Pirena

Pirena/Sang'gre Pirena is a character and the protagonist-antagonist of the Encantadia series, written by Suzette Doctolero. The Encantadia franchise, consisting of four series Encantadia (2005), Etheria (2005-06), Encantadia: Pag-ibig Hanggang Wakas (2006), and Encantadia (2016), is primarily focused on Pirena's quest to get the throne of the Lireo from her sister Amihan.^[1] Pirena is portrayed by actress Sunshine Dizon on the first 3 series, and in the spin-off movie Mulawin: The Movie, while Glaiza de Castro portayed the character in the 2016 series of the same name.^[2][3]

In Encantadia, Pirena is the daughter of Mine-a, the Queen of Lireo and Hagorn, prince of Hathoria. She grew up believing that as the eldest among the four Sang'gres, she is the rightful as a successor to her mother. She had full of hatred when Amihan, her sister who grew up in the mortal world went back to Encantadia, wherein she was consistently manipulated by her dama(nanny) Gurna, a Hathorian spy.^[4] She lost in a battle organized by her mother, leading to Amihan's succession of the throne. She defected from Lireo, stole the fire gem and formed allies with the Hathoria Kingdom leading to Amihan's downfall.^[5]

Concept and creation

Encantadia writer, Suzette Doctolero coined the name "Pirena" from english word, "fire" as Pirena is the keeper of Gem of Fire. In the series, four gems of nature referred as Brilyante (Gems) control balance in their world: the air, fire, water and earth.

Background

Pirena is the oldest of the four daughters of Mine-a.^[6] Her father's identity was kept secret from her until Hagorn, her father confessed the truth from whom her powers of shapeshifting and swiftness in battle are believed to have been inherited.^[6] Naturally proud and gifted with a keen intelligence, Pirena believes that Amihan stole the throne of Lireo as well as the affections of their mother Mine-a from her. Pirena looks upon her hand-maiden Gurna as a confidant.^[4] Though outwardly cold, Pirena is actually a kind person however, her kindness was often consumed by the brainwashing of Gurna. Impulsive and willful, Pirena is very transparent with her emotions.^[7] She is the most frank and brutally honest of the sisters, sometimes inconsiderate of the effect of her words to those around her. Because they share so many of the same personality traits, she always ends up quarreling with Danaya. Since she was young, she has the ambition to become the next queen of Lireo. This ambition of hers blinds her from seeing what is right and what is wrong and treating her sisters as merely rivals who stand no chance against her.^[6]Pirena's weapon are two daggers that can be comibined into one: the longer sword is called "baga"(flame) and the shorter one is called "siklab"(spark).^[8]

Appearances

Encantadia (2005)

Pirena at a young age already dreams of becoming the next queen of Lireo. Gurna used this ambition of hers to make her think Amihan is her rival to the throne. Proud and cunning, she has always believed the throne was her birthright. She felt hurt and betrayed upon overhearing a conversation between Mine-a and Imaw in which the queen expressed that she would rather that any of her daughters ascend the throne other than Pirena.^[9] When she was lost to Amihan in a battle organized by their mother for the throne, Pirena had an outburst of emotions. She can't accept her loss and challenged her mother for a battle. Pirena then stolen the Gem of fire and left Lireo to find allies in the Hathoria Kingdom. Her theft made Mine-a decide to separate the remaining gems by giving each to her other three daughters for safe-keeping. Pirena immediately seeks an alliance with Hathoria and as a gift, used the fire gem to rekindle the fires of their forges.^[10] Hagorn, the king of Hathoria welcomed her and she joined their campaign to conquer Encantadia.^[10] After Mine-a had died, she went back to Lireo and asked forgiveness with her sister, unaware of the true reason of her comeback. She organized a coup-de-etat against Queen Amihan, and ascend the throne of Lireo. ^[10]

Etheria (2005-06)

A prophecy by Ether was established a long time ago that if the last keen of the diwatas was born, the fallen Kingdom of Etheria will rise again. When Cassandra, granddaughter of Amihan was born, the prophecy became true and the fallen Kingdom poses a threat to now peaceful Encantadia. Pirena, who had a change of heart and sided with her sisters went back to the past to revert the prophecy by changing the history. Pirena headed their fight against the four Herans of Etheria in which they gain victory with the help of the "Inang brilyante". The Herans of Etheria, tried to convince and manipulate her to rebuild the then fallen Kingdom of Hathoria, but her love of her sisters and her mother kept her away from them.^[11]

Encantadia: Pag-ibig Hanggang Wakas (2006)

Because of the defeat of the Etherians, Ether flew around her kingdom which was all destroyed to find the Four herans. She found them all and kept their spirits in a crystal ball and brought them to the future. The Crystal ball broke and their spirits became free. They practiced fighting and planned to steal the four gems so Etheria may once again rise back in glory. Pirena fought against the Etherians once again to keep the gems in their territory. After the fight between them and the Etherians, Pirena was never seen again the Kingdom of Lireo and believed to have vanished with her other sisters.^[12]

Encantadia (2016)

The 2016 series is a reboot (often called as requel or retelling-sequel) to the 2005 fantasy series with the same name.^[13] It is the fourth series of the Encantadia franchise and is 11 years apart from the third one.^[3] It features the same character and story of Pirena with the 2005 series. It was portrayed by actress Glaiza de Castro who auditioned for the role, and had months of trainings in battle.^[4]

References