The Dead Sun timeline was a course of Nosgoth's history in which the cancelled game Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was set. Instead of relating to any of the timelines explored in other Legacy of Kain games, it reflected a discontinuous version of reality in which the original, cancelled ending of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver took place.
Behind the scenes[]
Sam Barlow was the director and writer for Legacy Of Kain: Dead Sun, which ended up being cancelled by Square Enix after around three years in development. His idea was to ignore the convoluted time-travel plot lines of previous entries, and instead pick up on an abandoned ending for Soul Reaver. The finale for that game ends with a cliffhanger in which Raziel travels back through time – but in the original storyline, Raziel would have returned and activated the Silenced Cathedral. This was a giant weapon built by humans that would unleash a 'deadly hymn' to purge all vampires across the world.
"I love that ending of actually wiping out the vampires," says Sam. "So we were kind of doing our version of that story." Dead Sun would be set many years after this event – but where a devout order of vampires has managed to survive by training their bodies to shift into the spectral realm, something only Raziel had hitherto been able to achieve.
"I love that ending of actually wiping out the vampires," says Sam. "So we were kind of doing our version of that story." Dead Sun would be set many years after this event – but where a devout order of vampires has managed to survive by training their bodies to shift into the spectral realm, something only Raziel had hitherto been able to achieve.
―Lewis Packwood[Retro Gamer #240]
Barlow argues that the complicated time travel plot of post-Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain games ruled out the possibility of continuing the series with a straight sequel, since the storylines had become so convoluted. Instead, his idea was to set the new game in Nosgoth’s far future, a thousand or more years later, when the story of Kain and Raziel’s intertwined fates was but a distant memory.
He also wanted to resurrect a version of the original planned ending for Soul Reaver. In the finale of the released game, the protagonist Raziel follows Kain into a time portal, ending on a huge cliffhanger – but Barlow says the original plan was for Raziel to play the giant pipe organ in the Silenced Cathedral, the soundwaves from which would kill all of the vampires in Nosgoth. His idea was to have a similar climactic ending for Savage Messiah, where a large tower would wipe out all the vampires.
He also wanted to resurrect a version of the original planned ending for Soul Reaver. In the finale of the released game, the protagonist Raziel follows Kain into a time portal, ending on a huge cliffhanger – but Barlow says the original plan was for Raziel to play the giant pipe organ in the Silenced Cathedral, the soundwaves from which would kill all of the vampires in Nosgoth. His idea was to have a similar climactic ending for Savage Messiah, where a large tower would wipe out all the vampires.
―Lewis Packwood
