"And I am not your enemy... not your destroyer... I am, as before, your right hand... your sword."
As per wiki rules, spoilers are off on moments pages. You've been warned.- The first and probably among the saddest entries in this page should be Ariel's entire plotline. The previous Guardian of Balance, Ariel was murdered by her colleague Mortanius (himself possessed by the Hylden). Her death causes her lover Nupraptor to go insane and corrupt all the Circle of Nine... which also included the newborn Kain, who was meant to replace Ariel, also meaning Kain's Villain Protagonist nature is not entirely his own doing. Being a Pillar Guardian, she is bound to the Pillars of Nosgoth eternally while the Circle is cursed, unable to move on and Forced to Watch her beloved and colleagues descend into madness and bring about the decay of Nosgoth. 30 years later, she has to manipulate her successor now-Vampire Kain to set things right, killing the Circle (even her lover) to save the world and free herself. Kain kills the Circle and the Dark Entity behind her murder... but ultimately refuses to sacrifice himself to end The Corruption, dooming the world to eternal darkness and Ariel to never rest.
- Soul Reaver then reveals that centuries or millennia later, Ariel is still bound to the ruined Pillars (now Kain's fortress & throne room). Despair Event Horizon doesn't begin to describe her first meeting with Raziel, as The Fog of Ages has clearly set in and she is having difficulty reconciling time and also confirms she's perpetually conscious and aware of Time Abyss and The End of the World as We Know It slowly happening around her.Ariel: What are you, little soul? Another of Kain’s creatures, come to taunt this bound spectre?Raziel: I did not intend to disturb your rest.Ariel: Rest...? A body is needed for sleep... Flesh and bones are required to recline. No, child, all I may do is watch, and remember, ceaselessly conscious as this wretched world’s history unfurls. Ghastly past, insufferable future, are they one and the same...? Am I ALWAYS here?
- Soul Reaver 2 has Raziel meet Ariel before their first meeting, but 100 years after the Pillars' destruction. Ariel is once again (probably for the unempth time) lamenting her fate and Kain's crimes, but this time around Raziel has grown wiser and questions Ariel's judgement, Kain's guilt and the Circle of Nine's own inherent flaws and corruptions. When Ariel insists that Kain's death can set her free and restore the Pillars, Raziel somewhat callously suggests that it's already too late to save Nosgoth even if Kain dies and that Ariel is probably bound for eternity with no hope of escape. Ariel despairs and begs Raziel to have some mercy, only for him to call her out on having no such thing when manipulating Kain to murder the Circle, starting with her lover Nupraptor, while also hiding both his destiny as Guardian and the eventual suicide he was meant to do. Ariel doesn't handle it very well, and Raziel leaves. But not before giving her a haunting warning (and reminder for us players)...
Raziel: I did not intend to disturb your rest. I'm merely looking for answers, Ariel. Very well - I'll leave you in peace. But know this - about you, and this purgatory from which you long to escape... you're merely at the threshold. - Soul Reaver then reveals that centuries or millennia later, Ariel is still bound to the ruined Pillars (now Kain's fortress & throne room). Despair Event Horizon doesn't begin to describe her first meeting with Raziel, as The Fog of Ages has clearly set in and she is having difficulty reconciling time and also confirms she's perpetually conscious and aware of Time Abyss and The End of the World as We Know It slowly happening around her.
- On the first playthrough of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, one can be forgiven for thinking that Kain had Raziel cast into the abyss out of spite. But as the story unfolds, especially if you play the sequels, you begin to wonder...was it spite on Kain's face when he condemned his favourite son to a Fate Worse than Death or was it anguish?
- And it becomes even more complicated with the implication that everything Kain did was to spare Raziel from his ultimate fate: to be absorbed into the Soul Reaver sword.
- Melchiah's death in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. After spending centuries as a monstrosity, his reaction to his impending (and horrific) demise can best be described as relief as he is, in his words, "released." One can't help but feel pity for the creature.
