Sargon, also known as the Rashabar (راشابار) or the Black Wind (باد سیاه, ˈb̊ɑd̪̥ sːiˈj̄ɑh̬), is the playable character in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Biography[]
Taken in by Anahita as a young orphan, Sargon was raised with strict military training, to become a deadly weapon to the Persian empire. Today, trembling cries of 'the Rashabar' precede him in battle.[1] Anahita also gifted Sargon his twin swords named Qays & Layla when he joined the Immortals.[2] Sargon is the youngest of the Immortals, but despite this is an excellent fighter.[3]
The Lost Crown[]
Sargon is at Persepolis when it is besieged by the Kushan. He and his fellow Immortals, under Anahita's direction, launch a counter-attack against the invaders. After the initial charge, Sargon notices that Anahita has been wounded. She tells him not to worry about her, to keep fighting while she attends to the wounded. Sargon later defeats the Kushan general Uvishka in a duel, which breaks the Kushan siege (at least temporarily).[4]
For his deeds, Sargon is honored by Queen Thomyris and is gifted a blue royal sash by her adopted son, Prince Ghassan. While Sargon and his fellow Immortal comrades celebrated, Prince Ghassan is suddenly kidnapped by Anahita. With that, Sargon and his fellow Immortals is tasked by Thomyris a mission to resuce Prince Ghassan as they head to Mount Qaf to save him.[4] As Sargon and his allies split up in search of Prince Ghassan in Mount Qaf while pursuing Anahita, Sargon encounter various obstacles and enemies throughout every domain of the mountain. In the heart of Mount Qaf, Sargon visits a place known as the Haven, and meets and befriends a girl named Fariba, who gifts Sargon the Eye of the Wanderer, which helps with the directions in Mount Qaf. He also meets an old mage woman, who sells health potions and charms, that could enhance his abilities and defenses. Lastly, he meets a goddess blacksmith, Kaheva, who forged weapons for the gods, alongside King Darius’ sword. Along the way in Mount Qaf, Sargon encounters Anahita in the Upper Citadel and confronts her there. After a brief confrontation between the two, Vahram intervenes but assassinates Prince Ghassan, revealing himself to be the real culprit to dethrone Thomyris, much to Anahita and Sargon’s shock. Feeling betrayed, Sargon fights his former ally, but is overpowered by Vahram’s powerful time reversal ability and is defeated, and Sargon was thrown off the bridge of the Upper Citadel and fell to the bottom of Mount Qaf, into the Depths.
Sargon meets the Old Man, who stole his Eye of the Wanderer, but he manages to catch up to the Old Man and recovers the Eye of the Wanderer. The Old Man reveals to Sargon that he can get a second chance at saving his friend by going back in time, under the condition that Sargon finds and confront the evil snake god Azhdaha. Sargon continues his mission to find a way to save Prince Ghassan while also absorbing new Athra Surge abilities from Simurgh’s feathers to empower himself to face Azhdaha. Along the way, Sargon reunites with Neith, whom she reveals that Vahram had lied and framed Sargon to be the one responsible for Prince Ghassan’s murder, leaving their other allies, Menolias and Orod to turn against Sargon to avenge Prince Ghassan. Fortunately, she and Artaban are the only ones who do not believe in Vahram’s lies. In search of Simurgh’s feathers, Sargon encounters a mysterious young boy along the way, who turns out to be a young Vahram. During his time in Mount Qaf, Sargon encounters Artaban, who reveals that he felt as though he’s been in the mountain for too long than they had been. Artaban also offered Sargon challenges and sparring training, should the young Immortal wish to improve on his skills.
When Sargon finds and possesses new Simurgh's feathers and gaining new powers, he encounters a parallel version of himself upon each discovery of the feathers. he heads to the Pit of Eternal Sands and battles Azhdaha. After defeating the snake god, Azhdaha instructs Sargon, should he go back in time to save Prince Ghassan, he must gain the blessings of the four celestial guardians. On his journey, Sargon meets with Anahita again, whom she reveals that the kidnapping was planned by Queen Thomyris and she was only following her orders. Upon searching for the four celestial guardians, Sargon is forced to fight and kill his former Immortal comrades, Menolias and Orod, whom both praises him for his victory and courage.
