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Characters / Prince of Persia (2008)

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This page lists and indexes characters that appear in the 2008 reboot Prince of Persia. Luckily, there aren't that many.

For those looking for the character sheet of the Sands of Time video game saga, click here.


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The Heroes

    The Prince 

The Prince

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01prince_8915.png

"Hey, the next time you want to win your daughter back, you could try giving her a pony. The apocalypse doesn't really cut it."

Voiced by Nolan North

A young vagabond, self-described as an "adventurer" — in truth, he's a rogue, thief, and grave robber. During one his escapades, he got lost in a sandstorm looking for his donkey Farah, and happened to find himself in the ancient land of the Ahura, meeting the young princess Elika in the process. Before he knew it, much to his dismay he found himself by her side facing the corrupted horde of the god of darkness, Ahriman.

May or may not be an actual prince — he's very good at keeping his past under wraps, but certain hints throughout the game indicate that he may in fact be royalty. Other hints exist that he just likes the nickname or could be considered a 'prince of thieves'. He'll give a different answer every time you ask.


  • Anti-Hero: A self-admitted thief who really has no interest in any of the supernatural/religious weirdness going on. He's in it because a pretty girl fell out of the sky onto his head and dragged him into it.
  • Badass Normal: As opposed to Elika, the Prince has no magical powers — just a sword, a pointy glove and general physical aptitude.
  • Being Good Sucks: His general view on things.
  • Combat Pragmatist: His pragmatism extends outside of combat to life in general.
  • Character Development: Starts out as something of a smirky, griping Jerkass, but he gradually softens up throughout the adventure and shows his more caring side.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: The guy is practically super-human given how strong and agile he is.
  • Deadpan Snarker: So, so very much.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Loveable Rogue Anti-Hero. These types of characters can be charming and at times heroic, while being perfectly capable of developing genuine feelings towards allies. But despite all of that, these characters are at their core thieves who only tend to do the right thing because they are forced into a situation where that's the only option, and regardless of any heroics they are often motivated by selfish desires. Despite risking his life to trap Ahriman with Erika, he can't accept her Heroic Sacrifice because of his feelings for her and chooses to free Ahriman in return for Erika's life, dooming the world in the process. While he insists that having Erika alive is better in the long run as it gives them a chance to defeat Ahriman for good and brings up some valid criticisms about Ahriman was likely to escape anyway despite her sacrifice, it's very clear that he's more trying to justify his selfish decision to save her instead of the world.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Moments after we first see him, he stumbles across a ledge he couldn't see due to low visibility in a sandstorm. He quickly recovers himself, slides down the cliff face with ease, and performs a perfect Three-Point Landing. When Elika accidentally lands on him, he grins and casually says, "Hi."
  • Experienced Protagonist: He's already an experienced adventurer and thief at the start of the game.
  • Fallen Hero: What he becomes at the end of the game — releasing Ahriman once more to save Elika. At least, this is what she thinks of him.
  • Grave Robbing: His primary trade. He likes to think of it more as "reclaiming abandoned property".
  • Handsome Lech: He's been with plenty of women all across Persia. Additionally, if Elika attempts to jump to a ledge he's already on, he'll turn around and grab her hand when she slips. One of his quotes in this situation, when he's looking straight down her blouse, is, "This isn't such a bad view."
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's little more than a thief who's first instict is to run, but ultimately sticks with Elika to help save the world.
  • Le Parkour: To a practically inhuman degree. Totally lampshaded.
    Elika: We have to cross over there!
    Prince: Sure, climb on the roof. It's not like gravity ever killed anyone.
  • Loveable Rogue: He's an unapologetic thief and grave robber, but he's also an incredibly charming Anti-Hero helping to save the world.
  • Mysterious Past: We're never offered any concrete details regarding his background. Additionally, he has a tendency to exaggerate so any vague suggestions he makes should be taken with a grain of salt. The closest he's given is that his parents died at one point with his uncle taking him in for a time, before the Prince decided to leave to become an adventurer. The Concubine's comments imply that he might be a prince who left his title when he became a thief and at one point might have been an assassin, though the Prince doesn't respond to any of these.
  • Nay-Theist: Although it sounds like he's skeptical of Ahriman's existence when entering the temple at the beginning of the game, he accepts it quickly enough, making it sound like he was skeptical that Ahriman was imprisoned there. As for Ormazd, the Prince doesn't exactly have a high opinion of him. Later on, he states that he doesn't believe in either Ahriman or Ormazd and wonders why it's him in this mess.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He didn't like the idea that Elika had to die again to seal Ahriman. At all. What does he do? Why, frees him — again — to revive her — again. He justifies this in the hopes of looking for a more permanent solution.
  • Non-Indicative Name: This Prince isn't really a prince like the Prince from the Sands of Time continuity and he doesn't become one like the Prince from the original continuity. Though because of his Mysterious Past and tendency to keep his personal life to himself, there's no way to know for certain whether he's royalty or not. Notably the Concubine's comments that he's "lost" and doesn't know whether he's a prince, pauper, thief, nobleman, merchant or assassin.
  • No Name Given: True of all the Princes, but this game is the first to lampshade it.
    Elika: I didn't catch your name.
    Prince: That's because I didn't give it to you.
  • Protagonist Without a Past: All we really know about the Prince's life before the plot is that he owned a donkey named Farah, and it was laden with gold he had somehow acquired earlier.
  • Reverse Grip: His standard stance with his scimitar.
  • Right Man in the Wrong Place: He just happens to fall into the canyon and run into Elika mere minutes before Ahriman is released. The extreme coincidence of it all makes Elika think Ormazd sent him.
  • Sadistic Choice: Makes one at the end of the game.
  • Warrior Prince: Subverted: while he's a formidable warrior, he's not royalty. Or at least that's what we think.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: A very mellow way of describing Elika's reaction to the choice he made at the end. It takes an entire epilogue for her to barely forgive him.

