Legacy of Kain | Heart of Darkness 

Kain's story is the greatest ever told in gaming history.

Amy stated that "Kain's nature as the Scion of Balance allowed him to survive without the HoD".

i love the "This is not a debate" line, it stayed with me forever like "There has to be another way"

The look of absolute fear on Mobius' face when his staff fails to subdue Kain during that scene, is fantastic. Knowing he possessed the actual Heart of Darkness. I retroactively took the heart pick-ups of Blood Omen 1 as a placebo. A legend Kain had heard of, and so unconsciously assigned that power to a proxy artefact. I imagine, as per the original description for them. Blackened hearts of Janos' (or even Vorador's) victims would have been in plentiful supply. As for why Kain survived having it extracted. It wasn't his heart. But something that had been magically placed inside him. Over the centuries of his evolution, the power became fully integrated into his system. Just like his other abilities. Therefore removing it wasn't conducive to his survival.

I love the moment in Defiance, when Raziel appears in Kain's tomb. The whole story in all series is going back and worth slowly discovering all those great histories behind every character. This game will forever rest in my heart as a most epic story of all times. Thank you for those videos, you let this series live, almost 20 years after last release.

That scene in Defiance is amazingly done. Mobius knows he's screwed as soon as his staff fails him. It's made all the more dire when Raziel is waiting for him in the Spirit Realm, waiting to do the same thing to his soul

I always assumed Kain survived without the heart simply because it was his destiny to fulfill the role of Scion of Balance, just like Raziel survived time and time again because of his destiny of becoming one with the Reaver. What really surprises me is that not only did Kain survive, but neither Moebius nor the Elder God anticipated it. It's almost as if the heart, as the only "living" entity in Kain's body, was the only thing allowing them to see his destiny, and once it was gone, they couldn't see it any longer.

I thought I remember reading somewhere that the 99 Heart of Darkness cards (while obviously a game mechanic) were representing 99 drops of blood that came from Janos when the heart was removed, and each drop crystalized into its own "heart" that healed Kain because he had the source within him. I also always assumed that Kain didn't die upon removal of the heart, because he still had his own heart beating in his chest. janos's wasn't a replacement to his heart, but an addition and tool used for the resurrection

I've always loved Kain's little quip to Mobius, "I always was considered heartless."

I find it weird how Mobius uses the staff to disable older kain then why didnt he use this in his fight against younger kain, unless of course he wanted younger kain to kill him as part of the plan and come back to life secretly later and Kain would have never known (I guess I answered my own question lol)

I see the heart of darkness cards as gameplay only items. The effects they give can be assigned to Kain/Janos' actual heart. When Kain is in a pinch, he is typically rejuvenated/revived by the heart. Perhaps this is how he survived the fatal attack of the Soul Reaver armed Hylden Lord during their initial battle.

I wonder if it'd be important enough to make a video about Nuptraptor the mentalist, just like a William the Just, he plays somewhat a minor role and was the first member to be killed by Kain, but his psychic attack was the reason everything fell apart to begin with. Everything that happens, with Pillar Guardians, Kain's ultimate choice, the damnation of Nosgoth in Soul Reaver, he may not have much in way of content, but you can't deny, just like William and what the Hylden Lord wanted, Nuptraptor was the catalyst for Nosgoth's eventual decay and the collapse of the pillars.

No game story has ever been so compelling, complex and captivating.

Sarafan Raziel: Imma rip your heart out Janos: Hope you like acid Baths Sarafan Raziel: Wait what?

All this has left me wondering why Moebius's staff worked on raziel's wraithblade which is his own soul, but not raziel himself

Though this video came out October 2022 (the date is currently 01/7/2024 as I'm commenting), I actually postponed watching it because the Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite topics in the Legacy of Kain series. Playing Soul Reaver 2 and learning the shocking revelations like Human Raziel killing Janos, Raziel finding out that he himself killed his human brethren brothers, and then discovering that his own Soul Reaver weapon was actually he who was trapped in the blade was a gigantic surprise! But! Defiance went even further. Aside from everything dropped in the game, learning that Kain had the Heart of Darkness the entire time just left me stunned! Love this series! Love the characters! Thank you for this video. Legacy of Kain is the best!! ❤

"I always was considered heartless." Sigma Vampire right there.

I always assumed that it was Kain's mutation that meant he did not need the Heart. It's only once it's removed that he's able to become the Scion of Balance, after all

I love how mobius tries to gaslight Kain into not killing him, but Kain just doesent have any shits left to give and just kills him, splendid.

I continue to be amazed about just how much there truly is to explore and think about in this series. You don't see writing on this level often, if ever.

