I'll admit that Malek is a character I never paid much attention to, so I was surprised when Raziel and Malek are compared side by side. Malek is a cautionary tale about blind obedience as well as a refusal to reconsider one's allegiances. Fantastic writing, and a great LoK character study.
@@arx3516 I imagine his body was probably never recovered and his body is even less certain about making it to a tomb. It makes sense to have an empty coffin or something.
The first time I saw Blood Omen's opening cinematic I thought the game was going to have us play as Malek on a redemption arc to get revenge against Vorador.
Ironically, in his second encounter with Vorador, by being blinded by hatred and his lust of revenge he left Bane and DeJoule on their own and failed to protect the Circle again.
I never considered that Malek is a character on his own. I never got to know him, since I didnt play Blood Omen and hes not or hardly in the other games. Its great to see how he is tangled into this mess, and a flip coin to Raziel in a sense.
That's what I love about these. I never got to consider the lore this deeply when I was younger. It's amazing and only makes it more symbolic as a story. Gave me a different perspective on fate at a young age though..
He is one of my fan favourites actually. He ends up with appearance or at least a reference in all LoK games save for BO2. Even then the Sarafan, though in name mostly, managed to survive his own end.
"Vengence, vengnce for my eternity of suffering." "Welp, as if you knew what eternity was, grovel before your true master." That is a scene I have rember, from the time the game first came out.
I like to think that Malek is still "alive". Since he was a wraith like Raziel, but unlike Raziel he couldn't create a body for himself in the Material Realm as he basically possessed his own armor. As for the two corpses, maybe Malek found a way to recreate his body to a degree during his experiments but was unable to complete it.
1st the sons of Kain now the pillar guardians 😀 I'm loving the depth of LOK. Malek is perhaps one of my favorite enemies because how tragic he was. No matter how I look at it I'll always feel sorry for the poor soul but I enjoy him
I really wish that if someday there is a sequel on plans, Amy Henning can come back to this franchise because a sequel without her it's dangerous for the canon.
All your videos of Legacy of Kain are beautifully done. Now, I would like to see one of the most important characters that started the Vampire Prophecy, Mortanius.
All this lore breakdown of the Legacy of Kain series just makes me hope that the rumors are true, and that there is a remake of the series in the works. I'd love to see Blood Omen brought into the modern era, with the love and attention it deserves
"I'll hack you from crotch to gizzard and feed what's left to your brides!" I always found that to be one of the most badass quotes in the whole series. And the simmering rage that Neil Ross imbues into his voice as he delivers the line really drives home how much hatred Malek has for Vorador.
Would be nice, especially if it gets the Destroy All Humans treatment, where they basically just worked on the visuals and a few quality of life changes, but the audio is from the original game. (hell I'd accept the sub par audio quality since it would be nearly impossible to get the same VAs back (at least one of them is dead) or find people who sound like them, something would be off regardless)
@@Tysakasa A remake of this game needs to leave the Voice Acting of the Original Series in it. Nothing new but graphics, I agree. It sucks that Eidos isn't around anymore to do it. I always thought their graphics were pretty good, very nostalgic to me. My favorite was when Raziel was in one of the one of the ancient shrines where he talked about his resemblance to the Hylden Champion and he had the Soul Reaver out while looking at the mural. That Wraith Blade looked very damn cool in Defiance.
@@zemalou Yeah, like it would be nice if they could re-record everything so you get the high quality audio as well as the ability to add in//clarify certain bits found throughout the series, but it wouldn't feel the same as far as the sound of the characters are concerned due to aging and at least one no longer around. But would be completely fine if they used the original voice work and just gave us an upgrade on everything else.
The part where there are two malik corpses is understandable. Kain died and even had a grave where he was barred, yet mortanius was still able to have a kain that he could turn into a vampire. This is what i think might link the two. Mortanius might have a way to contact the world of the living(the material realm) and the world of the dead(the spectral realm) it's not a concept only implemented in soul reaver. The spectral armor has a description that implies that when he wears it, he's fased between both realms.
Precisely. The idea that Mortanius was acting upon Malek and Kain's spirits/souls/spectral-forms while the corpse was elsewhere makes much more sense than the idea that Kain was teleported into the place Mortanius met him before being teleported into a grave.
The sad thing is, when you think about it, when Malek woke up from his punishment, what other horrible news he got: the "demon" killed all of his Sarafan priests as well. Very likely one of his first tasks was to recover their bodies. And perhaps he was even the one to arrange their tomb (or take the corpses there). The fact he had a tomb there himself seems a bit odd unless he was the one to make it himself (or it was another thing Moebius did).
What's really interesting is that although Malek had two corpses somehow, the tomb of the Serafan in SR1 had coffins for everyone except Malek. Thanks for the videos about LoK, it's really interesting to rediscover the old stories.
I always assumed the 'remains' in the bastion were because Malek retrieved the flesh of his body from Avernus. Maybe as a self-damning reminder or out of hope to reverse his curse. The pillar question I have no issue with. The pillar could have chosen him from birth but the Circle themselves had to realise who he was. Much like how the Dali Lama is found after the previous Dali Lama has a mortal death.