    Elika 

Princess Elika

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01elika_9130.png

"Gold glitters, but it's what you buy with it that counts."

Voiced by Kari Wahlgren

The young barefoot princess of the Ahura and a servant of Ormazd, the god of light. The Ahura have been protectors of the Tree of Life for thousands of years, but slowly the people left the grounds to seek out a life outside. She and her father were essentially the last, and due to this she feels an overwhelming sense of duty to protect what her people have abandoned.

She ran into the Prince one day by literally dropping onto his head as she was attempting to run away from her father. As it turns out, her father made a pact with Ahriman, the god of darkness, to free him in exchange for bringing her back to life. Having no other choice, she teams up with the Prince to stop the Corruption and seal Ahriman once again.


  • Back from the Dead: Twice. The first time, she fell to her death sometime before the game, and the Mourning King made a deal with Ahriman to revive her. The second time, the Prince makes the same choice.
  • Berserk Button: The Alchemist and the Concubine both happen to be this for her. She considers the Alchemist to be the ultimate traitor, and the Concubine just plain pisses her off.
  • Bilingual Bonus: When she casts a spell, she recites the incantation in an old Persian dialect.
  • Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: The Prince's specialty is grave robbing and parkour. This is hers.
  • Character Development: She starts out as something of detached stoic, but later on take over the Prince's role as the resident Deadpan Snarker.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Even without her powers, the Prince remarks that she is amazingly athletic and nimble.
  • Clothing Damage: The further you get into the game, the more torn up her outfit gets, eventually baring her midriff.
    Prince: That's a nice blouse.
  • Deadpan Snarker: This role initially belongs to the Prince, but as the game continues she more or less ends up trumping him in this regard.
  • Death Seeker: Careful listening to her dialog will make her sacrifice no surprise.
  • Earthy Barefoot Character: She kinda falls into this trope as well since she can directly interact with the fertile grounds through her feet and heal the land from the corruption.
  • Escort Mission: Averted, as the developers went to lengths to make sure she didn't feel like a burden.
  • Feet-First Introduction: Both the game's first teaser trailer and her first in-game scene introduce her by zooming into her bare feet. Making her feet-first.
  • Good Wears White: Elika is a princess trying to save the world and wears a white shirt.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: To seal Ahriman again, she has to die. Thanks to the Prince, this doesn't exactly stick.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: A rare female version.
  • Le Parkour: She is just as nimble and athletic as the Prince — she's just not as physically strong. She has magic that compensates for that to some extent.
  • Made of Iron: Elika is made of pretty stern stuff, being capable of taking some pretty brutal falls and hits without sustaining too much damage.
  • Magical Barefooter: Her lack of shoes is strongly implied to be a consequence of her magic coming from the land itself, as her most powerful ability. She is in contact with the land through her bare feet (to cleanse entire areas of the game of The Corruption) manifests itself as Fertile Feet.
  • Non-Player Companion: To the Prince.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Besides helping the Prince save the world, it's implied that this is her general view of royalty; when the Prince asks her what being a princess is like, her answer is, "Tiring."
  • Standard Power-Up Pose: Whenever Elika heals a Fertile Ground, she floats in the glowing beam and adopts this pose.

