Answers to questions from the Defiance team

[Chris@Crystal]

Hey everyone,
A while back Shadow Man posted a bunch of questions about LOK and I had passed them on to the team. Kyle Mannerberg and Jennifer Fernandez final got a chance to answer them, hope they are insightful. Thanks Jen and Kyle!

1. Is the first BO1 timestreaming device the one that was used to bring Turel back, Kain said something like, 'So she could bring creatures from other eras and dimensions'

Since Azimuth was the Dimension Guardian she could not pull creatures from other times only from other places or dimensions. Through the use of the Chronoplast she possessed Azimuth pulled Turel from the future back to the bowels of Avernus Cathedral.

2. Why do the Defiance demons have no souls, or is it just me?

Demons have no souls in Defiance for gameplay reasons, not for fictional ones.

3. When Raziel tears out Kain's heart where does he go?

When Raziel tears Kain's heart out, the blast of energy from Raziel is so strong that it blasts Kain through barrier that separates the different dimensions and into the Demon Realm. This is possible due to the corruption of the pillars which weakens the planar boundaries and the Hylden's prison.

4. Could you explain how Raziel is both heroes, just so I'm sure(I think I get it, but just to make sure)

Raziel's prophesized arrival is interpreted differently by the Hylden and Vampires, because of their different points of view. In Amy's words, "As the Hylden champion, he destroys the Vampire messiah with his fiery sword (the Reaver) by sacrificing himself. And as the Vampire hero, he vanquishes the Hylden savior, by obliterating him(self) with the Reaver." As the Hylden champion, he is able to bring about their "release" (in a sense) by bringing Janos back to life. As the Vampire Messiah, he purifies the Scion of Balance insuring that the pillars are once more in the possession of the Vampires. His ability to fulfill both prophesizes is because he alone possess free will and was able to make those choices.

5. Why did Raziel purify the future Kain, instead of going back a few minutes through time, before Kain refused the pillars and after he killed Hash, wouldn't that have fixed everything?

This goes back to our belief in the constant view that you cannot change history 'because you didn't' as shown in 12 Monkeys. If we run through the events you can see that purifying past Kain rather than Future Kain would have added a extremely fatal paradox into the time stream that would probably have expulsed Raziel all together if he tried to enact it by crossing two Soul Reavers. If past Kain is purified than the purification of the Pillars themselves would have changed the course of history most certainly eliminating all the events that led up to the remaking of Raziel all together. If that event does not happen then all the events that led Raziel to eventually purify BO1 Kain would never have happened thus making the purification itself a paradox. A change of this magnitude would probably, as stated in SR2, just expunge the irritant completely from history thus in the end ruining all of Kain and Raziel's efforts. Therefore only future Kain can be restored.

6. Why do the Dark and Light forges have no souls aligned to the, and how do they charge between when Kain goes there and when Raziel does?

Dark and Light are Elemental Forges without direct Principles to govern them so they have no Guardians which to provide souls. The other Elemental Forges such as Fire (Conflict and Nature), Water (Death and States), Earth (Energy and Time), and Air (Mind and Dimension) all are presided over by their original Vampire Guardians. Since the Elemental Forges were created for Raziel they do not activate for Kain.

7. Why do the shades charge up the wraith blade, I thought they had no soul?

They themselves do not have souls, but the Shades are formed by the fragments of half-devoured souls that cannot find their rest. Over time building themselves up enough form to coalesce into a Shade. Thus, even though they have no souls their form itself was once made from them.

8. How can the wraith blade be sucked into the blood Reaver with Raziel's soul, wouldn't that mean that there
are two souls in there?

The purified wraith blade that Raziel possesses is not drained into the Soul Reaver along with Raziel. In order for Kain to become purified by the wraith blade that contains the purity, the wraith blade must be dispersed or released from its imprisonment into Kain. Thus in that one single moment Raziel is simultaneously trapping himself within the Reaver but as well finally freeing himself from thousands of years of torment.