See that can't be right, because Malek's flesh turns to dust when his soul is seperated from his body, his skeleton is all that remains. So that can't be right, I can only think it's a mistake, cuz he could've easily remove his skeleton from the room where he was damned. And for the pillars, it's supposed to be that all guardians know exactly who it is since everyone is bound to each other.
eh, the body in the throne just looks a normal villager though, albeit badly decayed (the clothing is used by some villager models). i think he's either just taunting Kain (and was using the body in an experiment to try and put a soul back into it) or he really did go crazy and considered it his body.
I remember my grandma rented the first blood omen game for me when I first got my Playstation. I played it from start to finish non stop until I finished it. The voice acting still blows me away, and such a good story for its time. Such fond memories for the first game.
Malek remains one of my favorite antagonists of all time. Few games up until then introduced an enemy that you, as the player, couldn't defeat. I won't deny that I strongly desire a remake/remaster that more fully... um... "fleshes" out his character. He was a true arch-nemesis, on par with Moebius and the Elder God. Perhaps more so; I never felt sorry for Moebius as he was always deceitful and manipulating, much like his master, the Elder God. For Malek, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, even as Kain fought him in his frozen fortress.
I watch these on repeat every single night before bed. One of my favorite series, love that you utilize the language in cutscenes and combine the lore of unreleased titles like nosgoth. Keep doing these please!!!
Please consider showing people Darksiders one day. It is closest thing to LoK setting we have in recent history and would compliment your channel greatly.
These are always extremely interesting. Since I started the series with Soul Reaver: LOK, Malek was a total mystery to me for the longest time. Especially since he had a marker in the Sarafan Crypt. Amy Hennig really knows her craft.
Clearly the greatest game that has influenced my life, nothing comes close to this, I'm constantly thinking about the story and lore of this game, love your work my friend 👍
Kain, could have taken Melek with the soul reaver. The voice acting is so good in these games, Vorador sounds like a noble with a superiority complex and Melek, not a main character, has a voice that sounds of bitterness, pain and resentment.
These are the deep-dives and character studies that make me yearn for a rebirth of the franchise... One lead by those who truly know, understand, and love the story enough to hold true to it while expanding and shifting things for the better. Would adore a new Blood Omen that fleshes out Malek (heh, the irony) and his tragedy.
Also would have been amazing to have had a possible interaction between Racial and Malek in Dark Prophecy. Not sure how it could work with Raziel navigating the realm within the Reaver, but just thinking of the possible confrontation is somewhat cathartic...
Another excellent character exploration. The grudges that bind us to causes lost or not is truly integral to the series. I believe Malek could never openly admit his manipulation and the corruption of his purpose. This seemed to blind him to the fact he could never defeat Vorador. In reality his only honesty was perhaps this. Death from his undeath was his only redemption and his only escape. Only Vorador could offer it. His journey was both a death wish and a denial of his faith making him a puppet.
ngl i swear you are the only thing that keeps this series alive imo, try if you can to keep it alive been wanting to pick these games up again after my dad got me into these games as a kid growing up. I forgot how i love this series tbh.
Thank you for this. Malek is one of my favourite characters and easily the most badass human in the series. It always bothered that he died off screen, he deserved better. Imagine if Raziel killed him in Soul Reaver 2 and he was raised like the other Sarafan leaders. Vampire Malek would be amazing and he would no doubt be the firstborn instead of Raziel, there are so many theories that I had when I was a kid about what would happen.
What would his form be like? Maybe as an allegory to his other fate being an empty shell he would master mist form or something, and inhabiting other bodies. This would make more sense for Raziel to get the cancelled Posession ability from.
@@strictlyfantasy Maybe it was yet another cruel punishment from the Circle to have some random skeleton dressed up in Malek's old clothes to sit on his throne, as yet another reminder of how he failed, how he is dead and damned forever. In essence, Malek considers the corpse on the throne as his own, thus we have two corpses of Malek where he was obviously just one person.
@@strictlyfantasy well, official or not, those guides are pretty old. And keep in mind at the time, there was no lore to build, it wasn't about world building, just a visual guide to all the secrets. Also I don't think they knew there was going to be a series born out of all this.
Maleck seems like a really cool character, really love his design. C'mon purple ghost armored man, awesome! The more I learn of soul reaver through strictly fantasy the more I begin to see the parallels between it and the grigori/watchers from Judaic teachings. Very interesting, I suppose soul reaver did keep that angel plot.
Im so happy someone is revisiting this golden story, its a shame that no one remembers it because the newest game was cancelled, but theres so much intresting characters in this game
The ending we got in Defiance satisfies me but I would like to see what Amy Hennig had in store as the final chapter. Since the past is infallible, does Kain go to the future and kill the elder god there, when he is at his most powerful? Or because of the purified soul reaver can he go back to when the elder god arrived and kill him there?
Please continue this series, I have wanted to play these games but this lore is just so good. I love the detail in these videos! Thank you for making them!
Incredibly interesting perspective! I never played Blood Omen, however I've watched walkthoughs and cutscenes of this masterfully created fatalistic and gothic cosmos. However I've completed the rest of the series, and I must admit even til this day, niether the writing, dialogue, or fatalistic, gothic time travelling aspect, has been rivaled. Truely a masterpiece and the second reason I was intriqued into realizing my passion to become a voiceactor. Keep up the good work of creating these phenominal portraits.
