Soul Reaver 2: Pillars' Platform Diagram

In Soul Reaver 2, Raziel discovered a chamber beneath the Pillars of Nosgoth. This excellent diagram of the subterranean Pillars platform has been created by Corpse87. He has generously agreed to let Dark Chronicle host it. Click on the thumbnail below for the full-size diagram or read a text summary of the Pillars' platform diagram.

Pillars' platform diagram

This diagram (and its accompanying caption) was originally made before there was any official interpretation of the platform's pattern. However, this pattern has since appeared again in Defiance (it was the design on the crypt door that led to Janos' body) and an explanation of the relationship between the Pillars and Reaver elements was revealed in that game:

  • The souls of the original Mind and Dimension Guardians were needed to imbue the Reaver with Air
  • The souls of the original Conflict and Nature Guardians were needed to imbue the Reaver with Fire
  • The souls of the original Energy and Time Guardians were needed to imbue the Reaver with Earth
  • The souls of the original States and Death Guardians were needed to imbue the Reaver with Water

The Reaver had to be imbued with all four of these elements, along with Dark and Light to enable the Spirit Forge to be activated. Once activated, the Spirit Forge drew the souls of all Kain's Balance Guardian predecessors to itself, to imbue the blade with Spirit. This imbuement was necessary - as Ariel said - to restore Balance. This was what it was for.

All in all, this now seems a very complex graphical depiction of the process needed to heal Kain, so he could fulfill his destiny as the Balance Guardian and the Scion of Balance. It appears to illustrate the one-time-only way Kain uncovered, in which the current Balance Guardian and their Pillar could be cleansed of corruption and dementia, negating the urgent need for his/her death and replacement. As Kain told Raziel, Kain wanted this third option, this edge-of-the-coin way to reclaim his birthright, alternatively faced with the two highly undesirable options presented to him by Moebius at the end of Blood Omen. This failsafe was put in place by the Ancient Vampires, but Kain needed Raziel and Raziel's free will to be able to use it.


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