History VideoGame / LegacyofKain

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma -- let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. [...] If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of decay. Either way, the game is '''rigged'''. [...] But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, it lands on its '''edge'''."''

** ''Soul Reaver 2'': [[spoiler: "The Reaver was never forged to be a soul-stealing weapon... the ravenous, soul-devouring entity trapped in the blade was... and always had been... ''me''."]]

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Vampires are seen turning into a wolf-like creature, several bats (or a huge swarm of them), and [[SuperSmoke mist]].
* WarriorMonk: The Sarafan warrior-priests.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Kain and his lieutenants wear their flags as partial capes. After Raziel is thrown into the Abyss, he uses his flag as a scarf, covering the area where his lower jaw used to be.
* WhamEpisode: ''Way'' too many to count, but a few examples: Raziel discovering that [[spoiler:''his human self'' was the one who murdered Janos]], the entire ending of ''Soul Reaver 2'', the discovery of [[spoiler:just where the Heart of Darkness is]], and [[spoiler:Raziel ripping said heart out of Kain's chest]].

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: In the original ''Blood Omen'', the then-fledgeling Kain realizes that he will never be welcomed in Coorhagen, due to his new [[TheUndead circumstances]]. [[spoiler: He then discovers the entire city fell to the plague, further reinforcing the trope.]]
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->'''[[JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf Statler]]:''' "Vae victus - suffering to the conquered".\\
'''Waldorf:''' "The conquered" being the people who enjoy this trash!\\
'''Both:''' Do-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!
----

->''"What game is this, where [[GambitPileup every player on the board claims the same pawn?]]"''
-->-- '''Raziel'''

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma. Let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged. [...] But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, it lands on its edge."''

** As the games progressed, the neckline on Ariel's dress got lower and her [[http://lparchive.org/Legacy-of-Kain-Blood-Omen/Update%202/Kain_0017.jpg breasts]] [[http://lparchive.org/Legacy-of-Kain-Blood-Omen/Update%2018/future-46.jpg got]] [[http://lparchive.org/Legacy-of-Kain-Blood-Omen/Update%2027/L6mov-23.jpg bigger]]. However, given that [[{{FacialHorror}} half her freaking]] [[{{TwoFaced}} face is torn off]] and the remaining half [[{{UncannyValley}} looks kinda zombie-like sometimes]], YMMV on this one.

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma. Let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged [...] But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, it lands on its edge."''

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma –- let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose Either way, the game is rigged]].\\
\\
"But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, [[HeadsTailsEdge it lands on its edge]]."''
-->-- '''Kain''', summing up [[TakeAThirdOption most of the major]] [[ScrewDestiny themes of the series]].

->''"What game is this, where [[GambitPileup every player on the board claims the same pawn]]?"''
-->-- '''Raziel''', summing up [[TheChessmaster the rest of]] [[CosmicPlaything the major themes]].

* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
** Nosgoth vampires are, among other things, killed by ''water'' (related to certain frequently overlooked vampire myths), can be harmed by soundwaves, and, in regards to Kain's progeny, tend to devolve into mutant monstrosities over time. Older vampires demonstrate a level of immunity to sunlight, and the need to rest in coffins regularly is absent. Impalement with any instrument will kill them regardless of whether or not it's made of wood, although they can be revived if the weapon is removed. Also, their origins are definitely not [[{{Precursors}} the usual...]]

This only scratches the surface of ''Legacy of Kain's'' story, which is an amazingly complex JigsawPuzzlePlot, as Raziel and Kain uncover many mysteries and secrets in Nosgoth's history. It is a series where YouCannotFightFate is in effect ''hard'', and Kain and Raziel discover that their role in this story was preordained long before they were born – or at least, that's how it ''seems'', because UnreliableNarrator, ManipulativeBastard, CosmicPlaything, and ProphecyTwist are also in effect hard, multiple times. Basically, most of the major characters in the series are either [[ScryVsScry semi-omniscient schemers plotting against other semi-omniscient schemers]], or are caught between schemers trying to figure out who's scheming what, and how and why. As said, the plot is very complex, but it ends up making sense when you sit down and put it all together.[[note]]Mostly, anyway; the entire franchise has been subject to [[SerendipityWritesThePlot time and technical limitations]], forcing the developers to change the story or leave out critical details, and they'd figure out how to fill in the gaps in a later game. This unfortunately means that, with the series being CutShort, there are still questions that need answers that may never come.[[/note]]

