Hello, this blog will be to talk about the power boost and abilities that Kain from Legacy of Kain gets by ascending and "becoming" the Scion of Balance. It will also serve as a sort of Respect thread for the Circle of Nine. Excuse me if you don't understand something, I'm using a translator, now let's start:
Sources[]
I will use statements from several developers, including: Amy Henning (the director/writer of the games), Daniel Cabuco (Lead Artist, who worked on 3 of the 5 games, who designed many characters, including Elder God, and Elder Kain, as well as others, is a close friend of Amy's, and practically the only developer who has continued to answer questions from the series in these years). All Daniel's answers are from his forum (due to the old format of the page, a lot of information is not visible due to errors, but all answers are in Wayback Machine. Don't try to discredit Daniel by saying he is an artist, he is the developer who has given by far the most information of the series, even detailed information of important object, as well as their origin, or other themes, we are talking about someone who can ask the director something and she answers him directly, clearly he is not a random guy, he has answered over hundred questions about the series in his forum. I will take his statements, as well as those of others, unless they contradict something seen or said in the games). Jennifer Fernandez, Richard Lemarchand and Kyle Mannerberg (whom Amy left in charge after leaving Crystal Dinamics, the company that created the Legacy of Kain games, minus the first Blood Omen).
I am going to use the descriptions giving by Silicon Knight team, creators of the first game, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. This have descriptions of the Guardians/Circle of Nine abilities (This is from is FAQ "Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain")
That's where I'm going to get many the powers of the Guardians, well from there, from the game themselves, and from the Legacy of Kain Defiance Prima Guide.
You only face the Circle of Nine in 2 Games: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (the one in 2D), where a younger Kain needs to kill all the Guardians. The Circle Guardians in Blood Omen were: Nupraptor (Guardian of the Mind), Azimuth (Guardian of the Dimension), Melek (Guardian of Conflict), Bane (Guardian of Nature), DeJoule (Guardian of Energy), Moebius (Guardian of Time), Anarcrothe (Guardian of the States) and Ariel and Kain himself (Guardians of Balance).
And in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, where Wraith Raziel needs to absorb the Souls of the Original Vampires Guardians (the ones that create the Pillars of Nosgoth) into his Weapon, the Wraiths Blade, to progress in the Story.
Practically all the statements of the Developers are backed up, either with something seen or said in the games, manuals or guides, so there is no problem in that respect (although there are one exception, that will be discussed later).
Creation of the Pillars of Nosgoth and the Circle of Nine[]
The ancient Vampires, a race of blue winged beings considered "God-like", were one of the 3 original species of Nosgoth, along with the Hylden and the Humans, they created the pillars to seal the Hylden (who were equal to them in power) in another Dimension. In short, the vampires confronted the Hylden in a war that lasted a thousand years, until they were sealed, this because the latter did not want to submit to the "God" of the ancient vampires. [1] [2] The Hylden before being totally sealed put a curse on the vampires, making them immortal, sterile and having to drink blood to survive. [3] As the vampires became immortal their "god" abandoned them and they began to commit suicide, and as no more vampires were born the pillars began to choose humans as their guardians. [4]

From Left to right respectively, the Pillara of : Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Balance, Energy, Time, States and Death.

The Circle of Nine

The Pillars Corrupted

The Pillars destroyed
As it says above the guardians are tied to the pillars, the pillars also reflect the mental state of their guardian, so if a guardian goes crazy for example, the pillar weakens (cracks), to restore the pillar you have to kill the guardian and return the token to its respective pillar, the token being the link that connects the guardian to its pillar, the token in most cases is related to the powers of that pillar [5], enhancing so to speak, the natural powers of the guardian.
Range/Scale of their Magic/Power[]
As the description says the pillars affect the entire world,Nosgoth, both physically and spiritually.
The land of Nosgoth is called World multiple times [6] [7] and one of its inhabitants (The Elder God) has grown to be bigger than a continent, with all this it is intuited that Nosgoth is a kind of Supercontinent, this will be important for later.
To confirm that Nosgoth is a Supercontinent, the Elder God is described as follows: "Its tentacles coil throughout the deep and remotes places of Nosgoth's murky Underworld, but its subtle influence reaches across the length and breadth of the land." [8], basically his body does not occupy the totally of Nosgoth, but with his powers he encompasses all of Nosgoth Keep in mind that the Elder God is very deep underground, as Daniel and the description in his guide say, however he is a Telepath, being able to communicate through all Nosgoth, at least in Soul Reaver 1, which is when he is bigger in size, and communicates with Raziel, no matter where he is). So basically a creature larger than a continent does not occupy all of Nosgoth, thus confirming that the "continent" of Nosgoth is massive
Each Guardian of the Circle of Nine is bestowed with Longevity, allowing them to live for at least 2000+ years, as seen with Moebius, and Mortanius (Guardian of Time and Death respectively), as well as each guardian receives "Extraordinary Powers", associated with the pillar they represent. As I said before the pillars affect the whole world and keep it healthy, this also applies to the Circle of Nine, as their powers affect the whole world.
The Circle is described as "the magicians whose magic maintain the order of magical power in the world" [6]. i.e. the magic of the Guardians is powerful enough to keep the magic of the entire world itself at bay, so basically the magic of the Circle works on a Multi-Contienetal scale, affecting Nosgoth with its magic/power.
There are several statements and feats that confirm that the Guardians can use their powers on a Multi-Contiental scale, all of them are from Blood Omen:
The Balance Guardian magic, influence the regulation of the other magic in Nosgoth [6]. In other words, the Balance Guardian controls the magic of the entire world with its magic.
Basically the Circle of Nine control the magic of the world itself.
In Blood Omen, Anacrothe the Alchemist, Guardian of the States, said that with their powers the Circle "Could save or danm Nosgoth at their whim". This would confirm that the guardians powers affect all Nosgoth. Ariel, the former Balance Guardian also confirms this, by saying that the circle "vowed to use their powers to preserve the world". [9] [10]
Nupraptor the Mentalist, Guardian of the Mind, was able to create a Telepathic blast/physic attack across all of Nosgoth. [6] [11] [12] [13]
3 guardians (Guardian of Energy, Nature and States) joined their powers to create a dome of energy with a combination of their powers, (Matter Manipulation, Life Warp and The Dome of Energy) which would grow to consume all of Nosgoth, although the time frame is unknown. [14]
So as you see the Guardians have Multi-Continental range with their magic/powers, this was explicitly shown by Nupraptor with his mental powers and by the Balance Guardian controling the entire magic of Nosgoth. Even if we go for the Low-End, and say that only as a whole the Guardians have Multi-Continental range, if we divide it by the amount of Guardians there are (9), they would still have a huge range, affecting territories equal to big countries, remember, Nosgoth is bigger than the Elder God, who has grown to be bigger than a continent, so that range makes sense. of course they can control at will, the range/scale of their powers.
So in summary, each guardian has at least a range of Large Country with his powers as a Low-End (excepting Nupraptor and the Balance Guardián who directly showed a Multi-Continental range), since it would not make sense that all together their Magic would affect the whole world, but separately they would not affect even a city. And a Multi-Continental range as a High-end.
Also each guardian controls a different magical principle of the world so it makes no sense to say "if they unite their powers all together, then ONLY there, they can use their powers on a Multi-Continental/planetary scale", this is contradicted by the fact that two different guardians used/use their powers on a planetary scale, so this is one of those cases where High-End seems to be the right choice, So:
Range: At least Hundreds of kilometers likely Tens of thousands of kilometers using their powers.
This would apply to every Guardian that has a power/ability in area (which is practically all of them).
This is extremly important for characters like the Guardian of Energy or the Guardian of Nature, who could create storms or natural disasters on a Large Country/Multi-Continental scale.
What/who is the Scion of Balance?[]
Image/Mural of Kain as the Scion of Balance in the Vampire Citadel
"¿What is the difference between the Scion of Balance and the Balance Guardian?"
- Amy Henning
While it is true that Kain was always the Scion of Balance, he never had the power/abilities that comes with that until one specific event: Being Purified with the Spirit Reaver.[15][16] [17]
What is the Spirit Reaver? The Spirit Reaver is the combination of the Wraith Blade (The Wraith Blade is the spiritual form of the Soul Reaver, created when Kain shattered the physical blade against Raziel. Liberated from its prison but still trapped in the form of the Soul Reaver blade, the Soul devouring wraith entity within bound itself to Raziel becoming his symbiotic weapon.[18] Paradoxically, the wraith blade was ultimately revealed to be the future of Raziel himself, as he discovered he was destined to be consumed by an earlier version of the physical Reaver blade to originally create the Soul Reaver), [19] combined with the Souls of all Balance Guardians Previous to Kain, and his function is to purify The Scion of Balance. [17] As seen above, as ancient vampires died, the pillars began to choose humans, whom the ancient vampires transformed into vampires over time, until the latter were revealed, and the humans took possession of the pillars. [20]
As the Scion of Balance, Kain's destiny is to restore the vampires as the guardians of the pillars. For this Kain needed to be purified. ¿Why you may ask? Because the Hylden conspired to corrupt the pillars:
Possessing one of the guardians, (The Guardian of Death, Mortanius) the Hylden Lord murdered Ariel, the Guardian Balance prior to Kain, her lover the Mentalist Nupraptor (Guardian of the Mind) discovered her body and cast a telepathic attack through the entire world of Nosgoth, corrupting the Guardians (including baby Kain), who are tied to the pillars and symbiotically to each other, and when they were corrupted, the pillars were corrupted, and as it says above "The Pillars are a manifestation of the mysterious power that preserves and gives life to the land", so the whole world of Nosgoth slowly began to be destroyed. Kain in his youth had to kill the rest of the guardians to restore the pillars, after killing all the other Guardians, and when the time came to sacrifice himself, to completely restore the pillars, Kain refused to sacrifice himself, and the pillars were destroyed, apparently condemning Nosgoth for all eternity. [21][22]
Power/Abilities in general[]
As I said before, when Kain was purified with the Spirit Reaver he obtained many things, both an increase in his power and a great amount of abilities/powers.
