Legacy of Kain Wiki
Register
Advertisement

"These forges are tuned to the Soul Reaver’s energy. One you have baptized the sword in these elemental fonts, the blade may be imbued with that element at any future time."
―Elder God — Listen (file info)[src]

The Sunlight Forge was a deleted elemental Reaver forge that was intended to feature in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The forge would have enabled Raziel to imbue the Wraith Blade with elemental Sunlight, creating the Sunlight Reaver enhancement and was originally placed near the Chapel area beneath the Tomb of the Sarafan. Ultimately, both the forge and its accompanying enhancement were cut due to time constraints.

Profile[]

The Sunlight Forge was an optional playable location that was intended to make an appearance in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and was one of many elemental Reaver forges that were supposed to make an appearance in the game. The forge was a special chamber associated with elemental Sunlight where Raziel would be able to imbue the Wraith Blade with sunlight to forge the Sunlight Reaver enhancement. Due to the time constraints, all of the other forges were cut and only the Fire forge remained in the final version - with both the Sunlight Reaver and Sunlight forge removed.[Soul Reaver][1][2][3][4]

Behind the scenes[]

The Sunlight Forge was originally mentioned and featured in pre-release materials promoting Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The presence of the forge in the game was discussed, with a variety of screenshots also making their way into pre-release materials - although they were not explicitly identified as relating to the Sunlight Forge. In these images a forge could be seen that was dominated by a beam of light being focused by a lens-like apparatus.[1][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Despite records of its presence the release version of Soul Reaver contained only one of the elemental forges that had been discussed - the Fire Forge - with the others cut before release. The Sunlight Reaver was one of the few Reaver enhancements which was not represented in any form in the behind the scenes Debug menus in the retail version: It is listed in the menus but this is actually a misattributed Stone Reaver, while the actual Sunlight Reaver was adapted to become the Ariel Reaver which was seen in the Chronoplast visions. The Sunlight forge was not present in any capacity in the retail or beta versions of the game and the location of the forge was not definitively known until many years later.[Soul Reaver][12][1]

In 2020 alpha versions of the game containing much of the previously cut content were publicised and these contained and definitively identified the lost Sunlight Forge. In this version The Sunlight Forge was found to be present and was located near the Chapel area of the Tomb of the Sarafan in a room that was replaced by "Bonus1" room covered by a stained glass window in the retail version.[2][3][4][1]

SR1-Alpha-LateFeb-Forge-Tomb-Forge6-mlight-Sunlight

The Sunlight Forge in the alphas

As seen in previous images, the Sunlight Forge had the same layout as the other forges with one prolonged corridor and forge at the end. Distinctively the forge featured a stone receptacle with a beam of light being focused in the middle. Bathing the Reaver in this light would grant Raziel the Sunlight Reaver, capable of igniting the enemies- although the forge does not function correctly in the alpha. Raziel would have needed to reimbue the Reaver by plunging it into shafts of Sunlight found in the world, although this functionality is also missing from the alpha.[2][3][4][1]

Initially a generic explanation of all forges by the Elder God was intended to play when Raziel discovered his first forge, but upon deletion of the other forges this dialogue was tailored to be specific to the Fire Forge. The original voice recording is still present but unusued in the files of some builds.[Soul Reaver]

"These forges are tuned to the Soul Reaver’s energy. One you have baptized the sword in these elemental fonts, the blade may be imbued with that element at any future time."
―Elder God — Listen (file info)[src]

Design and Layout[]

The Sunlight forge branches off from just before the chapel area of the Tomb of the Sarafan in the position that would be occupied by the "Bonus1" room and protected by a breakable stained glass in the retail release.[Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver/9][2][3][4][1]

The forge itself was designed in a similar manner to the other forges: consisting of a long rectangular chamber with a curved end, adorned throughout with decorated pillars on both sides. Compared to the other forges the Sunlight forge was noticeably darker and shrouded in shadow, but a wide shallow channel could be distinguished running along the middle of the chamber towards the back of the room. At the curved end of the room, the channel ended in front of a large circular pedestal with a smaller raised font at its center. Directly above the pedestal was a circular construction - apparently a lens of some kind - held aloft by three legs emanating from the side and back walls around the pedestal. The ceiling of the area was domed and featured an open circular hole where Sunlight streamed in from outside - the beams fell upon the lens and were focused into a bright yellow ray of light which was aimed downward at the heart of the font. [2][3][4][1]