Then in 2022, Creator/EidosInteractive was acquired from by the Creator/EmbracerGroup alongside several of their IP's with Legacy of Kain being among them. And with Embracers history of reviving old franchises, fans may once again have the bitter taste of that terrible illusion: hope.

** Meanwhile, ''Nosgoth'' retconned the extinction of Raziel's clan by showing that there were members left who have come out of hiding and been re-accepted into vampire-kind to help put down the human rebellion, although it’s unclear whether or not the game is [[CanonDiscontinuity still canon]] following its cancellation.

** Meanwhile, ''Nosgoth'' retconned the extinction of Raziel's clan by showing that there were members left who have come out of hiding and been re-accepted into vampire-kind to help put down the human rebellion, although it’s unclear whether or not the game is [[CanonDiscontinuity canon anymore]] following its cancellation.

** Meanwhile, ''Nosgoth'' retconned the extinction of Raziel's clan by showing that there were members left who have come out of hiding and been re-accepted into vampire-kind to help put down the human rebellion.

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma – let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose Either way, the game is rigged]].\\

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma - let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose Either way, the game is rigged]].\\

The franchise begins with the first game, ''Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain''. In Nosgoth, the health of the land is tied to the nine Pillars of Nosgoth, {{Cosmic Keystone}}s that symbolize aspects of the world and the self - Time, Space, Conflict, Mind, etc. Each Pillar is ''supposed'' to have a Guardian that watches over them, but the current generation of Guardians have long gone mad and neglected their duties, causing the Pillars to weaken and the world to start to fall apart. Kain, a nobleman turned into a vampire, hunts down and kills the Guardians in search of a cure for his vampirism, but in the process comes to revel in his vampiric nature. When Kain discovers he is the final Guardian, Guardian of the Pillar of Balance, he is told that his only cure is death, and he must perform a HeroicSacrifice to restore the Pillars and save the world.

While the first game allowed players to choose to accept the sacrifice or not, and gave a different ending for each, canonically Kain '''refuses''', and instead decides to become a VampireMonarch that conquers Nosgoth with an army of his children. Some centuries later, Kain condemns his lieutenant, Raziel, to death, for a heinous crime: [[PowerGivesYouWings growing wings]] and surpassing Kain in power. Raziel is saved by [[EldritchAbomination the Elder God]], who tells him that because the land is dominated by immortal vampires, the cycle of souls known as the "Wheel of Fate" has stalled, and Raziel must kill Kain and his other lieutenants to rid the land of the vampire scourge and restore the world. If that sounds similar to Kain's quest, that is intentional -- [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical self-righteousness]] is a major aspect of Kain and Raziel's frenemy relationship.

This only scratches the surface of ''Legacy of Kain's'' story, which is an amazingly complex JigsawPuzzlePlot, as Raziel and Kain uncover many mysteries and secrets in Nosgoth's history. It is a series where YouCannotFightFate is in effect hard, and Kain and Raziel discover that their role in this story was pre-ordained long before they were born -- at least that's how it ''seems'', because UnreliableNarrator, ManipulativeBastard, CosmicPlaything, and ProphecyTwist are also in effect hard, multiple times. Basically, most of the major characters in the series are either [[ScryVsScry semi-omniscient schemers plotting against other semi-omniscient schemers]], or are caught between schemers trying to figure out who's scheming what, and how and why. As said, the plot is very complex, but it ends up making sense when you sit down and put it all together.[[note]]Mostly, anyway; the entire franchise has been subject to [[SerendipityWritesThePlot time and technical limitations]] forcing the developers to change the story or leave out critical details, and they'd figure out how to fill in the gaps in a later game. This unfortunately means that with the series being CutShort, there are still questions that need answers that may never come.[[/note]]