First I will go with the statements of the increase in power, and the new abilities he obtained as Scion of Balance, before talking about each of them separately, this also include the Balance Guardian. It should be clarified that the statements of Daniel Cabuco, are directly supported by things that have been seen or said in the games or even by other developers:
"I assume you mean the Scion of Balance as opposed to the Balance Guardian? We know that the Balance Guardian has the responsibility of pruning the corrupted forces of the Circle (And thanks to Nupraptor, no further ones were born.. so catch 22 there). The Scion of Balance balances on a greater scale, balancing the world's entities and the Pillar's place in it. Purified and empowered with the Soul Reaver, he can use the powers of all the guardians to accomplish this goal, though to a lesser extent than the pure circle members. (Including pruning the Elder God's influence.. one sliced tentacle at a time if need be)."[23]
"I always saw the Balance Guardian as being able to draw upon the other's abilities (or build up his/her own) in order to kill off any other guardian should they go astray. The Scion of Balance balances the entire world/universe and therefor is able to attack/hurt the Elder God."[23]
Now first let's clear things up regarding the power increase, as you read Daniel says that the Scion of Balance balances the entire world/universe, and that's why he is able to damage/attack the Elder God, I guess before that I have to explain in detail what/who the Elder God is:
The Elder God[]
The Elder God is the biggest antagonist in the series and the most powerful character along with Kain as the Scion of Balance, he is a creature that is "A mass of eyes and tentacles" [24] larger than a continent[25], a Multi-Dimensional being that exists simultaneously in the material and spectral planes, (the realm of the living and the dead respectively) and is therefore normally invulnerable and invisible, requiring purification to see it[26] he is also Nigh-Omnipresent and Nigh-Omnicient, being able to see multiple places and times simultaneously, being a timeless creature. [27][25] He even says so himself (keep in mind that here the Elder God is talking to Wraith Raziel, literally 2000 years before knowing him chronologically).[28]
The Elder God is tied to the Wheel of Fate. The cycle of Life, Death and Rebirth that encompasses the entire Universe, the Elder God absorbs the souls that would have to go into the wheel, becoming larger and more powerful over time. [29]
Now why did I explain what the Elder God is and his abilities?, Because the power increase names him directly.
Power increase explained.[]
Well, as I said before as the Elder God is a multi-dimensional being he is normally invulnerable, this can be seen in Defiance, when Raziel attacks him in the material plane with the Wraith Blade, he only moves his tentacles, not making any noise or drawing blood, and when Raziel attacks him in the spectral plane using the Spirit Reaver, The Elder God confirms that although the Spirit Reaver is "Endowed" to damage him, it cannot touch him because is a spectral sword, so you need Multi-Dimensional attacks, plus something purified, to be able to damage the Elder God. Take into account that Raziel is able to damage beings intangibles such as ghosts or Shades using the Wraith Blade, and he still can't damage the Elder God)
However after being purified and using the Soul Reaver (which was formed back by re-absorbing the soul of Wraith Raziel), Kain is able to harm him (notice that Kain is using the purified energy of his body in the Soul Reaver to attack the Elder God)
The Reaver Blade has 3 versions, the original version in its physical form that absorbs the blood of his enemies, the Wraith Blade, Raziel's soul in the form of a sword, and the spectral version of the Soul Reaver, and the Soul Reaver itself, which is formed by "the Reaver" which is the physical part and by absorbing the Soul of Wraith Raziel who is an inhabitant of the spectral plane, that is why (in addition to the purification and Kain's power as Scion of Balance) it can harm the Elder God. The Wraith Blade is also called Soul Reaver several Times, by Raziel and Manuals
Remember the Statement: "The Scion of Balance balances the entire world/universe and therefor is able to attack/hurt the Elder God" And the question was what abilities the Balance Guadian had (Daniel also explained the ones from the Scion of Balance).
So the ability he got as Scion of Balance is to be able to attack Multi-Dimensional beings? yes and no, the statement says that he can both Attack AND Damage him, by Balancing the whole world/universe, so he is also talking about power and durability, i.e.: Because the Scion of Balance affects the whole world/universe he has the power to damage the Elder God, If Kain could harm him only by being purified and not by his power, Daniel would not have mentioned this.
We must also remember that Wraith Raziel with the Spirit Reaver could not damage the Elder God, even though the sword was "Endowed" to do so, this because it was a spectral sword (even when Raziel can attack ghost in the spectral realm), so we know that purification was necessary to damage him, and besides the purifying energy, the sword was also much more powerful than the normal Wraith Blade (by having the power of the Balance Guardians), but if it was only for the purification, the Soul Reaver would be useless, let's remember that the Purification was in Kain not in the sword, this was made clear multiple times and Daniel himself confirmed that the Soul Reaver is necessary to kill the Elder God. So it is both things Kain's power, the purification and the sword
Kain himself confirms all this when he attacks the Elder God and says: "Your words are heartening - for you would not fear us unless we could truly do you harm".
Daniel confirms at increase in power again when he says that "The Scion of Balance balances on a greater scale", he is saying that the Scion of Balance balances on a greater scale than a Guardian of Balance, which is totally logical, since Kain as Scion of Balance, Was Purified with the combined power of the Balance Guardians.
Now you could say: "Ok, Kain increased his power, is there proof of this other than the statements?" Yes.
When purifying the Wraith Blade, the souls of the Balance Guardians not only granted the ability to purify Kain, but the power of the sword itself was increased from 8 to 9 times.
It should be noted that the increased power is not just a gameplay thing, the Defiance Prima Guide, confirms that the Spirit Reaver, is the most powerful reaver, and that "Its immense power will kill most mortal enemies with a single blow".
Legacy of Kain Defiance Script confirms that the Wraith Blade is "Now blazing with power after its baptism in the Spirit Forge".
Getting power by receiving a soul or part of it is not something new, in Legacy of Kain, besides what was previously mentioned (the defiance gameplay and the game guide, showing/confirming that the Wraith Blade increased its power by receiving the souls of the Balance Guardians, and the confirmation that the Elder Kain was purified with the power of the Balance Guardians, by a developer):
- The Elder God becomes bigger and more powerful, the more souls he consumes.
- Wraith Raziel increases his power by absorbing the souls of his brothers.
- Kain himself when creating his vampire children used "small portions of his soul" in humans to resurrect them and transform them into vampires. Depending on the size of the portion, the son was more or less powerful, being Raziel the most powerful having received the largest portion of Kain's soul, and Melchiah the weakest having received the smallest.
So in summary, we have:
- Multiple sources that confirm that the Souls of the Balance Guardian increased the Power of the Wraith Blade/Soul Reaver.
- Multiple statements of Kain/the Scion of Balance being far more powerful than before (The Scion of Balance "balancing on a greater scale" compared to a normal Balance Guardian or "Balancing the whole world/universe" and that thanks to that he can harm the Elder God).
- A direct statement that Kain was purified with the combined power of all the Balance Guardians,
- Multiple characters increasing their power by absorbing and/or receiving souls or parts of souls (including Kain himself giving part of his power to his sons by using part of his souls to his sons).
All this is supported by the games, since the souls of the Balance Guardians increased the power of the Wraith Blade by purifying it (both in gameplay, the guide and the game script), and that Wraith Blade was dispersed into Kain, and therefore logically he also received that power, the Spirit Reaver is explicitly made to purify Kain (is "Endowed for the Scion of Balance"), it would not make sense that the souls increased the means by which Kain is purified (the Wraith Blade), but Kain himself did not receive that power (and Daniel Cabuco confirmed that Kain indeed receive that power).
With this, the increase of power would be more than confirmed.
Keep in mind that Kain received the power of all the Balance Guardians that ever existed, each Balance guardian literally controls the magic of the entire world.
The Scion of Balance is the union of all that power in one body, so it makes sense that Kain would receive a massive boost in power.
Power/Attack potency[]
Now that you know that Kain increased his power, it remains to be seen how much he increased it:
"The Scion of Balance balances the entire world/universe and therefor can attack/harm the Elder God".
Kain as Scion of Balance could be both Multi-Continental, and Universal, to avoid problems, I will treat it as Low-end and High-End.
Attack Potency: At least Multi-Continental level, at most Universal level.
As I showed above, the land of Nosgoth is called a world multiple times, and it is a supercontinent.
Where Legacy of Kain takes place, is a literal Universe. Not only the Elder God and Daniel confirm that the Wheel of Fate encompasses the entire universe, but you can see (and there is direct mention) of stars, Moebius also mentions Planets and the Universe.
