Legacy of Kain | Mortanius - A Character Study 

A mere human and yet he resisted the will of Hylden Lord himself and even hatched a plot to beat him in his own game though Kain's resurrection. Perhaps if the rest of the Circle were like Mortanius, The Pillars themselves would find humans worthy.

The Chad mortanius having faith in kaine is what really hits it home for me.

1.I love that Mortanius was not only the one Pillar Gurdian who remained uncorrupted at his core, fulfilling his duty until the very end, especially once he realised what he and Moebius did, but that he was almost like a father to Kain Literally everything he does throughout the entire series is to give Kain a fighting chance against the overwhelming odds that were stacked against him, regardless of his own fate and putting the destiny of all Nosgoth in the hands of his "undead son" 2. I love the irony of Mortanius continuing the tradition of the ancients, by turning a pillar guardian into a Vampire. 3. I feel like Mortanius almost perfectly encapsulates the series as a whole. The idea that the Guardian of Death and a Necromancer is one of the few characters genuenly acting in the world's best interest befits the grimdark tone of the franchise

Damn Tony Jay really brought this character to life. Rest in peace voice acting legend.

Mortanius has one of the best character arcs of LoK, simply because he is Mobius' opposite - Whereas Mobius worked as an agent of the Elder God to put Kain in the position of either killing off all vampirism via sacrifice to restore the pillars, or to damn them via refusal of the sacrifice, Mortainius sought to restore balance to the pillars by reintroducing the vampirism to the guardians of the pillars as an atonement of his and the other guardian human's sins. Mortanius shows his humanity in many ways - being powerful but thoughtful, smart but easily manipulated by both Mobius using Mortanius' righteousness and the Hylden/Demons via possession, and showing regret in trying to right his wrongs rather than doubling down as some in his position would; he was a great and powerful man, but simply just that - a man.

Fun Fact : The voice actor of Mortanious (Alastair Duncan) and Ariel (Anna Gunn) were married to each other.

The dialogue is what draws me to this story. Feels like I'm watching a Play instead of playing a game.

Mortanius is one of the characters that would be best explored in a novel or a series, his arc is so understated in the games it is hurtful, and his struggle against possession would be a nice fresh take on the whole trope. Also would be interesting to see his probable friendship with Moebius before and during the rebellion against the ancient vampires... and just how it was the Timestreamer that got to become the servant of the supposed Hub of the Wheel of Fate, instead of the literal Death Guardian

Crystal Dynamics should hire you as a lore master whenever they get around to continuing the series.

I have been waiting for this one since the beginning. Mortanius is my favorite character in the series simply by virtue of the power he has over death yet understanding it is complimentary to life, not its opposite unlike many who claim the title of Necromancer, his sense of duty, his righteousness and his determination to set things right make him amazing and beyond compelling, a perfect example of the Guardian compared to Moebius and his manipulations.

The bit about the Spectral Realm never occurred to me. It makes sense, though; if he's guardian of Death, it stands to reason he can access the underworld directly.

You have succeeded so damn well in highlighting how pivotal Mortanius is to the Legacy of Kain. I applaud you. what a fantastic Character

16:55 Imagine for a moment what would would happen if Raziel just came out and said: "I'm a vampire you senile goat. KAIN made me into a vampire." Because everyone always just assumes that Raziel is a hylden. Except for Janos.

I definitely think Mortanius and Janus would likely have featured heavily in Dark Prophecy. I also like to think the reason he was able to resist Hylden possession and Nupraptor's madness was due to his necromancy. Being between life and death granted him some immunity to such manipulations.

I wonder if he "sees" that Raziel is possessed by the hylden in this scene, since he insist that he is one of them, or if it's just his sick mind unable to consider the other options now that he is near the end.

Alistar Duncan is honestly a really good VA, everytime he voices someone he is always captivating. Also, his Mortanius sounds like Celebrimbor from the Middle Earth games another game series where you play as a wraith lmao.

