Soul Reaver 2 epilogue

Epilogue, also known as Epilogue: The Final Confrontation, is the tenth and final "level" of Soul Reaver 2, marking the formal conclusion of gameplay. It follows Raziel as he confronts his former Sarafan inquisitor self. An epilogue reveals Raziel's ultimate fate and Kain's ignition of the Third paradox in an attempt to avert it.

Plot
After blazing his way through the Sarafan Stronghold, regaining the Reaver and killing his former brethren of the Sarafan warrior inquisitors in the previous chapter, Raziel made his way to the Chapter House, where he was confronted by the Sarafan inquisitor Raziel - his former human incarnation.

As the two met, the Sarafan Raziel acknowledged the wraith's killing of his brothers and his pursuit of the Heart of Darkness, but refused to stand aside, instead goading Raziel into attacking.

Impaling his former self on the Reaver, Raziel killed his human incarnation and renounced his past completely. As he did so, the Wraith Blade manifested (after being disabled by Moebius's Staff in the last chapter). Raziel watched in alarm as the wraith blade uncoiled from him completely and wound around the physical Reaver blade, forcing it to turn on and impale Raziel himself.

Vainly fighting the blade, Raziel was struck by an epiphany that the physical Reaver is empty - the soul devouring entity that Raziel has sensed within the physical Soul Reaver previously and had carried with him as the Wraith Blade throughout his journey was in fact a future version of himself, taken into the blade at this moment.

Overwhelmed by despair, Raziel was outraged when Kain showed himself, accusing him of orchestrating his fate. Kain did not respond in the same way and instead pleaded with Raziel to let go and to trust him. As Raziel's strength faded he felt a growing sense of displacement - as his soul hovered both inside and outside the Reaver, granting a small window where there was a Reaver-convergence. Acting quickly Kain used this window to rip the Reaver from Raziel, apparently sparing him from his fate - igniting the Third paradox and spawning the Fourth timeline. As history reshuffled and new memories formed in Kain's mind Raziel feared that they might have caused fatal paradox, but the juncture eventually subsides, leaving Kain shocked at the changes caused in the Time-stream.

Kain desperately tried to warn Raziel about a trap set by "the Hylden" and that Janos Audron must not be revived, but his warnings were lost as Raziel was drained of strength and slipped into the Spectral Realm. There Raziel found the Wraith Blade awaiting him - proof that his destiny to enter the blade had not been changed, only postponed.

Players (in order of appearance)

 * Raziel/Sarafan Raziel (voiced by Michael Bell) and Raziel in Voiceover/Soliloquy
 * Kain (voiced by Simon Templeman)

Conclusions

 * Raziel has killed his former human self. After dispatching the other Sarafan warrior inquisitors in the previous chapter, this means Raziel is responsible not only for the original deaths of himself and his brothers but also the loss of most of the leaders of Sarafan hierarchy - the only survivor is Malek who will be disgraced and doomed to live as a wraith for his failings.
 * Raziel has uncovered the truth of the Soul Reaver blade and his own cyclical destiny - that he is the entity within the blade, and it was not intended to be a soul devouring weapon, it only gained this ability by its imprisonment of Raziel. Raziel has thus been carrying his own future soul as a weapon. Raziel is apparently fated to enter the 'vacant' Reaver blade.
 * Kain has used some careful timing around Raziel's 'consumption' by the blade to take advantage of a brief Reaver-convergence - in doing so he has ignited the Third paradox, giving birth to the Fourth timeline.
 * Judging by the the effect on the the Time-stream and Kain's own altered memories, the new timeline has some major changes to an extent not seen in previous timelines. Kain's new memories include a mention of the apparently antagonistic Hylden and his belief that Janos Audron should not be revived.
 * Kain's attempt to alter history has not changed Raziel's fate - his possession of the Wraith Blade shows that he is still destined to enter the Reaver blade at some point.

Background
The conclusion of Soul Reaver 2 brings to the fore Amy Hennig's research on time travel and its implications. As explained by Hennig:

Fundamentally Hennig saw Raziel's journey going back in time as one of personal discovery and epiphanies. The conclusion of Soul Reaver 2 ultimately features this in two different forms as Raziel discovers not only of the distasteful part his often lionized human self has played in history, but also of his supposed inevitable fate to be imprisoned within the Reaver and the purgatory his future incarnation has endured.

