Raziel

Raziel is a former vampire lieutenant of Kain turned wraith and one the main protagonists of the Legacy of Kain series.
==History==
===Soul Reaver===
====Rebirth and Downfall====
As a human, Raziel was a member of the Sarafan order, a group of religious vampire hunters. He rose through the ranks to become the head Sarafan warrior inquisitor and was the pride of the Sarafan, along with his fellow commanders, Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, Dumah, and Turel. After Raziel was killed in battle, he was buried in a tomb with his comrades, memorialized as heroes of the Sarafan. But five hundred years after the fall of the Pillars of Nosgoth, Kain, determined to recruit a group of lieutenants, entered the tomb of Raziel and his cohorts.
Breathing his soul energy into the six, Kain revived them as vampires, ignorant of their previous life as with the Sarafan. Raziel was the first revived, receiving the largest portion of Kain’s soul, and became his master’s right hand. Raziel helped Kain to build an empire in Nosgoth, creating his own clan of vampires as did his fellow lieutenants.
Over time, Raziel and the others would repeatedly undergo a period of evolutionary sleep, where they would emerge with a new ability. Kain would always go first with Raziel and the other lieutenants following afterwards. But one faithful day, Raziel would surpass Kain, going into hibernation first and emerging with a pair of bat-like wings. When he arrived at the Sanctuary of the Clans, the meeting place of Kain and his lieutenants, and revealed this new evolution, Kain, apparently jealous, tore the bones out of Raziel’s wings. The vampire emperor then ordered his firstborn lieutenant tossed into the Lake of the Dead, a large whirlpool of water (which burned vampires like acid).
None of Raziel’s brothers spoke out against this and they dragged him to the cliffs above the lake with Turel and Dumah throwing him in without hesitation. Upon landing in the Lake, Raziel found himself in terrible agony, his skin burned by the water. Finally, his pain faded away as he sank to the bottom, finding himself in the Underworld. Raziel got back to his feet, his body ravaged and changed, and was greeted by an otherworldly voice. This was a being known as the Elder God, who’d saved Raziel from complete annihilation. He told the newborn wraith of the Wheel of Fate and how Kain and his brood were keeping the souls of Nosgoth from entering the wheel, preventing them from completing their destinies. The Elder God told Raziel to have his revenge on Kain and his former brethren, calling him his “Soul Reaver”.
====Return to Nosgoth====
As Raziel acclimated to his new form as a creature of the Spectral Realm and the realm itself, learning that he now thirsted for souls instead of blood, he found a planar portal that returned him to the Material Realm. Upon returning to Nosgoth, Raziel found that things had gone downhill greatly since his absence. It had become a desolate wasteland, the vampires had devolved into foul monsters, and the Sanctuary of the Clans was in ruins. Raziel found that centuries had passed since his execution and traveled to his clan territory to find what had become of them. But upon arriving at his former stronghold, Raziel found it abandoned and in ruins with his descendants apparently slaughtered by Kain. Enraged, the wraith entered the Necropolis, the territory of his youngest brother, Melchiah.
Raziel was disgusted by the devolved state he found his brother’s clan in, decayed and zombie-like, and by the fact that they were creating fledgling vampires from corpses. Eventually Raziel was confronted by Melchiah himself, now a bloated deformed mass, covered by a patchwork of the flesh of his victims. Melchiah said Raziel should’ve stayed where Kain sent him and the wraith demanded to know the fate of his clan. Melchiah replied that they were an upstart inheritance and Raziel would be the last to die. They battled and the wraith tricked his devolved brother, using Melchiah’s phasing power to trap him in a large grinder. Raziel asked where Kain was, but Melchiah replied that he was out of the wraith’s reach. His former brother activated the grinder, crushing Melchiah (who seemed to welcome death) and devouring his soul to gain his phasing power.
Raziel headed to the Sanctuary of the Clans and found Kain, apparently waiting for him. The wraith called his former master’s actions unconscionable, but he replied that only when Raziel felt the full weight of choice should he question his judgment. Kain drew the Soul Reaver, saying that his empire and Raziel had outlasted their usefulness. The wraith engaged his former master, but with some fear of the blade, knowing how powerful it was. Kain was able to quickly gain the upper hand and swung the Soul Reaver down on Raziel. However instead of taking the wraith’s soul, the supposedly indestructible blade shattered.
