Mortanius

Mortanius the Necromancer is a principal character in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, a member of the Circle of Nine and Guardian of the Pillar of Death. Mortanius was responsible for resurrecting Kain as a vampire, and served as an enigmatic benefactor throughout his quest to restore Nosgoth. Eventually, it transpired that Mortanius' body was a vessel to the malevolent Dark Entity; he had assassinated and resurrected Kain in an attempt to correct the imbalance caused by the murder of Ariel and the corruption of the Pillars. Mortanius was the final Guardian to perish in Kain's wake.

Mortanius' character is further revisited and explored in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. He, alongside Moebius, initiated the human crusades against the ancient vampires, which led to the eventual corruption of the Pillars of Nosgoth. While struggling against the Hylden Lord's attempts to possess his body, Mortanius had attempted to atone for his crimes by creating Kain - the prophecied Scion of Balance - using the Heart of Darkness.

In a World Without Life
"If the Circle is to be destroyed, you have to die as well, Necromancer. I admire your cunning, but you will not escape your fate."

- Kain



Upon the demise of the preceding Guardian of Death, Mortanius was born, supernaturally culled to inherit curatorship of the Pillar of Death. As a human Guardian, he was born some time after the genesis of the Pillars of Nosgoth, and - along with the longevity of life gifted to him by his duty - he was "skilled in the arts of manipulating death". Ancient and judicious, Mortanius was absent when Vorador launched his infamous attack on the Sarafan Stronghold in Nosgoth's early history, and was one of only three of the Circle of Nine's serving members to survive the vampire's onslaught.

In the aftermath, Mortanius personally administered punishment to Malek, the disgraced protector of the Circle. He magically stripped Malek's spirit from his body and fused it to his armor, proclaiming to him that "you have but one purpose, damned one. You will serve us for eternity". However, Mortanius's own servitude would eventually be compromised. In the pre-Blood Omen era, he was possessed by the Dark Entity, a malevolent force bent on destroying the Pillars, and - under this being's control - murdered Ariel, the Balance Guardian.

"Wracked with grief and tormented by suspicions of treachery" upon finding her corpse, Ariel's lover Nupraptor - the Mind Guardian - vowed vengeance on Mortanius, and turned his telepathic powers against the Circle. Plunging into madness and launching a furious telepathic assault, he ensured that "the minds of [Nosgoth's] sensitive and intellectual [were] blasted by relentless waves of hatred". Each of the nine living Guardians were left insane by the attack, "some raving like madmen, others maliciously in control of their actions"; the Pillars' veneer turned gray and cracked, reflecting the Circle's fundamental corruption.

Mercy and Judgement
"It had to be. Nupraptor’s insanity poisoned all of our minds. The Circle had failed in its sworn duties. It had to be destroyed."

- Mortanius



Realizing the peril his unwilling actions had caused, and desperate to redeem himself and correct Nosgoth's imbalance, Mortanius was "in constant conflict" with the Dark Entity. He understood that the current Guardians "had to be destroyed" and replaced in order to restore balance to the land, and conspired to purge the Circle. Mortanius learned of the young nobleman Kain, Ariel's unwitting successor as Balance Guardian. He secretly hired a band of assassins to murder Kain in Ziegsturhl, then resurrected Kain as a vampire, guiding him towards vengeance.

Though Kain's assassins were dead, Mortanius hinted that they "were merely the instruments of [his] murder, not the cause"'; he manipulated the vampire into slaughtering Nupraptor, a goal Ariel's specter reiterated when Kain visited the Pillars. As Kain journied Nosgoth and killed successive Guardians, under the impression that his curse would end if the Pillars were restored, Mortanius occasionally addressed him with symbiotic magic, subtly spurring him on. When he failed in his attempt to destroy Malek, Mortanius commented that "the game grows interesting"; that "the true player" was elusive amidst "so many pawns". After Kain met Vorador, Mortanius guided him to Dark Eden, claiming that "north is where your vengeance lies".

