Step 2: Temple of Fire - Abyss of Flame (Arena of the 11th Colossus)
The second step is the arena where we face the 11th colossus named Leo and nicknamed by the players of Celosia.
As we enter the Arena of the 11th colossus that is the Abyss of the Flame, more specifically in its interior, in the Temple of Fire, we come across a mandala above the wall-holder. This mandala may be that of the fire (in the image below), because its countenance indicates that the place has reference to the flame, because of the flames lit in the cauldrons, besides the 11th colossus to be the guardian of the flame (quoted in the speech of Dormin, when making the announcement of this colossus).
Below the mandala, we see a wall-holder in the hope that behind it, the Last Big Secret can be revealed, after being opened.
But how are we going to open that parade? What idea does the game convey to open that door?
We have the example of the gate at the entrance of the Broken Seal (Arena of the 16th Colossus). When we open that gate, we stand on a concrete mandala and use any swords for the sun's rays, when pointed and matched toward the last colossus, the gate opens. That is, the idea that the game conveys is that we must use the Sword of the Sun, second item obtained in the Hard Time Attack, because the spokes of the sword emits light in places in which the radiation of the Sun does not penetrate. But that's where the players packed up in this puzzle, because when we use the Sword of the Sun in the direction of the wall door (the rays towards the 1st, 2nd and 16th colossus) nothing happens, ie the wall holder does not open.
From there, the quest for the Last Big Secret came to an end!
... or it seemed that this impossible mission would arrive at the end until a light was found at the end of the tunnel, giving continuity to a NEW THEORY of a possible Last Big Secret.
New Theory of the Last Big Secret
Credits: Lionel Ultra HD
Thanks to the Theory of Intersecting Points formulated by Ascadia-PSU, a continuity was given. We have to understand why the game conveyed the idea that there is some secret behind that wall door, and why the Sword of the Sun did not open that door. To understand the meaning of this mystery, let us recall Emon's speeches at the opening of the game:
In the first sentence: That place... began from the resonance of intersecting points...
What is this resonance caused in the game and what is its relation to the points of intersection (blocks of stone)?
In the distant past of the game, the ancient shamans (spiritual leaders) may have performed a ritual to seal the physical parts of Dormin in colossi which are the incarnations of idols, in which each idol has a sacred magic within. Each colossus has a certain number of magical sigils (symbols that represent its vital points) to store the black tentacles (essence of Dormin). A sealing technique from a resonance developed by the ancient shamans through the properties of nature may be related to the light portal that was unleashed at the water source at the end of the game. When the colossi are defeated, as their magical sigils are broken and the black tentacles are liberated, soon thereafter the idols collapse and are self-destructed by a strange bluish-colored light. That is, the strange light inside the idols and the structures that support the huge bridge may be the sacred magic that caused the sealing of the Forbidden Land and seals the parts of the essence of Dormin inside the colossi through magical sigils. However, the strange light is not contained, and is expelled from the monuments, spreading like gas (remains of sacred magic) down the corridor of the Shrine of Worship. Assuming the Ancient Sword has a magnetic power, when Emon casts the Ancient Sword in the water, the magnetic power of the sword may have drawn the gases (remains of magic from all the wrecked idols) into the fountain, causing a shock wave and opening a portal of light, in which, generated a magnetic field that echoed a resonance, sucking and attracting everything around him. It's like lighting a match or lighter with the cylinder on and cooking gas scattered through the air. Perhaps this technique used by Emon may have been responsible for sealing the Forbidden Land in the past, which may have generated through nature a dome, a kind of distorted dome that has a wind force that comes from the outside in (as we can see the wind passage in the Wind Slot), creating an own sealing Dormin atmosphere that can be termed as a mysterious omniscient entity imprisoned in another dimension along with the interior of the Forbidden Land, in which Dormin may have acquired the ability to have access manipulate the flow of souls through shadows as a consequence of the sealing ritual. However, at the end of the game, Dormin being sucked in and his physical part completely purified at the source, deactivated the portal of light, and soon after, the structures that supported the huge bridge collapsed and self-destructed, through the strange light in the interior of the supports, similar to the luminosity of the sacred magic that was expelled from the sixteen idols. The wind dome sealing the Forbidden Land was undone, because the magnetic field of the light portal may have sucked the wind from the distorted dome, removing the dome, and causing the spiritual leader, Emon, and his guards to leave the place cursed. Thus, the echo resonance of the magnetic field that once may have been responsible for sealing the island may be the same field that unsealed (with some differences in its technique performed by shamans), in which there were stone blocks located in around the spiral staircase and the huge bridge, and said by Emon at the opening of the game: "That place... began from the resonance of intersecting points..."
