Mortanius's Death Orb

Mortanius's Death Orb
Items article
Mortanius's Death Orb in Blood Omen.
Introduced in	Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996)
Appearance(s)	Blood Omen

Mortanius's Death Orb, or the Orb of Mortanius, was a Pillar token gifted to the Death Guardian, Mortanius the Necromancer, by the Pillar of Death. Following Mortanius's demise, Kain recovered the token, and used it to momentarily restore the corrupt Death Pillar. The Orb appeared only in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.

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"As I touched its surface, calm filled me. Gone was the hunger, the rage that would entice, and only the sweet dark serenity of death remained."

―Kain — Listen (file info)

Mortanius received the Death Orb during his youth, before Nosgoth's recorded history.^{[Defiance/10]} It represented his link to the Pillar of Death, and granted him "dominion over the grave".^{[Blood Omen/3][Blood Omen/11]} A simple glassy sphere suspended within a receptacle resembling an inhuman skull, with two pairs of demonic horns, it filled Kain with a serene sense of calm when touched, and utterly subdued his "hunger [... and] the rage that would entice".^{[Blood Omen/Miscellaneous][Blood Omen]} The Death Orb was notably not only one of the two oldest Pillar tokens Kain laid claim to (the other being Moebius's Hourglass), but was also among the two final tokens to be restored to the Pillars of Nosgoth (the other being Anarcrothe's Scales).^{[Blood Omen/10][Blood Omen/11]}

Possessed by the Dark Entity, Mortanius met with Anarcrothe and Kain at the Pillars near the conclusion of the events of Blood Omen. Mortanius killed Anacrothe, and battled Kain. After a brief skirmish, his body was fully taken over by the Entity, and ultimately destroyed by Kain.^{[Blood Omen/11]} Kain claimed the Orb as Mortanius's token of power, noting its unusual abilities before placing it at the base of the corrupted Pillar of Death. The Pillar accepted its offering, and, for a brief moment, was restored.^{[Blood Omen/11][Blood Omen/Miscellaneous]} Soon after, when Kain refused the sacrifice, it collapsed.^{[Blood Omen/12]}

"Before the Pillar of Death, I laid the Orb of Mortanius."

―Kain — Listen (file info)

Notes

• Kain notes that the Death Orb assuaged not only his lust to feed, but also his "rage" – and Kain's madness stemmed from Nupraptor's corruption of the Pillars.^{[Blood Omen/Miscellaneous][Blood Omen/12][Soul Reaver 2/2]} The Orb may have thus counterbalanced the corruption's effects for Mortanius, too, and might have contributed to his lucid nature even following Ariel's death – whereas his fellow Circle of Nine succumbed to insanity and wreaked havoc in Nosgoth.

• Mortanius's Death Orb and Anacrothe's Scales are, technically, optional items. Since they can only be collected in the fight with the Dark Entity – and since that fight ends once the Entity is defeated, irrespective of whether the tokens are obtained – it is possible to conclude the game without them ever entering Kain's inventory. Storywise, though, Kain does definitively use them both to restore their respective Pillars, before refusing the sacrifice.^{[Blood Omen]}

• The Death Orb, much like Moebius's Hourglass, has no presence in the Legacy of Kain series beyond its debut in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, despite the reappearance of its owner – Mortanius – in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Mortanius is not depicted with it in the latter game.^{[Blood Omen][Defiance]}

See also

• Death
• Death Guardian
• Mortanius
• Circle of Nine
• Pillar of Death
• Pillar tokens
• Pillars of Nosgoth
• Blood Omen: Tokens at Dark Chronicle (by Ardeth Silvereni).