Another great character study from my favorite game. Seeing more LoK content really makes me happy and the medieval one was good too. I hope that one day we will actually see the story continue.
I don't know any other way to get your attention. So I'll write my peace here hoping it joins your eyes in a kindly manners. My main language isn't English, so I have a lot of trouble playing Soul Reaver at the time, at the time, I thought my understanding of English was better than it really was. But I did beat the game with only one tip from FAQs (Dhumah's fight), I've been stuck for months. Then my level of comprehension for a tongue that wasn't mine to begging with, grew stronger. I became addicted to the deep lore and well orchestred plot of Legacy of Kain. I've played all games, watched all your videos (many times because you are that good). Even watched thrice the "movie" of Legacy of Kain. I am now, again, at Blood Omen 2. You talked about in the kain''s video, but it's still blurred to me, when and how, this fit in the main lore. How Kain was supposed to know about the race of the Sarafan Lord but being oblivious when the paradox occurs with Raziel I am not a patreon(I pay bills first then groceries, than well nothing), you don't own anything to me. Fan to fan, your understanding of the serie is way beyond mine. I simply want to understand. If you could be my light to this confusing timeline, I would be most grateful.
Your point about recontextualization is basically the post Blood Omen games in a nutshell. Most famously done through Kain's "suppose you throw a coin enough times..." scene at the Pillars. Has there ever been another series this convoluted, yet well written? (Certainly not in regard to the fantastic dialogue at least, I'd wager.) Probably the only time where I can use the term convoluted in its purely literal sense with no negative connotations attached, when speaking about game writing. Convoluted doesn't have to mean bad, literature is full of examples but games, even at their best, so rarely offer such complex stories to warrant that description and not without it being a negative element of that complexity when they do. You have my thanks and respect for putting out such focused examinations of this series. In terms of gameplay it's quite understandable why the series isn't as popular as it could be but the writing stands alone. It deserves far more praise and attention than it gets and even hour long essays per game wouldn't be enough to truly convey the nuances of each title's writing and how later games would play off what came before. It needed a focused series of examinations like this to truly do the writing justice.
Dear Strictly Fantasy, as a fantasy fanatic I love your content and how you talk about franchises that aren’t always big pop culture icons but rather give love to amazing underrated stories. That being said I would love it if you did character studies on this popular game series, but characters I feel are underrated and have hauntingly beautiful writing. Flemeth and Morrigan from Dragon Age both have such beautiful yet tragic stories and amazing actresses behind them, please do a video on them. If you don’t know them then I suggest you play or watch the Dragon Age games as they have in my opinion the most compelling arc. In regards to Legacy Of Kain Simon Templeton the voice actor of Kain also voices the tragic villain of Loghain in Dragon Age and the Dragon Age boom the stolen throne gives him even more depth. Please do a character study for him.
Hi Connor. Thanks for your kind words. Sure, I've played Dragon Age. While I have a plan set for the characters/ series I like to focus on in the forseeable future, I'll take your suggestion on board and may just do them at some stage.
@@strictlyfantasy thank you! I’d be thrilled if even one of the aforementioned characters gets a character study! Even if you don’t do it thanks for taking the time to address me directly. I love Dragon Age, though Origins is still my favourite as I feel 2 and Inquisition fail to reach the dark fantasy heights and really capture the dark mature yet hopeful tone of Origins. I feel it had the best of both GOT and LOTR, capturing the gritty realism of GOT but also the deep lore and somewhat beautiful hopeful tone of LOTR.
Bro is hell underrated, he has some key parts of the story to his lore too, I mean without it some of the events in the rest of lok wouldn’t have happened
I have theory on why those two skeletons belong to Malek. When Kain went to Avernus cathedral to confront the Dimension Guardian, the cathedral took him to different points in time. It explains how Raziel was able to meet Mortanius in Defiance when Mortanius was addressing Kain to meet him at the Pillars and how Raziel was able to meet Mobius in Vorador’s Mansion dispite the two events are not placed in chronological order. Also it explains why Vorador, despite his many efforts to recover the Heart of Darkness was unsuccessful. In short, Avernus Cathedral is a place in LOK is a place that takes you not to where you go, but where you need to be. Think of it as the Room of Requirements, but with causality thrown in.
Well this is an unexpected birthday present both because of the coincidence and because I would have guessed you would pick Vorador or Mortanius next. Thank you very much
Avernus seems to have been used as a sort of museum of the past, present, and future, presumably co-created by Moebius the Time Streamer. Malek's newly-created corpse would have been an important addition in representing the history of the Circle of Nine-minus its vampire members, of course-in that it served as a reminder to the newer members about the dangers of hubris. Moebius would have benefited greatly from such a lesson, but chose to lecture others instead. That's my theory, anyway, and it makes some sense.