Ahriman's Forces

    Ahriman 

Ahriman - The God of Darkness

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01ahriman_5556.png

Voiced by Catherine Kidd, Kwasi Songui

The ancient god of darkness, and brother of Ormazd, the ancient god of light. He was sealed thousands of years ago by his brother within the Tree of Life, and the Ahura were charged to keep him from escaping. To escape his prison, he made a deal with the Mourning King to resurrect Elika in exchange for releasing him. The moment the Tree was cut down, he immediately began to infest the land with the Corruption, and scattered his minions to guard the fertile grounds - the same that could destroy the Corruption.


  • The Bad Guy Wins: In the end, Ahriman is freed and his prison is destroyed.
  • Big Bad: He's the main bad guy in charge of the Corrupted.
  • Badass Boast: Shouts a few of these during his boss fight.
    Ahriman: You seek to stop me? You seek to stop the sun from setting!
  • The Corrupter: Tempts mortals with promises of power or their deepest desires in exchange for becoming his slaves. Not all his victims are unsympathetic, either.
  • The Corruption: His physical form appears as a mass of corruption.
  • Climax Boss: He's fought at the end of the game.
  • Dark Is Evil: Though he claims otherwise.
  • Deal with the Devil: The whole point of his character.
  • Foregone Conclusion: He will escape. It's just a matter of when. The Tree of Life holding him at bay is fading. The civilization that guarded him is long gone. Even if the Prince had allowed Elika to sacrifice herself, her death would have only served to delay the inevitable.
  • God of Evil: It's what he is.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Starts giving them before the credits and never stops. It eventually gets him freed.
    What injury have I done to you, that you have not done to me?
    The choice is not yours. The choice is not yours! The power of this place wanes... And when I am free? She will already have been forgotten. She burns so brightly, A shining star for Ormazd. Is he here to make such sacrifice? Or does he let his followers fall for him? Fall, in his place. I will be free. I will be free!
    Choose life, choose death. Fear not the night. I shall be free, and where then, will the light be? What candle will shine in the darkness now that she is gone? The power of this place wanes. She has blinded you with her light, burned her will until it became yours! Reclaim that will, reclaim your destiny! I can be your beginning, or your end.
    You seek justice? Then banish Ormazd. Free me! It is the dawn that brings the pain. The night that brings the dreams. The light burns! The darkness soothes. She is dead, dead for eternity... but I will be free. Offer me your soul. Offer me no resistance! The choice is not yours. The choice is not yours! Mine has been inprisonment. Mine has been pain.
    What injury have I done to you, that you have not done to me?
  • I Gave My Word: He *will* keep his deals. Sometimes to oddly benevolent levels for the God of Darkness, like leaving The Warrior's people alone.
  • Public Domain Character: He is one of the most important figures in the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: But the Tailor-Made Prison isn't holding together too well these days. The Prince realizes this after Elika sacrifices herself to reseal Ahriman and so releases the god in exchange for resurrecting Elika, intending to find with Elika a way to get rid of Ahriman permanently.
  • Voice of the Legion: Speaks with two voices, one male and one female. His voice also has a rumbling echo.

