9 Video Games Heroes Who Completely Failed At Their Quest

3. The Prince - Prince Of Persia

On the surface, the story of Prince of Persia (the cell-shaded version) looks pretty simple. You (as the titular Prince) are tasked with taking down Ahriman, an evil being who wants to snuff out the light in the world and bring about the age of darkness, ruled by him and his fellow corrupted beings.

Naturally, you're not going to let this happen, and the Prince (who's not really a prince) teams up with Princess Elika (who's really a princess) to take Ahriman and his forces down by using the Tree of Life.

So far, so simple (well, as far as end of the world fantasy plots go), but things get hairy when Elika is mortally wounded. The only way to save her is to destroy the Tree of Life, and therefore eliminate any possibility of Ahriman being beaten. Like the true hero he is... the Prince completely says "stuff it" to the world at large, and saves the woman he fancies.

The interesting thing about this entry is that the character actually chooses to fail his quest - an fascinating decision which was tragically undone in the game's DLC.