User:Hashimashadoo

This is how I currently understand the overarching storyline. Could be subject to change.

1 Janos Audron asks Vorador to forge the Reaver in exchange for turning him into a vampire. Janos saves the "Blood Reaver" for the Vampire Champion 2 Raziel's human self kills Janos Audron, removing the Heart of Darkness and hiding it away. He also takes the "Blood Reaver". 3 Fledgling Kain obtains the Soul Reaver in Avernus Cathedral. 4 Fledgling Kain travels to assassinate William the Just. This creates two Reaver blades - Kain's Soul Reaver and William's "Blood Reaver" (which is broken and then interred) - in the same timeline. 5 Fledgling Kain studies the future and meets with a (unexplainably) revived Vorador, who builds him an army of vampires to conquer Nosgoth for their race. The attempt fails when Kain is betrayed and falls in single combat with the Hylden Lord. 6 Kain is revived in Meridian and frees Janos Audron. He then succeeds in killing the Hylden Lord and all other Hylden in Nosgoth (though Janos becomes trapped in the Demon Dimension). He creates his 'sons' and successfully conquers Nosgoth. 7 Seeing the opportune time, Kain throws Raziel into the Lake of the Dead where he is saved by the Elder God and grudgingly made into the reaver of souls. 8 Kain breaks his Soul Reaver on Raziel, allowing Raziel to wield the wraithblade as a symbiotic weapon. 9 Raziel awakens sentience in the wraithblade when he touches the "Blood Reaver", making the wraithblade a reaver of souls, just like him. 10 Raziel chooses to spare Kain when history attempts to force him to kill his former master. This creates a second timeline that the Hylden can more readily manipulate and Kain can no longer foretell. 11 Thanks to the events of (10), Kain saves Raziel's life when he kills his human self with the stolen "Blood Reaver" from (2) and the sword attempts to absorb Raziel through his symbiotic relationship with the wraithblade, creating the Soul Reaver but also allowing Raziel to survive the process. Kain's memories are rewritten and he sees the manipulation of the Hylden in his actions. He warns Raziel not to resurrect Janos Audron then takes the Reaver. 12 Vorador convinces Raziel that the only person who can help him avoid being absorbed into the Soul Reaver is Janos Audron. Raziel obtains the Heart of Darkness, which is inside Kain's chest. 13 (12) allows Raziel to resurrect Janos Audron for answers, against Kain's wishes. Raziel then travels to the spirit forge to purify the wraithblade. At the moment of Kain's Refusal, Janos is possessed by the Hylden Lord and Raziel is forced to fight him. Raziel can't bring himself to kill Janos so the Hylden lord steals his body to use at (6). 14 Kain survives his heart being removed by being drawn into the Demon Dimension but manages to escape and then follows Raziel. 15 Kain chances upon and kills Moebius (without the Heart of Darkness, Kain is now immune to Moebius' anti-vampire staff). Raziel destroys Moebius' soul and then uses Moebius' body as a puppet to make Kain kill him with the Reaver. This act purifies the Soul Reaver, curing Kain of Nupraptor's corruption and also allowing him to see the Elder God.

Raziel was supposed to die at (11) and create the Soul Reaver that Fledgling Kain would find at (3). He would be released as the wraithblade at (8), not able to destroy himself and be the sentience awakened at (9). Kain saving Raziel allowed Raziel to survive becoming the Soul Reaver while still allowing it to be created.