Malek has one of Kain series' most sinister sounding voices. That part where he says to Vorador: "I will hack you from crotch to gizzard and feed what's left to your brides." was savage. LOL
Theory one: Vorador used a variation of the mind control spell (green sploosh) in the intro to subdue bodily Malek into paralisation. Thus the punishment of cutting the weak flesh off of the warrior. Theroy two: Voradors choice to go werewolf on an animated armor in the second battle hints to some form of upgrade (i.e. the blood fountains) which allows a werewolf to damage spirits (why else would battle experienced Vorador make such a decision. otherwise it would be a silly kind of beginners mistake to fight a ghost with claws). Also, Vorador as the smith of the bone reaver and vampiric apprentice of reaver knowledge in general might have had some insight in soul stealing weaponry. Thus being capable of either sucking Maleks soul out of the armor or damaging the bond between armor and soul which lead to freeing the spirit from the physical realm. Theory three: Misery loves company. Thus an army of animated armors to accompany ghost Malek. Researching a way to undo the punishment of Mortanius would only further hurt the reputation and the selfimage of a knight and his order, even if the punishment was unjust. Given the Sarafan were fanatic slaughters, they still believed to act on the side of valor and such honorific terms. Theory four: Loneliness makes desperate. Seeing the sarafan die out since Malek couldnt hold togehter what was broken in the day of murder, reviving his fallen comrades by soul infusing the laid off armors was his best way of holding unto anything he knew was "good" until the day of his punishment. Theory five: Self hate goes circles. The little texts of Kains monologues within Maleks bastion speak not only of soul armors but also of flesh melted into freezing plates and paininfused eyes staring out while holding the post. Something already dead bodys arent quite known of. Considering the very dark and sadistic storywriting of the rest of the lore of LoKBO, this even suggests that there were some remaining recruits of the Sarafan holding true to their oath to the order - and paying with their lives for Maleks self pity. Theory six: Truth and fanatics dont go together. Why was Malek not pointing out the mistake before Mortanius punishment? Why wasnt it even later cleared before the new circles members loathing of Malek? One could argue the storywriting didnt foresee the development of Soul Reaver 2 at that point, but the woman who overtook the storywriting said once in an interview that she had "luckily" found a lot of loose ends and storyboard about background notes from the original guy who split with the studio. Not all the main plot laid out, but backgroundinfos about the characters. And also that she tried to get in contact with her predecessor despite him being in conflict with the studio, talking about his vision of the following games. So it could be possible, that the revelation from SR2 was kind of written and planned already. Which leads me to the speculation of Maleks character being so puristic of his views, that he himself literally couldnt see the strings of Mobius keeping him from protecting the circle - and thus fully accepting his guilt and Voradors fault of the terror that followed.
Malek was easily one of Mobius's saddest victims. He literally just did his job and got punished for it with a fate worse than death
A lot like Dracula lol what he did to unclean none angel snake like things were Gourglous
The old hunger has left me
Now I must feed on more LoK content
The Lore Reaver.
I don't know who you two are, but you're loved.
Disembodied voice of Tony Ja: Your old hunger has been replaced by a deeper need!
@@paingain100 ahh yes Tony Jaa, the Thai martial artist 😂
@@smolaether that would work too
Everytime I see screenshots from Dark Prophecy, my soul wails for what could have been.
I'll admit that Malek is a character I never paid much attention to, so I was surprised when Raziel and Malek are compared side by side. Malek is a cautionary tale about blind obedience as well as a refusal to reconsider one's allegiances. Fantastic writing, and a great LoK character study.
If you pay attention in Soul Reaver 1 you see that Malek is buried in the same crypt with Raziel and his brothers. Well, his name is there at least.
@@arx3516 I imagine his body was probably never recovered and his body is even less certain about making it to a tomb. It makes sense to have an empty coffin or something.
If you take a closer look, his name was scratched by claws. Apparently Kain is still salty about that fight.
x2
The first time I saw Blood Omen's opening cinematic I thought the game was going to have us play as Malek on a redemption arc to get revenge against Vorador.
But then it turned into a wonderful vampiric Legacy for Kain.
Yeah even going through the cutscene recently, I shared similair thoughts. The opening really gives the impression that you will be playing as Malek.
@@strictlyfantasy How true. Did you check out my version of the theory? You should heart mine.
@@strictlyfantasy Perhaps that was Silicon Knights' very first intention before they wrote up Kain's character arch?
@@usamazahid3882 lol
I’ve been loving this LoK content. Strictly Fantasy, keep doing what you’re doing. I can’t get enough of these character stories.
Rock on
Bright means right
Ironically, in his second encounter with Vorador, by being blinded by hatred and his lust of revenge he left Bane and DeJoule on their own and failed to protect the Circle again.
I mean tp be fair vorador is clearly the bigger threat in the room
The tragic manipulated anti-villain.
I never considered that Malek is a character on his own. I never got to know him, since I didnt play Blood Omen and hes not or hardly in the other games. Its great to see how he is tangled into this mess, and a flip coin to Raziel in a sense.
That's what I love about these. I never got to consider the lore this deeply when I was younger. It's amazing and only makes it more symbolic as a story. Gave me a different perspective on fate at a young age though..
He is one of my fan favourites actually. He ends up with appearance or at least a reference in all LoK games save for BO2. Even then the Sarafan, though in name mostly, managed to survive his own end.
"Vengence, vengnce for my eternity of suffering."
"Welp, as if you knew what eternity was, grovel before your true master."
That is a scene I have rember, from the time the game first came out.
Well, my day just got better.
I like to think that Malek is still "alive". Since he was a wraith like Raziel, but unlike Raziel he couldn't create a body for himself in the Material Realm as he basically possessed his own armor. As for the two corpses, maybe Malek found a way to recreate his body to a degree during his experiments but was unable to complete it.