That is, every being that enters the Forbidden Land can never leave there, so long as the place is sealed, unless it is, find some fault in some sector of the distorted dome where the wind has less intensity. But to make such a "supposed" feat we must find some element of the game that is strong and fast enough to overcome this weak sector of the wind power of the distorted dome.
In the second sentence: They are memories replaced by ens and naught and etched into stone.
In this speech it is revealed that the events of the Forbidden Land were recorded through lithography, perhaps by the ancient shamans, for the shamans have many gifts, such as having access and contact with beings of another dimension, besides having omens.
What is lithography?
Lithography is a type of engraving that involves the creation of marks (or drawings) on a matrix (limestone or metal plate). In Shadow of the Colossus, ancient shamans may have used lithography to hold the secrets of the Forbidden Land through hidden messages drawn on stone blocks, walls, doors, floors or even on building structures that can only be deciphered by others shamans (like Emon and/or Wander).
As we entered the place corresponding to the center of the cross, specifically in the Temple of Fire, we came upon three more hidden messages that were lithographed on the door, on the floor and on the wall and that went unnoticed in the visions of some players. These three messages are hidden in the three things spoken in Emon's speech:
In the third sentence: Blood, young sprouts, sky - and the one with the ability to control beings created from light...
Each hidden message corresponds to something said by Emon. The three things are: Blood, Young Sprouts and Sky. Resolving some of these messages can lead us to a third stage of the mystery, as well as deciphering what the Last Big Secret is.
The Message Hidden through the Young Sprouts
This message is hidden in the wall-door:
When we used the Sword of the Sun to open the wall-door, we thought that the Last Big Secret would be revealed and failed miserably. What happens is that the game may have tried to convey a hidden message in which the Sword of the Sun is a complement of this message that involves three natural elements:
- Light: emitted from the Sword of the Sun
- Flame: symbol marked on the wall door (represented by a rectangle with small triangles inside)
- Rainbow: wall-mount format
By coincidence, the rays emitted from the Sword of the Sun are reflected exactly in the flame symbol on the wall door, when pointed in the directions of Colossus 1, 2, and 16 (as shown in the image below).
With this puzzle, we elaborate the following hidden message involving the elements "light", "flame" and "rainbow":
"The light that reflects on the flame illuminate the rainbow."
That is, we have to find a certain place in the Forbidden Land where this phenomenon described in this message occurs.
Besides the Temple of Fire that has flames burning in the cauldrons, where else does it have some flame?
In the Temple of the Sun, within the Arena of the 8th colossus, there are flames burning on two pillars inside the temple. And incredible as it may seem the phenomenon of this message occurs in that place. Watch:
"The light...
... that reflects on the flame...
...illuminate the rainbow".
The light emitted on the ceiling of the Temple of the Sun passes over the flame of one of the pillars, illuminating the rainbow-shaped structure.
We realize that this message has brought us here, a third stage of the mystery. But after all, what pictures are those in the "rainbow" (in the images above and below)?
There are several engravings of young sprouts on the rainbow structure. For this reason the "Message Hidden through the Young Sprouts" was born. We still do not know what the purpose of this puzzle is. We just know that this message brought us here.
The Message Hidden through the Sky
In the Temple of the Sun, in addition to pictures of young shoots in the rainbow structure, we see two more engravings next, in the images below:
By theory, the two engravings in the above images may correspond to "sky" and "blood." Each picture corresponds to a response from the hidden messages in the Temple of Fire.
Which of these two engravings (in the images above) may correspond to the "Message Hidden through the Sky"?
As a matter of logic it may be the drawing on the left side, because it gives us the impression of observing some place seen from the sky.
