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brief history and personality; GAME SPOILERS WITHIN if you ever want to play it
ยป CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Elika
Canon & MEDIUM: Prince of Persia (the standalone video game from 2008)
Canon PULL-POINT: ending: post-death, pre-revival
Character AGE: 20~30?
Character ABILITIES: Elika was gifted magic after her first death and resurrection by the god of light, Ormazd, and of course her magic is nothing but pure light. She can repel and purify evil and dark magic, and float for short periods of time to save another person from falling into a chasm or obstacle. Apart from that, Elika is athletic and a gifted parkourist(???), able to climb and run along stone walls with ease. after her second death, however, she struggles to reclaim use of Ormazd's magic.
Character HISTORY:
In an unnamed desert there is a small, unnamed country, and a temple at the base of an enormous tree. For centuries, this country was the land of the Ahura (OO-ra), a people charged by the god of light, Ormazd (or-MAHZ) to guard the temple because it is the prison for the god of darkness, Ahriman (not sure this one needs a snobby pronunciation guide). These two gods are brothers - different sides of the same coin - and they fought a war for many eons before Ormazd came out on top.
That was centuries ago. Though the country used to flourish with scientists, artists, poets, and lavish and profitable trade, it's now a ghost of what it was. There are hardly any people left; most sought a future outside the borders of land and duty. Buildings and hallways and roads - once grand and impressive - are crumbling to dust.
Elika is the daughter of the king who clings too hard to old ways and is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife years before. Elika, on the other hand, is a person of action; she has explored every inch of her country her whole life, and makes the difficult decision to leave in order to bring back some of her people back to their calling...or to at least find answers about the two gods who have so tied down the fate of her people. As agile and fit as she is, she slips...and dies.
The king, unable to bear the loss of his only daughter, hears whispers: Ahriman. It promises to bring her back to life, if only the king will release it. When Elika wakes, she tries to escape, heading for the Temple. It's then that she runs into The Stranger (no name is ever given throughout the game; he is only called "The Prince" by the player since that's the title, after all). She tries to warn him to leave, to run! but he ignores her and follows her inside. Though they managed to head off her father, he destroys the sacred tree inside anyway...and releases Ahriman.
The game doesn't run on a strictly linear path. Over the course of what could be a single day (GAME LOGIC!), we learn that Elika has gained magic after her resurrection: magic that has faded from the Ahura's abilities centuries ago - a gift from Ormazd - used to guard the Temple. She decides that they must traverse the empty land, gathering Light Seeds and healing the Fertile Grounds - sacred spots around the country that support the Temple and its ability to hold Ahriman.
Her push-and-pull bond with The Prince grows stronger as they talk during their exhausting quest; they learn and laugh and frustrate one another. They save each other, over and over - when he's dumb enough to try to jump a gap too large, or she gets taken hostage by one of Ahriman's generals...
As they heal more Grounds, she gains more magical abilities to help them reach new places...and all the while, she knows that she'll have to die in order to turn the key to the lock, so to speak. She knowingly and willingly orchestrates her own death - as her return to life was what set him free in the first place - in order to save the world.
And she never breathes a word of it to The Prince.
The final battle is a harrowing, brutal fight, but after many acrobatics and flashes of light magic, Ahriman is put back into his place. All that's left is for Elika to give herself up. She says nothing, walking up to the sacred tree (within a tree?) in the center of the Temple, pulling out a Light Seed out of her chest...and muttering a simple "I'm sorry" to her companion.
And that's how she gave her life to save the world.
Until the Prince undoes everything and fucks it up.
(He's selfish like that.)
Character PERSONALITY:
There are two things that define the core of Elika, princess of the Ahura: her selflessness and her devotion. She was born the heir of a crumbling culture and land; both were still incredibly beautiful, but falling into decay after generations of people leaving. From a very young age, Elika was fascinated by any and all knowledge of the world she could hear or find or read about; not just the history of her land and her people, but also stories from the traveling merchants (who eventually dwindled away) of the many worlds outside the borders of the Ahura's little one. Elika explored every inch of the Ahura land, eager to know the history of every centimeter of rock and building and earth, in awe of the majesty and legacy of the previous generations of her people. Unfortunately, by the time Elika was born, most of the glory of her people had faded, and remained as a ghost in the stories and art and buildings.
