Spirit Forge (Soul Reaver 2)

Template:Location Template:Banner-CutContent The Spirit Forge was a Reaver Forge planned to appear in Soul Reaver 2. Within the Forge, Raziel was to obtain the Spirit Reaver, an augmentation which later appeared in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. The Forge is a deleted level and is not present in the finished game, though its ruins can be observed on the bottom of the Great Southern Lake.

Background

Discussing abilities planned for Raziel to earn in a May 2000 interview concerning Soul Reaver 2, Amy Hennig commented on the development of the Wraith Blade enhancements: Template:Quotebox-Opaque As well as confirming the presence of "nine additional spell-type things", she caveated this information, saying it "could change", "based on our schedule and what we're going to have to adjust as we go".

Raziel swims passeed the ruined Spirit Forge

As with the other enhancements, Raziel was planned to have imbued the Wraith Blade with elemental Spirit in the Spirit Forge, creating the Spirit Reaver. Ultimately both the forge and its associated Reaver enhancement were cut due to time constraints and the final version of Soul Reaver 2 featured only four of the seven planned Reaver enhancements and their associated forges. Despite the removal of the forge and its enhancement, the Spirit symbol can still be observed in game on the dais of the Subterranean Pillars Chamber.

The 'ruins' of the forge (or its entrance) can be observed on the bottom of the 'inner' portion of the Great Southern Lake in the Pre-Blood Omen era, where it appears as a circular altar-like construction surrounded by a number of small pillars with a straight decorated aisle leading a short distance away. The altar itself was marked with a large Spirit symbol defaced with several hourglass-like eyes. Simple spirals resembling the Spirit Glyph symbol that was intended to represent elemental Spirit in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver are seen throughout the area. Soul Reaver 2 Bonus materials also show images of the forge ruins beneath the lake, along with concept art of the area depicting a number of submerged Reaver fonts decorated with similar spirals.

Addressing the deleted forges and their influences, Daniel Cabuco commented: Template:Quotebox-Opaque Template:Quotebox-Opaque It is reasonable to assume that, like its counterparts, the Forge was constructed by the Ancient Vampires, would have exhibited unique architectural influences from real-world ancient temples, and would have entailed solving a complex puzzle. With the Spirit Reaver the last and most powerful enhancement it would likely have been gained in Nosgoth's early history (or possibly an earlier era) and may have specifically involved the 'sinking' ability of the Earth Reaver, along with a combination of others, to activate.

A Spirit Forge does exist in the Vampire Citadel (and is visited in Legacy of Kain: Defiance), but, like its equivalents, is distinct from the dedicated Spirit Forge. Because of its disinclusion in the games, the Forge's canonical status is dubious.

Notes

File:MP-ActivityMap-Spirit.png

The Spirit Symbol

• The ruins of the Spirit Forge appear in the 'inner' section of the Great Southern Lake, which houses the entrance to the Light forge and the high Sarafan Stronghold balcony from the Chapter House. As such, the ruins are only accessible in the initial Pre-Blood Omen era, as the 'inner' lake area ("Lake3") is not present in other eras.
• The Spirit Forge area is dominated by two symbols which relate to Spirit enhancements. Several 'basic' spirals refer to the spiral symbol of the deleted Spirit Glyph (and presumably also the deleted Spirit Reaver) from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver; with such spirals also used to indicate Raziel's Health coil, Health power-ups and to indicate Spectral Realm functionality (no such Spectral differences exist in the Soul Reaver 2 area). The main symbol at the heart of the forge reflects the symbol used for later elemental Spirit designs such as the Spirit Reaver of Soul Reaver 2, and the Spirit Forge and Spirit Reaver of Defiance - the symbol is also seen on the Subterranean Pillars Chamber dais in Soul Reaver 2. The version presented on the Soul Reaver 2 Spirit Forge is slightly different from these as it is marked by a number of 'peanut'-shaped symbols at the center and around the outside of the symbol. Designs in Legacy of Kain: Defiance would suggest that these symbols may relate to the similarly shaped 'eyes' of the Elder God and the hourglass symbol of his confederate Moebius the Timestreamer - as such, the symbols may also hint at the involvement of the Elder God and Spectral Realm, or the necessity of visiting the forge in the past. The main symbol also bears a resemblance to the symbol of the Wheel of Fate and the related Wheel of Life item, both related to the Elder and bearing several similar eye designs. Symbols virtually matching those on the Spirit Forge altar are later seen in the passages leading up to Moebius's chamber beneath the Sarafan Stronghold in Legacy of Kain: Defiance; these symbols notably contain bound skeletons atop them and several candles decorating the eyes designs.

  

  The Spirit symbol, among others in the Sub-Pillars dais texture

• Pre-release screenshots of the ruins of the Spirit Forge demonstrate than in an early build of the game the ruins had a distinctly different pattern design to them which was changed during development.
• In a similar manner to the various Fire Reaver and Water Reaver enhancements, versions of the Spirit Reaver and its forge were planned to appear in every game in the Soul Reaver arc. In addition to the Spirit Forge and Spirit Reaver that appeared in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, a Spirit forge and Spirit Reaver were also planned for inclusion in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, but ultimately cut due to time constraints - although its appearance in Soul Reaver was more related to the elemental Glyph-style Reavers from that game and is possibly not an Ancient vampire creation for this reason. A more direct predecessor, the Ariel Reaver, was also planned to feature in Soul Reaver - this would similarly have been an 'all-powerful' permanent upgrade gained from the sacrifice of Ariel.
• The Deleted Elemental Reavers can be enabled in-game through the use of the debug menu. When used, the Spirit Reaver enhancement appears as a 'placeholder' identical to the Material Reaver (though with an extra minor purple usage effect), with no special abilities and with the blade itself doing no damage. A different placeholder, arguably based on the Sound Reaver (removed from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver), was accessible through debug menus on the earlier 'Air Forge demo'.

Gallery

The Spirit Forge Ruins beneath the Southern Lake in game

The Spirit Forge Ruins beneath the Southern Lake in game

Spirit spirals around the Spirit Forge

The Spirit Forge Ruins beneath the Southern Lake in game

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The Spirit Forge Ruins in SR2 bonus materials

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Concept art of the Spirit Forge in SR2 bonus materials

The early design pattern in pre-release screenshots

the final design in a later pre-release build

the final design in pre-release screenshots

Appearances

• Template:Icon-SR2 Soul Reaver 2 (cut)

This article is about the elemental forge to imbue the Wraith blade with spirit that was planned for Soul Reaver 2. For the forge with a similar purpose planned for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, see Elemental Reaver forges. For the forge with a similar purpose that appeared in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, see Spirit Forge (Defiance).

See also

• Template:Icon-TLW Deleted Reaver Forges at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
• Spirit Reaver (SR2)
• Elemental Reaver forges
• Spirit Forge (Defiance)

References

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