Go now. Play out your pitiful rebellion, and take your place among the destroyed, the used, and the damned. But know this you are mine for eternity. You have always been, and will always be, my soul reaver...
@@Kelmire1 Kain: "They are not sending their best, they send their crusaders, their drugs, their reapers, and some i assume are good people...we gotta drain the swamp and expose the parasite elder god elite and i promise, we will make Nosgoth great again!"
Wish they'd gone into that more. :/ He's hardly seen in SR and then blown to immeasurable proportions in Defiance, but would his size not be proportionate to the number of souls he's able to feed on (which isn't much at this particular point in time) if he's supposedly "eternally present"? Tells you something about his true nature as opposed to his own words...
raladin3dd The Elder God grew in size exactly for the reasons that Raziel mentions here. He's a parasite and he thrives while Nosgoth dwindles. His intention was always to devour all the souls in the world but he was kept short of that by the immortility with which the Hylden cursed the Vampires. D.R.
@@Teixas666 Yeah he is aware of the Hylden / Vampire conflict and he profits from it. He doesn't actively support the Hylden, nor the vampires or humans, he is the 3rd party and enjoys the show. The more chaos, the more outcome for him. That's how I see it... HIs only goal aside from it is to stop Kain, for he is the only creature in all existence, who may hurt him (when Raziel becomes the presence in the Reaver). That's the only reason why Raziel is ordered to kill Kain. I don't think he can be killed, though.
Yeah, the reason why Raziel didn't die in the whirlpool was because history abhors a paradox. If he had died there, his soul couldn't fuel the Reaver, which leads to Kain not being able to kill William the Just, etc. - the loop couldn't be closed.
@@tarvoc746 Exactly, which Kain had banked on when he learned Raziel's destiny from Moebius' time spanning devices over the centuries, and how he felt Raziel being alive due to his being able to make paradoxes due to his fate to be in the Soul Reaver would allow him to change both their fates.
"...But know this: you are mine for eternity; you have always been and will always be my Soul Reaver." I don't know why, but the way Tony Jay said that was just powerful and damning that even Raziel turns his head to the camera to ask if he just heard that.
Imagine a timeline where the team behind this franchise, only began the franchise now. The improvement in gameplay and cinematography would be beautiful. It's sad we've lost a few of these fine actors.
Whenever I see clips of the elder God after playing defiance I keep wondering if it might be an other worldly, eldritch being that made its way to nosgoth and latched on like a parasite, convincing the ancient vampires that he was a deity like the old ones in bloodborne
If you play the games, it's basically spelled out that the Elder God is no god but a giant parasite leaching of of the souls of mortals. Is he powerful? In a passive way, sure. But he is no way "The wheel of fate which all life depends on!".
@@Guciom Yeah, that is how he operates - through deception and guile and feeds himself through every soul that comes through the wheel (apparently the creature found the wheel of fate in its infancy and latched on to it and shortly after convinced the original vampires to serve him, funny how the immortal vampires are due to his own medlings through causing the banishment of the Hylden).
On TLW there's a bit of speculation stemming from Dark Prophecy, from some planned/drawn portal of some kind between Material and Spectral. One interesting theory is that the Elder God was the average Sluagh or whatever, some vaguely sentient but not really troublesome denizen of the spectral realm. Until the Ancients opened a portal between realms. The theory holds that the creature over time was able to grow and spread himself in a way that existed in both realms simultaneously. Since then he does whatever he can to sow wars and death so he can eat all the souls he wants and grow or maintain his dual form.
@@alexreilly6121 Cool theory but.. the lore writer said it was a creature from before time that somehow found the wheel of fate in its infancy and latched on to it thus simultaneously growing in both realms due to it, long before any or most races came into existence?
He is based off Gnosticism "presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the Yahweh of the Old Testament) who is responsible for creating the material universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment."
LOL I love how snide raziel is towards the elder god. hilarious. voice acting, dialogue, characters, story. This game was phenomenal on every level except game which was just solid. Still ahead of it's time and still hasn't been touched by anything today in my opinion.
Elder God: "I am the engine of life, the source of your very existence. I am the hub of the wheel, the origin of all life, the devourer of death!" Raziel: "Ok, boomer."
I loved the series but yeah gameplay could have been a lot better. But it's not my favorite series of all time because of the gameplay, it's the amazing voice acting and story that makes these games legend! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy them!
