Ruins of Lost Memory

The Ruins of Lost Memory are a location deep under the lake near the sacred mountain of Fimbulventr in the second game, Bayonetta 2. It is said to be a city where Aesir's chosen people would reside during judgment day and also contains the real Gates of Hell. From Luka's investigation as shown in The Journal's Echoes, the Ruins also house the Garden of God, an area that acts as a collection of the various Remembrances Of Time that Aesir created during his observation of the human world.

The Ruins consist of many difficult to traverse passages, buildings, and running canals that run off into the endless void and have laid dormant and untouched by human hands for ages. Bayonetta and Loki travel through them on a quest to save Jeanne from the depths of Inferno.

The Way To Paradise
From The Journal's Echoes:

''The lake surrounding the base of Fimbulventr is said to extend deep underground--so deep that no one has ever seen its bottom. There are tales that God created a city that sleeps along the lake bed and punishes any who approach it with eternal damnation. I thought it was probably just some made-up story to scare kids, but some of the details were a little too worked out.''

''They say this city was formed from the memories of God, as he watched over the human world. It was made as a haven to keep the chosen people, plants, and animals safe when the judgement day would come. Without the city, all life on the human world would simply be washed from existence with the world itself. It's obviously not the most convenient place to get to, but God was, of course, aware of this. He made sure there was a means of transportation that would carry the chosen ones to his city.''

''The people referred to it as an "ark". The ark was put together using special earthen elements that allowed it to move through water like a submarine. If that thing really exists, I wonder someone like me could make God's "chosen one" list?''

Bayonetta 2
Whilst the Ruins Of Lost Memory was created as a place for Aesir to store his memories of the world, the other entries in The Journal's Echoes hint that one of its true purposes were to seal away the entrances of the other realms in the Trinity from humans. Though some entrances were destroyed by his followers, the seal around the Gates was created by Aesir himself due to its size.

During Bayonetta's adventure to rescue Jeanne, she travels through the Ruins and Garden of God to unseal the Gates of Hell. Using Loki's powers of the Remembrances of Time to power up magical devices, she is able to launch herself at the Gates and break apart the seal with their power. Throughout the journey, Bayonetta travels through numerous gates to areas of Paradiso that resemble angelic versions of Noatun. After Bayonetta and Loki make it to the footsteps of the now unsealed Gates, they are attacked by the Masked Lumen and an entity who calls himself the "Prophet". Despite the Prophet's insistence that Bayonetta returns the Left Eye to him, she is narrowly able to win a small victory against him until she is suddenly shown a Remembrance of Time that reveals the true nature of her mother's death. Before her shock causes her to be struck down, Loki tosses his cards at the Gates and forces them to open. Bayonetta and Loki use them to escape, with the Masked Lumen giving chase. The Prophet, Loptr, remarks how though the encounter was unexpected, he will eventually reclaim both of the Eyes of the World. Later on, Luka finds himself at the Gates in his pursuit of Bayonetta's journey through Noatun, attempting to study and figure out how to open them. Suddenly, the Gates open from the inside and Loki staggers out, pleading with Luka to take him to the top of Fimbulventr as he now remembers who he really is. He faints and Luka carries him to the mountain.

Trivia

 * The way that Bayonetta travels to Paradiso themed versions of earlier areas from the game in the Ruins traverses back to Chapters IX and X, of the original Bayonetta, where she did the same thing recovering her memories of Vigrid. Here it is different.