Returning to the Temple of Fire, there is a second message hidden in the two floors of concrete on the floor, next to the wall with grids:
There are two crosses drawn on each concrete floor. These crosses have relationship to the "Message Hidden through the Sky", as they remind us of the Theory of Intersecting Points.
The cross formed by the 4 stone blocks of the huge bridge and Secret Garden corresponds to the cross drawn on the floor above (in the image on the left above)
...And the cross drawn on the floor below (in the image on the left above)?
There are four more stone blocks located in the Broken Seal (Arena of the 16th colossus), and following the reasoning of the first cross formed in the Northern Hemisphere of the Forbidden Land, the second cross can only be formed in the Southern Hemisphere when these 4 blocks are identified of stone in its arenas, seen through the "sky". That is, it is from there that this puzzle became the "Message Hidden through the Sky".
Identifying the 4 stone blocks of the Broken Seal across the sky:
Block 1 - Broken Seal (Arena of the 16th Colossus)
When comparing the place with the block of stone, we observe the rubbish, the stream and the structure of the gorge similar to the one of the block.
Block 2 - Temple of the Sun (Arena of the 8th colossus)
We can see the two pillars of fire being represented as two eyes on the stone block and the structure the front of the pillars represented as the mouth on the stone block.
Block 3 - Ruins of the Temple (Arena of the 6th colossus)
There is a huge T-shaped structure in the center of the temple similar to the letter T drawn on the stone block. In addition, the poles drawn below the letter T in the stone block correspond to the barriers around the T-shaped structure.
Block 4 - Exit of the Sanctuary of Worship
We note a ladder leading to the save point, in addition to the above structures and the two ladders at the ends representing the two similar exits with the image drawn on the stone block.
Then we will form a second cross on the map:
The center of the second cross takes us to the Southern Mountain which is the Arena of the 1st colossus.
What is the relationship that the "Arena of the 1st Colossus" has with the "Arena of the 11th Colossus"?
For the time being, we still do not know what is in common between these two places indicated by the center of the two crosses formed on the map.
The game brought the idea that when we formed the two crosses, they indicated that the map needed to be cleaned without the presence of clouds covering part of the map. For this reason, the map hides something mysterious.
Mystery of the Map
Before the first colossus, the game map is all covered by clouds. Each colossus defeated, the clouds are removed (definitively) from the map, in the place where a certain colossus was defeated. When we defeat the first 15 colossi, the map is practically clear, missing only the last colossus and the clouds around the inaccessible areas of the map.
The map of the game is part of this huge puzzle, because the clouds that cover it, hide something mysterious that is drawn on the map and may have relation with the arenas of Colossus 1 and 11. We can only see this drawing when part of the map stay clean.
What does the map reveal?
The map shows the outline of a bird's drawing.
The outline of the bird was sort of unraveled on the map, as a mini-drawing by the player Angel Kurosaki (J. Alisson) through his analysis which shows his theory of the A0 quadrant and the legendary Black Bird. The video of his remark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jff9-6HUHKQ
We still do not know what a bird is, let alone the mysterious part about its sketch, since the drawing is incomplete. There is something that complements the design of this bird, note:
In the image above, below the syrup of the bird, there is a drawing of an egg (represented by the Arena of the 8th colossus) that complements the design of this bird. The mysterious site of the drawing is the broken part of the egg that represents the Temple of the Sun, which is exactly the site of the third stage of the mystery in which the "Message Hidden through the Young Sprouts" had brought.
The Message Hidden through the Sky may reveal something about a bird and some egg to be broken.
To know which bird is this and the meaning of the two crosses formed on the map, we will continue to decipher the "Message Hidden through the Blood" in the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of Fire.
The Message Hidden through the Blood
In the image above, the other picture of the Temple of the Sun on the right side, for logical reasons, represents the "Message Hidden through the Blood", as we observe repetitions of lines in the picture, just as we can see repetitions of lines of images of lithographed parchments in the wall, next to the two concrete floors of the two crosses, in the Temple of Fire (in the images below). How scrolls are made with animal skins; this example connects "blood," hence it is called "Message Hidden through the Blood."
We observe not very clear images of different parchments that are repeated in three lines separated by two grids in the wall (in the image above to the right), showing a certain procedure to be done that can be related to the Last Big Secret. We do not yet know what this is, but for now let's figure out the third stage of the mystery.
