LEVEL 17: THE LOST LIBRARY
Secrets: 3
Go through the next crawlspace and drop down into a
hallway with a lantern. Continue in either direction to
reach the MAIN HALL WITH TWO LEVELS AND MANY BLUE DOORS.
This room is the hub for all of your explorations in this
level. It is illustrated in the diagram at right.
KEY TO DIAGRAM
lower level doors:
A = Fire Circle Scroll room
B = Pole and blades
C = Fire Circle room
(to upper level)
D = Planetarium
E = Room below Pharos Pillar/
Room with Pool (to upper level,
if trapdoor is open)
F = Room below wooden floor
upper level doors:
G = From Fire Circle room (via library)
H = Harp room
I = Pharos Pillar/trapdoor (to lower level)
J = Wooden floor room (to lower level)
K = Room with lions' heads
Some of the blue doors can be opened from this room; some
open only from the other side. There's no set order for
exploring the different side rooms. I've tried to set up the
walkthrough to include the least amount of backtracking
while still maintaining a sequence where you get the clues
or puzzle pieces needed before you get to the puzzles. If
you want to, you can now open the four lower-level doors
that will open from this side. This may save you a bit of
backtracking later on.
ROOM WITH MECHANICAL MEN AND FIRE CIRCLE SCROLL:
Go to the first door on the left (marked "A" in the diagram)
and press Action to push it open. Go through the hallway,
break the jar to get the small medipak
and Uzi clips inside, and continue
to a room with banners hanging from the ceiling and a golden
circle inscribed on the floor.
Two mechanical men emerge from
the alcoves. These guys can be challenging to defeat since
their metal hides repel bullets. The blue gems in their
chests are their vulnerable spots, so don't bother shooting
when their backs are turned. You can hear them grunt every
time you score a direct hit, and they'll let out a longer
groan when they're about to fall. You don't get much
maneuvering space in this small room, but you will meet more
of these mechanical men throughout this level. In general,
try to keep your distance and just continue plugging away at
them until they fall down. It may help to back away from
them while shooting. Then, when they get close, jump over
them, roll and start backing up and shooting again. Since a
lot of your shots will miss, I'd recommend using the pistols
rather than more powerful weapons to conserve ammo. Also, in
this particular case, if you need to flee to safety for a
moment, you can run back down the hallway where you entered.
The mechanical men won't follow all the way back to the MAIN
HALL.
There is a scroll on the pedestal here, but a bug seems
to prevent you from picking it up. It will be possible to
get it later in the game, but by then the clue it offers may
come too late. This is the FIRE CIRCLE
SCROLL. When examined, it reads: "For the serpents
to live, all must first be stilled. Provoke each in turn,
and the circle will burn complete." (This applies to the
puzzle in the FIRE CIRCLE ROOM, described below.) Return to
the MAIN HALL the way you came.
ROOM WITH POLE AND BLADES: Go to the second door
on the left when facing the big double doors (marked "B" in
the diagram) and press Action to push it open. Jump to grab
the climbing pole and quickly
slide all the way down to the bottom. Use a medipak if
necessary to repair the damage from the
gear-like blades. Yes, there are some goodies on the
middle levels, but you can get them more easily on the way
back.
Alternatively, you can use the "hole bug" to descend past
the blades: Stand Lara at the edge of the opening with with
her back to the pole. Press Back then Action as if you were
performing a safety drop, but release Action before Lara
actually grabs the ledge. She'll then drop to the ledge
below. If you time each drop so the blade is on the opposite
side of the passage, you can make it down one floor at a
time without taking damage.
Follow the hallway to the second
pole. There's no need to climb it. Just stand below
one corner of the opening, wait for the blade to pass to the
other side, then pull up through the opening.
ROOM WITH HUGE GEARS: Kill the
mechanical man. (Refer to the tips above under ROOM
WITH MECHANICAL MEN AND FIRE CIRCLE SCROLL if necessary.)
