Fire Glyph (chapter)

Fire Glyph is an optional chapter of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver which deals with Raziel's discovery of the Fire Glyph Altar and gaining of the Fire Glyph spell. Exploration and discovery of the area is entirely up to the player and is not required to progress the story.

Plot[]

At some point after defeating Rahab and gaining the Swimming ability, Raziel returns to his clan territory and uses the new ability to enter and navigate the flooded areas of his former stronghold. In the submerged passages below he discovers the Fire Glyph Altar and after completing its puzzle he gains the Fire Glyph.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}

Walkthrough[]

Raziel's Clan Territory[]

Returning to the initial flooded sections of Raziel's clan territory - either by Swimming through the submerged passages from the Drowned Abbey, or by reaching the partially flooded T-junction from the throne room or drawbridge tower - Raziel could begin to explore the underwater areas of the territory with the Swimming ability gained from defeating and consuming the soul of his brother Rahab.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

From the first submerged room at the bottom of the stairs, Raziel could follow a high arched passage to the east - straight across from the stairs - which led down a series of curved passages before emerging into a circular room where Raziel could swim upward to emerge into the Fire Glyph Altar area.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

SR1-RCT-FireGlyphAltar-MainRoom — The main area of the Fire Glyph altar

The Fire Glyph Altar[]

Jumping up to the ground above, Raziel could go around the courtyard to the door in the west and follow the narrow passage as it curved to the south and entered a larger V shaped room with a domed ceiling. Defeating the Dumahim within Raziel could activate the crank lever on the western wall which slid the doors on the eastern wall apart - they would only remain only for a brief period however, so it was necessary for Raziel to Shift into the Spectral Realm to make it through in time.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

Shifting back to the Material Realm at the planar portal at the other side of the door, Raziel could follow the passage through and drop down into a room with four claw-like braziers and a raised platform with another crack lever. Jumping upto the platform, Raziel could activate the lever to open a raise a gate to the north and allow him to return to the original circular room - but with passage opened to the main altar behind.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

Circling around the courtyard and entering the door to the east, Raziel could follow the passage as it curved downward, battling or evading Dumahim vampires along the way and passing through another doorway to emerge in an open room with a series of pillars and a high platform with a burning flame across from him. Picking up a nearby extinguished torch, Raziel could throw it like a projectile across the pit to land on the opposite platform. From here Raziel could drop down into the pit below and Shift into Spectral and either battle or avoid the Vampire wraith present before using the deformed pillars like steps to jump up in turn to reach the high platform. Once again shifting to Material at the planar portal in the entranceway and retrieving the torch he had thrown, Raziel could use the Fire to light the torch.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

SR1-RCT-FireGlyphAltar-Back-Active — The Fire Glyph Altar antechamber activated

Gliding back across and climbing the Scalable wall, Raziel could return back through the passages to the circular chamber and go across the room and through the gate he has previously opened. At the back here could find the main altar room with a distinctive statue with spiked mandibles and four arms. Using the flaming torch to ignite the bowl in the lap of the statues activated the altar, causing the statue to breath fire and ignite the braziers around. When the disturbance subsided, the Fire Glyph manifested in front of the statue.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

The Fire Glyph: "This glyph's power expands outward in rings of fire, igniting all enemies in its wake, instantly killing both vampires and humans."^{[Soul Reaver manual (UK)]}^{[Soul Reaver]}

Following completion of the altar an Eldritch recharge will appear in front of the altar and if this is Raziel's first Glyph, Eldritch energy will begin to appear in the environment.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}

Alternative Method[]

It is possible to gain the Glyph though another means if Raziel has already gained the Fire Reaver. In this method rather than throwing and using the torch to complete the puzzle Raziel uses the Fire Reaver instead, imbuing the Wraith Blade from the fire source and taking that back to the altar to ignite the bowl of the statue.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}

Conclusions[]

Raziel could potentially have gained access to the Fire Glyph for the duration of the game. However the ability does not carry over to Soul Reaver 2, which may indicate that he loses them or never canonically obtains them.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Soul Reaver 2]}

Behind the scenes[]

Alpha versions

The Fire glyph altar is present in the Soul Reaver alphas but appears much plainer than its beta and retail counterparts. It features only standard brickwork textures, has no lighting effects and no mechanisms present. The "babar" statue is only found in the latest alpha and it cannot be interacted with. No murals or decorative features are present at the time and the mural figure in front of the flaming brazier is revealed by the alphas to have been a texture taken from and originally meant to have featured in the Undercity - this particular mural would later be used again in the Dark forge of Soul Reaver 2.^[1]^[2]^[3]^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Soul Reaver 2/3]}

The Fire Glyph area is displayed in the Debug menus of the May beta version under a section labelled as "Dark Eden", apparently relating to the location seen in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. However the position of Dark Eden in relation to the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver map areas is inconsistent with the known positioning of the Fire Glyph altar: The Blood Omen position of Dark Eden would place it further north than the Oracle's Cave or the Ruined City of the Dumahim - while throughout the developmental builds the Fire Glyph altar remained in its final position in Raziel's Clan Territory in the mid-west of the map area. The label only appears in one early beta version - despite the altar rooms being present since the alpha versions - and ultimately the purpose or intended implications of the "Dark Eden" label are currently unknown.^[4]^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/Fire]}^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Blood Omen/7]}^[1]^[2]^[3]

Notes[]

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is not formally divided into chapters or levels in-game.^{[Soul Reaver]} The chapter names and definitions used at the Legacy of Kain Wiki originate from the supplementary Prima Guide, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}
- Despite the optional nature of the Glyphs and other bonuses, the Prima guide positions the Fire Glyph chapter as immediately following Raziel's confrontation with Rahab. This is the earliest the Glyph could be gained but it does not correspond to the progression order indicated by the Ring menu, which suggests that the Sound Glyph and Water Glyph - which could be gained at roughly the same time as all rely on the swimming ability - would be collected first. The guide also suggests the gaining of the Fire Reaver from the Fire forge just after gaining the swimming ability and prior to travelling to the Fire Glyph altar, however it positions this activity with the Rahab chapter.^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}^{[Soul Reaver]}
Due to the optional nature of this chapter no dialogue is necessarily associated with it. However if this is the first glyph Raziel has obtained he will be given the explanation of Glyphs and may also be given the following explanation of Eldritch energy upon discovering the first energy token appearing in the environment.^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}^{[Soul Reaver]}
The Fire Glyph altar is the setting for one of the last created and most available demos of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: the Fire Glyph Demo. Created in August-September 1999 - as late as few days before or after the final release of the game - the demo contains a pair of builds with only subtle differences between themselves and the retail version. The demo is confined to the Fire Glyph altar and has no passage leading back to Raziel's territory.^[5]