Temple Guard Locations

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I always thought the guards were in the Room of the Ancient Warriors, King's Storeroom (ala "Bifocal Monocle), and the other guard in the Dark Forest. It's also possible the Tomb/Chamber door could have opened, making for a dead end "loop" possibility.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

I always thought the guards were in the Room of the Ancient Warriors, King's Storeroom (ala "Bifocal Monocle), and the other guard in the Dark Forest. It's also possible the Tomb/Chamber door could have opened, making for a dead end "loop" possibility.

Or it could possibly be almost like the Davy Crockett layout if the plan was to go up the shaft and to the Shrine via the Room of the Ancient Warriors.

[The Red Jaguars]

It's funny how Kimberly took the most direct path to the artifact and didn't encounter a single temple guard. I say that one of the temple guards was indeed in the Dark Forest because it would be similar to the "Bandit Queen" and "Egyptian Queen" runs where there was a guard in the Dark Forest in both runs. But it gets tricky from there though. What if the team chose to go up the central shaft? Would there be an alternate path to the artifact? Or would it be like "Dead Man's Hand" and "Ali Baba" where traveling up the central shaft would've been a useless detour?

None of the upper two doors from the Wall Climb opened into the Chamber/King's Storeroom. Is it possible that the team could travel up the central shaft, enter the Room of the Ancient Warriors, and then enter the Shrine from there? If so, that would make this temple run similar to the Sforza win. This is a pretty quirky temple layout though.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

It's funny how Kimberly took the most direct path to the artifact and didn't encounter a single temple guard. I say that one of the temple guards was indeed in the Dark Forest because it would be similar to the "Bandit Queen" and "Egyptian Queen" runs where there was a guard in the Dark Forest in both runs. But it gets tricky from there though. What if the team chose to go up the central shaft? Would there be an alternate path to the artifact? Or would it be like "Dead Man's Hand" and "Ali Baba" where traveling up the central shaft would've been a useless detour?

None of the upper two doors from the Wall Climb opened into the Chamber/King's Storeroom. Is it possible that the team could travel up the central shaft, enter the Room of the Ancient Warriors, and then enter the Shrine from there? If so, that would make this temple run similar to the Sforza win. This is a pretty quirky temple layout though.

Pit of the Pendulum Mr. Fogg Up God

[The Red Jaguars]

I do believe one of the temple spirits were in the Stage Right tree and here is picture proof:




The image on the left is from "The Snow Cone of Mt. Kilimanjaro" entered the Dark Forest. If you notice the temple guard closest to the Jester's Court, his left limb is sticking up. And when Casey approaches him, he gets captured by it. The same tree also has his limb raised in the "Poseidon" temple run. So I do think that one of the temple guards was in that room.

[PurpleParrot319]

The Dark Forest definitely held one of the guards, but the other two are a mystery. I agree with PPF that this run could've been another Bifocal Monocle run, except the only door that opened from the Pit of the Pendulum was the Tomb of the Headless Kings. This would've made the run similar to other runs like Silver Saddle Horn, Dead Man's Hand, and Ali Baba. A brutal dead-end wouldn't be out of the question, but it was rare for there to be a season 3 dead-end. However, with the way the run played out, there HAD to be another route (and one that might've lead to a dead-end, AKA the "Triangle of Nowhere").

That being said, I think the other two guards were in the Room of the Ancient Warriors (direct path trick similar to Bifocal Monocle) and the King's Storeroom (just in case Kimberly was dumb enough to be like Veronica, which wouldn't have surprised me if she did this ). Although the right-side tree limb looks less down compared to the Snow Cone run, it still looks like that would've been the capture tree.

Again, the Dark Forest had to have held a temple guard. I don't think there was any chance of all three guards being in that "Triangle of Nowhere" and the Ledges were lit all the way. No way there was one in the Ledges, unless he was stationed at the very bottom like in most season 2 runs. Still, I don't think this would've happened based on what we've concluded about the Ledges in season 3.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

It's funny how Kimberly took the most direct path to the artifact and didn't encounter a single temple guard. I say that one of the temple guards was indeed in the Dark Forest because it would be similar to the "Bandit Queen" and "Egyptian Queen" runs where there was a guard in the Dark Forest in both runs. But it gets tricky from there though. What if the team chose to go up the central shaft? Would there be an alternate path to the artifact? Or would it be like "Dead Man's Hand" and "Ali Baba" where traveling up the central shaft would've been a useless detour?