I could see him recreating his armor somehow by traveling through the chronoplast
A tragic and often overlooked character.
1st the sons of Kain now the pillar guardians 😀 I'm loving the depth of LOK. Malek is perhaps one of my favorite enemies because how tragic he was. No matter how I look at it I'll always feel sorry for the poor soul but I enjoy him
new strictly fantasy legacy of kain character study LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I really wish that if someday there is a sequel on plans, Amy Henning can come back to this franchise because a sequel without her it's dangerous for the canon.
Yeah, specially with these modern game writers.
All your videos of Legacy of Kain are beautifully done. Now, I would like to see one of the most important characters that started the Vampire Prophecy,
Mortanius.
All this lore breakdown of the Legacy of Kain series just makes me hope that the rumors are true, and that there is a remake of the series in the works. I'd love to see Blood Omen brought into the modern era, with the love and attention it deserves
"I'll hack you from crotch to gizzard and feed what's left to your brides!"
I always found that to be one of the most badass quotes in the whole series. And the simmering rage that Neil Ross imbues into his voice as he delivers the line really drives home how much hatred Malek has for Vorador.
I REEEEEAAAALLY hope Amy makes at least a remake of LOK with her new team
Legacy of Kain: The Complete Collection. They could name their price.
@@Warrior-Of-Virtue And I would buy if she said the Collection would be the same price as a PS5.
Would be nice, especially if it gets the Destroy All Humans treatment, where they basically just worked on the visuals and a few quality of life changes, but the audio is from the original game. (hell I'd accept the sub par audio quality since it would be nearly impossible to get the same VAs back (at least one of them is dead) or find people who sound like them, something would be off regardless)
@@Tysakasa A remake of this game needs to leave the Voice Acting of the Original Series in it. Nothing new but graphics, I agree. It sucks that Eidos isn't around anymore to do it. I always thought their graphics were pretty good, very nostalgic to me.
My favorite was when Raziel was in one of the one of the ancient shrines where he talked about his resemblance to the Hylden Champion and he had the Soul Reaver out while looking at the mural. That Wraith Blade looked very damn cool in Defiance.
@@zemalou Yeah, like it would be nice if they could re-record everything so you get the high quality audio as well as the ability to add in//clarify certain bits found throughout the series, but it wouldn't feel the same as far as the sound of the characters are concerned due to aging and at least one no longer around. But would be completely fine if they used the original voice work and just gave us an upgrade on everything else.
Malek story was one of favorite interests, ty so much for a more in depth look into his story👍🏻👍🏻
The part where there are two malik corpses is understandable. Kain died and even had a grave where he was barred, yet mortanius was still able to have a kain that he could turn into a vampire. This is what i think might link the two. Mortanius might have a way to contact the world of the living(the material realm) and the world of the dead(the spectral realm) it's not a concept only implemented in soul reaver. The spectral armor has a description that implies that when he wears it, he's fased between both realms.
Precisely. The idea that Mortanius was acting upon Malek and Kain's spirits/souls/spectral-forms while the corpse was elsewhere makes much more sense than the idea that Kain was teleported into the place Mortanius met him before being teleported into a grave.
The sad thing is, when you think about it, when Malek woke up from his punishment, what other horrible news he got: the "demon" killed all of his Sarafan priests as well. Very likely one of his first tasks was to recover their bodies. And perhaps he was even the one to arrange their tomb (or take the corpses there). The fact he had a tomb there himself seems a bit odd unless he was the one to make it himself (or it was another thing Moebius did).
What's really interesting is that although Malek had two corpses somehow, the tomb of the Serafan in SR1 had coffins for everyone except Malek.
Thanks for the videos about LoK, it's really interesting to rediscover the old stories.
You are a God-send. Thanks so much for these videos. You're keeping the souls alive.
Always a pleasure to see your channel in my notifications.
Thank you for continuing this series.
I always assumed the 'remains' in the bastion were because Malek retrieved the flesh of his body from Avernus. Maybe as a self-damning reminder or out of hope to reverse his curse.
The pillar question I have no issue with. The pillar could have chosen him from birth but the Circle themselves had to realise who he was. Much like how the Dali Lama is found after the previous Dali Lama has a mortal death.
See that can't be right, because Malek's flesh turns to dust when his soul is seperated from his body, his skeleton is all that remains.
So that can't be right, I can only think it's a mistake, cuz he could've easily remove his skeleton from the room where he was damned.
And for the pillars, it's supposed to be that all guardians know exactly who it is since everyone is bound to each other.
eh, the body in the throne just looks a normal villager though, albeit badly decayed (the clothing is used by some villager models). i think he's either just taunting Kain (and was using the body in an experiment to try and put a soul back into it) or he really did go crazy and considered it his body.
Vorador also greatly deserves a breakdown and essay dedicated to him as he had great impact within the story itself right up to Defiance
I remember my grandma rented the first blood omen game for me when I first got my Playstation. I played it from start to finish non stop until I finished it. The voice acting still blows me away, and such a good story for its time. Such fond memories for the first game.
