Sky Temple Key

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In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the Sky Temple Keys were ten keys that locked the Ing's home on Dark Aether. Similar in appearance to the Dark Temple Keys, these artifacts were hidden on various parts of Dark Aether by Ing Flying Caches. They resemble floating gyroscopes with green jewels at their centers. Collecting all of them is vital to open the way up to the Sky Temple, where the final boss of the game patiently awaits Samus Aran's arrival.

Contents 1 Locations 1.1 Dark Agon 1.2 Dark Torvus 1.3 Ing Hive 1.4 Sky Temple Grounds 2 Trivia

[edit] Locations

Samus only has to collect nine out of ten Keys (as one of the Luminoth Keybearers, A-Kul, managed to retrieve and place back one of them to the Sky Temple Gateway), and to do so, she can scan the bodies of the lifeless Keybearers to find that the Ing carried them to the Dark Aether equivalent of the places where said Keybeares died. This means that Samus, after finding one corpse, has to find the closest Dark Portal, enter it and then make her way to the Dark variation of the corpse's recorded location; once there, she has to use her Dark Visor to locate a Flying Ing Cache, whose defeat will release one of the Keys; this procedure is repeated until all Keys are found.

A second source of clues come from the Sky Temple Gateway, where A-Kul foresaw the locations of the fallen Keybearers and led messages regarding where to find the Keys they retrieved. The key hunt can begin relatively early (after Samus finds the Dark Visor), but can only be completed after gaining the Light Suit, as some Keys are hidden either behind Light warp spots or under poisonous water. The Keys are located in the following zones:

[edit] Dark Agon

• Battleground, Keybearer found in Mining Station, Agon Wastes. Notes: Samus must use either Screw Attack to move at once to the Ing Cache's location or the Dark Visor to go there more safely through invisible moving platforms.
• Dark Oasis, Keybearer found in Main Reactor, Agon Wastes. Notes: One Power Bomb is required to expose the toxic pool, and the Light Suit is needed to swim through it.

[edit] Dark Torvus

• Poisoned Bog, Dark Torvus. Keybearer found in Torvus Lagoon, Torvus Bog. Notes: Light Suit is required to swim through toxic water.
• Dungeon, Dark Torvus. Keybearer found in Catacombs, Torvus Bog. Notes: Samus must traverse a maze underneath the toxic water. Two Watchdrones block the path, but can be moved from their positions by a bright light.

[edit] Ing Hive

• Hive Entrance, Ing Hive. Keybearer found in Sanctuary Entrance, Sanctuary Fortress. Notes: Samus must use the Screw Attack to catch the Light warp spot, the Light Suit to use it and SA once more to reach the Cache's spot.
• Hive Dynamo Works, Ing Hive. Keybearer found in Powerworks, Sanctuary Fortress. Notes: Samus must return to where the Spider Guardian was defeated in Light Aether. A door at the end of the Spider Ball puzzle is sealed by a Yellow Blast Shield. Behind this door is a Dark portal, which links the Cache's hideout.

[edit] Sky Temple Grounds

• Accursed Lake, Sky Temple Grounds. Keybearer found in Industrial Site, Temple Grounds. Notes: Samus must be in posession of the Seeker Launcher to open the Multi-Lock Blast Shield that leads to the lake.
• Ing Reliquary, Sky Temple Grounds. Keybearer found in Cavern, Temple Grounds. Notes: The Dark Portal that leads to this area is by no means close, it's on the Sacred Path area; also, the Light Suit is required due to the presence of Ingstorm.
• Defiled Shrine, Sky Temple Grounds. Keybearer found in Crash Site, Temple Grounds. Notes: Located in the middle of the Shrine, but guarded by a horde of Warrior Ing.

[edit] Trivia

• If Samus uses her Dark Visor while being where a deceased Keybearer is, the silhouette of the Ing Cache holding the snatched Key can be seen, but cannot be killed from Light Aether.
• Coincidentially, the ninth Key (see the above list) is located in the Dark Aether variation of the room where Samus crash landed on the planet.
• Keys one, six, seven and nine can be collected prior of the collection of the Light Suit, so the player can shorten the period of the quest by getting them before the call of their requirement.
• Some players have criticized the search of the Keys due to the difficulty of finding the hints to find them and the high backtracking (to every region) involved.