Wraith Blade shortly after Blood Reaver was destroyed
The Wraith Blade is the spiritual form of the Soul Reaver, and is essentially the soul of Raziel, still trapped in the form of the Soul Reaver blade. It is also referred to as the Reaver and is depicted as a flaming sword in murals. It is the symbiotic weapon of the wraith Raziel after his battle with Kain in Soul Reaver at the Sanctuary of the Clans. It can be imbued with elemental enhancements attuned to it much like Raziel himself can absorb souls to receive enhancements.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
In Soul Reaver, Raziel and Kain met and battled at The Sanctuary of the Clans. At the end of this battle, Kain overcomes Raziel and shatters the blade over him, liberating the Soul-devouring spirit within the blade from it's corporeal prison and returning the blade to its true form, a wraith blade; The Blade was initially destroyed because of a paradox - The Reaver could not devour its own (Raziel's) soul. weakened after his battle with Kain, Raziel was forced to return to the Spectral Realm, where he found the Wraith Blade which binded itself to him becoming his symbiotic weapon.
During the events of the game, the blade can only manifest in the Material Realm when Raziel's health is full and it will maintain his health unless he is injured, where the blade will then retreat to the Spectral Plane. In order to retrieve the Reaver, Raziel would have to shift planes and then be at full health to use the portals or just feed on some spiritual energy (from a willing or defenseless human). Raziel used the blade to unlock the outer entrance to the Silenced Cathedral and it became of great use to him, even being modified to fire 'Reaver Bolts ' with the Telekinetic Force Projectile ability; also in Soul Reaver, the wraith blade could be endowed with the element of fire after earning the 'swimming' ability and finding the enhancement within Rahab's territory.
Soul Reaver 2
In Soul Reaver 2, the Wraith Blade took on a new significance; firstly Moebius' Staff demonstrated the power to disable the wraith blade, then shortly after arriving in the 'Corruption era', in the chapel of the Sarafan Stronghold, Raziel found the earlier physical version of the blade that was wielded by William the Just in the Battle with Kain and broken from that battle. The wraith blade was able to manifest itself and leeched Raziel's energy to restore the blade. From this point on Raziel was able to manifest the blade at will, but it had become a "sentient parasite competing for control".that would turn it's hunger on Raziel if it became over aroused. Raziel threatened Moebius with the conjoined blades but ended up sparing him, due to revelations about Moebius' service of The Elder God(unknowingly narrowly avoiding a Soul Reaver Paradox .) From then on the Reaver blade becomes vital to the story.
Raziel was able to use the wraith blade to unlock a large door in a passageway hidden behind the Pillars of Nosgoth, which was decorated with an image of the similar looking Ancient Vampires; this door led to the Subterranean Pillars Chamber and Raziel's first glimpses of Murals of Vampire history. All around the Soul Reaver blade was inscribed with reverence as was the images of the vampire champion; which given his ownership of the wraith blade and vaguely Ancient Vampire appearance seemed to apply to Raziel himself.
Entering the Termogent Forest Swamp, Raziel was able to uncover the Dark Forge and imbue the wraith blade with elemental darkness - forging the (temporary) Dark Reaver. He was then able to use the Dark Reaver's abilities to return to the enter the Light Forge in the Great Southern Lake and completing its puzzle, gain the (temporary) Light Reaver, which enabled him to activate the Light Crystals and re-enter the Sarafan Stronghold. Soon after Raziel encountered the physical Reaver again as Kain picked it up and gave it to Raziel, forcing the wraith blade to manifest. Here the wraith blade was able to exert it's will once again, forcing Raziel's hand to advance on Kain another Soul Reaver Paradox. Raziel was able to fight the will of the wraith blade and divert the blade by inches, changing history. Following this change, Raziel abandoned the Physical Reaver and used the wraith blade to force Moebius to send him backwards in time, but he was tricked and sent forward instead.