Malek remains one of my favorite antagonists of all time. Few games up until then introduced an enemy that you, as the player, couldn't defeat. I won't deny that I strongly desire a remake/remaster that more fully... um... "fleshes" out his character. He was a true arch-nemesis, on par with Moebius and the Elder God. Perhaps more so; I never felt sorry for Moebius as he was always deceitful and manipulating, much like his master, the Elder God. For Malek, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, even as Kain fought him in his frozen fortress.
The best series of games ever made. I would have liked to have played dark prophecy. They should make it and remaster the old games.
WOO! Been waiting on this. I love this series.
Shame it has to end some day
But it is not this day.
@@derausmpark well done! 🤣
I never thought about Raziel and Malek's resemblance. I really enjoy your vids. Thanks.
I watch these on repeat every single night before bed. One of my favorite series, love that you utilize the language in cutscenes and combine the lore of unreleased titles like nosgoth. Keep doing these please!!!
Please consider showing people Darksiders one day. It is closest thing to LoK setting we have in recent history and would compliment your channel greatly.
These are always extremely interesting. Since I started the series with Soul Reaver: LOK, Malek was a total mystery to me for the longest time. Especially since he had a marker in the Sarafan Crypt. Amy Hennig really knows her craft.
Clearly the greatest game that has influenced my life, nothing comes close to this, I'm constantly thinking about the story and lore of this game, love your work my friend 👍
It's great to see a study on Malek I feel like he doesn't get enough interest he's one of my favorite character thanks for giving him a study.
Thank you! I was hoping for more! Diving in now!
Can we get a dark prophecy video explaining what and how it should’ve been
Kain, could have taken Melek with the soul reaver. The voice acting is so good in these games, Vorador sounds like a noble with a superiority complex and Melek, not a main character, has a voice that sounds of bitterness, pain and resentment.
This is a definite series that deserves a full remake
These are the deep-dives and character studies that make me yearn for a rebirth of the franchise...
One lead by those who truly know, understand, and love the story enough to hold true to it while expanding and shifting things for the better.
Would adore a new Blood Omen that fleshes out Malek (heh, the irony) and his tragedy.
Also would have been amazing to have had a possible interaction between Racial and Malek in Dark Prophecy. Not sure how it could work with Raziel navigating the realm within the Reaver, but just thinking of the possible confrontation is somewhat cathartic...
Another excellent character exploration. The grudges that bind us to causes lost or not is truly integral to the series. I believe Malek could never openly admit his manipulation and the corruption of his purpose. This seemed to blind him to the fact he could never defeat Vorador. In reality his only honesty was perhaps this. Death from his undeath was his only redemption and his only escape. Only Vorador could offer it. His journey was both a death wish and a denial of his faith making him a puppet.
I friggin love your videos bro. Seen every lok video as they've come out since the first 3. Don't stop please
The only source for this sort of content, teaching me things I never new about one of my favorite series.
ngl i swear you are the only thing that keeps this series alive imo, try if you can to keep it alive been wanting to pick these games up again after my dad got me into these games as a kid growing up. I forgot how i love this series tbh.
Thank you for this. Malek is one of my favourite characters and easily the most badass human in the series. It always bothered that he died off screen, he deserved better.
Imagine if Raziel killed him in Soul Reaver 2 and he was raised like the other Sarafan leaders. Vampire Malek would be amazing and he would no doubt be the firstborn instead of Raziel, there are so many theories that I had when I was a kid about what would happen.
What would his form be like? Maybe as an allegory to his other fate being an empty shell he would master mist form or something, and inhabiting other bodies. This would make more sense for Raziel to get the cancelled Posession ability from.
I always thought the corpse under Avernus was just another poor sap that suffered the same fate as Malik.
That would make the most sense
I'd agree with this, but it's strange that the official guides for Blood Omen state that this is also Malek's corpse.
@@strictlyfantasy Maybe it was yet another cruel punishment from the Circle to have some random skeleton dressed up in Malek's old clothes to sit on his throne, as yet another reminder of how he failed, how he is dead and damned forever. In essence, Malek considers the corpse on the throne as his own, thus we have two corpses of Malek where he was obviously just one person.
@@strictlyfantasy well, official or not, those guides are pretty old. And keep in mind at the time, there was no lore to build, it wasn't about world building, just a visual guide to all the secrets. Also I don't think they knew there was going to be a series born out of all this.
Same as it was 500 years later when Kain saw that corpse.
Maleck seems like a really cool character, really love his design. C'mon purple ghost armored man, awesome! The more I learn of soul reaver through strictly fantasy the more I begin to see the parallels between it and the grigori/watchers from Judaic teachings. Very interesting, I suppose soul reaver did keep that angel plot.
Im so happy someone is revisiting this golden story, its a shame that no one remembers it because the newest game was cancelled, but theres so much intresting characters in this game
The ending we got in Defiance satisfies me but I would like to see what Amy Hennig had in store as the final chapter. Since the past is infallible, does Kain go to the future and kill the elder god there, when he is at his most powerful? Or because of the purified soul reaver can he go back to when the elder god arrived and kill him there?
I read somewhere about it, and the plot was to kain go back to his timeline and face the elder god there.
This was a pleasant surprise. I thought there would be no more character analysis. Thank you!
Can’t believe I just got recommended this. I still have my original disk. Such an amazing game.
Another excellent Legacy of Kain-video. I hope we get to see more of these from you, because they are truly fantastic.
