Dagger of Time

The Dagger of Time is a special magical weapon in the video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It serves as a secondary weapon for the Prince. It also appears in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones as the Prince's main weapon.

History

The exact origin of The Dagger of Time is unknown, however, since the Sands of Time were created on the Island of Time from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, it's likely the dagger was too, though for unknown reasons; in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones the vizier reports finding it. It was later stolen from the Island of Time by the Maharajah along with the Sands the Vizier manipulated the Prince into releasing, claiming that there lay a marvel within. When the Sands are released, the dagger prevents the Prince from being mutated by them; according to the manual, only people carrying artifacts of Time are able to avoid being transformed (however several people in the audience room and a guard survive the initial release). The dagger allows the prince to actually kill the sand creatures since they are immune to any other weapons. The Sands of Time is the only instance in the series that requires the Prince to do this, since in Warrior Within they could be killed with normal weapons. This could be due to the fact that the Prince's armor had the "Medallion of Time" inserted into a socket on the chest piece. During the first installment though, both the Prince's sword and the dagger are taken by Farah, believing to be her duty to avenge her father and kingdom: after a short escape sequence and a simple puzzle in order to deactivate an elaborate security system, the Prince recovers the Damascus Sword, a large saber,which can destroy sand monsters in a single blow; even after recovering the Dagger, it is not used anymore. Due to the Sword's blue coloring, is it possible for it to be a water-enchanted weapon, as Sand Creatures are naturally weak against this element, as shown in Warrior Within.

At the end of The Sands of Time the Prince gives the dagger back to the Maharajah's daughter, Princess Farah, telling her to lock it back in the Maharajah's treasure vaults.

Throughout the course of Warrior Within, the fate of the dagger is unknown: presumably, in the present it is still secure in India, while in the past it is locked away somewhere on the Island for the Maharajah to find, or had not been created yet. Whatever the case it plays no role in the game.

However, it is revealed in the Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones that the Vizier is still alive, since the prince's manipulation of the timelines undid all his actions in Sands of Time. Motivated by dreams he had from the dagger of the Empress's return (presumably when she entered the timestream in the present day), the Vizier kills the Maharajah and steals the dagger for his own. He then uses its powers to become immortal by stabbing himself with the dagger, as he had planned to do in the first game.

By killing Kaileena with the dagger, he recreates the Sands of Time and absorbs them into the dagger (though not before they transform his generals and, partially, the prince himself). He then impales himself through the chest, transferring the sands to his body and rendering himself immortal. During the transformation, however, he drops the dagger and the Prince reclaims it and flees. At the end of the game the Prince uses its powers to kill the Vizier (apparently it was the one thing that could undo his immortality) and then returns the dagger back to the spirit of Kaileena and it is removed from the world to prevent anyone else from using its powers.

Powers
The Dagger of Time is a powerful magical weapon. If the dagger is filled with the Sands of Time and then plunged into the heart of its bearer, the bearer will become immortal, reincarnated as Zurvan, the God of Time; The dagger will also allow its owner to control time in a number of different ways using:
* The Power of Revival - Allows the bearer to turn back time, even undoing his own death.
* The Power of Delay - Allows the bearer to slow down time for everyone around himself while moving slightly faster.
* The Power of Restraint - Freezes whoever is stabbed by the dagger for a short period of time.
* The Power of Haste - Allows the bearer to freeze every enemy and move much faster than normal (essentially a far superior version of Delay)
*The Power of Destiny (Sand Vortex)- when enough sand creatures are destroyed the sand vortex will let the bearer of the dagger see a short vision of the future.
* The Eye of The Storm: Regained in "Two Thrones," This power slows down time, but leaves the prince unaffected.
* Sand Wind/Storm: Two powers very similar to the medallion's Breath, Wind and Cyclone of Fate. It blasts all surrounding enemies with the Sands of Time, wounding or destroying them
There are some additional things the dagger can do. It is the only item that can open the Hourglass with the Sands of Time and release them. It can also put the sands back; however the sands will need to be stored inside the dagger first. The Dagger of Time is the only weapon that can reabsorb the sands from sand-possessed humans. Normal weapons, such as the first three swords or arrows, cannot kill sand-possessed humans. (Later, in "Two Thrones," Farah's arrows seem to be able to kill sand creatures, but the reason for this is not given. Possibly because they are no longer sand creatures but sand-enhanced beings or that the medallion she carries enables normal weaponry to vanquish them.) Smaller creatures, such as birds, are the general exception to this rule. However, Farah's ability to fell some sand creatures may stem from the Medallion, since when it is in the Prince's possession, he can fell all manner of sand creatures without the Dagger's aid (shown with the Damascus Sword in Sands of Time and throughout Warrior Within).

Behind The Scenes

Between Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones the dagger grows longer and changes shape. The reason is not officially known, yet the most logical explanation would be since the Dagger is the player's primary weapon in The Two Thrones, unlike Sands of Time, the developers likely thought that the main weapon being as small as it was in Sands of Time would be offputting, so they lengthened it to its newer size.
* In The Sands of Time, the Dagger of Time is the size of a normal dagger.
* In The Two Thrones, the Dagger of Time is approximately the size of a short sword.

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See Also

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