Personally I don't think Kain is universal, it doesn't make much sense such a massive increase in power, even if the Scion of Balance is a God-tier, Multi-Contiental works much better and has more coherence in the series, seeing as the point of the Guardians was always to control the world (Nosgoth) with their powers, it makes sense that the union of the power of all the Balance Guardians (the most powerful guardians), results in someone with a power that affects the whole world (Multi-Continental).
However, I'm not going to ignore that part of the statement either, and there have been characters that have an even greater increase in power and with worse justifications, so that's why I put it "At most Universal", so as not to completely rule out that possibility.
Abilities Explanation[]
As Daniel said, the Scion of Balance can use the power of the members of the Circle of Nine, albeit to a lesser extent than them, which makes sense since the Balance Guardian himself can use the powers of the other guardians.
"But Daniel did not explicitly confirm that the Balance Guardian, can use the powers of the other guardians, he said he sees it that way."
We have to see 2 things:
1) First we must see how the Balance Guardians are described: Ariel the Balance Guardian before Kain, with her Magic, influences the regulation of the other magic in Nosgoth", with this clearly refers to the other pillars, and this is confirmed with the following information:
-Amy Henning
As you can see, Amy confirms that the Balance Guardian is connected with the principles of the pillars are connected to the Balance Guardian. And there is also this: "The nine ancient Pillars represent the principles of Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death, and - at the center, binding them all together - Balance."
Again it is confirmed, in this case saying the principle "Balance" binds all the other principles. So it makes perfect sense that he can use the power of the other Guardians.
2) Some of Kain's powers in Blood Omen 1, are powers of the other Guardians/Pillars. For this we have to see an Object called Balance Emblem, that was seen in the last game: Legacy of Kain Defiance:
- Kyle Mannerberg
-Daniel Cabuco
Both Kyle and Daniel confirms that the artifact is made for the Balance Guardian/Scion of Balance, and that many of its abilities are the same as the ones Kain uses in Blood Omen 1, which represent different powers of the pillars.
The name of the artifact is the Balance Emblem, an Emblem consisting of 5 fragments called: "Balance", "Flame", "Time", "Lightning" and "Dimension". As you can see from the names, this emblem is connected to the principles of the pillars, and not only the guide or the developer says so, Kain himself also confirms it.
The Balance Fragment like the Pillars, bind all the others principles
The Time fragment, is connected to the Pillar of Time, which, like Kain in Blood Omen, can slow down time at a 1/4 of his normal speed),
The Flame Shard is connected to the principle of Conflict, if you notice, the symbol are two crossed swords, the same symbol of Kain's Inspire Hate spell in Blood Omen (the shard actually has that ability too) and the original symbol of the Pillar of Conflict in Blood Omen 1.
The Lightning shard is connected to the principle of Energy, the shard allows to summon lightning from the sky, just like the Lightning spell from Blood Omen, the original symbol of the pillar of the pillar of Energy, was practically identical to that of Kain's Lightning spell (also one of the guides confirms that they control the energy that "Spawn the Storm" and they can project Lightning).
The Dimensión shard/fragment as is obvious, is connected to the principle of Dimension, and allows Kain to reflect Damage into nearby with his attacks and allows Kain to do a "Multi-Teleportation" Teleporting consecutively to múltiple enemies to attack them.
The Debug menu of Legacy of Kain Defiance confirms that all the Reavers fragment are related to the pillars as they are called: "Dimensión Pillar", "Conflict Pilar", "Time Pillar" and "Energy Pillar".
This example is one that is seen directly in Blood Omen. Look at the symbols of the Pillar of the states, and then look at the symbols of Kain's transformations, they are exactly the same symbols, the Guardian of the states is able to control the shape and form of matter, and one of those abilities is the ability to transform his body, both the form of Wolf, Bats, and Mist, that Kain has are the transformations of the Guardian of the states (although the guardian has them better, as it was seen with his Mist Form, but i will explain all this when I talk in depth of his powers).
Kain confirms that the spell "Spirit Death" is "worthy of the Necromancer himself", with this he refers to Mortanius the Necromancer, Guardian of Death and who was the one who resurrected him as a vampire, Mortanius himself showed the ability to manipulate souls, and seeing all the above it is easily deduced that this spell is one of the pillar of Death.
Besides these there are likely more examples of Kain using the powers of the guardians in Blood Omen (At least 1 more, although likely 2 or even 3 more), but I'll leave that for later.
As you can see, it has already been demonstrated and confirmed that the Balance Guardians can use the abilities of the other pillars, and logically the Scion of Balance as well. Kain did not know he was a Guardian Balance, until the end of Blood Omen, and we must remember that: "The death of a Circle member is inevitably followed by the birth of a successor, whom it is the responsibility of the remaining Guardians to seek out and apprentice into the Circle.", i.e. the Guardians need training to use their powers to their full potential, something also confirmed by Daniel Cabuco, so this explains why Kain never used all the powers of the other pillars.
It should be noted that Kain can use them but "through to a lesser extent than the pure guardians", although I do not know how this would affect the abilities that are not destructive, or in scale, such as moving between dimensions.
It is not known at what percentage Kain could use the powers of the other Guardians compared to a pure guardian, although they would be weaker, they would not have to be much weaker, keep in mind that Kain has the power of all the Balance Guardians that existed within him. The abilities of the guardians that Kain used in Blood Omen being a simple Balance Guadian, are powerful and have no limitations, of course a pure guardian can use those powers at a much higher power/scale. The role of the Balance Guardian is to kill the other guardians, and for that he can use the powers of the other guardians to do so (this was seen in Blood Omen, where Kain was killing the guardians to restore the pillars and was using some of his powers throughout the game). So if a Balance Guardian can kill the other guardians using his own powers, if they were extremely weak compared to the original guardian's powers, the Balance Guardian would not be able to kill them.
If I had to say how much a normal Balance Guardian can use the powers of the other guardians, it would be 10%, why that number?, for that we have to see how many Balance Guardians existed: As far as we know at least 3 Balance Guardians existed before Kain, however it is likely that there were between 7 and 9 Balance Guardians. If we see the texture of the Spirit Reaver, there are a lot of faces, (and remember that in the Spirit Reaver are all the Balance Guardians that existed), due to the very low quality it is difficult to see well, but counting both the large faces and the smaller ones, you can clearly distinguish 7 faces, one that only see the eyes, with the possibility that there are 9 faces, if we count the smaller ones in the middle and the one in the right corner. If we remember, the souls of the Balance Guardians increased the power of the Wraith Blade from 8 to 9 times, which fits with the number of Balance Guardians. Therefore Kain could use the powers of the Guardians at 70% minimum, and 90% maximum, compared to a pure Guardian, which still fits with him being able to use them at "a lesser extent than a pure Guardian".
I will give some examples with some of the powers of the Guardians: A Guardian is able to create 4 clones with his powers, Kain should be able to create 3 duplicates. Another Guardian is capable of transferring the damage he receives to the enemy in the same proportion that the enemy does to him, Kain would transfer a large part but not all the damage. And so on with all the powers.
Also keep in mind that after being empowered with the souls of all the Balance Guardians (which like i said are at least 3 likely 7), Kain, still can't use the abilities to their fullest capacity, therefore the Guardians should be able to do, at last 3 likely over 7 times more powerful, the powers of the guardians that Kain demonstrated in Blood Omen 1: For example if Kain, as Balance Guardian, Kain can reduce to 1/4 the speed of his enemies, and after being purified with the power from 3 to 7 Balance Guardians, he still cannot use the powers to the same extent as the Guardian of Time, that would mean that the Guardian could slow down the enemies to at least more than 1/16 (at the lowest) likely 1/28 of their normal speed.
Considering that Kain was purified with the souls/power of at least 3, likely 7 Balance Guardians, the powers of the guardians that he already has (Slow Time, Lightning, Inspire Hate, Spirit Death and likely Incapacitate) would have to be at least 3 times, likely 7 times more powerful than the version shown in Blood Omen.
Powers of the Scion of Balance/Circle of Nine[]
Now I will tell the powers of the circle, I will separate it by each Guardian.
The Guardian of Balance Powers[]
Description: The Guardians of Balance with their magic "influence the regulation of other magic on Nosgoth".
Without going into complex definitions, Influence means have the ability to affect something or someone. And regulate is " To fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of something", in this case of Nosgoth's magic.
Control over Magic: In short, the Balance Guardians are able to control the magic of Nosgoth itself, which makes sense considering that the Guardians/Pillars "preserve the order of the magical power of the world", and as we saw before, the Balance Guardian "Binds" the principles of the other pillars, that's why he/she can use the powers of the other Guardians (since these same powers/pillars are part of the world itself).
The Scion of Balance unique powers[]
In addition to being able to use the powers of the other Guardians "to a lesser extent than the pure Guardians", (but to a greater extent than a normal Balance Guardian), "Balancing the world entities, and the pillars placed in them", the Scion of Balance has unique powers of its own:
- True Immortal: This is one of the powers that Kain always had, even before he was purified. Kain as the Scion of Balance is a true immortal, and can only be killed by the Soul Reaver.
Let's start with what he has shown: When Wraith Raziel tore out Kain's heart (The Heart of Darkness is the heart of the most powerful vampire Janos Audron, and was used to turn Kain into a vampire), he was able to survive.
When Amy Henning was asked how Kain survived she said:
"How can Kain survive without the Heart of Darkness?"
"His Nature as the Scion of Balance allows him to survive."
