Malek

Malek, also known as Malek the Paladin, was the guardian of conflict in Nosgoth and also one of the Sarafan Inquisitors. Malek personally lead the purge against the vampires, and was considered by many, especially the vampires themselves, to be a brutal and cold hearted murderer. Malek, naturally bald, would scalp his enemies and decorate his helmet with their braided hair as a grizzly trophy.

Known as the "ward of the Circle of Nine", he was charged with the protection of the Circle against their enemies. Ironicly, it was the success of the Sarafan Crusades that he lead, and the Circle supported, that lead to his downfall. The vampire Vorador, enraged at the slaughter of his people and the death of his sire, Janos Audron, stormed the Sarafan Stronghold and slaughtered six of the guardians before Malek could come to their aid. Malek was shown at this time in Soul Reaver 2, acting on Moebius' orders to keep Raziel contained until he picked up the Reaver, this delayed Malek and he arrived too late to save the guardians and was defeated by Vorador, but left alive to suffer a worse fate. His soul was fused to his magical armor by Mortanius as a punishment as he would now serve the Circle for all time.

Kain first encountered Malek five hundred years later, when he set out to slay the guardian Nupraptor. The Mentalist, both having grown weary of living and doubtful of Malek's ability to protect him in light of his previous failure against Vorador, dismissed the ward and fought Kain alone. Kain recognized that Malek would have to be dealt with before he could slay the rest of the guardains, knowing that they would not be so likely to go without his protection as the depressed and boarderline suicidal Nupraptor was. Thus, Kain made Malek his next target.

Malek, now the last of the Sarafan, had taken up residence in a bastion on top of a high mountain. His fortress was impossible to reach without flight or magical teleportation, and -fittingly- was incredibly hostile to vampires. At the high altitudes, water from the constant snow would burn a vampire's skin, and there was a near total lack of blood in the entire complex; Malek's servants were, like him, the souls of long dead Sarafan bound to their armor so they could continue fighting.

Kain battled his way through these enemies, eventually destroying the machine that created them. He stumbled upon a corpse seated on a throne just before finding the Paladin. Malek commented on how seeing one's own corpse was a sobering experience, but that he was far more interested in Kain's corpse than his own. Kain continued on, and found Malek in the next room.

The two engaged in a fierce battle and proved to be fairly evenly matched. Kain could hold his own against the Ward, but could not afflict any lasting damage to the disembodied spirit. The two found themself in a stalemate, and Kain chose to flee, knowing that eventually he would weaken from lack of blood where as Malek could continue to fight without rest. Malek, not entirely mentally stable from his centuries of suffering, grew frustrated with the stalemate and instead of choosing to wait Kain out, attempted to bring the whole Bastion down on top of him, hastening Kain's retreat.

Realizing he could not defeat Malek through conventional methods, Kain saught out the famed Oracle of Nosgoth- actually Moebius the Timestreamer- at Ariel's suggestion. When Kain questioned the Timestreamer in the oracle caves he claimed it was Malek's vanity that led to the slaughter of six guardians, however it is learned that all those years ago Malek was detained by Mobieus himself to deter the attack of a time displaced Raziel, whom Moebius claimed was "the real danger". Moebius' advice did prove helpful, however, as he directed Kain to Vorador, the only vampire to ever defeat the Paladin.

Malek next appeared in Dark Eden when Kain confronted Bane, Dejoule, and Anarcrothe the States Guardian, intending to slay the three of them. Bane and Dejoule seemed less than threatened by Kain, but Anarcrothe paniced and summoned Malek to take care of Kain while he fled. In retaliation Kain summoned Vorador with the signet ring the elder vampire had given him earlier.

Enraged at the sight of the person he blamed for his damnation and eager for a chance at vengeance, Malek neglected defending the guardians from Kain and instead fought against Vorador. The ancient vampire asserted that- having defeated him previously- he was Malek's true master, and commaned the Ward to kneel before him. Malek retorted that he would feed Vorador's remains to his brides after he was finished with him. Though Malek proved more of a challenge to Vorador than he had in their last battle, he was none the less defeated, and finally slain. Kain took his helmet, his pillar tolken, and used it to restore the Pillar of Conflict.

Further Observations
Exactly how Vorador managed to kill Malek is unclear; though it is assumed he was able to inflict such damage upon Malek's armor that it could no longer contain his soul, something that the fledgling Kain was not physically strong enough to do.

It is also unknown why exactly Malek was subservient to the other guardians. Anarcrothe, Moebius, Mortanius, and Nupraptor all displayed authority over him at different points. Vorador refered to him as the Circle's dog; and he was shown to obey them even before his fall from grace. It is believed by some that, like Kain, Malek remained ignorant of his role as Guardian of Conflict well into adulthood as he was more useful as an obedient servant than a questioning equal. This raises the question as to why someone who's sworn duty was to protect the Circle of Nine didn't notice he was only protecting eight guardians. Any internal heirarchy within the circle is unknown; he obeyed Nupraptor's dismissal over Mortanius' decree to protect the circle, even though Mortanius was the senior and more powerful member of the circle.

It should also be noted that Moebius' claim that Malek hadn't allowed the death of a member of the circle since Vorador's attack is false; thirty years before that claim, Mortanius killed Ariel, and only a short time before, Mortanius has Kain assassinated and ressurected, and Kain killed Nupraptor. It has been suggested that Moebius wasn't counting killings within the circle against Malek, though Kain's death- while ordered by Mortanius- was carried out by comman brigands. It is possible that Malek was unaware that Kain was the Balance Guardian, but still, this casts doubts upon his record. Another Theory could be that as Mortanius was the one who killed Ariel; Malek was told she had turn against the Cicrle. The same theory can apply to Kain if Malak was aware he was the Balance Guardian but thought he was a traitor for becoming a Vampire and attempting to murder his fellow guardians. Another, more simple theory, is that though he was there equal, the Circle still held him in contempt for his failure to protect them from Vorador. Part of his punishment was to 'serve' the Circle for eternity, to which they may have used to assert superiority over him.

Malek has 'cameo' appearances in games set after his death; his name appears in the Tomb of the Sarafan in Soul Reaver (for obvious reasons without a casket). He was also the sucject of a puzzle in Defiance, which revolved around returning a sword and shield to Malek's statue (despite the fact Malek has only ever been shown armed with a pike.)