Legacy of Kain - Story

I've decided to make a short story about all the Legacy of Kain games. The main reason is cause the story in total is so complex it would take years of explaining. There's so many characters, so many timelines and jumps back and forth. Its really hard to tell it all in one post. So here goes the very short blood omen / soul reaver / defiance recapture.

Blood Omen

There once was a man called Kain. He gets jumped and killed by some thugs. In turn he gets resurrected as a vampire to play out his vengance. This is pretty much the reason of motivation for Blood Omen 1. However there's a background story and this will return in future games. Kain kills the thugs and goes after their employers. These 'employers' are the guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth. If Kain kills them all and returns the binding items to these pillars, he'll be able to restore the balance in all of Nosgoth. So he does.

The story from this point all the way up to the end, where Kain is asked to either sacrifice himself or not, is so full of plots twists and turns it becomes a bit hard to explain. However the guardians are pretty much trying to screw him over as much as possible. Even up to a point where Kain goes back in time to kill someone who'd otherwise threaten the kingdom in the future. By going back and changing things he opens up the road for the main villian Moebius to go and start a vampire hunt.

With all the guardians slain and the pillars restored there's only one pillar left. The Pillar of Ballance. Kain who is bound to this pillar has the choise of either restoring this pillar by killing himself or starting of a line of sequels.

Blood Omen 2

The story picks up after Kain's first adventure. He launched a massive attack on the Sarafan in order to gain control over Nosgoth. This goes a bit wrong and leaves his armies ruined and Kain himself pretty much on the road to becoming the most insteresting wormfood in the world.

Waking up after 2 centuries of recovery Kain finds himself in a city he doesn't remember aided by vampires he never heard of. Since Kain is a man who finishes the job he started he goes after the Sarafan who put him in the state he was in to get Nosgoth under his control again.

There actually doesn't happen a lot in this story. Kain beats some vampires who sided with the Sarafan. The most important about this part is that after killing the Sarafan lord he ressurects his soldiers to become his sons. Which leads to...

Soul Reaver

The Sarafan 'blessed' with Kain's gift of renewed life all get new abilities after Kain got one. However one of them gets an ability before their master.

Raziel is granted the ability to fly and when showing his wings to his master, his reward is eternal damnation. But by a stroke of luck Raziel survives. He's granted the gift of life by The Elder God. As with Kain, Raziel goes into a frenzy and decides its best to clear the land of his brothers and Kain. So he does.

With each brother he kills Raziel gains a new power and thereby reaches up to a point where he'd be able to defeat Kain. Being the last one left Raziel goes after him through a long hallway of visions. Some of these will come true, some are alternate timelines and this brings us back to the time streaming device which zapped Kain back to the past in Blood Omen. Kain activates the divice during a fight with Raziel.

In an attempt to follow, Raziel jumps into the portal, but instead finds himself facing Moebius. And a very annoying "to be continued" screen.

Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance

Raziel finds himself in the past and from here on explaining becomes near impossible. So I'll skip from SR2 directly into Defiance and back from time to time.

The main reason is cause these 2 games take place in and around Blood Omen 1. So most main events are already known and just recaptures. Also the gameplay pretty much is a remake of SR1 for Raziel and BO2 for Kain.

Raziel finds the Sarafan in the past and gets to kill them all. This means he was the reason why Kain could later resurrect them. Mainly Raziel is still running around trying to get to Kain, but he gets a bit side-tracked by everything that happens in Nosgoth's past.

Eventually Raziel flip-flops through time again ending up around the same time as Young Kain is running around killing the guardians of the pillars (Blood Omen 1). Old Kain is there too however. So this gives a new chase.

BUT ....

and now I'll step away from the story cause this is the ending and there's 3 things that need explaining before the world goes Poof.

1. The Reaver blade

Its the blade both Raziel and Kain wield. It was made by a vampire and eventually its the weapon that will be the key to everything falling into place.

2. Prophecy

There's a background story of 2 fighting heroes that will bring balance to the world. The hero being Raziel in both cases. Both Salvation and Destroyer.

3. Moebius and the Elder God

These two are actually in one league and trying to prevent Kain from ever doing what he's ment to do. Which is also part of the Prophecy.

4. The End...

And thats all I'll tell you. Defiance is still a game that you can get easily and it tells you everything you need to know. It'd be a massive spoiler if I told it straight away right here and now.

Also the story works in a loop. Somewhere in Blood Omen 1 Kain fights himself. The ending of Defiance actually stops near that point. So there's no end to the sequence of events. In other words .... there is NO ending.

Next week I'll give some sources on how to get all the Legacy of Kain games running. I might include links to where you can download them 'legally'.

For now I'll leave you with the most impressive screenshot ever taken.