-Amy Henning
It should be noted that no vampire has ever survived without a heart, even Janos died after his heart was ripped out.
Something important to keep in mind, is that Kain was able to survive due to his "nature as Scion of Balance", being in another dimension or "plane of existence", where the pillars do not exist, so Kain is always tied to the pillars, and still retains his immortality and the rest of his powers, no matter where he is.
Which confirms that the Elder God is totally incapable of Killing Kain or Raziel, and it's not something he can do over time.
The Manual also confirm that Kain and Raziel are immortals and that can't be killed by "ordinary means"
-Daniel Cabuco
Daniel Cabuco is asked (quoting Amy), if Kain as Scion of Balance cannot be killed by any means, and Daniel confirms that being the Scion of Balance, Kain can only be killed by the Soul Reaver since the "Soul Reaver is the key and the Pillars the lock".
As you can see all the statements support each other, Daniel Cabuco said that Kain can only be killed by the Soul Reaver (something said by Kain himself), because he is the Scion of Balance (something said by the director/writer), and this is because the Soul Reaver is the key to the pillars (something said in Soul Reaver 2).
While Daniel only talks about decomposing into bats, if we add that the Elder God can't kill him either, and was going to trap him for eternity, (It should be clarified that Kain would not have access to blood to drink and recover his energies while buried), likewise Daniel confirmed that the Blood Reaver cannot kill him, this sword absorbs the blood of whoever it hits/impales, so Kain can continue living without a drop of blood in his body. At least he should be like Raziel, that if his physical body is completely destroyed, he still survives, although it is quite likely that Kain regenerates in a different way than Raziel. To give it more validity:
1) Elder Kain is still weak to water (water is like acid for vampires), and Lava. Daniel himself says that Kain can be incapacitated, and even so, leaving him unconscious and throwing him into the water/lava or directly flooding a room with him inside, which eventually would melt his body or turn in into ashes respectively, (and even if he "decomposed into bats" to escape, it would be worse, since being smaller Kain would burn/melt more easily). is not enough to kill him.
2) For if Kain's body is destroyed (or he is killed and "dies"), and he does not regenerate, his soul will go to the spectral realm, the literal "realm of the dead" ("com/a/YMzt6y4 Unfettered from the flesh, a creature's soul fades swiftly into the spectral realm", this is not only said by the Elder God, but it is directly seen in Defiance when Kain kill Moebius, without counting all the times it happens in the games with every enemy), where the creatures of that dimension that are under his command (capable of devouring souls, enterely , would consume his soul and Kain would be definitely dead, this would not only contradict the multiple statements of both developers and Kain himself, but also those of the Elder God, the same who confirmed that "he does not have the necessary means to kill him", despite having under his command creatures that devour souls, (and not counting that there are other creatures in the spectral plane that devour souls, despite not being under his control), so there are only three options:
- 1) Kain's bats are somehow intangible or indestructible, this cannot be known because Kain was never attacked in this form.
- 2) He is able to regenerate despite all bats being destroyed, i.e. his body is completely destroyed.
- 3) Like Wraith Raziel, he is able to survive even if his body is destroyed, and his soul goes to the spectral plane where he would have to recover or have a physical body in another form. Or perhaps he can live as a spirit and still be "alive". In Legacy of Kain, even though the spectral realm is the realm of the dead, multiple characters are able to move and live normally in the spectral plane despite being alive, among those are the Guardian of Death with the ability to move between the realm of the living and the dead. The Guardian of the Dimension, able to move between dimensions at will. As well as multiple enemies such as Demons or characters like Melchiah or Dumah.
But the fact that ONLY the Soul Reaver can kill him, even having a very clear weakness that could destroy his physical body completely, supports the idea that Kain can regenerate a body from his own soul, and in fact we have statements that the soul of a Balance Guardian is bound to the Pillar of Balance, being the Scion of Balance and being bound to all pillars, it makes sense that Kain has a special immortality, more so when a single pillar allows a human guardian to live for thousands of years (a limited immortality)
So we have Kain himself saying it, a developer confirming it 7 different times even in different years, and supported by Word of God (the director), manuals also confirming it, and a guy with an army of soul devouring creatures confirming that he can't kill it. If this doesn't confirm 100% Kain's immortality, I don't know what else will.
- Purification: Kain as Scion of Balance can purify other beings. I don't count the ability to destroy or create Guardians since it is very ambiguous, it is not known if it means that Kain can choose to give the power of a pillar to a specific person or something else.
- Enhanced Senses: Upon being purified, Kain had the "Purified Sight", allowing him to see the Elder God, who is normally invisible and can only be seen by someone purified.
- Passive Reality Warping and resistance to Fate Manipulation, Retrocognition, precognition and Clairvoyance: Kain was purified with a variant of the Soul Reaver inside his body, he also uses the Soul Reaver blade, by joining two Soul Reaver, it creates a Time-Paradox powerful enough for "Warp and Bend Reality", and allows him to change his predetermined Fate. Because Raziel has free will, the Elder God and Moebius (Guardian of Time) cannot see Raziel in the Time-Stream, they can only see what possible paths he may take in the relatively distant future. It should be clarified that the Time-Stream allows the Elder God and Moebius to see literally whatever they want in the past, present and future, even other "paths" or possibilities in that timeline. Kain now also possessing free will, should also be the same as Raziel.
The Guardian of the Mind Powers[]
Descrption: The Mind guardian was charged with reigning over the limitless power of thought, consciousness, and emotion. Another of the Guardians of the Mind (Nupraptor the Mentalist), was described as having "Tricks of the mind, telepathy and telekinesis".
- Telepathy/Empathy/Mind Manipulation: As the Guardians of the Mind are wizards of "phenomenal mental and psychic ability", they are "Hypersensitive to emotions and thoughts" of other creatures, they are able to read the thoughts and feel the emotions of the people around them, it is worth mentioning that this ability is passive, as Nupraptor became unstable due to overexposure to other people's thoughts/emotions, so it is not something they can "deactivate". Of course they can also speak with their minds, and are able to sense the presence of the creatures around them: Nupraptor was able to sense and talk to Kain as soon as he entered his lair. As they "Reging over the power of thoughts, consciousness and emotion", they can not only sense the emotions/thoughts, they can also manipulate them. An example of this is when Nupraptor upon discovering that his wife Ariel was murdered, sent a physic attack all across Nosgoth, sending "waves of hate", infecting all the the guardians with his madness, including baby Kain. As for the "consciousness" part, it's hard to know if it refers to mind control or something else.
- Telekinesis: Nupraptor proved to be able to use Telekinesis at a decent level, being able to move multiple objects in multiple directions simultaneously, and without moving a muscle (although Kain can also use Telekinesis, he needs to move his hand to do so), and is powerful enough to tear humans apart.
- Illusion Creation: The Guardians proved to be able to create illusions, Nupraptor was able to create several rows of illusory psyche spheres. to attack Kain. The Original Mind Guardian has the ability "Mental Simulacrum", which allows him to create up to 4 clones of himself, it should be noted that the clones have the Guardian's abilities. Both the illusions of Nupraptor and the the Original Mind Guardian are powerful enough to do damage to their enemies (something that is repeated with other illutions).
The Guardian of Dimension Powers:[]
Description: The Dimension guardian was charged with controlling and defining the very boundaries, consistency, and form of space itself. As you can see the main ability of the Dimension Guardian is to have a very high control of the space, in fact the rest of his abilities are nothing more than sub-abilities of this power. In Blood Omen it was already seen and commented that the Circle of Nine had Space/Spatial Manipulation powers (being able to make a building far bigger inside than out), so this is not something new.
- Portal Creation and Summoning/Banishment: The Guardians can create portals and doors to other dimensions, specifically to summon creatures, it should be noted that the creatures are under the control of the Guardian. The portals should not only serve to summon creatures, but also send creatures to other dimensions and leave them trapped there.
Note: Although in Blood Omen 1 Kain says that "The Matriarch of Avernus, the Lady Azimuth: her magical planning skills summoned demons through runes inscribed in human blood.", does not mean that she can only summon demons by creating portals with blood and not naturally, after all as it says above, the Dimension guardian, has virtually absolute control of space, plus the Cenobites of Avernus (who are logically weaker than Azimuth on this specific subject of magic, since she is "The Matriarch of Avernus"), are able to summon Demons from the Demon realm to the Material realm at will, so it wouldn't make sense that she couldn't summon demons by her own means, and her followers could.
- Dimensional Travel and Dimensional Sight: Guardians are able to see other dimensions, as well as move between them at will. In Blood Omen the token Azimuth had (given by the pillar of dimensions), allowed to see other planes/dimensions, so this ability was already seen.
- Teleportation: They can Teleport very quickly.
- Multi-Teleportation and Damage Reflection: Considering that the "Dimension" fragment of Balance Emblem, connected to the Dimension principle, allows Kain to do a Multi-teleportation, allowing him to attack multiple enemies practically instantly, and reflect damage to nearby enemies (example of Teleportation and Damage Reflection), the Dimension Guardian should be able to use these abilities, to even a higher extent.
- Spatial Manipulation: The Guardian can "Control and defining the very boundaries, consistency, and form of space itself". The Dimension fragment is also called the "Space related-shard of the Balance Emblem" by the Legacy of Kain defiance script, which confirms again that the rest of powers that the dimension guardian shows during the games are sub-abilities of this power.