Use the crowbar to pry the GOLDEN STAR
out of the column.
Go to the back side of the gear on the right when facing
the two gears (i.e., the southeast corner). Turn Lara so her
back is toward the edge of the turning gear, drop back and
grab the edge. Climb down the ladder into the pit to find
secret #1 (50/70), a
small medipak,
revolver ammo and Uzi clips.
Climb back out the way you came.
Climb the ladder on the south side of the tall structure
in the middle of the room. Go through the door on the
T-shaped platform above to an opening with a
climbing pole. Slide down the
pole.
ROOM WITH BRASS ARCHES AND PIPES:
Two mechanical men emerge as you
explore. Destroy them. Take note of the locked gate with the
receptacle next to it. You'll need to find something to put
here. Enter the next room and climb down the ladder. Go
through the crawlspace. Enter the room beyond.
Cut scene: A mechanical man
runs into the room, mounts the bronze horse and begins
riding around the room.
The mechanical horseman is
quite hard to kill. Fortunately he won't do much damage as
long as you move around a lot to stay clear of his axe and
the horse's hooves. After you've shot him in the blue gem
for a while, he'll get off the horse and come after Lara on
foot. Keep firing and he'll soon fall. Take the
HORSEMAN'S GEM.
(NOTE: You can climb into
the secret area, as described in the next paragraph, before
defeating the horseman and shoot him from above. However,
this takes quite a bit longer than just toughing it out on
the ground.)
In the room to the south of the main room, there's a gate
with a pulley mechanism. Use
the laser sight-equipped crossbow with normal arrows to
target the dangling ball. (If that doesn't work, try
explosive arrows, or use the grenade gun, jumping and
shooting at the peak of the jump.) When you hit it, the gate
opens. Climb in to get secret #2
(51/70), a large medipak,
shotgun shells and
Uzi clips.
Return to the main room, exit through the door where you
entered (east side), go through the crawlspace and climb the
ladder back to the ROOM WITH BRASS ARCHES AND PIPES. Use the
HORSEMAN'S GEM in the receptacle near the small gate to open
it. Enter and pull the chain.
Cut scene: A gate raises in
an underwater room below. (You can see this area through the
grate in the floor.)
Exit the alcove and make a U-turn to the right to return
to the climbing pole. Climb up, back flip to the floor and
go up the steps to the upper level of the ROOM WITH HUGE
GEARS. Go to the right along the T-shaped ledge and climb
back down the ladder to the floor.
Cross the room to the west side (opposite the gears). Go
through either door. The rooms beyond have
swinging chains. You can avoid
these by standing at either side and running carefully past
them, or crawling underneath them at either side. When you
reach the room with the smaller turning gear, stand at the
edge of the metal trapdoor in the floor, facing the low ramp
but with the trapdoor between Lara and the ramp, and press
Action to open the trapdoor.
Jump into the water and swim down through the gate on the
west side (now open if you pulled the chain in the ROOM WITH
BRASS ARCHES AND PIPES). Use the crowbar to pry
2 GOLDEN STARS from the wall. There's an air pocket
below the grate in the ceiling if you need to breathe.
Swim back through whichever passage (north or east) you
came through, climb out through the open trapdoor, and
return past the swinging chains
to the ROOM WITH HUGE GEARS. Go through the east door to the
climbing pole where you entered this room. Drop down into
the hole at the base of the pole when the
blade moves to the other side.
Follow the hall to the other pole. Climb the pole as quickly
as you can to get past the first blade.
Position Lara's feet just a hair above the blade and back
flip to land on the ledge. Or, grab the pole, climb as far
up as you can without Lara taking damage then, when the
blade moves to the other side, climb up until Lara's waist
is about level with the opening and back flip. (This is a
bit tricky. You may need to let Lara's feet get cut a little
in order to make the jump.)