Hylden were first to defy Elder God, because they didnt worship him so Ancients started a war against them. Hylden were defeated and banished to the Demon Realm but they retaliated with Blood Curse: Ancients turned into immortal Vampires, so Elder God went silent which made Vampires to commit massive suicide to feed Elder with their souls. We can make a conclusion that Elder hates both races: Hyldens for their defiance to submit to the Wheel of Fate and Vampires for their immortality.
He despises the vampires because they cannot actually die. Their souls will roam without joining the wheel of life for the Elder God to consume. The Hylden didn’t need to be believers as once they begin dying, they will feed the Elder God still. The idea that the Elder God made the Ancients wage war against the Hylden is hinted. A massive war with casualties on two mortal races is a benefit to the Elder God no matter who wins.
Nah, not really. The god become present when the world started to collapse and Kayn choose to destroy the world for his own survival. If he had saved the world, there would have been no elder god ( which is just a parasite ). The more corrupted and twisted nasgot was, the more powerful he was. The only choice for Kayn was to die and cure the world from vampire. In the end he " kinda " defeated the elder god, but since he is immortal, he is gonna live forever, just not Able to do much. But the story stop there, and we will never know if the world would restore and go back or it would be doomed forever.
This is the point when things the mystery really starts unfold. Soul Reaver 1's story, all things considered, is fairly straightforward especially without hindsight. Soul Reaver 2, on the other hand, is full of twists and turns.
Soul Reaver 2 is the game that ties the whole series together. It acts as much as a sequel to Blood Omen as it does to Soul Reaver. Soul Reaver didn't really require knowledge of Blood Omen to understand. The intro cutscene is enough on its own. But SR2 heavily references BO and even has one scene that directly ties in to its intro. Defiance goes on to be based around the events of BO even more. Its story isn't as strong as that in SR2, though.
One of the main indications of his parasitic nature, is that while Nosgoth fell deeper into corruption and decay, it (the Elder God) thrived and became bigger. This is intensely obvious in the demon-plagued Future Timeline, where Moebius sends Raziel. Nosgoth is barely a shadow of itself, yet the Elder God seems to be doing very well. D.R.
@@Death_Korps_Officer Exactly, as well as how how the torture humans endured from demons, Kain's empire before it began to collapse, as well as just surviving, was enough to sustain the Elder God, and he LOVED it, even as he feared Kain could be able to achieve his destiny as the Scion of Balance.
Elder God: Do not test my patience, Raziel. I made you, and I will unmake you if I become so inclined. Raziel: (mocking) As your agent, I am beyond death. Elder God: There are fates worse than death, Raziel.
Kain I love how that's a callback. Elder God literally says "As my agent, you are beyond death" in Soul Reaver 1 the first time you die while in the spectral realm.
Midnight Mechanic (Kid returns from school after fighting his bully) "Steve, the failed assassin, you had Bill at your mercy, but lacked the courage to fulfill the act." "I don't wanna talk about it okay? You're always so weird, i just want a normal dad like Michael's dad." "I am the engine of life, the source of your very existence. I am the hub of the wheel, the origin of all life, the devourer of death" "Or maybe you're just hungry, could it be as simple as that? What are you jonesing for as you drag your loathsome body through this living room and towards the kitchen?" *"Ooh You little ba-! -Come back here!"*
@@millenniumhandandshrimp2610 (after locking the kid inside the closet under the stairs) "You are indebted to me, you little shit" "Indebted? You would have me show gratitude for a gift I didn't ask to be bestowed. Do you forget that you forced me to inhabit this vile carcass?"
I JUST noticed that the guy who did the voice of the Elder God is the same guy who did Frollo's voice in the Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame movie. I can't believe after years and years that just came to me.
