The Greatest Stories Ever Told 07.18.06: Legacy of Kain
Posted by Brad Garoon on 07.18.2006
Vampire movies wish they could be this relevant.
First and foremost I want to thank Ashish for letting me be a part of this new zone. It feels pretty good to be a part of one that's just getting started.
Video game detractors often accuse said games of being the instruments of death of the imagination. This could not be further from the truth. Video games own a decisive advantage over other media in that their participants are willing to sit in front of the screen and devote hours to the story of a game. This is often my favorite part of a game and the reason why I'm apt to skipping previous commitments in order to devote a few more hours to my game of the moment.
Vampire movies have been around forever. From Dracula and Nosferatu all the way up to Blade and whatever the heck Kate Beckinsale is supposed to be, vampires will be staple of movies forever. To me however, no two vampires are more interesting than Kain and Raziel, of the Legacy of Kain video game series. Their story is one that took seven years to tell and thousands of years to play out.
The series spans five games and begins with the first Blood Omen game. Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 were released next, followed by Blood Omen 2 and finally Defiance. Kain is the central character of the Blood Omen games, Raziel is the central character in the Soul Reaver games, and both work in opposite yet parallel stories in Defiance. In this column I'm going to tell the story of Kain and Raziel as it happens chronologically in the fictional world of Nosgoth. It won't be strictly year by year because the games were drenched in time travel and big conspiracy reveals, but I'm going to make it as linear as possible. I should note here that this column includes SPOILERS, so read carefully. And by all means if you get the urge to stop reading in favor of playing these games to see the story unravel yourselves I encourage it.
Starting in Blood Omen we find Kain, an aristocrat in the fictional world of Nosgoth. As often happens in stories based in barbaric times, the privileged Kain is killed by assassins and his soul is sent to the underworld. There he is given the opportunity to seek revenge by Mortanius, a necromancer whose powers and intention would be revealed later in the series, to go back to Nosgoth on the condition that he do so as a vampire. Kain agrees and after getting his revenge becomes involved in what would later be revealed as a complicated conspiracy orchestrated by an evil being.
Kain is told by Mortanius that the assassins were pawns, and that their superiors could be found at the Pillars of Nosgoth, a geographical location that would become very important as the series went on. At the pillars Kain met the ghost of the murdered guardian of the pillars, Ariel. She told him that the humans guarding the pillars had betrayed her and gone insane, and that they must be killed for order to return to Nosgoth. During his journey Kain finds a sword called the Reaver, an item that was created by the vampire Vorador and one that will become extremely important in later games.
At this point in Nosgoth's history, an evil and seemingly invincible tyrant known as Nemesis was embroiled in an imperialistic takeover of the territory. Along Kain's journey he learns of Nemesis' threat to Nosgoth and decides to defend his land. Kain and his army were defeated by the seemingly invincible Nemesis in battle. In his desperation Kain used a time streaming device that he'd found to go fifty years into the past. There he assassinated William the Just, who would later become the invincible Nemesis. Here too however Kain turned out to be nothing more than a pawn in someone else's game. When he returned to the present he found that his actions had sparked a genocidal rage against vampires.
Mortanius and Moebius, the Guardian of Time had orchestrated the entire series of events from Kain's resurrection to this point. It would later be revealed that they too were influenced in their actions, but I'll leave that disclosure for later so as to not convolute this too badly. Kain, upon the discovery of the schemes of these men, as well as the discovery that they were two of the guardians that Ariel spoke of, killed them in battle. At this point Ariel confronted Kain with the reality that his actions have lead him to be the Balance Guardian of the Pillars of Nosgoth. Kain could now either sacrifice himself to heal Nosgoth and restore the pillars, or continue his eternal life as a vampire and let the world rot. Feeling manipulated by the humans who'd influenced him and enchanted by his new powers, Kain took the selfish road and began his life as the leader of a vampire race that he would create.
Here Blood Omen ends. Chronologically in the Legacy of Kain series the Soul Reaver games come next, but in the interest of linear storytelling we skip ahead to Blood Omen 2. Starting 400 years after the ending of Blood Omen Kain wakes up in bed, having been badly injured. Kain had conquered almost all of Nosgoth with his vampire army, but was defeated at Nosgoth's capital city, Meridian. The Sarafan Lord, leader of Meridian and its occupants known as the Order of the Sarafan, had struck Kain down after turning his own lieutenants against him and neutralizing the power of the Reaver. Kain finds that his injury induced sleep had begun two hundred years earlier and was understandably upset.With the help of a she-vampire named Umah, under the instruction of his vampire mentor Vorador, Kain sets out to kill the double-crossing lieutenants and finally take over Meridian by defeating the Sarafan Lord. Along the way Kain consults with last remaining loyal follower, Magnus, and resurrects the first ever vampire Janos Audron.