Strangely, Kain hardly seemed bothered by this and he said that they were now a step closer to their destinies, before disappearing while Raziel slipped back into the Spectral Realm. There he found the Soul Reaver’s spectral form, which bound itself to him as the Wraith Blade and also met the ghost of Ariel, former Guardian of Balance. She told Raziel of her imprisonment and it was Kain who was responsible for her prolonged imprisonment. Ariel realized that she and the wraith had a common foe and offered to help him, acting as his guide. Raziel then went after Zephon, using the Wraith Blade to access the Silenced Cathedral where his brother’s clan made its home. Raziel fought his way past the now spider-like members of Zephon’s clan, along with their human worshippers.
He managed to reach the top of the cathedral, where he found the now insectoid Zephon, who'd grown so large that the chambers had practically become part of his body. The two taunted what the other had become with Zephon saying free will had little difference from reflexive instinct. Raziel fought his former brother, managing to kill him with a flamethrower discarded by a dead vampire hunter. He then devoured Zephon’s soul, gaining the ability to scale walls, which he used to move beyond the Sanctuary of the Clans.
Raziel found the Tomb of the Sarafan, where he was shocked to learn that he and his former brethren were former members of the Sarafan, the opposite of what Kain had turned him into. Enraged, Raziel continued on his journey, entering the Drowned Abbey, which was home to the clan of Rahab, who’d devolved into amphibious creatures. While the great deal of water proved a major obstacle, Raziel managed to find his way through and confronted Rahab. He told his former brother that they had once been Sarafan, but this did not bother Rahab, who said that they had been saved from themselves. The two battled and Raziel managed to emerge victorious by exposing Rahab to sunlight.
He then took in his former brother’s soul, granting him the ability to survive in water and allowing him to reach the city of Dumah’s clan. However Raziel found it abandoned and full of the dead, at first thinking that this was Kain’s work as well. But the Elder God told him that vampire hunters had taken advantage of the arrogance of Dumah and his clan to launch a devastating attack on them. Raziel entered his former brother’s throne room and found his body impaled by a trio of large stakes.
He removed the stakes, causing Dumah’s soul to re-enter his body. Raziel was eager to fight him for his part in his execution, but Dumah was un-intimidated by him, believing that his time honing his skills in limbo had made him superior even to Kain. Though Raziel found that Dumah’s armor made him immune to attack, the wraith managed to lure him into a furnace, burning him to death and devouring his soul to gain his constrict power.
====Journey through Time====
Ariel and the Elder God then set Raziel towards his next goal, the Oracle’s Cave, where he was able to access the Chronoplast, a powerful time-streaming device. As he journeyed through it, Raziel was shown a possible future, before finally facing Kain in the main chamber of the Chronoplast. The vampire remarked that he expected Raziel to arrive earlier and spoke of the truths he’d seen when he first came to the Chronoplast.
Kain stated that free will was an illusion, activating the Chronoplast as he spoke, and when Raziel attacked him, the vampire easily held him off. The wraith angrily condemned his transformation of Sarafan inquisitors into his vampire council, but Kain replied that no one could serve him better than those whose passion went beyond all ideas of good and evil.
Kain went on to say that the goals of the Sarafan had been no different from that of the vampires, before passing through the Chronoplast portal. Raziel pursued him, continuing on despite the Elder God warning him that the wraith would be left beyond his influence.
===Soul Reaver 2===
====Hunting Kain====
Upon his emergence from the time portal, Raziel found himself in a time-streaming device in the Sarafan Order’s fortress, before the collapse of the pillars. The wraith was met by Moebius, the Guardian of Time, who explained that he’d taken him out of the time stream. Raziel remembered all that Kain had told him about Moebius and was instantly wary of him, which was only reinforced when Moebius’ Staff disabled his Wraith Blade. The Guardian of Time offered to help Raziel, telling him that his former master was at the Pillars of Nosgoth. Moebius told him to destroy Kain and embrace his humanity and nobility of his past as a Sarafan.
Raziel headed out and as he went through the Sarafan fortress, he found evidence of his noble life among the Sarafan, murals depicting the order slaying Janos Audron and showing Raziel and the other warrior inquisitors as martyrs. The wraith also came across the tomb of William the Just, where he found the broken Soul Reaver laid across the sarcophagus. Raziel touched it, when suddenly the Wraith Blade manifested and drained its owner’s soul to repair the broken Soul Reaver, almost destroying him in the process.
