Pirena

Pirena is a major character from the Philippine fantasy series "Encantadia" and "Etheria" produced by GMA Network. Among the four elemental "Sang'gres", Pirena is the guardian of the red Gem of Fire. Filipina actress Sunshine Dizon plays Pirena.

Pirena also appeared in "Mulawin" as an accomplice of Ravenum. Her character was only seen as a ghostly image, with her face in shadow. It is quite unclear whether her appearing in humanoid form was prior to her being in a smoke form or vice versa.

The name Pirena may derive from the root "pyro-" meaning "fire", which evokes the character's affinity to this element.

Character story

Pirena is the eldest daughter of Mine-a, the Queen of the Diwatas by Hagorn. She is known to be the most intelligent Sanggre of all the four. When she was young, Gurna, her dama, poisoned her mind. She made Pirena believe that Amihan is up to stealing the crown of Lireo from her. Proud and cunning, she has always believed the throne was her birthright. She felt hurt and betrayed upon overhearing a conversation between Minea and Imaw in which the queen expressed that she would rather that any of her daughters ascend the throne other than Pirena.

During the test to determine the true heir, she is disqualified and the throne was granted to Amihan. In a last attempt to get back her birthright, Pirena challenges her mother for the throne. To aid her in the duel, Pirena steals the Jewel of fire. She would have defeated her mother had her other sisters not intervened. Failing to get the throne, she curses Encantadia and leaves, taking the Jewel of Fire with her. Her theft made Queen 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 (the fire gem used to belong to Hathoria but their former king lost it in battle with the army of Sapiro). King Hagorn welcomes her and she joins in their campaign to conquer Encantadia.

Upon hearing the news that Amihan is pregnant, Pirena hatches a plan to conquer Lireo. The first step to her plan is to get pregnant and give birth at the same time as Amihan. She does this by mesmerizing a Lirean palace guard then killing him after getting what she needed. She secluded herself in Hathoria during her pregnancy, and few knew that as Queen Amihan gave birth to Lira, heir to the throne of Lireo, Pirena also gave birth to a baby girl, which she named Mira.

Pirena returned to Lireo and presented herself before the young queen, pretending repentance and asking for forgiveness. Amihan forgives her, unaware of her evil plans. While no one was looking, Pirena switched the queen's baby with her own daughter. By this act, Pirena designed that it is her daughter, and not Amihan's, who will ascend to the throne. Intending to kill Amihan's real daughter but unable to do so because of the protective magic surrounding the child, the only way she could think of disposing the child is to bring it across the portal of Asnamon and leave the baby in the world of mortals where she hoped it would die.

Amihan would not suspect the switch. Mira herself would grow up thinking that she is Lira, the queen's daughter.

Still plotting to conquer Lireo, Pirena knew she had possess all four gems. When Alena thought that her beloved Ybarro had died, she grieved alone in the woods where Pirena took the opportunity to disguise herself as Bathala and convince her sister to give up the Jewel of Water in order to alleviate her pain. To cover her tracks, Pirena wiped out Alena's memory and turned her over to the care of Hitano, a Lirean lieutenant in love with Alena, who promised to hide Alena in the woods where they would live under different identities. Thus, it was Pirena disguised as Alena that the Lireans discovered lifeless in the woods. It would take years, long enough for Mira to turn into a young woman, before Pirena would show her true colors and Amihan discovers her treachery. The Hathors and Pirena invade Lireo and conquer it. Pirena had a long battle with Amihan but she failed to defeat her because Amihan had training from her father when she was young and Amihan is the strongest warrior in the whole of Encantadia. She could have killed Pirena if it wasn't for Alena who was confused at that time but Alena sided with Amihan. Pirena was able to escape and thousands of Hathors surrounded Queen Amihan. Pirena lost no time in declaring herself as the new Queen but in the eyes of the Diwatas, the mandirigmas and the Adamyans, Amihan still remains queen of Lireo and of Encantadia. The first thing she does is imprison Amihan and attempt to take the Jewel of Air from her. Amihan would eventually escape. Pirena would discover that her troubles do not end once she becomes queen of Lireo. She had to deal with rebels led by her sisters, and her daughter Mira, who finally discovers the truth, despises her. She would get a dose of her own medicine when King Hagorn turns his back on her. Her reign would be short-lived and she soon finds herself stripped of the crown, homeless and alone - with only her loyal dama, Gurna, to attend to her.

Still proud, Pirena would not join forces with her sisters even though Hathoria had become their common enemy. When King Hagorn held Mira hostage, Pirena struck out on her own to save her daughter but ended up being captured instead. Asval struck her fatally and she dies without releasing the gem in her possession, thus depriving Encantadia of the benefits of fire which her jewel controls.

The real Lira would embark on a quest to get her, and her jewel, back from Devas in order to save Encantadia from disaster. Hagorn also coveted the fire gem and found a way to intercept Pirena's spirit as it travelled to Devas. Hagorn won the race in reaching Pirena and grabbed the gem from her. Pirena's spirit woke up at the touch of Hagorn and through it realized he is her father.

