History VideoGame / LegacyofKain

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 conquer 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.

** From ''Defiance'': [[spoiler:regarding the Heart of Darkness, "Kain has it? ''(shocked silence)'' It is ''in'' Kain!"]]

* 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]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Played with -- after Janos Audron [[spoiler: is possessed by the Hylden Lord in]] ''Defiance,'' we never see him again... because he flies off to be in the events of ''Blood Omen 2,'' which was released before ''Defiance.''
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The immortality curse, bestowed by the Hylden, ''really'' screwed the Ancient Vampires. First, it resulted in mass suicides, as many couldn't stand [[spoiler:being shunned by The Elder God, who put a lot of emphasis on the eternal cycle of souls dying and being reborn]]. Second, because the Pillars chose their guardians at birth and [[ImmortalProcreationClause vampires were no longer born]], humans started to replace them in the Circle. Vampires abducted the human guardians to train them and eventually turn them into Vampires. This directly led to [[spoiler:Mortanius and Moebius' rebellion and the downfall of their whole race.]]
* WingedHumanoid: Raziel had leathery bat wings... until Kain tears them to shreds. Janos and the rest of the Ancient Vampires have black, feathery angel-wings. The Hylden have little leathery wings with no 'finger bones', kind of like a pterosaur's.
* WithThisHerring: Averted in the first Blood Omen, Kain actually starts off with decent equipment especially his hell-forged Iron Armor. The Iron Armor is actually the best protection Kain can have outside of a 'functioning' Spectral Armor. Until he finds the Chaos Armor, the later armor he finds just give him situational abilities such as disguising himself as an undead.

* YouCantFightFate: This trope and ScrewDestiny are [[ZigZaggingTrope Played with, inverted, subverted, pinned to the ground and shot repeatedly in the head.]] To go in-depth: no, you can't fight fate. YouAlreadyChangedThePast and created a StableTimeLoop in the process, but even if you know this, you're powerless to change it. However, the events of the series center around the main characters finding and exploiting loopholes in these rules, so only ''normally'' YouCantFightFate. But if you have the ability to time travel, know your history, and are [[ManipulativeBastard good at manipulating people]], eventually you'll find a way. It just so happens that most of the main characters have those abilities, and the only one that doesn't ''is'' one of the loopholes the rest are exploiting. The other catch is that even if you do find a way to change history and defy fate, [[ButterflyOfDoom you'll create a ripple effect throughout history]] that can change things you didn't anticipate, and in this series things usually change for the worse, since history hates being tempered with.

* ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain'' (1997)

The franchise currently sits in limbo. The fifth game, ''Defiance'', acted well enough as the finale by tying up several major storylines, giving a FinalDeath 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.

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 what who's scheming what. 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]]

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 semi-omniscient schemers plotting against other semi-omniscient schemers, or are caught between schemers trying to figure out what who's scheming what. 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]]

Kain and Raziel have also appeared as bonus characters in ''VideoGame/LaraCroftAndTheGuardianOfLight''. Furthermore, with the exception of the original game (which is only available as a UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 download), every game in the series is available both on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom, although they may take some outside patches to run in a stable fashion on modern hardware.

** In ''Soul Reaver 2'', it's possible to get locked in the Dark Reaver Forge – the exit door will just refuse to open, rendering the player unable to leave under normal means. It '''is''' possible to get oneself killed and resurrect at the checkpoint right outside the door (missing the cutscene that triggers when Raziel leaves the Forge as a result)... provided one avoided the checkpoint ''inside'' the Forge. If not, well, [[UnwinnableByMistake oops]].

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Throughout ''Soul Reaver 2'', Raziel is becoming increasingly more belligerent toward the Elder God; even more so when he starts to realize the true nature of the Elder God. This culminates in ''Defiance'' when Raziel gives his NotSoDifferent Speech to the Elder God at the beginning.

* NotSoDifferent:
** [[MagnificentBastard Kain]] has the following [[BreakingSpeech to say on the subject]]: "Can you grasp the absurd beauty of the paradox? We are the same - Sarafan and vampire. With our holy wars, our obsession with Nosgoth’s domination, [[spoiler:who better to serve me than those whose passion transcends all notions of good and evil?]]" and shortly thereafter, he adds: "You think the [[KnightTemplar Sarafan]] were noble, altruistic? Don't be simple. Their agenda was [[TakeOverTheWorld the same as ours]]."

The franchise currently sits in limbo. The fifth game, ''Defiance'', acted well enough as the finale by tying up several major storylines, giving a FinalDeath 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 plans. 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.

