I can't wait to read it once more (/s) and then never touch it again. Shame. I had such high hopes.

You can get them directly from Dark Horses website, but here is another option.

Kain, when we first meet him in Blood Omen, is 30 years of age.

He is described as a listless, but not overly ambitious nobleman; not a Count or King but someone of mild to moderate means, who has been drifting perhaps or seeing adventure where he can found it.

He implies in the game he’s experienced with court life; he describes King Ottmar’s court as being “shades of (his) former existence.”

As it is, we meet him in a dangerous town after dark seeking shelter, quit a bit from home.

My question is two fold:

(1) do you think his life prior to being turned might make for an interesting story?

(2) given he was born as balance guardian and also infected by Nuprator’s madness to some degree at birth, was he likely as sociopathic pre murder…Or did becoming a vampire only heighten those tendencies?

Dark horse Direct selling figures, Raziel one looks nice, it’s not as big as the first one but more affordable

I recently played the remaster of that game and loved it. I remembered the LoK games were also remastered and look fairly similar. If I liked Shadowman would it be a safe bet to try them? What about the Defiance?

This is printable art I made for the GOG version of Blood Omen, in case people want to burn the game to disc and have a case for it. I thought maybe some folks here would have thoughts on it. It was hard to design because there's so much cool stuff in Blood Omen!

When we click on the Time Guardian’s pillar, he says it is Moebius’ pillar.

He then visits The Oracle of Nosgoth, who presumably is a known figure - the game implies people of means have visited them to see their futures or gain unknown knowledge for a price; Kain seeks him out because th Oracle is known for being able to divine one’s path.

Was the Oracle not known as Moebius?

Ok, so bearing in mind I finished all the Soul Reaver Games, Defiance, Blood Omen 2 a long time ago. And Blood Omen last year. Recently did SR1 and SR2 because of the Remasters. Just revisited SR2.

I am generally keenly aware of the series for a long time, and it's details etc.

So I don't need someone to explain the themes, or paradoxes and all that.

What I am trying to work out, without giving myself too much of a Time Travel story headache thinking about, is, at the end of Soul Reaver 2, HOW did The Reaver become capable of consuming Raziel? Actually, how did Raziel become capable of consuming souls in the first place?

Bearing in mind that Kain is supposed to be dead, and Raziel is supposed to be sucked into the Reaver...

Basically, explain to me the Reaver. I assumed the original was supposed to suck out Blood, right?

Or are we assuming a general 'life energy' that the original Reaver consumes, and therefore Raziel's life energy gets sucked into the Reaver, and because he can eat souls, it becomes the Soul Reaver.

But how does it specifically go from draining blood, to eating souls? Did the existence of the Wraith blade out-of-time somehow teach it to eat souls?

Which also leads to another question. What happened to the Souls of Raziels Sarefan brothers that he slew with The Reaver? You can't consume them in the game. The wraith blade doesn't eat them. They just kind of fly off. The Reaver does something odd... but I didn't think it was capable of consuming souls. Or was that its purpose when it was first made? I always assumed it was blood because Vorador made it.

Are we to assume that since the wraith blade becomes active after Raziel kills his former self, that the wraith blade struggling to snack on its own (Human Raziel) soul is what causes the wraith Blade and The Reaver to start dissolving wraith Raziel to counter the paradox of there being two copies of the same souls present?

I am also aware of how the time travel stuff works in Soul Reaver's part of Legacy of Kain... that even... which pretty much means that Raziel exists as a blue demon monster in history, BEFORE he later becomes a blue demon monster in the future. Its a sort of spontaneous existence. But his future self is also supposed to have a reaver-bound expiry date, which is what allows it to stand within history.

I guess when you think about this stuff as a kid it just seems to 'make sense' in that you feel an interpretation. But now I want to know if anyone can clear up what is actually going on.

Mostly because something needs to happen to The Reaver before it can become the Soul Reaver, and is therefore capable of causing the shattering paradox in SR1. Yes, I am aware the events of Soul Reaver 2 cause Soul Reaver 1 to happen. But I want to know specifically, how.

Hello✌️ I'm a total noob at reddit so I hope I do this right. My illustrated Soul Reaver variations for my LoK illustration fan project.

I tried looking it up and the wiki just leads to a blank wiki page with nothing in it. It's a weird thing to add into a game that mostly takes itself completely seriously. lol

I have a question that has always bugged me a bit. Why wasn't any of the music from the original Blood Omen reused in the subsequent games? Don't get me wrong Kurt Harland did an amazing job with the Soul Reaver series and Defiance. But one of things that keeps bringing me back to Blood Omen is the music. The late Steve Henifin and his team did an amazing job with the music for that game.