If you didn't do it on the way down, shoot the jars to
get a large medipak and
shotgun shells. Take a standing
jump to grab the pole. Slide down a little to avoid the
second blade, then repeat the
steps above to get to the next ledge. Shoot the jar for a
small medipak. When climbing up
through the last blade, position Lara so she's facing west
or south (i.e., there's no wall behind her on the upper
level), wait until the blade begins to move toward the
opposite side of the opening, then jump to grab the pole and
immediately back flip onto the ledge above. Continue to the
MAIN HALL.
The next door on the left (marked "C" in the diagram)
won't open from this side. Cross the room and push open the
door to the right of the big double doors (marked "D" in the
diagram).
PLANETARIUM: Shoot the jar in the hall to get a
small medipak. Follow the hall to
a big room with celestial patterns on the ceiling. Slide the
globe with the blue band at the equator onto the thick, gold
circle at the center of the floor diagram. A glowing white
orb appears above the globe, showing that it's in the
correct position.
Use the three GOLDEN STARS you collected in the previous
area to open the small, square gates. Now you need to move
the rest of the globes onto the correct circles within the
diagram: gray = inner circle, green = second circle, pink =
third circle, yellow = outer circle. When all of the globes
are positioned properly, blue lightning crackles between the
globes and the gold circle on the north wall, and a door
opens below the gold circle.
Go through the door and continue, shooting the jar at the
bend in the hallway to get a large
medipak. At the next bend, shoot the jar to get a box
of wideshot shells.
IMPORTANT: If you've got the PlayStation
version of the game, you should take a small detour
here: Push open the blue doors that lead back to the MAIN
HALL (marked "C" in the diagram). Cross the MAIN HALL and
push open the lower middle doors on the other side (marked
"E"). Players using the PC version don't need to do this,
but it may be convenient to have door C open later. Now
return through door C and continue along the hallway to the
next room.
FIRE CIRCLE ROOM: This large room has a
seven-pointed star inscribed on the floor and a serpent
statue fitted with a lever at
each point of the star.
(NOTE: If you like, after
entering this room, you can return to the first room off the
MAIN HALL to get the FIRE CIRCLE SCROLL. It should now be
accessible. To get there, follow the hall back the way you
came, enter the MAIN HALL, turn right and go through the
second door on the right, marked "A" in the diagram.
However, this isn't necessary.)
To solve the fire circle puzzle, note that pulling any
lever affects the burner on that lever, as well as the two
other burners at the opposite points of the star. If a
burner is off, the lever will turn it on and vice-versa.
Begin at the serpent lever nearest the entrance. Pull the
lever, then move counter-clockwise around the circle,
pulling each lever in turn. When you pull the seventh lever,
all the burners should be lit, and blocks will rise from the
floor in the middle of the room. If you make a mistake and
want to start over, walk over the low step with the star on
the east side of the room to extinguish all the burners.
In the PlayStation version, solving the
puzzle also triggers the appearance of a
fire elemental. You'll need to find some water
quickly to extinguish it. Run through the hallway behind the
first snake lever (where you came in) to the MAIN HALL.
(You'll have to open the blue doors at the bend in the hall,
marked "C" in the diagram, if you didn't do this earlier.)
Then run across the MAIN HALL and in through the lower
middle doors on the other side (marked "E"). Run down the
stairs to a room with a hanging lantern, where you'll pick
up 2 more fire elementals. Run
through either door out of this room. Follow the hallway to
a room with benches and a small pool. Jump into the pool and
wait there for the fire elementals to extinguish themselves
in the water. Climb out of the pool. Whew!
LIBRARY: Now return to the fire circle room if you
left previously to deal with the fire elemental. Climb up
the blocks through the opening in the ceiling. Follow the
stairs past the small pool and fountain to a room with
scrolls scattered around the floor and a ladder leading to
the upper level. Climb the ladder, go around the balcony and
shoot the jar to get a small medipak.
Climb back down the ladder.
