Prince Dastan

Prince Dastan is the eponymous protagonist of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. He is portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.
==Background==
Dastan is a street urchin in 6th century Persia. The King adopts Dastan after seeing him prevent the death of another child. Princess Tamina joins Prince Dastan on a quest to rescue the Sands of Time - a gift from the gods which controls time - from the hands of the evil nobleman Nizam.
==Role in the film==
Dastan is first seen as an orphan on the streets, and was adopted by King Sharaman he was impressed with Dastan's bravery in protecting a friend from a violent guard. He is seen years later with brothers Tus and Garsiv as they lead their father's forces to war against the Kosh. After a spy informs Nizam that the Holy City of Alamut has been providing the Kosh with weapons. Nizam convinces Tus, the leader of the army, to go into the city and crush it, despite King Sharaman's desire for it to be left in peace. Dastan protests, but Garsiv and Tus listen to their uncle Nizam instead. Dastan wants to lead the attack but Garsiv claims that he wants the first blood. Tus tells Dastan that he is not ready to lead the attack. As the group begins firing catapults of flaming rocks toward the city, Dastan disregards Tus's orders and leads his own gang of warriors through the East gate of the city. Bis and Dastan's other troops shoot arrows above Dastan so that he can climb into the city. Dastan opens the East Gate and takes on the “Impossible Gate” by climbing up a tower and entering from above. He notices Alamutian soldiers charging towards his men, so he knocks over a large bowl of boiling oil and ignites it to create a barrier of flames.
Dastan finds a dagger after dueling with a messenger and takes it as his own prize. Tus and Garsiv are impressed by Dastan's daring, and they decide to confront the Princess and Tus declares his intention to marry her to keep the peace between Persia and the people of Alamut. Dastan and Bis get drunk with their men when Tus comes riding on horseback. Dastan is told that their father is riding in and asks where Dastan's gift is, but Dastan has misplaced his in his drunken stupor, and so Tus gives Dastan the robes of the high regent of Alamut to present to their father. Tus tells Dastan that if their father doesn't agree to have Tamina marry Tus, Dastan must kill her. Tus notices Dastan's dagger and asks Dastan for it, but Nizam arrives and reminds Tus that Dastan delivered him that entire city. In the banquet, Dastan presents his father with the robes of the regent. His father tells him that he is proud of him but that Dastan hasn't learned that a real leader does what he has to in order to defend what he knows is right. Dastan asks his father to allow Tus to marry Tamina, but King Sharaman points out that Tus has many wives. Since Dastan has none, King Sharaman gives Tamina to Dastan as his first wife. He is shocked and can barely speak before his father starts screaming. The robes of the high regent were covered in poisonous acid which eat away at the king. Garsiv tries to rip them off while Dastan screams for help but Dastan appears to be a murderer. As his father's guards move to capture him, Bis jumps to his aid and fights them. Bis is quickly killed but Tamina leads Dastan out of the palace. They escape the city on horseback with Garsiv in pursuit.
Once outside the city, Dastan tries to make sense of what happened. He tells Tamina that Tus gave him the robe and decides that he needs to get to his uncle Nizam. Tamina then tries to stab Dastan but he accidentally activates the dagger, travelling back 1 minute into the past. He's caught off guard and when Tamina makes her move to stab him again, she slashes him across the chest. He activates the dagger again and disarms her, telling her that if she goes for that sword one more time he'll break her arms. She's alarmed that he's used the dagger and then sees that he's used up all the sand. Dastan looks over the dagger and fills it with normal sand, but Tamina points out that only special sand can power the dagger: The Sands of Time. Dastan throws her onto the horse and the two travel into the desert. He realizes that Alamut had no weapons, just the dagger and that with the dagger, Tus would be the most powerful king in the world. Dastan hopes to find his uncle at the king's funeral and they will travel into the Valley of the Slaves as a short cut, hopefully avoiding the murderous robbers who inhabit it.
