrated by the Dahaka. To do this, activate the Eye of the Storm, and while being turned to dust, quickly cast Recall several times until your Sands of Time are depleted. If you do this fast enough, only the weapon of the Prince can be seen. (Warning: If this attempt becomes successful, do not save the game or you will have a hard time controlling the Prince.)
• During the final battle with the Dahaka, there's a glitch that will stop the monster jumping in midair if the Prince hits him and uses Recall. This allows him to hit the monster without Kaileena's help. The scene when the Prince stabs the Dahaka in the face will trigger anyway when the life bar of the creature is empty.

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