Janos Audron

Biography
(Note: This artcle is arranged in Janos' chronological order, rather than in the order the games were made, to avoid confusion)

Blood Omen era
The only mention made in this game of Janos is by Kain, referring to him as the most powerul vampire that ever lived. This is indeed plausible as we learn in both SR1 and BO2 that vampires' powers (dark gifts) evolve gradually over time, the longer a vampire lives the stronger he becomes. Since Janos was the oldest vampire, and among the first to be created, he has had countless millenia over the others to grow in strength.

Soul Reaver 2 era
In Soul Reaver 2, Raziel pursued Kain into Nosgoth's past. He uncovered evidence that conflicted with the historical image of Janos Audron. Although Janos was demonized in the stained glass of the Sarafan Stronghold - the fortress of the order that had killed him centuries before - Raziel started to believe there was much more to the notorious vampire's story. Raziel's interest was fuelled further when he met Vorador outside the Dark Forge. Raziel learned that Janos was connected to the winged vampire race depicted in Nosgoth's ancient shrines. Also, Vorador revealed that Janos, his maker, had been the guardian of the Reaver.

Raziel had noticed a similarity between his appearance and that of the winged race. He was convinced that Janos Audron alone could explain his role in Nosgoth, now that he had become disillusioned and unsatisfied with the prompts he was receiving from Moebius and the Elder God. But to reach him, Raziel had to journey even further back into history. Moebius intervened and sent Raziel to the future instead. The Time Guardian's action only strengthened Raziel's conviction. He was sure that finding Janos really was the right thing to do. Raziel eventually found his own way back to the era he sought. The Time Streaming device he used had been suspiciously set, but he overlooked the implications.

Five hundred years before the events of Blood Omen, Raziel entered Janos' mountain retreat, located in the canyons north of Uschtenheim. He used his unique powers to make a path for himself up to the vampire's library-chamber. There he found a striking winged individual, very different from the demonic creature legend had taught him to expect. Janos was 'darkly beautiful', and radiated 'a sense of priestly detachment, and long-suffering patience'. He knew Raziel by sight (although he was surprised to see what a mess Raziel was), and had awaited his arrival for centuries. They discussed the history of the vampires and their relation to the Pillars of Nosgoth. Janos explained how he was called to be the protector of the Reaver, the tenth Guardian. While the rest of his race had died out, he alone remained, sustained by his duty. He presented the Reaver to Raziel, but, overwhelmed with a feeling of dread in the blade's presence, Raziel refused to take it.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the Sarafan Inquisitors. The vampire-hunting warriors had followed Raziel's path through the aerie, and Janos could no longer elude them. More concerned for Raziel's safety than his own, Janos used his magic to teleport Raziel into the adjacent Fire Forge. Raziel could do nothing against the Sarafan until he imbued his wraith-blade with fire.

Raziel returned to Janos' chamber too late to prevent the inevitable. The head Sarafan Inquisitor hacked open Janos' chest and pulled out his still-beating heart. The Inquisitor's second-in-command held Moebius' staff. They were using it to immobilize Janos and leave him at their mercy. Raziel recognized with horror that Janos's murderer was none other than his former, human self: the Sarafan Raziel. The Sarafan Inquisitors fled with the heart and the Reaver as Janos began to die, his retreat collapsing around them.

Raziel moved to where Janos was laying, wracked with grief, guilt and self-loathing. Compassionate to the last, Janos did not blame Raziel, he only urged him to reclaim to Reaver and fulfill his role as the saviour of Nosgoth. Raziel left the aerie intent on avenging Janos' murder by killing his assassins. Raziel planned to take back the Reaver and Janos' heart. He would then use the heart's legendary power to restore Janos' life. Raziel followed the Inquisitors back to the Sarafan Stronghold. He managed to kill the men, and reclaim the Reaver, but the heart was nowhere to be found.