Janos is the source of a bulk of fascinating information in the Legacy of Kain series. He informs us that the members of the Order of the Sarafan are actually an ancient race called the Hylden. Thousands of years prior to the Legacy of Kain the Hylden battled another race called the Ancients for dominance of Nosgoth. The Ancients won the war and sent the Hylden to an alternate dimension as a prison and erected the Pillars of Nosgoth as a way to keep them there. As a parting gift, the Hylden cursed the Ancients, turning them into the original vampires. Janos was the leader of those vampires.
Kain's decision to save his own life at the expense of the Pillars of Nosgoth was corrupting enough to allow the Sarafan Lord a reentry into Nosgoth. Kain defeats his former lieutenants and absorbs their powers for himself. He uses them to neutralize the alien power that defuses the Soul Reaver and defeats the Sarafan Lord. During the last battle Janos is trapped inside the alternate dimension that holds the bulk of the remaining Hylden.
With the Sarafan seemingly defeated, Kain sought to rebuild his army. In the time between the events of Blood Omen 2 and Soul Reaver, Kain pulls six former Sarafan lieutenants out of the underworld and turns them into the leaders of his vampire army. This time Kain has more success, taking complete control of Nosgoth and turning humans into pets and prey. His six lieutenants create six great regions of vampire rule. The regions would war with one another, an action that pleased the lords of those regions. They would help and hurt their own people, betting on the outcome of a given skirmish. One of those lords was Raziel, the second core character in the series.
The Soul Reaver games in the series revolve around Raziel. Upon taking control of Nosgoth, Kain and his vampire followers begin to evolve, both in appearance and in ability. Kain had always been the first to obtain a new gift, until a break in the chain occurred. Raziel approached the Council, which met at the decaying Pillars of Nosgoth, and displayed his newly grown wings to Kain. Kain destroyed Raziel's wings and threw him into a watery abyss. Raziel fell for an eternity, always burning and becoming further deformed by the water as he fell.
Eons passed before Raziel landed in the underworld, a shell of his former self both literally and in essence. He wrapped a shroud around the gap that resided where his body used to be and approached a controlling voice. He came upon a being that called itself the Elder G-d. It was a tentacled mass of a monster that claimed to feed off of the souls of Nosgoth. It told Raziel that Kain had been depriving it of the souls it desired and enlisted him with the duty of collecting the souls of his former brothers in vampirism as a down payment on vengeance towards Kain. Raziel accepted his charge and made his way back to the material realm of Nosgoth.
Using wraith souls to gain strength Raziel systematically defeated all but one of his fellow lieutenants and, much like Kain had done during the Blood Omen portion of the series, absorbed their powers to enhance his own strength. In the end he fought Kain. During the battle Kain shattered the Reaver over Raziel. The essence of the Reaver bonded with Raziel, creating the wraith blade, or Soul Reaver. Kain then revealed to Raziel what we already suspected due to his roll in Blood Omen, that he was not the inconceivable villain that Raziel thought he was. He then used the time streaming device that he had found during Blood Omen to escape the battle. Raziel followed him and was confronted by Moebius, who gives him an ominous message about fate and destiny.
Are you still with me? Good, because this is where things get really heavy. I'm talking time travel induced paradoxes and alternative ideas about the nature of G-d here. Soul Reaver 2 picks up right where the first left off. Chronologically we are now thirty years prior to the events of Blood Omen, but we now have much more knowledge. Moebius tells Raziel that Kain is at the Pillars of Nosgoth. On his way there Raziel finds the Reaver. The Reaver was there because Moebius had given it to William the Just, thus starting the process of turning him into Nemesis. See how this all starts to come full circle? The Reaver augments Raziel's blade, further strengthening the Soul Reaver.
Raziel finds Kain who talks to him about regret over not sacrificing himself due to his desire to see the vampire race live on. He hints that he knows the secret of Raziel's existence but escapes again. Raziel then encounters the Elder G-d who is enraged that Raziel did not kill Kain. Raziel asks about Kain's allusions but the Elder G-d steers him in another direction. Raziel also finds Vorador, who tells him that Janos Audron has the answers he seeks.
Raziel finds Kain again and recognizes through murals during his journey that he is fated to kill Kain here. Angered at the idea of predestination, Raziel refuses his fate and allows Kain to live. He then forces Moebius to send him through time to when Janos Audron lived, but Moebius betrays him and sends him deep into the future instead.
In the future Nosgoth is in complete ruin. The ghost of Ariel blames Kain as she has for thousands of years, and the Elder G-d thrives on the souls of Nosgoth. Raziel goes to Janos' retreat but is unable to enter. At this point in time Janos is trapped in the alternate dimension anyway and would be of no help to Raziel. Raziel searches the grounds and learns what we already know about the history and nature of the vampire and Sarafan races. Here he finds another time streaming device that sends him to a time when Janos was alive.
Janos and Raziel converse, and for some reason in this time Raziel cannot wield the physical Reaver of this time. Their conversation is interrupted by a group of Sarafan elite storming the retreat. In human form we see Raziel and his fellow lieutenants in the vampire council. These are the men that Kain had snagged from the underworld to lead his army. Janos transports Raziel to a safe place, and by the time Raziel returns Janos' heart has been ripped from his chest.
