A Guardian, catching a player
In The Tunnels and The Mountain areas the player encounters flying monsters known as Guardians. They are mechanical in nature and will attack the Traveler if the player is caught in their spotlight. According to The Art of Journey, Guardians are Cloth Whales that have been encased in stone and given a searchlight, for defence purposes as shown by the Ancient Glyphs; the visions bestowed at the end of each level eventually show that they were later used as an instrument of war fought over the magical cloth that powered the game world. If a Guardian catches the player in its light, it will turn red and the Guardian will dive into the traveller, tearing your scarf; once the light goes red, this attack is impossible to avoid. Guardians can be evaded if you manuever around the area properly (if you manage to avoid them in the Tunnels level, you will earn the Trials trophy); in the Mountain area, you can also hide in discarded Guardian casings before the searchlight falls on you.
Trivia[]
- Guardian casings are seen as still being manufactured by automata in the Desert level. In the Tunnels, their emergence is portended by a destroyed Guardian head still glowing.
- According to the Ancient Glyphs, it seems as though the monsters were once used in a war between the robed species. They appear to have been made to collect any bits of Magical Cloth that they can find, including that which the Traveler wears.
- Further supporting this theory is the fact that parts of Guardians can be found in the Desert stages, and when opened, Cloth Creatures come flying out.
- The Guardian in the Mountain area is shown attacking cloth dolphins early in the level, but not collecting them. It is possible that a malfunction caused by years of inaction and decay resulted in their malevolent nature.