The severed head of Nupraptor the Mentalist was a token of power claimed by Kain during the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Bulbous and deformed by the immense mental power wielded by its owner, a gift from the Pillars of Nosgoth, the eyes and lips were sewn shut by Nupraptor himself in a fit of madness. As a fledgling Vampire on his quest to destroy the Circle of Nine.Kain decapitated Nupraptor and claimed his head as a token of the power granted to the Mentalist by the Pillar of the Mind.
Kain returned to the Pillars and placed Nupraptor's Head before the corrupted Pillar of the Mind and for a short while the Pillar was restored; free of Nupraptor's taint.
Kain's description of Nupraptor's head is a reference to a line from the titular character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, which is very often quoted as "Alas, Poor Yorick I knew him well".