Pirena/Sang'gre Pirena is a character and the antihero of the Encantadia series, written by Suzette Doctolero. The character first appeared in Mulawin in 2004. The Encantadia franchise, consisting of four series Encantadia, Etheria, , and Encantadia, is primarily focused on Pirena's quest to get the throne of the Lireo from her sister Amihan. Pirena is portrayed by actress Sunshine Dizon on the first 3 series, and in the spin-off movie, while Glaiza de Castro portrayed the character in the 2016 series of the same name. In Encantadia, Pirena is the daughter of Mine-a, the fourth queen regnant of Lireo, and Hagorn, the king of Hathoria. As the eldest among the four Sang'gre daughters of a Lirean queen, she grew up believing that she is the rightful successor to her mother's throne. She is greatly resentful and jealous of her younger sister Amihan, whom she believed was Mine-a's favorite. Though she has a loving and compassionate side to her, the consistent manipulations of her dama Gurna, a half Lirean and half Hathorian spy, ultimately turned her against her mother and sisters. She lost to Amihan during the final stage of the queen selection organized by her mother. However, she contested the result of the trials and refused to acknowledge Amihan's succession as the next queen. She ended up defecting from Lireo, stealing the fire gem, and forming an alliance with the Kingdom of Hathoria to bring Amihan's downfall.
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 control balance in their world: the air, fire, water and earth. The character made its first appearance in Mulawin TV series.
Background
Pirena is the oldest of the four daughters of Mine-a. 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. 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. 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. 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. Pirena's weapon are two daggers that can be comibined into one: the longer sword is called "baga" and the shorter one is called "siklab".
Appearances
Mulawin (2004)
The evil Ravenum summoned Pirena, Encantadia's "Punong Diwata ng Apoy”.
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. 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. Hagorn, the king of Hathoria welcomed her and she joined their campaign to conquer Encantadia. 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, not knowing that her father has trick her at all.
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.
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 after destroying Hathoria with the Fire Gem.
Encantadia (2016)
The 2016 series is a reboot to the 2005 fantasy serieswith the same name. It is the fourth series of the Encantadia franchise and is 11 years apart from the third one. 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.
Mulawin vs. Ravena
Glaiza De Castro portrays again Pirena which follows her aftermath appearance in Encantadia requel
