Step 3: Temple of the Sun - Oasis Coliseum (Arena of the 8th Colossus)
The third step is the arena where we face the 8th colossus named Gecko and nicknamed by the players of Kuromori.
As soon as we enter the Arena of the 8th colossus that is the Coliseum of the Oasis, more specifically in the Temple of the Sun, we come across a mandala that can be that of the Sun (in the image below) behind the fire pillars, light, because of the enormous intensity of solar luminosity emitted in the oasis.
However, once again we failed miserably, because at any point in the game this procedure is done, nothing happens as usual. That is, the phoenix-related mystery is likely to be misleading, and the outline of the bird on the map indicates another bird.
So what does this egg-shaped rock indicate?
This stage of the mystery mentions about the bridges of light and shadow. The egg-shaped rock is the front of the "shadow" bridge. There is an enormous egg-shaped rock similar to this one, located near the bridge that collapses in the Arena of the 16th Colossus, in which, this leads us to a fourth stage of the mystery where there may be more puzzles to be revealed there. In addition, the Message Hidden through the Sky still indicates that there is a mystery related to "breaking some egg".
The Message Hidden through the Young Sprouts brought us here, pointing to an illuminated rainbow. Rainbow legends say that there is treasure stored at the end of a rainbow, and besides the three engravings related to the three things said by Emon in opening the game are one of the treasures, we can see that the structure (in front of the pillars of fire) has two bridges on each side: the "shadow" bridge on the left side and the "light" bridge on the right side (from the entrance to the Temple of the Sun), as we can see in the images above and below.
In the Temple of the Sun, there is a structure in front of the two pillars of fire where are lithographed three engravings of the three things concerning the hidden messages: Blood, Young Sprouts and Sky.
In the third sentence: Blood, young sprouts, sky - and the one with the ability to control beings created from light...
Who is "the one" who has the ability to control beings created from the light, to whom Lord Emon refers?
In opening the game, Lord Emon refers to the "shaman." The shaman is the link between man and the divine, being a bridge between the spiritual world and the carnal world. Your job is to guide your people and help them in healing their inner nature by healing the outer nature. Like other sensitive people, we can not become a shaman. According to the theory, the shaman is a chosen one of the gods in this earth, being then a gift nontransferable and undeniable. To deny your way is to deny your life and be condemned to spiritual poverty and an extreme emptiness.
The shaman is the sustainer of knowledge that involves shamanic practices within a tradition. There are several types of shaman: healer shaman, who works with herbs and power plants, in order to exorcize spirits and purify their patients; the sorcerer shaman, who acts through the influence of spirits to perform his works; the priest shaman, who performs auspicious ceremonies, marriages, baptisms and funeral ceremonies; among several other types of shamans.
The special powers of the shaman are inherent in a person from birth, in which case they must be brought to light; or else the person will have a predisposition or potential to become a shaman, and must acquire power in any way. The two states are not always clearly distinguishable. In the past, when a child (usually a boy) was recognized as the ability to be a future shaman, there was a consecration and a training that lasted for many years began.
After the person accepts the call to become a shaman, he must seek out a shaman master to teach and initiate them, this requires several years of study and dedication. Your school will be nature, where you learn with the plants, the rocks, the animals, with the elements air, fire, water and earth. The customs and beliefs of their ancestors are very important aspects of the shaman's development, and serve to influence the acceptance of their guidance, protection and ancestry. The shaman develops through his studies and initiations, supernatural abilities, which allow him to develop contact with gods and beings of other energetic dimensions, from where he receives superior orientations and capacity to predict future events.
In Shadow of the Colossus, in the "supposed" most obscure part of the game's history, Wander may have been the human who was destined to be a shaman, and who may have initiated the teachings of his master shaman, who may be Lord Emon . However, we players would need to use our minds to think like a shaman taking the role of Wander, in order to try to decipher the puzzles that are scattered throughout the game and try to discover a possible Last Big Secret.
The Bridges of Light and Shadow
To unravel this mystery of the so-called Secret Ending, let us recall the enigma that involved a bird and an egg. The 8 blocks of stone formed two crosses on the map, and according to the Message Hidden through the Sky, there is a mystery related to an egg to be broken, plus a bird. Behind one of the fire pillars is an egg-shaped rock, as shown in the image above.
This egg-shaped rock reminds me of the "myrrh egg" with reference to the legend of the phoenix, which is a bird of Greek mythology that went into self-combustion when it died, and after a while it was reborn from its own ashes. It is said that from the ashes a new phoenix arose, which placed the remains of ashes of his mother in an egg of myrrh and flew with him to the Egyptian city of Heliópolis, where it placed them in the Altar of the Sun (that is, the Temple of the Sun is also a reference of the Altar of the Sun).
Phoenix - The supposed colossus excluded from the game
Many players, especially those most favored by Shadow of the Colossus, know that in the initial production of the game, 48 colossus had been planned to be confronted in the game, but as the memory of the disc would not contain this number, it was halved, that is, 24 colossi were planned in the final production, while the other 24 were excluded. However, only 16 colossi were chosen to be on the main mission of Wander's journey to resurrect Mono, while the other 8 colossi are not sure which end they took them in the final production, however many players believe that these colossi were excluded from the game and other players believe that these colossi are hidden in the game, being considered the extra colossi.
One of the supposed "excluded colossi" is called Phoenix and is nicknamed by the players of Adar Flam. That is, this colossus (in the image above) could be related to the sketch of the bird's drawing on the game map, and may indicate a legendary phoenix that can be resurrected from the ashes. But where could there be remains of ashes from an ancient phoenix? Inside the egg-shaped rock, because of the ashes that are stored inside the egg of myrrh. We could use the Flash Arrows, eighth item purchased in Normal Time Attack, to blow up the egg-shaped rock, or else we could hit an explosive arrow on the pillar of fire in front of the rock, so that the pillar breaks with the impact of the explosion and being knocked over rock, breaking it during the fall, and perhaps the Last Big Secret will be revealed and the phoenix would rise from the ashes, when the flame from the tip of the pillar burned the remains of ashes kept inside the rock.
THE LAST BIG SECRET CAN BE REAL I STEP 1 I STEP 2 I STEP 3 I STEP 4 I STEP 5 I STEP 6 I FINAL STEP
SECRET ENDING (HOW TO RELEASE) I MYSTERY TRACKS (PART 1) I SECRET ENDING (SCRIPT) I VERY HARD MODE
The "light" and "shadow" bridges in the structure indicate the two bridges of the game that are lithographed the 8 stone blocks (4 on each bridge). The bridge of light refers to the huge bridge (from the beginning of the game) that connects the Windslit and the Sanctuary of Worship. The bridge of shadow is the bridge that collapses in the Broken Seal (Arena of the 16th colossus), that is, it is that bridge where the mare Agro falls, before the confrontation with the last colossus.
There is a puzzle involving light and shadow on these two bridges and that can lead us to two types of game endings. The "shadow bridge" for the collapsing bridge in the 16th Colossus Arena takes us directly to a supposed "false final", that is, the Common Ending that we players are accustomed to doing. Meanwhile, the "bridge of light" referring to the huge bridge linking the Windslit and the Sanctuary of Worship, could lead us indirectly to the "true final", that is, the Secret Ending that we players do not have the knowledge about their existence.