I never had the patience and time to play to the whole series, so your videos are a like a gift! Thanks so much for your great work!

There's a few things about Kain's immortality. Kain was thrown into the demon realm, where the Hylden were. The Hylden are immortal inside the demon realm. Like the vampires, the Hylden were not naturally immortal. I think the demon realm changes its residents. Kain was still conscious when he was thrown through a portal at Avernus Cathedral. Thereafter he was simply unable to die. It's possible that, despite being born as the Balance Guardian, some communion with the pillars was required for Kain to actually attain the powers of the Balance Guardian, and that this did not happen until Raziel slew Ariel. The timing of that works out, such that Kain is immune to conventional death, as the ancient guardians were, prior to returning to the material realm. That was definitely one of Amy Hennig's "let's answer that later" things. If you couldn't contrive a meaningful answer, then address it next game.

An interestigng notion: Mobius's staff was created by studying the heart after the Serephan gained it, and Mobius being Mobius looked into his own time stream to gain that knowledge to make it before that point. This works purely becuase of how time works in Blood Omen. 'he had the staff at the point to kill janos.... and so he must have had a way to create it.'

I always had the theory that Kain survived the extraction of the heart of darkness; due to that he was thrown to the demon dimension. At the end of blood omen 2, the Hylden lord says that their banishment in the demon dimension also ensures their immortality. So I like to think that Kain survived just out of luck, and a very improbable coincidence.

I played these games over and over years ago but only just now realized Raziel ripped the heart out of two people.

I wonder if all Ancient Vampires possed such a heart of darkness or if it was just just Janos. Or perhaps only the Vampire members of the Circle.

The Legacy of Kain is underrated forever, only a handful of us gamers have experienced this game & still remember the spakesperean quotes spoken by both hero & villain alike. Raziel & Kain are two sides of the same coin, but that rare chance of the coin landing on its edge (the third option) is one in a million.

Oh boy!!! Can´t wait to listen to this evening on my way home! Love your stories about the Legacy of Kain series!

I had always assumed that Kain’s vampirism was kick started by Janos’ heart. And thay after a certain point he didn’t really require it anymore. Especially after drinking from the blood fountains and consuming the symbolic representations, which I think may have been crafted from the hearts of “lesser” ancient vampires.

I don't always "Like" and "Comment" but when I do, you bet it's for a Legacy of Kain lore video

Kain smiling is a sight to behold

Always glad to see new LoK uploads.

NICE, had been waiting for this vid for quite a while.

Best voice acting in any video game series ever. I'd love a remake, but it wouldn't be the same

As always, fantastic video. I’m glad someone is covering the lore of this series.

I believe Kain's reawakening in the Demon Realm was due to Raziel's activation of the Spirit Forge. Once it was active, a purified Ariel stated the Forge was calling the spirits of every Balance Guardian to its location.

Awesome work, keep them coming please🙏👏

Another outstanding video thanks again I hope everyone is having an awesome day 😎👍

Always wait and look forward to your videos, plus its thundering and raining so I'm going to kick back and re watch your LoK videos

"This is not a debate morbius" Kain says, after spending the past three games debating literally everyone he comes across

I absolutely love these videos man! favorite game ever!

I love your LOK lore content, need more. Keep up the great work.

Please keep them coming!! Bloody love them!! Thank you

Here lately, I keep thinking we just need a proper reboot of the first game, if not the whole series. This video made me realize that we really just need a properly written, and acted sequel instead. There's actually still a lot to work with here, and it's entirely deserving of the attention and due diligence.

Fantastic video as always. Your analyses always add so much to my enjoyment for the series which is not a small feat. Thank you as always.^^

Now that LoK is out of Square Enix's hands, I hope the next stewards at the VERY LEAST, give us a Medievil-style remake for Soul Reaver; update all the graphics, maybe change a few gameplay mechanics, but keep the outstanding VA and dialogue We're not asking for the world, but let us LoK fans have this at least Thank you again for another great CS Strictly!

I certainly enjoyed watching this You make the best legacy of kain content mate ! Hopefully they consider bringing this gem back to life at some point

Thanks for the video! Perfect!

Keep up great work, I am enjoying you r videos a lot!

Great video presentation and format as always. You seriously don’t get as much credit and recognition as your work merits.

Perfect as always

I hope more RU-vidrs start making videos on this series. It is great. And I think I've watched all the previous videos. These are great videos.

Bro.... i love your channel you give me life with the LOK Content

thank you for that video. Ngl, your videos are addictive xd

You should cover Elric Of Melnibone in the future, it was a huge inspiration for Dennis Dyack, Kain is essentially Elric and the Soul Reaver is Stormbringer. Elric was also quite influential to the Witcher and ASOIAF.