Holy shit, I never heard about that removed recorded dialogue between Anarcrothe and Mortanius. In the final cut it seems a lot more vague, even confusing, but that dialogue makes it all clear, and it matches with the rest of the eventual story line's conclusion that I have no doubts Mrs. Hennig had access to that and all the material (seen, unseen or removed) from Blood Omen in order to construct the narrative for the rest of the games. One of my favorite aspects of the Legacy of Kain is how there are so many players making moves, and yet none of them has the whole idea of what is really going on. Even the wisest, most cunning ones, like Moebius and Mortanius, all had their knowledge, got the hints, and yet ignored some things and made some mistakes. Even Kain, the Scion of Balance, was completely ignorant of what he really was supposed to do, the profecy that he was supposed to fulfill, although he was on the right track by trusting Raziel and empowering him, as he was literally the Soul Reaver personified, the tool he needed to fulfill his role. It was Raziel, after a lot of mistakes and stumbling, who eventually took the pieces that each of the players had in their hands and managed to complete the puzzle. Ultimately, what makes the Elder God so terrible is that he was the only one who knew it all from the begining, rather, he wasn't playing at anything, he was the maker of the game, the game master, the puzzle maker.

Mobius hears a disembodied voice and gains a glimpse of the truth: "I will serve, master." Mortanius after having the same happen to him and glimpse more: "This is disasterous. Waht to do? Let me think."

I always thought that the squeleton was his real face and that his human appearance was a facade held with magic.

I'm so glad that they're once again working on this series, which by proxy means that your content covering it won't run dry anytime soon. Good stuff, always a pleasure to watch.

Another Shakespearean and Byronic Legacy of Kain character next to others like Kain and Raziel themselves, in Mortanius. What a tragical story indeed. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Here's my honest opinion on the Byronic Mortanius. He's as you said,l the Atoner, because he didn't realize at first, what it was the Pillars of Nosgoth were holding back, and he refused to believe the myths that the Vampires were a plague, a pestilence that had to be removed, but they were right all along and Mortanius was a fool, used by a manipulator like Moebius, for his and the Elder God's own insidious ends. It's exactly (although the two game franchises are different, but shared the same morality in the narrative as a whole) how Otacon had felt, during the events of the Shadow Moses Incident in Metal Gear Solid 1 and he too, became an Atoner in his own right, that he thought he would become a famous scientist in order to make robots like the ones seen in the Japanese Animes, but was wound up used as a pawn of the Government to make a deadly walking death mobile, as he stated that they had to take responsibility for their actions, as Science had always thrived on War. The weapons of mass destruction were created by scientists who wanted to be famous. He, like Mortanius, decided to atone himself, and became one of the most Byronic heroes ever created.

Mortanius is a homie. I love his character and that it turns out he was actually good all along, one of the most selfless characters in Legacy of Kain!

I hope you never stop doing these LoK videos

The voice acting in these series, especially BO and SR1/2 is just amazing.

3:00 21 years, multiple replays, myriad videos watched and yet this is the first time I hear of this. The Legacy of Kain games were truly something else - elevated narratives outside of the norm.

The more I listen to these videos and read up on the vast lore of the Legacy of Kain series, the less it feels like we know about Nosgoth and its characters ironically. It's like what Raziel said to the Elder God: "Things in this world I am learning are *rarely* what they seem."

Fastest click of my life and like :)

your channel is so underrated I feel you have such a passion for the History you Weave into a story like Narrative which keeps me coming back for more even if I know the History of Nosgoth.

Great video as always. I like Mortanius because his character develops like Dr Jykell and Mr Hyde. He starts off in the first Blood Omen all underhanded and evil, but right up to Defiance he has gone from Hyde back to Jykell, realizing his mistakes and wants to fix them. Great character, great game. Will always be one of my personal favourites.

I have never seen Mortanius in the spectral realm lol. Thanks to you I learn even more about the series even after all these years

Ah, been waiting a while now for this one. Mortanius was my favorite of all characters back in BO1. I'll have to go against Mr. Cabuco; I felt that his design was perfect: a haunting, wraithlike archmage. He may have looked bony and frail, but he was massively powerful. There's a reason he's the last guardian. Alastair Duncan was OK, but I prefer Tony Jay as well. Lastly, I'm glad he acted as the foil for Mobius: Mobius was a fool who was mislead even after his death; Mortanius was made into an unwilling pawn, and wanted to redeem himself.

