| “ | Not now. Corruption spreads. In our city. In our hearts. Only I remain pure, a beacon against the darkness! — The Archon to Death, |
” |
Archon Lucien is a powerful Angel, leader of the Scriptorium, infused with a glowing golden light, but bound to the angelic realm of Lostlight, and unable to go any farther than the Crystal Spire. The Archon is no diplomat and is battle hardened from the countless eons of war against demons, and more recently the corruption that has befallen his own people. He is the guardian of the half of the key to the Well of Souls that was entrusted to the angels of the First Kingdom.
Biography
Darksiders II
Cleansing the realm
| “ | Out of the shadows and into the light. I see you Horseman... the things you have done, the lives you have ended. I know why you are here. — The Archon to Death when they first meet. |
” |
Death had first encountered the Archon at the peak of the Crystal Spire as he was looking at a pool displaying Abaddon's visage. The Archon knew why Death had come to Lostlight, and knew that he sought the Well of Souls. The Archon guarded the angelic key to the Well, but would not give up the key until Lostlight was cleansed of Corruption and claimed it was stored within the unreachable Ivory Citadel. Thus he told the Nephilim to go to Earth to retrieve the Rod of Arafel, a holy artifact with the power to clear a path to the Ivory Citadel. After Death returned from Earth with the rod, the Archon used it to clear the corruption around the Citadel, he then advised Death seek the Scribe, who might be able to help the Horseman. The angel provided the Nephilim with an Ortho to access the Citadel.
The Truth revealed
| “ | May the light of all that is holy destroy you! — The Archon to Death before he attacks him |
” |
After traveling to the Ivory Citadel and defeating Jamaerah, Death learned from the once corrupted scribe that it had been the Archon that had brought Corruption to the realm, having gone mad after discovering the truth about Abaddon and slaughtering many angels while proclaiming his own purity, holding the angelic key to himself. After learning this, the Horseman returned to the Crystal Spire to confront the Archon, who was watching a vision of the Destroyer speaking in the pool. Death demanded the key, but the Archon refused. He revealed that he had helped Abbadon to at least partially open the Well of Souls with the Angel Key, believing that Addadon still served the light. Abbadon then openly betrayed Heaven, useing the energies of the Well to power his forces and overwhelm the already beleaguered Hellguard. It is also implied that hiis subsequent discovery of Abbadon's deception had been what precipitated his madness, allowing Corruption begin it's work. After proclaming that he alone was worthy to bear the key, he attacked the Horseman with the Rod of Arafel. The Archon, now visibly corrupted, sent the Nephilim to a distant platform where they did battle. Despite his skill and the power of the Rod of Arafel, Death was able to kill the Archon and take his key to the Well of Souls.
Personality
Archon Lucien can be best described as both prideful and arrogant, as he viewed himself as the only pure being left in Lostlight. However, he too was touched by Corruption and had lost his sanity in the process; having killed several angels in his madness. When Death had first encountered the Archon, he displayed a rather remarkably friendlier side to himself; a side of him much different from when he later reveals his true colors. This could have possibly hinted that the Archon was simply pretending to have been unaffected by the Corruption so as to manipulate the Horseman into assisting him. Though granted, he did help Death reach The Ivory Citadel, but it wasn't until the Horseman demanded the key did The Archon reveal his true colors.
Powers/Abilities
Archon Lucien has proven to be an exeptionally powerful being. Having endured many years of war against the forces of Hell.
- Corruption Infusion: The Archon had been secretly corrupted at an unknown time and it never manifested until his fight with Death; all of his abilities have been infused with corruption as a result of this.
- Light Manipulation: As a high ranking angel of Heaven, the Archon utilized the light endowed within himself as a means of attack such as projectiles or emitting light around himself, and the Rod of Arafel only made his powers over light even stronger.
- Photoportation: The Archon has the ability to teleport from one location to another in the form of light-based energies. During his battle with Death, when The Archon teleported, his arrival was makred by a massive eruption of corrupted tentacles around himself.