9. Why is the demons' blood red in defiance and BO2?

There are many different forms, shapes and types of Demon. They all do not have the same color blood.

10. Is Turel mad because of his imprisonment, or because of his gift from Kain?

Turel is mad from both his long imprisonment in the bottom of the Pit and the reoccurring possession of his mind by multiple Hylden as they use his voice as a vehicle to command his worshipers.

11. Why after the change in the BO1 timeline does Kain remember his normal past, when in SR2 Raziel says that he can see new memories forming behind Kain's eyes and old ones dying?

When we say here that the old memories are dying it is not that they are being erased from Kain's memory but instead being shuffled aside by the newer memories that reflect the altered course of history. Therefore he is not forgetting them he instead is holding in his mind two sets of parallel histories, one which is 'dead' and the other which is new and altered. This happens in BO1 but it is not directly mentioned by Kain.

12. This may sound stupid but is LOK influenced in anyway by 'Conan The Barbarian', in BO1 his daughter has been taken from him, like in Conan, and the woman in Conan is very like the Sarafan women in BO2?

No, Conan the Barbarian did not have any influence upon the LoK series.

13. In SR1 vampires couldn't be killed by flesh deep attacks, how can Kain?

Kain is never actually killed. When he has sustained great physical damage, Kain takes the form of bats and escapes so he may rest and recover his health.

14. Did Kain absorb his armor to give that design on his chest, like Vorador and his beard, and Zephon with the Cathedral?

No, Kain did not absorb his armor. The 'designs' upon his chest are merely the thousands of years of vampiric unlife and slow evolution showing upon his body making it more hard, rigid and scaly.

15. Are those vampire wraiths in Defiance(The Archons)?

No, the Vampire Wraiths and Archons are not the same creature though they do both devour souls. One of the larger differences between them is that Archons are agents of the Elder God while Vampire Wraiths are merely unfettered malicious spirits.

16. The concept art shows Raziel under the stronghold, was this originally meant to be playable, before it was decided to place Raziel where he starts?

Both characters were originally going to start in Stronghold, but that idea changed very early on in production.

17. The priest in Avernus are wearing what looks like copies of the death mask, if they are in Nupraptor's retreat in Bo1, does it mean that Mortanius and Nupraptor are allies, is it a conspiracy in the Circle, with Azimuth?

There was no conspiracy between Nupraptor and Mortanius and Azimuth.

18. Why are there 12 concept guardian spirits?

The 12 head concepts included were all explorations on the head dresses of the Vampire Guardians. As with all concept drawings many are done but only a select few make it into the game. Our art director picked the 8 which he felt were most appropriate for the look and style they were trying to achieve.

19. What about the last 2 chronoplasts in SR1? Do they mean Raziel is still alive, or going to be, and when Ariel says 'You must unite what has been set asunder does she mean just put the wraith blade back in the Blood Reaver, and not Raziel(That it's not Raziel's soul anymore)? I know that I could be grasping at straw, but it looked like his soul was swept away,(he went blue, but that could be his soul being sucked in, I don't know)so is really in there?

Some of the chronoplast visions Raziel sees in SR1 are alternate futures or possibilities of things that could have been, or illusions created by Moebius to steer Raziel off course. Ariel's reference to uniting what has been set asunder refers to many aspects of Raziel's cyclic destiny, the loop of the Reaver and his own soul, the purification of the pillars, Kain's reclaiming of his Guardian status, etc.

20. If the Hylden are exempt from the wheel, do they have free will, like Raziel, Kain and the Elder God? And can the be seen through time or not?

They are exempt from the Elder God's wheel of life due to their dislocation in a different dimension but not from the rules of fate and predetermined events that Raziel has been freed from with his remaking into the world. With their technological advancement it is very probable that they can glimpse at future events.

21. Does Raziel really feed the Elder God when he sucks souls?

When Raziel has a symbiotic connection with the Elder God, every soul that he devours returns that soul to the Elder God allowing him to re-spin that soul into the wheel of life.

