The Mystery of Eidolon by Pariah. To attempt to prove that Eidolon is not a "giant snail", it would be best to begin with Heretic. It is the original, where the Serpent Rider series began...

Heretic veterans will recall the end of the original Heretic (or the end of episode three for those who know only the five episode "Shadow of the Serpent Riders" edition), where the hero, the Sidhe elf, destroyed the first Serpent Rider D'Sparil before being banished to the evil world from which D'Sparil came. The player is shown in a crystal ball, as he is being viewed by a large, exceptionally evil-looking red character, who is robed and has a very angry look on his face. Who would be monitoring the Sidhe elf and be extremely displeased at the demise of D'Sparil? Only one of the other Serpent Riders. Korax is ruled out, because Hexen fans know that he is a black, six-armed menace, thus not fitting the description of the character previously described. This leaves Eidolon, who, as the biggest and baddest Serpent Rider, would definitely be upset at the death of the baby Rider.

In fact, a somewhat recent message board discussion involving myself and a few others regarding the identity of the aforementioned red character was never officially settled by a Raven employee. I had argued that this character was Eidolon, while others believed it was a Heresiarch from Hexen. My thought on that matter is this: Why would a mini-boss (i.e., insignificant character, as far as the entire series is concerned) be featured at the end of the first game, when the second game had not even been thought about in detail yet. The only thing certain at the time when this red character was made was the idea that there were three Serpent Riders. A Heresiarch had probably not even been discussed yet.

More evidence of a non-snail Eidolon can be found in Hexen, the second game in the series. At the conclusion of this chapter in the Serpent Rider series, the third Rider is previewed in the very last scene of the ending. This shot shows the, not coincidentally, red arm of a character manipulating a figure of Korax on a chess board. Who else but Eidolon would have the power to manipulate Korax? Refer back to the Heretic shot. The hand shown in Hexen's conclusion appears to make a good match to the body shown at the end of Heretic. A snail would certainly not have hands, let alone a hand with multi-inch long fingernails. Also consider this: Just try to consider the shot at the end of Hexen if it were taken from farther back. Does a snail manipulating characters on a chess board seem reasonable? No, but the same shot with the character shown in Heretic's ending makes a lot more sense.

Moving along to the next point, which is the screenshot of "Eidolon" released a few weeks ago. Something about it just makes it seem like a joke. The snail and the four characters look like they were taken from something else and placed in this scene. Note that all four classes are present in this picture, and that three of them are being killed at the same time (the Paladin is still squirting blood, the green one on the left is being attacked, and the one in the foreground is still on his knees). While this is possible, it seems unlikely. Plus, the dinky little hands shown on this snail have 2 fingers and could not possibly reach down to pick up the chess pieces. Also bear in mind that this picture was never distributed to Phoebus, the Official Webmaster for Raven Software. A screenshot featuring a character of significant importance to the game would surely be sent to someone working for Raven.

Still more evidence lies in the demo of HeXen II. First, in level 1, in the first room where the first torch can be obtained, there is what is apparently an altar on the back wall. This altar has a pentagram on it, with a face on top of the pentagram. Who else in the game would have an altar with a pentagram on it devoted to his worship other than the main boss? Further evidence that the subject of this altar is Eidolon lies on the walls next to the altar, where there are pictures of the 4 mini-bosses, Eidolon's Generals, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death (I think) is shown here.

More evidence can be seen when going down the first tunnel, in the opposite direction of the aforementioned first room. Here, there is another altar, with the same face on it.

The final point in the demo is seen when the demo is completed. A congratulations screen is displayed. The object here is presumably Eidolon's castle, since it is stated on Activision's official HeXen II website that Eidolon lives in the medieval hub. This castle has the same pentagram and face on its towers, with lightning (which is usually not a sign of peace and goodness) in the background.

This face, which, as you can see, is present in a few places in the first two levels alone, has no eyestalks or snail-like qualities whatsoever. Lastly, in case anyone is saying, "Sure all this stuff about a red guy is great, but it's not necessarily Eidolon," I can prove that Eidolon is red. A couple of months ago, after watching the end of Hexen (again), I noted the red arm, assuming it was the arm of Eidolon, and emailed HeXen II animator Mike "Chaos" Werckle. I asked him if they remembered to make Eidolon red, and he replied, saying, "Nobody here remembered that chess playing shot. Thanks for reminding us, though-he's red now =) Good thing you sent that email when you did because we were going to start his texture this week (which was about the end of June). We're all psyched that you remembered that, and we think he'll look great red!" There it is, Serpent Rider fans. It seems the HeXen II community has been the victim of a very elaborate prank, designed to scare us all. Feel free to email me whether you agree, disagree, or think I have way too much free time. In the end, though, only the full version of HeXen II will settle this.

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