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- "Trust not a man who has betrayed his master, nor take him into your own service, lest he betray you too."
- —The Prince
The Vizier was a traitorous and power hungry adviser of the Indian Maharajah. He is the antagonist in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Two Thrones.
Biography
Traveling to the Island of Time
The Vizier was the Maharajah's chief adviser, who succumbed to consumption. While searching for a cure to his illness, the Vizier found information about the Island of Time, which supposedly contained the secret to immortality. The Vizier persuaded his master to go, and they found the Dagger of Time, as well as the Hourglass containing the Sands of Time. The Vizier also found a staff that gave him great magical potential.
Vizier's Love
At some point, the Vizier fell in love with Sindra, Saurva's sister. He became so infatuated with her that he forced Saurva to steal the Box of One Thousand Restraints, for then unknown reasons. He threatened to kill Saurva's wife if he failed to do so. When Saurva returned with the Box, after killing many Indian soldiers in the process, The Vizier killed his wife and imprisoned Saurva, along with all the Daevas, in the Box when Sindra refused him.
Years later, when the Prince seeks the Box of One Thousand Restraints to attempt to seal away the Dahaka, he unleashes Saurva and his army.
Betraying the Maharajah
The Vizier's as he appeared in The Sands of Time.
With the Hourglass and Dagger of Time locked away in the Maharajah's treasure vaults, the Vizier plotted to steal it. He formed a secret alliance with King Sharaman of Persia. The Vizier betrayed his master in return for his pick of treasure from the vaults.
However, the Vizier was disappointed, as the Dagger was taken by Sharaman's young son the Prince and the Hourglass was to be given as a gift to the Sultan of Azad.
Biding his time, The Vizier waited until the victorious Persians arrived in Azad, before claiming of a "marvel" that lurked within the Hourglass. The Prince used the Dagger to open the Hourglass, and the Sands of Time were unleashed, infecting all but the Vizier, The Prince, and the captive Princess Farah.
The First Death
Once again the Vizier failed. The Prince and Farah fled with the Dagger and fought through the legions of sand monsters in the hope of returning the Sands to the Hourglass, which the Vizier moved to the Tower of Dawn. The two succeeded, yet Farah fell to her death from the tower, and the Prince refused his offer of eternal life, instead triggering the Grand Rewind, eliminating the events that had happened prior to the Vizier's betrayal of the Maharajah.
The Prince then visited Farah, who was unaware of the battles they would fight, and he warned her of the Vizier's betrayal and of what would happen if she did not heed his warning.
The Vizier then entered and fought the Prince, under the pretext of protecting her from the intruder, but soon began to admit his planned betrayal of the Maharajah. As the fight drew to a close the Vizier still taunted the Prince and revealed his new plan; to kill the Prince and Farah and pit the Maharajah and Sharaman against each other, but was killed by the Prince, who returned the Dagger of Time to Farah.
New Timeline
When the Prince visited the Island of Time and stopped Kaileena from dying, this prevented the creation of the sands. Because of this, the events of The Sands of Time never happened, and the Vizier was never killed by the Prince, meaning the Vizier lived once again.
This time, The Vizier and the Maharajah had visited the Island and found nothing but an empty Hourglass, the Dagger, the Staff and a huge amount of books that told them the tale of the Empress of Time. As they found no trace, the Vizier returned to India, seeking other treasures.
Yet soon after, the Dagger called to the Vizier, drawing him to Babylon. The Maharajah refused to go, and he was murdered, his kingdom taken over and his daughter captured.
Becoming Zurvan
- Main article: Zurvan
The Vizier as he appeared in The Two Thrones.
The Vizier led an army into Babylon and managed to make his way to the palace. At this time, the Prince and Kaileena had returned and been separated, Kaileena having been captured by soldiers of the Vizier's army.
In the Palace courtyard, the Vizier killed Kaileena and stabbed himself with the Dagger of Time. The Sands transferred themselves into the Vizier's body and infected those around him, including the Prince, who managed to resist and escape with the Dagger. The damage had already been done however, as the Vizier had undergone a terrible transformation, calling himself "Zurvan,The God of Time".
The Final Death
In this form, The Vizier began to slay the remainder of his foes and seek out the Prince.
Eventually, the Vizier captured Farah and was planning to transform her into his immortal queen when he was defeated by the Prince and stabbed by the Dagger of Time, reducing him to sand and freeing Kaileena's spirit.
Gameplay
Since the Vizier has to be fought twice in the Sands of Time trilogy, we have two tactics, one for each game he was featured in.
The Sands of Time Strategy
Defeating the Vizier is quite simple, though difficult. The fight starts with the two men drawing their weapons in a short video. After this, the fight starts.
The Vizier stands to the sides of the location, but creates Sand copies of himself for the Prince to fight. These come in ones, and are quite difficult to kill, as they can block most of the Prince's attacks, but once hit, are very vulnerable. Once three copies are killed, rush to the real Vizier and hit him. He should burst through the gate behind him.
Once he bursts through, there is a short cinematic, in which the Vizier taunts him about Farah, threatening to kill her. Gameplay continues, but only for a short period, in which the Prince hits the Vizier, and the latter falls to the ground. Another video follows, this time showing the Vizier fall to the ground, the Prince giving the Dagger to Farah, and leaving her.