Fantastic thanks man.

Thanks for the upload man. I love your videos. Kain is a beast and a wholesome one at that. This is just the best game series ever. But can we please gloss over the disgrace that was Blood Omen 2. That game was a stain on the whole series.

Best item description of all time.

Love these videos

I've always figured that Kain's survival had to do with him ending up in the Demon realm, which caused some kind of mutation that allowed him to survive even without a heart.

I think that for all the time that Kain had the heart, when he encountered Janos in BO2 there was indeed a paradox, and when Janos was thrown into the Nexus, he, like the Hylden became timeless, for as Janos always then existed in the demonic realm, his heart lived, and Kain also still lived in Nosgoth. In this, when Kain was also thrown into the demonic dimension in the future, but heartless, because the heart existed in someplace in it, and Kain, like Janos and Raziel had become a timeless free of fate agent and his connection to the heart made him stay undead. This is the reason that Moubius was shocked to see Kain, and his time vision excluded him from any destiny. Then as Raziel was purified and then proceeded to heal Kain, giving him a purified heart and vision that revealed the Elder "god" (And I have a hypothesis as to the real identity of the creature). This then basically returned the heart to Janos once again, as one version existed in the demonic realm and one in Nosgoth because of time travel. This essentially means that there is always 2 Hearts of Darkness existing in different planes but in tandem. As for the Elder "god" I believe that it is also a time paradox that was created when it consumed Moubius in DEFIANCE, but previously its origin is more surprising and explains the paradox. I think that the Eg is actually The Mass, the creature that was created by the Hylden in BO2, but how it survived and became the parasitic creature it is? Simple, when Kain gave it his blood to kill it because it was imbued with the Hylden engineer that created it, I think that it unwittingly gave it vampiric unlife, and the dimensional existence of the Hylden. So when Kain sends the Hylden to the demonic dimension in BO2, The Mass is also transported there. As now a parasite, it consumes a number of demonic creatures, obtains sentience and is able to phase from the demon realm with hunger to the Nether Realm. Then proceeds to consume the souls of the dead. Since in the future it obtains the powers of time from Moubius, it can travel in time, becoming timeless as well, and then travels to the ancient past to instigate the War between the Ancient Vampires and the Hylden posing as "The Elder god of Reincarnation, The Hub of the Wheel" in order to consume all the races, but the plan backfires when the vampires become immortal and when their bodies are killed, they become Spirit Wraiths that consume souls as well. And this is his rage towards the Vampire race. The Elder "god" caught in a time loop that doesn't give him the victory it wants, then comes into the surprise discovery of Raziel him after Kain throws him to become the unbound wild card he planned to use to rectify the time distortions that the Hylden, Moubius and the unknown Elder "god" had made in the first place. And as we know, claims to had resurrected him, and this is the reason why Raziel feels like everyone is desperately trying to use him all the time, but he does have a more dignified destiny after all, and the time shenanigans of the so called Elder "god" are to culminate with Kain destroying him with the purified Soul Reaver, essentially also being consumed, and this time by Raziel within the Blade, to who knows, and allows him to return from the Blade itself to the corporeal realm and restored...I mean, I guess... if we had a sequel and my hypothesis about that parasite and all I said would had been correct or approximately correct.

What we discover about the Heart in Defiance is one of my favorite story beats (heh) ever.

As usual, a fantastic video on LoK.

Thank you! Glad to have more LoK content!

What a treat to have this morning!

Blessed be thy videos. Great content, friend!

Masterful work.. it never occured to me that there was possible paradox for the heart of darkness in BO2

Come on we need a series, this would make an epic TV show. Who is with me.

I was always surprised that the Heart didn't also create paradoxes considering its broken place in the timeline. I wonder if the staff effects a cursed vampire or vampires in general. In BO2 we learned that there were Hylden that didn't hate vampires. Its possible while clinging to life in the Hylden's dimension someone who also believed in the legend of the scion of balance gave up their heart so that Kain could live on.

Raziel: This relic had come at so high a cost my blood offering for the answers I sought from this enigmatic corpse. It was the price of my freedom, for which Kain had paid with his life. Good video as always strictly fantasy.

Hands down one of if not the best stories in videos game history!

I just love it perfect for Halloween

Now I understand Kain constant killing of Mobius, the wretched was a vicious foe.