I say out the LoK Lore/Character Study, Mortanius is definitely my most anticipated character to be talked and learn more about. I’m glad he’s getting the spotlight and totally called that his last message to Kain would be the introduction to his character study.

It was an awesome review of Mortanius, truly he is a character that, perhaps he was the right man in the right place after being so wrong after so much time, he made a resistance against Nuprartor and Lord Hylden, was it possible that if he could saw the true intentions of Moebius (or the Elder God) he perhaps could have made the right thing to stopping them.. what an incredible character 👏

He was a human but he resisted the Hylden Lord but he also was very much a strong type of person since he was able to fulfill his duties to the Circle in redeeming himself and Nosgoth by creating the Scion of Balance through Kain while also believing Kain would set everything right. I’m so happy you got around to finally getting to cover the lore of one of my top favorite characters of the series. Despite the fact that he was corrupted by dark forces he was a man who was misled along with his fellow guardian Möbius but unlike Mobius, Mortanius was uncorrupted sg his core. He still remained a loyal and noble person despite the horrible acts he committed or took complacency in. Its quick to forget that Mortanius is so pivotal but i’m so happy you managed to give him the spotlight. Its his actions are what ended up leading Kain down the path to saving the world to defeating the Hylden Lord.

Mortanius is a truly fascinating character. The complexity of his scheme really blew me away when I first experienced it, and he was always a really fascinating character to me, especially since he was only in BO for the longest time, unlike Mobius, who we met in 3 games. So seeing him again, even if just for 2 scenes in Defiance was a real treat, and made him even more interesting. A conflicted character in so many ways, but still willing to do what is right in the end. It's also a credit to the writers of LoK how they managed to retcon his story in a way that worked so well.

This whole time, I never realized they changed it in Defiance where Mortanius used a spell to make his face more Skull like. Thanks. Awesome look into the history of a character I paid little attention to. Great video, as always. 🙂

Your thoughts on his redemption arc were great. Your thoughts on No matter what your past you can Always change for the better

I'm always grateful to see you post a new video. Thank you for uploading! I'm going to savor this one

I'm glad someone has addressed the Mortanius/ElderGod connection. I was one of those who thought there was a connection.

Yes I was waiting for this one.

The sad thing is, Mortanius' plan pretty much fails in the end as Kain is both the last pillar guardian AND the last vampire, something I am sure he did not account for. It's only because of Raziel's interactions and paradoxes in the past that even allowed his plan to bear fruit. I would say that Mortanius had the right idea, but the odds were stacked against him in more ways than 3.

I know im late to the party but damn do i miss games with stories like this. Every Blood Omen and Soul Reaver game i was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next cut scene.

Thank you very much. I truly have changed my perception about Mortanius. Still praying for a remake someday.

I see LOK content, I click. I would also buy LOK content, but Crystal Dynamics or whoever doesn't want my money I guess

Mortanius is a fantastic character, thank you for making such an excellent video about him.

It would be dope to see that Mortanius intended not only to save Nosgoth by restoring balance but also by forming a new vampire race. Kain isn't cursed per se, so he's not sterile. He would have corrected both the Hilden invasion and the vampire extinction in one go.

Mortanius was one of my favorite characters of LOK. His design, his voice actors, and his redemption arc, all resonated with me deeply for some reason. I would dearly love more backstory about him and Moebius, their tutelage under the Ancients, their eventual rebellion, and the events leading up to Kain's resurrection. So thank you so much for this!

Thank you for doing these videos. It saddens that that so many people these days prefer graphics over story and character arcs. The music and dialogue to these games still give me good chills.

I'm just now learning that you could encounter Mortainius in the Spectral Realm. This series always has new twists for me to find.

A very underrated character, but I do question his dealing with Malek: you have a Timestreamer on staff who can literally show you what happens, and Mort goes for the hardcore punishment first. I remember reading various fan theories that it was Moebius who persuaded Mort to rebel against their master (even to say rebel sounds bad, because presumably they were there against their will, or at least against being turned) because of the Elder God, and once that was done, Mortanius was rather hands-off in terms of the vampire purges and making of the Sarafan. It was only much much later when he started getting possessed that he realized what a cluster it all was, and I really really wish we could have a scene of him right after Ariel's murder, when he was of sound mind again, and realizing what he had been forced to do.