The Two Thrones
There are three sections to killing Zurvan: Hand-to-Hand, Speed Kill Sequence, and the Acrobatic Movement.
Hand-to-Hand
During Hand-to-Hand, keep on hitting Zurvan with Sharaman's Sword (Or even the Dagger of Time, optionally, though the first harms the Vizier more) to inflict damage. When he flies up, dodge the stones he throws at you by rolling to the same direction to which they are thrown. He will fly back down. Continue hitting him. He flies up three times in this battle, and each time he flies up, the number of rocks he throws increases from one to three. After the third time he flies up, if you stray far, he will shoot projectiles at you, so stay close but don't get hit by him. Block when necessary; his strikes are strong and it is foolish to lose health in this third of the fight.
Speed Kill Sequence
Prior to the Speed Kill Sequence, there will be a video of minimal length in which Zurvan will remove parts of the wall surrounding you and get them to move around on the floor. You will then continue with gameplay. Zurvan will be lingering to the sides of the fight location, near the columns, shooting projectiles at you. Dodging the stones floating on the ground and the projectiles shot by him, which can inflict severe damage if they hit you, run up the column behind Zurvan and initiate a Speed Kill (It is not necessary to press the speed kill button to initiate it as even jumping towards him from the columns will initiate the speed kill). Finish the Speed Kill properly (Or you will be thrown back into the midst of the flying rocks). Do this another two times. The first two these Speed Kills will cut off Zurvan's "wings," leaving him without any protection, and the last one will also severely injure him, as its finishing move stabs the Sharaman Sword through Zurvan's chest.
The Acrobatic Movement
A short video splits the Speed Kill Sequence and the Acrobatic Movement. In the video, the Vizier lifts the rocks floating on the ground high into the air while he floats up along with them, out of reach to the Prince. When this video ends, you must find your way through the rocks that are now floating in the air, jumping, climbing, wall-running and swinging.
Many people have complained about the camera problems in the Acrobatic Movement, as manually seeing where to jump next wastes time, and Zurvan is always shooting projectiles at the Prince; in an attempt to remove all of his health, or topple him over the rock he is standing on. When on the bars, it is better to climb on them, as it avoids the risk of falling off if hit by Zurvan's projectiles.
Once you reach the top of the rocks, Zurvan is directly ahead of you. Jump towards him. There will be a freeze-frame, with the camera spinning around both antagonist and protagonist. The Dagger will grow brighter all this time. Press the button used during the Speed Kill. The Prince will stab the Vizier in the chest, and a short video will follow, followed by a cinematic, the first showing both Prince and Vizier falling to the floor along with the stones, as well as Farah being freed while the latter (showing the Vizier dying and the Sands of Time turning into Kaileena's spirit, taking the Dagger away, and cleansing the Prince of his wounds, as well as the Dark Prince dragging him into a Mental Realm) is irrelevant to defeating the Vizier.
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Skilled Combatant: The Vizier appears skilled in combat, able to fight the Prince with his staff, though was no match for him overall due to the Prince's greater skill, agility, and youth. He claimed to have been a more formidable warrior when he was younger.
- Expert Magician: The Vizier displays skill in the art of magic, able to overpower the Prince and Farah with a spell in Sands of Time.
- High Magical Intellect
- Leadership
Powers
The Vizier has no initial superpowers of any sort. However, he is a formidable warrior because of his cunning, intellect and his skill as a magician when wielding the Staff of Time. In the Sands of Time, it was what gave him his power.
- Winds: The Vizier chanted a few words in a language and released a powerful gust of wind in the Sands of Time that blew both Farah and the Prince away with ease.
- Chain Lightning
- Clones: He has the ability to produce Sand Copies of himself.
Gallery
Sands of Time
The Two Thrones
Concept Art
Quotes
The Sands of Time
- "Your majesty, I trust you will remember your promise. The Maharajah's treasure vaults lie within."
- —The Vizier
- "Inside the hourglass is a marvel that no living man has seen. Alas, only the dagger can unlock the sands of time, and it belongs to a greater one than I; a young prince, dearer to his father than all the wealth of India. Perhaps he would oblige..."
- —The Vizier
- "A wild tale indeed. I have a simpler version. A Persian soldier, lusting for glory, entered the chambers of the Maharajah's daughter, and was slain by me."
- —The Vizier
- "I...could have been...Immortal"
- —The Vizier
The Two Thrones
- "Ah, you must be the Prince of Persia, come home at last! Too late, I'm afraid."
- —The Vizier
- "This is not what the dagger has promised!!!"
- —The Vizier
Trivia
- Zurvan, the Vizier's alter-ego is the name of the primordial god of time of the ancient Persians, he is also a neutral god since his twin sons are the personification of good and evil. His sons are namely Ormazd and Ahriman which is the name of the deities found in the 2008 Prince of Persia.
- The Vizier's name is misspelled "Vizir" in the credits of The Sands of Time.
- The Vizier has been repeatedly mislabeled as the brother of Sharaman, and therefore the uncle of the Prince. The reason for this in unclear, but it is assumed to be due to the relationship of their movie counterparts.