Back from the dead, the ungrateful Pirena still refused to join her sisters and she goes back to living alone. She could remember nothing of what happened while she was in transit to Devas, and she could not pinpoint what it is about King Hagorn that is tugging at her memory. She will eventually suspect that he is her father.

The turning point in her life happened when she learned, through Imaw's magic staff, how Gurna's web of lies had made her suspicious of her mother and sisters and blinded her to the love they were willing to give her. Angry at being manipulated, she kills Gurna. Full of remorse and guilt at the havoc she brought upon Lireo, she attempted to kill herself but was prevented from doing so by her sisters, who at the time were looking for her in the forest. This time Pirena was sincere in asking forgiveness from each of them. Danaya healed the wound Pirena inflicted on herself and the four sisters were united once again. It would have been a happy ending had it been a time of peace. Unfortunately, Lireo and its allies are still at war with Hathoria, and Pirena would lose her daughter Mira before it is over.

It is Pirena who would battle Hagorn and his armies to aid her sisters in ending the war, and at his death Pirena would get back her fire jewel and confirm that she is the daughter of the last king of Hathoria.

In the last war of Encantadia, she confronted Hagorn at the Sapirian front and officially tells him that she did not recognize him as her father because of the things he had done to her loved ones. She told her father that she could kill him and in an angry fit, Hagorn uses the gem of water, which he Alena gave him together with her life to save Arman. As Pirena fell, Hagorn pointed his dagger at Pirena but suddenly said that he could not kill her as Hagorn stabs himself. Pirena screams "AMA!!!" (Filipino for father) and witnessed as Hagorn dies. In Hagorn's death, he gives the gem of water to her daughter telling her that he is very proud of his daughter and removes the dagger out of him and dies leaving Pirena in tears.

She teaches and guides Queen Armea as Armea rules over Sapiro. After her work in Sapiro was done, she said her goodbyes to her birthplace, Hathoria and destroyed the kingdom using the gem of fire. Like her other sisters, her story became the stuff of legend as they play in the air as they all say.

Pirena in Etheria

Pirena would go back in time with her sisters to save her grand niece, Cassandra, who was kidnapped by remnants of the lost kingdom of Etheria.

Their presence in the past distorts the history of Encantadia and Pirena realizes that her own existence is threatened. The events immediately push Mine-a, her mother, closer to Raquim, Amihan's father. If Mine-a does not spend time with Hagorn and become pregnant by him, Pirena would not be born, and this disturbs the four sang'gres.

In order to ensure her conception, Pirena goes to Hagorn. She offers him help in finding Mine-a and Raquim, both of whom have just eloped and have fled to the forest. Summoning the elemental powers of Fire within nature, Pirena succeeds in creating a fiery circle that detects the whereabouts of both Raquim and Mine-a. Hagorn then says that he knows where the two lovers are hiding. Pirena teleports Hagorn to where Mine-a is. Raquim decided to leave Mine-a's side for a while, which gives Hagorn the chance to be alone with Mine-a. Pirena gives Hagorn a portion of her power to shape-shift into any humanoid form. She tells him that he can become anyone he desires. Hagorn then transforms into Raquim and approaches Mine-a. From this trickery, a red flower blooms which is a sign of Pirena's conception. Pirenas stone have the (gabay diwa)Ruler named Alipato, that have the power to resurrect the dead and call their spirits from Devas (heaven).

Personality

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. She is focused and is willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve her ends. Pirena looks upon her hand-maiden Gurna as a confidant. Though outwardly cold, Pirena is actually a kind "Sang'gre" who is consumed by the belief that she can rule Lireo much better than Minea.

Pirena is also impatient and cannot easily hide her true feelings. She always ends up quarrelling with the youngest of the four, Danaya.

Characteristic of the element Fire, Pirena is very assertive and willful. Her bravery and fervor in battle is evidence of her Warrior nature. She is the most frank and brutally honest of the sisters, rarely considering the effect of her words to those around her. In Etheria, she is on the side of good but often exhibits her venomous side when faced with her enemies. She is also perceptive and rather attached to her feelings more so than the other Sanggre, as she has shown being capable of realizing that Mine-a, who was actually Ether in disguise, that something was amiss when the four sisters encountered their supposed mother in the third chapter of the series

Love interest

In the earlier episodes of Encantadia's first book, Queen Pirena was seen poisoned by her sister, Alena in the form of a flower, after telling her that her son would never meet her for she will be brought to Lireo and serve as a beautiful flower to decorate the palace. After this, she then fainted and was seen by Asval in the forest. From his loyal companion Axilom, did he learned that the diwata he is now seeing is Pirena, the Queen of Lireo. Upon knowing this, he instantly brought her to Lireo and had her cured. Pirena learned of this and wanted to thank him personally. Her orders were done and their meeting had become the start of Asval's first step in courting her. The second one is appearing before her inside the Queen's chamber. He would always through sweet words to her but it only bounced in the course of words shunting him away. However, this never made him indignant. Instead, it made him go on. True enough, the night came when the Queen gave in to him. Despite of her as the Queen of Lireo meaning she is unallowed to love, she still managed to love him freely, believing that she had finally found what she was looking for - love and acceptance.