The Guardian of Conflict Powers[]
Description: The Conflict Guardian was charged with presiding over the principles of change and upheaval. This description doesn't say much about his abilities, but it does if we look at one of his powers:
- Empathic Manipulation: If we remember Kain's "Inspire Hate" spell that affects creatures with rage, making them attack each other, is directly related to the Pillar of Conflict, so they can use this ability, something confirmed by Daniel Cabuco, saying they can "incite or resolve Wars/Battle/Arguments", and the description says that they "presinding over the principles of change and upheal", so not only can they affect enemies with rage, but they can also do the opposite effect, making them calm down and stop fighting. The Flame shard from Balance Emblem, is able to make two statues animated by magic (that do not have feelings or a brain), fight each other, and as confirmed before, the power of that shard and the "Inspire Hate" spell are the same power, and as you can also see in the Inspire Hate video, it also works with non-brain things like shadows.
- Draw Energy from the Battle: As the Name says they can "Draw Energy from the Battle", this basically makes them have unlimited stamina, being able to fight and cast magic forever. As long as the Guardian fights (or other people around him), he/she will gain energy, therefore his stamina will remain the same or even recover more than what spends.
- Summon Shades: With the Spell "Call Shadows", the Guardian can summon Shades, to help him in battle, these creatures are made of "Dark cloud of Mist or Vapor", that do not have a physical form, being invulnerable to normal physical attacks, but magic or Telekinesis can damage them.
- Energy Projection and temporal invulnerability: The Guardians proved to be able to project energy in several ways: Multiple small projectiles in various directions, small projectiles that follow the enemy, the attack, "Discard Bolt" which in addition, protects him a magical aura, that makes him invulnerable while casting the spell. And a Massive Energy Wall.
The Guardian of Nature powers[]
Description: The Nature guardian was charged with governing over plants, animals, and all forms of natural life in Nosgoth. The Guardian of Nature is by far the Guardian with the most destructive power, and also possesses perhaps the most abilities (along with the Guardian of the States). His power goes beyond simply controlling some plants, he can control "Nature" in every sense of the word.
- Plant Manipulation: As the description says, the guardian rules over the plants, so he has absolute control over them, not only to manipulate them but also to give them life.
- Fungi Manipulation: The Guardian can manipulate Fungi (can control all forms of natural life), A fungus (plural: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.
- Tentacle Summoning: With the spell "Nature's Girp", the guardian can summon tentacles to aid him, these tentacles have a "massive strength", trapping the enemy and slowly taking away their health, and are able to move between the material and spectral planes at will. They are strong enough to make Kain and Raziel struggle to free themselves from their grip.
- Animal Manipulation: The Guardian govern over the Animals.
- Communication with Nature: The guardian is able to Communicate with Nature (plants, animals, etc), this would not only be useful to give them orders to do things, or ask for help, but the plants and animals could tell the guardian if there is danger or an enemy in the area.
- Biological Manipulation and Poison Manipulation: The Guardian can "Warp creatures Growth and Abilities", creating "New and weird forms of life for his own purposes", an example of this abilities are the creatures near the Dark Eden.
As Kain says, these creatures used to be human, and were warped. As seen in the video there are slug-like creatures that spit venom, and others with humanoid shape that project their body protrusions in all directions.
-Kain
From the dialogue, Kain seems to indicate that the creations are of a single person, and considering that since the original game, the Guardian of Nature could "influence" animals creating "new and weird forms of life", plus what Daniel said, everything seems to indicate that the Guardian of Nature created them. This ability could not only be used defensively (giving mutations to animals and other creatures to making them more powerful, or making them have new/better abilities), but it would also be very useful offensively, since it could deform the enemy, until he dies or cannot fight (this of course would allow him to defeat him almost instantly, ignoring his durability), and if an ability of this one is very problematic, he could warp it to make it useless, etc
- Elemental and Weather Manipulation: The Guardian can Manipulate the Elements and has "The Weather itself is at his behest".
Although it is never specified which elements it controls, knowing that it controls the weather, at the very least it can manipulate Electricity/Lightning, Water/Snow, Air and Fire by controlling the temperature.
Seeing another of his abilities (which is below), he also controls Earth as well as Lava (can summon eartquakes and volcanic eruptions). in general it is likely that the Guardian of Nature is able to control the fundamental Elements of Nosgoth: Air, Water/Ice, Earth, Fire, Light, and possibly Darkness, plus Lava. I do not count the Spirit element since it is formed by the souls of the Guardian Balance, and logically the Guardian of Nature would not have access to it.
Also keep in mind that Kain in Blood Omen has the "Light" spell that allows him to illuminate dark areas, taking into account that many of his powers in that game, are specific powers of the Guardians, it would not be strange that this is one of the elements that the Guardian controls.
If he can control the weather at will, he is able to create storms and summon lightning from the sky (just like the Guardian of Energy), control the wind, rain, the temperature, create fog, etc.
- Summon Natural Phenomena: The Guardian can Summon Natural Phenomenon for combat. This is one of those abilities that has many sub-powers and is what makes the Guardian the most powerful. It is not unusual for him to have this ability, seeing that he can control the elements, the weather and has control over nature. First of all, what is a Natural phenomena, as we have the following definition: "Natural phenomena are those that occur or manifest without human input". The most complete list of Natural phenomena I could find in wikipedia, and it includes the following: "Weather, fog, thunder, tornadoes; biological processes, decomposition, germination; physical processes, wave propagation, erosion; tidal flow, moonbow, blood moon and natural disasters such as electromagnetic pulses, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, midnight sun and polar night". I am going to focus on the Natural Disasters that are what Daniel likely thought when he said that ability, and they are the ones that have more senses. Since it can summon the phenomena "for combat", the guardian would be able to control both the magnitude and in which specific zone it would be summoned. This ability would allow to quickly defeat armies; or giant creatures, this because of the large area of effect that disasters have.
Natural Disasters list
The Guardian can summon the next Natural disasters:
- Avalanche: An avalanche (also called a snow slide) is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
- Blizzard: A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds of at least 56 km/h (35 mph) and lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or more. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and usually stretch to hundreds or thousands of kilometres.
- Drougths: An extended period when a region receives a deficiency in its water supply, whether atmospheric, surface or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days.
- Earthquake: An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, and wreak destruction across entire cities.
- Floods: A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry
- Hurricane/tropical cyclone: A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and/or squalls. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone
- Meteor: The Guardian should be able to summon meteors from space to the planet/place where it is located and cause massive damage.
- Storms: A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or in an astronomical body's atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical cyclone, windstorm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere as in a dust storm, blizzard, sandstorm, etc.
- Derecho – A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.
- Dust devil – A small, localized updraft of rising air.
- Dust storm – A situation in which winds pick up large quantities of sand or soil, greatly reducing visibility.
- Firestorm – Firestorms are conflagrations which attain such intensity that they create and sustain their own wind systems. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires. The Peshtigo Fire is one example of a firestorm. Firestorms can also be deliberate effects of targeted explosives, such as occurred as a result of the aerial bombings of Dresden. Nuclear detonations generate firestorms if high winds are not present.
- Hailstorm – A type of storm that precipitates round chunks of ice. Hailstorms usually occur during regular thunderstorms. While most of the hail that precipitates from the clouds is fairly small and virtually harmless, there are occasional occurrences of hail greater than 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter that can cause much damage and injuries.
- Ice storm – Ice storms are one of the most dangerous forms of winter storms. When surface temperatures are below freezing, but a thick layer of above-freezing air remains aloft, rain can fall into the freezing layer and freeze upon impact into a glaze of ice. In general, 8 millimetres (0.31 in) of accumulation is all that is required, especially in combination with breezy conditions, to start downing power lines as well as tree limbs. Ice storms also make unheated road surfaces too slick to drive upon. Ice storms can vary in time range from hours to days and can cripple small towns and large metropolitan cities alike.
- Microburst – A very powerful windstorm produced during a thunderstorm that only lasts a few minutes.
- Thunderstorm – A thunderstorm is a type of storm that generates both lightning and thunder. It is normally accompanied by heavy precipitation. Thunderstorms occur throughout the world, with the highest frequency in tropical rainforest regions where there are conditions of high humidity and temperature along with atmospheric instability. These storms occur when high levels of condensation form in a volume of unstable air that generates deep, rapid, upward motion in the atmosphere. The heat energy creates powerful rising air currents that swirl upwards to the tropopause. Cool descending air currents produce strong downdraughts below the storm. After the storm has spent its energy, the rising currents die away and downdraughts break up the cloud. Individual storm clouds can measure 2–10 km across.
- Wind storm – A storm marked by high wind with little or no precipitation. Windstorm damage often opens the door for massive amounts of water and debris to cause further damage to a structure. European windstorms and derechos are two type of windstorms. High wind is also the cause of sandstorms in dry climates.
- Tornado: A tornado is a violent, destructive whirlwind storm occurring on land. Usually its appearance is that of a dark, funnel-shaped cloud. Often tornadoes are preceded by or associated with thunderstorms and a wall cloud
- Tildal Wave/Tsunami: A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal ocean waves, which are generated by wind, or tides, which are generated by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun, a tsunami is generated by the displacement of water by a large event.
- Volcanic Eruption: A volcanic eruption occurs when magma is released from a volcano. Volcanic eruptions can be quite calm and effusive, or they can be explosive. Effusive eruptions produce lava flows, while explosive eruptions produce ash and pyroclastic density currents.