- And after Raziel consumes his brother's soul, he cannot help but be saddened by what he has become.
Raziel: Am I reduced to this? A ghoul? A fratricide? - In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Raziel's Heroic Sacrifice. Made worse by seeing so clearly that Kain, Sociopathic Hero, Magnificent Bastard and Raziel's unwitting killer, actually cares about him, and is very clearly saddened by his death. Which came as something of a surprise, given how little he seems to care for anyone else. It gets even worse when Kain sees the Elder God for the first time. His inner monologue says in no uncertain terms that he's horrified that he delivered Raziel into the hands of such an unholy creature.
- Well, Kain did re-order the flow of time. More than once, in fact. And it was implied that he was doing so, at least in part, to spare Raziel the fate of being absorbed into the Reaver. The final cutscene also enters Tearjerker territory.
- This was no casual killing of a character you only control for one chapter, or one member of a party. This is a character players had been playing as, following the story of, listening to the narration of, sympathising with for three games. Raziel was a beloved character to the fanbase, arguably even moreso than Kain. And just like that, he's gone forever.
- Umah's death in Blood Omen 2 might count. It was so deliberately cruel and brutal, especially since Kain is not normally prone to unnecessary Kick the Dog cruelty. Also, Umah was the closest thing to a Morality Pet that Kain had, and that deathblow seemed to destroy the last remnant of Kain's humanity: "You have left me alone". Yes, it's a very self-centered form of grief, but it's the closest thing to true emotion that Kain will have for centuries.
- The brutal murder of Janos Audron in Soul Reaver 2. When he first meets Raziel as a wraith, he shows himself to be the most kind-hearted character in the entire franchise, even allowing himself to be killed by the Sarafan in order to save Raziel. Raziel is completely devastated when he watches his past self pin Janos down and rip out his heart. The rest of the game is Raziel butchering the past versions of his brothers and himself to and retrieve Janos' heart to save him... only for him to be nearly devoured by the Soul Reaver, which would have been his fate if not for Kain's intervention. P.S. Janos was also Vorador's Vampire father, and thus the reason for Vorador's iconic and infamous massacre of the Circle of Nine.
- His situation in Defiance isn't much better. Vorador kept his body hidden in his mansion, where it still remains preserved due to the Heart of Darkness still being out there somewhere. Raziel seeks it, while Kain seeks to stop him because Janos' resurrection would somehow unleash a Sealed Evil in a Can, the Hylden. Raziel finds the Heart of Darkness (inside Kain's chest, mind you) and revives Janos, who guides him to the Vampire Citadel at the Darkest Hour of the Blood Omen time period to try and change the course of events... only for the inevitable to occur, and Janos suffers Demonic Possession from the Hash'ak'gik the Hylden Lord, the true Big Bad of Blood Omen (who also possessed Mortanius and caused Ariel's death). After a fight with Raziel, who cannot bring himself to kill his friend, Hash'ak'gik defeats Raziel and flies away with Janos' body. Which causes the Blood Omen 2 timeline, where the Hylden use Janos' blood to break free from the Demon Realm, and transform Janos into a Tortured Abomination for centuries before young Kain comes around to help. The only bright side is that Janos helped Raziel (and by extension Kain) to perfect the Soul Reaver, giving Kain the power to defeat the Elder God and bring hope for a brighter future (if the games ever continue)...
- His ultimate fate in Blood Omen 2 is also quite jarring. He interferes in the final battle between Kain and the Hylden Lord... only to have his wings broken by the Big Bad and cast into the Demon Realm to where the Hylden have been banished, "a prisoner for all time" as the Hylden Lord puts it. A somewhat karmic fate (given the Ancient Vampires warred and condemned the Hylden to such a state), but still horrifying given Janos' sincerely heroic nature and repeated sacrifices to save the protagonists and Nosgoth. And with the current status of the franchise, this is the end of Janos Audron's story so far. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished indeed...