Raziel now realized that the Wraith Blade was not a tool, it was a sentient parasite that competed for control. He noticed Moebius was watching, this time without his staff, and threatened him with the Soul Reaver, which was joined with his Wraith Blade. The Guardian of Time begged Raziel to stay his blade, saying he’d come without his staff to prove his good intentions. However the wraith was fully willing to end Moebius until he revealed that he too was a servant of the Elder God. Raziel finally spared the Time Guardian and left the Soul Reaver where he’d found it, before leaving the Sarafan fortress.
Upon seeing Nosgoth as it had been before Kain brought about the collapse of the Pillars, Raziel became even more determined to kill his former master. As he headed towards the Pillars, the wraith found dead vampires impaled on stakes by Moebius’ forces and despite remembering his life as one of the Sarafan, Raziel found it to be ruthless persecution. He reached the Pillars and found Kain there, who told him that he’d seen the beginning and end of their story, wishing to rewrite it. The vampire continued to tell Raziel of his human birth and the corruption of the pillars, before the wraith witnessed their corruption occur.
Kain explained that the decision he’d been faced with was rigged, since no matter whether he chose to sacrifice himself or survive, it wouldn’t really solve anything. Kain then revealed that he did want to restore the Pillars, much to Raziel’s surprise, and hinted that the vampires had once owned the Pillars, as well as that he wanted to find a third outcome. While Raziel knew he had no reason to trust Kain, what his former master said interested him and he let the vampire teleport away.
Raziel then came across a sealed door with the image of a blue-skinned winged creature that bore a resemblance to him on it, as well as an image of the Soul Reaver. Inside Raziel found an underground chamber with murals of an ancient war between two races that resulted in the creation of the Pillars, which the Elder God told him were “lies”. Raziel continued into a swamp, where he found himself being watched by Vorador. He reached some ancient ruins with more murals of the ancient war and found the Dark Forge inside, where he imbued the Wraith Blade with the elemental power of Darkness.
After leaving, Raziel was confronted by Vorador, who clearly distrusted him and wondered whether the wraith had caused the corruption of the pillars. When Raziel made it clear he didn’t know his destiny, Vorador acknowledged that he was something of a “savior”, though he was still suspicious of the wraith. The vampire went on to say that Nosgoth had no hope for restoration and Raziel was too late, telling him that the deceased Janos Audron had his answers, before teleporting away. However the wraith realized that he had a means of meeting Janos by using the time-streaming chamber in the Sarafan fortress. So as to get back into the stronghold, Raziel found the Light Forge in the cliffs of the Great Southern Lake, granting the Wraith Blade the elemental power of light. This allowed him to re-enter the Sarafan fortress, where Raziel had another encounter with Kain at William’s tomb.
The vampire explained that history cannot be redeemed unless two Soul Reavers met in space and time, which would cause a paradox that altered history. Kain then gave Raziel the material Soul Reaver, making the Wraith Blade appear and join with the Soul Reaver as before.
The wraith suddenly found himself being forced to attack Kain, who explained that this was when fate said he would die. He told Raziel to resist and prove his free will by not killing him and the wraith fought against it, successfully keeping the blade from hitting Kain and changing history. The vampire congratulated Raziel, but he only turned away, disgusted at receiving his praise. As he walked away, Kain told his former lieutenant to find his own truths.
====Realizing Destiny====
Raziel returned to the time streaming chamber where he found Moebius who was greatly upset about his refusal to kill Kain. However the Guardian of Time again didn’t have his staff and Raziel threatened him to activate the time streaming chamber so he could get back to an earlier point in Nosgoth’s history. But when Raziel emerged, he found the Sarafan Stronghold in ruins and infested with demons. He eventually met the spirit of Moebius, who told the wraith he’d sent him to a hundred years after the collapse of the Pillars, so as to show him the devastation Kain’s decision had wrought. However Raziel had his doubts about Moebius’ motivations and explored the Nosgoth of this era, seeing that demons had overrun the land and humans had become demon hunters.
When Raziel came to the Pillars, he found the spirit of Ariel, angry with Kain for his decision, which destroyed the Pillars and kept her imprisoned. However Raziel felt a strange need to defend Kain as they debated about the vampire’s actions. Finally, he left Ariel, failing to gain any useful information from her. Raziel eventually came across the Elder God in an underground chamber, who scolded him for not killing Kain. But the wraith replied by asking the Elder God what he was really after, pointing out how he thrived, while Nosgoth decayed. Raziel called the Elder God more of a parasite than the vampires he so hated, before refusing to obey him. He continued on his journey, eventually ending up at the former home of Janos Audron, where he met Kain again.