- Whirlpool: A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle
As you may recall, the Guardians affect the entire world of Nosgoth (which is like a supercontinent) with their powers (even a single Guardian), so the scale at which the Guardian of Nature can make/summon Natural disasters is massive, at least on the scale of multiple countries, likely on a Multi-Continental scale, since as I said before, it makes no sense that together their powers affect the entire world, but individually affect for example one city (even more so when each guardian has completely different powers) and like i said before, there are examples of a single guardian using his powers on the entire world.
Note: All natural disasters are related to some element or a variation of it: Tornado is Air, Earthquake is Earth, etc. so as I said it makes sense that he can summon them, being able to manipulate the elements.
The Guardian of Energy Powers[]
Description: The energy guardian's field of magical specialty is the harnessing and manipulation of energy. They ruled over the wild arching power that spawns the storm and sparks life itself.
- Energy Projection: The Guardian can project energy bolts to attack enemies.
- Objects Creation: The Guardian is able to manipulate Energy to give it a definite shape, this ability was seen when Dejoule created energy spheres, using them to defend himself, likely they can create other objects.
- Lightning Manipulation: As I demonstrated above, Kain's "Lightning" spell in Blood Omen 1, is an ability of the Energy pillar, so the Guardian must have it (and as we commented before it would be at least over x3 times (likely over x7 times) more powerful than the one shown by Kain), Kain using it was able to disintegrate a Red Demons with two attacks (Red Demons have at least Town level durability, likely around Island level scaling from Elder Kain. A vaiant less powerful/Small was able to resist the Strikes of Wraith Raziel after absorbing the power of 4 of his 5 brothers, having at least a Town level power) likewise the Guardian has the ability "Sky Fury" that allows him to project Lightning from his fingers, being "difficult to dodge due to its speed", which would indicate that it is real Lightning speed from the sky, more if we take into account that the guardian "rule over the wild arching power that spawns the storm", and that there are already creatures that can attack and move "as fast as lightning bolt from the sky".
- Damage Transferal: "Using its contrast over the omnipresent surges of energy, this Guardian can imbue its own body or the bodies of its allies with a shocking force. Any physical attack upon the effected target while in this state will cause just as much damage back upon the attacker."
- Limited Techology Manipulation: The guardian has the ability to draw energy and manipulate it to power objects/devices.
- Aura: The Guardian can surround his body with a special aura: "This magical aura has an insidious effect on anybody standing nearby - sapping their energy and blistering their skin, sterilizing cells, etc." Basically if a creature is close to the guardian, its energy will start to weaken/decrease and the cells will start to die, in short if someone stays close to the guardian for a long time, it could even die, this makes the guardian extremely difficult to fight melee (unless you are a creature with unlimited energy and does not need cells to live).
The Guardian of Time Powers[]
Description: They were charged with keeping the flowing currents and movements of time in check.
- Time Manipulation: Time Guardians can "Bend Time", they are able to slow down time and speed up time, this can be done in area or with a specific enemy (as shown by Moebius in his fight against Kain or Kain himself using the "Time" fragment when hitting enemies). Time Guardians should be able to slow down or speed up time up to at least more than 1/16 times his normal speed, likely over 28 times (As explained before, Kain as Balance Guardian can reduce the speed of the enemy by 1/4 of his normal speed, and even after being purified with the souls of the Balance Guardians prior to him {that are at least 3, likely 7}, he still cannot use the powers to the same extent as a pure guardian, which means that the Guardian could slow down/speed up time by more than 1/16 (low-end) or 1/28 (high-end) of his normal speed). Kain in Blood Omen has the spell "Incapacitate" which freezes enemies in time, and is cast in the same way as the spell Moebius uses against Kain, so they should also be able to use it (of coure much more powerful). Also as Time Guardians "keep in check the movements of time", and if they keep the movement of time under control, and have shown themselves capable of speeding it up and slowing it down, they should also be able to stop it, in a specific person (like the incapacitate spell), and probably in an area.
Note: Although the original Guardian's time manipulation only lasts about 5 seconds in Defiance, Kain using the same power can use it for over twice as long being a Balance Guardian, and with the "time" fragment of the Balance Emblem, which would only have a fraction of the pillars power, can slow down time for over 15 seconds, so that makes no sense, so it's probably done this way to balance the boss fight.
- Nigh-Omnisciense (Retrocognition/Clairvoyance/Precognition): The Guardian of Time is able to see the Time-Stream, which grant them "a certain level of Omniscience". The Time Stream allows them to see anything the guardian wants, whether in the past present or future, including other paths/possibilities in that timeline. As the only limitation, they cannot see what someone with free will, such as Raziel, is doing, although they can see the possible "paths" that person might take. Still keep in mind that Wraith Raziel is the only person with free will in Legacy of Kain, and the only other way to change history/fate is literally Reality Waping, so the Guardian should be able to see every creature (including other verses), unless that creature has resistance to Clairvoyance, Precognition, etc.
Note: Although Daniel Cabuco has said that the Guardian of Time can only see the Time-Stream through the Chronoplast, and not in a natural way, the truth is that this contradicts one of the guides: It is said that The Original Guardian of Time, "Keep in check, the flowings currents of time", Amy Henning a confirmed that the Chronoplast was created by Moebius, and the Chronoplast had some portals, that Raziel was able to see the past, and possible future events, seeing the "currents of time itself", something also confirmed by developers. So the original Time Guardian could not see the Time-Stream in the Chronoplast, because it did not exist, but it is possibly that the Chronoplast improves the Time-Stream guardian's vision, either by letting him see things more clearly, in a more distant time span or allows to see the multiples paths of time. Although going mad to see the Chronoplast/Time-Stream was something that Kain said, and Daniel, confirmed several times. Besides that as seen in Blood Omen, Moebius showed the Time-Stream to Kain using a cauldron, and although the Cauldron is close to the chronoplast (since it is Moebius' lair), it is not the same, thus confirming that he can see it elsewhere. also the Guardians in the intro of Blood Omen, were watching the Time-Stream through the "Viewing basin", which is the same that Moebius uses to show Raziel where Kain is, and of course, this room is not the chronoplast either.
- Time-Travel and Limited Space-Time Manipulation: Time Guadians have "Control over time travel", as seen with Moebius, they can create time travel machines, either small ones, specific rooms for that, or the Chronoplast, which not only allows to travel to the past or future like the others, but the person who travels in it, can choose where exactly he wants to go (basically a limited form of space-time manipulation). Moebius also showed the ability to intercept people who are traveling in time, being able to bring them to where he wants (Raziel should have gone to the pillars which is where Kain had gone). When Amy Henning was asked (among other things) if the Guardians can travel in time at will, she said that "None of this has been revealed yet", giving the possibility that they can travel in time at will.
- Summoning/Illusions from the past, present and future: Moebius in his combat against Kain, summoned warriors from the past, present and even "a future version of Kain". The first warriors are creatures with blue blood, in Blood Omen the creatures that have blue blood are ghosts, although these are physical/tangible, in fact Malek the Conflict Guardian, created machines that allowed him to attach the souls of fallen soldiers to their armors, in fact seeing the armors and comparing them with the Sarafan that Malek has as soldiers, they seem to be Sarafan, so it is probable that he did something similar to what Malek did. The second one is clearly a normal human. Kain can be seen that when he is destroyed is made of sand, i. e was an illusion, even so, as all illusions in Legacy of Kain (shown by the Mind Guardian) does physical damage, it is also likely that the illusion has the powers of the person who summons, as the illusion seems to teleport as the Elder Kain, so it is possible that although it is an illusion, the Guardian is able to summon a future version of his enemy with his powers, but not his physical durability/strength.
The Guardian of States powers[]
Description: They were charged with presiding over the shapes and forms of all physical matter.
The definition of matter is any substance that has mass and occupies Space by having volume. Basically everything is matter, except energy, which has no mass.
As the description says, the guardian is able to control the shape and state/form of all physical matter at will, manipulating his environment at will by giving it the shape he wants, whether to attack, defend himself or even create weapons and objects by reshaping matter. He is also able to change the state of matter to any of the 4 phases at will, something confirmed in Blood Omen.
The states of matter are four; Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma, and each state change has a specific name.
The Guardian is also able to "Warp the states (of matter) to make them different", such as transforming the ground into lava, etc. Basically they can transmute matter at will. This ability was shown in the games as i will shown later.
Of course by "Presinding over the shape and form/state of all physical matter", he can also affect living beings, including himself or other creatures.
If someone asks if this power has been used on living beings, besides the fact that living things are also made of matter (as they also has mass and volume) the answer is yes, Anacrothe the Alchemist Guardian of the states attacked with a transmutation projectile to kill Mortanius the Necromancer - Guardian of Death (who is the most powerful Guardian), but Mortanius was able to resist it, to immediately after kill Anacrothe, so we do not know what effect the attack had, but we know that it can be used with living beings, and the Guardian is able to affect its own body.
This Guardian could do one-shoot in many different ways, such as transforming a person's blood into lava or acid, evaporating his body thus disintegrating it, turning a creature into stone and destroying it, remove the Oxygen of the Blood, etc.
I took most of the descriptions from Superpowerwiki/powerlisting, as they are probably better explained than if I wrote them myself, although I eliminated things that a guardian might not be able to do or are redundant.
