The Shambhala guardians are a faction featured in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. They were the original inhabitants of shambhala that transformed when they ingested large amounts of the resin/sap of the Tree of Life. They have tasked themselves with stopping anyone who trespasses or even comes close to finding the lost city of Shambhala.
History[]
Background[]
Long ago, the Guardians were humans who ate copious amounts of the blue resin produced from the Tree of Life in Shambhala. As a result, they were transformed into aggressive purple-skinned, black-teethed monsters with inhuman strength, resilience, and mobility, as well as a limited healing factor and unnatural lifespan. For generations, these transformed men protected Shambhala from trespassers who sought to use the power of the Cintamani Stone (unbeknownst to them, the Stone was actually accumulated resin from the Tree of Life).
Outside of Shambhala, the Guardians used Yeti-like costumes to protect their identity, frighten trespassers, and to keep them warm in the harsh Himalayan environment. The Guardians were intelligent, having their own form of communication (used to instill fear as well) and constructed weapons, being equipped with lethal crossbows. They were very determined fighters, willing to even risk their lives to kill invaders.
In Borneo, Marco Polo's crew was swept away by a tsunami: the survivors ate the resin they took from Shambhala in a bid to survive, but the resin transformed them as well, leading to the men killing each other off.
During World War II, a Nazi German explorer named Karl Schäfer led an expedition into the ice caves of the Himalayas to look for the Stone. Once he discovered that it would transform those who consume the resin into powerful, near indestructible beings. He killed his own men, preventing the power of the Stone from returning to Nazi Germany and altering history.
Events of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves[]
Seventy years later, Schäfer sent Nathan Drake and Tenzin into the Himalayan ice caves to find his expedition. Nate and Tenzin found the dead bodies of Karl's crew lying in different locations of the caves. While Drake and Tenzin are scaling a rocky wall, a Yeti-like suited Guardian hiding in the shadows behind them watches them, then quickly disappears. Later, the explorers are attacked by the yeti-like suited Guardian. They attempt to fight it off to learn that bullets do not do much damage to the beast. Tenzin manages to frighten it off by stabbing it with a long knife. They continued on to find a large underground ice temple and learnt that Schäfer shot his men in order to stop them from using the power of the Stone. More suited Guardians attack and the two escape on a lift up to a mountain vista overlooking a monastery.
Later, Drake and Elena explore the monastery and catch glimpses of the beasts attacking and being driven off by Zoran Lazarevic's soldiers, who trying to prevent the discovery of the entrance to Shambhala under the monastery. The beasts are seen scaling walls and jumping long distances.
Drake, with the assistance of Harry Flynn, opens the entrance to Shambhala and are attacked by suited Guardians. Barely able to stop the creatures, they are rescued when Lazarević and his soldiers arrive, and Lazarević killed the monsters with his powerful weapon, and revealed that the creatures are the Guardians of Shambhala simply dressed in costumes to "frighten trespassers".
The party enters Shambhala and are attacked by the unsuited Guardians, allowing Nathan, Elena Fisher, and Chloe Frazer to escape the fracas into the city. Drake searches for the Stone and witnesses Lazarević’s soldiers and the Guardians battling throughout the city.
The Guardians carried explosive resin flails, deadly to the opponent
Nathan learns that the Cintamani Stone isn't actually a Stone but rather the hardened resin from the Tree of Life. Upon their view of the tree, Harry Flynn enters the room gravely wounded & left behind by Lazarević, but when Elena tries to help him. He takes out a grenade and proceeds to blow himself up, injuring Elena. She and Chloe convince Nathan that he must stop Zoran from drinking the sap in the tree before he turns nearly invincible like the Guardians.
Nathan found Lazarević under the Tree of Life, drinking from a large pool of sap, seeing his vast amount of scars and wounds healed, and he gains a great deal of strength from the resin. Drake shoots the pool of explosive resin when Lazarević & his men discover him, killing the soldiers, but Lazarević was not killed, because of his new strength. Drake then fought Lazarević, finally wounding him enough to bring him to his knees. The explosions also began to damage the Tree of Life, causing a violent earthquake to start. As the city begins to collapse, ć urges Nate to kill him, mocking him for being weak. Drake refuses to, with Lazarević to chuckle, but seeing approaching Guardians allows them to brutally beat Lazarević to death while Nate escapes from them and the burning pool of sap.
As Nate, Chloe and the injured Elena leave Shambhala, the city is seen collapsing as the veins of resin scattered around the city blow up. The Guardians in the city are most likely dead, but some may possibly have survived, including outside the city.
Abilities and Weapons[]
Drawn in a Nazi journal.
The Guardians were the original human inhabitants of Shambhala. Who consumed too much of the blue resin from the tree of life and were transformed into near supernatural creatures with superhuman strength, resilience and a limited healing factor. A single guardian could withstand an entire magazine from a high-powered assault rifle, as well as multiple shots to the head. In addition, they possess superhuman jumping and climbing abilities, evidenced by the ease with which they scaled and bounded across rock faces and rooftops. Ironically enough, they were highly vulnerable to shots from their own crossbows. Judging by their bodies & the fact that they’ve been around this long. The resin from the tree of life seems to grant the consumer a form of “immortality” and prevents illness & injuries from taking over their body.
The Guardians are either armed with crossbows or blue resin bombs. The crossbow is a lethal silent weapon. A Guardian may drop a crossbow, but you cannot use their bombs.
On Crushing difficulty, a player can be killed with one crossbow volley or one hit from explosive resin. It is best to not confront Guardians head on, stay behind cover to avoid crossbow volleys, and take advantage of powerful weapons (such as the GAU-19).
The most effective weapon to use against the Guardians is their own crossbow, usually killing them with one shot. When facing a group, take one out, pick up the crossbow, and use it against the rest. The crossbow is effective as a stealth weapon against Lazarevic's men, using it on separated guards will make it easier to traverse through guarded areas and avoid firefights.
The second most effective weapon is, oddly, the tranquilizer gun; it is not recommended as you will need to get up close to get a good shot.
Trivia[]
- The Descendants in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune have a very similar role as the Guardians: both were supernatural creatures enslaved by their own will to defend the dangerous mythological treasure that transformed them in the first place, these being El Dorado and the Tree of Life, respectively.
- The Guardians have taken the first place on the Scare 'O Meter found in Drake's journal where they are called "Demon Sasquatch".