Ages ago, someone made two parodies of Raziel meeting Frollo in the guise of the Elder God. In both of them, Tony Jay sung "Hellfire", from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". First one was when Frollo sung, "🎵 Like fire, hellfire, this fire in my skin. This burning, desire, is turning me to sin. 🎵" and Raziel replies, "SHUT THE #$#$ UP!" Second one began with Raziel going, "God, no." followed by the Elder God singing the "It's not my fault..." bit, until Raziel remarks, "I'm beginning to think the vampires committed suicide only to escape your voice." Unfortunately, I've been unable to find those videos now. I wonder if the user who made them, or someone else, kept them elsewhere, aside from RU-vid. It's been many years, but we could surely use a laugh. 😆😆😆
@menaname123 Raziel later learns (in SR1) that he's not, in fact, a benevolent god-figure, he's a parasite - he has his minions collect the souls of the dead, which he essentially feeds on - it's never established concretely whether he's responsible for their rebirth or not, but his power is obviously far less than what you'd consider a god to have, as is evidenced by his inability to just, you know, smite Raziel down, or escape Kain at the end of Defiance.
Dude, I dunno. His sheer mass, his timelessness, his ability to pierce the veil between the material realm and the spectral realm, and his mass processing of souls definitely qualifies him as the closest thing to a god that the series has. The narcissism and showboating of being even greater than they really are is common in mythology, especially the Gnostic myths that the Elder God is partially based on. Less powerful and benevolent than he seems, maybe, but our dramatically paranoid Raziel never seemed to fully trust him to begin with.
It is also hinted that he actually had NOTHING to do with Raziel being what he is, and merely is using Raziel to try and destroy Kain and the Vampires. Ironic that the Elder God wants to destroy the Vampires because they are no longer a part of "the wheel of life", when utterly destroying them would allow the Hylden to come back, and he hates the Hylden as much as the Vampires (The Elder God convinced the Vampires to start the war on the Hylden because the Hylden denied that he was god and denied the "wheel of life")
@@ringringbananarchy I believe it was established that he observed Raziel's transformation into a wraith and took credit for it rather than actually being responsible. I'm not sure if that jives with souls Raziel eats going to the Elder God (as seen in Defiance); possibly they just end up going to wherever the Elder God 'is'?
@@simonregan471 It wasn't ever really established. It was alluded to. Raziel himself makes the suggestion to the Elder God, and the Elder God ignores it. But it seems likely, since the Elder God actually has no control over Raziel.
@@ringringbananarchy that he ignored it is probably the most damning piece of evidence. Had the Elder God truly been responsible for Raziel becoming a wraith, he'd boast about it and claim ownership over Raziel incessantly.
I saw the cover of this game in the pre-played section of some game shop. Didn't buy it, it was in Spanish for some reason, but it looked awesome, so now I'm here. AND IT LOOKS EVEN MORE AWESOME! OMG! THIS GAME LOOKS COOL!
He profits from the deaths of all people. Devours their souls. Even if they are to be reborn, they still have to die for his profit. And as the main characters are both vampires (Raziel revived as a wraith), Elder God can not devour their souls so easily. Making him strongly desire their deaths, and by extension, making him the primary antagonist. Also, there's the matter of his arrogant, narcissistic personality....
"Go now, play out your pitiful rebellion, and take your place among the DESTROYED the USED and the DAMNED. But know this: You are mine for eternity, you have always been and will always be my Soul Reaver!"
Actually, Blood Omen 2 was made by a paradox started at the end of Soul Reaver 2. And the period he goes to after the first time period is actually 70 years after Blood Omen 1, whereas Blood Omen 2 was 400 years and a parallel timeline after Blood Omen 1. Raziel was never intended to fight the Sarafan Lord, nor to arrive in the Hylden-ruled Blood Omen 2 era. It was Young Kain who was to battle the Sarafan Lord. I dearly hope one day we see what quest Old Kain embarks on after Defiance.
I never got to play the Blood Omen games or the first Soul Reaver, but got this one and Defiance. Probably my favorite games from PS2. I really hope they remaster them someday.
Chuck Norris is strictly for the meme section. We are in a place where art and literature come alive in gaming. And the Elder God is afraid of someone, Kain and his complete Soul Reaver.
Actually if if i recall from the information in Defiance, the hylden cursed the vampires to be separated from the god's wheel of life, thus depriving him of food. They both hate the vampires but their means of attacking them are different.
The heel turn of elder god in this game felt really jarring to me. It makes a lot of sense, but he seemed like such an ally in the first game. However, it makes sense.
As much as he endured it, the Elder God did the worst thing, or one of the worst things, he could possibly do to him, keeping him isolated there AND immobile from starvation by denying him souls for sustenance. Worse than death for Raziel, as the Elder God hints at here.