The series is small but definitely has its fans. In their time each ''Legacy of Kain'' game looked positively ''gorgeous'' thanks to strong art direction and just good game design, and ''Soul Reaver'' is one of the best-looking titles the original Playstation ever had. While gameplay stagnated in later games, it was enjoyed for the VideoGameCrueltyPotential it allowed, with players encouraged to use different weapon combos and environmental hazards to dispatch enemies in stylish, gruesome ways. But by far the most praised aspect is the story, which is not only complex and engaging with its many twists and turns, but also is very well scripted. FloweryElizabethanEnglish and PurpleProse is the default setting for every character and they make it work, and ''Legacy of Kain'' just wouldn't be the same without its characters waxing philosophical about the nature of morality and using colorful metaphors to describe why they do what they do. This is bolstered by fantastic voice acting, with credits including Creator/SimonTempleman, Creator/MichaelBell, Creator/AnnaGunn, Creator/ReneAuberjonois, Richard Doyle, and the late great Creator/TonyJay. Simply put, you could listen to these characters converse for hours and not get tired of it.

The franchise currently sits in limbo. The fifth game, ''Defiance'', acted well enough as the finale by tying up several major storylines, giving a permanent death to several prominent characters, and ending on a hopeful note, but there were still aspects of the story that hadn't been explored or explained yet. A sixth title, a direct sequel to ''Defiance'', was cancelled mid-development, and since then Eidos has been bought by Creator/SquareEnix. In 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Nosgoth}}'' was announced as a team-based free-to-play multiplayer game based in the years after Kain had Raziel executed in ''Soul Reaver'', and with Kain's disappearance the human refugees regroup and go to war against the vampire clans. However, the game was canned in 2016 without ever leaving beta access. In 2015, the odds of there being [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-legacy-of-kain-on-ps4-xbox-one-and-pc-has-5050/1100-6432040/ a sequel were "confirmed as "50/50."]] The same year, 30 minutes of footage from a cancelled sequel called ''Dead Sun'' (taking place centuries after the main series) were released, but again there's little chance of the project being revived.

* AdaptationalBadass: ''Soul Reaver 2'' opens with a CGI retelling of the first game's final battle. The remade scene gives Kain some of this: he overpowers and throws around Raziel after a brief fistfight before unhurriedly departing on his own terms, visibly unharmed; in the original game, he spends the battle utilising TeleportSpam and is wounded by the end, limping his way through the portal. For his part, Raziel [[AdaptationalWimp doesn't make use of any of his powers and doesn't even summon the Reaver]]. Funnily enough, both versions end with Kain's concession of Raziel's power ("you nearly had me"), which makes the version in ''2'' come across as [[SarcasmMode bitingly sarcastic]] on Kain's part.

** Raziel has bright blue blood. Of course, given his condition, that might not even be blood in him.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Hylden, [[spoiler: likely thanks to enduring [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil eternal suffering in another dimension]], nearly all of them are violent and cruel, humans who helped their plans not being exempt from their actions.]]
* AmnesiacDissonance: Happens to Raziel twice. First, he discovers that in life he was a Sarafan vampire hunter, and immediately starts aspiring to that legacy. In ''Soul Reaver 2'' he has the opportunity to meet his past human self and quickly discovers he was far more monstrous as a human KnightTemplar than he ever was as a vampire or a wraith.

** Malek's punishment for failing to protect the Circle from Vorador's assault, having his soul torn from his body and [[AnimatedArmor bound to his armour]] to serve eternally while never experiencing the pleasures of the flesh.

** Due to Kain's refusal to sacrifice himself, Ariel's spirit is permanently bound to the ruined pillars.

* AnimatedArmor: Malek's punishment was to become this. He also employed these as his soldiers in his bastion in ''Blood Omen.''

