Hylden Lord

The Hylden Lord, alternatively known as the Hylden General or the Dark Entity, was an eminent commander among the Hylden race and a recurring antagonist in the Legacy of Kain series. Initially introduced in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain as the malevolent force in control of Mortanius the Necromancer, his ambitions and motives in destroying the Circle of Nine are further explored throughout successive instalments. He appears as the primary antagonist of Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 in the guise of the Sarafan Lord, wherein he is voiced by Earl Boen.

The Hylden Lord is variously voiced by Tony Jay, Alistair Duncan and Rene Auberjonois throughout his further appearances.

Blood Omen era
In Blood Omen, Ariel told Kain to "beware the Unspoken", as he was starting his quest to kill the corrupt Pillar Guardians. Throughout the course of that game, it became apparent that this malevolent force - alternatively called the Unspoken, Hash'ak'gik or the Dark Entity (the latter two were explicitly used by Silicon Knights in the plot section of the Silicon Knights Blood Omen FAQ). Ariel revealed to Raziel in Defiance that their ancestors, the Ancients would not even name their enemy and relagted them as the "Unspoken" in order to add depth to their demonization. This Dark Entity was responsible for possessing Mortanius, and having him murder Ariel. Since the Hylden through some yet unrevealed means were able to see into the time-stream, they were able to deduce that the reprucusions of having Moratanius murder Ariel would eventually lead to the collapse of the Pillars imprisoning them.

Nupraptor, driven to insanity by the grief of his loss, but also due to suspicions of Mortanious, and possibly other pillar guardians, being his lover's murderer, turned his magic on the Circle. He knew alone he could not defeat them all, particularly not Mortanious who was the most powerful pillar guardian and sorcer in all Nosgoth, and thus he relagated to infecting them with his madness. Kain, destined to be Ariel's replacement as Balance Guardian, was tainted by Nupraptor's assault soon after his birth.

Mortanius, due to his uniquely srong will, could occasionally free himself from the Dark Entity's influence. During one of these interludes, he had Kain murdered,knowing he was the Scion of Balance foretold by the Ancients, and then brought him back into the world as a vampire using the Heart of Darkness. Kain set out to purge the Circle of its corrupted members under the direction of the Death Guardian and the spectre of Ariel. At the end of Blood Omen, Kain killed Mortanius at the Pillars. As the Necromancer died, the Dark Entity emerged, deforming Mortanius' flesh into a demonic form, and taunting Kain for being its pawn. Kain protested that he served no-one, and he fought the Dark Entity, eventually beating it. However, despite outward appearances, he hadn't destroyed it. He had only destroyed the remains of Mortanius' body, which housed the Dark Entity.

Defiance era
Defiance bridged the gap in the storyline between Blood Omen and Blood Omen 2. It showed the Dark Entity's actions following his defeat by Kain at the Pillars, and explained how Janos had become imprisoned in the Device. In Defiance dropped the Dark Entity is referred to as the 'Hylden Lord'.

Raziel met the Dark Entity/Hylden Lord in the Avernus catacombs, speaking through the possessed Mortanius. the Device - the Hylden race's ancient weapon of destruction.Raziel addressed him as the 'Unspoken', although that term refera to the Hylden race as a whole. The Hylden Lord was less supportive of Raziel as the Hylden messiah, telling him that with or without him his people would prevail. After conversing with Mortanius, the sorceror then teleported to the Pillars where his fate would conclude at the Pillars.

Later, Raziel witnessed the collapse of the Pillars from the Vampire Citadel.The Hylden Lord - having abandoned Mortanius' deformed corpse after the fight with the fledgling vampire Kain - possessed Janos Audron. The Hylden Lord gloated over his victory. As the Hylden messiah, Raziel had now fulfilled two of three great Hylden prophecies:

1. He had resurrected Janos Audron, allowing the Hylden Lord to possess him. In the previous time-line, without the body of the Reaver guardian (as the Reaver was the lock on the Hylden prison) the Hylden could never be trully free. As spectres they could only interact with Nosgoth by possessing living or dead bodies, but they could not physically enter Nosgoth. With Janos the Hylden could now open a portal to the demon dimension and physically enter Nosgoth. Furthermore when he remarks about how they needed the "blood of their ancient enemy" this is a reference to how they need Janos' blood to feed the Mass)

2. He had killed the future Kain, the Scion of Balance (this was particularly important because the Hylden via seeing into the time-stream knew they had to get rid of the future Kain. Since Raziel had "seemingly" dispatched him, this meant now the Hylden could return to Nosgoth unopposed and then finish off the younger Kain)

Raziel fought the Hylden Lord, but he couldn't bring himself to murder Janos, so the Lord ultimately triumphed. He destroyed Raziel's physical form (allowing both himself and Janos to believe indeed Raziel had been killed), though in truth Raziel simply went back to the Elder God. The Hylden Lord flew away with Janos' body, thus making the events of Blood Omen 2 possible.

