Kadingir Sanctum

Doom (2016) missions
Mission 01: Rip & Tear Mission 02: Know Your Enemy Mission 03: Meltdown Mission 04: Beginning of the End Mission 05: Argent Tower Mission 06: Into the Fire Mission 07: Hell on Mars Mission 08: A Brighter Tomorrow Mission 09: Lazarus Mission 10: Titan's Realm Mission 11: The Crucible Mission 12: I Am VEGA Mission 13: The Well

The Kadingir Sanctum, also referred to as the Blood Keep, is the sixth level of Doom (2016). It is the first area of Hell which is visited in the game after Olivia Pierce uses an Argent accumulator to rip open a permanent portal to the demons' dimension at the Argent Energy Tower. The Doom Slayer is pulled into the rift shortly after her, and ends up near the place he was imprisoned by the demons and subsequently found by the UAC. The sixth mission, Into the Fire, takes place here. A barren landscape of craggy rocks and deep caverns is punctuated by portals which require skull keys to be opened.

"The Hell portal is now open back on Mars. Lost in the Hell dimension, you are unable to stop the demons from absorbing our world. Kill everything you see and find a way back to Mars."

― Loading description

Description

Kadingir Sanctum is an array of tunnels, catacombs, and temples connecting the Umbral Plains to the Great Steppe. It is referred to as a place of both worship and vilification - both the heroes and the enemies of Hell can be found entombed within this region.

Many important artifacts were discovered and returned to Mars via Project Lazarus Manned Expedition 2145/128. All human life was lost in the recovery of these artifacts, and the records were then sealed, with the artifacts being spirited away quickly to the top-secret Lazarus Labs. The records concerning these artifacts, and the artifacts themselves, disappeared shortly afterwards and are presumed lost.

Mission 06: Into the Fire

After being pulled into the Hell portal created by Olivia Pierce, the Doom Slayer must find a way back to Mars in order to close the portal and stop Hell's armies coming through. Realising he has been deposited near the place where he was entombed, the Doom Slayer heads to that location; on the way, he finds monoliths detailing his crusade through Hell and echo recordings of a journey made by Samuel Hayden into Hell. Eventually the Slayer reaches the chamber where his sarcophagus was stored and sees a recording of Hayden examining it; he then activates a portal leading back to Mars.

Summary

A detailed walkthrough is available for this level.

Objectives

Kill Olivia Pierce

Get back to Mars

Find the exit portal marked by the UAC

Challenges

Dead Man Stalking

Earn four Praetor tokens.

Refer to the "Other items" section of the walkthrough for information on finding the elite guards.

Momentum Swing

Kill ten demons while using power-ups.

Sweep the Leg

Perform four "Leg Sweep" glory kills on the Hell razer (attack right leg).

Attacking from the razer's right side while aiming at the right leg is recommended.

Special items

Item	Amount
Argent cells	1
Combat support drones	1
Praetor tokens	4
Rune trials	2
Secrets	6
Datapads	4

Areas / screenshots

• 

  The sanctum entrance.

• 

  Yellow key arena.

• 

  Blood pit arena.

• 

  Ground-level view of the final arena.

• 

  A recording of Hayden examining the Doom marine's sarcophagus within its tomb.

Concept art

All concept art by Colin Geller, unless noted otherwise.

• 

  Hell bridge.

• 

  Locked door area.

• 

  Cacodemons hive.

• 

  First Slayer's testaments room.

• 

  Early blood pit arena.

• 

  Blood pit.

• 

  Blood pit.

• 

  Second Slayer's testaments room.

• 

  Baron of Hell arena.

• 

  Baron of Hell arena (body/gore piles concepts by Alex Palma)

• 

  Windswept plateau.

• 

  Final arena.

• 

  Final arena.

Pre-release

Many differences could be observed in E3 2015 demo gameplay:

• The skybox was more yellow/green.
• At the entrance to the sanctum there was no door with a skull switch.
• There was no "he is here" phrase.
• There were no holograms.
• The demonic locked door of the teleporter room on the path to a ledge with unwilling is not present. Instead there was a blood pit arena. Cacodemons could be observed flying and running away. A quad damage was present instead of haste, which was placed on the ledge where the med kit was in release.
• There were barrels in one of the areas of the arena.
• During the battle there was a door from which a mancubus entered the arena.
• A spectre can be seen.
• The combat music of the level was the Hell guard battle theme rather than "Damnation".
• At the end the player tried to leave the arena but was met by a cyberdemon charging its rocket launcher; the Slayer raised the BFG in response.

Inspiration and development

During the development of the level, instead of skull keys were planned, their role was played by hearts of barons of Hell, the player was supposed to hunt down these demons and rip them out.

Secret prophecies

Near the third Slayer's Testament rune, a whispering voice can be heard seemingly emanating from a nearby tree. This low, distorted, almost unintelligible voice speaks four different prophecies:

• "Could he be demon kin, spawned from the loin of a grotesque infidel? Yet, the seal of the heretic binds him. His origin is as dark as his coming."
• "The power held within the Crucible will punish man-born and demon kin alike. It will crush the divide. It will corrupt all realms. It will create the monster. It must never be found."
• "Yet even as the Doom Slayer revels in the spoils of his war, another shall rise from the fires: a dark priest consumed by the Crucible. And even the Doom Slayer shall weep in his shadow."
• "The heretic-turned-apostle Olivia, birthed of the dawn of our resurrection, by her hand we cross the divide. And for her tribute, she shall be granted the form of the Dread Widow."

Trivia

Bird's-eye view of column formation.

• The location in or near Kadingir where the Doom Slayer was imprisoned is called the Blood Keep. This location shares its name with MAP16: Blood Keep from Doom 64.
  • The level itself also bears this name in the game files, together with Titan's Realm and Necropolis, but with postfixes A, B, and C. Although they all had the same name, Kadingir was never connected to them.
• The final arena of this level is additionally designed after the beginning area of MAP17: Watch Your Step, also from Doom 64. Similarities include the Stonehenge-like pillar layout with overlapping crossbars at different vertical levels, and the nature of the battle which takes place there as well - enemies continue to appear in shortly spread-out waves which increase in strength by varying the type of monster, starting with imps and culminating with barons of Hell. Other similarities not confirmed by the map's author include the color of the sky in both areas, and the relative positions of their exits compared to the temple structure.
• The name Kadingir Sanctum could be a reference to the Sumerian name of the city of Babylon, KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI, meaning "Gate of God."
• The room containing the second Slayer's Testament has a wall with a demonic face and a pentagram. This is reminiscent of the MARBFACE texture from the original Doom games.
• A skull wearing Commander Keen's helmet can be found inside a small cave with a secret chaingun.
• By the lever that opens the classic level area, sitting behind a stalagmite, is a corpse wearing a horned helmet with an arrow in its right knee. This is a reference to a meme introduced by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.