I never really looked deeper into the HoD in BO as anything more than a gameplay representation of the power of the heart within Kain. You need these from time to time to give the player some measure of what the character can do. As an example, in any game that lets you mark targets, i see this as the character committing that person to memory and mentally predicting where they're going in their mind. Some very skilled players already can do stuff like that but for people who can't you mark targets. Or like in RPGs, a swing of a sword should realistically kill a person outright but in an rpg you can take em repeatedly as long as you have HP. The HP can be seen as "health" but I prefer to think of it as like "that blow could have killed you but you managed to get out of the way with just a scratch" and your final hit points gone that's when the enemy actually does land a genuine, fatal attack.

Extremely interesting!!

I think Amy Hennig mentioned something about Kain's status as Balance Guardian reanimating him when the Spirit Forge was activated, calling the souls of all Balance Guardians to it. As he was the Scion of Balance, intended to wield the combined Reavers against the true enemy of Nosgoth, he couldn't truly die-the real prophecy, which everyone including Moebius and the Elder God misinterpreted, was that the Scion of Balance would be the warrior who would finally defeat the great evil that had so plunged the world into madness and decay, thus avenging both the Angelic Race and the Hylden, who had previously been the servants of the Elder God. Hennig and members of the writing team have suggested that the Elder is a demiurge, an entity perhaps responsible for creating the world itself, or at least playing a large part in creating it, but in this context more likely a parasite that latched onto the Wheel of fate and began leeching souls from it to feed its own hunger. I suspect over the millennia it began believing itself to be the still Hub of the Wheel, responsible for keeping it turning even as it took souls meant for it thus diverting them from their destinies. Immortals, those unable to die and thus give up their souls, deprived the Elder of sustenance. Here's what I think regarding the wars between the ancient races: the Hylden were once servants of the Elder God, just as the Angelic Race had been, but somehow evolved through magic and science to achieve immortality. The Elder then drove the Angelic race to wage war to destroy the Hylden and return their souls to the Wheel. The war itself went on for centuries, culminating in the destruction of Nosgoth's delicate ecosystem and rendering it uninhabitable. To both restore the land and drive the Hylden out forever, the Angelic race raised the Pillars, but before the Binding could be completed, the Hylden used the same magics they used to make themselves immortal on the Angelic Race. The Hylden, not the Ancients, were Nosgoth's first vampires. The Ancients, of course, were probably unaware of this but it does make sense given what has been implied by the Seer in Blood Omen 2 and the creation of the Mass and the necessity of feeding it blood to keep it alive. It seems to me the war between Hylden and Angelics was as much about each side using the enemy's own warriors and weapons against it as it was about more conventional fighting. Perhaps at some point the Angelics who raised the Pillars, and maybe some of the Hylden, realized the truth and unbeknownst to their brethren set about putting in motion a plan that would liberate their peoples from the Elder God and was designed to span time itself. That's my theory anyway.

Multiple hearts of darkness, the SIMPLE explanation: walking around Nosgoth gives Kain better cardio health, so it's able to resurrect him more better. Kain's Apple Watch monitors this improvement by showing the graphic of the heart item card after every 10,000 steps.

A german RU-vidr considered that History/ Fate as a driving factor in Nosgoth could made Kains Survival possible in this moment. we learn from Kain himself that history is a own omnipotential overtimely "entity" in the outermost sense. When he talks about Raziel about the time travel he states that people, who interfere with time are eliminated to ensure, that the things run like intended, what creates the fatalism in the fatebound of his existence. Nosgoth is entirely fatebound and even when you know the history, you can't simply decide against the already written history. If you try the History will flow around you like a rock thrown into a river. The paradox is the only exception, that forces the river of time to search a new way to re-arrange around the obstacle the paradox created, leaving the history written behind and creating a new one, that's fitting the changed event. The History itself has then entity-like-qualities that it adjusted and throws again the will of the people affected by it stretching this so far to intervene directly to ensure the right way things have to happen. We see this, when it is forced onto Raziel to be consumed by the reaver blade after sparing Kain, because it's intended that he have to become the core of the blade and only Kains Intervention prevented this to happen. After this and the re-arranging history still Raziel has to become the Core, but the moment and the circumstances this will be happen are now changed for the moment his is willing to become Kains tool, instead a revengefull spirit trapped in the blade like in the timeline before. Kain saving Raziel is the moment the edge of the coin is created leading to Kains survival and his cleansing. The youtuber stated that in the Moment Raziel rips off Kains heart it is no longer intended from history that Kain is dying, that would preventing Raziel fullfill his purpose to serve as the Reavers Core, because only a living Kain would give Raziel a meaning in sacrificing himself, would leading to creating the reaver, that is already in History and has to be created bis this event. This makes it necessary that Kain has to survive the rip-off of the heart and finding its way to the Vampires Forge.