22. How can Raziel now climb walls in Spectral?

This is a new ability that Raziel has learned over time, there is no actual in-game explanation given for this ability as it is a fairly minor addition.

23. How have 500 years gone by for Raziel, I thought time didn't go by in Spectral?

Though when moving from Material to Spectral Planes it appears that time has stopped, time does still travel just in a much different way than in the Material realm.

24. Does something happen Kain's death scar when he is healed, or is just me?

When Kain is purified by Raziel's sacrifice it heals the scar upon his chest. This is a visual representation of the physical and spiritual healing and purity that Raziel confers.

25. Why can't Kain swim, Rahab could and he was still alive when Raziel found him?

As seen in BO2 and SR1 different vampires develop different gifts. One of Rahab's gifts/mutations was immunity to water but weakness to sunlight. Kain on the other hand kept his weakness to immersion in water and developed other gifts. It is of note that he is immune to rain and snow because of the blood fountains he encountered in Blood Omen 1.

[Umah Bloodomen]

Thanks, Chris, Jen and Kyle!

I'm sure this will go over well with the masses.

[BigKevSexyMan]

That cleared up a LOT of stuff.

[card]

i love you guys

The purified wraith blade that Raziel possesses is not drained into the Soul Reaver along with Raziel. In order for Kain to become purified by the wraith blade that contains the purity, the wraith blade must be dispersed or released from its imprisonment into Kain. Thus in that one single moment Raziel is simultaneously trapping himself within the Reaver but as well finally freeing himself from thousands of years of torment.

MWAHAGAHAWHWAGAWHgAWHAHAHAW!!!!!!!!!!!! teehee.. i knew it.

Seven Monkeys.

i believe that's twelve (darn good movie!) but they're human too.

Did Kain absorb his armor to give that design on his chest, like Vorador and his beard, and Zephon with the Cathedral?

i wonder if it has some relation to the round..thingy that ties his banner. it looks kinda the same, twisted and all that..

This happens in BO1 but it is not directly mentioned by Kain.

i wonder if it has some connection to the demons in avernus..?
hmm.. very good questions and answers

Thanks, Chris, Jen and Kyle!

my thoughts exactly!

[babifrence]

Hiya Peeps,

Thanks alot Chris for posting the questions and answers and thanks to Jen and Kyle for taking the time to answer them .

This has helped me and Im sure many fans ascertain the events that have come across during all 5 LoK games.

The particular new revelation for me is that Raziel's Wraith Blade has entered Kain which explains hes healing and the fact Raziel has now entered the physical Blood Reaver.


PEACE OUT !!!

[KainOFthehylden]

Thx Chris, Jen and Kyle for answering some of the fans questions.
and finally the debate about the WB and BR is finally over

[AndaPanda]

Thank you, Jen and Kyle!
And thank you, Chris, for taking the time to post this.

[Kain's Ancient Blade]

Thank you guys. You're awesome. Now how about some info on the next LOK game. Please. Pretty please.

[Dark_Raziel01]

good stuff keep it up Chris, Jen and Kyle

[card]

Dogfight, maybe the WB is affected by the staff because it was trapped for so long in the BR? (vampiric blade)

[LOKFan]

Wow, thank you so much guys. This has been very enlightening.

[GawdDawgs]

Whoa, I didn't actually think they would answer these! Cool! And thanks guys!

[WraithStar]

Very, very interesting..... Thanks for taking the time to answer those questions and post it here

[Ardeth Silvereni]

Wow. That's all I can say. Thanks Jen, Kyle and Chris!

Answers 1 and 8 are particularly great. I know they are going to instantly silence pages of forum debate, and probably spawn many more.

[The Hylden]

Wow, very good stuff. Thank you, Jen, Kyle, and Chris

The one thing about the WB entering Kain. Yes, that happens, but is it still inside him? I guess that one can be left to the next game, or whenever

[Yenji]

Cool. That cleared up a few things for me Thanks!