- Wing Manifestation: After his first two wings are torn off, he grows fleshy, decayed wings in their place.
- Flight: Naturally, as an angel, the Archon has the ability to fly via his wings, however he temporarily loses this ability when his wings are ripped off by Death during their battle. However, he was able to quickly regain his power of flight by generating black, fleshly, decayed wings out of the corruption that has infected him (though the wings he generated were more skeletal and fleshy in their appearence instead of being feathered).
- Powerful Energy Blasts: After The Archon explained to Death that he was the only one who should bear the Angel Key, he summoned a large blast of energy that was able to effortlessly send the Horseman rocketing out of the Crystal Spire and onto a large platform (hitting two large rocks in the process).
Strategy
Phase 1
The Archon utilizes the Rod of Arafel along with corruption infused within him in combat. Dodge roll in order to avoid the waves of corruption that he sends out, and when he stops in between close in to attack. When he takes to air he'll place a shield around himself and send out waves of corruption, simply evade these. While he is in the air, The Archon will, from time to time, charge up the rod to unleash a large wave of corruption, but you can use Death Grip to bring yourself closer to attack him while he charges. Also be careful when attacking him directly because he'll quickly put up a damaging shield after blocking your attacks with the rod. After the Archon sustains enough damage, he'll fall to the ground and an action prompt will appear over him, which results in Death cutting his wings off and moving on to phase 2.
Phase 2
With his wings gone Archon will walk or teleport to traverse the battle ground. On occasion he'll float up and slam down with the rod to unleash a large wave of corruption. Use the strategy from phase 1 and soon you'll move on to phase 3.
Phase 3
Archon can fly once more thanks to the new wings given to him by the Rod Of Arafel as well as the corruption inside him. He will at times teleport outside the battle ground and charge at you, dodge roll to avoid it, or risk being grabbed and slammed to the ground. Dodge his attacks and attack between and use Death Grip or Murder to get him in the air, and after some time an action prompt will appear, activate it and watch as Death finishes off The Archon.
Trivia
- The word Archon is a greek word that means ruler or lord, meaning that The Archon may be Lostlight's ruler. As it stands, he is clearly a figure of high authority within the angelic community.
- Another angel referred to as Archon Hestus was the one that lost the Rod of Arafel on Earth, suggesting that Archon is a title given to numerous angels.
- One of the conversations Death has with Nathaniel reveals that the Archon's name is Lucien.
- The Archon is also one of the few angels that have actual feathered wings. The others being Abaddon, Jamaerah, Nathaniel and Azrael; All powerful angels in their own right.
- The Archon has the highest number of wings seen on an angel thus far; Bearing four wings instead of just two.
- Considering how The Archon bears four wings, it's possible that this may mean that The Archon is in fact a reference to the Cherubim from the Christian Angelic Hierarchy.
- In christianity, the Cherubim are known for having four conjoined wings. Since the Archon bears four wings instead of two, this could possibly hint that The Archon is indeed a Cherub (which would also explain his impressive angelic power).
- The Archon is the first boss for which a horseman first performs a task only to fight him later.
- His quotes while fighting Death might imply that an Archon is some sort of Angel battlepriest. The probablity is further strengthened when Uriel tells Death that the Archon Hestus took the Rod of Arafel (an angelic holy artifact) and lead his troops into battle with its puryfying light to guide them.
Bugs
When You fight Archon Lucien on the XBox 360, if things get hectic enough on screen, you can set off a glitch in the game where Death can find himself running around underneath the arena used to fight the Archon. The platform will thus become demi-ethereal where you can attack Lucien, but Lucien is still stuck performing his normal moves, ergo, he can't attack you. From then on, you can basically spam him using jump attacks, or you can just continually shoot him. This of course is almost always a fluke or a bug in the programming, so don't count on it happening.
Gallery
