Soul Reaver

The Soul Reaver is a weapon in the Legacy of Kain series. It is a flame-bladed sword approximately 50" (127 cm) in length with a broad, serpentine blade forged from unknown materials (presumably iron, carbon and bone). Through most of the series, the sword has the ability to devour the souls of its victims and its physical manifestation's power can only be quelled by an artifact known as the Nexus Stone. It plays a key role throughout the series, serving as far more than just a weapon for Kain and later/earlier Raziel

Forging

The Reaver was first forged by the Vampire Vorador some time around the end of the war between the Ancients and the Hylden, at the behest of Janos Audron. After its forging, the highest mages among the Ancients endowed the Reaver with the power to drain its victims of their blood. At that point, the sword was informally known as the "Blood Reaver."

After the end of the war and the raising of the Pillars, the Reaver was given to Janos Audron for protection. Centuries later, Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah of the Sarafan Order stormed Janos' Retreat, murdered Janos and stole the Reaver. The wraith Raziel, who had traveled back in time from the future and spoken with Janos, sought to avenge Janos by chasing the Sarafan down, reclaiming the Reaver and killing the Sarafan, including his human self. In the unaltered timeline, Raziel was then drawn into the blade, transforming it into a soul-devouring weapon. Hereafter the blade was known as the Soul Reaver.

In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the fledgling Kain finds the Reaver for the first time in the depths of Avernus Cathedral, presumably left there by his older incarnation following the events of Legacy of Kain: Defiance, which could in itself hold a paradox since Kain would need to go back in time to leave the blade in Avernus as he claimed the purified Soul Reaver at the moment his younger self had destroyed the Pillars. In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the Reaver is a two-handed weapon. Kain cannot cast spells while wielding it, and though the sword instantly kills enemies when fully charged, it drains Kain's magical energy, and is only as powerful as his Iron Sword when his magical energy is fully depleted. During this game, Kain fights and kills William the Just (the Nemesis of Nosgoth), who also possesses an incarnation of the Soul Reaver as arranged by the Time Streamer, Moebius.

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Kain shatters the blade over Raziel therefore returning the blade to its true state, a wraith blade. Intentionally, the blade was destroyed because of a paradox, as it cannot devour its own soul, Raziel's soul. During the events of the game, the blade can only manifest in the Material Plane when Raziel's health is full and it will maintain his health unless he is injured, where the blade will then retreat to the Spectral Plane. In order to retrieve the reaver, Raziel would have to shift planes and then be at full health to use the portals.

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 the wraith form of Soul Reaver meets with his old physical form in the Sarafan Stronghold, almost killing Raziel while attempting to rejoin its other half. Throughout the game, the blade acts directly opposite as it did in the previous game. It basically drags Raziel around as he imbues it within ruined forges and will drain his energy if he uses it for extensive amounts of time in battle. When the blade's power is nullified by Moebius, Raziel uses the physical form of the Reaver to kill the Sarafan Order, including his human self. Afterward, the wraith blade, which had acted as his symbiot weapon enters the blood reaver and then impales him, absorbing his soul and bringing to the light the truth of how the paradox in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver occurred when the sword shattered. The soul devouring creature within the wraith blade had always been Raziel, he was destined to be tied to a loop; however Kain saved him from the reaver, and while it did send him into the Spectral Realm, he at least survived. In all games, regardless of health the Spectral Reaver is always available for Raziel in the Spectral Plane.

In Legacy of Kain: Defiance Kain still possesses the physical form of the reaver that he had pulled out of Raziel. During his search throughout Nosgoth for the answers to his destiny and the whereabouts of Raziel, Kain collects the four pieces of the Balance Emblem to complete the sword's powers. The Balance Emblem consists of the blade itself along with Flame, Dimension, Lightning, and Time.

As Kain searches for augmentations for his version of the blade, Raziel also advances his own wraith version by entering the spiritual forges of the Ancient Vampire Guardians. Defeating two guardians per the element their principles were aligned gave the reaver permanent elemental powers as opposed to the principles in Soul Reaver 2 where the blade could only retain that element if imbued in the proper font without Raziel being subjected to the spectral plane. The elements featured other than the already present Spectral and Material reavers were Light, Darkness, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth (the last two the only elements that weren't present in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2. The final augmentation of the wraith blade was found at the forge locked deep within the ancient Vampire Citadel where all the elements of the sword were required to open the means of imbuing the final energy. Ariel's spirit combined with the souls of her predecessors rendered the wraith blade pure by spirit and released her from her captivity of the Pillars. This power being the most powerful of all blades, capable of striking down weak opponents in one blow is referred to as the Spirit Reaver in the game menu.