Raziel’s former master warned him that they were both in danger and that he should be very careful, before teleporting away. Raziel soon managed to find the Air Forge, where he learned that the Ancients, which he’d been seeing in various murals on his journey, were the original vampires. Raziel then granted the Wraith Blade the elemental power of Air, which he used to enter an abandoned Time Streaming chamber and travel through time once again. Raziel found himself in a very early point of Nosgoth’s history and when he returned to Janos Audron’s home, he found that it was intact, prior to the Sarafan’s attack.
With the Sarafan amassing their forces in a town nearby, Raziel desperately tried to reach Janos before the Sarafan did. Despite finding that the Ancient Vampire’s home was designed for winged beings, Raziel was finally able to get through it and reach Janos. He found that the Ancient Vampire had been awaiting his arrival, believing him to be some sort of Vampire champion. Janos then offered Raziel the Reaver sword (having not yet become the Soul Reaver) and the wraith felt an overwhelming sense of dread come over him, yet found himself drawn to it. But before the wraith could take it, a group of Sarafan Warrior Inquisitors arrived, having been lead there by Raziel and wielding Moebius’ Staff.
To save the wraith, Janos teleported him outside the chamber, into the sealed Fire Forge. Determined to save the Ancient Vampire, Raziel quickly navigated the forge and granted his Wraith Blade the elemental power of Fire, unsealing the door. However the wraith arrived too late to help and could only watch in horror as his human self tore out Janos’ heart, before the Inquisitors returned to the Sarafan Stronghold with the Reaver.
Raziel swore to retrieve the blade and Janos’ heart, the Heart of Darkness, having decided it was meant to resurrect the Ancient vampire, as well as take revenge on Moebius and the Sarafan. As he went, Raziel found himself attacked by demons from the future, suspecting they were the minions of the ones Kain had warned him of, before again finding himself in the Elder God’s underground chamber. Raziel asked the god if it had really revived him or was just there as he awoke in the Abyss. He then said that there seemed to be more than his destiny than he or even the Elder God knew. Raziel proceeded to the Sarafan Stronghold, at the time of Vorador’s attack on the Circle of Nine, where he found the Reaver suspiciously laid out in a chamber.
 However Raziel was confronted by Moebius and Malek and was locked in the chamber. With his Wraith Blade disabled by the Guardian of Time’s staff, the wraith took up his only choice of weapon, the Reaver, but was compelled to by his rage. Unable to put it down, Raziel managed to escape the chamber and fought his way through the Sarafan Stronghold, killing the human versions of his former vampire brethren.
As he did so, Raziel finally appreciated the irony of Kain’s private joke and found the Reaver had made him feel invincible. He finally faced his human self, demanding that he turn over Janos’ heart, but when the human Raziel taunted him about the Ancient vampire’s death, the wraith angrily engaged him and finally killed him. However the Wraith Blade suddenly manifesting, binding itself to the Reaver, leaving Raziel with a sense of chilling emptiness, before the conjoined blades suddenly impaled him. The wraith realized that the Reaver had not been forged as a soul stealing weapon; that the soul devouring spirit inside it had been Raziel himself and his destiny was to be imprisoned in the sword.
However Kain arrived and managed to prevent the wraith from being absorbed into the Reaver, triggering a paradox and creating a timeline. Without the strength to manifest himself in the physical world, Raziel slipped back into the Spectral Realm, where he found the Wraith Blade again, proving that he’d only postponed his fate.
===Defiance===
====Learning of Prophecies====
Badly weakened, Raziel found himself facing the Elder God once again, but still refused to submit to it. It called the wraith a coward, wanting to stay in the Underworld so as to avoid his destiny at the hands of the Reaver. However Raziel decided to go face his fate and pretended to submit to the Elder God, slaughtering some Sluagh for the Old One. The wraith found an opportunity to escape the Elder God’s lair, only to find any planar portals to the Material Realm closed by the Old One. But Raziel managed to possess a corpse to get back into the physical world, tearing off the flesh to reveal his form.