Elika also dreamed of the world outside her own small one as much as her treasured histories...imagining the sights and sounds and smells and people. She had a dream of leaving the Ahura one day (though as a temporary or permanent vacation she doesn't specify) and seeing the world for herself. Her biggest wish was to see the sea and travel across it. She could only vaguely picture it her mind, likening it to the sea of sand that surrounded her lands.
For all her dreaming, however, her first and foremost duty and preoccupation of thought and action is that of her lands and her people. Elika loves everything about the Ahura very deeply, and is entirely devoted to preserving its history, beauty, and duty to the Temple. She speaks of the glory days with a sort of wistful awe, and a deep respect for all who came before. She suppresses any selfish desires of her own that she may have; instead, the well-being of others and balance of the world being her utmost wish.
She would have been a great leader, had her life proceeded the way all assumed it would. She's calm and practical, and her selflessness would only benefit the land and its people. She tends to have a good idea for what needs to be done and when; she admits that she dislikes how her father sticks to tradition too closely, and that she would reform many ways the kingdom is run, given the chance.
Elika is a believer. She believes people are all inherently good, as is the world; she believes in hard work and responsibility and peace. She also believes in gods. You might say that's easy when your people have been charged with guarding the god of darkness, Ahriman, for a thousand years, but who's to say that Temple isn't empty and just a symbol? Not her. More than Ahriman, she believes in the god of light, Ormazd, with an unwavering ferocity...despite his noted absence for over a thousand years, and especially in the world's time of need...now that Ahriman was released from his prison in the Temple.
For as small as her world has been all her life, Elika isn't as naive as the Prince believes, and very well read and knowledgeable. She even has a sense of humor! She banters back and forth with the Prince very often. It's just the task of preventing the end of the world that handles with an almost deadly seriousness. ...Okay, and the legacy of her people in general. She's pretty serious and practical, though ultimately an optimist. When the Prince was corrupted, it was only hope she had to go on that healing the Fertile Ground of that area would heal him as well.
Feminine and tough, Elika is fiercely independent and intelligent, and can take care of herself. She may not be able to defend herself physically due to a lack of martial training, but she certainly holds her own in being able to follow the Prince on their parkouring travels without the help of a fancy gauntlet like his. Lithe and nimble, she uses the magic she newly inherited to be constantly ready to fight and aid the Prince, for Elika is a healer in many respects. She wishes to heal the land, to heal the Ahura people and bring them back to their duty and home, and she even wishes to heal the way the Ahura royalty has functioned for generations and reform it. (Or, she would have wanted to if she hadn't died!)
Again, Elika is smart and not as naive as the Prince thinks, or even wishes. She sees through him fairly easily, understanding that his lack of wanting to supply information about himself and his past, even going so far as to deny giving his name, is an enormous defense mechanism of some kind. She's not fooled. She succeeds in having him divulge more than he's comfortable, but even that is like pulling teeth and he stops himself quickly and is still vague about what little he tells. She goes along with his game, only because there's not much of a way to do otherwise.
Elika is likewise silent about herself, but not nearly as much or from a wish for none to know, but rather as a sort of self-effacing. When she talks of herself and her childhood, it's usually in relation to how she's admired the history of the Ahura from a very young age. She barely talks about the death of her mother, or her mother in general. That, at least, mirrors the Prince.
Her devotion to the well-being of the world, its peace and balance, and to the gods, is unparalleled. She is willing to do whatever it takes to put things right, to prevent ~The End~ and seal Ahriman away again. To that end, she keeps an absolute secret from the Prince: that she must die in order for this to happen. Ahriman granting her father's wish to revive her from the dead was what caused the whole mess in the first place, and she knows, probably from the beginning, that she must die in order for the world to be put back in order. She never tells the Prince, not once, not even in the middle of the act, only saying "I'm sorry." She has little that she wants for herself. Her dedication, motivation, ferocity of intent is impressive and unstoppable. She doesn't even fear death.