- Condensation: The guardian can condense gases into liquids, changing their state of matter from gas to liquids. This is how rain happens when it gets cold in the sky where the clouds are.
- Constructs Creation: The guardian can shape matter, into tools, objects, weapons and other items, or create structures/buildings of varying permanence.
- Deionization: The guardian can deionize atoms and molecules, which can be caused by simply cooling down plasma and ions into gases. Basically Allows create Air and Gas.
- Evaporation (Sublimation/Vaporation): The Guardian cause objects, including themselves and/or other beings, atoms separate and lose cohesion, "evaporating" into the surrounding environment. They can either fuse target back together or sublimate target by fatally dispersing the atoms/molecules into nothingness. During the process of vaporization and fusing, target may move to a new location.
- Disintegration: By evaporating something/someone that thing is effectively desintegrated.
- Gas Manipulation: The Guardian can create, shape and manipulate anything that is Gaseous (Air, Oxygen, Neon, Carbon Dioxide, Vapor, Nitrogen, Chlorine, Hydrogen, Helium, Smoke etc), a phase of matter characterized by relatively low density, high fluidity/no definite shape, and lack of rigidity. Gas is very compressible but tends to expand indefinitely, and it fills any container.A small change in temperature or pressure produces a substantial change in its volume. The uses of this ability range from creating gas to camouflage to creating poison.
- Explosion Inducement (creating flammable gases): Can cause an explosion in a variety of ways and of any scale, with varying effects ranging from stunning to total annihilation.
- Fire Negation: The guardian can negate fire and any fire-using attacks (by manipulating oxygen gases required to make fire)
- Ionization: The guardian can ionize different types of atoms and molecules, which can be caused by simply heating up air/gas, electrical activity, or changes in the air's electric fields, etc. In other words, the user can create plasma that they can use as an ionized air channel/medium for to allow electric current to flow through, thereby creating electricity. They can tap into a variety of different energies, even cause certain ionization to produce positive electricity.
- Discharge: The guardian can control the flow of electric charge through a gas, liquid or solid and other matters. Properties and effects of electric discharges are useful over a wide range of magnitudes. Tiny pulses of current are used to detect ionizing radiation. The user can release large quantities of electrical energies in radius wise to cause massive damage. The guardian can also formulate a current as to how the electrical energy flows and guide it as to where the user desires.
- Electricity Generation: The guardian can generate electricity.
- Liquid Manipulation: The Guardian can shape and manipulate anything that is Liquid (Water, Blood, Mercury, Acids, Lava, Milk, Oil, etc), the only state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter, such as atoms and molecules, held together by intermolecular bonds. Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container, but unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly constant density. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. A distinctive property of the liquid state is surface tension, leading to wetting phenomena.
- Viscosity Manipulation: The Guardian can manipulate viscosity: the resistance of fluids to a change shape, influencing spraying, injection molding, and surface coating
- Melting: The Guardian can liquefy objects/organisms by causing the molecules to merge together and thus lose total physical cohesion. Viscosity depends on the object being liquified, if it has a high water content then the object could become completely water-like liquid. If the object is rock-like or inorganic, then it will become a thick and mud-like liquid, while metal would become like mercury.
- Ground Liquefaction: The Guardian is able to liquefy any ground type (such as ice, rock, sand, lava, etc.)
- Plasma Manipulation: The Guardian can shape and manipulate Plasma, a state of matter consisting of fully ionized gas of low density containing an approximately equal number of positive ions and electrons. It is important to note that although they are unbound, these particles are not ‘free’. When the charges move they generate electrical currents with magnetic fields, and as a result, they are affected by each other’s fields.
- Density Manipulation: The Guardian can manipulate density, which is defined as mass per unit of volume. This allows him to alter solidity, change the size of substances, create or destroy matter/mass in a volume, change inertial resistance (mass), make things intangible, either strengthen or weaken gravity, concentrate or expand matter, or create pressure differences in a fluid (gas, liquid, plasma) to induce a current and possibly use it to move solids.
- Solid Manipulation: The Guardian can shape and manipulate anything that is Solid (Concrete, Crystal, Dust, Glass, Metals, Minerals, Sand, Wood, Snow, etc), characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. The atoms in a solid matter are tightly bound to each other, either in a regular geometric lattice (crystalline solids, which include metals and ordinary water ice) or irregularly (an amorphous solid such as common window glass).
- Semisolid Manipulation: The Guardian can shape and manipulate semisolids, semisolid-like object constructs as well as being able to generate or reshape semisolids.
- Solidification: The Guardian can solidify or give solid-like properties to of Liquid (Freezing), Gas (Deposition), and plasma or other form of matter by causing the loose molecules/particles/energy to come together, with the level of solidity going from loose jelly to metal-like hardness or beyond.
- Intangibility Negation: Being able to change the physical state of matter by solidifying it, the guardian would be able to "deactivate", so to speak, the intangibility of enemies, either elemental (such as water or mist as the guardian himself uses, etc.) or intangibility in the form of a ghost, since the guardian proved to be able to use his powers on himself, being a ghost (as shown below).
- Shapeshifting: As we saw previously the transformations of bats, and Kain's wolf in Blood Omen, are powers of the Pillar of States, the Guardian is also able to transform into mist (Gaseous state), and likely, they are able to change their body between the 4 states (Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma), as well as transform/shape their body to practically any physical form, as they can control the physical shape and state of their body at will, basically the guardian would be able to transform into anything, be it an object, creature, etc. As we know they are also able to warp matter to make it different (i.e. Transmutation), so besides being able to transform into different creatures or objects, the guardian is able to modify those forms to give them new effects (for example they transform into water, and then warp that form into blood/lava or transform into a poisonous gas, change their body to be made of steel, etc). This was already seen with his Mist Form:
- Quiesent Transformation: "This spell transforms the Guardian into mist, making him invulnerable to attack" as you can see in the video, the guardian can transform as many times as he wants almost instantly, even while being attacked, and as he warp his Mist Form into his "Dash Mode" and wraps Raziel in it, he very slowly start to absorb his life energy. Raziel is not able to touch the Guardian using the Wraith Blade, even after projecting an energy blast, being in the middle of the guardian, the same was not affected, it is worth mentioning that Raziel is capable of damaging other beings with elemental intangibility such as the Shades, and this mist form is intangible to the Wraith Blade which is magical (unlike Kain's mist form which is intangible to physical attacks but affected by magic). Basically even if you can attack other elemental intangible beings as Raziel can, you cannot harm the guardian in this form, the only way to damage the guardian in this form, would be if you are able to damage beings that have been shown to be immune to attacks that can affect other intangible beings or abilities like Spatial Manipulation or Reality Warping. Also keep in mind that the Guardian is able to de-transform practically instantly, this would avoid traps or attacks that can absorb its mist form.
- Matter Transmutation: The States guardian can warp matter to make it different.
Daniel Cabuco's statement that States Guardians can "Warp the States (of Matter), to make them different", has been seen in the games, either with the ability "Quiesent Transformation", with which the guardian transforms into mist and "warp" that state/form to immobilize Wraith Raziel and absorb his vitality or life-energy, or as shown here, Anacrothe was able to transmute the ground to transform it into lava (which is in fact the example Daniel said), so this ability is 100% confirmed.
This ability would be extremely useful, transforming for example wood or earth into steel to make objects much more resistant, or the opposite effect transforming armor/weapons of enemies into more fragile materials, transforming water into lava/acid to attack enemies with it or transforming the water/blood of his body, eliminating enemies from inside, creating poisonous gases, etc. It would also be extremely useful for a vampire like Kain, as he could turn the water he creates or is near, into blood to recover energy if he is seriously injured, or to avoid large amounts of water. And surely many more uses.
- Petrification: As the Guardian can transmutate matter should be able to transform matter, including living beings, into stone.
- Non-Physical Interaction: As seen with the original Guardian of the States, the Guardians of the States are able to affect ghosts with their matter Manipulation, as the Guardian was able to change his physical state (transforming into mist), despite being a "spectre".
The Guardian of Death powers[]
Description: Death Guardians held mastery over the afterlife. They were charged with helping to ensure equivalency between life and rebirth
- Necromancy: Death Guardians are skilled in manipulating the art of death (i.e. Necromancy, even Mortanius has the nickname of the Necromancer). They have shown various uses for this ability:
- Summon Undead: Mortanius was able to summon skeleton warriors, exploding skeletons, shadow summoners, ghosts and shadows.
- Soul Manipulation: As Kain confirmed, the "Spirit Death" spell that launches a projectile that upon impact removes the enemy's soul, instantly killing him, "is worthy of the Necromancer himself" (Mortanius). Mortanius was also able to remove the soul from Malek's body (and destroying his physical body in the process leaving only his bones), and fuse it with his armor, to the point that if the armor separates, Malek is able to put the pieces together and reassemble himself.
- Resurrection and Self-Resurrection: As Guardian of Death Mortanius is able to resurrect people as he did with Kain (although he needed the heart of darkness to transform him into a Vampire), he also showed to be able to resurrect himself, if his physical body is destroyed (turn into dust and a puddle of blood), in a few seconds he is able to create another one and appear wherever he wants, he can do it at least twice before succumbing to the possession of the Hylden Lord (below is the explanation that surely he can do it many more times), but his body is weakened.
- Hell-Fire Manipulation: Mortanius reforged Kain's iron armor with Hellfire.