Upon entering the Valley of the Slaves, Dastan and Tamina are greeted by skeletons stuck on wooden pikes to mark the entrance. While walking, Tamina faints due to lack of dehydration. When Dastan goes to help her, she knocks him out using a nearby bone. When he comes to, she and the dagger are gone. He walks around for a bit, only to be found by Sheik Amar and his henchmen. His knife thrower, Seso, throws a knife just shy of Dastan's penis and Amar tells Dastan that he better give him something good if he wants to stay alive. A few minutes later, Tamina is captured by the Sheik and Dastan, who used her as a bartering chip, steals back the dagger.
The Valley of the Slaves, though, turns out to be an elaborate lie. The Sheik, who hates paying taxes, had created the horrible infamy associated with the Valley to keep the Persians away (since the Sheik hates paying taxes). He makes Tamina serve the gamblers near his Ostrich races and talks to Dastan with Seso. He points out that Dastan looks a lot like the man who killed the king and that Tus is offering a very large reward for Dastan's capture. Dastan avoids Seso's knives and steals back the dagger when Tamina causes a distraction on the ostrich track. Dastan opens up a gate and the two narrowly escape, pausing just long enough to mock the Sheik.
Dastan and Tamina make it to the city holding the king's funeral. Dastan uses Tamina to smuggle himself into the event and then hide's on his father's funeral casket (which houses his coffin behind shrouds). He writes a meeting place on a piece of parchment and slips it into his uncle's coat before leaving. Tamina is impressed by Dastan's success but steals the dagger when he isn't looking. Nizam and Dastan meet but it quickly becomes apparent that Dastan has been set up. He sees burn marks on Nizam's hands, proving that Nizam poisoned the robes. Dastan escapes the city but is forced to fight Garsiv to do so. He insists his innocence and leaves Garsiv on his back.
Dastan catches up to Tamina just as a sand storm begins. They set up a tent and wait it out, and Tamina tells him the story of the dagger: The gods waged a war of elements against the people of the planet until one young girl was willing to give her life to stop them. The Gods gave her a gift: the dagger of time which allowed the user to turn back. She removed the dagger from a mountain wall and a temple was built around it. Alamut was built over the Hour Glass, which houses the sands of Time. Dastan realizes that Nizam wants to break the seal on the Hour Glass in order to change history and go back to a specific day: When Nizam and Sharaman were children, they went hunting and Nizam saved Sharaman from a lioness. Dastan postulates that Nizam will go back to that time and not act, resulting in Sharaman's death and erasing the future. Tamina warns him that if the dagger is misused, its raw energy will destroy Alamut and then go on to destroy the world.
As Dastan and Tamina continue on to their temple, the Sheik catches up to them. He ties up Dastan and Tamina and scolds them for their actions, which resulted in the destruction of the Sheik's gambling den and death of most of his ostriches. Tamina convinces the Sheik to take them to the Temple and promises him more gold than his horses can carry. That night, several asps attack the camp and kill the Sheik and his men, but Dastan convinces Seso to give him the dagger, and turns back time enough to locate and kill all of the asps as they surface. The Sheik is impressed with Dastan's actions, so he frees him.
The group arrives at the temple two days later and finds the village around it has been completely slaughtered. Garsiv and his men arrive and he takes Dastan in doors. Dastan makes his case and tells him that Nizam is the one who killed their father. Garsiv tells Dastan what Nizam told them, confirming that he believes Dastan. However, the Hassansins arrive and attack the Sheik's men. In the onslaught, Tamina is knocked out and the dagger is taken, Garsiv is killed and the surviving Hassansins escape.
