Raziel (Legacy of Kain)

See Raziel (disambiguation) for other meanings of Raziel.

Raziel is a main character in the Legacy of Kain series of video games. Throughout the series, he has been voiced by Michael Bell.

Raziel, an anti-hero, is a wraith. As the games progress, Raziel's history is revealed in reverse. Before becoming a wraith he was a vampire and before that, a holy knight.

History

• Human Life

Raziel was born between 520–550 years before the first Legacy of Kain game. At some point, Raziel became one of the Sarafan Sorcerer Priests and later became their leader. He, along with five of the strongest Sarafan, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah, stormed the mountain retreat of Janos Audron and slew the ancient Vampire.

Before heading back to their stronghold, Raziel and his allies removed Janos' heart, known as the Heart of Darkness, and the Reaver, the Vampires' holy weapon. Once back at their stronghold, the six Sarafan were confronted and slain by a wraith who, unbeknownst to them, was Raziel's future self.

• Vampire Unlife

Approximately 1000 years later, Kain (Legacy of Kain) raised the corpses of Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah as his Vampire sons. Once risen as Vampires, the six had no memories of their lives as Sarafan. Over the next thousand years, the Raziel and his brothers served under Kain as his lieutenants, each commanding their own clans and using their authority to conquer Nosgoth in Kain's name. After a millennium of service, Raziel grew a pair of wings after a period of advanced evolution. Kain punished his eldest son by destroying his wings and casting Raziel into the Lake of the Dead.

• Wraith Shadow-life

After plummeting into the Abyss, Raziel found himself in the lair of the Elder God, who convinced him to hunt Kain and his brothers down and seek revenge. Raziel systematically killed his brothers and, along the way, confronted Kain. During their battle, Kain shattered his weapon, the Soul Reaver, against Raziel. The blade's spirit bonded itself to Raziel, becoming a symbiotic weapon: a wraith blade.

During his journey, Raziel learned of his history as a Sarafan and became incensed in his hunt for Kain. Raziel tracked Kain to an ancient Timestreaming Chamber. Kain slipped into the past and Raziel followed him immediately.

Raziel continued traveling back and forth through time and, at Kain's urging, started uncovering the secret past of Nosgoth, much to the dismay of the Elder God and Moebius the Timestreamer. As Raziel journeyed, he encountered the Vampire Vorador, who stated that only Janos Audron could answer the riddle of Raziel's destiny.

Eventually, Raziel found his way back to a time when Janos Audron lived, but before the Vampire could give him the answers he needed, the Sarafan, led by Raziel's human self, stormed the stronghold, killed Janos, stole his heart and the Reaver. Raziel chased the Sarafan back to their headquarters. There, he found and took up the Reaver and used it to kill the Sarafan, including his human self. After the battle, Raziel discovered a terrible truth: his soul was the one that was the dark entity imprisoned in the Reaver. Before the Reaver could devour him, Kain stepped in and interrupted the fateful moment.

After the Reaver failed to devour him, Raziel spent 500 years in the lair of the Elder God, refusing to serve the dark deity out of fear that he would still end up imprisoned in the blade. Eventually, Raziel did leave to try and find a way to defeat his fate. Along his journey, Raziel discovered that he was not, as he thought, the Champion of the Vampires, but the Champion of the Hylden, the Vampires' enemy. Upon seeking advice from Vorador, Raziel went to Avernus Cathedral to seek the Heart of Darkness in the hopes to revive Janos with it. Deep under the church, Raziel met the Necromancer Mortanius who told him the location of the heart. Mortanius had used the heart to grant Kain his vampiric unlife.

Finally, Raziel confronted Kain in the chapel of Avernus Cathedral. This seemed to be the prophesied battle between the Champion of the Vampires and the Champion of the Hylden, which would decide the fate of Nosgoth. At the end of the battle, just before he could be defeated, Raziel ripped the Heart of Darkness out of Kain’s chest and banished Kain to oblivion. Raziel then returned to where Janos’ body lay preserved and restored the heart to him. Janos, shocked by the events of the 500 years he had missed, took Raziel with him to the Citadel of the Vampires. Soon after arriving, the Pillars of Nosgoth fell and the Hylden were able to take over Janos’ body. Raziel fought the Hylden-possessed Vampire, but lost and ended up a prisoner on the Elder God in the Spectral Realm.

A short time later, Kain, who was inexplicably alive, made his way to the Citadel where he killed Moebius, who was reporting to the Elder God at the time. After Moebius died and crossed over into the spirit world, Raziel impaled his ghost with his wraith blade. The wraith blade cleared Moebius' vision and, for the first time, he saw the true face of the God he worshipped. It was then that Raziel realized what he had to do. Using Moebius' body, he shifted back to the Material Realm and tricked Kain into impaling him with the Reaver. Kain, shocked by what he had done, tried to free Raziel from the blade, but Raziel finally met his destiny and entered the sword, but this time assuring that the power of the Reaver was pure and uncorrupted. As his last act, Raziel healed Kain and granted him unerring vision, allowing Kain to see the Elder God for the first time.

Raziel's spirit now forever resides within the Soul Reaver and just might give Kain the power to save Nosgoth.