Temple

*Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light...**This article is about The Dark Pictures Anthology's third installment,* ***House of Ashes***
***.***

## Temple

* 2231 BC
* 2003

### **Inhabitants**

**2231 BC**
Balathu
Naram-Sin

### **Visited By**

**2231 BC**
Kurum
Gutian Woman
Vampires
**1940s**
Randolph Hodgson
Mary Hodgson
Agnes Bradshaw
Sherman Crow
Arthur Pulman
Aline Journeau
Ellis van Huyten
**2003**
Eric Edmund King
Rachel King
Jason Kolchek
Nicholas Kay
Salim Othman
Clarice Stokes (Determinant)
Nathan Merwin (Determinant)
Dar Basri
Iraqi Soldiers
Marines
Vampires

The **Temple** is a major setting location in *The Dark Pictures Anthology*'s third installment, *House of Ashes*.

## Description

The temple is located under the Zagros Mountains (more specifically, under the shepherds' farm) at a depth ranging from the surface (counting from the statue) to 150 FT.

As shown in the prologue, the temple is a building of enormous size, almost comparable to the SS Ourang Medan. At the same time, as it was seen, the temple was not built to the end. On the rooftops there are tropical plants such as palms and bushes. There is a huge statue of Naram-Sin at the main gate.

After thousands of years, the temple was completely buried underground and surrounded by sand caverns. It is also possible that during various earthquakes and tremors, many boulders broke off from the temple, cracks appeared and sand was scattered everywhere. Under the temple is the catacombs, which goes into the caves, where there is a giant hole leading to an alien spaceship under the temple.

## Distribution

The protagonists are unable to explore the temple completely due to its size, but despite this, they visit key locations.

### Main hall

The main gate leads into a corridor with many large statues of people, from where the road leads to the throne room. The hall is also huge in size, with many symmetrically located bowls for fire, four statues at the corners of the room which look like animals with Naram-Sin's head, a sandy pool and a high staircase leading to the throne. There is a hole in the ceiling, from where light made its way into the hall. The walls have high columns up to the ceiling. To the right (east) of the main entrance is the gate to the catacombs.

After the arrival of the Hodgson expedition, in the center of the hall are the tents, the expedition's belongings and equipments (documents, tablets, tape recorder, dynamites, and generator) and many searchlights.

### Secret room

The secret room is located to the right of the throne. It is a small room with many pedestals on which there are vases of different colors, shapes and sizes. A big carving depicting Ereshkigal can be seen on the wall.

### Temple ruin with hand

In this part of the temple, Nick and Jason are reunited. This area contains a large stone arm, two small rooms (one of which can be explored) and a gate leading to the other part of the caverns, where they will find Merwin hanging on barbed wires.

### Temple ruin with head

This area is divided into two, between which there is a staircase and a large stone head - on the upper one there are mainly passages heaped with stones; the lower one contains a small open space and a narrow corridor with scratched drawings on the walls.

### Temple ruin above main hall

This area is represented by several corridors and stairs connecting the rooms. The walls, as well as the lying stones, are carved with cuneiforms.

## *House of Ashes*

### Pre-2231 BC

The temple was built by the Akkadian King Naram-Sin as a gift to the Gods, whom he angered. He unknowingly built the temple right above a buried spaceship inhabited by a nest of extraterrestrial creatures.

### Prologue

A battle took place near the temple between the Akkadians and the Gutians. During the eclipse, the vampires made their way to the surface and stole the carnage, and also took over the temple. Over the past 4,000 years, the temple was completely buried underground.

### 1946-1947

An expedition lead by Randolph Hodgson sneaks into the temple, thinking it is the tomb of Alexander the Great. They soon find a crater under the temple leading to an alien ship. When the vampires began to get out from there, the team made an attempt to undermine the temple, but the dynamite was sabotaged by van Huyten, which led to the death of the expedition.

### Main Story

#### Act 1

A US military group found the temple using the Caelus program, which picked up a signal from Hodgson's expedition equipment, but believed it was Saddam Hussein's weapon silo. During the earthquake on the farm, all of the characters fall into the sand caverns and soon reach the temple, colliding with the vampires along the way.

* Jason and Nick briefly pass through the small temple ruins before reuniting with Clarice and Merwin. Soon, Clarice is grabbed by one of the vampires and they have to escape.
* Salim, while exploring the ruins of the temple, encounters a vampire, but manages to escape, either by killing the vampire or when it has been distracted by a group of marines.
* Eric and Rachel immediately go to the throne room, where the generator is turned on. There they also hear Randolph's message, after which they run away from Dar who attacked them. Running away from him, Rachel falls into the chasm and Eric can die.

#### Act 2

Eric, along with Jason and Nick who both just arrived, set up a base in the throne room, setting the catacombs with mines, and trying to communicate with help by radio. However, when the radio starts to make a continuous noise, it attracts vampires' attention in the chasm, who then ascend to the temple.

As the boys barricade in the hall, they are also joined by Rachel and possibly Clarice, who is infected. Unable to contain the onslaught of the vampires, the group decides to flee to the catacombs. In these moments, Eric, Rachel, and Clarice can die.

#### Act 3

The last time the group visits the temple is when they escape from the caves after blowing up the cocoon vault in the spaceship. As a result of the earthquake, a hole is formed above the temple, through which the protagonists escape.

## Trivia

* The Temple, along with the Dockside Market, the Duke of Milan, the South Pacific Wreck Site, the SS Ourang Medan, Caves, the Alien Ship, and the Cocoon Vault are the only locations that have chapters named after. (Respectively The Temple, Chinese Market, The Duke, Wreck, Abandoned Ship, The Well, The City, and The Vault)