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 listening.

An ActionAdventure video-game series by Creator/SiliconKnights and Creator/CrystalDynamics, ''The Legacy of Kain'' is set in the dark, gothic world of Nosgoth and its [[OurVampiresAreDifferent unique vampires]]. The series follows badass {{Anti Hero}}es, [[NameOfCain Kain]] and Raziel. Kain is a [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent]] SociopathicHero interested in conquering Nosgoth with a vampire army. Raziel is Kain's right-hand vampire whom he has killed and turned into a wraith, and sets about trying to kill Kain to avenge himself. It turns out Raziel has the power to ScrewDestiny, and from there we get into time travel. Thus, from ''Soul Reaver'' on, all the main characters, including Kain, take turns playing GambitRoulette with [[CosmicPlaything Raziel as the ball]], hoping to [[UnwittingPawn trick him]] into changing history to make things better for them. Along the way, there's a ProphecyTwist or two, loads of {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, [[FloweryElizabethanEnglish faux-Shakespearan dialogue]], and many chances for [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential video game cruelty]] as you decide how to dispatch {{Mook}}s in the most fun and gruesome ways you can think of.

The series [[KudzuPlot has an amazingly complex story]], and you need to play all the games or at least have knowledge of their plots to understand it. In fact, replaying the series a second time is probably the only way you'll begin to put it all together without someone helping you. It also runs on BlackAndGrayMorality like a car runs on gasoline -- Kain is a VillainProtagonist who just happens to be fighting people that are ''more'' evil, though he ultimately [[WellIntentionedExtremist has heroic goals behind his villainous nature]]. Counterpart Raziel, meanwhile, is a NobleDemon who has a nasty habit of [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaking things]] despite trying to do good. The series is commonly cited as having some of the best voice acting of any video game series, with actors like Creator/SimonTempleman, Creator/MichaelBell, Creator/AnnaGunn, Creator/ReneAuberjonois, Richard Doyle, and the late great Creator/TonyJay providing voice work.

The fate of the franchise at large is unclear. ''Defiance'' ended on a cliffhanger, albeit with most major plotlines resolved. A sixth title, a direct sequel to ''Defiance'', was cancelled mid-development and the parent companies that own the series have shown little interest in reviving it again. Following the acquisition of Eidos by Creator/SquareEnix, in 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Nosgoth}}'' was announced as a team-based free-to-play multiplayer game based in the years after Kain tossed Raziel into the Abyss in ''Soul Reaver'' before Raziel emerged from the Underworld, and involves humanity's final attempt to wipe out the vampires and escape their subjugation. However, in 2016 the game was canned, once again leaving the future of the series ambiguous. 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.

* DummiedOut: So, ''so'' much in ''Soul Reaver''. [[http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR1/index.html A quick guide here.]] Essentially ''Soul Reaver'' and ''Soul Reaver 2'' were going to be one game, but there wasn't enough time, money, or data for that, so they split it into two, hence ''Soul Reaver's'' cliffhanger ending and a lot of the cut elements for that game appearing in ''Soul Reaver 2'' and ''Defiance''.
** A certain unofficial [=PlayStation=] magazine notably skimped on research and included all the cut elements in their strategy guide...

* SophisticatedAsHell: Sort of. After spending five games speaking in eloquent, faux-Shakespearian dialogue, Kain's reaction upon seeing [[spoiler:the Elder God]] at the end of ''Defiance'' is simply, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEQVULC9PwA "What in the hell...?"]]

* HornedHumanoid: Many demons, the magic missile shooting creatures in ''Blood Omen'', and in some concept art for ''Soul Reaver'', Kain. What he has now may or may not qualify. {{Precursor}} [[InUniverse murals]] sometimes [[{{Demonization}} add horns to their enemies]].