The Sunlight forge also has an additional feature not seen in the other forges: when entered in the Spectral Realm the forge notably changes colors with the channel and lens apparatus rendered in warm orange, the walls and ceiling in light blue and the sunlight ray in a bright red. The may be something of a hangover from the initially planned Spectral Realm which was generally a lot brighter and more colorful than the blue shades seen in later versions of the game.[2][3][4][1]

Inhabitants and collectibles[]

  • SR1-Icon-Glyph-Sunlight The Sunlight Reaver (cannot be forged or imbued in known builds): "Once Raziel has visited the Sunlight Forge and baptized the Reaver in the elemental altar, the blade has the potential to be imbued with sunlight whenever it appears in the environment. Once manifest in the material plane, the blade can be imbued with sunlight by passing it through a shaft of light.
    A single hit with the Sunlight Reaver blade stuns the enemy; a second blow kills (burning the enemy, as though by conventional sunlight). An enemy struck only once will advance to a damaged state, then eventually recover. On the second (killing) blow, the impact of the blade causes a bright flash, with a small radius effect. Adjacent enemies are temporarily blinded (effectively stunned)."
    [10]

Notes[]

  • The Sunlight Forge is not directly named in dialogue, however it was titled as such in pre-release materials and follows the convention mentioned for the Fire Forge in guides and manuals.[10][Soul Reaver manual (UK)][Soul Reaver manual (US)][Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]
    • In game files, the Sunlight Forge is labelled as "forge6", with the room notably containing the object "mlight" which identifies the forge within. This designation is notably absent from later builds where the forge has been removed and the chamber itself is replaced with a different room known as "Bonus1" - this chamber notably branched from the main path and featured only an Eldritch recharge.[2][3][4][1][Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver/9]
  • The Sunlight Forge is only partially functional in the alpha builds. When forging the Wraith Blade is attempted, a brief cutscene plays showing Raziel bathing the Wraith blade in the light beam, but the blade is not changed and no ability is given - even in Debug menus. However if the Sunlight Reaver is already counted as 'forged' then the blade can be reimbued from the forge.[2][3][4]
  • The "Bonus1" room which replaces the Sunlight forge in the beta and retail versions of the game notably features a distinctive breakable stained glass barring entry to the room depicting a woman in armor riding a bird. Given a similar breakable stained glass blocking entry to the Water Forge in the alpha (and the Fire forge in the retail - which is in the same location) it is possible that all of the forges were intended to be blocked by similar distinctive murals. However whether any were implemented or planned for other forges is unclear, although the fandom has frequently speculated as to their usage and the designs that may have represented the other forges.[2][3][4][12][13][Soul Reaver]
  • The role of the cut forges and elemental Reavers was intended to be much larger and better integrated with the rest of the game. Originally the Wraith Blade lacked a finishing move and Raziel was thus unable to kill vampires with just the basic version. Imbuing the Reaver with the various elements gave it deadly properties and enemies could then be killed just by striking them. Once the additional forges had been cut, the developers added the charging attack seen in the retail version which was capable of destroying enemies - and in the process removed the reliance on elemental imbuing.[2][3][4][12][13][Soul Reaver]

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Icon The Lost Worlds The Elemental Reaver Forges at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln).
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Icon Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Jan 23, 1999 prototype)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Icon Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Feb 4, 1999 prototype)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Icon Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Feb 16, 1999 prototype)
  5. Icon The Ancient's Den Previews: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver by 'Joe Rybicki' in Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10/July 1998, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  6. Icon The Ancient's Den Legacy of Kain 2 - Soul Reaver in Man!ac, August 1998 issue, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  7. Icon The Ancient's Den Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver by 'Brady Fiechter' in Gamers' Republic, Number 6/November 1998 issue, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  8. Icon The Ancient's Den Previews: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 4/January 1999, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  9. Icon The Ancient's Den Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver by 'Dave' in PS Extreme, Volume 4, Issue 3/February 1999, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Icon The Ancient's Den Hot As Hell/Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in PSM, Volume 3, Issue 19/March 1999, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  11. Icon The Ancient's Den Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in Official Playstation Russia, Number 7/July 1999, Archived at Legacy of Kain Magazines (by Raina Audron)
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Icon Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (May 12, 1999 prototype)
  13. 13.0 13.1 Icon Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Jul 14, 1999 prototype)

Browse[]

Advertisement