Consolation Prize

I had an inkling that the Prince and Elika wouldn’t end up walking hand-in-hand into a clichéd sunset as the credits rolled at the end of Prince of Persia, but the actual ending did leave me with mixed emotions.

[Spoilers Ahead]

During the game it’s revealed that Elika had previously died and has been subsequently resurrected. Her current existence, and thus the corruption that is spreading throughout the land, is a direct result of a bargain struck by her father to free Ahriman in return for his daughter’s life. In the final climatic battle with Ahriman, Elika has to choose her fate, and in an act of self sacrifice uses her own life force to restore the Tree of Life and imprison the dark god.

It’s directly after this event where the game takes an interesting course of action. After the Prince has rushed over to the princess, gathering her lifeless body up in his arms, the controls suddenly and unexpectedly return back to the player. You’re expecting an end cinematic so it comes as a bit of surprise to learn that the game isn’t quite over just yet. This is just a pseudo ending, a prelude designed to tug at the heart strings as the Prince walks out of the temple whilst some credits roll with some suitably melancholic music playing in the background.

Upon exiting the temple the true cyclic nature of the story is revealed, and we have in fact come full circle when the Prince, lying Elika upon the temple alter, decides to destroy the Tree of Life, freeing Ahriman, but importantly restoring Elika to life. The first word uttered from her lips after her resurrection is “Why”?

Why indeed did I choose to continue to the very end, presumably dooming the world, and belittling Elika’s sacrifice? Why didn’t I just walk away? I think primarily it’s because throughout the game I’ve never really associated myself as being the “Prince”. The decision therefore really wasn’t mine to make. I believe that all I am doing is watching a play that includes audience participation - the script is written, the lines are set in stone, I’m just prompting the lead actor from the safety of the wings. It’s quite evident that the Prince is a self centered rogue whom I have no doubt would resurrect the princess in an instant for his own needs and desires and thus that’s the line I fed to the Prince - the world can be damned.

Unfortunately Prince of Persia does leave you on a bit of a downer. The realisation that the net result of your time spent with the game, and because of the cyclic nature of the story, is that you haven’t actually achieved anything, can leave you feeling deflated. The Prince’s valiant battles with the corrupted and the fight to restore the Fertile Grounds have really all been in vain and Ahriman has been freed upon the world anyway. In essence you’re right back where you began, with the words “To be continued” the only reward.

It’s a bittersweet feeling as the credits finally make an appearance, but I have to applaud the unconventional nature of the ending. No doubt the story will be resolved now the
DLC has been announced, and I’ll be keen to see how this “epilogue” ties up the loose ends.

One thing I always hate about games is where they give you the illusion of choice, and then assume what you’re going to do. If you don’t sympathise with the characters, you’re not really going to care if they die. But for some reason developers love messing you around with things like this.

One game that gives a cool choice is Dark Messiah, where you choose to loose your Demon father on the world, or take the power yourself and loose yourself on the world instead. A lovely dark ending there

@Nathan - I must admit that I’ve not tried “Dark Messiah”, very dark ending there like you say. Whenever I play games of a similar ilk, like say Fallout 3 or Oblivion, I tend to always play the goody two shoes - I can never be evil so that ending would leave me in a quandary!