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The Pillar Glyphs

article by Ben Lincoln

Of all the deleted special abilities in Soul Reaver 2, the least is known about the mysterious Glyphs named after the nine Pillars of Nosgoth. The Debug Menu contains flags for each of them and it is possible to force the game to display The Full Ring Menu, but there are only placeholder symbols for the Glyphs and none of them can be used.

In an interview with former series director Amy Hennig (contributed by Divine Shadow and The Elder God of Nosgoth) which was previously located on the official Legacy of Kain website, she discusses "nine additional spell-type things" which can only be the missing Glyphs:

It's not really spells, it's all kinds of things. Instead of having a spell menu, he just has the ring menu, and he there's things he can do from that, he can summon the Reaver from that, he can shift, he can influence the environment in other ways. Some of these things are more physical abilities, some of them are more mystical, but there's nine more of those. So there's actually more things to earn in this game than there were in the last. Less physical abilities, I mean it's not like now I can fly, or now I can burrow underground, it's more like new ways to interact with the environment that you couldn't do before.

Screenshots of The Soul Reaver 2 Proof of Concept include at least one of Raziel using a Glyph, but it may simply be the Water Glyph from Soul Reaver, as the Proof of Concept was based more closely on that game than the final version of Soul Reaver 2.

Some of the promotional art for the game depicts the Pillars themselves with a variety of Glyph symbols on them. These appear to be a mix of placeholders (such as the Human Citadel warp gate symbol from the previous game) and Elemental Reaver symbols from Soul Reaver 2 - some of which were heavily modified before the game was released. One of the symbols, for example, is the Spirit spiral from the first Soul Reaver with a Christmas tree-like motif surrounding it.

Although no Glyphs were included in Defiance, the upgrades Kain obtains in that game for his Reaver are named internally after four of the Pillars - Conflict (Flame), Energy (Lightning), Dimension, and Time. It is likely that these are at least partially related to the Pillar Glyphs of Soul Reaver 2 - particularly the abilities of the Time and Dimension charge attacks.

Related Articles:
The Debug Menu
The Full Ring Menu
The Soul Reaver 2 Proof of Concept
The Spirit Glyph (Soul Reaver)
Deleted Pillar Reaver Upgrades (Defiance)

Last updated: 25 February 2007

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