I always get excited when I see content Miss channel on my feet keep up the great work
Please continue this series, I have wanted to play these games but this lore is just so good. I love the detail in these videos! Thank you for making them!
Incredibly interesting perspective! I never played Blood Omen, however I've watched walkthoughs and cutscenes of this masterfully created fatalistic and gothic cosmos. However I've completed the rest of the series, and I must admit even til this day, niether the writing, dialogue, or fatalistic, gothic time travelling aspect, has been rivaled. Truely a masterpiece and the second reason I was intriqued into realizing my passion to become a voiceactor. Keep up the good work of creating these phenominal portraits.
Thanks for reviving the LOK lore!
Thank you so much for the LoK study series. Soul Reaver remains my favourite game of all time. Excelent job on your vids.
Another great character study from my favorite game. Seeing more LoK content really makes me happy and the medieval one was good too. I hope that one day we will actually see the story continue.
another Banger!..wish we had a butt load of other characters for you to do studies on but I know details are slim and fragmented at best for some.
Amazing content as always. I'll have to replay Blood Omen soon. I love these games so much.
I don't know any other way to get your attention. So I'll write my peace here hoping it joins your eyes in a kindly manners.
My main language isn't English, so I have a lot of trouble playing Soul Reaver at the time, at the time, I thought my understanding of English was better than it really was. But I did beat the game with only one tip from FAQs (Dhumah's fight), I've been stuck for months. Then my level of comprehension for a tongue that wasn't mine to begging with, grew stronger. I became addicted to the deep lore and well orchestred plot of Legacy of Kain.
I've played all games, watched all your videos (many times because you are that good). Even watched thrice the "movie" of Legacy of Kain. I am now, again, at Blood Omen 2. You talked about in the kain''s video, but it's still blurred to me, when and how, this fit in the main lore. How Kain was supposed to know about the race of the Sarafan Lord but being oblivious when the paradox occurs with Raziel
I am not a patreon(I pay bills first then groceries, than well nothing), you don't own anything to me. Fan to fan, your understanding of the serie is way beyond mine. I simply want to understand. If you could be my light to this confusing timeline, I would be most grateful.
Well done on the video bro it's nice to see that eventhough this game is mad old it still loved the developers would really feel proud of their work.
Thank you again for this video. Do you have patreon? I really want to support this channel.
Btw: Malek means King in Arabic!
You're awesome! I really hope the remaster rumors are true.
Your point about recontextualization is basically the post Blood Omen games in a nutshell. Most famously done through Kain's "suppose you throw a coin enough times..." scene at the Pillars.
Has there ever been another series this convoluted, yet well written? (Certainly not in regard to the fantastic dialogue at least, I'd wager.)
Probably the only time where I can use the term convoluted in its purely literal sense with no negative connotations attached, when speaking about game writing. Convoluted doesn't have to mean bad, literature is full of examples but games, even at their best, so rarely offer such complex stories to warrant that description and not without it being a negative element of that complexity when they do.
You have my thanks and respect for putting out such focused examinations of this series. In terms of gameplay it's quite understandable why the series isn't as popular as it could be but the writing stands alone. It deserves far more praise and attention than it gets and even hour long essays per game wouldn't be enough to truly convey the nuances of each title's writing and how later games would play off what came before. It needed a focused series of examinations like this to truly do the writing justice.
Malek has been my nemesis since I first played Blood Omen. To this day when I meet a video game enemy with that name I go ham on them lol.
always a pleasure to watch!
The Blood Omen opening has permanently engrained his name in my mind.
MAAAALLEEEEEEK!!!
Yay!!!! These make me so happy. My week was just made better with this new vid
your videos are always amazing about Legacy of Kain. Can't wait to se the next video.
Yes finally!!!!
I have been waiting for this video for so long!!! 😭😭😭😭
Great content as always!
Nicely done video. It's amazing the parallels between characters and how their histories intertwine. Great editing.
I love the way maleks head just snaps when vorador hits him
man thank you so much for this
Dear Strictly Fantasy, as a fantasy fanatic I love your content and how you talk about franchises that aren’t always big pop culture icons but rather give love to amazing underrated stories. That being said I would love it if you did character studies on this popular game series, but characters I feel are underrated and have hauntingly beautiful writing. Flemeth and Morrigan from Dragon Age both have such beautiful yet tragic stories and amazing actresses behind them, please do a video on them. If you don’t know them then I suggest you play or watch the Dragon Age games as they have in my opinion the most compelling arc. In regards to Legacy Of Kain Simon Templeton the voice actor of Kain also voices the tragic villain of Loghain in Dragon Age and the Dragon Age boom the stolen throne gives him even more depth. Please do a character study for him.
Hi Connor. Thanks for your kind words. Sure, I've played Dragon Age. While I have a plan set for the characters/ series I like to focus on in the forseeable future, I'll take your suggestion on board and may just do them at some stage.
@@strictlyfantasy thank you! I’d be thrilled if even one of the aforementioned characters gets a character study! Even if you don’t do it thanks for taking the time to address me directly. I love Dragon Age, though Origins is still my favourite as I feel 2 and Inquisition fail to reach the dark fantasy heights and really capture the dark mature yet hopeful tone of Origins. I feel it had the best of both GOT and LOTR, capturing the gritty realism of GOT but also the deep lore and somewhat beautiful hopeful tone of LOTR.
