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The Archives is a section of Brennenburg Castle accessed from the Entrance Hall. Daniel must venture these rooms to find the key to the Wine Cellar.

InformationEdit

The Archives are a dark and large section of the castle. Numerous tinderboxes and the first part of Daniel's diary, among other things, are here. While exploring the rooms, unsettling noises can be heard, such as playing pianos, a Brute's moaning, and a Servant Grunt's grumbles. If the player is quick to investigate the music coming from the piano, the instrument will cease making noise. A Servant Grunt is actually roaming the place and can also be seen while entering the big hall after finding the key. It won't be a threat for the player though as it disappears after it enters the corridor. If Daniel goes left and tries to enter a blocked area a Servant Grunt will appear, but it's a hallucination, so it will disappear when it gets too close. Under certain conditions, while Daniel is leaving after collecting the key, footsteps will seem to follow him. This is unsettling, but yet another hallucination.

Finding The KeyEdit

First, you must cross the big hall and enter the last door, left from the fireplace. Once you enter you should notice a cave-in. Proceed through the room until you hear a loud noise. The ceiling is ultimately collapsed, trapping Daniel there. There is a letter in the left room where, if read, will cause Daniel to black out and appear in a flashback where an orb is stood on a pedestal. A group of Arabs rescues him from the rubble that he was trapped in. Examine the wall at the end of the corridor and you should notice a fragile section, throw something to bash it open, or grab it rapidly to also bash it open. You find yourself in a library and a flashback comes. All the doors are closed and to open one of them you must pull all the three fake books on the shelves as fast as you can. They are brighter than normal books. After solving this puzzle a door opens and you can find the key to the Wine Cellar on a desk. Once you pick up the key something breaks open the locked door, allowing you to exit.

TriviaEdit

• In the early game's development the Archives were originally planned to be much larger featuring two wings that would force Daniel to deal with hallucinating a historian dying and passageways infested by Spiders. After going through the spider's lair, Daniel would find the essential hollow needle used to open the locked door in the cellar archives. This was scrapped in the final product that would become 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent' and the needle ended up becoming an item Daniel would find in the Cellar Archives instead.
• In the level there is another Gatherer which is impossible to spawn, but still is inside. The Gatherer is supposed to be spawned by entering the door to the right of the piano next to the only door accessible after you pick up the Wine Cellar key to the Gallery. But to go there, Daniel should have passed from the Study's door, which becomes locked after picking up the key, making the event impossible to achieve.

• The Tabularium (Archives) shares the same name as a structure located in Italy that was once used to hold all the official records of ancient Rome.