The decision for Raziel to be eventually revealed as the spirit within the Reaver blade was made as far back as the development of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and the the shattering of the Soul Reaver against Raziel in the eponymous chapter was deliberately planned with the intention of revealing that Raziel was trapped within. As recalled by Daniel Cabuco:

Continuity

 * Some aspects of this sequence relate to other chapters in the series:Texture-Mural-SarafanStronghold-OuroborosMaterial.png
 * Epilogue takes place entirely within the confines of the Chapter House in the Sarafan Stronghold. The room was first visited by Raziel in A Reaver in Time where it was seen in the Pre-Blood Omen era and featured several murals of the fallen Sarafan warrior inquisitors and a statue of Sarafan Raziel, which served as a memorial to their martyrdom. A purple 'demon' seen behind the Sarafan Dumah at that time almost certainly represented a bastardized depiction of the wraith Raziel, with the conflict between him and the inquisitors - including his human self fully realized here and in the previous chapter. The room itself was also seen in the Post-Blood Omen era in A Fateful Meeting where the murals were faded and the statue missing. A different but very similar Chapter House would feature in Legacy of Kain: Defiance in Infiltrate the Stronghold an Pursue Moebius. One of the trademark features of all versions of the room is an ouroboros pattern on the floor, reflecting Raziel's cyclical destiny seen here.
 * Dialogue in this chapter and even the title of the Dark chronicle chapter as "full circle" refers repeatedly to cyclical destiny of Raziel and the concept of returning to the beginning. The phrase was first used in the series in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in the Dark Diary heading within The Vampire Purges indicating Kain's return to the Pllars and his upcoming confrontation with his maker Mortanius. The phrase returns and is featured heavily in Soul Reaver 2, with Raziel again mentioning it as he enters the Chapter House for the first time in A Reaver in Time and sees the memorials to his former human life. Notably the Chapter House bears a prominent ouroboros, which is symbolic of cyclical destiny and immortality and is used throughout the series - but particularly in Soul Reaver 2 - for this purpose, including appearances in many decorations and murals such as the design of Checkpoints. As well as for Raziel it is also "full circle" for the series in general as the last chapters of Soul Reaver 2 notably return to the time and place featured in the introduction to Blood Omen. Another notable cyclical destiny referenced throughout the series is the cycle of birth and death of the Elder God's Wheel of Fate.
 * Raziel's history as a Sarafan inquisitor in his long-forgotten human life was first exposed in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in the chapter Tomb of Sarafan when Raziel uncovered the Tomb of the Sarafan and discovered the names of himself and his brothers on the defiled caskets. As Raziel travelled back into the Pre-Blood Omen era in Soul Reaver 2 he found a statue depicting his human self in the Chapter House, along with murals of his brothers in their human lives. The Sarafan Raziel and his brethren finally appeared in the flesh as they stormed Janos Audron's Retreat in Vampire Interview and dispatched Janos Audron before retreating with the Reaver and the Heart of Darkness in Blade of Vengeance - Raziel also took his revenge on his Sarafan brothers in that chapter, building up to the confrontation with the Sarafan Raziel in this one.
 * Raziel's mentions of the Heart of Darkness and the fate of Janos Audron recall the legends first mentioned in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in the chapter Seeking Revenge as Kain found his first Heart of darkness artifacts and recalled again as Kain reached Uschtenheim in Threaten the Circle. The tale would also be recalled in Soul Reaver 2 as Raziel saw a mural depicting the event in the Sanctuary chapel in A Reaver in Time and was ultimately seen first-hand in Blade of Vengeance.SR2-Stronghold-ChapterHouse-RazStatue-EraA.PNG
 * The effectiveness of Moebius's Staff in subduing and the Wraith Blade was first shown in A Reaver in Time where the staff dissipated the blade and Moebius explained that it allowed him to incapacitate their vampire enemies.. The blade was once again dissipated by the staff in a confrontation with Moebius the previous chapter - forcing Raziel to pick up the vacant Reaver - but regains its form here.
 * Raziel mentions his dread when offered the Reaver blade by Janos, this was seen in Vampire Interview with Raziel rejecting the blade despite his compulsion to take it. When he comes across the blade in Blade of Vengeance he similarly feels a "nameless dread" but takes up the blade when forced by Moebius disabling his Wraith blade - at the time he expresses he is wary of further deception, but presses on regardless. In this chapter the reason for the dread becomes apparent with the revelation that Raziel is destined to become the entity trapped within the blade.
