Temple Guard Locations

[The Red Jaguars]

Oops, I meant the "Lost Taj Mahal Turban" temple run.  Those temple runs have identical temple layouts and artifact location. Except the Imperial Wizard team only encounter two guards. Not to mention, the runs both ended in the Quicksand Bog,

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Yeah, the "Robert the Bruce" and "Aurangzeb" runs both saw a half pendant before the first guard. But there were other Season 3 runs where the half pendant was after the first guard, and there were other runs where it was placed after the second guard. It was very likely that the Dark Forest guard was the final guard in the "Snow Cone of Mount Kilimanjaro" since the half pendant was located unusually deep in the temple for a Season 3 run. And again, the second door opening in the Pit to the King's Storeroom solidifies my belief that the last guard was in that room instead of the Quicksand Bog.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Next up is "Upside-Down Compass of Henry Hudson."

Guards Encountered: Chamber of the Sacred Markers, King's Storeroom, Ancient Warriors (armor 1)
Number of Unencountered Guards: 0

All of the guards were encountered during this run, so there should not be any question as to where they were.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Next on the list is "Bent Shaving Pan of Jedidiah Smith."

Guards Encountered: Tomb of the Headless Kings, Ancient Warriors (armor 2)
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: Ledges, Quicksand Bog, Secret Password, Chamber of the Sacred Markers

Notes: The Ledges and Quicksand Bog were brought up as possible locations for the final guard.

My Thoughts: The half pendant in the "Bent Shaving Pan" was on the door leading from the Jesters' Court to the Dark Forest. An image is provided below, courtesy video posted on youtube.com by ChargerTheWolf.




-- The Chamber of the Sacred Markers did not open from the Pit, and the Secret Password seemed to be very out of the way in this run, so I don't think either of those rooms held the final guard.

-- I think that of the Ledges and Quicksand Bog, the Ledges makes more sense to hold the last guard. The half pendant was in the Jesters' Court, and the only way the second runner would have seen it would have been if he was the one to activate the blacklight in the room. Once the blacklight was activated, it would have been far too dark to first search for a half pendant in that room. Therefore, I think there were two guard prior to the half pendant. The only place to put the last guard in that case is in the Ledges. Additionally, during the credits the Ledges appear to be a bit darker in lighting than usual. Image courtesy video posted on youtube.com by ChargerTheWolf.

[The Red Jaguars]

I think it was in the Ledges also. This temple layout reminds me exactly of the "Annie Oakley" temple layout where the team met a guard at the bottom of the central shaft and one room away. If the team entered the Ledges from the start, then they would've have to worry about the one room away guard thing. Kind of an unfair temple layout for Season 3, but Irish was so slow anyways, so they had no chance to win either way.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

"Marble Armrest of Xerxes" is up now.

Guards Encountered: Tomb of the Headless Kings, Quicksand Bog
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: Secret Password, Shrine, Ancient Warriors, King's Storeroom

Notes: Nobody had any specific locations as to where the last guard might have been.

My Thoughts: The half pendant was located on the door leading from the Jesters' Court to the Dark Forest. Why Noelle signals to the center Jesters' Court painting, I will never know. But since all of the rooms prior to the half pendant were entered, we know that there were two guards beyond the half pendant. Furthermore, the final guard had to be on the top floor.

-- There was no way to avoid the Tomb of the Headless Kings because it was the only room that opened from the Pit. Also, there wasn't a key in the Dark Forest, so Noelle was forced to encounter the guard in the Quicksand Bog. Since both of those guards were forced, the final guard probably could have been avoidable, even though there were a few runs (particularly 1.5 pendant runs in Season 3) where all of the guard encounters were forced.

-- Since this Center of the Rooms run featured a clockwise path, I don't think the King's Storeroom would have been accessible from the Ancient Warriors. Therefore, the only other place an avoidable guard could have been was in one of the Ancient Warriors. The Ancient Warriors held guards in a number of other Center of the Rooms/King's Storeroom runs that featured a clockwise path. Also, we know that there were instances where a guard was stationed in an inactive armor (Chandragupta and Ivan the Terrible), so it would not have been far-fetched to have a guard stationed like that for "Xerxes." Since the inactive armor guards were stationed in the armor nearest the room the contestant entered from, I would guess that, if the guard had been in the Ancient Warriors, then it would have been in the far-left headdress.

-- If all three guards were meant to be forced, then I think that the final guard would have been in the Shrine. It was common for the guards to be spaced out every-other-room, or just about every-other-room, and that pattern was seen in most episodes. The Shrine did not open from the Quicksand Bog, so the Secret Password would have served as the gap room between the Quicksand Bog guard and the final guard in "Xerxes."

[PurpleParrot4Life]

The next episode is "Smashed Printing Plate of Frederick Douglass."

Guards Encountered: Ancient Warriors (armor 1), Dark Forest (left tree)
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: Crypt, King's Storeroom, Jesters' Court

Notes: There was not a whole lot of discussion about this run, but it was thought that either the Crypt or King's Storeroom held the last guard.

My Thoughts: The Jesters' Court never held a guard, so that only leaves the Crypt and King's Storeroom as viable options.

-- Since the King's Storeroom and Chamber of the Sacred Markers both opened from the Pit, it is my guess that the King's Storeroom held the final guard. As I've stated for past Season 3 episodes, when multiple doors opened from the Pit, there was almost always a guard stationed somewhere along the extra rooms in the path. Jason went from the Chamber to the Ancient Warriors, bypassing the King's Storeroom. Therefore, the King's Storeroom was the extra room in the path, and hence it should have held the last guard. A supplemental photo is provided below, courtesy video posted on youtube.com by ChargerTheWolf, showing the doors opened from the Pit.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Next on the list is "Mystical Spellbook of the Imperial Wizard."