[BigKevSexyMan]

The Hylden
The one thing about the WB entering Kain. Yes, that happens, but is it still inside him? I guess that one can be left to the next game, or whenever

Chris@Crystal
The purified wraith blade that Raziel possesses is not drained into the Soul Reaver along with Raziel. In order for Kain to become purified by the wraith blade that contains the purity, the wraith blade must be dispersed or released from its imprisonment into Kain. Thus in that one single moment Raziel is simultaneously trapping himself within the Reaver but as well finally freeing himself from thousands of years of torment.

He obviously says that the WB disperses into Kain thus it heals Kain is is no more.

[GawdDawgs]

I have another question for the LoK team: How is Vorador alive in BO2?

[Ilfirin]

i can't find the words, now i understand LOK a little bit more

[Caer]

Well, I don't have much to add, but let me just second the fact that Jen, Kyle and Chris are all awsome for giving us this info.

Keep it coming =D

[Lady Kreliana]

Awesome, just awesome. You guys rock!

[DJpick]

Although it has been on more than one occasion confirmed that Raziel's ghost had a hybrid destiny, it has not been officially stated that he himself is a hybrid. Even so, it is possible to conclude from this circumstantial evidence that Raziel himself is a hybrid. Still whatever he is, the certainty remains that Raziel's ghost is not a Vampire Wraith, but something altogether different.
You just AREN'T Going to let that go are you? How could he be a hybrid, if his soul came from a human body?

And even if he is, that means the Seer Hybrid debate can't be true, because it would infact mean that hybrids are humans.

He's not a Hybrid, they just looked into the future and saw the same thing, not realizing he was infact the same, and so made a prophecy about the same person. Just like Jews and Christians and Islam have different views about Jesus, even though it's the same guy.

BigKev, they say the WB heals him and disperses, but they don't say it stays in him. They didn't say it still exists in him, just that it healed him. You could say it just healed him, and then faded. We don't know though.

Anyways, thank you CD and everyone for answering the questions. Good luck with the games.

[Vampmaster]

So? Rahab didn't have the soul of a fish and Zephon didn't have the soul of an insect. The hylden are just another type of nosgothic creature. On the other hand so are the ancient vampires and he may just have turned out wrong because of Kains corruption. Raziel is either a human, a bat, a hylden, a (blue winged) vampire gone wrong or all of the above.

[hvkasteren]

8. How can the wraith blade be sucked into the blood Reaver with Raziel's soul, wouldn't that mean that there are two souls in there?

The purified wraith blade that Raziel possesses is not drained into the Soul Reaver along with Raziel. In order for Kain to become purified by the wraith blade that contains the purity, the wraith blade must be dispersed or released from its imprisonment into Kain. Thus in that one single moment Raziel is simultaneously trapping himself within the Reaver but as well finally freeing himself from thousands of years of torment.

In Blood omen 2, Soul Reaver 1 and Defiance we see that vampires can obtain other vampire's dark gifts by absorbing their souls. I wonder if Kain will get some of the Dark gifts from Raziel, since his soul (as the wraith blade) has gone into Kain to heal him. It would be really nice to see Kain immune to water and perhaps even shift into the spectral realm (although that might not be a dark gift).

And thanks for the answers, those were great to read.

[The Hylden]

Raziel was a Human; he was turned into a Vampire, and then became a Wraith. Nowhere did he ever become a bat, a Hylden, or anything else.

Rahab didn't become a Fish; he simply evolved to suit a water-based habitat. Turel is more Bat-like then Raziel was at the last stage of his Vampire evolution. But, he was not a Bat/human hybrid, simply a vampire that evolved (due to the corruption of Kain's soul) into a hulking beast with a loss in physical sight, to be replaced by an amazing hearing ability (one emulating sonar I am guessing). His soul is still the soul of a Vampire, and has not been changed.

Raziel is no longer anything but a Wraith -- a soul devouring entity -- that had been raised by the EG, expelling him from the wheel of fate, and thus giving him his "unique" undying resurrection.

"Which hero do you think you are now? The Vampire savior, or the other one?"

Moebius clearly rebuts all of Raziel's former beliefs that he suddenly was of the Hylden race.