Hallway Elevator - The Dark Prophecy - Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds

Hallway Elevator

article by Divine Shadow

Media

Concept Art [1/3]

Concept Art [2/3]

Concept Art [3/3]

Description

Two different sections appear to make up the area called Hallway Elevator. The first section is shown in two pieces of concept art, each apparently depicting a separate angle on the same place. The central point of this area appears to be a wide door leading onto a flat brick floor, with a curved upward stairway on the left and a curved downward stairway on the right.

The walls of this area appear to be a combination of the abstract geometric shape architecture seen in the Inner Bastion, with the bricks and wooden beams seen in the more primitive Outer Bastion. On the walls of this stairway are prominent banners, and beneath these are a number of lit torches illuminating the area.

At the height of the upward-curving staircase we can see a round platform marked by the artist as being the "elevator". This is surrounded by curved objects of unknown purpose. Behind this platform is a large Sarafan banner mounted on a wall, which seems to slightly obscure some machinery, possible the elevator movement mechanisms.

The third concept piece shows us a separate area, with another round elevator platform nearly identical in design to the one previously seen. The main difference in this depiction of the elevator is that the middle of the platform contains an emblem of jagged shapes, identical in design to an emblem seen in the Soul Machine area. Behind the elevator platform in this piece is a barred entryway, with what appears to be large jagged cogs beyond. The surrounding walls in this locale appear to be constructed from bricks and wooden beams, and do not seem to retain any of unique architectural shapes of the Inner Bastion and other areas.

Annotated Image [1/3]

Annotated Image [2/3]

Annotated Image [3/3]

Story Speculation

One of the pieces of artwork for the Inner Bastion area is titled "entrance to hallway elevator". The screenshots of an underground cave system coupled with concept art of the buried Soul Machine complex confirms that Kain must somehow descend from the bastion, through the mountain itself and into a subterranean environment. The Hallway Elevator appears to be the means by which he makes this descent.

The area is in a very good state of repair, and the Sarafan banners are extremely prominent, suggesting that the Hallway Elevator was an important place for the Order. Such prestige could suggest that the elevator was the Sarafans' only means of accessing the Soul Machine deep under the mountain, it would be logical to assume keeping it maintained would be a priority. If we consider that the underground Soul Machine may be related to (or indeed powering) the Sarafan wraith-producing machines seen in Malek's Bastion in Blood Omen, then the elevator's protection and maintenance would be paramount.

The concept art shows us at least two elevator platforms, both with ceilings above them preventing upward travel. This would suggest that the area called Hallway Elevator may have multiple descending platforms that must be manipulated by Kain to reach the underground areas.

Given that the art shows us mechanisms and large cogs behind a barred door, perhaps Kain must find a means to lift these bars, manipulate the machinery within (perhaps as a puzzle), and activate the final elevator that will take him to the next area.

This area carries over only some of the architectural style of abstract repeating shapes, seen in the Inner Bastion and other areas. The Hallway Elevator combines that style with a more primitive construction of bricks and wooden beams. If we assume that the Bastion could be of Ancient origin, then this area may have once reflected Ancient design sensibilities but has sunce fallen into disrepair. Considering the Hallway Elevator's importance to the Sarafan (as confirmed by the deliberate placing of numerous banners in the area), it could be that they attempted to repair the walls and ceiling using their limited human architectural skills (medieval or post-medieval), causing the contrasting primitive and advanced construction styles seen in the area.

Kain would have presumably entered the Hallway Elevator area through a door in the Inner Bastion, and possibly used a number of descending elevators to access a number of underground levels, discovered and manipulated mechanisms and cogs, and eventually activated the final elevator that descended to the caves deep beneath the Bastion.

Speculative Map

Speculative arrangement of this area in relation to others

Speculative progression through the game world

Source

These images above were found in the DeviantArt account of Andez Gaston, and was later published on his official blog.

Andez and his brother Anderson were freelance conceptual artists hired by Ritual Entertainment in 2004 to work on The Dark Prophecy. Andez confirms his work on the game on their joint portfolio blog site, on his individual portfolio, and in image annotations in his DeviantArt account:

Legacy of Kain : Dark prophecy (cancelled game of 04)

while scoping YouTube I manage to run into a video of a project quite familiar and it brought back memories when we were still young.my brother and I had just been hired at a video game company at the time which was still known as ritual entertainment to work on a game that many people knew very well. though nothing came to fruition that project was to be legacy of Kain: Dark Prophecy for the PS2. for those of you interested in seeing some of the character/creature designs click on the link below

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Ritual Enertainment-Legacy of Kain: the dark prophecy(cancelled Game)concept artists (ag/dez) 2003-04

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Legacy of Kain : Dark Prophecy concept art

concept art done during our time at the company once known as ritual entertainment. for what was supposed to be the final chapter in the Kain series. the game was later cancelled for reasons unknown if given the chance i would work on this again in a heartbeat.- agartofgastonbros.blogspot.com

— artofgastonbros.blogspot.com

Legacy of Kain :Dark Prophecy game art(cancelled) the non interesting stuff about game development art. If you're planning to work in games be prepared to do a lot of breakaway concept art and props.

— douedgezword.deviantart.com

The images were originally published with the filenames kain-hallwayelavator, kain-hallwayelavator_unit6 and kainhallwayelavator3_unit6. They all refer to the area as "Hallway Elevator".

Links