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Moebius]]'s demise combines this with RasputinianDeath. [[spoiler:First, he's beheaded by Kain near the end of ''Blood Omen''. He's almost immediately resurrected and teleported to the Vampire Citadel by the Elder God, where he's killed by [[FutureBadass older]] Kain, literally minutes after his first death. When Moebius's spirit awakens in the Spectral Realm, he's stabbed in the back by Raziel and sent to feed the Wheel of Fate, supervised by the very deity he worships. While the Time Streamer's soul meets its end at this point, his ''body'' does not. Raziel possesses it to enter the Material Realm, only to be instantly pierced by Kain, which is exactly what he wants.]]
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: ''Soul Reaver'' is one of the more noteworthy examples: The game is split into two dimensions, the Material Realm and the Spectral Plane, and if Raziel's health ever drops down to nothing, he simply moves to the Spectral Plane -- this is hardly ever really annoying, because there's usually a conduit straight back to the Material Realm close by, and sometimes the player has to hop between the two dimensions intentionally to solve puzzles. The Elder God would pull Raziel back to his chamber if he was destroyed in the Spectral Plane, causing a ''slightly'' larger inconvenience.
** The developers specifically aimed to avert the artificiality of video-game death and re-load, so this system is still in place in later games even when the plot justification of the Elder's initial control over Raziel is no longer viable and replaced with [[GameplayAndStorySegregation quick]] [[{{Handwave}} handwaves]]. In ''Defiance,'' Kain morphs into bat form to retreat when he takes too much damage.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:The ending of Soul Reaver 2, during which Raziel finds out that everything he has done, including even ''exist'' in the first place, serves the only purpose of keeping history into a [[StableTimeLoop Stable Time Loop]]. And so he is basically doomed to repeat the events of Soul Reaver 1 and 2 forever, while realizing the truth only in the last moments before being absorbed into the Reaver]].

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:For Kain, the fact that his "edge of the coin" scenario was exactly what the bad guys wanted. For the Elder God and Moebius, both that Kain would survive having his heart ripped out, and that helping Raziel delay his merge with the Reaver would result in its completed form, which is the only thing that can harm the Elder God.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Throughout ''Soul Reaver 2,'' Raziel is becoming increasingly more belligerent toward the Elder God; even more so when he starts to realize the true nature of the Elder God. This culminates in ''Defiance'' when Raziel gives his NotSoDifferent Speech to the Elder God at the beginning.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Kain vs. the Elder God at the end of Defiance, after Raziel is absorbed in the Soul Reaver and Kain's soul is cleansed of all corruption]]. Raziel gets his own moment to do this just prior to that against [[spoiler:Janos Audron possessed by the Hylden Lord, pitting him against the last Ancient Vampire ''and'' the leader of the Hylden at once.]] After giving him a good beating, he unfortunately fails to fight destiny at that time and falls to a cutscene-enforced sneak attack.
* DistantSequel: The franchise often jumps around by centuries or millennia between games -- '' VideoGame/BloodOmen2'', for instance, takes place 400 years after the original '' VideoGame/BloodOmen''.
* DoNotGoGentle: In ''Blood Omen'', both Mortanius and Moebius are aware that they are destined to be killed by Kain and have accepted it. It doesn't mean they're just gonna lay down and make it easy for him. Rahab is much the same way in ''Soul Reaver''.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: [[spoiler: When Raziel decide to storm the Sarafan Stronghold to retrieve Janos's heart, he is full aware that he is very likely [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast to kill his past self and all the Sarafan knights that are destined to become his future vampire comrades]] in the process, and while doing exactly that he even realize that he is indeed "creating" the future he came from with his own hands...yet, he utterly fails to [[StableTimeLoop connect the dots and understand what he is really doing until it's too late to prevent it]]]].

* DummiedOut: So, ''so'' much in Soul Reaver. [[http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR1/index.html A quick guide here.]] Essentially ''Soul Reaver'' and ''Soul Reaver 2'' were going to be one game, but there wasn't enough time, money or data for that so they split it into two, hence ''Soul Reaver's'' cliffhanger ending and a lot of the cut elements for that game appearing in ''Soul Reaver 2'' and ''Defiance''.

* EitherOrProphecy: In ''Defiance'', the Ancients and Hylden will each have a champion fight on their behalf, but the murals depicting their battle leaves it uncertain who will win. [[spoiler:It turns out that Raziel is ''both'' champions--he's the Hylden Champion by way of giving them the means to free themselves, and he's the Ancient Champion by entrusting Kain with the means to destroy the Elder God. Ergo, by sacrificing himself, the two "champions" effectively kill each other.]]

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Kain does this. At least ''three times''. And he is still one of the good guys. [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent]].