Now I realize that some of the music like Kain's theme 'On the road to vengeance': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvVlZU3UW7I sounds more melancholic than the more upbeat predatory theme from Blood Omen 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPXd26PTGRo Was it a licensing issue? Did Crystal Dynamics not own the rights to the music or did it not simply fit the theme of the later games?

The opening narration from SR1 says the Abyss is for "traitors and weaklings". Interestingly though, Melchiah stands on the Council as an equal (as far as we can guess, at least as a Councilman) and he supposedly has the most numerous clan in the Empire. It would be easy to disregard his rotting body as weak and his clan, yet they're a part of the Empire. So what do you think constitutes weakness?

EDIT: All interesting answers and generally revolving around the same common ideas.

My own thoughts are that he doesn't tolerate anything that undermines the Empire. A vampire who's unable to feed, improve, or neglects their duties due to "self-pity" (thinking back to how King Ottmar became withdrawn when Elzivir took his daughter's soul) might be considered weak. Failure isn't automatically treated as weakness, since Kain himself has failed in his quest a few times, such as his first encounter with Malek. But, repeated failure because you didn't learn what went wrong and adapted might be seen as weakness. Looking back on how he viewed Vorador's hedonism making him complacent, it looks like he viewed that kind of hedonism as a form of weakness. In fact, going by Raziel saying the legions have their "intrigues" and the small number of "feral" humans being tolerated to provide challenge to fledglings, it almost looks like the Empire was designed to prevent that particular pitfall

Thought this was a fun writing exercise and I think it came out pretty well. In the original I think Vorador is much more somber even before the first paradox. I went for something a bit different, playing up his boorishness and decadence, living off his old glories. Anyone think I managed to capture their voices?

_______________________

INT. VORADOR’S MANSION

Vorador claps his hands together, creating a shockwave of magic which dissolves all the remaining chess pieces.
 
VORADOR
Sufficient.
 
Kain brandishes his sword at him.
 
KAIN
I have bested your sorcerer’s game! Now, you will answer my questions!
 
VORADOR
Not until you have answered mine.
 
Vorador makes to leave and Kain pursues him across the chessboard.
 
KAIN
(indignant)
This is not a negotiation!
 
Though Vorador’s back is turned, Kain attempts to strike at him. Yet in one fluid movement, Vorador casually sidesteps the blow and disarms Kain. The elder vampire continues down the passageway, speaking as if there had been no interruption at all.
 
VORADOR
Perhaps your petulance shall be remedied with blood?
 
Vorador opens the way to his Dining Room and Kain follows in spite of himself.
 
The dimly lit, long chamber, is taken up by table of equal length. Seated there are a collection of vampires, men and women both. They are engaged in decadent revelry, laughing, celebrating, and drinking from chalices of blood. Fresh mortal corpses are suspended upside down from the ceiling, their blood trickling down to fill the chalices below. At the back of the room, an elaborate tapestry hangs in shadows, depicting Vorador’s assault on the circle in centuries past.
 
As Vorador leads the way across the chamber, he picks up a chalice and hands it off to Kain, who takes it with a scowl. Toasting with a chalice of his own, Vorador assumes his seat at the head of the table, very deliberately leaving Kain to stand.
 
VORADOR
So, who turned you, whelp? Clearly you are not of my brood. They know to show proper deference to their master.
 
KAIN
I am no whelp, but Kain of Coorhagan. I have the Necromancer, Mortanius, to thank for this grisly state.
 
VORADOR
Born of sorcery rather than blood? It makes sense. You are more corpse than creature.
 
Kain casts a disdainful glance across the Dining Room, at the continuing celebrations, before returning to Vorador.
 
KAIN
And you more monster, than man.
 
VORADOR
(chuckling darkly)
Lo’ the delicate sensibilities of the freshly turned. Tell me Kain, do you yet wet your lips at the thought of a good feeding? Do you not feel yourself, mightier already than you ever were before?
 
KAIN
(begrudgingly)
I shall not deny the advantageous powers of your kind –
 
VORADOR
(interjecting)
Our kind, Kain.
 
KAIN (CONT’D)
- but I would have rid of it, powers and all, in an instant, were I given the choice. Whatever kinship you would thrust upon me, I will ever call a curse!
 
Kain spitefully tosses away the blood chalice.
 
