Red blood

"Blood is your life. Without it, you will die. If you are wounded, seek out blood to restore your vitality."

- Umah

Blood is a bodily fluid involved in the circulatory system, which carries nutrients to specific locations and carries waste products away. Many of Nosgoth's inhabitants had some kind of Blood and The Blood Curse means that Vampires need to consume blood regularly to survive. As such, blood has been a constant need for Kain in Blood Omen, Blood Omen 2 and Defiance.

Role
As a series that focuses on Vampires, Blood is featured throughout the Legacy of Kain series and a blood vial represented Kain's health gauge. Many of the major characters in the series, as Vampires required blood to survive and recover from injuries, this could be fed from in humans by traditional neck biting (seen in Defiance ) or by telekinesis, though a multitude of other methods existed to restore Blood level (see blood-related items)

Blood also was also related to the relative strength and experience of Vampires with several concepts involving the consumption of blood bestowing special powers. Blood Vials in Blood Omen increased Kain's capacity to hold blood making him stronger and this concept was carried over into Lore in Blood Omen 2 (explicitly linked to drinking the blood of enemies). It was also mentioned that Vorador was able to read the thoughts of a victim as he drained their blood and at one stage in Blood Omen Kain apparently demonstrated a similar skill, reading the thoughts of a dying human. Blood Omen would also demonstrate through Blood Fountains how drinking blood could gain new powers and later Blood Omen 2 would feature Absorbing Veins, apparently linked to consuming blood that allowed Dark Gifts to be 'stolen'.

In addition to Vampires, other creatures seemed to require blood. The Mass was fed on the blood of Ancient Vampire Janos Audron (but it was also poisoned by Ancient Hylden blood  ) and the Wraith Smiths in Spirit Forges  granted artifacts in exchange for a blood sacrifice.

Outside of direct implications for biology and 'feeding', Blood has a large part in the mythos of the series as a whole. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain begins with an apparent prophecy regarding the planet being "bathed in blood" (an apparent reference to the upheavals of the Blood Omen and Blood Omen 2 eras) and blood is frequently mentioned in dialogue both in reference to the Blood Curse and metaphorically regarding the vampire bloodline.

Blood and Gore
Blood and Gore have always been a defining characteristic of the Legacy of Kain series, perhaps unsurprisingly considering the supposed violent nature of videogames and vampire nature of many characters; though the series has perhaps avoided the infamy of other violent and gory videogames.

At a basic level, Blood was frequently used to signify damage and injury in enemy characters, with most weapons (including ordinary claws) able to slice through flesh and extract blood. Many of the more advanced attacks had gory applications, most obviously related to feeding, however several were gratiously violent or gory with no particular feeding bonuses and some even actively impeded any feeding; these types of gory attacks were notably emphasised in the Blood Omen arc of the series.


 * In Blood Omen, gory deaths could be inflicted with the artifacts Flay, Implode, Font of Putrescence and Pentaliche of Tarot, the Lightning Spell and use of the Soul Reaver as a weapon.


 * In Soul Reaver, Raziel's finishing moves could be utilised to impale enemies (with Spear weapons) or destroy their bodies completely with the Wraith Blade (Soul Reaver), enemies could also be impaled on Wall Spikes with a finishing move, Telekinetic Force Projectile or Force Glyph usage.


 * In Soul Reaver 2, Raziel's finishing moves returned with Raziel able to directly utilise an impale or decapitation finishing move with most weapons, though a heart rip and neck twist were available with claws. The Wraith Blade retained its ability to totally desroy enemies.


 * In Blood Omen 2, Kain could utilise several impalement-type attacks in ordinary combat and the use of certain weapons enabled Kain to use decapitation grab attacks. Also using Kain's Mist Dark Gift, he could use a variety of gory, one-hit Stealth Kills . The Dark Gift Immolate was also originally intended to be a violent bloody attack called rupture (and functioning similar to Implode from Blood Omen).


 * Defiance featured the return of wall spikes, now more useful with TK attacks and finishing moves used to Feed the Reaver generally featured an impalement attack.

Blood-Related Items
Throughout the series, several items and features have heavily involved the use of blood.

Most of these involved some kind of restoration of blood level; these items include Blood Beakers, Blood Fountains (which also granted Kain other powers) , Spells Blood Gout (which involved using Kain's blood as a projectile weapon) , Blood Shower and Sanctuary  , the Heart of Darkness artifact  and the Flesh Armor (noted as "wrought with the blood of noblemen") in Blood Omen and Blood Basins in Defiance. Chained and Sleeping Humans could also be considered a 'free meal' in this manner.

Other Blood-related items include:


 * In Blood Omen, the Guillotine in Moebius' Museum, Vorador's Signet Ring and Tome of Hash'ak'gik (see notes) were all described as stained or soaked with blood; Azimuth had also used runes inscribed in Human blood to summon demons to Avernus.


 * In Soul Reaver 2, in the Air Forge, Raziel was able to collect and restore the blood-dripping hearts of three colored mummies (Red, Blue and Green) and later in Janos' Retreat, he was able to use a system of Blood Chalices and Blood Basins to move blood, ultimately creating the Bloodstone Bridges with which he ascended to Janos' Chambers. At the climax of Soul Reaver 2, Raziel was able to claim the blood-drinking Reaver blade, but was unable to recover the bloody Heart of Darkness.


 * In Defiance, Kain would be armed with blood-drinking Reaver as his weapon throughout. When Raziel reached Vorador's Mansion he could collect three spears; the Heart Seeker, Blood Drinker and Soul Stealer (each subtly named after Raziel forms); these spears were ultimately used to impale three hylden 'gargoyles', allowing their 'blood' to fall into the pond below and create a warp to the Water Forge. Raziel was also able to recover the Heart of Darkness and restore Janos with it. Defiance also featured another heart artifact, the Howling Heartstone.