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The opening cinematic of ''Blood Omen'' sets the tone nicely: after a brief monologue about how "the whole planet must be bathed in blood...", a hapless vampire is [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice raised up on a large stake]] among a field of similarly impaled corpses, magically observed by a gathering of sorcerers, who are then attacked and [[{{Gorn}} gruesomely butchered]] by an elder vampire who gleefully siphons their blood into his ravenous gullet. Their bodyguard arrives too late and is knocked out by the vampire, [[CruelMercy who leaves him to be punished for his failure]], his soul torn from his body by a skull-faced necromancer and bound to his armour, [[AndIMustScream condemning him to eternal servitude]]. And finally, a beautiful maiden is murdered by a hidden assassin, leading to the radiant Pillars of Nosgoth being corrupted, cracking and turning black. All this before you even see your player character for the first time. [[SarcasmMode As you can tell, it's going to be a nice, cheerful adventure.]]
* EvilVsEvil: It's very hard to describe Kain as a "good guy". It just happens that his enemies are just as bad or worse.
* FacialHorror: Ariel has [[TwoFaced half of her skull exposed]]; Raziel is lacking a lower jaw after it disintegrated in the Abyss.

* HatePlague: Kain can magically cause enemies to attack one another in ''Blood Omen'' and ''Defiance''. In the former the spell is called "Inspire Hate", and escalates minor grievances into homicidal rage. It's related to the [[CosmicKeystone pillar of conflict]] in both games.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Overall, Blood Omen, Soul Reaver, and the first act of Soul Reaver 2 focus on Kain or Raziel's revenge against their wrongdoers. [[spoiler: After Raziel refuses to kill Kain, a new timeline is created then Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2 and Defiance focus on the war against the Elder God and the invasion of the Hylden.]]
** In a specific game, Blood Omen 2, the first half Chapter 1-6 is set inside the City of Meridian and about Kain's revenge on vampires who betrayed him. The second half Chapter 7-11 is set in the outside world and the otherworldy, forsaken areas such as the Eternal Prison and the [[spoiler: Hylden City. The plot then focuses on stopping the Hylden General opening the portal to the demon realm.]]
* HellHolePrison: The Eternal Prison in ''Blood Omen 2'' is one of the most horrific examples in fiction.

* DarkMessiah: Kain and Raziel both think they fit the description.

* 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 almost had me"), which makes the version in ''2'' come across as [[SarcasmMode bitingly sarcastic]] on Kain's part.

** During the climax of Defiance, [[spoiler:Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness out of Kain's chest, after which he, and everyone else, is convinced that Kain is dead for good. Kain however gets better (to his own surprise), with no apparent motivation or explanation of how exactly that was possible. One possibility, however, is that Mortanius engineered the whole thing while creating Kain, as a way to make sure that he would eventually prevail in the duel to the death against Raziel, which may explain while Mortanius, in the scene in which is confronted by Raziel, was so confidently boasting that he "had beaten him after all"]].

** During the climax of Defiance, [[spoiler:Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness out of Kain's chest, after which he, and everyone else, is convinced that Kain is dead for good. Kain however gets better (to his own surprise), with no apparent motivation or explanation of how exactly that was possible. One possibility, however, is that Mortanius engineered the whole thing while creating Kain, as a way to make sure that he would eventually prevail in duel to the death against Raziel, which may explain while Mortanius, in the scene when is confronted by Raziel, was so confidently boasting that he "had beaten him after all"]].

** During the climax of Defiance, [[spoiler:Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness out of Kain's chest, after which he, and everyone else, is convinced that Kain is dead for good. Kain however gets better, with no apparent motivation or explanation of how exactly that was possible. One possibility, however, is that Mortanius engineered the whole thing while creating Kain, as a way to make sure that he would eventually prevail in duel to the death against Raziel, which may explain while Mortanius, in the scene when is confronted by Raziel, was so confidently boasting that he "had beaten him after all"]].

** At the start of Defiance, [[spoiler: Moebius chew Kain out for saving Raziel at the end of ''Soul reaver 2'', thus throwing the [[StableTimeLook stable time loop]] off its intended rails. It's never quite explained why Moebius, and probably the Elder God, were happy with a time loop in which Kain is never really killed (the young one is bound to retrieve the Reaver with Raziel in it, and then go back in time while the resurrected Raziel chases him, at which point history repeats itself) and therefore the vampires are never really extinct. But it's possible that not even the bad guys were aware of being mere tools "used" by history as part of its effort to remain stable]].

** During the climax of Defiance, [[Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness out of Kain's chest, after which he, and everyone else, is convinced that Kain is dead for good. Kain however gets better, with no apparent motivation or explanation of how exactly that was possible. One possibility, however, is that Mortanius engineered the whole thing while creating Kain, as a way to make sure that he would eventually prevail in duel to the death against Raziel, which may explain while Mortanius, in the scene when is confronted by Raziel, were so confidently boasting that he "had beaten him after all"]].

** During the climax of Defiance, [[Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness out of Kain's chest, after which he, and everyone else, is convinced that Kain is dead for good. Kain however [[gets better, which no better

*** 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.