Black Guardian

The Black Guardian, or Greater Guardian, is a Guardian of immense size and power. It is summoned to Oublié Cathedral by Pious to guard the dominant Ancients' essences. Of all the Ancients' creatures, the Black Guardian is the most similar to its master's appearance. Peter Jacob's and Paul Luther's chapters take place solely on the reason that this beast hungered for human flesh, and was set to guard the artifact. Oublié had to do everything it could to feed it, which included luring monks and pilgrims to their doom to see the (fake) Hand of Jude, in the First World War taking wounded soldiers from the makeshift hospital.

The Greater Guardian's hunger for human flesh and bone seems linked to the binding allowing it to remain in this world and/or Pious's ability to command the monster. Despite Pious's attempts to placate it, no alignment of the Greater Guardian seems to take well to his authority and it cooperates with him only reluctantly, despite the importance of its task to the Ancients' plans.

In the end of Paul Luther's chapter, it is seen that the monk was killed by the Black Guardian, as its first victim. Chatturgha's and Ulyaoth's Black Guardian both crushed Paul's body (Chattur'gha's smashing him with its claw and Ulyaoth's stepping on him), and Xel'lotath's made his head explode.

The Black Guardian is later defeated by Peter.

Xel'lotath's Black Guardian

This Particular Black Guardian is considerably the black sheep of the three. Its body appears to have an impossibly skinny torso with two sets of arms and a distinct lack of any head. Instead, it has the Xel'lotath rune symbol in its place. The guardian is known to cackle and bellow with laughter uncontrollably within cutscenes, and has a very soft, whispery type of dialogue with an echo.

Instead of crushing or stomping on its enemies, it prefers to utilize magick for all of its attacks, as first shown when it levitates Paul Luther into the air causes his head to explode. It uses this same technique against Peter Jacob when he fights it in 1916, though the magickal bolts home in on Peter instead of lifting him in the air, presumably for smoother gameplay. At close range, the creature claps its hands together and causes a pillar of magick to shoot up from within a rune triangle. If the player looks closely at this attack, they can see the runes Antorbok & Aretak (along with Xel'lotath of course) in a three-point spell. Presumably, this spell cannot acquired by the player. As it gets closer to death, the rune symbol gets closer and closer to the base of where its shoulders are, to indicate the player how close they are to beating it.

If fired upon, it will ask "Are you trying to fight me or entertain me, little one?" If shot at again after a long period of not being fired upon, it will say "Your weapons will not work against me, fool! Only the interplay of wits and magick can save your mind, if you can use them."

Chattur'gha's Black Guardian

Chattur'gha's Black Guardian is perhaps the most memorable as players simply refer to it as "The Lobster Boss". As its nickname entails, it indeed closely resembles a crustacean, including an exoskeleton, carapace, and large pincer-like claws. This one is considered to be the most monstrous, as it occasionally lets out a roar and deep, thundering voice. It attacks by shooting fireballs that travel like mortars and detonate on the ground, lashing out with its long tongue to consume players for an instant kill, and smashing its huge claws in an attempt to crush the player.

When shot, the creature will express amusement and say,"You bore me, 'flesh and bone' ...". Later on, if shot again after a long period of not being fired upon, it will remark "You believe you can hurt with THAT, flesh and bone? (laugh) Your weapons are weak... useless! Come close, feel the might of my wrath." It is the only Black Guardian that does not reveal how to defeat it during its taunting.

Ulyaoth's Black Guardian

Of all the Black Guardians, this one is the most bizarre-looking. It has three long legs which support a small, basic body. Under the body are thin hook-like appendages that hold some sort of levitating sphere. Its voice sounds calm and intellectual, and uses a high level of vocabulary within its sentences. After the end of the first phase of its fight, the floating sphere bursts apart, and as the battle progresses the tint of blue around the Black Guardian darkens.

If shot, it will say "My machinations are timeless, Peter... your life is not." If shot a second time after a long period of not being fired upon, it will remark "The tools of your puerile civilization are of no use against the Power of the Planes. Magick is your only hope, if you have any at all." It should be noted that the word "of", while said, does not appear in the text on the bottom of the screen.

Trivia

• It is the only Black Guardian that does not have a one-hit kill attack.
• The Black Gaurdian's name is referring to its evil nature rather than its physical coloration

Chattur'gha's Black Guardian

Xel'lotath's Black Guardian

Ulyaoth's Black Guardian