Raziel discovers later the blade is capable of purifying the sights of others, allowing Moebius to see the Elder God before devouring him and then, by allowing Kain's sword to absorb his soul combined with the purified wraith blade gave Kain the same ability and means to fight the Elder God. The sword paired with Raziel's power is called the Soul Reaver in game menu.

Trivia


Kain and Raziel holding the Material and Spiritual forms of the Reaver


 * In Blood Omen 2, the player can access the Soul Reaver along with Kain's Iron Armor from the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain by inputing a cheat code on the title screen. Simon Templeman's voice (Kain) confirms correct entry by yelling saying "Go, Cheese!" Upon starting a new game, the player will note that Kain possesses the Soul Reaver and the Iron Armor (also visible in the first cutscene at the intro which glazes over the events directly after Kain's defeat of Mortanius and the Dark Entity where he chose to destroy the Pillar of Balance). The Soul Reaver is immensely powerful in this game, allowing Kain to easily defeat all non-boss enemies with approximately three slashes. Although Kain is unable to drop the blade in these circumstances, the Reaver is unbreakable, enabling Kain to block incoming attacks without the player worrying about the sword breaking.


 * In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Raziel sees three futuristic visions in the Oracle Cave beneath the Time Streaming Device. While there are differences, these events do play out in the next installments. One portal showed Raziel brandishing a blood-red version of his wraith blade atop a tower. This event was presented in Soul Reaver 2, where Raziel * stands at the balcony of Jano's retreat following the Ancient vampire's murder, vowing vengeance against those that did the deed while having the recently retrieved Fire Reaver equipped.


 * The other two portals take place in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the first being most likely the representation of the duel between Kain and Raziel in Avernus Cathedral where Raziel, angry and overcome by the Hylden's influence, raises his sword against Kain. The last omen had a very different turn of events. The portal viewed Raziel striking down Ariel with the reaver then coursing with a yellowish light resembling the Light Reaver. In Defiance, Raziel obtains the final ascension of the wraith blade by absorbing Ariel's soul in order to purify the reaver, but instead of striking her down he gently holds her extended hand allowing the energy to flow through his body as it did in the Ancient Forges.


 * An apparent discrepancy of the games is the visions of the future, this is partly explained by the fact that, by the development team's own admission, what was delivered in Soul Reaver 1 wasn't what they originally had planned, and as such, they had to introduce some forced changes in the timeline to make it all fit together. Hence, the timeline was changed by the events of Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance.

The visions were going to be the original ending of "Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver" with Raziel still fighting Kain in the Chronoplast, but consuming part of his soul, thus obtaining him the Shift-at-Will ability (which is still available via a cheat code). This would allow him to get to the territory of his vampire brother, Turel. After killing Turel and drawing Ariel's soul into the blade, he would obtain the weapon needed to finally defeat Kain. At Kain's Mountain Retreat, the two would battle, with Raziel absorbing Kain's soul into the Reaver, thus obtaining the Kain Reaver (a black and red version of the wraith blade). After killing Kain and, thus, restoring Balance, Raziel could activate the unfinished human weapon hidden in the Pinnacle of the Silenced Cathedral (above Zephon's territory). Unblocking a complex arrangement of pipes that would deliver an extremely deadly sound to the vampires, Raziel would exterminate any existing remnant of the vampire race in Nosgoth. In the first versions of "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" released, audio and video files of this original ending were accessible, but the ending had been changed in the actual release: Kain sees this future through the star portals in the Oracle's Cave, and tries to change it, using Moebius' Time Streaming Device. These actions give birth to the story and timeline of "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2".
 * When brandished, the Wraith Blade, the spirit once bound in the corporeal Reaver (which is actually Raziel) makes a noise resembling those of the Lightsabers in Star Wars universe.


 * There is some paradox to the whereabouts of the Soul Reaver during the events of the series while the future Kain, whom had destroyed his blade on Raziel, thus allowing Raziel to gain the wraith version of the reaver, had claimed the reaver in the past during the time when his younger self was tracking down the corrupted guardians with the very same reaver. The only explanation could be either a paradox or the principle of blacksmith works where a blacksmith makes two identical swords, the original and the principle sword. Though that still leaves to question how two different swords could possess the soul-devouring aspect of Raziel's soul. Throughout Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, pictures are depicted of two reavers, thus hinting at the possibility of another soul reaver or merely depicting the knowledge of the wraith blade's existence. At any rate, the only conclusion can be made that Kain's newly endowed weapon at the end of Defiance is now capable of changing Nosgoth's history though a paradox might be unavoidable unless a new installment to the series is made.


 * The Soul Reaver is also available in the video game Tomb Raider: Legend. The weapon is available through a cheat code only accessible after 100% completion of the game.