    The Hunter 

The Hunter

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01hunter_9218.png

Voiced by Sebastien Croteau

One of Ahriman's minion Generals. He was once a very wealthy prince and a skilled hunter. In fact, he became so skilled in the hunt that he found nothing that could evade him, no hunt that would last long enough to sate his boredom. He made a pact with Ahriman for "a hunt without end". And so together with Ahriman's forces, he began to delight in the hunt again as he ruthlessly stalked and killed the enemies of the dark god.


  • The Caligula: Becoming one of Ahriman's minions didn't change his personality any.
  • Egomaniac Hunter: He dedicated his whole mortal life to hunting so much that he ended up alienating himself from the rest of the world. After he had bested every creature he could get his hands on, he found nothing thrilling enough for several years. Ahriman claimed his soul by offering him a chance to endlessly hunt the most dangerous creature on earth — human.
  • Ground Punch: Three times at different points, he punches the ground with his unarmed hand in order to shatter the ground beneath. He first does this to drop the Prince and Elika inside the Martyr's Tower when they first reach its top. When he loses a third of his health during their last confrontation, he does this to drop them to a new fighting ring. He does this again after he has lost another third of his health.
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: He used to be a man, and he sold his soul when he was offered a chance to hunt the most dangerous of all creatures on earth without end. After his transformation into a beast resulted him being retraced by the best hunters, he understood what he would prey on for all eternity in the name of Ahriman — human. And he had no trouble with this at all.
  • In a Single Bound: He has great leaping abilities, using them to enter and exit battlegrounds.
  • Interface Screw: The Hunter likes to splatter Corruption all over the screen when you fight him.
  • Neck Lift: One of his special moves. If the Prince doesn't free himself, the Hunter slams him to the ground.
  • The Quiet One: He never speaks, only screeches at times.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: While he was still a prince, he was not very interested in the luxury his position granted. Instead, he dedicated his life to testing his limits as a hunter, even against legendary monsters.
  • Say My Name: Upon his final defeat, he's heard calling out for Ahriman two times before Elika purifies him.
  • Warrior Prince: He was a prince in life who lived for the hunt, but sold his soul to Ahriman to hunt men.

    The Alchemist 

The Alchemist

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01alchemist_2607.png

"Let me relieve you of all hope."

Voiced by Paul Mercier

An Ahura who had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, he sought to learn all that life had to offer — save for death, which he desperately sought the means to avoid. As he continued to gain more knowledge, he in turn began to lose his morality and sense of ethics, doing all sorts of ghastly things to his fellow Ahura, all in the name of science. He grew old, weak and ill, and went to Ahriman for the time to find a formula that would grant him eternal youth, in exchange for his servitude. Immortality now secured, he continued his experiments completely free of morality.


  • Combat Tentacles: He can create these from the Corruption he controls.
  • Evil Genius: As his name suggests, he's the intellectual among the Corrupted. In addition to performing his twisted experiments, he also created war machines for Ahriman.
  • Finger-Tenting: He habitually keeps his fingers tip-to-tip at his mouth level.
  • For Science!: Hunger for scientific knowledge drove him before his corruption and that hasn't changed one bit.
    "Ignorance shall not stand."
  • Immortality Seeker: He became one when his health began to fail earlier than he would have wanted to.
  • Lean and Mean: He's quite scrawny.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: He wears red scholar's garments, and the Corruption gives him black coloring.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: He's a Mad Scientist who speaks in a refined and composed manner.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Spikes grow out of his entire back.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: What he eventually did to his fellow Ahura for knowledge.
  • Tempting Fate: Declares "I will not die} right before dying
  • Wicked Cultured: He's an evil scholar after all. At one point he claims that one of the differences between him and the protagonists is their unquestioned following of Ormazd's will (though Elika is like that more than the Prince).
    "It is not that you cannot understand. It is that you do not even question. Knowledge enlightens. You close your eyes in blind faith!"

