Kain did not refuse the sacrifice because it would have meant the end of the Vampire race. He refused the sacrifice because his time as a Vampire allowed him to see the true nature of Humans and he didn't feel like he owed his life to such vile, hypocritical and self-righteous creatures that hide behind a mask of morality to justify their abhorrent flaws.

@allenr3164

6 ай бұрын

Two things can be true at once. It can be as you indicate plus the fact he didn't want the vampires to go extinct. The ending of BO: LoK seems to indicate your opinion, but Kain indicates later it was also the prevention of vampire extinction that influenced his decision.

@jackwilliam4436

6 ай бұрын

@@allenr3164 Thanks for your input. Could you point us to that specific scene where he later explains that, please ? I do remember him having a 'change of heart' of sorts, once he learns how to manipulate Time to a certain degree and that's what led him to set his plan into motion for the coin to land on its edge. I do remember him learning about the Hylden and how to keep them imprisoned, by using the Pillars. But I only remember those elements (the plan and knowledge of the Hylden) happening after the events of Blood Omen 1. The way I understood it is thus : Kain only decided to refuse the sacrifice at the end of Blood Omen 1 because he saw the true face of Humanity. Then, he learned to manipulate Time to a very small degree and devised a way to save Nosgoth without dying (making the coin land on its edge) and fully committed to it - not for Humanity, but for his land of Nosgoth - even though it seemingly always ended with him offering Raziel the opportunity to kill him and Raziel taking that opportunity (at the end of Soul Reaver 2). But, in one iteration, Raziel finally made the right choice and refused to kill Kain - resulting in a Paradox that created the events of Blood Omen 2, in the past. Kain thus instantaneously gained knowledge of the updated timeline and of the Hylden menace. That's how he understood that he and his kind really were the lesser evil, all along, and that Nosgoth really needed the Vampires, to save them from the Hylden. I certainly forgot quite a bit, since I played those games a very long time ago, but I'm really interested in the scenes you are talking about : When does Kain reveal that he already wanted the Vampire race to continue, before he had to make Blood Omen 1's final choice ? I know from Blood Omen 2 that he wanted to create new Vampires, but I always thought he only started wanting that after Blood Omen 1 - and only to have an army to conquer Nosgoth.

@thelawfulgeek

6 ай бұрын

The first meeting of Kain and Raziel at the Pillars in Soul Reaver 2, which chronologically takes place at the moment the pillars become corrupted. Kain states: Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma... let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars... but as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species... Moebius made sure of that. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged. Same scene: Raziel : So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die so that new Guardians can be born. Kain : The Pillars don't belong to them, Raziel... they belong to us.

The way you speak of the Hylden as if they’re an inconsequential party in the twisted timeline that is unfolding during this story is amusing. I’m intrigued.

Happy to see Legacy of Kain content still being put out there.😊

@thelawfulgeek

7 ай бұрын

I love this series, and there's plenty more coming, just a little slow right now with the holidays and all that, plus working on some other videos first

Additional note about why the Pillars didn't choose new Guardians, at the end of Blood Omen 1 : They were destroyed - not 'just' left in a corrupted state.

I love Kain being a hero who isn't a hero, and a villain who was never THE villain by any true means. Kain is truly an amazing character made only better by Raziel and his astounding tale.

@roadkillz78

6 ай бұрын

He's what you would call an anti-hero.

I miss games like this. It is a shame that they didn't finish it. When it comes to telling a story. This is how you do it.

Nice discussion on the pillars. It's weird they don't appear in BO2.

@thelawfulgeek

6 ай бұрын

They appear for about 2 milliseconds in the intro haha

@reaverofjillsandwiches

6 ай бұрын

@@thelawfulgeek ha oh ok I missed that

Damn i love LoK content

Awesome

I definitely "almost" feel bad for Malek, because he knew the circle was in trouble, but good old Moebius forced him to stay when they cornered Raziel in SR2 😂 I hated Moebius, but I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a damn good villain. The writing in the franchise is very hard to top. Looking forward to more LoK content! 🎉😊

@thelawfulgeek

6 ай бұрын

Hylden aside and good intentions aside, Mortanius is a bastard, just in the way he went about things, specifically getting Kain on board for the purge of the circle, knowing full well at the end he'd also have to take himself out to finish the job.