20 something years later and people still talking about this. I love it

Mortanius and The Elder God sounding the same is actually quite poetic. Both are the rebirth fathers of each main character and calls them "son". Mortanius to Kain, The Elder God to Raziel.

I wish they'd make an animated series of movies from this. I loved these games. The only games that ever grabbed me.

Can we just appreciate what an excellent voice Tony Jay had?

Another great introduction of a character!! And as usual, THANKS for choosing TWO of my works to illustrate your video! ^^

Thanks for another fantastic video buddy 👍

Thank u for making these. Ive been going through a hard time but these video’s seriously get me through.

I can't stop watching your LOK videos pls never stop! 🙏🙏

God, they are so fucking good at choosing voice actors. Alastair Duncan has an impeccable voice which isn't too far from Tony Jay's in some ways, but is also distinct and lends itself to the performance. Celebrimbor is easily one of the best parts of the Shadow of Mordor/War games and it's due in no small part to just how good Alastair Duncan is at voice acting these dramatic ancient-sounding characters.

You got me obsessed with the series. I bought myself a copy of Defiance and currently playing it. Thank you !

Vae Victus!!!!

I should buy a place in these comments. I'm always are going be here when a video comes out. Love your work keep it up

I’m hoping that the next video entry you do will be on Nupraptor the guardian who corrupted the rest of the Circle and his connection to Ariel as a grief stricken lover who went so far off the deep end that he plunged Nosgoth into chaos

I will say, one thing that the Legacy of Kain series does really well is argue for having hope even in the worst situations. Mortanius is a perfect example of someone who is hopeful that something can be done even when it seems like all is lost. The series 'ends' on a hopeful note as Kain with a clear mind goes to finally face the Elder God and potentially end him once and for all. Even the original had it with the alternate ending. It takes a lot to have people be hopeful for the future of a world as deteriorated as we find Nosgoth in Soul Reaver and yet these games pulled it off so well.

I'm a massive fan of your channel. And LOK is my favorite saga of video games since my childhood. Many times I've asked in the comment section to talk about Mortanius so I'm very glad you did.

Not just Mortanius, but Moebius too resisted Nupraptor's poisoning. I imagine they're that more powerful than the rest given their age, or that the Ancients taught them magic that humans don't have access to. In regards to Malek's punishment, I imagine the assassination of his fellow Sarafan Inquisitors also influenced Mortanius' punishment for him. Raziel and co weren't conceived during the making of Blood Omen, but it fits perfectly and it justifies Mortanius' severity - in his point of view, Malek did nothing, either snored or fooled around with someone while the Circle was destroyed and the Sarafan chain of command obliterated.

Seeing this video pop up, "yayyy!!!!"

I never put it together that Mortanius was raised and trained by the ancient vampires. That makes so many of his decisions make sense now. After turning against them and usurping the pillars he saw that was a mistake as humans were too easily corruptible. So he took it upon himself to try to "reassign" the pillars to new vampires, starting with Kain. Talk about doing something really stupid for a seemingly good reason

I wasn't expecting to see such interesting view on a seemingly secondary character in the LoK series this late in the game (no pun intended). Honestly I wish that instead of Fallout, the Witcher and other streaming series or movies inspired by "pop games"a serious story focused streaming series based on LoK was created, obviously with Amy Hening and other writers reworking the story to patch holes and fix any other issues created because of the complicated release cycles of the games and other issues.

I hope that one day we get more story in the world of Nosgoth. If we don't ever get a continuation to the series I at least hope to get remakes of the past games

Tony Jays voice nailed those characters he played.

Mortanius is an epic character study. I absolutely agree when you say he is the redeemer archetype. He is someone who has seen the full folly of his youthful choices, and instead of giving up pushes back to return the world to righteousness. He fought Nuprator AND the Hylden Lord to a standstill. Thats possibly the crappiest odds in all Nosgoth. And still he stood firm. They say there are no heroes Nosgoth, and it’s absolutely true. Yet if there was one it would have been Mortanius.