Pirena's handmaiden, Gurna, tried to warn her lady about Asval's scheme to bring her down, but Pirena did not believe it at first. Asval eventually revealed that he was not in love with Pirena and what he actually wanted was to end her reign over Encantadia.

This was the only time that Pirena had become heartbroken which led her to rage over him, making her determined to declare that she hates him enough that she could easily spit on him. However, she got over Asval in a short span of time and moved on. Being at peace with her sisters later on made her almost forget him.

Royals, Asval and Pirena of the Past and Present

In the prequel-cum-sequel Etheria, Pirena meets the young Asval. Still hurt and unaccepting of her future love's betrayal, she antagonizes the young prince in a way of nothing but communicating with him in a cold manner. Meanwhile, it is being shown that the younger Asval is developing a genuine affection for Pirena as opposed to the cold, scheming adult version. Because of the Sanggre's favor in letting the young Cassiopeia go to the land of the diwatas, he permitted her to do so even if his mind has an opposite decision. He did this all because of Pirena. It seems that he was true to his words in saying that he would stop at nothing to gain her affection. He even asked for her hand in marriage. However, the Sanggre of Fire only expressed her revenge for the prince's future lies by swearing that no one will ever learn to love him. As a result, her answer was a 'no'.

In Encantadia-Pagibig Hanggang Wakas, Pirena was questioned by her sister, Amihan, if she is happy as well with her life without anyone to love. With this question, the hurt in Pirena's heart had somewhat bled for a while. Meanwhile, Asval's genuine loyalty still is mystifying and the answer to whether he truly is inlove with the warrior princess of fire or not still remains to be unknown.

Family affiliation

Pirena is the firstborn among the daughters of Ynang Reyna Mine-a. Her younger half-sisters are Amihan, Alena and Danaya. Her father was Hagorn, king of Hathoria, from whom her powers of shape-shifting and swiftness in battle are believed to have been inherited. She gave birth to Mira and exchanged her daughter with Amihan's to make sure that Lira will not become Queen of Lireo.

All she ever wanted was to prove that she was worthy of the Lirean throne.

Pirena grew up believing that her mother and sisters did not love her. As a result, she became bitter towards her family.

Her importance in the balance of nature

Without her, there would be no light and warmth. This was evidenced when Pirena was killed by Asval during her attempt to save Mira from Hagorn's captivity. Hagorn forced her to give up her fire gem, but Pirena being courageous and headstrong was determined to choose death over giving up her 'jewel'. She summoned her gem not to leave her the moment she dies. Her death resulted in a curse wherein the sun refused to shine and the Encantados experienced a freezing weather.

Her niece, Lira, went to the forest to search for Evades so she could bring back Pirena to life.

Abilities and weapons

Sang'gre Heritage

All Sang'gres have innate abilities inherent only to the monarchs of the Diwata race. These powers cannot be stripped from them and known as their primary magical skills.

* Paglalaho — this is a from of teleportation common to all Sang'gres. This ability allows them to magically be transported from one place to another so as long as they know the place where they will be going. However, this power is inaccessible when a Sang'gre is physically bound.
* Elemental Powers — Pirena, has the power to manipulate and generate fire, even to the extent of willing the sun not to shed its light over Encantadia. This is an ability that she had at birth and was destined for her as the future bearer of the Brilyante ng Apoy. She can use her power to create fireballs or streams of flame to incinerate her enemies. She is also capable of wrapping herself in flames to propel to the air. In one instance, she even used her affinity to the element of fire to locate where her mother Minea has gone, and to share her powers of Glamouring to her father Hagorn.
* Glamouring — this magical ability tenables Pirena to turn into any humanoid appearance. However, unlike Danaya's power to physically transform into another being, Pirena uses illusions to someone else's image as hers.
* Reviving — Sang'gre Pirena has the ability to revive a person from death. She can also tell whether a person is dead or alive without touching the encantado/encantada. A part of this was shown when Haggorn killed Alena and Pirena told the other Sang'gres that their sister is dead. Weapons

*Twin daggers — Pirena wielded 2 daggers and used them in battle until the events towards the end of Etheria. Bathala evolved the daggers into a longer, sharper, sword.

*Brilyante ng Apoy blesses its keeper with the power to control and create fire. Pirena, being destined bearer at the time of her birth, can tap to its powers even before she stole it from the Lirean treasury. It also has the ability to call on any deceased citizen of Encantadia, they be in Devas or Balaak, and bring them back to life. Pirena, being the keeper of the jewel, gained this power. There is no guarantee though that the soul and memory can be resurrected as well. Pirena exhibited this power twice-- when she brought Ebrio back from Balaak and when she summoned Kahlil from Devas.