Raziel goes back to the Sarafan stronghold and encounters Moebius. Moebius uses his staff to disable Raziel's wraith blade, which allows him to use the physical Reaver. Moebius flees but Raziel continues on. Here he meets the men who killed Janos, and proceeds to kill them all, including the human version of himself. Quite the paradox!
And another paradox occurs moments later, as Moebius' hold over the wraith blade wears off and it intertwines with the physical Reaver. It then impales Raziel and begins to absorb his entire being into itself. Just before he disappears completely Kain appears and pulls the Soul Reaver out of Raziel.
Here we enter Defiance, the final chapter in the Legacy of Kain where Raziel and Kain seemingly work against each other but somehow it can be felt that they are running towards the same goal. Here we get the big wrap up. The nature of Raziel's relationship with the Soul Reaver and Kain are revealed, as well as the entity behind the vast manipulation occurring throughout the series.
Rather than taking you through the actual actions of Kain and Raziel in defiance, it would be easier to simply explain what they learned in this final game. We know about the war between the Hylden and the Ancients, but what caused it? The Ancients, it turns out, worshipped the Elder G-d and were told by it that they should convert the Hylden or destroy them. The Hylden's curse on the Ancients was done to make them immortal and sterile so that the Elder G-d could not feed on their souls.
Years later the Elder G-d spoke to Moebius and Mortanius, instructing them to destroy the vampires by convincing them that they were a parasitic race. In doing so they started a chain of events that begat Raziel's wraith form, one that would presumably in the many eyes of the Elder G-d collect souls and destroy Kain.
But Raziel's fate was not merely guided by the Elder G-d. Janos Audron also saw the truth of Nosgoth and set about events that would entwine Raziel and Kain into a being that could defeat the Elder G-d. Raziel's wraith blade evolved into an item that could show anyone the true nature of the Elder G-d. He showed it to Kain and Moebius, who saw the never-ending mass of tentacles and eyes that made up the base of the Wheel of Fate that turned Nosgoth.
"And it was then... I saw."
Raziel then surrendered to his fate, becoming the essence of the Soul Reaver so that Kain might use it to strike down the Elder G-d. It was important that this happen now and not at the end of Soul Reaver 2 because Kain had not yet seen the true nature of the Elder G-d and thus did not have the motivation to fight it. With both Kain and Raziel on board the Elder G-d was defeated, but not destroyed.
The series has seemingly ended with a few questions still left open. We currently do not know what type of hold the Elder G-d has on Nosgoth. We do not know if the Pillars of Nosgoth were ever restored, or if Kain's sacrifice would even be enough at this point. We don't know the fate of the Hylden either, so there is room for more stories in the series if game makers are so inclined.
And that's not all Legacy of Kain has to offer from a storyline standpoint. I didn't even get to the side plot of the human element of the series. There's Mortanius' cult worshipping the Hylden leader Hash'ak'gik and holding former vampire lieutenant Turel captive in his horribly devolved state. There's Hash'ak'gik's possessing of humans and vampires alike to try to free the Hylden from their dimension. There's Raziel's quest to retrieve Janos' heart from the Sarafan so that he could consult with him a final time. There's a whole world of story that I didn't get to.
The beauty of this story is that it reflects many questions that religious and secular people ask to this day. The idea that G-d might be a monster trying to manipulate followers is a scary one than many religions battle with. It is called the theodicy problem, and to put it plainly it is the conflict between worshipping a loving god and watching bad things happen to good people. The Jewish religion struggles with this problem in its post-holocaust existence, and the Muslim population of Indonesia has had trouble with theodicy since the 2004 Asian Tsunami devastated the region. This is a central theme throughout the Legacy of Kain series; first shown through the vampires destroying their loyal human followers and later through the Elder G-d's manipulation of everyone in Nosgoth.
Likewise does the always-fun predestination paradox come up through time travel. The Terminator gave us a wonderful paradox where we try to figure out how John Connor could exist in the future and send Kyle Reese back into the past to impregnate his mother so that he can exist. Wouldn't there have to be an original timeline in which someone ELSE had to send Reese back to knock up Sarah Connor? This paradox exists in the Legacy of Kain series as well. The only logical answer is that we exist on one looping and non-linear timeline that has been stamped down on existence rather than rolled out upon it.
The issue I'm trying to get at in this column is that video games infuse the imagination with questions. They don't destroy the imagination at all. Video games have the potential to tell a fantastic story without the time constraints of other forms of entertainment. In the future I hope to tell more stories that I've had the benefit of enjoying from video games and maybe influence a few of you to check them out yourselves.
I'll be back in two weeks. Shoot me an e-mail in the meantime to let me know what you think of the new column. Also, check out Damian Sarcuni's column on MMO Dating. I've seen this epidemic spread to a friend and a family member. Everyone needs to be warned.
