| “ | This did not please the sultan's grand vizier, Jaffar. Who meant to marry the princess himself. Seizing power, Jaffar had his rival thrown into the dungeons. But the young man escaped, and struck down the evil magician. | „ |
| ~ The Narrator's info about Jaffar in Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame. |
Jaffar is the main antagonist of the Prince of Persia franchise.
He is an traitorous vizier who dreams of taking the throne of the Sultan of Persia, and ruling all of Persia. Thus, taking the princess as his wife. When the Sultan left Persia to fight in a war, Jaffar managed to seize power over Persia and tried to force the princess into marrying him, he gives the princess some time to make her choice by giving her a hourglass. His evil plans were foiled by the unnamed protagonist, the prince who defeated the evil vizier and rescued the princess, he was later revived by a witch and wanted to take revenge on the Prince for Killing him, by disguising himself as the prince and seize power over Persia for the second time and put the princess under a spell, but he was defeated by the Prince again by using the power of the blue flame.
Appearances[]
Jaffar is usually shown as a man in his late middle age or even his senior years with a long goatee, usually black or grey, with an attached mustache.
In Japanese versions of the game, Jaffar has blue skin, glowing red eyes and pointy ears, giving him an otherworldly feel.
Personality[]
Jaffar is a very greedy man, who has no respect for the Sultan of Persia, despite serving him for seventeen years. He dreams of taking over Persia, and will threaten to take down anyone who opposed him. He has guards who very loyal to him, and will blindly take orders from Jaffar to kill the Prince. He could be very aggressive, when the princess refused to accept him as her husband, and when he saw that the princess fell in love with the prince. As shown in the game, Jaffar seems to be very perverted, when he tempts the princess into marrying him. He tried to seduce the princess. His lust for power would lead him to his downfall, as he is defeated by the Prince in there battle in the dungeons.
Biography[]
Jaffar watching the Prince from his throne in the SNES version.
Not much is known about his origins or why he wanted to take over Persia in the first place, but it is revealed that Jaffar was given his magical powers by an old witch (who is the one responsible for the destruction of the Prince's kingdom of Basra). After the last seventeen years of serving the Sultan of Persia, Jaffar wished to be the ruler of Persia and take the princess as his wife, when the Sultan and his army left Persia to fight in a war. Jaffar took the throne of the Sultan and seized power over Persia, when he realized the princess fell in love with a young adventurer from another land (In the Sega Genesis/Megadrive and Riverhillsoft ports of the game, he noticed in his crystal ball). Jaffar was filled with rage, and ordered his guards to take the prince to the dungeons. In the Princess' room, Jaffar forced the princess to marry him so he could rule Persia along with her. But the princess refused, so Jaffar created a hourglass to give Princess some time to make her choice. The prince escaped the dungeons, and his fought his way through the palace. Jaffar created a magic mirror that separated the prince from his shadow. After the prince reunited with his shadow, he confronted the evil vizier and dueled him in battle. The prince to managed to defeat Jaffar (by either slaying him or make him fall off a ledge to his death). So the prince managed to save the princess and was hailed as hero of Persia.
Eleven days later, the witch revived Jaffar after his first death by the Prince, who sworn revenge on him for killing him. Jaffar disguised himself as the prince by magically taking his form this and changed the Prince's appearance into that of a beggar. When the real prince entered the throne room, no one recognized him (Not even the princess and the Sultan). When the prince attempts to speak with the princess, Jaffar emerges from the shadows as a False Prince and orders the guards to chase the prince out of the palace despite Princess pleas to show the beggar mercy. The Prince however, escaped in a ship. Jaffar later cast a storm upon the ship, killing everyone onboard, except for the prince who survived the storm. As his face appears in the clouds and laughs manically.
When the Sultan left Persia for the battlefield again, Jaffar ruled all over Persia again, and the Princess who is saddened by her "prince"'s new selfish attitude wrote a letter to her father, requesting him to take back his throne. However, Jaffar came to the princess' room and as the False Prince's true identity was revealed to her. Jaffar furiously glared at the princess and with a spell put a mysterious illness upon her. When the prince went back to Persia and confronted Jaffar, the former vizier teleported him to a nightmarish realm as a final torment. The Prince managed to fight off his illusions, and chased the magician. Jaffar, realizing that the prince has the power of the blue flame, tried to flee. The prince threw a blue fireball at Jaffar, which took them back to the real world. Jaffar screamed in agony, as his body was melting from the flame. Jaffar's body dissolved, and his bones becomes nothing but ash, Killing him for good. His spell on the princess and the prince was broken, and the prince saved the princess and all of Persia once again. He ordered Jaffar's remains to be scattered to the winds to prevent the evil vizier from returning.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- For the original box art, Kevin Nealon, a friend of the game's creator acted as the model for Jaffar. The game's cover was almost redone for fear of condoning violence against women due to Jaffar's threatening behavior towards the Princess, but it was pointed out that Jaffar was the villain the player was meant to stop.
- Jaffar is named after Ja'far whom was a character in several stories in Arabian Nights, sometimes acting as a heroic character, but other times acting as an antagonsit. Ja'far in those stories was based on Ja'far ibn Yahya, a real persian vizier that served Harun al-Rashid until being executed.
- The Jaffar of Prince of Persia predates the more wellknown Jafar from Disney's Aladdin by three years.
- In the Super Famicom version of Prince of Persia, Jaffar uses several demonic symbols like a pentagram, but most of these were removed from the Super Nintendo version due to censorship policies at the time.
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| Prince of Persia Villains | |||
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Classic trilogy The Sand of Time Warrior Within The Two Thrones 2008 Reboot
2010 Live-Action Movie | |||