He discovered that five centuries had passed and he’d arrived at the time of Moebius’ crusade against vampires. Raziel found that his Wraith Blade’s elemental powers were gone thanks to the Elder God and had to re-obtain the elemental powers of Light and Darkness to leave the cemetery he was in. Raziel used Warp Gates to enter the Vampire Citadel to find them and headed towards the Pillars, hoping he could get some answers from Ariel. As Raziel drew closer to the pillars, he managed to obtain the elemental power of Fire for his Wraith Blade and consumed the souls of the original, ancient guardians of Nature and Conflict.
Raziel also found murals that showed him that Vorador had forged the blade, as well as that he was the first turned vampire. He also discovered one depicting a vampire champion, who the wraith thought he was, and a Hylden champion, who were destined to fight one another. Raziel managed to find Ariel at the Pillars, but she refused to help him, apparently considering him one of the Hylden and thinking he’d aided in corrupting the Pillars.
However Ariel did tell the wraith where to find Vorador and he headed there, obtaining the elemental power of Air for his Wraith Blade and consuming the souls of the ancient guardians of Mind and Dimension as he went. Raziel managed to reach Vorador’s mansion, but found it abandoned, though he did across a Warp Gate that brought him to a forge, where he imbued his Wraith Blade with the elemental power of Water, consuming the souls of the ancient Guardians of Death and State as he did so. Raziel found another mural inside where he got a clear look at the Hylden champion and noted that he looked similar to it. With the Fire and Water powers of the Wraith Blade, Raziel opened a crypt behind the mansion, where he found Vorador, apparently waiting for Moebius’ mercenaries. Though he was still as suspicious of the wraith as last time, Vorador did tell him he had forged the Reaver blade. However Vorador added that Janos Audron and the other ancient vampires had given it its powers, and he didn’t know what its purpose was.
He also revealed to Raziel that he had the body of Janos in the crypt, telling the wraith that he could “redeem” himself by finding the Heart of Darkness and resurrecting Janos. Vorador told Raziel that the heart was last recorded to be in Avernus, but added that the city was devastated and there was an unspoken evil within. The wraith headed to Avernus Cathedral, where he found the warp gates to the Earth Forge and imbued the Wraith Blade with the elemental power of Earth, consuming the souls of the ancient guardians of Time and Energy. Raziel found more murals that showed that ancient vampires worshipped the Elder God. However after they were cursed with their blood thirst, it had abandoned them and many committed suicide to try and return to the Wheel of Fate. Raziel returned to the Avernus Cathedral and managed to open a portal into the catacombs underneath.
As he navigated them, he discovered murals that told the Hylden’s side of the Vampire-Hylden war. They had been persecuted by the ancient vampires for refusing to give in to the Wheel of Fate. Raziel also found another picture of the Hylden Champion, which was unmistakably Raziel. The Elder God spoke to the wraith and told him that he was indeed that champion, most likely meaning that Kain was the Vampire Champion. Raziel continued through the Catacombs, where he discovered the Cult of Hash’ak’gik, who’d carved the murals, worshipping their god. When the ritual was over, Raziel drew closer to the pit in the center of the chamber, but was suddenly telekinetically dragged in by the creature within. As they spoke, Raziel realized that “Hash’ak’gik” was the last of his former vampire brothers, Turel, who’d been brought back in time and possessed by a number of Hylden. These Hylden began speaking through Turel, telling Raziel to kill the vampire champion, before Turel took back control and attacked the wraith.
He managed to kill his former brother and devoured his soul, gaining more powerful telekinetic abilities, but also taking in some of the Hylden spirits. Raziel finally confronted Mortanius, who was partly possessed by the Hylden Lord, and the Guardian of Death revealed that he’d placed the Heart of Darkness in Kain when he resurrected him as a vampire. Mortanius said that Kain was the Scion of Balance, as well as the prophesized vampire champion. The Hylden Lord took over briefly to tell Raziel that the Hylden would soon possess a stronger host, before Mortanius teleported away to fight the younger Kain during his original quest.
====Reviving Janos====
Raziel returned to Avernus Cathedral, where he met the older Kain, who’d been searching for him, so as to keep him from resurrecting Janos. The two started to argue about Raziel’s fate and the wraith, influenced by the Hylden possession, now fully believed himself to be the Hylden champion and was fearful of the Reaver blade, which Kain wielded. Raziel goaded his former master into fighting him, saying that they were prophesized to battle. As they fought, the wraith started grappling with Kain, but his soul began to drain into the Reaver. Raziel desperately drove his claw into his former master’s chest, tearing out the Heart of Darkness and stopping the absorption. He then telekinetically blasted Kain through a portal, apparently killing him, before he headed back to Vorador’s estate.