Character NAME: Elika
Canon & MEDIUM: Prince of Persia (the standalone video game from 2008)
Canon PULL-POINT: ending: post-death, pre-revival
Character AGE: 20~30?
Character ABILITIES: Elika was gifted magic after her first death and resurrection by the god of light, Ormazd, and of course her magic is nothing but pure light. She can repel and purify evil and dark magic, and float for short periods of time to save another person from falling into a chasm or obstacle. Apart from that, Elika is athletic and a gifted parkourist(???), able to climb and run along stone walls with ease. after her second death, however, she struggles to reclaim use of Ormazd's magic.
Character HISTORY:
In an unnamed desert there is a small, unnamed country, and a temple at the base of an enormous tree. For centuries, this country was the land of the Ahura (OO-ra), a people charged by the god of light, Ormazd (or-MAHZ) to guard the temple because it is the prison for the god of darkness, Ahriman (not sure this one needs a snobby pronunciation guide). These two gods are brothers - different sides of the same coin - and they fought a war for many eons before Ormazd came out on top.
That was centuries ago. Though the country used to flourish with scientists, artists, poets, and lavish and profitable trade, it's now a ghost of what it was. There are hardly any people left; most sought a future outside the borders of land and duty. Buildings and hallways and roads - once grand and impressive - are crumbling to dust.
Elika is the daughter of the king who clings too hard to old ways and is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife years before. Elika, on the other hand, is a person of action; she has explored every inch of her country her whole life, and makes the difficult decision to leave in order to bring back some of her people back to their calling...or to at least find answers about the two gods who have so tied down the fate of her people. As agile and fit as she is, she slips...and dies.
The king, unable to bear the loss of his only daughter, hears whispers: Ahriman. It promises to bring her back to life, if only the king will release it. When Elika wakes, she tries to escape, heading for the Temple. It's then that she runs into The Stranger (no name is ever given throughout the game; he is only called "The Prince" by the player since that's the title, after all). She tries to warn him to leave, to run! but he ignores her and follows her inside. Though they managed to head off her father, he destroys the sacred tree inside anyway...and releases Ahriman.
The game doesn't run on a strictly linear path. Over the course of what could be a single day (GAME LOGIC!), we learn that Elika has gained magic after her resurrection: magic that has faded from the Ahura's abilities centuries ago - a gift from Ormazd - used to guard the Temple. She decides that they must traverse the empty land, gathering Light Seeds and healing the Fertile Grounds - sacred spots around the country that support the Temple and its ability to hold Ahriman.
Her push-and-pull bond with The Prince grows stronger as they talk during their exhausting quest; they learn and laugh and frustrate one another. They save each other, over and over - when he's dumb enough to try to jump a gap too large, or she gets taken hostage by one of Ahriman's generals...
As they heal more Grounds, she gains more magical abilities to help them reach new places...and all the while, she knows that she'll have to die in order to turn the key to the lock, so to speak. She knowingly and willingly orchestrates her own death - as her return to life was what set him free in the first place - in order to save the world.
And she never breathes a word of it to The Prince.
The final battle is a harrowing, brutal fight, but after many acrobatics and flashes of light magic, Ahriman is put back into his place. All that's left is for Elika to give herself up. She says nothing, walking up to the sacred tree (within a tree?) in the center of the Temple, pulling out a Light Seed out of her chest...and muttering a simple "I'm sorry" to her companion.
And that's how she gave her life to save the world.
Until the Prince undoes everything and fucks it up.
(He's selfish like that.)
Character PERSONALITY:
There are two things that define the core of Elika, princess of the Ahura: her selflessness and her devotion. She was born the heir of a crumbling culture and land; both were still incredibly beautiful, but falling into decay after generations of people leaving. From a very young age, Elika was fascinated by any and all knowledge of the world she could hear or find or read about; not just the history of her land and her people, but also stories from the traveling merchants (who eventually dwindled away) of the many worlds outside the borders of the Ahura's little one. Elika explored every inch of the Ahura land, eager to know the history of every centimeter of rock and building and earth, in awe of the majesty and legacy of the previous generations of her people. Unfortunately, by the time Elika was born, most of the glory of her people had faded, and remained as a ghost in the stories and art and buildings.