Follow the hall to a ROOM WITH BENCHES AND SCROLLS,
breaking the jar in the hall on the way to get some
Uzi clips. Go down the stairs and
push open the blue doors (marked "G" in the diagram) to
emerge on the UPPER LEVEL OF THE MAIN HALL. Turn
right and cross the balcony to the other side.
You can save yourself some time
later by opening all of the doors on the south side of the
upper level now. These only open from the MAIN
HALL side. Be careful at door "I". If you follow the
hallway, a fire elemental will
appear. In order to extinguish it, you'll need to open the
trapdoor and descend to the room with a pool below. (For
details, see the section ROOM WITH PHAROS PILLAR/FIRE
ELEMENTALS, below.) I recommend avoiding this room for now
and instead going through the rightmost door on the upper
level, south side (marked "K" in the diagram). This leads to
the ROOM WITH LIONS' HEADS.
ROOM WITH LIONS' HEADS: Save your game
before sliding down the ramp. As you slide, jump to
grab the ladder (above and in front of you just before the
end of the ramp). Climb up to the top of a huge statue of a
lion's head. You'll hear a huge metal globe roll down from a
chute on the other side of the room. Take a running jump
from the top of the lion's head to the long ledge on the
right (west) wall. This is secret #3
(52/70), a large medipak and
normal arrows. Safety drop to the
ground.
(NOTE: If you miss the
concealed ladder reload your saved game and try again. I
found it impossible to grab the ladder after exiting this
room and returning at a later time. If you miss the ladder
and choose to forego the secret, walk up the ramp and jump
to the side to avoid being flattened by the
rolling globe.)
When you explore near the ramp, a
mechanical man approaches from the east side of the
room. The top of the ramp and the low stone block are safe
spots to stand, but it takes longer to destroy the robot
from here because it's harder to hit his blue diamond. Also,
note that standing at the top of the ramp triggers a
second rolling globe, so jump to
the side to avoid it. After destroying the mechanical man,
take a standing jump from the top of the ramp to grab the
switch high on the wall to the
left of the ramp. This raises large stone blocks near the
middle of the room.
Climb to the top of the blocks and take a running jump to
grab the ledge ahead (on the south wall). Pull up and follow
the hall around to an opening facing the second lion's head.
Take a running jump to the top of the head. Parts of the
head are slippery, so aim for the flat triangular area just
to the right of the chain. Pull the
chain. This widens the opening in the lion's mouth so
you can crawl through. Slide down the front of the lion's
snout facing uphill so you can grab the edge as you slide.
Let go and immediately grab again to catch onto the lower
jaw. Crawl into the open mouth. If Lara stands
up, she'll slip. If she falls, you can climb up the blocks
and jump to grab the nose without having to go all the way
to the top of the head again.
Climb the pole to the small
room above and back flip to the floor. The two gates open
automatically as you approach. Go through the gate on the
right.
ROOM WITH PHAROS PILLAR/FIRE ELEMENTALS: Enter the
room and take the PHAROS PILLAR
from the pedestal. Stand facing the trapdoor in the floor
next to the pedestal, with the pedestal ahead on Lara's
right, and press Action to open the trapdoor. Note the
ladder on the left side of the trapdoor leading down to the
room below. If you like, you can enter the hallway opposite
the pedestal to draw out a fire
elemental. If you avoid this side of the room and the
hallway, the elemental won't appear.
(NOTE: This hall leads to
one of the doors on the upper level of the main hall, marked
"I" in the diagram. However, it can only be opened from the
outside.)
Run back to the trapdoor, drop back to grab the ladder
and descend. Press and release Action repeatedly to climb
down rapidly. Once at the bottom of the ladder, roll and run
through either door out of this room. Follow the hallway to
a room with benches and a small pool. Jump into the pool and
wait there for the fire elemental to extinguish itself in
the water. Climb out of the pool.
(NOTE: If you stand on the
tile with the gold orbital patterns, Lara looks intently at
the chute high on the wall. If you select the binoculars and
look into the opening, pressing Action to activate the
light, you'll see the solution to the puzzle in the
PLANETARIUM, which you won't need if you have used this
walkthrough.)