** Raziel keeps the abilities he learns in ''Soul Reaver'' throughout the next two games, save for the Constrict ability which was useless anyway. He does ''not'' keep the Elemental Reavers between ''Soul Reaver 2'' and ''Defiance'', but WordOfGod gives a HandWave that this is because Raziel originally needed to imbue the Reaver in an elemental forge to activate its ElementalPowers, and the Elder God destroyed the forges between the two games. Thus in ''Defiance'', Raziel is imbuing ''himself'' with the elements and manifests them through the Reaver. He also loses the Glyphs and Fire Reaver from ''Soul Reaver'' to ''Soul Reaver 2'', but this is acceptable since they were bonus features the player did not need to find to complete the game, so presumably in the canon Raziel didn't find them.
** Kain keeps his mist form in ''Defiance'' for dodging and phasing through gates, his Blood Gout and Blood Shower spells return as his normal blood draining ability, his Energy Bolt is expanded into telekinesis, and he retains the ability to teleport and turn into a swarm of bats, but only in [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscenes]]. He keeps his lightning spell from ''Blood Omen'' in ''Soul Reaver'', then lacks it in ''Defiance'', but gains an equivalent ability during the game. His abilities from ''Blood Omen 2'' do not appear in ''Defiance'', but this is excusable thanks to the TimeyWimeyBall -- the events of ''Blood Omen 2'' haven't happened yet, and the events of ''Defiance'' will determine if they do or not. In ''Blood Omen 2'' he starts off with few abilities, but this is excused for story reasons, he's been in hibernation between games after suffering a crushing defeat and has grown weak as a result.

** Though Kain retains a number of his special powers, where he gets hit hard is the equipment. Gone are all his interesting weapons such as the axes, Havok and Malice. He no longer has any armour and he also loses every one of his perishable items such as the Pentalich of Tarot and Flay.
*** This can be HandWaved due to Kains age, by the time of Soul Reaver, Kain is over 1000 years old, Vampires get stronger with age, his skin, judging by how it looks, is probably stronger than any armor he could wear, and the Reaver itself, a powerful weapon that he has had since the end of Blood Omen 2, he is probably very well practiced with it.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Elder God]], who is the main reason everything is going to hell in Nosgoth by virtue of setting up most of the major wars and power struggles in history. [[spoiler:The Hylden Lord]] also counts. Kain himself is one in Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain.

* BlockPuzzle: ''Soul Reaver'' is full of them -- rumor has it that a team leader at Crystal Dynamics asked each member of the development team to design a new puzzle every week. Nearly all of them would eventually hand in another BlockPuzzle. At least the ability to flip over and stack the blocks added ''some'' variety to it.

** In ''Blood Omen'', Kain's quest really kicks off when he visits the Pillars of Nosgoth and talks to Ariel. In the end, he returns there to fight [[spoiler:Mortanius/The Unspoken]] and choses if he will purify the Pillars once and for all.

* BossRush: The ending of ''Soul Reaver 2'' pits Raziel against the [[spoiler:men who will degenerate into the bosses of ''Soul Reaver 1'']], followed by [[spoiler:his human self.]] They're EliteMooks to their credit, stronger versions of the most powerful human enemies in the game, but due to the Reaver making Raziel invincible, there's no challenge to the fights.
* BreathWeapon: The [[{{Hellhound}} hellhounds]] in ''Blood Omen'' and some demons.
* BrokenPedestal: Raziel and [[spoiler:the Sarafan, who he initially believed were noble defenders of humanity before finding out they were brutal KnightTemplar butchers. And most of all, ''himself'' after Sarafan!Raziel kills Janos Audron.]]
* CallBack: Raziel narrated, "I sensed that Kain was here... and at that moment, I would have plumbed the depths of hell to find him." Then later Kain says, "And if Moebius told you I was hidden on the underside of hell, would you throw yourself into oblivion to pursue me?"

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Raziel's mentioning he was imprisoned in the Spectral Realm for 500 years at the beginning of ''Defiance'' means this puts him ''exactly'' on course with the timeline of the original ''Blood Omen'', explaining how he is able to meet with Ariel's spirit and Vorador. [[spoiler:Later on, Raziel and Janos watch the pillars shatter perfectly in-time with the events of ''Blood Omen'', and thus with his seal weakened the Hylden Lord possesses Janos.]]