None of the upper two doors from the Wall Climb opened into the Chamber/King's Storeroom. Is it possible that the team could travel up the central shaft, enter the Room of the Ancient Warriors, and then enter the Shrine from there? If so, that would make this temple run similar to the Sforza win. This is a pretty quirky temple layout though.

I wholeheartedly agree. I was thinking that this team would have been given a second path up the whole central shaft and then across to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. I don't think that series of rooms would have been a dead end. The only dead-end seen in Season 3 was in "Bifocal Monocle." Additionally, dead ends were rarely ever more than two rooms long. Those two factors make me believe the central shaft was a complete new path, rather than a series of dead end rooms.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Please feel free to continue discussing the previous episodes. But for now, I will be moving on to "Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I."

Guards Encountered: Chamber of the Sacred Markers, Shrine of the Silver Monkey
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: Secret Password, Dark Forest, Jesters' Court, Tomb of the Headless Kings, Ledges, Ancient Warriors (armor 3)

Notes:

My Thoughts: Since the guards in the Ancient Warriors were only ever placed in inactive headdresses nearest the room from which the contestant entered, the guard would have been in the first headdress if one was in the room. Since that armor did not have a guard behind it, I don't think there was a guard in the Ancient Warriors.

-- The King's Storeroom was the only room to open from the Pit, and the Tomb of the Headless Kings did not open from the Chamber. Therefore, the Tomb of the Headless Kings and Jesters' Court were inaccessible, meaning there could not have been a guard in either of those rooms.

-- The Ledges appeared to be well-lit, so I don't think there was a guard there.

-- If I had to guess between the Dark Forest and Secret Password, I would say that the Secret Password would have been the door to open and hold the final guard. The only time both doors opened was in "War Fan of the Forty-Seven Ronin," but that team had 1 pendant while the "Clovis I" team had 2 pendants. The reason I think the Secret Password is more likely to have held the final guard is that the Secret Password only ever held a guard when the team was entering from the Shrine. Additionally, I think it would have been awkward to have the final guard in the Dark Forest, since it would have had to have blocked the stone wall in order to make a capture, when the artifact was directly on the other side of the wall. Take "Lost Logbooks of Magellan" for example, where the final guard was in the upper left room and where the artifact was directly below in the lower left room.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I don't know about the Secret Password. This path was exactly like "The Pearl Necklace of Gwalior," both layout and temple guard wise. The only difference is the Gwalior team actually made it to the Quicksand Bog, despite not reaching the necklace. Also in that run, there was no temple guard in the Room of the Secret Password. It could very well have been the Dark Forest, as a dead end. Especially if the Ledges was well lit and did not feature a temple guard.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I don't know about the Secret Password. This path was exactly like "The Pearl Necklace of Gwalior," both layout and temple guard wise. The only difference is the Gwalior team actually made it to the Quicksand Bog, despite not reaching the necklace. Also in that run, there was no temple guard in the Room of the Secret Password. It could very well have been the Dark Forest, as a dead end. Especially if the Ledges was well lit and did not feature a temple guard.

You are quite right that the "Clovis I" and "Gwalior" paths and encountered temple guards were identical. However, it would not have been the first time that two Season 3 runs had identical paths with different temple guard placements. Take "Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth" and "Much-Heralded Helmet of Sir Gawain," for example.


In the "Gwalior" run, the Ledges were well-lit. The door leading down from the Chamber of the Sacred Markers to the Tomb of the Headless Kings was clearly locked, since Dawn attempted to go down but could not. Only the Secret Password opened from the Shrine, so we know that the Dark Forest could not have held a guard. Since Ryan only tried the middle armor in the Ancient Warriors and no other room could feasibly hold a guard, the final guard had to have been in the first headdress in the Ancient Warriors. That would make sense because guards stationed in inactive headdresses were always in the one nearest the door from which the contestant entered the room. (I'll recap all of this when we get to the "Gwalior" run.)

In the "Clovis I" run, Katie tried both the first and second headdresses. There was clearly not a guard in the headdress that activated the Shrine. Since the guards in inactive headdresses only ever were stationed in the armors closest to the room from which the contestant entered, a guard in the Ancient Warriors for "Clovis I" would have been in the first headdress, which we know there was not.

Even though neither final guard was encountered for "Clovis I" or "Gwalior," we can deduce that they would not have been in the same place. The Secret Password clearly did not hold a guard in "Gwalior," nor did the Dark Forest open. Likewise, Katie in "Clovis I" tried both the inactive headdress nearest the room from which she entered, as well as the correct headdress in the Ancient Warriors without encountering a guard. For both of those reasons, we know that the final guards could not be in identical places for the two runs.

