Grandiose name used to refer to a generic location that appeared throughout Series 1-3, on levels 1 and 2.

It was featured from the very first Knightmare quest (Team 1 of Series 1), in which Treguard introduced it as "patrolled by the Army of the Dead. Exit with haste or your quest ends here." A hasty exit was almost always the objective with the corridor, though teams would sometimes have the additional task of collecting a quest object fragment before exiting.

The team had the two exits nearest the dungeoneer to choose from. Sometimes the portals would be marked with symbols on the floor (a gar for the left-hand one and a psi or algiz for the right); occasionally quest object symbols would differentiate them; other times the doors would be unmarked. Lighting and colour changes were also used to vary the appearance of the corridor.
The Great Corridor of the Catacomb usually contained a menace to encourage the team to exit hastily. The Army of the Dead was heard marching but was never seen. The corridor was home to a bizarre green creature (toadodile) during Series 2; the Automatum also turned up there (both pictured in this entry).

Grimwold, the Behemoth and goblins were seen in the corridor during Series 3, and would begin advancing from the far end in what looked to be prefilmed footage.

The danger in the corridor was not always living: sometimes it was a disintegrating floor or a moving wall that threatened to block off all the exits. This prompted all who encountered it to leave swiftly, except for Team 11 of Series 3, who used a GHOST spell to enable dungeoneer Martin to pass through the wall (although arguably he could have reached an exit in time).
The Great Corridor of the Catacomb (or one of its unnamed variants) claimed one victim. Julie from Team 10 of Series 3 found herself cornered by goblins there, and had nothing but a futile beryl with which to try appeasing them.

In Can You Beat The Challenge?, the location is referred to as the Great Corridor of the Catacombs.


The advancing wall version of the corridor appeared in the French version of Knightmare, Le Chevalier Du Labyrinthe, as did a version where groups of the hexagonal floor tiles disappeared.


A version of the corridor appears too in the Spanish remake of Knightmare, El Rescate del Talismán (above). Having entered from one of the far doorways, the dungeoneer is proceeding to the near doorways to exit the corridor. The dungeoneer avoids picking up the swords. The portcullis blocking the doorway on the left of the screen disappears as the dungeoneer approaches it.

[Earlier versions: 2013-02-07 18:33:30, 2006-05-09 15:36:26]

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From TES issue 16 (July 2002)

Series 1/2/3. Level 1/2.
THE CORRIDOR OF THE CATACOMBS
 
It is such a simple idea to have a corridor with a choice of four exits, but it was used very effectively in Knightmare's early years in the shape of the Great Corridor of the Catacombs. This was effectively a long room with four doors, one of which the dungeoneer would have to be guided through in order to survive. It sounds like simplicity itself on face value, but it could be a very dangerous challenge indeed, as Treguard often stressed in series 1:
 
"Extreme warning, team, you have entered the Great Corridor of the Catacombs. This is patrolled by the Army of the Dead. Exit with haste, or your quest ends now!" - Treguard.
 
The skeletal army (clomping footsteps) was one of the Corridor's less impressive dangers, but there were plenty of challenges to test even the hardiest dungeoneers: salivating monsters, disappearing floors, moving walls, cryptic locks, or - in series 3 - advancing goblins, knights or ogres. Although these challenges were not responsible for many deaths directly, a few dungeoneers' fates were sealed in the Corridor.
 
Both David and Helen I in series 1 took the wrong door to escape, leading to entrapment and eventual starvation in the next chamber. And what about poor Julie I from series 3, defenceless thanks to the team's failure to answer Merlin's riddles? In the Corridor at the end of level two, goblins began to advance on Julie. It was not these that spelled her doom however, (mainly because they were pre-filmed), but a second pair of the little critters that appeared from the two doors near Julie to completely block her exit.
 
Having said all that, most teams managed to stride bravely past the dangers up ahead and continue on their way. This is no great marvel, however, as the Corridor was mostly used as a scare factor, just like so many other challenges. Still, the Corridor of the Catacombs fitted nicely in with the dark and ominous atmosphere of the early series, and seemed to epitomise the mysterious nature of the marauding creatures of myth that dwell in the Dungeon depths. In a nutshell, a classic and fitting challenge.
 
Difficulty: 4 If you can't walk the walk...
Killer Instinct: 5 Indirectly responsible for some deaths.
Gore Factor: 5 It just depends on what happens next, doesn't it?
Fairness: 9 It should be an easy stroll to freedom.

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Patrolled by the army of the dead (who are unseen to us), the great corridor of the catacomb was used in various forms from series 1 to 3. In series 2 it was adapted to feature a swinging pendulum. [Moderator's note: that is incorrect. It was the Series 1 Hall of Spears that was adapted to feature the pendulum, even though Treguard made reference to the location as the Great Corridor of the Catacomb.] In series 3 the corridor started shrinking, with the back wall moving to get closer and closer to the dungeoneer.

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