Raziel was not the only one who sought vengeance for Janos' assassination. Vorador had entered the Stronghold around the same time as Raziel, although their paths did not cross, and their targets were different. Vorador killed six of the Circle of Nine, but Moebius - the individual that orchestrated Janos' murder - escaped his wrath. Officially Vorador's motivation was wanting to punish the Circle for supporting the Sarafan's Vampire Purge; Kain said that in Blood Omen. However, the timing of Vorador's attack was surely too perfect to be a coincidence. It seems certain that Janos' death triggered Vorador's action.

Defiance era
Defiance bridged the gap between Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2. It explained how Janos had been resurrected, and how he had become imprisoned by the Hylden. It also revealed another reason for his intense loathing of the Sarafan Lord - the only individual we've seen to inspire hostility in Janos, let alone hatred.

In Defiance, Raziel visited Vorador during the Blood Omen era. Raziel had learned that Vorador had forged the Reaver originally, and when asked about it, Vorador told Raziel he had crafted the sword, but only because Janos had asked him to. Vorador had his maker's body within his estate - presumably he had retrieved it personally from the ruins of Janos' aerie. It was intact and free of decay, reverently laid upon a bier and surrounded by candles. Many times, Vorador had searched unsuccessfully for the Heart of Darkness, believing that if the heart was returned to Janos, there was a chance he would be restored. Vorador suggested that Raziel should travel to Avernus Cathedral to look for the heart himself. Janos would be the only individual capable of answering Raziel's questions about the Reaver's sorcery.

In the Avernus catacombs, Raziel ran into Mortanius. The Necromancer explained that he had used the Heart of Darkness "to set prophecy in motion" - he had used it to resurrect the nobleman Kain as a vampire. Raziel suddenly realized that it was in Kain, and always had been. Armed with this knowledge, Raziel ripped the Heart of Darkness from the elder Kain's body when they fought at Avernus a little while later. He then returned to Vorador's estate and replaced the heart into Janos' open chest cavity.

This combined with a wisp of energy from Reaver revived him. He remembered the events of Soul Reaver 2, and was shocked when Raziel told him that five centuries had passed since his murder. He inquired about Vorador, only to be told that Vorador was now dead, and all vampires were facing extinction. Raziel expressed his confusion about his role in the Ancient Vampires' prophecies, and why the Vampires would "devise a weapon to consume and imprison their savior". He showed Janos that he already wielded the Reaver, but as a wraith-blade rather than the physical sword he was meant to hold. This gave Janos opportunity to re-examine Raziel and for the first time see that indeed he looked like the work of both Ancient and Hylden sorcery, as like the Ancients he had blue skin and wing, and yet he existed as a wraith who transformed physical bodies to resemeble his own wraith body; a technique uniquely of the Hylden. Outloud Janos pondered "redeemer and destroyer", realizing what this portion of the prophecy meant, as Raziel was both Hylden and Vampire messiah, and to each was redeemer and destroyer. Janos, although shaken by this, did not abandon his faith in Raziel - he only wondered if he may have misread the signs, and said that Raziel's destiny seemed "more labyrinthian" than he had realized.

Janos teleported himself and Raziel to the Vampire Citadel. He heard the rumblings, and seeing the corrupted Pillars in the distance, he tried to hurry Raziel into action, understanding that time was short. The Binding was in peril, and the events foretold in the Vampires' old prophecies were coming to pass. Raziel would not allow himself to be ordered into action until Janos explained more about the Hylden, and the curse they had laid upon the winged Ancients. As Raziel had discovered earlier, it was the immortality, not the blood-thirst that had driven them to mass suicide. Their god - the Elder God - had abandoned them, apparently because of it. Those, like Janos, who did not take their own lives, accepted the horrifying curse and the act of passing it to humans as a "necessary evil", to keep the Hylden banished. Their bloodline had to be preserved - especially by passing the curse to the human Pillar Guardians - to maintain the Binding. Centuries of a having a fully-human Guardian Circle had led to the Binding decaying, and the Hylden's current attempt to destroy it entirely. Janos then directed Raziel to the Spirit Forge.