In the future, Raziel was able to find theAir Forge underneath Janos Audron's aerie and forge the (temporary) Air Reaver , then use it to blast open the cracked doorway to an abandoned Time Streaming Chamberin the Termogent Forest. He used it to return to the Sarafan era and to enter Janos Audron's aerie and finding the mountain hollow, he proceeded to use the Dark, Light and Air Reavers to negociate the Mountain to reach Janos' Balcony, but did not manifest the Reaver when he met Janos. Janos offered Raziel the (Blood) Reaver, but curiously Raziel experienced none of the usual displacement associated with the Soul Reaver Paradox. When the Sarafan attacked, Janos Teleported Raziel to the nearby Fire Forge, where Raziel was able to gain the (temporary) Fire Reaver and return to Janos' chamber to discover his human self and his brothers murder Janos and steal both The Heart of Darkness and The (Blood) Reaver.
Raziel chased the Sarafan back to the stronghold and once again met Moebius, along with Malek, in a room with the (Blood) Reaver, with Moebius' Staff disabling the Wraith Blade, Raziel was forced to use the (Blood) Reaver as a weapon. Diverted a different route through the Stronghold, Raziel killed the major Sarafan Inquisitors and after killing his human self, the Wraith Blade manifested and for the first time since they were bound, it left Raziel, instead embracing its former self. The Wraith Blade turned the (Blood) Reaver on Raziel and impaled him with it, it was then that Raziel realised the truth about the Wraith Blade - that it was his future self and that was why there had been no sense of displacement when he met the Reaver in Janos' Aerie; it was empty and not a Soul Reaver Paradox. But even as Kain saved from his fate Raziel, in the Spectral Realm, realised that as the Wraith Blade was still present, Kain has merely postponed his destiny.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
InDefiance (now in the Blood Omen era)the Wraith Blade again played a crucial role, not least becauseKain had picked up the original Reaver blade that would become Raziel's prison; with Raziel carrying the only weapon that could kill Kain (as hinted from Soul Reaver) - the Wraith Blade, their rivalry was taken to a new level.
Raziel began Defiance in The Elder's Lair, with the Wraith Blade and The Elder God taunting him about his destiny over it. When Raziel escapes and finds a way to manifest himself in the Material Realm (through Spirit Projection) he finds himself in the Cemetary, where some much older ruins catch his attention, and he is able to use them to teleport to the sealed chambers within the Vampire Citadel which contained various forges - the cemetary teleporters lead him to the Light and Dark forges, where he is able to imbue the Wraith Blade and regain more permanent versions of the Light and Dark Reavers in turn. He is able to use these enhancements to escape the cemetary.
In hidden chambers near the Pillars,he was able to permanently imbue the Wraith Blade with The Fire Reaver by absorbing the souls of the originalConflict and Nature guardians in the sealed Fire Forge, this enabled him to proceed to the Pillars and after learning of Vorador's involvement with the (Blood) Reaver Blade's creation, ask Ariel about his whereabouts. To enter the way to Vorador's mansion, he had to find another chamber that warped him to the sealed Air Forge and absorbing the souls of the Mind and Dimension Guardians gained the permanent Air Reaver, which enabled him to continue.
At Vorador's Mansion he was able to teleport to the sealed Water Forge and after consuming the souls of the States and Death Guardians is able to gain the Water Reaver, which along with the Fire Reaver, enables him to enter the vault at the end of Vorador's garden where the vampire has hidden himself. After his discussion with Vorador, Raziel heads to Avernus where he discovers the Cathedral built on ruins that warp him to theEarth Forge, where taking in the souls of the Time and Energy Guardians , gains the Earth Reaver and is able to use it to enter the Avernus Catacombs and find out many secrets, particularly regarding the two champions prophecy both he and Kain have observed.