Similar voices but different guys, the actor from Terminaor is an american called James Earl Boen while the voice actor of the Elder god was an american actor/voice actor called Tony Jay.
the elder god is a parasite that thrives on death and hase the power to grant life so in a sense he is self sustained except for by the immortal vampires their lives and souls cant feed him anymore
The incarnation of the "Elder God" seen in this scene is after Moebius tricked Raziel by sending him into the future (Decades after Kain refused to sacrifice himself but before the events of Soul Reaver 1.) rather than the past (The era where Janos Audron still lived.).
@menaname123 The ancient vampires worshipped him as a god, before they were cursed with immortality. When they (and everyone else) dies, it's him and his 'Wheel of Fate' that essentially causes their reincarnation - the 'inexorable cycle of birth, death, and rebirth' that keeps coming up. The Hylden cursed the vampires with immortality, removing them from this cycle and, in effect, from the Elder God's favor, causing them to become what they are now.
This right here is an inconsistency. He did resurrect Moebius after Kain decapitated him, did he not? The only thing I think HASN'T been established concretely is that we know everything about the Elder God. Even his line "Moebius is my good servant. I have many." implies Kain's escape at the end of Defiance does not mean we have seen the end of what the "parasite" is capable of.
Vincent Of course we didn't. But with Amy Henning no longer around to write story, it seems that no one has the idea how to keep building on her foundations.
@Joudas that's what makes the story so fascinating the fact that is geniously constructed even tough not all is explained it let's you figure out some things ( wich in the end we may not guess for sure ) .... mystery is what i loved in this series .
I remember jumping down onto the elder god and my heart sank. Like "dang, will that game over screen hit?" The elder god just talked smack for walking over his eyes...🤣
What if the Elder God was Kain all along? A future version of Kain: what he ultimately becomes in the end - we know in Defiance that Raziel becomes Kain's Soul Reaver. Notice the Elder God's last line at the end of this video? "You have always been, and will always be, my Soul Reaver." The Elder God was Kain all along. In Soul Reaver 1, Kain unknowingly cast Raziel into the abyss, and what lay at the very bottom of the abyss? Kain himself. Kain cast Raziel to himself. In Defiance, the onyl reason Kain doesn't know that he is the Elder God is because he hasn't existed long enough yet. Perhaps the Elder God is truly an evil version of Kain then, but the vampiric Kain might have a chance to change his fate.
It's only complex when you don't pay attention during the cut-scenes. I reckon a lot of people didn't actually listen to the dialogue. Also, it helps to play all the games in order in a relatively short period of time. If you wait too long between games you'll simply forgot a lot of vital information.
Indeed. The Elder God loves no race. He hates them all. He does not care if the Hylden come or go, for he can make prey of them, eventually. But his true intention is to erradicate vampires, for their souls are trapped within their bodies an cannot feed the Wheel... and even worse, they can turn other humans into vampires, thus spreading the "desease". D.R.
Notably the Elder God CANNOT directly manipulate raziel as he has no actual power over him. the only reason why they are connected at all is because Raziel is a walking Causality break and the Elder Gos is attached the the wheel of fate and both seem ot feed into the same source-.
@Joudas I think that's what's part of the beauty of the plot too. We're taught that the Sarafan are no better than genocidal assholes, but that's exactly what the ancient Vampires were as well. They essentially wanted to enslave the world to their appointed god, which they had no clue what it even was - but they did know the kind of spiritual slavery it meant to serve it. Despicable race really, self-righteous about their cause to the end (Janos).
actually he discovers that in sr2. the elder god is simply his mentor in sr1. i don't believe raziel ever had a reason to suspect the eg in the original soul reaver...
@Joudas Thanks for the answer, some more plot digging notably with the Hylden murals has made me consider the Hylden to be the true ''protagonists'' of the story. At least they were originally, and who can blame them for becoming a bit sour after eons of imprisonment in the Demon realm? makes me regard both the gullible, foolish and arrogant Vampires and the Elder God they served in the same negative light. Janos really didn't deserve better than to be banished to the Demon realm himself.
The Elder God is a God :P He somehow invaded Nosgoth aeons ago, and like Raziel says, he's the cancer and the catalyst of everything bad that is happening, just to feed himself
Hmm, tone is nice but actor has a very strong Indian accent which he may not be aware of. Nothing wrong with that but that makes him ill suited to play Elder God.