    The Concubine 

The Concubine

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01concubine_1806.png

"Welcome to the ball, honored guests... Shall we begin the dance?"

Voiced by Lucinda Davis

A beautiful and successful politician who tilted the status quo in her favor by manipulating the men around her. At one point however, she truly fell in love with a man who was immune to her charms. Time and time again she tried to woo him, but the man finally, bluntly rejected her. She became devastated, and eagerly accepted Ahriman's offer to be able to cast illusions, allowing her to be anyone she — or anyone else — desired. She used this ability to such a point that she eventually forgot who she was entirely, and now serves Ahriman wholly.

She seems fixated on the Prince. And Elika does not like her. At all.


  • Dance Battler: She adds elegant moves to her fighting style, especially when she's having the upper hand.
  • Dark Action Girl: While she prefers to tease her opponents and take them down with her guile, she's capable of holding her own against the Prince and Elika with her staff and agility.
  • Deadpan Snarker: "The Last of the Ahura. Their queen comes to die in the Hall of Coronation! It's almost a waste of the irony for it to fall on such a humourless people."
  • Expy: Of the mythological primordial whore in Zoroastrianism.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She speaks all the time in a flowery way that strongly reeks of horse hockey.
  • I Shall Taunt You: She uses mockery against her foes more than the other Corrupted.
  • Lean and Mean: She's slim and lethal.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Very subtly. It's never brought up, but she has a tail and three-toed, digitigrade feet.
  • Lost in Character: She lost her original sense of self by using her illusionist powers to seduce men in an endless cycle.
  • Murderous Thighs: One of her special moves is using her staff as a support beam and grabbing the Prince's throat with her legs. If the Prince doesn't free himself by kicking her back, she pulls him over herself and slams him to the floor.
  • Pink Means Feminine: An evil version of this trope; she wears pink silk and is an experienced seductress.
  • Psycho Pink: She is an evil, manipulative seductress who wears pink.
  • Smug Snake: She's a cunning illusionist, but her attempts to be theatrical are left void due to her arrogance and transparent contempt towards the heroes.
  • The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of the bad guy team and the one who uses subtlety and words against her foes more than the others.
  • The Tease: She makes continuously all too blatant suggestions towards the Prince, partly to drive a wedge between him and Elika.
    "What are your dreams, little man? What fantasies can I make true? What desires will you paint upon my canvas? Gold and riches? Sweet, tender kisses? Power, strength? Close your eyes, my prince, my king, and we shall taste your dreams together."

    The Warrior 

The Warrior

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01warrior_8546.png

"Your fight is meaningless. Man cannot fight a god."

Voiced by J. Grant Albrecht

A wise and gentle king who once reigned over a peaceful land, until his kingdom was mercilessly attacked by a powerful and cruel enemy. Having no other choice, the Warrior made a deal with Ahriman to obtain great power so he could protect his people. After he drove away the attackers, he realized that he was tainted by war and could no longer return to his peaceful people, so he devoted himself to Ahriman. He has been a servant for so long that he retains none of his originally kind nature, but Elika still believes that there is goodness left inside him somewhere.


