The Scythe

Lore & Background

In the world of Prince of Persia, the Prince is defined as much by his sword as by his agility. The introduction of a scythe-type weapon into his arsenal represents a departure from that singular identity, suggesting a moment in the narrative where the familiar blade is unavailable, broken, or simply outmatched by the enemy he faces.

The scythe's long haft and broad crescent blade make it a tool of desperation and adaptation. In the Persian martial tradition the series draws upon, weapons of this shape were associated with harvesting and reaping, lending the arm a quiet, ominous symbolism: the Prince does not merely cut his foes, he cuts them down as one cuts a field. This resonates with the franchise's recurring themes of fate, time, and the inescapable harvest of consequence.

Across the various titles in which it appears, the scythe is never the Prince's default. It is found, taken, or forced upon him—always a temporary shift in his fighting style that the player feels through the slower swing and the different hitbox, before the familiar sword returns to his hand.

In Their Own Story

The chamber was cold and smelled of old iron. The Prince set his sword against the wall—edge-first, the way his father had taught him—and reached for the long haft leaning in the corner. The scythe was heavier than it looked. He drew it in a slow arc across the empty floor, and the blade whispered through the dust like a sentence being finished. Somewhere above, the sand shifted in its hourglass, indifferent to which edge of steel he chose. He tested the weight again, felt the crescent catch the lamplight, and stepped forward into the dark corridor. The sword would wait. Tonight, the field needed reaping.

Reader's Guide

The Scythe functions as a heavier melee weapon in the Prince of Persia titles where it appears. Mechanically it trades the faster, shorter swing of the standard sword for a wider, slower arc, changing the rhythm of combos and the distance at which enemies are struck. It is typically found as a pickup within a level or taken from a defeated foe rather than being the Prince's starting arm, meaning the player swaps to it mid-sequence and returns to the sword after a set period or upon completing a specific encounter.

Narratively, the scythe is a story-critical artifact in the levels where it appears: it signals a shift in the Prince's situation, often marking a section where the familiar combat loop is disrupted. It is not a purely functional power-up; its presence is tied to the level's narrative beat.

Visually, the scythe is rendered with a long wooden or iron haft and a broad crescent blade, clearly distinct from the straight, double-edged swords the Prince carries in most of the series. In later titles the model gains additional metallic detailing and a slightly different blade curvature, but the core silhouette—long haft, sweeping crescent—remains consistent so players can identify it instantly in the weapon-swap UI.

Did You Know?

• The scythe's wide, slow arc makes it the Prince's longest-reach melee option in the games where it appears, useful for keeping enemies at distance in tight corridors.
• Unlike the sword, which is the Prince's constant companion across the entire franchise, the scythe is always a temporary acquisition tied to a specific level or narrative beat.
• The harvesting symbolism of the scythe echoes the franchise's recurring imagery of sand, time, and fate as an inescapable reaping force.
• The weapon-swap animation for the scythe is noticeably slower than the sword's, a deliberate design choice to make the player feel the change in weight and commitment.