The Pillar of States

"The Pillar of States, protected by the Alchemist, Anarcrothe."

―Kain — Listen (file info)^[src]

The Pillar of States is one of the nine Pillars of Nosgoth, and the second pillar from the east on the dais. Attuned to the property of States, it was preserved by various guardians before coming under the protection of the Human Guardian Anarcrothe, and was eventually sundered in the Collapse of the Pillars following his death. Its pillar token was Anarcrothe's Scales. The Pillar appears throughout the entirety of the Legacy of Kain series.

Profile[]

As one of the Pillars of Nosgoth, the Pillar of States 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 States was known to have been served by an unnamed States Guardian in Nosgoth's early history before his death at the hands of Vorador at the Slaughter of the Circle. In the history preceding Blood Omen the Pillar of States was corrupted 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/6]}^{[Blood Omen/2]}^{[Blood Omen/3]}^{[Soul Reaver 2/2]}

The Pillar of States could be the seventh or eighth of the Pillars to be restored during Kain's initial quest. It was briefly returned to normal when Kain offered Anarcrothe's Scales to it, following Anarcrothe's death at Mortanius's hands and Kain's confrontations with Mortanius and the Dark Entiy.^{[Blood Omen/11]} Shortly 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 States 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 States - 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 States Guardian^[Defiance/8] - 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]

Behind the scenes[]

In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the Pillar of States was decorated with a images of a wolf and a bat face (closely resembling the icons of Wolf Form and Bat Form) set against a grey-colored background.^{[Blood Omen]} In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, this was replaced with a simple dark grey-colored band.^{[Soul Reaver]} Further games have depicted the Pillar with a grey-colored band and the States symbol, introduced in Soul Reaver 2.^{[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!'"^[1] 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]}

SR1-Alpha-Model-Pillars-Jan-States — The prototype States symbol

The exposure of the Legacy 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. The prototype States symbol made an appearance on the orrery in Turel's clan territory. The design of the symbol bears a striking resemblance to the warp gate door symbols used in the retail version and it may well have been adopted for this purpose.

Notes[]

Though it does appear in the Vorgeschichte, the Pillar of States cannot be seen in the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic, where only the the Pillar of Balance is seen. The Pillar can presumably be seen in the Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic where its position appears vacant in larger illustrations, however smaller images of the Collapse of the Pillars appear to show a grey-banded pillar in a fallen position - though its symbol appears to be different.^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Eidos)]}^{[Soul Reaver comic]}^{[Defiance comic]}

Like its peers, the Pillar of States 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]}

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Pillars of Nosgoth areas at DCabDesign (by Bazielim), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco)

Browse[]

[DCab-SR2PillarsAreas-1] Pillars of Nosgoth areas at DCabDesign (by Bazielim), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco)

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v · d · e Mythology

Pillars	The Pillars of Nosgoth ( The Pillar of the Mind The Pillar of Dimension The Pillar of Conflict The Pillar of Nature The Pillar of Balance The Pillar of Energy The Pillar of Time The Pillar of States The Pillar of Death)

Guardians	The Circle of Nine ( The Guardian of the Mind The Guardian of Dimension The Guardian of Conflict The Guardian of Nature The Guardian of Balance (The Scion of Balance) The Guardian of Energy The Guardian of Time The Guardian of States The Guardian of Death)

Principles	The Mind Dimension Conflict Nature Balance Energy Time States Death

Elements	Light Air Fire Spirit Earth Water Darkness

Narrative	The ancient tongue Arcane symbols The Binding The blood curse The Blood Omen epigraph Blood script Devolution Empire Script Evolution Faeries The feral humans' language Free will Grand Guignol Hash'ak'gik The Hylden champion The Hylden Gate The Ignis Fatuus Lovecraft's Diary Meridian's written language Moebius's spectre The Plague Pupating The Reaver convergence The Scion of Balance Sprites The time-stream The Unspoken Vae victis The Vampire champion The Wheel of Fate The year 1246

Themes	Betrayal Despair Fate Good and evil Gore Hero's journey Heroism Hope and despair Illumination Manipulation Morality Propaganda Redemption Time travel Trust