Shades

Shades were a creature family that appeared in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, though their appearance was notably redesigned.

Role
Shades were remnants of malicious, partially consumed souls that had coalesced together to form a shadowy mist-like form with a glowing 'heart' or eyes. Shades were native to the Spectral Realm (and were technically Undead), but could be encountered in either the Spectral or Material Realms as the breakdown of the Binding weakened dimensional boundaries.Shades were resistant to ordinary weaponry, but were particularly vulnerable to magic such as telekinesis or certain Reaver enhancements. They also appeared to be attracted to shadows or darkened areas and to the energy in Fonts.

Shades were first introduced in Soul Reaver 2, where they resembled shadowy humanoid forms with a glowing 'heart' of spiritual energy. These Shades were attracted to and fed on spiritual energy from sources such as fonts and Wraith Blade activated sealed doors. Raziel would be unable to use such mechanisms until the Shades had been dispatched and the energy from the 'heart' returned. These Shades were also able to fire projectiles at Raziel from a distance.

Shades returned in a redesigned form in Defiance, with a much more vapor-like and less humanoid appearance. They were no longer able to fire projectiles or steal energy instead they were more aggressive and brazen in their attacks on Raziel and Kain.Defiance presented two enemy variants, the smaller Lesser shades and larger Greater shades as well as the Mini shades produced by the Dark Reaver's Charged attacks.

Variants
There were four variants of the Shades seen in-game. Shades in Soul Reaver 2 were a shadow-like vaguely humanoid shape with claws, heart and 'skin' which varied with their elemental source. Defiance presented two shade variants as enemies, with Raziel facing the smaller, less aggressive Lesser shades and the larger more aggressive Greater shades. Mini shades were also spawned by the Charged attacks of the Dark Reaver (Defiance).