[The Red Jaguars]

I don't know, I think the last temple guard in "Gwalior" had to be in the Ledges. Ryann and Dawn had a very linear path to the artifact, and it did not stray at all. The only choice they had was to take the Ledges or Crypt at the beginning of the run. The Ledges makes the most sense since it's the only room that was not entered by either one of them. Yeah, there was partial lighting in the Ledges in their run and most of the time the Ledges were supposedly pitch black when a temple guard is there. But I think there were instances where the Ledges were partially lighted and a temple guard was located there. Watch the "Egyptian Queen" run where the only unentered room in their layout was the Ledges and they were partially lit for TJ and Randy. I think the last guard was in the Ledges in Gwalior.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Moving right along, we are now on "Mussel Shell Armor of Apanuugpak."

Guards Encountered: Tomb of the Headless Kings, Dark Forest (left tree), Shrine
Number of Unencountered Guards: 0

All of the guards in this run were met, so there should be no question as to where they were.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

We continue on with "Metal Beard of the Egyptian Queen."

Guards Encountered: Tomb of the Headless Kings, Dark Forest (right tree)
Number of Unencountered Guards: 1
Rooms not Entered: King's Storeroom, Chamber of the Sacred Markers, Ancient Warriors, Ledges

Notes: Everyone seemed to believe that the last guard was in the Ledges, and some people even claimed to have been able to see the guard in the room.

My Thoughts: While I could not "see" the guard during this run, the final guard had to have been in the Ledges.

-- When TJ pulled the first book in the Crypt, the door leading down to the Ledges opened. This also occurred in "Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacajawea." Even though both teams went straight to the Pit, the camera looked down to the opened Ledges, perhaps to show that the door opened and to show that a guard was waiting there for the contestants. [If my memory serves me correctly, people were still undecided about where the last guard was in "Sacajawea." Perhaps this is a hint pointing to the Ledges as holding the last guard in that run.] Images courtesy video posted on youtube.com by ChargerTheWolf.




-- Another thing to consider is that the only door that opened from the Pit was to the Tomb of the Headless Kings. Unlike "Broken Trident of Poseidon," I do not think that there would have been an alternate path leading up the central shaft, since there was no need for there to be one in order to house the last guard.




-- Finally, even if the team began in the Ledges, this run would not have automatically ended in triple capture. The guard in the Dark Forest was in the right tree, so it was avoidable as well. Besides the guard's placement, there was no key in the room, so the team was forced to plow through the wall into the Quicksand Bog. Since entering the Ledges would not have necessarily forced this run to end in triple capture, it makes all the more sense for the Ledges to house the last guard in the "Metal Beard" run.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Next up is "Mummified Hand of the Egyptian King." Even though it ended in triple capture, I still have some comments to make about this run.

Mummified Hand of the Egyptian King
Guards Encountered: Tomb of the Headless Kings, Ancient Warriors (armor 2), Secret Password
Number of Unencountered Guards: 0

A few personal notes about the "Mummified Hand" run:

-- The half pendant can be seen above the left hand column of markers in the Chamber of the Sacred Markers. Because of the half pendant location, I believe that this team would have been forced to ascend the whole central shaft, rather than have a split central shaft like the one seen in "Thornwood Gavel of Judge Roy Bean." There are two ways this run could have avoided triple capture. Had Maggie begun by going into the King's Storeroom, the Tomb of the Headless Kings guard would have been avoided. Also, this run would not have ended in triple capture if Josh followed Maggie's path into the Tomb of the Headless Kings and then up the central shaft because he would have come across the half pendant.

-- It is very much worth noting the temple guard capture in the Room of the Ancient Warriors. The guard grabbed Josh before he even got a chance to pull the arms of the headdress down. But even more interesting is that when Josh first got into the middle armor, the headdress swiveled slightly, just like what happened to Kate in "Mysterious Manuscript of Mary Shelley," though the swivel was not as dramatic. Then, after the guard captured Josh, there was a slight delay before the armor spun around to reveal the guard. I believe this is strong evidence to support the idea that there should have been a guard in the middle armor in "Mary Shelley," rather than the incredibly delayed one seen in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Up now is the "Lost Taj Mahal Turban of Aurangzeb."

Guards Encountered: Chamber of the Sacred Markers, Shrine, Quicksand Bog
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.