When Raziel returns to the Cathedral, he is armed with the Wraith Blade for his confrontation with Kain, and the supposed champions battle. It is confirmed that the Wraith Blade is the only weapon that could kill Kain. During the battle Raziel begins to be absorbed into the (Blood) Reaver and in desperation, he rips out Kain's Heart - The Heart of Darkness( not using the Wraith Blade.) He returns to Vorador's Mansion and reinserting the Heart into Janos, the Wraith Blade is what ultimately brings Janos back. When Raziel demands answers of Janos, he is able to use the Wraith Blade to illustrate to Janos the amount he has misunderstood the prophecies. Amazed, Janos sends Raziel to the final forge in the Vampire Citadel, the Spirit Forge, where he fights off the Elder God's interference and uses all of the elemental enhancements to activate the forge and absorb the souls of all the Balance Guardians (represented by Ariel) and gain the purifying Spirit Reaver.
The Spirit Reaver demonstrates itself as an all-powerful and devastating weapon, but it is unable to save Janos from the Possession of The Hylden Lord, who steals Janos body as part of a Hylden conspiracy. Returned to the Elder God in the Spirit Forge, Raziel realises the truth (that he is both champions and Kain is a different messianic role in the prophecies -The Scion of Balance.) When Kain returns, killing a resurrected Moebius, Raziel repeats the act with the wraith blade and realises one of the side effects of the 'purifying' Spirit Reaver is to purify sight. Soon afterward Raziel possesses Moebius corpse and sacrifices himself to become trapped in the Reaver Blade, however at the same time he disperses the purifying Spirit Reaver into Kain, cleansing him of the Corruption that had plagued him since birth and allowing him for the first time to see the true enemy - The Elder God- as well as providing him with the Scion of Balance's prophecied weapon - The Soul Reaver- that is capable of harming him.
Notes
In the Original Soul Reaver Storyline, the Wraith blade was able to be enhanced by several other elements, based on glyphs, only one of which was available in the final version of Soul Reaver. These were: Sunlight,Water , Stone, Fire(which did appear in the final version), Sound and Spirit ; These Reavers were eventually redesigned into the elemental reavers seen partially in Soul Reaver 2 and fully in Defiance, which were based on more traditional elements. In addition there were two Reavers that would have been imbued by absorbing certain characters Souls - The Ariel Reaver and the Amplified 'Kain' Reaver, these would have been powerful permanent enhancements to the wraith blade, which are partially available in Soul Reaver through cheat codes. The concepts of these blades were remodelled into the Spirit Reaver finally seen in Defiance ( a different entity to the Spirit Reaver removed from Soul Reaver).
Given that only the Soul Reaver blades which contain Raziel's soul or the wraith blade seem able to create the Soul Reaver Paradoxes, it may be the case that it is not two Reaver Blades that cause the paradox but two (or in some cases three) copies of Raziel's soul, presumably this would have something to do with his unique resurrection and Free Will.
Some fans have noted that unlike forging the wraith blade with temporary elemental powers in Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 (where the Wraith Blade was plunged into a forge or font), In Defiance Raziel does not forge the Wraith Blade as much as forge himself (in all cases he approaches and touches the forges -or Ariel- with the hand not holding the Wraith Blade), and the powers are passed on to the wraith blade. It may therefore be the case that these powers could have been passed on to the newly formed Soul Reaver Blade.
In Soul Reaver, The Wraith Blade had different effects for the Spectral Realm and the Material Realm, being Green in Spectral and Blue in Material. By the time of Defiance, they were considerd to be separate Reavers - The Material Reaver and The Spectral Reaver. This was probably to aid the new Plane Shift mechanic (which was now no longer on a ring menu but under the Reaver list)
Manifested Powers of the Wraith-Blade/Wraith-Blade Reaver
- Spectral Reaver - projects a blast of spectral force into the surrounding area
- Material Reaver - projects a blast of material force into the surrounding area
- Dark Reaver - covers in darkness
- Light Reaver - blinds surrounding opponents with intense light
- Water Reaver - freezes surrounding opponents
- Earth Reaver - causes a localized earthquake
- Fire Reaver - projects fire into the surrounding area
- Air Reaver - projects intense wind into the surrounding area
- Spirit Reaver - purifies the sight of others and is the most powerful of any of the Reavers