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"I recognized these two as my former brethren... in life, as Sarafan; and in unlife, as Kain's vampire 'sons'.
Melchiah and Zephon, the weakest of Kain’s brood... These bastards had no idea what future lay in store for them – how they would become the very thing they so despised.
The Reaver hummed with ravenous anticipation – Janos had called it a 'vampiric' blade, endowed with the power to drain its victims of their lifeblood.
I was eager to see what the Reaver would do to these two..."
―Raziel — Listen (file info)[src]

In the final areas of Soul Reaver 2, shortly after retrieving the Reaver, Raziel faced the Sarafan warrior inquisitor Melchiah along with comrade Zephon in combat. The battle took place in the Courtyard area of the Sarafan Stronghold.

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SR2-DC-Vengeance-007

Raziel encounters Melchiah and Zephon in the Cloister

After witnessing the death of Janos Audron at the hands of the Sarafan warrior inquisitor group,[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/8][Soul Reaver 2/9] Raziel pursued them as they retreated to the Sarafan Stronghold carrying with them the Heart of Darkness and Reaver blade. Infiltrating the stronghold, Raziel was able to recover the Reaver during a brief confrontation with Malek and Moebius but soon found himself channeled into combat with the inquisitors themselves.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9]

When Raziel reached the Cloister area, portcullises sealed the exits and he was he was confronted by the first pair of inquisitors - Melchiah and Zephon. Unlike other 'boss' battles in the series, the battles with the inquisitors had no puzzle aspect to them and were treated the same as any regular combat encounter - albeit against incredibly powerful opposition and with Raziel invincible due to the effects of the Reaver.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9]

At a distance all the inquisitors would walk slowly, while in direct combat Melchiah had power, speed, health and defensive capabilities far exceeding that of ordinary enemies. Armed with a pike, Melchiah was a mid-range fighter (broadly comparable to Sarafan warrior pikemen, though with an extended range due to the longer pike weapon), attacking viciously and often with a series of jabbing and sweeping strikes, frequent lunges and relentless blocking, but also being somewhat vulnerable to counters and lunges himself. Appearing together with Zephon also allowed Melchiah to double-team Raziel, preventing any offensive maneuvers on his part. With Raziel's Health coil sustained by the Reaver, any damage was healed almost immediately, making the defeat of the inquisitors inevitable. Upon Melchiah's death his soul was released but quickly rose away, and when both inquisitors were defeated Raziel reflected on the Reaver's new-found power to make him invincible before heading further into the stronghold and confrontations with the other inquisitors.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9][Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)]

Notes[]

  • The battles against the warrior inquisitors in Soul Reaver 2 are arguably not true boss encounters. Unlike battles against major characters in other titles in the series, these battles were confined to a final 'rush' at the climax of the game, contained only regular combat with no puzzle element, conferred no special abilities upon completion and did not mark the end of 'levels' - apparently efforts by developers to avoid the artificial nature of levels and boss battles. The final rush arguably begins at the onset of Blade of Vengeance, as after leaving Janos Audron's Retreat Raziel is confronted by increasingly difficult battles against various Demons utilizing Combat barriers (each similarly marked by a cutscene), culminating in the battles with the inquisitors.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9]
  • In game files, textures used for Melchiah are labelled as "melchiah" and "mrd_mel".[Soul Reaver 2]
SR2-Texture-Stronghold-InquisitorMelchiah

The Sarafan Melchiah mural in the Chapter House in the Pre-Blood Omen era

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References[]

  1. Icon DCabDesign Some questions about SR2 Sarafan at DCabDesign (by Lexy), post #3 (by Daniel Cabuco)

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