Guards Encountered: Ancient Warriors (armor 1), Quicksand Bog
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: Chamber of the Sacred Markers, Jesters' Court, Tomb of the Headless Kings

Notes: Yet again, there was little discussion about this episode. One person suggested the Chamber of the Sacred Markers, while another person suggested the Tomb of the Headless Kings.

My Thoughts: Since the Jesters' Court never held a guard, the last guard had to be in one of the other rooms.

-- Just like in the "Smashed Printing Plate" run from the episode prior, both the Chamber and King's Storeroom opened from the Pit, only this time, the team chose to go into the King's Storeroom and skip the Chamber. Since the Tomb of the Headless Kings was not accessible and the Chamber was accessible but unentered, my guess is that the Chamber of the Sacred Markers held the guard. I have provided an image below, courtesy video posted on youtube.com by ChargerTheWolf, showing that the two doors opened from the Pit:

[The Red Jaguars]

I am not sure why someone suggested that the other temple guard was in the Tomb of the Headless Kings in the Imperial Wizard run. Unless they thought that the door from the Chamber would open downwards into that room. I highly doubt that was the case though. And usually, one of the central shaft rooms are always guarded in Season 3. So I think that the last guard was in the Chamber for sure in this temple run.

Kind of off-topic, but I think Jared should've entered the Chamber and meet his first temple guard there and then get taken out in the Room of the Ancient Warrior. That would probably give Katie more than enough time to reach the Mystical Spellbook and maybe bring it out. She probably wouldn't have wasted time in the Dark Forest like Jared did.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Kind of off-topic, but I think Jared should've entered the Chamber and meet his first temple guard there and then get taken out in the Room of the Ancient Warrior. That would probably give Katie more than enough time to reach the Mystical Spellbook and maybe bring it out. She probably wouldn't have wasted time in the Dark Forest like Jared did.

Having Jared enter the Chamber and get taken out of the temple sooner probably would have been beneficial for the team. Katie seemed to know what she was doing, and she moved very quickly and swiftly. It only took her 45 seconds to get all the way across the temple, which included climbing up the wall in the Pit. I'd imagine she would have had a good shot at getting to the Mystical Spellbook if Jared had been taken out earlier and if she went directly into the Quicksand Bog.

Still, one must consider that more time would have been spent completing the Chamber of the Sacred Markers, so it is not guaranteed that they truly would have been better off.

[PurpleParrot319]

Here's another thing to consider. What if the King's Storeroom was the only door to open from the Chamber? That would've made this run almost impossible to win.

However, I will agree that the Chamber held the other temple guard.

[The Red Jaguars]

I didn't think about that possibility either. If the Chamber detoured into the King's Storeroom, then I say that Katie should've gone into te temple first. She probably wouldn't have taken that long to get out of the Pit and get taken out in the Quicksand Bog. And with Jared simply following up on Katie's path, there was no reason whatsoever to enter the Dark Forest. But it was a pretty tough layout.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Here's another thing to consider. What if the King's Storeroom was the only door to open from the Chamber? That would've made this run almost impossible to win.

Yes, the Chamber most likely only led up to the King's Storeroom. And my previous comment about Jared using up more time to complete the Chamber accounted for that scenario. It would have played out similarly to "Melted Head of Madame Tussaud" and "Useless Map of the Chibcha Chieftain," along with countless other Season 3 episodes. Taking the bottom entrance would have ended up added extra rooms to a path that ultimately would have met up with the upper entrance in the King's Storeoom, whereas taking the upper entrance would have bypassed those extra rooms and a guard.

I believe that in order to maximize the success of the "Mystical Spellbook" run, Jared should have gone into the temple first. He would have been best off entering the Chamber, losing his pendant to the guard in that room, heading up to the King's Storeroom, and then getting captured and taken out of the temple in the Room of the Ancient Warriors. Then, Katie could have quickly followed the path to the Ancient Warriors, possibly bypassing the Chamber by heading straight to the King's Storeroom from the Pit. I think she would have assembled the Silver Monkey without too much difficulty. Then she could have gone down into the Quicksand Bog and back up the slide to the Secret Password.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Jared should have entered the Chamber and got taken out in the Room of the Ancient Warriors, like others have said. Katie wouldn't have wasted time in the Dark Forest and probably would have assembled the monkey pretty quickly too. I doubt they would have won even then, but they would have at least reached the artifact.

As for Smashed Printing Plate, I always thought the third guard was in the Crypt. Since Jason went down into the Ledges instead of the Crypt, it's not impossible that the third guard to be in there. It could have been like "Chandragupta," where Andrea entered the Ledges and not the Crypt. Though I can see how the King's Storeroom would work. Just a thought.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

As for Smashed Printing Plate, I always thought the third guard was in the Crypt. Since Jason went down into the Ledges instead of the Crypt, it's not impossible that the third guard to be in there. It could have been like "Chandragupta," where Andrea entered the Ledges and not the Crypt. Though I can see how the King's Storeroom would work. Just a thought.

That is definitely a possibility, but there were several episodes that forced the teams from the Crypt to the Ledges without the Crypt holding a guard. Some of those episodes include "Upside-Down Compass of Henry Hudson," "Marble Armrest of Xerxes," and "Mystical Spellbook of the Imperial Wizard," which if you notice are all episodes taped around "Smashed Printing Plate." That correlation should make it seem as though having a guard in the Crypt for "Smashed Printing Plate" would be a little out of place. And also, since the second door opened in the Pit, it seems more likely for the King's Storeroom to have held the guard for "Smashed Printing Plate" anyways.