Creation

Kain was created for the Legacy of Kain video game series in 1996 by Amy Hennig from developers Silicon Knights and Crystal Dynamics. Kain was voiced by Simon Templeman.

Major Story Arcs

Like other vampires, Kain drinks blood to survive, though he has shown a greater level of immortality than other vampires. He implied at one point that the only weapon that could kill him was the Soul Reaver. He possesses a variety of powers including the ability to shape-shift into a wolf form, an intangible mist, and a group of bats which he uses to traverse long distances or to escape when a fight is not going his way. Kain has demonstrated great ability with telekinetic manipulation, from blowing down walls, flinging opponents to their death or sucking the blood from wounds while being up to ten feet away from his victim. He is able to leap great distances and control his descent to land silently from the highest ledges.

As an elder vampire Kain has tremendous physical advantages over average humans. Super strength, reflexes, stamina, and durability. Kain possess great magical ability with demonstrated control of elemental magics like fire and lightning. In addition, he has acquired a wealth of nasty spells that range from flaying the flesh off a person's bones to possessing their minds.

Powers and Abilities

Kain’s nature as a vampire grants him superhuman strength, speed, and regeneration, as well as skill in magic. He possesses sharp claws and telekinetic powers, along with various magical abilities known as Dark Gifts.After his defeat by the Sarafan Lord and with time, he gained new Dark Gifts from other vampires. His Dark Gifts include the ability to assume an intangible and invisible mist form when near mist, long distance jumping, the power to control the minds of the weak-willed, even higher speed, and pyrokinetic powers, as well as enhanced telekinesis from the Hylden Seer.

After defeating the Hylden Lord, Kain spent the years refining his powers, now sporting the power to teleport, the ability to fire lightning bolts, and the power to change into a swarm of bats to travel around. Kain also has even strong telekinetic powers and became able to change into his mist form without mist nearby. He is also able to undergo any evolutionary sleep where he emerges with some new, less human adaption each time.

Soul Reaver

Kain's most deadly weapon may be the Soul Reaver, an ancient indestructible wickedly curved blade originally designed to draw the blood of its victims to the vampire wielder. Now the Soul Reaver houses the ravenous devourer of souls, Raziel. As the Soul Reaver dispatches an enemy it tears the soul loose to feed the spirit trapped within the blade. Kain is a skilled swordsman who often forgoes using his tremendous magical abilities for the thrill of dispatching his enemies at the point of the Soul Reaver, often exclaiming. "Vae Victus!" (Suffering, or woe to the conquered) Kain is a calculating manipulator, often using others to reach goals far in the future. He spent years studying the events that unfold in the chloroplast chamber, a window into different times used by the Time Pillar Guardian, Moebius. From his studies he devised a way to go back in time to change the history of his world to bring balance back to Nosgoth.

Seeing the opportunity to put his plans to work Kain had his eldest and most trusted lieutenant, Raziel, thrown into the abyss, where his vampiric body would be destroyed by the swirling waters. Raziel would later be resurrected as a wraith and devourer of souls. The same wraith that would ultimately inhabit the Soul Reaver, which is key to changing Nosgoth's history.

Other Media

Video Games

• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
• Soul Reaver 2
• Blood Omen 2
• Legacy of Kain: Defiance
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Comic Book

Legacy of Kain: Defiance