So far what power do we know with 100% certainty THE Elder God has used? The power of Death to bring back Moebius and be present in the spectral realm, the power of Time to bring Kain into the same time period as Raziel, and possibly dimension to bring demons into the world in soul reaver 2 (not 100% on that one). The traitor guardians appear to give The Elder God power. This maybe why he's present in every time in the physical and spectral realms

TheLoadingCrew does videos determining the alignment of fictional characters based on the scale from Dungeons and Dragons. I've been petitioning them to make a video on Kain and Raziel, but perhaps you could collab with them in order to make it even more thorough?

I really never cared for mortanius, but now i realize how important he really was in the Lok story.

First time I played LoK:BO was in 1997 and still revisit the series from time to time. What we need is a new game(s) either as a reboot for the series or continued storyline.

I did not know you could talk to Mortanius in the Spectral Realm. 18 years old and Defiance still surprises me

I think they were going to reveal that the Hylden Lord possessed Mortanius as the slaughter of the circle unfolded.

Most associate necromancers with evil, but it's more common than people think that they are instead in roles of guardians, acting as sentinels against death itself. Pretty much every narrative they exist in, death and the magics tied to it are insurmountable facets of nature itself, and thus require those who are practiced with wielding it to ensure balance between life and death. Mortanius is a textbook example of this, I'd even go as far as arguing he stands as the archetype for modern era fantasy media in that regard.

Mortanius deserves his own series

I suspect Mortanius' absence during Vorador's attack was related to Avernus and possibly his possession by the Hylden. Im not sure what else it could possibly have been.

Strictly Fantasy *(this beautiful beautiful bastard)* out here putting in and doin the Lord's Work! Sharing this upload with the 19yr long college brother who threw me in the Blood Omen pool to begin with...😅

I’m excited to see what happens with this recent activity from the developers

well i never tried to talk with Mortanius in the Spectral realm. nice information

Been waiting for this one thank you

Still amazing at the level of detail they put into these characters.

Ive been pondering this for awhile. Mortanius by creating kain inadvertantly created a new timeline that never existed before. All other timelines that didn't have kain the vampire and now those that did. This means kain wasn't always a player and at one time events played out without vampire Kain existing at all. With this in mind fate and inevitable future doesn't exist in the current, games, timeline. (Which I feel is the entire purpose of these games taking place.) This means there is an unaltered timeline that occurs and would have been the original events. A story yet to be seen by the audience. How much more mortanius has in these is beyond me and will leave that speculation to others.

Mortanius is one of those Legacy of Kain characters that represents gray in a big way. He fucked over an entire race, found out that said race was necessary, screwed over his OWN race in order to correct that mistake, and ended up dying as a pawn to another race. And he ultimately succeeded in the end thanks to Kain. The dude was a champ.

so much i didnt know (or think about). great piece of lore

Excellent video. More now

God i love when you upload

Been waiting for this one.

Damn, the balance pillar missed the mark, clearly this guy should be in charge. 😆 Also, man, that look Raziel has after meeting with Mortanius kills me. His story began as a quest for vengeance, and now after everything, including Kain trying to alter his fate at the end of SR2, realizing he no longer has a choice in killing Kain. The conflicted feelings are so much he can’t even speak. What a powerful moment.

Shout out to Tony Jay 👏 who played half the voice actors in Blood Omen !

What this brought into focus for me is Hennig flipped Dyack's Grand Guiniol around completely. It was supposed to be a darkening of the world for a vampire to be seated on the Circle, part of the dark entity's plan to unravel the world. Now with later games it's not the demon who did this but Mortaneus as pushback Against his demons, and he put a vampire on the Circle to SAVE the world.

I never noticed the death mask that he wore in later games. Thanks for pointing it out . To me, the pillar guardians and the seemingly long succession of them has a massive potential story potential. What machinations did previous Time or Death guardians set into motion before Mobius and Mortanius gained those titles?

I would love if they took the story for the prequel they were goanna make and give it to the guys that did the castlevania anime to get everybody hyped for the remake/sequel of legacy of Kaine.

i was waiting for this character study mortanius is so intresting as character

Didn't know this. It certainly makes Mortanius more respectable.

Since Mortanius and Moebius both rejected the Ancient Vampires gift, Moebius in service to the Elder God. I wonder if Mortanius also served the Elder God, or if he was persuaded by Moebius?