William the Just

William the Just, known later in his life as The Nemesis, was a minor character in Blood Omen (though his role would be significant for later games). A benevolent boy-king, William was 'corrupted' by the designs of Time Guardian Moebius, becoming a sadistic tyrant known as the Nemesis. Hoping to defeat the tyrant, Kain eventually found himself catapulted back in time by a time-streaming device to when William was still a 'just' boy-king. Seizing the oppurtunity, Kain murdered William with the Soul Reaver and with William also armed with a version of the blade; a Soul Reaver Paradox was created and William was killed; changing history, creating the Second Paradox timeline and igniting Moebius' Mercenary crusades against the vampires. William was voiced by Tony Jay.

Biography
===

Pre-Blood Omen===

era In the years before Kain's birth, William the Just had been a "kind and fair" boy-king, beloved by his people and ruling a territory in the North-East of Nosgoth. William would take Time Guardian Moebius as an advisor and Moebius would slowly begin to influence William; initially he offered William a shipment of weapons and warned him of a vampire assassin. When this information proved useful, William presumably sought more of Moebius' 'advice' and over the years, the "insidious designs" of Moebius would 'corrupt' William turning him into a "sadistic despot and tyrant, vying for global domination", known as the Nemesis. For years William and Moebius conspired, creating a " fanatically loyal and ruthless army" - the Legions of the Nemesis.

Blood Omen era
As Kain began his quest to eliminate the Pillar Guardians, the Legions of the Nemesis had begun their expansion, taking Stahlberg and butchering it's residents. On his quest, Kain would be told of the suffering caused by the Nemesis by the Oracle (really Moebius) and Ariel and both hinted that the Willendorf's Army of Hope was the only chance of stopping the Legions of the Nemesis. As Kain searched for Elzevir (hoping to kill him and restore the Princess to gain the favor of Ottmar, king of Willendorf) he passed through Stahlberg and saw for himself the utter devestation caused by the Legions of the Nemesis. When Kain returned Elzevir's Doll to Ottmar, Ottmar agreed to use his army to battle the Legions of the Nemesis in the Battle of the Last Stand. William himself may have been present at the battle (Ottmar certainly was) and when Ottmar was killed, "the tide turned" and the Legions of the Nemesis were victorious - Nosgoth was now at the mercy of the Nemesis. Kain was a ble to escape the battle when the Time Streaming Device (he had previously collected from Azimuth's corpse) activated sending him back in time to William's childhood in the Pre-Blood Omen era.

Changing Times
Understanding the era he now occupied, Kain realised his opportunity and travelled to the more peaceful "Land of the Nemsis" to attempt to kill William and change history; removing the destruction caused by the Legions of the Nemesis. As Kain moved through the Nemesis Keep, he overheard a conversation between Moebius and William, where Moebius had just begun to corrupt William. Moebius gave Kain a shipment of weapons and warned William of a vampire assassin sent to kill him. When Moebius left, Kain confronted William with the Soul Reaver and found William was curiously armed with a Soul Reaver of his own. (see William the Just (boss)).

As the two clashed Kain was able to use the Soul Reaver Paradox to change history; killing William, ensuring the boy-king would never become the tyrant the Nemsis and creating the Second Paradox timeline. Finding a Time-Streaming Device on William's corpse, Kain was able to return to the Blood Omen era, expecting to find that the Legions of the Nemesis were gone; instead Kain discoverd his murder of William had ignited a genocidal hatred of Vampires which had ignited a renewed Vampire purge led by Moebius himself. With the execution of Vorador, Kain was left as the last Vampire in Nosgoth. Enraged at Moebius' manipulations (and finally realising that Moebius was the Oracle), Kain confronted Moebius and got him to admit to his own changing of history to corrupt the Nemesis, before he killed the timestreamer (see Moebius (boss)).

William would now die a martyred saint and he would come to be be memorialised in the his own Chapel in the Sanctuary area of the Sarafan Stronghold. It would be in this chapel in the Pre-Blood Omen era that Raziel (and his Wraith Blade) restored William's broken Soul Reaver. Shortly afterward, Raziel would meet the elder Kain in William's Chapel, with Kain using his confrontation with William to explain the nature of history and paradoxes to Raziel; leading Raziel to change history again.