  • Anti-Villain: The only reason he accepted Ahriman's offer was to save his people. And even after that, he's still not exactly evil.
  • Bear Hug: One of his special moves is trapping the Prince this way. You have to punch his face thrice with your gauntled hand in order to free yourself.
  • Belly Flop Crushing: Subverted. One of his special moves looks initially like this, but it actually causes the Prince to fall on his back in front of the Warrior.
  • The Brute: Physically the largest and most formidable Corrupted. Subverted since he's the least evil villain of the game.
  • Died Standing Up: Just before he explodes, he raises from his Pose of Supplication in an apparent attempt to fight against Ahriman's control over him.
  • Don't Make Me Destroy You: More than once he tells Elika and the Prince to turn away from their seemingly hopeless quest while they still can.
    "You should leave this place. I have no wish to kill you."
  • Fallen Hero: The peace-loving king offered his soul to an evil god in order to protect his kingdom against invaders. The price of success was becoming an instrument of war more terrifying than said invaders.
  • Finishing Stomp: His standard method of trying to finish off the Prince after he receives enough injuries. Either the Prince evades it or Elika will throw the Warrior back with her magic.
  • Gale-Force Sound: He stops occasionally to scream. When that happens, you can't get near him.
  • Ground Punch: One of his special moves has him striking the ground with both hands. The resulting shock wave causes the Corruption beneath the ground move towards the Prince. Unless Elika stops it with her magic, the Prince will be sent flying upwards by a jet of Corruption and he lands painfully.
  • Infernal Retaliation: In the final fight, he's pushed into boiling Corruption and he returns for the last rematch in flames. The only way to defeat him is to wait for the fire to lower his lifebar into zero.
  • Mighty Glacier: He hits hard, moves in a hulking way and cannot be injured with conventional attacks.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: Only Elika's magic can inflict any damage. And the only way to defeat him is to drop him or use the environment against him in some other way.
  • The Quiet One: He's after the Hunter the most reserved among the Corrupted.
  • Ring-Out Boss: He's so strong that neither the Prince's sword nor Elika's magic can hurt him. You need to push him to the edge of the arena each time you fight him — usually off ledges, but sometimes into weak pillars or a cage.
  • Rock Monster: His body is partly made of rock.
  • Token Good Teammate: Out of his fellow Corrupted, his motivation to sell his soul to Ahriman was the most altruistic. He also taunts Elika and the Prince less than the others and uses his last living moment to save them.
  • Tragic Monster: The only reason he continues to be Ahriman's instrument of war is because he has no other option left.
  • Villain's Dying Grace: Before he explodes, he throws Elika and the Prince to safety. Elika is certain that this was his last act of honourability, though the Prince regards it to have been the last failed attempt to kill them.

    The Mourning King 

The Mourning King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01mourningking_2705.png

"You know what it is that I ask!"

Voiced by Fred Tatasciore

The last ruler of the Ahura, and Elika's father. After Elika died, he made a deal with Ahriman to resurrect her in exchange for freeing him. He also tries to justify this by explaining that the Tree of Life has grown very weak over the millennia, and that Ahriman would've escaped on his own anyway.

Over the course of the adventure, he tries to explain his actions to Elika to no avail, and continues to grow more corrupted with time. In the end, he loses all sense of self.


  • Anti-Villain: He has sympathetic motives; the death of his wife led him to neglect his people out of sorrow, and his current actions are his way to prevent his daughter from dying after he sold his soul in exchange for her resurrection.
  • Badass Longcoat: He wears a long dark blue coat fit for a royal.
  • Body Horror: The way the Corruption gradually takes over his body.
  • The Dragon: He becomes this for Ahriman following the destruction of the four original Corrupted.
  • Dreadlock Warrior: He's a skilled swordsman, and he sports dreadlocks.
  • Evil Counterpart: The Prince ends up doing exactly what the Mourning King originally did and releases Ahriman in exchange for Elika's resurrection. The difference is that while the King is now The Dragon of Ahriman, the Prince remains opposed to Ahriman and insists that bringing Elika back to life was necessary to put a stop to Ahriman once and for all.
  • Fallen Hero: He rules the warrior tribe that has watched over the imprisoned God of Evil for two hundred generations. Unfortunately, he has become disillusioned with the continued absence of Ormazd, Ahriman's weakening prison, his people's decay, the death of his wife, and his daughter's death. Eventually, he sells his soul to Ahriman and frees him in exchange for resurrecting Elika.
  • Knight Templar Parent: He willingly releases the God of Evil to destroy the world in exchange for his daughter's resurrection, and he fights her to prevent her from re-imprisoning Ahriman through self-sacrifice.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He break's Ahriman's seal, unleashing him on the world.
  • Sinister Scimitar: He opposes the protagonists and fights with a curved blade.
  • Sixth Ranger: He becomes the newest Corrupted of Ahriman.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Once his corruption is complete, he has grown spikes sticking out of his shoulders.

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