Elika also dreamed of the world outside her own small one as much as her treasured histories...imagining the sights and sounds and smells and people. She had a dream of leaving the Ahura one day (though as a temporary or permanent vacation she doesn't specify) and seeing the world for herself. Her biggest wish was to see the sea and travel across it. She could only vaguely picture it her mind, likening it to the sea of sand that surrounded her lands.
For all her dreaming, however, her first and foremost duty and preoccupation of thought and action is that of her lands and her people. Elika loves everything about the Ahura very deeply, and is entirely devoted to preserving its history, beauty, and duty to the Temple. She speaks of the glory days with a sort of wistful awe, and a deep respect for all who came before. She suppresses any selfish desires of her own that she may have; instead, the well-being of others and balance of the world being her utmost wish.
She would have been a great leader, had her life proceeded the way all assumed it would. She's calm and practical, and her selflessness would only benefit the land and its people. She tends to have a good idea for what needs to be done and when; she admits that she dislikes how her father sticks to tradition too closely, and that she would reform many ways the kingdom is run, given the chance.
Elika is a believer. She believes people are all inherently good, as is the world; she believes in hard work and responsibility and peace. She also believes in gods. You might say that's easy when your people have been charged with guarding the god of darkness, Ahriman, for a thousand years, but who's to say that Temple isn't empty and just a symbol? Not her. More than Ahriman, she believes in the god of light, Ormazd, with an unwavering ferocity...despite his noted absence for over a thousand years, and especially in the world's time of need...now that Ahriman was released from his prison in the Temple.
For as small as her world has been all her life, Elika isn't as naive as the Prince believes, and very well read and knowledgeable. She even has a sense of humor! She banters back and forth with the Prince very often. It's just the task of preventing the end of the world that handles with an almost deadly seriousness. ...Okay, and the legacy of her people in general. She's pretty serious and practical, though ultimately an optimist. When the Prince was corrupted, it was only hope she had to go on that healing the Fertile Ground of that area would heal him as well.
Feminine and tough, Elika is fiercely independent and intelligent, and can take care of herself. She may not be able to defend herself physically due to a lack of martial training, but she certainly holds her own in being able to follow the Prince on their parkouring travels without the help of a fancy gauntlet like his. Lithe and nimble, she uses the magic she newly inherited to be constantly ready to fight and aid the Prince, for Elika is a healer in many respects. She wishes to heal the land, to heal the Ahura people and bring them back to their duty and home, and she even wishes to heal the way the Ahura royalty has functioned for generations and reform it. (Or, she would have wanted to if she hadn't died!)
Again, Elika is smart and not as naive as the Prince thinks, or even wishes. She sees through him fairly easily, understanding that his lack of wanting to supply information about himself and his past, even going so far as to deny giving his name, is an enormous defense mechanism of some kind. She's not fooled. She succeeds in having him divulge more than he's comfortable, but even that is like pulling teeth and he stops himself quickly and is still vague about what little he tells. She goes along with his game, only because there's not much of a way to do otherwise.
Elika is likewise silent about herself, but not nearly as much or from a wish for none to know, but rather as a sort of self-effacing. When she talks of herself and her childhood, it's usually in relation to how she's admired the history of the Ahura from a very young age. She barely talks about the death of her mother, or her mother in general. That, at least, mirrors the Prince.
Her devotion to the well-being of the world, its peace and balance, and to the gods, is unparalleled. She is willing to do whatever it takes to put things right, to prevent ~The End~ and seal Ahriman away again. To that end, she keeps an absolute secret from the Prince: that she must die in order for this to happen. Ahriman granting her father's wish to revive her from the dead was what caused the whole mess in the first place, and she knows, probably from the beginning, that she must die in order for the world to be put back in order. She never tells the Prince, not once, not even in the middle of the act, only saying "I'm sorry." She has little that she wants for herself. Her dedication, motivation, ferocity of intent is impressive and unstoppable. She doesn't even fear death.