The Pillar of Time

The Pillar of Time
Mythology article
The Pillar of Time in Soul Reaver 2.
Introduced in	File:Wiki-Icon-BO1.png Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996)
Appearance(s)	File:Wiki-Icon-BO1.png Blood Omen File:Wiki-Icon-SR1.png Soul Reaver File:Wiki-Icon-SR2.png Soul Reaver 2 File:Wiki-Icon-BO2.png Blood Omen 2 File:Wiki-Icon-DEF.png Defiance Defiance comic

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The Pillar of Time is one of the nine Pillars of Nosgoth, and the third pillar from the east on the dais. Attuned to the property of Time, it was preserved for most of its existence by the Human Guardian Moebius, and was eventually sundered in the Collapse of the Pillars following his death. Its pillar token was Moebius's Hourglass. The Pillar appears throughout the entirety of the Legacy of Kain series.

Profile

As one of the Pillars of Nosgoth, the Pillar of Time appeared throughout the Legacy of Kain series, debuting in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. The Pillar was present along with its peers in the Pillars of Nosgoth areas of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance and could be revisited in all titles after its initial appearance.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/2][Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver/6][Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/2][Defiance][Defiance/5]} The Pillar could also briefly be seen in the Blood Omen 2 introduction and was featured in illustrations in comics.^{[Blood Omen 2][Blood Omen 2/1][Soul Reaver strategy guide (Eidos)][Defiance comic]}

Constructed in the period Before Nosgoth's recorded history, the Pillar of Time was served by Time Guardian Moebius for most of its existence and was corrupted in the history preceding Blood Omen when Ariel was murdered by the Dark Entity. Upon finding her corpse, her lover - the Guardian of the Pillar of the Mind, Nupraptor - was driven mad by grief and unleashed a frenzy of mental energy, which drove all of his fellow Guardians insane and simultaneously corrupted their Pillars.^{[Blood Omen/1][Blood Omen/2][Blood Omen/3][Soul Reaver 2/2]}

The Pillar of Time was the sixth of the Pillars to be restored during Kain's initial quest. It was briefly returned to normal when Kain offered Moebius's Hourglass to it, following Kain's confrontation with Moebius.^{[Blood Omen/11]} Some time later after the restoration of the other pillars, Kain chose to refuse the Sacrifice and triggered the Collapse of the Pillars. Now rotten to its core, the festering stump of the Pillar of Time was all that remained, alongside its eight counterparts. Lasting in this state into the late events of Soul Reaver the pillar would be visited by Raziel in pursuit of his vendetta against Kain and he too would return to gather advice from Ariel.^{[Blood Omen/12][Soul Reaver/6]}

As Raziel and Kain traveled through time in Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance they would encounter the pillar several more times in different states in different eras - pristine in Nosgoth's early history and the history preceding Blood Omens,^{[Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/7][Soul Reaver 2/9][Defiance/5]} corrupted in the Pre-Blood Omen and events of Blood Omens,^{[Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/3][Defiance/6][Defiance/12]} and collapsed in the Blood Omen and Era following Blood Omens.^{[Soul Reaver 2/5][Soul Reaver 2/7][Defiance/12][Defiance/13]} Ultimately it was revealed that the Pillar of Time - like its peers - was constructed by the Ancient vampires to bind the banishment of their enemies, the Hylden race, into the Demon Realm.^{[Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/4][Defiance/4]} It was originally guarded by an Ancient Vampire - the Original Time Guardian^{[Defiance/10]} - and its creation marked the close of the Vampire-Hylden war.^{[Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/3][Soul Reaver 2/4][Defiance/4]}

Development

In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the Pillar of Time was decorated with an hourglass motif (similar to the icon of Moebius's Hourglass or a rotated Slow time artifacts icon) set against a orange-mustard-colored background.^{[Blood Omen]} In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, this was replaced with a simple orange-mustard-colored band.^{[Soul Reaver]} Further games have depicted the Pillar with a lighter toned mustard-colored band and the Time symbol, introduced in Soul Reaver 2 - itself somewhat evocative of a simplified hourglass.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Defiance]} Explaining the changes, series art director Daniel Cabuco commented: "The symbol designs themselves from Blood Omen 1 were pretty craptastic wallpapers. I don't believe they served the intention of making the pillars look serious and powerful. So we designed symbols, just like we did for the clans, the runes, and everything else that was important. There's not that much of a story other than all of us looking at each other as we went over the original designs and saying 'Seriously?! We can't move forward with these as originals.. no way!'" One instance of what may be an alternative symbol is seen in Soul Reaver 2's Light Forge.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/4]}

The prototype Time symbol

The exposure of theLegacy of Kain: Soul Reaver alphas in 2020 showed that the process of redesigning the Pillars symbols had originally been tried during the development of Soul Reaver - with prototype symbols for each pillar visible in the earliest builds. Although replaced by colored bands in the retail version of Soul Reaver, the prototype Time symbol was featured in promotional artwork forSoul Reaver 2 - apparently as a placeholder while the updated symbols were designed. The design of the symbol bears a striking resemblance to the prototype warp gate symbol for the Citadel - which is also present in the early alpha build.

Notes

• Though it does appear in the Vorgeschichte, the Pillar of Time cannot be seen in the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic, where only the the Pillar of Balance is seen. The Pillar can be seen in the Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic where its position and colored band allow it to be identified though its symbol appears somewhat simplified.^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Eidos)][Soul Reaver comic][Defiance comic]}

• The Pillar of Time is unique in that it is the only pillar whose restoration in Blood Omen is not witnessed. Kain gives a monologue similar to his usual restoration speech upon Moebius's death, but by the time he returns to the Pillars the pillar of time already appears restored and no dialogue regarding the pillar is given, with the game instead moving on to the confrontation between Anarcrothe and Mortanius.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/11]}

• Like its peers, the Pillar of Time is seen underground in the Subterranean Pillars Chamber of Soul Reaver 2. Here it bears no identifying marks and only its position allows it to be pinpointed.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/2]}

• The Pillar of Time is one of three Pillars of Nosgoth that is given particular focus in the Blood Omen 2 introduction along with the Pillar of Nature and the Pillar of Energy. The reasoning for this view is ultimately unclear, though it may be related to the visuals of lightning and their link to the principles of Energy and Nature.^{[Blood Omen 2][Blood Omen 2/1]}

Gallery

Pillar of Time (BO1)

Pillar of Time (SR1)

Pillar of Time (SR2)

Pillar of Time (Defiance)

The Time Pillar (right) in the BO2 intro

The Time Pillar (third from right) among others in the SR1 intro

A possible alternative Time symbol, among others (SR2).

The recurring symbol representing Time (Defiance).

The recurring symbol representing Time (Defiance).

Vorgeschichte

Defiance comic

See also

• Pillars of Nosgoth (BO1/SR1/SR2/Sub/DEF)
• Time
• Time Guardian (Original Time Guardian/Moebius)
• Moebius's Hourglass
• Time Glyph
• Time fragment
• Time (Reaver)