The third timeline

The third timeline
History article
Introduced in	Soul Reaver 2 (2001)
Appearance(s)	Soul Reaver 2

The third timeline was the third course of Nosgoth's history to be explored in the Legacy of Kain series. This timeline was created when Raziel introduced a paradox by sparing Kain at the Sarafan Stronghold during the history preceding Blood Omen, altering the second timeline and the fate of Kain. It was altered in turn when Kain spared Raziel at the Stronghold during Nosgoth's early history, creating the fourth timeline. Soul Reaver 2 was the only story set in the third timeline.

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"With William the Just dead, Moebius' plans have been thwarted. His pawn was removed from the game."

―Kain — Listen (file info)

Raziel spares Kain.

Kain spares Raziel.

Kain spares Raziel.

The third timeline was created when Raziel defied history in the second timeline by refusing to kill Kain at William the Just's chapel in the Sarafan Stronghold during the history preceding Blood Omen. The historical continuum strained to reshuffle itself as reality labored to admit this alteration, until the distortion began to subside.^{[Soul Reaver 2/5]}

Kain considered the third timeline "a prelude" to reclaiming his and Raziel's "intended destinies", saying "it may yet be possible for me to assume my role as Balance Guardian and return the Pillars to their rightful inheritors." Moebius was shocked and distressed by Kain and Raziel's alteration of history, with Raziel asking him "has my refusal to kill Kain reshuffled your carefully stacked deck of cards?" Moebius and the Elder God condemned Raziel, attempting to convince him that "by doing so, [he had] released a multitude of horrors upon this world." Raziel remarked that "they don't like us unwriting their carefully choreographed history," but Kain corrected him, saying that "we haven't unwritten history, we've merely rewritten it."^{[Soul Reaver 2/5]}

Kain's survival enabled him to pursue Raziel through time to the era following Blood Omen, and subsequently Nosgoth's early history, where he attempted – but initially failed – to prevent Raziel's soul from entering the Reaver.^{[Soul Reaver 2/6][Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue]} A split-second Reaver convergence occurred when Raziel's twinned soul hovered both outside and inside the Reaver blade. According to Raziel, "this was the instant – the glimmer of temporal distortion – Kain had been counting on all along. This was the edge of the coin – the minute flicker of probability upon which Kain had gambled everything." Kain used this brief temporal distortion to tear the Reaver away from Raziel with a massive, history-defying effort. The paradox caused by Raziel's survival strained history and forced events to reshuffle themselves, creating the fourth timeline.^{[Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue]}

Historical Timeline

• Chapters in the third timeline
• Events in the third timeline
• Events outside the third timeline

Soul Reaver 2

• A Fateful Meeting
• The Air Forge
• On to the Past
• Vampire Interview
• Blade of Vengeance
• Epilogue

Before Nosgoth's recorded history

• The Vampire-Hylden war
• The genesis of the Pillars
• The formation of the Circle of Nine
• The affliction of the blood curse
• The forging of the Reaver
• The dark gift is passed
• The human revolt

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Nosgoth's early history

• The vampire purge
• The slaughter of the Circle

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The history preceding Blood Omen

• The assassination of William the Just
• The seduction of the Circle
• The corruption of the Pillars
• Raziel spares Kain

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The events of Blood Omen

• The collapse of the Pillars

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The era following Blood Omen

• The raising of the lieutenants

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The events of Soul Reaver

• The taming of the humans
• Raziel's execution
• Raziel's resurrection

Nosgoth's early history

• Kain spares Raziel

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The events of Blood Omen

• The Battle of the Last Stand

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The era following Blood Omen

• The purification of Kain
• Vorador's resurrection
• The vampire-Sarafan war
• The fall of the Hylden Lord

Behind the scenes

When we say here that the old memories are dying it is not that they are being erased from Kain's memory but instead being shuffled aside by the newer memories that reflect the altered course of history. Therefore he is not forgetting them he instead is holding in his mind two sets of parallel histories, one which is 'dead' and the other which is new and altered. This happens in BO1 but it is not directly mentioned by Kain.

―Kyle Mannerberg and Jennifer Fernández^{[Forum/Eidos]}

Notes

• Crystal Dynamics and Silicon Knights did not provide official names for the timelines explored in the series. "Third timeline" is unofficial terminology original to the Legacy of Kain Wiki, used for ease of reference.

• In Soul Reaver 2, Kain explains that history only reshuffles the fewest events necessary to accommodate a paradox: "the future flows around our petty actions, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations." As such, it is unlikely that the events of the third timeline significantly differ from those of the second, except where Kain's survival must be accounted for.^{[Soul Reaver 2/5]}

See also

• The Arcane Tomes - Volume 2 - Timelines | Legacy of Kain lore at YouTube (by Raina Audron and Bazielim).
• The Legacy of Kain Timeline at aradiel.co.uk (by Joseph Dowland).
• The Interactive Legacy Of Kain Timeline at aradiel.co.uk (by Joseph Dowland).

Browse

Preceded by: The second timeline The assassination of William the Just

Nosgoth's historical timelines The third timeline Raziel spares Kain

Followed by: The fourth timeline Kain spares Raziel