The Sanctuary of Water and Ice

The Sanctuary of Water and Ice
← The Bayou	The Menhir Hills →
	The Minisaurus Plain

The Sanctuary of Water and Ice
← The Bayou	The Menhir Hills →
	{{{connected to}}}

The Sanctuary of Water and Ice
← The Bayou	The Menhir Hills →
	{{{connected to}}}

I see that you have found the first of my four masks.
—Polokus when Rayman meets him, Rayman 2

The Sanctuary of Water and Ice is a location in Rayman 2 and its remakes. It follows the Bayou in all versions of the game, even though the Sanctuary itself is found at the end of Whale Bay in the PlayStation version and on the Lost Island in the PlayStation 2 version. This is where Rayman fights Axel and finds the first mask of Polokus.

Original version

A Red Henchman 800 is used to represent the level in the Hall of Doors.

The Chamber of the Teensies

Before entering the Sanctuary, Rayman is instead teleported to a hall, in which he meets the four Teensies he met in the Woods of Light. They tell him that he is now in the Chamber of the Teensies, a strange place that grants access to new worlds, provided that Rayman has collected at least 100 Yellow Lums. If he has, then they will allow him to pass through the gigantic stone doors. A little hesitant, Rayman approaches them, and is then coaxed to go in by the Teensies.

Rayman will visit the Chamber for each time he is about to find a world that hides one of Polokus' masks.

Phase 1

Rayman arrives on the beach of an island – one side, there are cliffs to climb, on the other side is a wooden pier with a cage hanging from a pole. While climbing up the cliffs, he will encounter a crab and a purple Henchman 800 that can drill into the ground and tunnel to a nearby position – the drill can be deadly if it emerges and catches Rayman from underground. At the top of the cliffs, there is a little cave, and a pool of water, which has an underwater passage that leads to a small room with a cage.

Rayman will then have to go back that way, and then climb the netted ladder, where he will then end up on a higher cliff on which small Robo-Pirate installations were constructed. There is also a strange door, and on its foot are two odd looking triangles, a yellow and a blue one – the pirates have been looking for a way to open this door as well. Then Rayman will encounter a red Henchman 800, and once the coast is clear, he can proceed to throwing kegs at the metal sparadraps that lock the two buildings. Each one contains a Magic Sphere, which needs to be placed on top of these triangular bases according to their colour. Once they are both placed on, the door, which leads to the Sanctuary itself, will open. It is possible to move Rayman during the scene depicting the door opening. If the player moves him away from the location of the scene, he will disappear off screen, although will simply be found by the player wherever he ended up after the cut scene.

Down the corridor, there is a hall in which lots of Yellow Lums are found. Its walls display octopuses with tentacles resembling waves. Though the name of the Sanctuary suggests a mixed environment of water and ice, the interior of this part of the Sanctuary lacks water and is predominantly icy. At the end of this chamber, Rayman finds an open passageway which leads into a gaping, star-filled void: the next area.

Phase 2

After stepping through the passageway, Rayman finds himself on a blue stone platform, floating in a star-filled abyss reminiscent of the Hall of Doors. Chunks of stone float in the void. Rayman must slide down a slippery, water-coated slope, jumping over bottomless pits, sliding through icy tunnels and catching Yellow Lums as he goes. At the end of this series of slopes, Rayman slides up a ramp into the air and finds himself face-to-face with Axel, the Guardian of the Sanctuary of Water and Ice, who exists solely to defend the first mask of Polokus from all intruders. A chain of Purple Lums leads from Rayman to Axel; with his grappling fist, Rayman must swing from one Purple Lum to the next while avoiding the icicles thrown by Axel. When Rayman gets close enough, he must use his magic fist to strike the icicle hanging above Axel's head; this causes it to fall on the Guardian, defeating him. If Rayman falls or is knocked down from a Purple Lum, he slides back down the slope and must begin the battle again.

Once the battle is over, an extra Purple Lum appears from Axel's remains, and he will have to swing onto the others once again, to cross the gap in between, onto another floating building with a waterfall flowing down. The waterfall curtains a large hallway. At the end of the hallway is a grassy chamber with a thin but steep hill, which has a strange pillar at the top with rings engraved on it. As Rayman shyly approaches this, the white ring on his chest begins to glow, as does the ring on the pillar, and an electric beam connects it to his body. This opens the pillar up, revealing the first mask of Polokus. Rayman climbs onto it, and when he takes it, he is finally warped away as the pillar closes itself.

Rayman then arrives on a moonlit cliff. At the edge of the cliff is a pillar similar to the one in the sanctuary, but atop it sits Polokus, the god of the Glade of Dreams. Polokus explains that he is far away despite being physically present, and can only speak in dreams, but by travelling to the Sanctuaries and acquiring their corresponding masks Rayman can bring Polokus back. Polokus takes the mask from the sanctuary and places it on his pillar, then warps Rayman back to the Hall of Doors (the Teensie Circle in the Minisaurus Plains in Rayman Revolution).

Rayman is about to slide down the icy slope.
Rayman on the slope.

Dreamcast version

This level remains the same as before, but with the following exceptions:

At the beach in phase 1, a purple Henchman 800 parachutes down and replaces the drilling pirate.
In the cave in which the cage is found, a Glob Crystal can be found as well. Instead of the cage being on the floor, it is hanging from the ceiling.
A drilling purple Henchman 800 shooting helicopter bombs replaces the other pirate at the door to the Sanctuary.
In phase 2, it appears to be snowing, mainly as a graphical enhancement.
A yellow glow surrounds Axel.
Strangely, no victory fanfare plays, neither does the jingle that usually plays when Rayman picks up a Mask. In the iOS version, these tracks play but are erroneously set to loop infinitely, causing a very strange effect.

The Spiral Door in the Isle of Doors which leads to the Sanctuary of Water and Ice.
Axel is surrounded by a yellow glow.

PlayStation version

Main article: Whale Bay

The level is absent. Instead, Axel and the first mask can be found in Whale Bay (which occurs in this level's place, between the Menhir Hills and the Bayou, rather than after the Canopy). Only Axel's arena and the mask chamber are lifted from the Sanctuary of Water and Ice for Whale Bay.

One notable change to the Axel section is that if Rayman revisits the level he will have to battle Axel again, whereas in most other versions Axel can only be fought once.

PlayStation 2 version

While the game still refers to this level as the Sanctuary of Water and Ice, the characters now refer to it as the Lost Island, which appears to be the name of the island upon which the sanctuary was built. It also bears the following changes:

On the beach in phase 1, there are more Robo-Pirates as well as there are more trees, leaving Rayman with less room for him to move around while attacking them. He would also have to jump off the top of the cliffs and glide to catch the Yellow Lums at are above his reach. In the cave at the top of the cliffs, there is another pirate, this time with bombs and a flamethrower. Another pirate also sleeps next to the ladder.
Most notably, there is a little room near the Sanctuary door, in which a cannon stands. Throwing a keg will not ignite the sparks it emits, so Rayman will have to backtrack once the power of his shots is upgraded in the Canopy.
More pirates stand at the door - two purple ones and a yellow one. Once they are cleared, Rayman can proceed to gathering and placing the Magic Spheres as normal.
In phase 2, the music played at the icy slopes is different.

External links

Whale Bay playthrough at YouTube (Sony PlayStation version) (Part 2/2)