However Raziel found that it had been invaded by Moebius’ mercenary army and confronted Moebius. The Guardian of Time said that it hadn’t mattered to him and the Elder God which champion Raziel or Kain were, they only cared that Kain was dead. Moebius then left to oversee Vorador’s execution, while Raziel headed for Janos’ Crypt. There he used the Heart of Darkness and the Wraith Blade to revive the Ancient Vampire. Janos remembered the wraith from their last meeting and again addressed him as the vampire champion. However Raziel asked why the vampires would create a weapon to imprison their champion. Janos believed the wraith was mistaken, but he manifested the Wraith Blade, much to the ancient vampire’s surprise. He started to rethink his interpretation of the ancients prophecy and teleported himself and Raziel to the Vampire Citadel’s Council Chamber.
The wraith asked for more information on the ancient vampires and Janos provided clarity on events from their history. He then told Raziel that he would find answers in the Spirit Forge, giving him the Golden Ouroboros Key to get him inside, The wraith found the Elder God guarding the forge, who said that it had indeed been Kain’s purpose as the Scion of Balance that mattered.
However Raziel used the elemental powers of his wraith blade to fend off the Elder God and activate the forge, summoning the souls of all the former Guardians of Balance, represented by Ariel. Raziel devoured them, granting his wraith blade the elemental power of Spirit and Ariel told him that he had to unite what had split apart, which was the only thing that could give Kain the means to fulfill his duty. However Raziel was greatly confused, since he believed his former master dead and returned to Janos. He found the Ancient Vampire watching the Pillars, realizing that they’d come to the moment when Kain had brought about their collapse.
As the shockwave released by the Pillars’ collapse was unleashed, Raziel and Janos were knocked to the ground. As the wraith got back to his feet, he found that Janos had been possessed by the Hylden Lord. He mocked Raziel for providing the instrument of his race’s victory by giving him a more durable vessel in Janos. The Hylden Lord added that his resurrection of Janos had also led the wraith to killing Kain, savior of the vampires. Raziel desperately battled the Hylden Lord, but couldn’t bring himself to kill Janos and his opponent took the opportunity to destroy the wraith’s physical and spiritual forms.
====Completing his Role====
Raziel was sent back before the Elder God, who taunted him, saying that he’d served his purpose, before reviving Moebius and bringing him to the Spirit Forge. However Kain, still alive and drawn to the Spirit Forge, killed Moebius and when his spirit appeared before Raziel in the Spectral Realm. The wraith then impaled the Guardian of Time on the Spirit Reaver, cleansing him and allowing him to see what the Elder God truly looked like for the first time. Raziel relished in the Guardian of Time’s horror at the Old One’s form, before he was returned to the Wheel of Fate.
The Elder God said his actions did not matter, but Raziel started to realize the truth, that he was the vampire and Hylden champion. He also realized that the force that had brought about all the conflict and chaos throughout history had been the Elder God and knew what he had to do. Raziel possessed Moebius' corpse, making Kain instinctively impale him with the Reaver.
As the wraith’s form was fully revealed, his former master tried to stop him from being absorbed. But Raziel stopped him, sending his wraith blade into Kain’s body so as to purify him of the Pillars corruption and allow him to see the Elder God. Raziel said that he was not Kain’s enemy or destroyer, he was his right hand and sword, as before, finally becoming one with the Reaver to form the Soul Reaver. This allowed Kain to finally defeat the Elder God, as well as giving him one final gift, hope. Raziel’s soul would remain in the Soul Reaver for some time, giving it the ability to devour the souls of its victims and becoming increasingly maddened as time went by. However Raziel would be broken free of the blade after Kain attacked his younger self with the Soul Reaver, shattering the blade because he could not devour his own soul. Restored to his spectral form as the Wraith Blade, Raziel was bound to his younger self and was finally freed when the blade was dispersed into Kain.
==Personality==
Raziel is a very upstanding and moral character, with a strong inherent sense of noblesse oblige; however, the conditions and situations he finds himself in (almost never of his own making) rarely lend themselves to unambiguous ethical judgments and he often ends up doing the wrong thing for the right reason. As a mortal man, he engaged in the systematic extermination of countless Vampires in his fanatical quest to rid the world of his perception of evil. As a Vampire he helped Kain establish his empire, under the controversial belief that Vampires deserved (as a higher form of life, and thusly "knowing better") to rule the world.