Dastan convinces the Sheik and Seso to help him stop Nizam. They bury Garsiv and return to Alamut. Nizam puts the dagger in the high temple of Alamut and has a Hassansin specialized in throwing spikes guard the tower. Since Seso is the only one who can match the Hassansin, he volunteers to fight him. While Nizam oversees the excavation of the tunnel to the Hour Glass, Dastan and company penetrate the tower's defenses and allow Seso access to the tower. Seso and the Hassansin engage in a tense throwing duel which ends in Seso stabbing the Hassansin through the heart with his throwing axe, but at the cost of his own life. Having been pierced by four arrows to the heart, he throws the dagger out of a window which Dastan and the Sheik retrieve. The Sheik grieves for his friend and pretends to be Dastan in order to drawn the guards away from the palace. Tamina and Dastan sneak into the King's chamber to speak with Tus.
Dastan takes Tus hostage in order to speak to him in private. He tells him that it Nizam's plot to kill their father, not his. He then explains the dagger's powers but can tell that Tus doesn't believe him. With Tamina watching, he stabs himself through the heart with the dagger as Tus cries out in shock. Nizam enters and tells Tus that Dastan took the coward's way out. However, Tus picks up the dagger and goes back in time and prevents Dastan's death. Dastan is relieved that Tus used the dagger (having gambled it all on the fact that he would), but Nizam enters and immediately slits Tus' throat. Tamina helps Dastan escape and the two decide that they need to get to the Hour Glass before Nizam.
Tamina and Dastan enter into the secret catacombs and Tamina tells Dastan to only step where she steps. Unfortunately, a stray rock causes the ground to collapse into sand. Dastan maneuvers on debris as he falls and winds up separated from Tamina in a passage way. He walks through until he sees the Hour Glass. Unfortunately, the lead Hassansin attacks and the two fight to a stalemate. Tamina arrives just as the leader's asp is about to bite Dastan and she shoves the asp into the leader's face. Dastan stabs the leader and he falls into the chasm below. With a moment to themselves before everything turns to hell, Tamina and Dastan share a kiss as Nizam gains access to the Hour Glass cavern from above.
Nizam arrives at the Hour Glass with scaffolding and ready to plunge the knife into the hour glass. Dastan and Tamina climb up to the base of the Hour Glass and fight Nizam. Nizam stabs Dastan in the shoulder and kicks him off. Tamina tries to stop Nizam but Nizam kicks her off the edge as well. Dastan catches her but she forces him to let go so that he can stop Nizam. She tells him that she wished they could have been together. Dastan climbs up and attacks Nizam as he unleashes the Sands of Time. As Time flows through the hour glass, scenes of his past appear as echoes in the glass. Nizam struggles to maintain his hold on the dagger, but Dastan forces the dagger to deactivate and he thrown back in time.
Dastan finds himself at the point where he first procured the dagger. Bis runs up to him to announce the conquering of the city. Realizing that he can undo all the damage which was done, Dastan finds Tus and Garsiv and immediately decries Nizam as a traitor in public. Tus tells his men to find the spy, but that proves unnecessary. Exposed, Nizam tries to kill Dastan. Dastan and Nizam fall off of the palace stairs and Dastan tells him that Nizam had everything he could have wanted, but he turned his back on his family for personal gain. He walks away from Nizam but Nizam tries to skewer him with his sword. Tus stabs Nizam through the stomach before Nizam can kill Dastan, saving his brother's life.
With the timeline altered and the ruse exposed, Dastan accompanies his brothers to Tamina's quarters. Tus apologizes for their attack and offers a marriage to Dastan as a means of healing the broken trust between Alamut and Persia. Dastan presents Tamina with the dagger and overtly hints that he knows what it does. They exchange banter in the palace garden and he tells her that he looks forward to the day they will know each other well enough to be more forward in their talks. The dagger is then returned to the high temple.
==Trivia==
*In the original video game, the Prince did not have a name so that the player could imprint their own ideas into the character.
*Dastan translates to "trickster" in Arabic, while in Persian and Farsi, it translates to "story" and "hero", respectively.
==Gallery==
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==External links==
*Dastan at the Prince of Persia Wiki
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