Amy said that Kain's nature as TSOB sustains his life after having his heart ripped out.

If you had of just said "kain will stab Mobius at the end of the video".....I would have watched as well. However, another great video of arguably the best story driven set of games ever made.

Did any of the games differentiate meaningfully between the stages of vampires we see? I separated the vampires into these brackets in my head-canon but idk if there’s really a meaningful difference. State 0: ancient vampires with no blood curse 1: ancient vampires post blood curse 2: humans turned into vampires by ancients, or other state 2 vampires (Vorador) 3: Back-alley corpse-processing to create vampires (Kain, his LTs, other SR1s) 4: Possibly Dumah’s claim that he evolved beyond since being a wraith. But I think that’s just Dumah being Dumah and he’s type 3.

"Somewhere the Heart still beats, and while it does the body will remain preserved." Kain might or might not have survived without the Heart, but it wasn't until Raziel returned it to Janos before Kain came to again.

very nice !

"Janos never had ninety nine hearts." He had trouble holding onto one.

The true function of the heart: Mortanius being a GigaChad

I imagine had Janos known that his very heart would bring about the Scion of Balance, he might have had some tiny bit of understanding in his suffering: it wasn't all for nothing. That said, funny how Vorador and Kain have the best sibling rivalry (outside Raziel and two of his brothers yeeting him to his death) and don't even know they are brothers.

Another great video sir. Keep them coming I could listen to LOK lore all day. I like to play the whole list of LOK videos you’ve made while I’m at work helps the day go a little faster because I’m enjoying myself.

👍👍Thanks!

The hearts never caused a space time distortion because there was only two present, while every time Racial altered history there was 3 versions of his soul present. Himself, the soul trapped in the reaver blade and the spirit blade attached to his body. Even the ending of SR2 shows this when the time distortion doesn't start until Raziel's soul hovers both inside and outside of the reaver blade.

"You've some to avenge that filthy parasite and reclaim his black heart? You're a righteous fiend, aren't you?" "Apparently I am." Still remains one of my favorite bits of dialogue to this day. The Inquisitor was cut down so low he had to pull his pants up to go to the bathroom, and he didn't even know it.🤣

16:04 Not quite, Kain, *now* he has nothing you want.

The Soul Reaver may have been the most powerful blade in Nosgoth, but without the Heart of Darkness the hand destined to wield it would never have taken it up.

With all that Raziel learned about the Sarafan in SR2, he still had to witness the actions and disposition of his former self directly to see how far he'd come. Wraith Raziel had far more humanity on his worst day than Inquisitor Raziel ever could on his best.

I always found it curious that neither Kain nor Raziel, or even Vorador, ever put what they knew together about the Heart. Mobius, Malek and Mortanius were the only Guardians to survive Vorador's assault on the Circle. Malek was turned into Alphonse Elric and arcane objects weren't his style anyway, Mobius wasn't about to raise any vampires anytime soon, and it was Mortanius who raised Kain from the dead and conferred upon him his vampire status.

This is an awesome video. I hope you will include some gameplay segments in newer videos, it's been very long since I played and I was never able to beat the game I played as I was too young but I recall it fondly. Seeing some gameplay segments like for example you talk about where Raziel went to the Sarafan stronghold you could show 3 or 4 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay WITHOUT commentary no talking just the sound of the game in that area and then continue talking when something important happens. I say no commentary because I don't want you to feel forced to pad out video length I would be fine with no commentary gameplay just a few minutes of combat and puzzle solving so it's more entertaining to watch but if you can talk it would be even better of course. I only played the games that were available on Xbox OG I don't recall which two they were but one of them I got pretty far into. I think you fight someone named Mobieus and he's in an insane Asylum with this big cylinder chamber strapped to his back and it's an iconic part of gaming of me even though it's old or was fun! I stopped playing right after him and never played another LOK game but watched all your videos and listen to the music from the game alot

This is an amazing video... Could you do one for the pillar guardians?

The heart of nosgorth Group from germany stands you by, hopefully we can make a Story like the Former developmers

Super early!

Make sure to save a few of these for Maleks castle-there's pretty much nothing to feed on-

I think Kain 'lived' after losing the heart because he was raised from the dead THEN turned into a vampire. Kain was raised by Mortanius in the same fashion as the undead he raises when fighting him at the pillars. It was only after Kain was given his sword (and presumedly the heart as well) that he became a vampire. Kain was a walking corpse, then became a vampire, and his vampiric nature persisted so long as the heart continued to beat just as Janos' body did. At least, that's what I think.