He became The Soul Reaver, the state he found himself in after being "betrayed" by Kain and his brethren, then "saved" by the Elder God, by being thrown into the Abyss, a swirling vortex of water. (Its depth is such that it could almost be described as endless although its exact depth is not known for sure.) he stalked Kain and massacred his former brethren, prevaricating that he was not only exacting vengeance, but just settling the balance of existence. He often finds himself the willing or unwilling pawn of those around him, for good or evil. His systemic redemption is found in his final act, one of self-sacrifice. This puts him in harmonic opposition to the character of Kain (though he sacrifices himself not only to escape his curse of infinite death/rebirth cycle or to help defeat "the true enemy", but also for Kain - to whom he pledges allegiance), whose behavior is characterised by viciousness, manipulation and the belief that every person and thing is utterly expendable, but whose actions generally turn out to be right, because he defies those around him, most of whom turn out to be directly or indirectly in league with evil.
Kain proudly admits his actions are motivated by lust for power and revenge (but he truly was predestined to become a tyrant, only in a quest for survival and because of Nupraptor's curse, at his birth), while Raziel unrelently claims his sole motivation is a desire to save the world and that he is solely guided by morals. Raziel unrelently switches from one master (often a manipulator) to another (Moebius and the Sarafan, Kain, the Elder God, Ariel, Janos Audron, Kain - again, Raziel is either being lied to or being told half-truths or what they think the truth is.), while Kain only follows orders when they suit him and never trusts anyone (not even his only love Umah, the female Vampire who cared for him during his comatose sleep in Blood Omen 2).
==Powers==
Because of his vampire abilities, Raziel has superhuman strength, speed, and healing, clawed hands, and some telekinetic powers. However his transformation into a wraith has drastically changed him, replacing his blood thirst with a need to consume souls to maintain his strength. Raziel is also able to exist in the Spectral Realm as well as shift to the physical world, but needs a specific means of doing so, such as a Planar Portal or by possessing a corpse. Thanks to his consuming the souls of his brothers, Raziel has gained a number of other abilities; phasing through barriers, climbing walls, swimming in water (which previously destroyed his physical body), being able to send out a constricting band of spectral energy to wrap around enemies or objects, and enhanced telekinetic abilities.
Raziel's main weapon is his Wraith Blade, the Soul Reaver in spiritual form, which is bound to him. He can use it to fire Reaver bolts, blasts of telekinetic force, and has obtained various elemental powers for it. Its Darkness power lets it cover Raziel in darkness to hide him from enemies, its Light power can blind opponents with intense light, its Water power allows him to freeze enemies and sources of water, its Earth power lets Raziel manipulate earth and cause small earthquakes, its Fire power can send out fire blasts, its Air power allows him to unleash whirlwinds, and its Spirit power is the strongest out of all of them, as well as able to cleanse others sight.
==Gallery==
LOK Raziel.jpg
==Trivia==
*In the Soul Reaver comic, just after Raziel emerged with his wings, he was visited by a disguised wraith and minion of the Elder God. She warned him of what Kain would sentence him to and that he would be reborn as the Reaver of Souls, but Raziel didn't believe her. However, she is never once mention by Raziel or by anyone throughout the entire video game series.
*There were numerous material cut from the original Soul Reaver, such as Raziel killing Kain to restore Nosgoth, the wraith facing and slaying Turel and the High Priestess of the Vampire Worshippers, and Raziel absorbing Ariel and Kain into the Wraith Blade.
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Vampires
Category:Undead
Category:Brutes
Category:Knights
Category:The Chosen One
Category:Elementals
Category:Psychics
Category:Warriors
Category:Pawn of the Villain
Category:Anti-Heroes
Category:Noncorporeal
Category:Humanoid
Category:Immortals
Category:Fantasy Heroes
Category:Servant of a Villain
Category:Possessors
Category:Tragic
Category:Charismatic
Category:Vengeful
Category:Extremists
Category:Chaotic Good
Category:Good Vs. Good
Category:On & Off
Category:Wayward Heroes
Category:Redeemed Villains
Category:Fighters
Category:Scapegoat
Category:Monster Slayers
Category:Dark Fantasy Heroes
Category:Freedom Fighters
Category:Dimension Travelers
Category:Magic
Category:Insecure
Category:The Messiah
Category:Contradictory
Category:Narrators
Category:Adventurers
Category:Saved Souls
Category:Right-Hand
Category:Truth-Seekers