** The ''Soul Reaver'' itself -- it only really became the SwordOfPlotAdvancement in ''Soul Reaver 2''. In the first two games, it was just a really powerful weapon.

*** To be fair, it's already made pretty clear in ''Blood Omen'' that [[spoiler:the Unspoken IS Hash'ak'gik. All we discover in Defiance is that he's also the Hylden Lord.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: Janos Audron is mentioned in precisely two lines in ''Blood Omen,'' never to be seen until two games later:
-->'''Kain:''' ''(picking up the first "Heart of Darkness" consumable item)'' Reputed to have been [[{{Foreshadowing}} ripped from the chest]] of the greatest vampire to have ever existed, Janos Audron, the Heart of Darkness [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration restores vampiric unlife.]] Life is precious, Janos discovered -- as it was torn throbbing and bleeding from his own body.

* ChekhovsSkill: Possessing corpses in ''Defiance'' mostly serves as an alternative gameplay mechanic for Raziel to shift realms with the portals closed off to him. [[spoiler:Until he uses Moebius' corpse in the climax to trick Kain into impaling him with the Soul Reaver.]]

* ContinuityNod: Oh so many. Thanks to time travel, the protagonists frequently revisit familiar locations, so there's plenty of chances and few of them are wasted.

** The climax of ''Defiance'' takes place literally minutes after the end of ''Blood Omen'', so the final few levels are full of nods to the first game, including [[spoiler:Mortanius fighting the Hylden Lord's control, Vorador's capture by Moebius's forces, and Kain's decision to reject the option for a HeroicSacrifice, shattering the pillars and allowing the Hylden Lord to possess Janos.]]

* TheCorruption: Before the beginning of ''Blood Omen'', Nupraptor inflicted an insidious mental and spiritual "disease" on the entire Circle of Nine, including the infant Kain. This corruption tainted the Pillars of Nosgoth, and to restore them, the Circle had to be purged. Unfortunately, Kain refuses to die, carrying the corruption with him into Nosgoth's apocalyptic future and passing it on to his sons, who pass it on to the ''Soul Reaver''-era vampire clans in turn. [[spoiler:Kain is only cured at the end of ''Defiance,'' thanks to Raziel's HeroicSacrifice.]]

* CrapsackWorld: In the first game, at least -- civilization has decayed beyond this point in the sequels, rendering them effectively AfterTheEnd (time jumps notwithstanding). In ''Soul Reaver'', the world has basically become a desolate wasteland, with the vampires being mindless beasts and the humans confined to a lonely fortress.

* DarkFantasy: Storywise, the series is one of the finest examples of the genre for video games.

** Interestingly, the games show a steady and subtle evolution in the world due to the pillar's corruption, which only grows with time. By the time of Blood Omen (30 years after the corruption) the world is dark and scary, but humans still live and thrive. By the time of Blood Omen 2 the world is a wasteland where the humans still live in somewhat civilized society, but are oppressed by the new Sarafan Order and the ecosystem is dying or is hellishly mutated. By the time of Soul Reaver however, the world is a post apocalyptic hell hole of a wasteland where recorded history has ended, humanity as been reduced to a single secluded citadel and vampiric civilization as been confined to scavenger feral vampires and the isolated vampire lieutenants. Soul Reaver 2 shows the variations of the time periods in detail.
* DaywalkingVampire: Vampires grow immune to sunlight as they grow older and more powerful. The only exception to this rule are the Rahabim, a clan of aquatic vampires who overcame the vampire's innate weakness to water instead.

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:For Kain, the fact that his "edge of the coin" scenario was exactly what the bad guys wanted.]]

** Kain's ''Defiance'' Reaver add-ons also have Fire and Lightning elements, in addition to the more esoteric Balance, [[FlashStep Dimension]], and [[TimeStandsStill Time]] modes. It was intended for Fire and Lightning to be called Conflict and Energy -- Balance, Conflict, Energy, Dimension, and Time make up five of the nine [[CosmicKeystone Pillars of Nosgoth]].