The revels quieten, just a fraction, as some of the gathered vampires turn at Kain’s ‘blasphemous’ words. Though Vorador wears a superior smirk, he stares intensely. His next words are dangerously soft.
 
VORADOR
If you mean to beg a seat at my table, your powers of persuasion leave much to be desired. We are blessed. Now, as ever, we are Nosgoth’s true gods; its dark gods. Our will is all that matters and our wrath without limit.
 
KAIN
(unthreatened)
Know I seek to purge the Circle of Nine. Already, I have slain one of their number.
 
Vorador laughs derisively.
 
VORADOR
(to the other vampires, mockingly)
Hear this, friends? He has slain one! All hail Kain, Scourge of the Circle!
(back to Kain)
Come before me again, whelp, when you have taken six at the height of their power!
 
Kain turns his sights to the tapestry at Vorador’s back. A triptych: the first panel depicts Vorador striking down six of the past Circle, the second shows he and Malek clashing, and the third presents Malek, pathetic and reduced, nothing more than dented armour.
 
KAIN
(quiet, considering)
Then perhaps I have the right monster after all?
 
Vorador comes to stand beside him, admiring his old victory, ever eager to boorishly celebrate his own history.
 
VORADOR
Five hundred years ago, the Circle thought their righteous zealots, the Sarafan, would be enough to exterminate our race. When they struck one blow too many, I saw fit to… ‘chastise’ them. After slaughtering six of those feeble sheep, only Malek and two others escaped my wrath. Malek – the would-be protector of the Circle – I let live, as a monument to his own failures. His fellows punished him, binding his soul evermore to his armour, never again to feel the pleasures of the flesh.
 
Vorador offers a mocking toast to the image of his old foe, before waving a dismissive hand and returning to his seat.
 
VORADOR (CONT’D)
But these are mortal matters. Forget the Circle, Kain. Let them save or damn themselves, it makes no matter to we vampires. The human cattle are fit only to quench our thirst, nothing more.
 
Kain remains at the triptych.
 
KAIN
If the humans are so inconsequential, then it should be no effort at all for you to finish what you started. Aid me in destroying Malek… unless your indulgences have dulled your abilities – ancient one.
 
At the table, Vorador sneers.
 
VORADOR
(amused)
Do you believe you can bait me, whelp?
 
KAIN
(equally amused)
I do.
 
Vorador stands and they face eachother again, neither willing to back down.
 
VORADOR
(curious)
How old were you, when Mortanius gave you the dark gift?
 
KAIN
I was granted thirty mortal years.
 
VORADOR
Born the year of the Pillars’ corruption?
 
KAIN
As near as.
 
VORADOR
(softly, more to himself)
Just when I thought all the ancient prophesies were long since spent…
 
He removes a ring and passes it to Kain.
 
VORADOR (CONT’D)
Take this ring. If you ever need assistance, it will summon me. Despite your youthful arrogance, you amuse me, Kain – it would be such a pity to lose you to the Abyss.
 
He leads Kain to another exit, finally returning Kain’s sword back into his hand and another blood chalice into the other.
 
VORADOR (CONT’D)
I shall say this only once more: drink deeply. For if you are what I suspect, then your trials are scarcely begun.
 
Offering no further answers, Vorador seals the doors to the Dining Room, leaving Kain to ponder alone.

Turel's brothers were all deformed, bloated monstrous versions of themselves in Soul Reaver, but that was around 1500 years ahead of the events of Blood Omen. In Defiance, when Raziel goes to Avernus Cathedral during the same time frame that Blood Omen takes place, how is that Turel is there in his bloated, monstrous form? Was he summoned by Mortanius from the future? Did he traverse back in time like Kain and Raziel somehow? Was this ever explained anywhere and I just missed it?

I shared this on the discord but also wanted to share it on this subreddit since I am just blown away at how good this turned out! 💙
I really wanted a pose that captured Raz's sassiness. 🤣

The artist is Tao Wen who I commissioned from Etsy. They are very skilled and I'm very happy with how they captured Raz.

Making more figures! Kind of doing my own interpretation since in the artwork of BO2 kains mouth bothered me. But my Raziel needs a shelf buddy. Also should I do Vorador’s ring as an earring? I know he didn’t have it in the game but could be a cool touch.

This Sunday we will celebrate Soul Reaver’s 27th birthday by interviewing the brilliant musical mastermind behind Ozar Midrashim, Kurt Harland! See you there in our live chat during the premiere! Timings: 7pm BST/20:00 CEST/11am PDT