Mortanius issued his final words of advice as Kain traveled to Willendorf under the advice of the Oracle of Nosgoth, an insight into his philosophy: "one cannot quite accept that which sustains him", and that "death cannot reign in a world without life". He did not address his "undead son" until Kain emerged in the second timeline, having navigated and exposed the schemes of the Oracle - Moebius the Time Streamer. Mortanius heartily congratulated Kain, telling him that "Moebius did so love playing the trickster’s part", but that "with all his plots he failed to plan for you". He entreated his "undead son" to return to the Pillars, promising that "the stage is set for the grand finale": Kain would have his vengeance.

The Sweet Dark Serenity of Death
"Failed our duties? Idiot! The Circle exists for us, we don't exist for it! Our powers will save or damn Nosgoth at our whim! Stand with us, Mortanius, or die!"

- Anarcrothe



When Kain arrived at the Pillars, responding to Mortanius's invitation, he found the Necromancer being confronted by Anarcrothe, the States Guardian. Kain observed their dispute, unnoticed, watching as Anarcrothe angrily accused Mortanius of betraying the Circle; the Alchemist contended that his peer had "had Kain killed and turned him into a monster". Mortanius justified his own actions, arguing that "the Circle had failed in its sworn duties" and "had to be destroyed" as a necessity. Indignant, Anarcrothe demanded that Mortanius either "stand with us" or die. He attempted to destroy Mortanius, but the Necromancer easily resisted the Alchemist's magic, and brutally dispatched his foe with a combination of lightning, telekinesis and shadow spots.

With all his adversaries destroyed save Mortanius, Kain emerged from hiding. He openly commended Mortanius's cunning, but assured him that he would "have to die as well" - he would not escape his fate. Mortanius embraced his fate, but told the "princeling" that "my death will leave one more to take". The two fought; Mortanius raised skeletons, zombies and shadow summoners to battle Kain, but, eventually, he succumbed. As Mortanius died, the Dark Entity crushed his mind and psyche, twisting his body into the shape of a huge demon. Claiming his Death Orb, Kain briefly restored the Pillar of Death before destroying this last remnant of his would-be benefactor.

"Revolted by the machinations of the human sorcerers and alienated from his former humanity" in receipt of the knowledge that he himself was the Balance Guardian, Kain ostensibly chose to undermine Mortanius's intentions. He refused to sacrifice himself, ensuring the survival of the vampire race, but triggering the collapse of the Pillars and perpetuating the corruption of Nosgoth. Over the years, however, he sought a means to restore balance to the world. Two thousand years after the Necromancer's death, when confronted by Raziel on questions of conscience, Kain invoked his name: "your life’s span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light".

The True Player
"The Necromancer had offered me no warning as to what my resurrection would entail, and yet I must confess, in my haste, I had not sought one. Was his gift a curse? I would seek the Pillars for an answer."

- Kain



In the early history era of the fourth timeline, while attempting to track down Raziel after saving him from the Reaver, Kain unearthed a significant facet of Mortanius's history for the first time. While exploring the Vampire Citadel, he came upon a mural recording the Circle of Nine's past. Before Nosgoth's recorded history, the sterile, cursed ancient vampires, the creators and original Guardians of the Pillars, had "adopted - and, when necessary, abducted – the human Guardians, and made vampires of them when they came of age". Ultimately, the humans rebelled against the vampires, claiming the Pillars for their own: according to the image, Moebius and Mortanius had been the leaders of the "bloody revolt".

During the same timeline's Blood Omen era, while exploring Avernus Cathedral in his search for the Heart of Darkness, Raziel chanced upon Mortanius in person, shortly prior to his fateful battles with Anarcrothe and Kain at the Pillars. Mortanius was the officiant leading the Cenobites in the Avernus Catacombs, directing them in a liturgical chant to their Blood God, Hash'ak'gik. Offering tribute upon the "upon the altar of the world", the cult sacrificed "the blood of [their] first born", casting bodies into a pit below. His god's wrath supposedly appeased, Mortanius affirmed that the "wrath of Hash'ak'gik has once more been averted", concluding the lurid ceremony.