** [[spoiler: Ariel receives a longed-for end from Raziel when she appears at the end of ''Defiance''. While her appearance is not entirely explained, it seems that every soul of a former Balance guardian is summoned to the final forge to be absorbed into the Reaver blade. The girl has been betrayed by one she trusted, watched her lover go mad and corrupt the whole world, been betrayed by her replacement as a balance guardian, and has had a literal front row seat to Kain's empire as the world died. Her final words to Raziel reflect that along with a new-found enlightenment -- "Release me, Raziel. The soul reaver has the power. Release us all..."]]

** This is likely why ''Soul Reaver'' made such a big deal out of having no load times at all, and it doesn't -- the developers used assorted programming tricks to avoid load times aside from when you start up the game. The lone offender is the Drowned Abbey, as some areas can have too many enemies spawn for the game to keep up with all their movements.

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], but [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]: [[spoiler: When Raziel meets Janos Audron for the first time, they discuss why the Sarafan pursue Janos so intensely -- "[[WrongGenreSavvy The Sarafan have this foolish notion that destroying me will somehow topple our entire bloodline]]. Thankfully, we are not that fragile."]]

* PhlebotinumBomb: A few. The Device in ''Blood Omen 2'' was [[spoiler: a Hylden weapon which would have killed all living things in Nosgoth except their race]]. The Pillars of Nosgoth were raised [[spoiler: by the Ancient Vampires to banish the Hylden race and seal them in the Demon Realm]]. The purest example is the Silenced Cathedral in ''Soul Reaver'', originally designed by humans to kill all vampires in Nosgoth during the era of Kain's empire (they were vulnerable to sound). The vampires killed the humans, and kept the cathedral silent -- hence its name -- [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but the original ending of ''Soul Reaver'' would have had Raziel using it against them]].

* ProphecyTwist: The Ancient vampires foresaw that one day there would be a great duel between a champion of the Ancients and a champion of the Hylden, and the outcome of their duel would decide the fate of Nosgoth. Murals in their forges show the two champions battling, but variably depict either of them triumphing over the other. Raziel and Kain independently come to believe that Raziel is the Hylden champion and Kain is the Ancient champion. They are both wrong. [[spoiler:Raziel himself is both champions -- when he revives Janos Audron and grants the Hylden the means by which they can free themselves from their exile, he acts as their champion, and when he grants Kain the fully empowered Soul Reaver and the means to see and fight the Elder God, he acts as the Ancient champion. The murals depict either champion being victorious because Raziel grants the Reaver to Kain by a HeroicSacrifice, thus he triumphs and perishes with the same action.]]

** Technically, all the {{Foreshadowing}} and anything in ChekhovsArmory that comes from ''Blood Omen.'' When Crystal Dynamics ganked the series from Silicon Knights, they didn't take any of their ideas for a sequel and started ''Soul Reaver'' from scratch. However, they still managed to make it work. The one ContinuitySnarl in it all is the "future Kain" Moebius summons to attack Kain -- WordOfGod says it was just an illusion Moebius conjured to psych Kain out.

** ''Soul Reaver 2'''s ending [[spoiler:(Raziel ''is'' the Reaver)]], and an important plot point in ''Defiance'' [[spoiler:(the Heart of Darkness is ''inside Kain'')]]. Then again, [[spoiler:Kain was known to be in possession of the Heart in the first ''Blood Omen'']]

** And again in ''Soul Reaver 2'' during the sequence in which [[spoiler:Sarafan!Raziel kills Janos]]

* SundialWaypoint: One of the puzzles in Soul Reaver relies on this. In a twist, it requires you to do a typical mirror puzzle to get the beam where you need, then obscure it -- which allows you to walk the shadow across a chasm.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: A meta example. ''Blood Omen'' was a top-down adventure RPG similar to Zelda -- you explored towns and dungeons, you had equipment and spells you accessed in a menu, you could speak to people, etc. ''Soul Reaver'' turned the gameplay on its head with a third-person over-the-shoulder action-adventure game with no towns, no interactions with [=NPCs=] beyond killing them or not, a wide-open sandbox world you could explore freely, and no equipment save for the weapons you found laying around. ''Soul Reaver 2'' then kept the third-person perspective and no equipment traits while having more NPC conversations and more linear plot and gameplay progression. From there, ''Blood Omen 2'' and ''Defiance'' mostly stuck to ''Soul Reaver 2's'' formula, with ''Blood Omen 2'' placing a greater emphasis on combat over puzzles and platforming.

