Symbols

During our meanderings through the Realms of the Haunting, our visual impressions are filled with many symbols, stemming from or at least drawing their design inspirations from various occult and esoteric sources. On this page, we shall have a closer, mostly speculative, look at their origins and meanings.

Symbols & Occult Iconography[]

According to Rebecca, the fragments of the six broken Shards that were given to Adam by Florentine (under his false persona Elias Camber) have occult symbols carved into them - "Seals designed to capture the essence or quality of a spiritual power. A magic symbol that [possesses] a power of [its] own."

A laboriously executed floor painting, displaying occult iconography. It can be found by following the corridor to the right side of the main entrance of the Mansion, leading us to a dark room with blood-stained walls. Lighting all the five candles that are placed around the pentacle, we summon a necessary Evil whose defeat will yield us the Quartz Idol, required to access Florentine's Library and the Temple of the Morning Star:
Mark of the Beast

“	Adam: Someone spent a lot oftime on this. Rebecca: The iconography has to be spot on otherwise these things don't work.	”
—Examining the occult floor painting in the Mansion which is used to summon the Beast creature that holds the Quartz Idol key.

Some of the walls in the Caverns have been covered with occult chalk drawings.

After having successfully fumbled through the dark and damp Caverns, we enter a bright chamber with a platforming section, complicating our unworried progression into Florentine's Observatory. The floor of this chamber is covered with various occult symbols.

One of the rooms in Raysiel's Tower harbours a small chapel of sorts. Our task in here is to arrange seven gems, gathered from the stained glass window, on the etched star, by complying with the ROYGBIV colour spectrum. The reward for our chromatic capacities is the Rainbow-Coloured Key, used for opening the small casket with the Coloured Gem in the room with the Nightingale Floor.

The walls of the Entertainment Room and the Bedroom on the top-floor of Charles Randall's Vicarage are covered with various occult and astronomical symbols.

This icon, consisting of a moon sickle and a pentacle, appears on the floor in the Basement of the Mansion, where it serves as a demon zone-marker from which the axe-wielding Lopers will spawn.

The walls of the small Chapel in the basement of the Mansion are carved with five-pointed stars and moon sickles.

Some of the walls and floors in the Mausoleum are covered with occult symbols, that apparently serve as magical zone-markers, used for summoning demons such as the minor Yielders.

Wards[]

As we try to explore and make sense of our surroundings, specifically as we walk through the often dark and labyrinthine corridors of the Mansion and the old Vicarage of Adam's Father, our progression is often hindered by curious, sometimes slightly shimmering, Wards, that we initially find on many of the doors. In the case of the Mansion, they gradually disappear of their own accord, which is triggered by certain events and accomplishments. The lemniscatic green and red Wards that seal many of the doors in Charles Randall's Vicarage, though, can only be dispelled with the use of Belial's Wand.

Types of Wards[]

Green shimmering pentagrammic ward initially found on many doors in the Mansion.

White shimmering pentagrammic ward initially found on many doors in the Mansion.

Found on the door to the right side of the Mansion's main entrance, leading us later on to the Gallery which contains many ripped-off canvasses, a worn-out Map of the Earth and the Old Knight's Helm. Rebecca makes an interesting comment on this double-winged door, about how the magical wards can apparently lose their power over time.

“

Adam: Wasn't this warded earlier?
Rebecca: I believe so. Someone or something's been here recently. Either that or the ward's magic is depleted.

”

#1 Serves as a protective seal for the Rune Guide, that we find in the small outhouse in Memory's Garden. Can also be seen on the tower gate in this specific courtyard.
#2 Found inside the room with the tower gate that takes you to the Tower for the very first time.

Found on a door in the Mansion (seen after leaving Belial's Prison and burning Florentine's Journals), cannot be dispelled.

Green lemniscatic ward, prominently encountered in Charles Randall's Vicarage. Seals of the green variety are hidden at first, and require the Magical Torch, found inside the small casket to the right side of the Vicarage entrance, to render them visible.

Red lemniscatic ward, prominently encountered inside the Vicarage. Seals of the red variety are instantly visible and don't need to be shined upon by the Magical Torch. We're first introduced to this type of ward in the Mausoleum, during our tête-à-tête with Florentine, where he demands we hand him the Shrive.

Secondly, as we cautiously approach the main entrance to Charles Randall's Vicarage, the red seal on the double-winged door explodes of its own accord. At this point, we've already seen its originator, in a demonstration of the sealing process:
Gaul - 'Coming Events...'
In this particular cutscene from Chapter III Keeper of Time, during our exploration of the Mansion's Armoury, we witness Gaul lighting a match and performing a specific hand motion, creating a red lemniscatic ward on the main entrance of a house (probably the Mansion in this case, which is why we cannot leave it).