Raziel imbued the wraith-blade with Spirit, and returned to the upper chamber of the Citadel where Janos was waiting, watching the Pillars. It was too late to do anything - at that moment, as in Blood Omen, the fledgling vampire Kain was at the Pillars. He was defeating the Dark Entity that had deformed and continued to animate Mortanius' corpse, and refusing to sacrifice himself for Nosgoth. At the instant of his fateful decision, the Pillars were struck by a cataclysmic explosion, like lightning, that obliterated the infinitely-high columns, leaving only broken stumps. The force of it was enough to make Raziel lose his footing, even that far away. As he stood up again, he saw that Janos had been affected much more by the event.

Janos had been possessed by the Dark Entity: the Hylden Lord. Kain had not killed him at the Pillars, rather he abandoned Mortanius' flesh in favour of Janos' - as a vampire, he was "an incorruptible vessel". Janos tried to fight the possession unsuccessfully, and the Hylden Lord gloated about his victory. He congratulated Raziel for providing him with a new host, and for killing the Scion of Balance, the future Kain, to do it. Janos briefly regained control of himself, just long enough to ask Raziel to kill him, and stop the Hylden's plan. The Hylden Lord then quashed Janos' resistance, and powerfully reasserted himself, but Raziel would not stand by and let him leave. He claimed he was willing to destroy Janos if he had to, so he and the Hylden Lord battled.

The Hylden Lord exploited Janos's wings and telekinetic abilities, and caused Revenants to rise up and aid him. Due to Janos's brief attempts to fight the possession, Raziel eventually defeated him, and he fell to the ground. For a few moments, the Hylden Lord's grasp on Janos faltered, and again the vampire begged Raziel to kill him, before the Hylden came back. Raziel couldn't bring himself to do it, and his inaction cost him dearly. The Hylden Lord returned, and used magic to destroy Raziel's physical form and send him back to the Elder god, while leaving taking the possessed Janos to enact the plans that would unfold in Blood Omen 2.

Blood Omen 2 era
The younger Kain encountered a large, demonic-looking creature trapped within the Device. The Beast was being drained of its blood - and therefore its life energy - in order to feed the Mass, the living heart of the Device. It longed to escape its prison, and told Kain what measures were necessary to destroy the Device. Kain returned later with the blood of the Builder in his veins, and descended into the Device. He poisoned the Mass, killing it, and thus rendered the Device useless. He was leaving the ruined machine when he passed the Beast again. However, the creature was much changed, and Kain did not immediately recognize the winged vampire that stood before him. Janos identified himself through Kain's knowledge of his legend.

Janos spoke of the Hylden race, and the Sarafan Lord's intention to lead them back into Nosgoth through a magical gate. Kain and Janos then returned to Sanctuary. Vorador was understandably shocked to see his maker alive, nine hundred years after his murder. He allowed Janos to share his knowledge of the Hylden City. Janos remained with Vorador, arriving at the Hylden City only after Kain had deactivated its magical shield.

Kain finally faced the Sarafan Lord in battle. He dropped the Nexus Stone into the Hylden Gate, and it began to close. The fight continued, and Kain started to get the upper hand. However, he still couldn't regain possession of the Soul Reaver. Janos arrived to confront the Sarafan Lord. He could not contain his hatred for the Lord and his race - the mortal enemies of his own kind for aeons, the cause of their blood-thirst, and the ones who had held him captive for centuries. He flew at the Sarafan Lord, but still weakened by his long imprisonment, he was easily defeated. Lifting Janos by the throat, the Sarafan Lord threw him down into the closing gate, sealing him in the dimension the Hylden had been banished to so long before. Janos was now trapped in a hell of his own people's making, but his intervention allowed Kain to seize the Soul Reaver and destroy the Sarafan Lord. There are currently no clues to Janos' fate after this event.