Peering into the pit, Raziel was telekinetically thrust into its nightmarish darkness, where he discovered the creature's identity: Hash'ak'gik was Turel, his vampire brother from the Soul Reaver era, transported back through time. The force Mortanius had fallen subservient to - the Dark Entity, or Unspoken - was a member of the banished Hylden race, exiled to the Demon Realm by the magic of the Pillars at the conclusion of the vampire-Hylden war. After killing Turel, Raziel had the opportunity to question the Necromancer on this revelation. Above the pit, while magically conveying his "make haste to the Pillars" command to the younger Kain, Raziel accosted him.

Embracing Fate
"I created the champion foretold by my masters, who is destined to be your destroyer. The Scion of Balance will save Nosgoth - the Pillars will return to vampire guardianship as intended, and your race will be cast down forever."

- Mortanius



Mortanius was unaware of Raziel's identity: he immediately assumed that he was facing the Hylden champion, and remarked that "the Binding must be fragile indeed". Satisfied that the champion was "too late", Mortanius said he had "beaten" the Hylden. As they spoke, Mortanius's body was possessed by the Dark Entity: the Hylden Lord, "nestled in the heart of the Circle itself". He had been used by the Hylden to kill Ariel, in their long-calculated plot to free themselves from their imprisonment.

The Necromancer explained his own motives: in ages past, he had believed "the vampires were simply a plague upon mankind, a pestilence [they] had to control", but that he "didn't understand what it was the Pillars were holding back". Seeking redemption for his part in the Pillars' destruction, Mortanius had resurrected Kain using the Heart of Darkness. He (incorrectly) believed that Kain embodied both the Scion of Balance and the vampire champion, taunting Raziel that "the Pillars will return to vampire guardianship as intended, and your race will be cast down forever".

Exhaustedly battling the Hylden Lord's violent attempts at possession, Mortanius knew that his enemy was "growing stronger". He trusted that Kain would "set it right" and restore Balance, redeeming himself and all of Nosgoth, but realized that his own time was short. As the Hylden Lord claimed he would "soon have a stronger vessel", Mortanius accepted his fate. With a groan, he uttered that he must "finish it. Now" to Raziel, before teleporting away to the Pillars, and his own demise.

"We didn't understand what it was the Pillars were holding back. I have made my atonement. I will continue to make it to the end, which will be soon, now. But I know - Kain will set it right, he will restore Balance..."

- Mortanius

Development
In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Mortanius was voiced by Tony Jay. In the sequel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Tony Jay voiced the Elder God, a character whose role emulated that of Mortanius's in the first game: both characters apparently resurrected their games' respective protagonists, act as their telepathic advisors, and fuel their lust for revenge. As such, following Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver's release, it was frequently speculated that the Elder God was Mortanius: in a 1999 interview, then-series director Amy Hennig replied "maybe" when asked if they were connected.

2003's Legacy of Kain: Defiance refuted this possibility, establishing that the two characters were distinct individuals. In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Alastair Duncan assumed the role of Mortanius, whereas Tony Jay voiced the Elder God. Hennig stated that the change was made to avoid confusion, explaining that "Tony has a great voice, but it's always clear that it's him, and the intention was not to make The Elder God and Mortanius sound the same". Upon casting Alastair Duncan, Hennig did not realize that he was coincidentially married to Anna Gunn, the voice actor for Ariel.

Etymology
Mortanius's name is presumably derived from the Latin word for "death" or "mortality" - "mortis/mortalitus". He is described as a Necromancer; Necromancy was a form of magic in which the practitioner attempted to contact the spirits of the dead, often to gain knowledge of the future.

Appearances

 * Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (mentioned only)
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic (mentioned only)
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance