This is a full transcript of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Since no official dialogue script for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver has ever been released by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Interactive or Square Enix Europe, it has been adapted from Tenaya's original transcript at Nosgothic Realm.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is not formally divided into chapters in-game. Eschewing the guidelines used in the supplementary Prima Guide, Prima's Official Strategy Guide - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, the Legacy of Kain Wiki chooses to use the chapter names and definitions as presented in the Nosgothic Realm transcript, for reasons of practicality.
Omitted and featuring on separate pages are miscellaneous dialogue (non-linear events which cannot be attributed to specific chapters), and cut dialogue.
Profile
Source
Vampire Scourge
Introduction
I am Raziel, first-born of His lieutenants. I stood with Kain and my brethren at the dawn of the empire. I have served Him a millennium.
Some years after the master, our evolution would follow.
Until I had the honor of surpassing my lord.
For my transgression, I earned a new kind of reward... agony.
I, Raziel, was to suffer the fate of traitors and weaklings – to burn forever in the bowels of the Lake of the Dead.
The descent had destroyed me... and yet I lived.
You are worthy.
Underworld (chapter)
The Underworld
Redeem yourself. Or if you prefer, avenge yourself. Settle your dispute with Kain. Destroy Him and your brethren. Free their souls and let the wheel of fate churn again. Use your hatred to reave their souls... I can make it possible. Become my soul reaver, my angel of death...
And thus, Raziel's quest for vengeance begins...
Raziel learns about the Warp Gates:
As Raziel is exiting the Warp Gate chamber he falters from weakness, leaning on a pillar to catch himself.
To sustain your strength, you must hunt the lost spirits of the Underworld, and consume the souls of your enemies.
Raziel comes to a chasm, apparently impassable:
Raziel spies a small pack of Sluagh from a safe distance; they are hunting and devouring the souls that Raziel needs to sustain his strength. His first encounter with spectral creatures.
The Sanctuary of the Clans
Raziel encounters a material-plane portal for the first time.
This is taxing, however – your strength must first be fully restored.
You require no conduit to return to this plane – you may abandon your physical body at any time.
After Raziel uses a material-plane portal for the first time:
As soon as Raziel steps into the next hallway, he stops abruptly as he realizes there is water below him. He stands at the edge and looks down, as the Elder God instructs him:
Raziel first sees the devolved vampires of this new Nosgoth.
Raziel establishes the rules of combat:
Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight's touch.
I would have to modify my tactics to suit my foes.
When Raziel has dispatched his first vampire soul:
After Raziel has destroyed the two vampires, he approaches a large stone block which, by its size, appears immovable.
As Raziel enters the courtyard from the tunnel he stops, dumbstruck:
Beyond these walls lay the Pillars of Nosgoth, the seat of Kain's empire. How humble it now appeared, collapsing into the dust of its former magnificence. And yet I had only just emerged...
In the instant between my execution and resurrection, centuries had apparently passed...
The ground shakes violently; Raziel is nearly knocked off his feet.
Raziel pulls uselessly at the large metal doors of the Sanctuary, which are impassably sealed. He stops and scans the building's facade for a possible breach.
The Lake of the Dead: the Abyss
Raziel walks onto the main platform and to the edge, then peers down into the Vortex below.
He rises, surveying his surroundings.
Raziel's Clan Territory (chapter)
Raziel's clan territory
Raziel discovers that his clan has apparently been wiped out – the city that they once occupied is desolate, clearly abandoned for centuries...
Exploring the western ruins of his clan territory, he spies a band of creatures that he has not yet encountered. He watches from a safe perch.
They murder the human villager, and perch over their fresh kill, gnawing on it.
Necropolis (chapter)
The Necropolis
Seeing the ransacked graves and crypts, Raziel realizes that the Melchahim have robbed the graves of the Necropolis to recruit new vampires.
After encountering the decayed, ghoulish Melchahim, and after having recognized Melchiah's clan symbols scrawled throughout the Necropolis, Raziel realizes that these zombie-like creatures are actually the children of his former brother, Melchiah.
After encountering the decayed, ghoulish Melchahim, and after having recognized Melchiah's clan symbols scrawled throughout the Necropolis, Raziel realizes that these zombie-like creatures are actually the children of his former brother, Melchiah.
Raziel comes upon an engraving of Melchiah in his near-human form. This is a towering, heroic monument – contrasted with the scuttling, devolved Melchahim just beyond the next gate.
The Necropolis: Melchiah's lair
You should have stayed where the master sent you, Raziel. You will find Nosgoth less pleasant than you remember.
Do you think I feel no revulsion for this form? Do you believe for a moment that our Lord would risk his empire upon an upstart inheritance?
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
As soon as Melchiah is trapped in the center cage, Raziel holds his hand on the switch, ready to pull it, and asks:
He makes himself known when He sees fit – not when commanded.
Raziel pulls the switch:
The impact of devouring Melchiah's soul knocks Raziel to his knees. He's exhausted; sparks of energy flicker over his body.
The Necropolis
As Raziel exits the Necropolis:
Soul Reaver (chapter)
The Sanctuary of the Clans: the Pillars of Nosgoth
Raziel stumbles upon his first encounter with Kain inside the now dilapidated and abandoned Pillars; he does not know that Kain will be waiting for him there. As Raziel enters the room, Kain is leaning casually on his former throne, the Soul Reaver strapped to his back. He has clearly been waiting for Raziel...
Kain rises and begins to approach Raziel, casually but menacingly.
What have you done with my clan, degenerate? You have no right –
Your life's span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light...
To know that the fate of the world hangs dependent on the advisedness of my every deed – can you even begin to conceive what action you would take, in my position?
This place has outlasted its usefulness – as have you.
As Kain utters this last line, he draws the Soul Reaver from its scabbard; its energy leaps to life.
The legends claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims.
For all our bravado, we knew what it meant when Kain drew the Soul Reaver in anger – it meant you were dead.
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
The combat ends when the Soul Reaver is destroyed –
When Raziel drops back into spectral, he discovers that the Soul Reaver – now a wraith blade – is hovering there.
Raziel reaches out and grasps the sword. The blade flares to life, its energy melding with Raziel's.
By destroying the sword, you have liberated it from its corporeal prison, and restored it to its true form – a wraith blade, its energy unbound. No longer a physical blade, it can only manifest itself in the material realm when your strength is fully restored. Once manifest, it will sustain you.
After Raziel grasps the sword, a spirit appears, drifting toward him from behind the Pillars.
Flesh and bones are required to recline. No, child, all I may do is watch, and remember, ceaselessly conscious as this wretched world's history unfurls. Ghastly past, insufferable future, are they one and the same...? Am I always here?
Now these pillars serve only to bind me here – my prison and eternal home, thanks to the avarice of your master, Kain...
The Sanctuary of the Clans
As Raziel exits the Sanctuary of the Clans, the Elder God offers the following guidance:
He and his brood have cocooned themselves in a derelict cathedral, having murdered its human guardians.
The Silenced Cathedral (chapter)
The Silenced Cathedral
The Silenced Cathedral: Zephon's lair
Raziel reaches Zephon's lair and confronts him:
There is no returning for you, Raziel.
You have missed so many changes, little Raziel. Look around you. See how the humans' weapon of destruction has become my home...
Indeed, my body. A cocoon of brick and granite from which to watch a pupating world...
I warn you, brother – as my stature has grown, so it is matched by my appetite.
Step forward, morsel...
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
After defeating Zephon and devouring his soul:
The Silenced Cathedral
Exiting Zephon's chamber:
Tomb of Sarafan (chapter)
The Tomb of the Sarafan
Now, ravaged by Nosgoth's upheavals, its mysteries lay exposed.
In the time of Vorador, centuries before Kain was made, the Sarafan warrior priests waged a merciless war against the vampire tribes of Nosgoth. Emboldened by righteousness, they committed unspeakable and indiscriminate acts of violence – massacring fledglings and ancients alike, they decimated entire bloodlines in mere decades. Now their husks lay here – murderers enshrined.
As Raziel steps into the ancient hallway leading to the Sarafan tomb, the Elder God warns:
Having discovered a twisting passageway, Raziel makes his way into the depths of the tomb. The passage apparently dead-ends, blocked by a massive stone that seals the tomb. The stone is no impediment to Raziel, and he easily pulls it free.
I was not prepared for what lay beyond this threshold...
And my own...
Were my hands not as bloody as these? Worse, I had spilled the blood of my brothers – these very comrades whose tombs lay ravaged before me.
Kain – Nosgoth's solitary, self-declared monarch – plundered this tomb and raised you from these crypts. Breathing his vampiric gift into your defiled corpses, he resurrected you as his favored sons.
The Tomb of the Sarafan: the Tomb Guardian's room
After Raziel defeats the Tomb Guardian, and receives the Force projectile ability:
The Drowned Abbey (chapter)
The Drowned Abbey
When Raziel discovers the courtyard of the Drowned Abbey, the Elder God offers the following information:
The Drowned Abbey: Rahab's lair
Raziel finds Rahab at the center of the drowned abbey, nestled in the chapter house in the center of the courtyard.
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
When Rahab is destroyed:
The Drowned Abbey
As Raziel exits Rahab's chapter house, the Elder God offers the following information:
Ruined City of the Dumahim (chapter)
The Ruined City
Upon arriving, Raziel is shocked to discover that Dumah's citadel, like his, is a ghost town – there are long-dead vampire corpses scattered everywhere, impaled and burned, and the walls of Dumah's city have been torched.
In his madness, could Kain spare none of his brood?
Complacent in their arrogance, they were taken by surprise, allowing the human vampire hunters to decimate their ranks with little resistance. The few that escaped have been reduced to scavengers.
The Ruined City: Dumah's throne room
After working his way through the city, Raziel finally steps into Dumah's throne room. The corpse of Dumah slouches on its throne, impaled by multiple spears.
If Raziel goes into the Spectral plane before resurrecting Dumah, he encounters his spirit haunting the throne room:
After Raziel has revived Dumah:
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
The Ruined City: the Furnace
Upon Dumah's defeat, and as Raziel receives his soul:
The Ruined City
After Raziel defeats Dumah, before advancing to the Oracle's Cave, he receives the following clue:
Oracle's Cave (chapter)
The Oracle's Cave
Raziel discovers the long-hidden entrance to the Oracle's chamber:
Moebius played the role of a doddering soothsayer, stirring his pot of visions while dispensing enigmatic predictions to gullible visitors. Underneath the facade was Moebius the Time Streamer, sorcerer of the Circle of Nine – a ruthless manipulator with the power to bend time. Since his murder at Kain's hands centuries ago, these caves have stood vacant... though, like Moebius himself, they are rumored to be only a facade for a much larger, more elaborate complex...
Once inside, Raziel comes upon a statue of Moebius, the Time Streamer – as he regards it, he reflects:
Showdown With Kain
The Oracle's Cave: the Chronoplast
In the depths of Moebius's time-streaming apparatus, Raziel discovers a series of portals displaying scenes of past and apparently future events. As he descends, passing these various scenes, he reflects on the images confronting him. The images in the portals imply that the events he's experienced – and those still to come – have all been predestined.
The first portal shows Raziel reviving in the Underworld, after being executed by Kain:
The first portal shows Raziel reviving in the Underworld, after being executed by Kain:
What trickery is this?
A second portal displays Raziel's discovery of the Tomb of Sarafan, and his origins –
A third portal shows the Soul Reaver being shattered during the confrontation between Kain and Raziel (as Kain prepares to destroy Raziel with the blade) –
The next portal shows Raziel confronting Kain at some future time, in an unfamiliar setting –
Another portal shows Raziel striking Ariel down with the Soul Reaver (an event which has not yet occurred) –
A final portal shows Raziel armed with an enhanced Soul Reaver, its blade writhing with intertwined black and red energies –
After having worked his way down into the depths of Moebius's complex, he comes across the "heart" of Moebius's time-streaming device – the Chronoplast room. Kain reveals himself, stepping out from the shadows of the room.
I must say I'm disappointed in your progress. I imagined you would be here sooner.
Tell me – did it trouble you to murder your brothers?
When I first stole into this chamber, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of knowledge.
To know the future, Raziel – to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite...
As a man, I could never have contained such forbidden truths.
But each of us is so much more than we once were.
Gazing out across the planes of possibility, do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods?
And as such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion...
That is why, when I must sacrifice my children to the void, I can do so with a clear heart...
Our futures are predestined –
Moebius foretold mine a millennium ago. We each play out the parts fate has written for us.
We are compelled ineluctably down pre-ordained paths.
Free will is an illusion.
Raziel responds by changing the subject –
Your dirty secret is exposed.
How could you transform a Sarafan priest into a vampire?
One must keep his friends close, Raziel – and his enemies even closer.
Can you grasp the absurd beauty of the paradox? We are the same – Sarafan and vampire. With our holy wars... our obsession with Nosgoth's domination...
Who better to serve me than those whose passion transcends all notions of good and evil?
The Sarafan were saviors, defending Nosgoth from the corruption that we represent.
My eyes are opened, Kain – I find no nobility in the unlife you rudely forced on my unwilling corpse!
Don't be simple.
Their agenda was the same as ours.
These apparitions and portents... what game are you playing now?
If Raziel is defeated in the battle, then upon his return:
After Raziel lands his third and final Soul Reaver attack, Kain throws the final switch, and materializes in front of the star portal on the upper floor of the Chronoplast. Visibly exhausted, he addresses Raziel –
But this is not where – or how – it ends. Fate promises more twists before this drama unfolds completely.
As he finishes speaking, he turns and runs through the star portal. As Raziel prepares to follow Kain through the portal and into the void of the unknown, the Elder God's disembodied voice admonishes him:
After Raziel steps through the portal, he comes to a mysterious room with an infinity sigil on the floor – Raziel steps into the pool of light in the middle of the room. A moment later, Moebius steps out of the darkness, addressing Raziel by name.
Redeemer and destroyer.
Pawn and messiah.
Welcome, time-spanned soul.
Welcome... to your destiny.
A Loose Stitch
in the Universal Cloth,
A Streamer might Seize
upon a Chance, a Fatal slip –
And plunge the Fate
of Planets into Chaos...
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