 * Raziel's acknowledgement of the presence of a Soul devouring entity trapped within the blade matches earlier statements made regarding the blade throughout Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with Kain remarking in Defeat Azimuth that its purpose was to "feed on the souls any creature it strikes" and Raziel remarking on "legends [which] claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims". In Soul Reaver 2 Raziel begins to truly appreciate the presence of the soul devouring entity when the Wraith blade meets its former self in a Reaver-convergence in A Reaver in Time, realising it is "willful, ravenous, and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment". The Reaver continues to occasionally take control throughout Soul Reaver 2, notably empowering itself at the forges and influencing itself the new Reaver bar mechanic. In Epilogue the blade again takes control and acts against Raziel. Notably the revelation that the entity within the blade is Raziel also recalls Kain's initial feelings in Defeat Azimuth that he and the blade are "kindred".
 * Raziel recalls Kain's attempt to strike him down with the Reaver which caused the blade to shatter completely. This event was seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in the chapter Soul Reaver and its destruction granted Raziel with the Wraith Blade as a weapon. Although the reason for this was unknown at the time (and apparently expected by Kain), the revelation that the blade was inhabited by Raziel explains the destruction as a result of the paradoxical meeting of the two Souls of Raziel. It also means that the Wraith blade is - quite literally - Raziel.SR2-Texture-Stronghold-InquisitorDumah.png
 * Raziel and Kain's desperate conversation here is part of a larger theme of trust between the two. When Raziel is Kain's lieutenant he trusted him absolutely, but after his execution in Vampire Scourge at the start of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, he strongly distrusts Kain. The mistrust continues throughout Soul Reaver 2 but begins to wane as Raziel discovers more about Nosgoth's past, his own destiny and Kain's goals. At the Second paradox in A Fateful Meeting, Kain explicitly mentions trust, conceding that Raziel should find his own truths and will not ask for it from him - this is ultimately turned around in this chapter with Kain outright asking Raziel to trust him at the Third paradox. The trust theme continues in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, where Kain again asks Raziel to trust him in a tense situation - here factors have turned against them and Raziel rejects Kain, interpreting the request as a threat. By the end of Defiance however their trust seems to have once again been restored and Raziel pledges his allegiance to Kain.
 * This chapter features the third time-altering paradox seen in the series, with the first seen in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in the chapter Stranded in Time and the second in Soul Reaver 2 in the chapter A Fateful Meeting. The displacement and other effects of a Reaver-convergence are first seen in A Reaver in Time as Raziel - armed with the Wraith Blade - finds the Soul Reaver in William's chapel within the Sarafan Stronghold and are later explained by Kain in A Fateful Meeting as he persuades Raziel to trigger the second paradox. Ultimately the lack of displacement effects is perhaps one of the factors in Raziel identifying the Reaver here is vacant and the rising vertigo identifying that a convergence is approaching.
 * Raziel's identification of the moment of the Third paradox as "the edge of the coin" recalls Kain's metaphor in Decision at the Pillars which analogized his his choice at the pillars and historical junctures in general to a two-sided coin, with each side representing one of the two choices - with the metaphor again briefly mentioned in A Fateful Meeting as Kain and Raziel converse beneath Janos Audron's Retreat in the Post-Blood Omen era. In the original conversation Kain questions "suppose one day, it lands on its edge" - hinting at a third option with a much smaller probability of success. Raziel is partially correct in this assumption as the change to the Fourth timeline ultimately leads to a way out of Kain's initial dilemma. The coin reference returns in Legacy of Kain: Defiance with Raziel claiming the "coin has struck the earth" - likely referring to the change made at the juncture point - and Kain claiming that the "coin is still turning" - likely referring to the future being made from their actions.
 * Raziel's fear that they may have invoked a "fatal paradox" is based on Kain's warning from A Fateful Meeting, which suggests that they could be tricked into triggering an unresolvable paradox, which would expel them from the Time-stream. This appears not to have been the case however.
 * Kain's warnings about the Hylden and Janos Audron remaining dead foreshadow the events of Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, as does Raziel's realization that he has merely postponed his destiny. Defiance will come closest to a direct continuation of these events: showing Kain searching the Stronghold for Raziel a few years later, following Raziel's imprisonment in the underworld.