After securing the blessings of the four celestial guardians, Sargon travels back in time to where his past counterpart confronts Anahita and when Vahram intervened. Predicting his attempted assassination on Prince Ghassan, present Sargon defends Ghassan and fights Vahram, but resulted in Anahita’s death while protecting Sargon. Vahram reveals that he too was collecting Simurgh’s feathers, believing he is worthy of the feathers. While fighting him, Sargon catches a glimpse that Vahram is the rightful king and is the long lost son of King Darius. However, his father was murdered by Queen Thomyris, usurping the throne without Simurgh’s blessings and is what resulted in Persia’s 30 years of decline. Sargon eventually manage to defeat Vahram but he flees. He and his past counterpart surged together and Ghassan informs him that Vahram is likely to go the Heart of the Simurgh, in order to gain total control of Simurgh’s full power.
Sargon sets his mission to find Vahram by finding the Key of Kings in the Tower of Silence in order to head to the Heart of the Simurgh. Sargon also fought against a resurrected King Darius, perpetrated by Vahram in order to slow him down. Once he recovers the key, Sargon makes his way to the Heart of the Simurgh and encounters Anahita and Artaban, along with a young Vahram once again. His two fellow Immortal comrades bids him their farewell, as the young Vahram claims he had met his older counterpart, and does not wish to become like him. He pleads with Sargon to stop his older counterpart, and Sargon makes his promise to save present Vahram. As Sargon makes his way to confront Vahram, he finds Vahram merging himself with the Heart of Simurgh ascends himself to become a god. Thus, destroying the entirety of Mount Qaf.
In the aftermath of the destruction, the realms is torned up and Sargon feels hopeless. Eventually, he encounters the spirit of the Simurgh, who encourages him to keep going as he still has the power to defeat and save Vahram from further destruction. Determined, Sargon sets off to confront Vahram, who becomes an angelic-like deity and fights Sargon. With the help of the Simurgh, Sargon manages to overpower Vahram and defeat him. Sargon attempts to save Vahram in redeeming himself. Realizing the consequences of possessing a god’s power, Vahram sacrifices himself to resurrect the Simurgh. With the Simurgh finally returned, Sargon and Ghassan are brought back to Persepolis and are labelled as heroes. A visibly upset Ghassan, having known the truth of what his adoptive mother did to King Darius, abandons his crown and leaves the royal court. Meanwhile, Queen Thomyris praises Sargon for his deeds in bringing back the Simurgh, and views him worthy to be a king. However, Sargon dismisses her praises, and discards his royal sash. He rebukes her for her selfish goals that costs the lives of his allies, including Vahram. She selfishly claims it is a price to pay to make sure her bloodline continues. Upset at her sense of pride, Sargon brought to light Queen Thomyris’ responsibility in the murder of King Darius 30 years ago to the entire royal court and leaves, leaving Queen Thomyris to explain the murder to her people. The people in the court start to turn against their Queen and started jeering at Thomyris for her actions while she calls out to Sargon.
As Sargon prepares to leave the capital, Neith and Artaban bids their fellow surviving Immortal comrade farewell, as the two stayed behind in the capital along with a young Vahram, who also survived the events that occurred and went back with them. Neith promises to look after young Vahram, before Sargon finally leaves.
Trivia[]
- Sargon's visual design harkens to the Prince in the Sands of Time trilogy. However, he was shown to be a new character, and conspicuously, not the titular prince in The Lost Crown.[5]
- This assumption was later overturned when the game released, revealing that Sargon was a secret prince swapped at birth with Prince Ghassan — making him the titular prince, alongside Ghassan and Vahram, in The Lost Crown. However, he is never directly addressed as Prince by other characters in-game.
- He is possibly named after Sargon of Akkad; first ruler of the Akkadian Empire.
- Early in development of Lost Crown, Sargon was nameless, keeping with series tradition. However, he was given a name, as according to Mounir Radi, "for us, we’re making a modern game. For us, it was the natural way. He has a name now."[6]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/princeofpersia/status/1678796325213593600
- ↑ https://twitter.com/princeofpersia/status/1683869728735997955
- ↑ Prince of Persia The Lost Crown - Reveal Commented Gameplay | Ubisoft Forward
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- ↑ Ubisoft Announces New 2D Prince Of Persia Called The Lost Crown
- ↑ Of Persia: The Lost Crown – Time Is An Ocean In A Storm
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