This made my week, hopefully Mortianus is next.
Bro is hell underrated, he has some key parts of the story to his lore too, I mean without it some of the events in the rest of lok wouldn’t have happened
Nice video series. I have been watching episodes on multiple ocasions each. Keep it up.
I think you should definitely do a full video on The Seer from BO2.
Holy shit another LoK video, fortune favors us!
Really like the videos you are posting about he LoK series. Keep them coming as long as you have material! :)
Best regards!
Ahhh yet another wonderful LoK video from Stricly Fantasy. Thank you!
always waiting for your videos xd
Another brilliant video. Keep up the great work.
I have theory on why those two skeletons belong to Malek. When Kain went to Avernus cathedral to confront the Dimension Guardian, the cathedral took him to different points in time.
It explains how Raziel was able to meet Mortanius in Defiance when Mortanius was addressing Kain to meet him at the Pillars and how Raziel was able to meet Mobius in Vorador’s Mansion dispite the two events are not placed in chronological order.
Also it explains why Vorador, despite his many efforts to recover the Heart of Darkness was unsuccessful.
In short, Avernus Cathedral is a place in LOK is a place that takes you not to where you go, but where you need to be.
Think of it as the Room of Requirements, but with causality thrown in.
Well this is an unexpected birthday present both because of the coincidence and because I would have guessed you would pick Vorador or Mortanius next. Thank you very much
Brilliant job as always. Keep it up
Love the LOK lore. Is everything taken from the games? Btw didn't know there were comics dude!
yeah they started coming out with the comics when Soul Reaver came out.
@@christineeccles7445 I'm going to check if they're still available for purchase. Thanks!
this videos are nicely written. also enjoying the nostalgia :3 damn. how would a remake nowadays look like? one can only dream...
Awesome video, will you do videos on the locations of Nosgoth at some stage History of places that be cool too
Avernus seems to have been used as a sort of museum of the past, present, and future, presumably co-created by Moebius the Time Streamer. Malek's newly-created corpse would have been an important addition in representing the history of the Circle of Nine-minus its vampire members, of course-in that it served as a reminder to the newer members about the dangers of hubris. Moebius would have benefited greatly from such a lesson, but chose to lecture others instead. That's my theory, anyway, and it makes some sense.
Thanks for this 😁😁😁😁♥️♥️♥️♥️
Malek has one of Kain series' most sinister sounding voices. That part where he says to Vorador: "I will hack you from crotch to gizzard and feed what's left to your brides." was savage. LOL
Theory one: Vorador used a variation of the mind control spell (green sploosh) in the intro to subdue bodily Malek into paralisation. Thus the punishment of cutting the weak flesh off of the warrior.
Theroy two: Voradors choice to go werewolf on an animated armor in the second battle hints to some form of upgrade (i.e. the blood fountains) which allows a werewolf to damage spirits (why else would battle experienced Vorador make such a decision. otherwise it would be a silly kind of beginners mistake to fight a ghost with claws). Also, Vorador as the smith of the bone reaver and vampiric apprentice of reaver knowledge in general might have had some insight in soul stealing weaponry. Thus being capable of either sucking Maleks soul out of the armor or damaging the bond between armor and soul which lead to freeing the spirit from the physical realm.
Theory three: Misery loves company. Thus an army of animated armors to accompany ghost Malek. Researching a way to undo the punishment of Mortanius would only further hurt the reputation and the selfimage of a knight and his order, even if the punishment was unjust. Given the Sarafan were fanatic slaughters, they still believed to act on the side of valor and such honorific terms.
Theory four: Loneliness makes desperate. Seeing the sarafan die out since Malek couldnt hold togehter what was broken in the day of murder, reviving his fallen comrades by soul infusing the laid off armors was his best way of holding unto anything he knew was "good" until the day of his punishment.
Theory five: Self hate goes circles. The little texts of Kains monologues within Maleks bastion speak not only of soul armors but also of flesh melted into freezing plates and paininfused eyes staring out while holding the post. Something already dead bodys arent quite known of. Considering the very dark and sadistic storywriting of the rest of the lore of LoKBO, this even suggests that there were some remaining recruits of the Sarafan holding true to their oath to the order - and paying with their lives for Maleks self pity.
Theory six: Truth and fanatics dont go together. Why was Malek not pointing out the mistake before Mortanius punishment? Why wasnt it even later cleared before the new circles members loathing of Malek? One could argue the storywriting didnt foresee the development of Soul Reaver 2 at that point, but the woman who overtook the storywriting said once in an interview that she had "luckily" found a lot of loose ends and storyboard about background notes from the original guy who split with the studio. Not all the main plot laid out, but backgroundinfos about the characters. And also that she tried to get in contact with her predecessor despite him being in conflict with the studio, talking about his vision of the following games. So it could be possible, that the revelation from SR2 was kind of written and planned already. Which leads me to the speculation of Maleks character being so puristic of his views, that he himself literally couldnt see the strings of Mobius keeping him from protecting the circle - and thus fully accepting his guilt and Voradors fault of the terror that followed.
Another fantastic video. Thanks.
Loving your LoK videos.
Love your stuff, I'm reading kingkiller so I can watch the videos after with no spoilers lol