Fridge / Lands of Lore

Fridge Brilliance

• In Guardians of Destiny, Huline spirituality centers around Life, Death and Balance (or the contrast between the two). This is only realized at Huline Temple, about 3/4 in the game.
  • The Huline Temple centers around the gods of Life and Death as well as the Balance between the two. When entering the second half of the level, there's a Path of Life (giant wooden pillars), a Path of Death (fire and lava) and a Path of Balance (a tilting plateau). After these paths there's three traps, one of which is fire-based like the Path of Death, one of which 'uses (im)balance' to roll a giant boulder at your back, and one of which has spinning blades. The latter one doesn't seem to be 'Life' until you discover a secret passageway past them without any traps at all, which is also a 'path of life'. Escaping the boulder trap (which is Balance) without having to be in lizard form would mean running and jumping on a quite narrow ledge and standing still immediately or instantly turning so you run along the ledge instead of falling off the other side.
  • In the Huline Ruins (Hive Caves), early in the game, there's also boulder traps, a fire trap and a spinning blade trap. The latter doesn't work too well, as the blades have not been maintained and shatter soon after the trap activates. After this trap, there's the visible entrance to a passage behind the wall, exited through a panel invisible from the other side. This is the only hint that a secret passage past the spinning blades even exists in Huline Temple. The foreshadowing effect is very subtle, probably not to be realized on the first playthrough, and possibly not meant to be.
  • The runes Luther needs to copy in Huline Ruins are largely a triangle, i.e. the triad of Life, Death and Balance.
  • The ruins are entered from a fiery environment and accessed by an elevator, which could be said to reflect balance. There's seems to be little emphasis on life exept for the spinning blade trap, which you only realize is 'life' if you see it mirrored in Huline Temple, much later in the game. There is, however, a healing fountain on the second floor, and a scroll of healing magic ostensibly without connotation to some spiritual concept until you realize the triad exists at all. Even on the second or third playthrough it's quite probable not to have connected the dots.
  • The triad is also mirrored in Huline Village and it's inhabitants, who are Dead unfriendly until you save Shalla from the Hive Caves. After that, they welcome you Lively. The only spiritual character present, Ra'Shar, is 'Balance' as he's floating on air, hinting that balance is the true spiritual path, mirrored in the not-so-spiritual inhabitants who do heel-face turns and back again, but are never balanced. The contrast of Life and Death is thus far more obvious than Balance, reflected in Balance becoming obvious far later in the game.
  • Also in Huline Village, If you accept the deal with Mauri and kill Kelsrick, the village turns hostile and poison bullets start firing from the guard towers. They could just have been arrows, but to Huline poison, like fire, is death, as testified by the poison paint needed at the altars of life and death in Huline temple. Fire pertaining to death is also mirrored in your reward from Mauri, the Great Sword Firestorm, stolen from Kit'yara.