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: Part of the fun of the series is the ability to kill enemies in a variety of gruesome ways by using your powers and the environment to your advantage. You can pick up and throw enemies into wall-spikes, fires or bottomless pits, do any of the three with your telekinesis, or just cut them to shreds with your weapon before impaling or decapitating them. ''Defiance'' also added on the ability to use telekinesis in more creative ways, leading to you being able to inflict {{Rasputinian Death}}s on enemies -- use TK to pull an enemy towards you, sword combo, knock him into the air, leap after him, sword combo, TK blast to knock him into a wall spike.

->''"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma - let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose Either way, the game is rigged]]. But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, [[HeadsTailsEdge it lands on its edge]]."''

* NoCanonForTheWicked: Averted. Soul Reaver picks up after Kain chose to rule over Nosgoth in Blood Omen.

* WorldPillars: The Pillars of Nosgoth support the eponymous world throughout the series, which overlaps with CosmicKeystone. In ''Blood Omen'', the Pillars are weakening and Kain must [[spoiler:commit a HeroicSacrifice to restore the pillars. He refuses, instead becoming a VampireMonarch.]] It's eventually revealed later in the series that [[spoiler:Kain's life has become tied to the pillars, and should he take his own life, he would doom all of Nosgoth]].

* WorldPillars: The Pillars of Nosgoth support the eponymous world of vampires throughout the series, which overlaps with CosmicKeystone. The Pillars are [[spoiler:weakening and Kain must commit a Heroic sacrifice to restore the pillars. He refuses, instead becoming a VampireMonarch.]] It's eventually revealed later in the series that [[spoiler:Kain's life has become tied to the pillars, and should he take his own life, he would doom all of Nosgoth]].

* FacialMarkings: Moebius has a symbol on his forehead that resembles an infinity symbol or Moebius strip. Interestingly enough, the [[http://nosgoth.net/sr2/dialogue/SR0017943-2.jpg mark on his forehead]] is the same shape as the Elder God's [[http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3661/492426-egeye_super.jpg pupil]].

* WorldPillars: The Pillars of Nosgoth support the eponymous world of vampires throughout the series, which overlaps with CosmicKeystone. As an inversion, Kain is tasked with actually destroying the pillars to rule over the land as the evil vampire king, and each pillar contains a guardian which reflects their state of mind. It's eventually revealed later in the series that [[spoiler:Kain's life is tied to the pillars, and should he take his own life, he would doom all of Nosgoth]].

** In ''Blood Omen'', Kain's quest really kicks off when he visits the Pillars of Nosgoth and talks to Ariel. In the end, he returns there to fight [[spoiler:Mortanius/The Unspoken]] and purify the Pillars once and for all.

* MonsterThreatExpiration: Aside from the BossInMooksClothing example above with the demons in ''Soul Reaver 2'' who were weakened in ''Defiance'' to make them more manageable, there's also the Sarafan, who in ''Soul Reaver 2'' were the strongest humanoid enemies, as they were the ones fought in the last area of the game. In ''Blood Omen 2'', they lose that position in part because they make up the majority of enemies in the game, so they a have a lot of weaker types in their ranks, but also lose because of the Hylden enemies present. In ''Defiance'', they're bumped down to early game enemies.

* CameBackWrong: Resurrection doesn't ''ever'' look pretty in this series, except maybe Raziel's return as a vampire. It almost seems like Kain killed him for being too pretty.

* BaldMystic: It seems to be a religious thing, maybe as an extension of the hiding-women's-hair rules of some real religions.

* BaldWomen: It seems to be a religious thing, maybe as an extension of the hiding-women's-hair rules of some real religions.