In Blood Omen 2, the Hylden Lord was inhabiting his own body, brought into Nosgoth from the demon dimension shortly after the Pillars' collapse. According to the second Defiance Q&A page at thelostworlds.net, this had been achieved by using Janos' body to open the Hylden Gate. As he was no longer needed as a vessel, Janos was imprisoned in the Device to feed the Mass, and there he remained for around four hundred years, until the younger Kain freed him.

Blood Omen 2 era
The Sarafan Lord seemed like an entirely new enemy when he was introduced in Blood Omen 2. However- as Defiance and the first Defiance Q&A page at thelostworlds.net would show - he was simply the Dark Entity inhabiting his own, natural Hylden body.

In Blood Omen, Kain refused to sacrifice himself to repair the Pillar of Balance. This sealed the Pillars' fate, condemning them to collapse. This gave the Hylden Lord the opportunity re-enter the Nosgoth using the Hylden Gate he biult through possessing Janos. He established - or re-populated - a base (the Hylden City), and started to draw other Hylden into Nosgoth's Material Realm. As more and more Hylden came, they brought with them all of their technological magics, while using human slave labour to biuld their machines. Now they could continue finishing their ancient plan before they were banished; which was the completion of the "Device"; which when completed would channel the Mass' mental energy through the Glyph network and destroy all non-Hylden life.

The Device was buried beneath Nosgoth's capital: Meridian. The Hylden General (as Kain later called him) needed to gain influence over the city's humans before he could get it up and running. Eventually, his vampire army would have taken the capital. The Hylden General decided to create his own army, exploiting the humans' fear of Kain's forces. He rebuilt the long-defunct Sarafan order, and set himself at its head as the Sarafan Lord. Two hundred years after Kain refused the sacrifice, he met the Sarafan Lord in mortal combat outside of Meridian. The Lord used the Nexus Stone to protect himself from the Soul Reaver as they fought. Kain was defeated, and was widely presumed to be dead.

Victorious, the Sarafan Lord claimed the Soul Reaver for himself, and the Sarafan set about bringing Nosgoth under their control. He became a dictator, and over the next two centuries, they enforced his brutal regime while hunting and killing the remaining vampires. A few vampires became servants of the Sarafan Lord in order to save themselves. While all this was going on, the Glyph energy networks were being installed throughout Nosgoth by the Hylden, as a conduit for the Device.

At the start of Blood Omen 2, Kain awoke in Meridian. He wanted to take his revenge on the Sarafan Lord and, with the Cabal's help, he prepared for battle.

The first time their paths crossed, Kain was still far from ready. He was escaping with Umah from the Sarafan Keep when the Sarafan Lord stopped them. Kain was angered that the Lord wielded his sword, and his hunger for vengeance overcame his reason; he wanted to fight there and then. The Sarafan Lord did not see Kain as a real threat, and would have killed him and Umah had she not teleported them away.

Umah told Kain and Vorador about the Nexus Stone. Kain stole it from the Industrial Quarter, and learned about the Device in the process. Destroying the Device temporarily became his priority. He visited the Seer for assistance, but was forced to leave when the Sarafan Lord set fire to her home. Kain then went on to explore the Device and the Eternal Prison. He found two other vampires who had suffered on account of his archenemy; both more so than he. Magnus - Kain's former champion - had been robbed of his mind and sent to the Eternal Prison for trying to assassinate the Sarafan Lord. Janos Audron - the ancient enemy of the Hylden - had been imprisoned within the Device by the Lord, and used to feed the Mass.

Kain poisoned the Mass, and rendered the Device useless. He arrived at the Hylden City for his final battle with the Sarafan Lord, carrying the Nexus Stone. Their earlier roles were reversed as the Lord used the Soul Reaver against him. They fought above the Hylden Gate. Kain dropped the Nexus Stone into the gate, exposing himself to harm, but initiating its closure. With this act, no more Hylden could enter Nosgoth's Material Realm, and once the gate closed completely, all Hylden already in the land would die. Janos arrived to help Kain win, seeking a small measure of revenge for himself against the Lord for what he thought was the "murder of Raziel, while possessing him. He was still weak, however, and the Sarafan Lord held him off easily. He threw Janos through the gate, sealing him in the demon dimension.

Janos' interruption allowed Kain to reclaim the Soul Reaver. With it, he finally killed the Dark Entity/Sarafan Lord. Nosgoth was now Kain's for the taking.

Whatever means the Hylden Lord used to see into time-stream and exact his race's freedom did not accommodate the younger Kain being such a deadly enemy and thus the Hylden were defeated regardless.

items

 * The Nexus Stone

== Gallery==