When Raziel progressed into the Chapter House, the exits were again sealed and he was faced with a confrontation with his former human self. Unlike other 'boss' battles in the series, the battles with the commanders 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/Epilogue]
At a distance all the commanders would walk slowly, while in direct combat Sarafan Raziel had power, speed, health and defensive capabilities far exceeding that of ordinary enemies, and even exceeding the subordinate commanders. Armed with a sarafan sword, Raziel was a close-range fighter (broadly comparable to Sarafan warrior swordsmen), attacking viciously and often with a series of deadly sword strikes, frequent lunges and relentless blocking, but also being somewhat vulnerable to counters and sidesteps himself. The second commander to be faced alone, Raziel represented a large step up in combat capability over the previously faced commanders. But with wraith Raziel's Health coil sustained by the Reaver, any damage was healed almost immediately, making the defeat of the commander inevitable. Upon the death of the human Raziel, the final epilogue cutscene revealed Raziel's ultimate fate as the Soul devouring entity trapped within the Soul Reaver and Kain's ignition of the sparing of Raziel by Kain in an attempt to avert it. [Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue][Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)]
Notes[]
The battles against the commanders 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 commanders.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9] Raziel's battle is something of an exception to this, as with Turel's battle marking the end of Chapter 9, Raziel's battle is classed as the only gameplay component to the Epilogue chapter - itself subtitled as Epilogue: the Final Confrontation and made up of the Raziel's battle and ensuing epilogue dealing with the sparing of Raziel by Kain.[Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)] The battle is the final act of gameplay in Soul Reaver 2.[Soul Reaver 2]
In game files, textures used for the Sarafan Raziel are labelled as "razafan" and "mrd_rzfn" - the label "raziel" instead refers to the textures of wraith Raziel.[Soul Reaver 2]
The Sarafan Raziel statue in the Chapter House in the Pre-Blood Omen era
The Sarafan Inquisitor in the 'Heart of Darkness' mural
Using the debug menu it is possible to skip passed the scene where Raziel gains the Reaver and battle the commanders unarmed without the healing effects of the Reaver, presenting a much greater gameplay challenge than the usual fight where wraith Raziel is invincible. This allowed the Spectral Realm to be entered in these locations and the Pikes (and swords) of the commanders to be recovered as weapons, but did not allow (wraith) Raziel to consume their souls, which were unaffected by attempts to devour them.[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/9]
The order of the encounters in Soul Reaver 2 also closely matches the order of revival and ranking of the VampireCouncil members in Kain's empire in the events of Soul Reaver (and the boss order in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver),[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver] with Raziel the first created and highest ranked of the lieutenants, he is appropriately encountered last and is explicitly identified in stage directions as the "leader"[Soul Reaver 2/8], "head inquisitor"[Soul Reaver 2/9] and "most formidable of the Sarafan commanders"[Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue]; or "Grand Inquisitor" in other sources[1](with his armor appropriately displaying much more ornate and intricate detail than the other commanders) and he displayed seniority over the rest of the commander group at least, though he is still on occasion referred to as a "Sarafan lieutanant".[Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)] This ranking is not necessarily related to human age, with Raziel acknowledged as the youngest and Turel the oldest at the time of their human deaths.[2]
This article is about the battle pitting wraith Raziel against the human Sarafan commander Raziel in Soul Reaver 2. For the boss battle pitting Kain against wraith Raziel in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, see Raziel (Defiance boss). For character details, see Raziel.
Some questions about SR2 Sarafan at DCabDesign (by Lexy), post #3 (by Daniel Cabuco)