Follow the hallway on the west side back to the room with
the ladder, shooting the vase and picking up a
small medipak on the way. Entering
the stairway to the right of the ladder causes
2 more fire elementals to emerge
from the lamp in the ladder room. Lure them back to the pool
to destroy them. Alternatively, when you first climb down
the ladder, you can duck into the hallway to get all of the
fire elementals after Lara at once. Then you'll only need to
make one mad dash to the pool. Or, you can avoid this
stairway altogether and the two elementals won't appear.
(NOTE: PlayStation players
won't have to worry about these two fire elementals, as they
should have taken care of them along with the elemental they
encountered in the FIRE CIRCLE ROOM. The hall to the right
of the ladder leads to one of the doors on the lower level
of the main hall, marked "F" in the diagram. However, it can
only be opened from the outside.)
Climb back up the ladder to the room where you got the
PHAROS PILLAR. Go through the open gate back to the small
room with the pole. Go through the gate on the right.
ROOM WITH WOODEN PLANK FLOOR: A little way down
the hall is an alcove. Pick up the wooden
TORCH from the floor. Step on either round grate to
light one of the burners.
Carefully approach the burner with torch in hand. Press
Action to light the torch on the burner. Continue down the
hallway to a room with a wooden floor. Press the
draw-weapons key to toss the torch onto the wooden floor and
watch it burn away. If the torch slides off the
wooden area of the floor, pick it up and try tossing it
again.
(NOTE: The other hallway out
of this room leads to one of the doors on the upper level of
the main hall, marked "J" in the diagram. However, it can
only be opened from the outside.)
(BUG NOTE: A
few PlayStation users have found a bug here. After burning
away the floor, they left the area, saved their game, then
returned later only to find an invisible barrier preventing
them from dropping through the floor. I recommend dropping
through immediately after burning the floor.)
Drop down through the opening in the floor and pick up
the MUSIC SCROLL. (It's the one in
the circle on the floor that Lara stares at intently when
you walk past it.) Shoot the jar to get some
shotgun shells. Climb through the
doorway, follow the hall and push open the blue doors
(marked "F" in the diagram) to emerge back at the MAIN HALL.
If you've already opened the doors on the south side,
upper level, go through the middle door on the south side,
lower level, which leads to the room below the ROOM WITH
PHAROS PILLAR/FIRE ELEMENTALS. Climb the ladder to the
PHAROS PILLAR ROOM, go through the hallway opposite the
pedestal and exit through the blue doors (marked "I" in the
diagram) to emerge back at the MAIN HALL, UPPER LEVEL.
If you haven't opened the upper level doors, go through
the right door on the north side, lower level of the MAIN
HALL (marked "C" in the diagram). This leads to the FIRE
CIRCLE ROOM. Climb the blocks, go through the opening in the
ceiling, follow the hallway through the LIBRARY, through the
ROOM WITH BENCHES AND SCROLLS, and finally through the blue
doors (marked "G" in the diagram) to emerge back at the MAIN
HALL, UPPER LEVEL.
HARP ROOM: Go through the door on the right, north
side (marked "H" in the diagram). Shoot the vase to get the
Uzi clips inside. Then continue to
the room at the end of the hall. Face the music stand near
the harp and press Action twice to place the MUSIC SCROLL on
the stand.
Cut scene: Lara plays a tune
on the harp and a nearby door opens.
Go through this door to the small balcony above the big
double doors in the MAIN HALL. Pull the
chain to open the big double
doors. Take a standing jump over the railing to the floor
below. Go through the doors you just opened to the next
level.
(NOTE: Make sure you have
the PHAROS PILLAR before exiting.)
Walkthrough text, maps, diagrams, and all
other original images copyright © 1997-2008 Stellalune.
All
rights reserved.
The
Last Revelation
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