@lisacastro3899

6 ай бұрын

@@thelawfulgeek Oh yeah, definitely. I never saw any kind of remorse on Mortanius' end either. He knew what he was doing, just like Moebius, and didn't seem to give a damn about Kain having to sacrifice himself. But I feel like Kain's line applies here: Nothing is free, not even revenge. Idk. That's the way I saw it. Everything in this game is all about coming full circle.

Few sites have moved such as this

4:47 Wait. What ? Why would the Ancient Vampires create a Death Pillar, to ensure the cycle of death and rebirth, instead of just letting it in the hands of the Elder God ??? That's the very reason why the entire events of the games ever took places. The Ancient Vampires worshiped a being they believed (either rightfully or mistakenly) to govern the entire balance of death and rebirth, by recycling souls. They were so obsessed with their god that they didn't hesitate to go on a holy war against the Hylden. Why would they make a Pillar that replaces their god ??? Maybe that Pillar's function was more to allow the Ancient Vampires to 'cheat' death itself, by giving them an advantage over their many enemies. For instance, they could have used it to create the Modern Vampires, like Janos Audron turned Vorador into a Vampire or like Mortanius resurrected Kain as a Vampire. Maybe they too had plans for Undead armies, like necromancers or like Malek The Paladin was ripped from his body and locked inside an armor ?

I don't think Kain would have been a bad Balance Guardian, had he remained Human. If you choose the non canon ending, it's revealed that, in life, he was of no consequence - which means that he had enough 'good' in him to counteract the effects of the psychic attack that afflicted him since birth. Sure, he needed purification (which happened mere moments before fighting 'the real enemy', at the very end of Defiance), but he still managed to be a 'balanced' and decent Human, instead of going full mad, like so many of the other Guardians. Maybe that's because the Pillar of Balance chose him ? Maybe that's because he is the Scion of Balance ? Maybe that's because, as we could all see throughout the series, he has a very strong spirit - one that can also fight mental manipulation ? Maybe that's because he is so strong-willed ? Maybe that's because it was 'natural' to him, since he had to cope with the effects of the attack since birth (and was certainly given proper education on how to treat people, like most children grow up), while the other Guardians would go largely unchecked and 'uncorrected' (with no one left to 'educate' them) and have to deal with something they had never experienced before ?

Ariel was killed for a lot of reasons, to make the other gaurdians more vulnberle was one. But the goal was to make Nutcracker go nuts, and corrupt the symbiotic link between every other pillar. It also made sure guardians that replaced any who died would be exposed allowing The Elder God to mold the outcome of events without the pillars to keep him from taking more than he wanted.

@jackwilliam4436

6 ай бұрын

Haha. Nutcracker 😹😹😹. Good One, but, joke aside, I don't agree with that. Nupraptor didn't corrupt the link between Pillars. He corrupted the Guardians of that time. Also, it's not the Elder God that's being kept under control by the Pillars - it's the Hylden. Besides, it's not the Elder God who caused Ariel's death - it's the Hylden who took possession of Mortanius.

@BoyKagome

6 ай бұрын

@@jackwilliam4436 It is very strongly hinted the Hylden are working for the Elder God. Mortanius himself was being manipulated and Mobius was right there the whole time, the Elder God's stooge.

@jackwilliam4436

6 ай бұрын

@@BoyKagome Very true, but wasn't Mortanius possessed by the Hylden and not the Elder God ? The problem is that those awesome games were released so long ago that I'm not 100% sure about every detail. Also, even though Mobius was working for the Elder God (without knowing his true nature, by the by), did he really play any part in Ariel's murder ? Besides, Kain does eventually discover why Mobius hates him so much : It's because, after all this time, he's the first Vampire Guardian, since practically forever. If memory serves me correctly, Kain understands it in Defiance - but it could be in another game. So, why would the Time Streamer manipulate events in a way that a Vampire, of all races, would become the Guardian of one of the absolutely most important Pillars ever ? Sure, Kain was still a mere Human, when Ariel was murdered, but the Guardian who can see and manipulate time itself would have wanted to avoid that. He didn't even need a Vampire to kill William The Just, to bring back the Vampire Purges. He simply needed any Human or Humanoid. Then, it would have been so easy for him to lie to everyone and say it was, like Alucard would say, 'a real ducking Vampire' who killed the king. Everyone would have believed him. 'What's that ? Oh, he didn't drink his blood, did he ? Well, he's still a Vampire. He just left the blood there on the ground to add spite and insult to the murder.'