- Dimensional Travel: Mortanius as the Guardian of Death can move freely between the material plane and the spectral plane (the realm of the dead).
Note: Keep in mind that Mortanius, the only Guardian of Death who has shown his powers during the fight with Kain, was being possessed by another entity (the Hylden Lord), and minutes before the fight against Kain, that entity confirmed that Mortanius was extremely weakened, so the scale/power of his abilities should be much higher than those shown (e.g. summoning much more undead creatures, being able to resurrect more times, etc).
Other Powers[]
- Transmutation: As I mentioned before, 3 Guardians (Bane, Guardian of Nature, DeJoule Guardian of Energy and Anacrothe, Guardian of the States) joined their powers, and created an energy dome the size of a mountain, which was to grow until it consumed all of Nosgoth. The dome: "Absorbed and recreated, consuming life and leaving behind only twisted parody", creating mutants and "Shape the Land", transforming the ground into lava, even the weather was warped, creating a rain of fire. Clearly you can see the power of the 3 Guardians in this, Dejoule being the one who creates the energy dome, and as we saw before, the Guardian of Nature is able to warp living beings and life in general at will (that would be the part of "Consuming life, and leaving behind only a twisted parody") and the Guardian of the states is able to transmute matter (that's where "Shape the land" comes from).
The important thing about this is that we know that the Guardians are able to combine their powers, and this opens the door for Kain as Scion of Balance, being able to use the powers of the Guardians can also combine them, and for example replicate this feat (on a smaller scale) or even combine other powers, another example would be the following:
- Space-Time Manipulation: Combining the Dimension Guardian (Space Manipulation) and Time Guardian (Time Manipulation) powers, they/Kain should be able to manipulate Space-Time itself, and as i show before, Moebius alredy was able to create the Chronoplast, that allows one to travel through Time and Space. So by combining the powers of these two guardians, Kain/they should have much greater control over Space-Time.
- Possibly more powers: It is likely that Kain and/or other Guardians can combine their powers to have different effects or even create new ones, but the latter is totally speculative.
References[]
I will put the references in the order the scans are written/shown in the blog (First the Circle of Nine in general, then Kain as Scion of Balance and finally each guardian individually).
- The Circle of Nine affecting all Nosgoth with his Powers:
- Balance Guardian influencing all Magic of Nosgoth, and The Círcle of Nine maintaining the order of magical power in the world ("Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies).
- Ariel: "The Nine of the Protectors of Hope were sworn to use their powers to preserve our world". (Blood Omen 1)
- Anarcrothe: "Failed our duties? Idiot! The Circle exists for us, we don’t exist for it! Our powers will save or damn Nosgoth at our whim!" (Blood Omen 1)
- Guardian of Balance powers
- "Ariel was the last incarnation of Balance, her magic influence the regulation of the other magic in Nosgoth" ("Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies).
- Being able to use the powers/magic of the other Guardians/Circle members
- "Of course, what also makes Kain an imposing and memorable character is his weapon, the Reaver, and the power with which he wields it. This time around, Raziel continues to align his Soul Reaver with elemental affinities (water, fire, and other traditional elements) to gain new power. However, in Defiance, Kain gains different abilities for his Reaver in the form of spells earned by completing a vampire relic destined for the Balance Guardian. In homage to Blood Omen 1, some of these spell abilities have been salvaged and updated into 3D from the original game" By Kyle Mannerberg at GameStop (Archived)
- The Balance Emblem as Kyle confirms is made for the Balance Guardian to use, and the different shards are related to the principles of the pillars as confirmed by the names (Dimension, Time and obviously Balance, also the Debug mode of Legacy of Kain Defiance confirms that all the shards are related to a principle), he also confirms that some of the emblem's abilities are the same powers that Kain used in Blood Omen 1, that is to say guardian powers (More specifically the Lightning, Inspire Hate and Slow Time spells, are the same as in their respective shard: Lightning, Flame, and Time respectively). In addition, as you will see, Kain also used other guardian powers in Blood Omen 1.
- "The Balance Guardian is different from the other Guardians -- he/she is the hub, the still point around which all the other Pillars principles turn. As such, the Balance Guardian does not have a traditional binding item. The Balance Guardian's very soul is the thing which binds him/her to the Pillar." By Amy Henning at Eidos Forum.
- "Reaching infinitely into the sky and deep into the earth, the Pillars are a manifestation of the mysterious power that preserves and gives life to the land. The nine ancient Pillars represent the principles of Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death, and - at the center, binding them all together - Balance." By Éxitos Forum
- Guardian of Mind Powers:
- "The Original Vampire Guardian of Mind reigning over the limitless power of Thought, Consciousness and Emotion", and being able to create illusions/duplicates (Legacy of Kain Defiance Prima Official Guide, page 52)
- Nupaptor begin "A magician of phenomenal mental and psychic ability", using his mental powers across all Nosgoth and Passively Mind/Emotion Reading. (Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies). (Archived)
- Nupaptor affecting the Mind of the other Guardians:
- "Ariel's murder drives her beloved, Nupaptor (Pillar of the Mind) insane with grief. In his agony he unleashes a telepathic assault which ripples across the land of Nosgoth, infecting the other members of the Circle (who are simbiotically connected) with his Madness" (Legacy of Kain: Funk Soul Brother (Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine)
- Kain: "At the moment of my first cry, Ariel’s beloved – the Guardian Nupraptor – finds her corpse. Wracked with grief and tormented by suspicions of treachery, Nupraptor plunges into a madness which overflows and infects all of the Guardians, who are symbiotically bound. Including me. The repercussions of Ariel’s assassination were expertly calculated...The entire Circle descends into madness, and I am tainted at the moment of my birth - instantly rendered incapable of fulfilling the role destiny has prepared for me" (Soul Reaver 2)
- Kain: "The Mentalist Nupraptor was renowned through Nosgoth for his tricks of the mind, telepathy and telekinesis" (Blood Omen 1)
- Guardian of Dimension powers
- "This specter, the original Vampire Guardian of Dimension, long ago served the Pillars by controlling and defining the very boundaries, consistency and form of space itself". (Legacy of Kain Defiance prima official guide, page 52)
- Kain: "The surface of the castle belied its interior; for it was far larger inside than out. With the powers the Circle had at its disposal, ‘twould have been simple to distort space to accommodate this strange structure" (Blood Omen 1)
- Dimension Guardian being able to create portals and doors to other dimensions to summon creatures (Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies). (Archived)
- Dimension Guardian ability to Move between and See, others Dimensions ("Many Questions" by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing).
- Balance Emblem, Dimension fragment: Ability to Teleport and Reflect Damage. (Legacy of Kain Defiance prima official guide, page 18)
- Guardian of Conflict powers
- "This specter once presided over the principles of change and upheaval as the original Vampire Guardian of Conflict". (Legacy of Kain Defiance prima guide, page 48)
- Call Shadows – This is a summoning spell where the Guardian will call forth Shades for assistance. As the Guardian takes damage, the number of Shades it creates will increase.
- Discord Bolt – The Guardian is invulnerable when casting these single seeking projectiles.
- Ability to "Incite or resolve Wars/Battles/Arguments and Draw Energy from the Battle" (Many Questions" by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing).
- The symbol from Kain's spell Inspire Hate and the original of the pillar of Conflict, are the same.
- "This specter once presided over the principles of change and upheaval as the original Vampire Guardian of Conflict". (Legacy of Kain Defiance prima guide, page 48)
- Nature Guardian powers
- "Once governing the plants, animals and all forms of natural life in Nosgoth, this specter served as the original Vampire Guardian of Nature", and the ability to summon Tentacles. (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 48)
- Nature Guardian animating Plants and Influencing Animals, creating "New and weirds forms of life", being able to manipulate the Elements and control the Weather. (Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies). (Archived)
- Ability of the Guardian of Nature to influence and communicate with nature, warp creatures growth and abilities. Ability to summon natural phenomena for combat. ("Many Questions" by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing).
- Guardian of Energy powers
- Energy Manipulation and Magical Aura: "Dejoule is a woman of duplicity. Her field of magical specialty is the harnessing and manipulation of energy. This practice has, over the years, altered her physical makeup somewhat. Her body glows with an intense blue light, constantly caressed by tongues of flickering energy. This magical aura has an insidious effect on anybody standing nearby - sapping their energy and blistering their skin, sterilizing cells, etc. Because of this, Dejoule wears a heavy robe lined with insulating fabric which contains her magic. When forced to fight, she'll rip her robe off and let the energy shine through... In this form, she is nothing more than a glowing humanoid female shape, with sparks and arcs of energy whipping around her." (Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies). (Archived)
- Energy Guardian Lightning/Storm manipulation and Physical Damage Transferal: "Centuries ago this specter served in life as the Vampire Guardian of Energy, who ruled over the wild arching power that spawns the storm and sparks life itself". (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 72)
- Sky Fury – "This spell is its only form of direct attack. This spell calls lightning from its fingertips to blast in your direction. This is a fairly hard projectile to dodge due to its speed. Fortunately, it takes a long time to cast."
- Tempest’s Cloak – Using its control over the omnipresent surges of energy, this Guardian can imbue its own body or the bodies of its allies with a shocking force. Any physical attack upon the effected target while in this state will cause just as much damage back upon the attacker."
- Ability to draw energy and manipulate it to power objects/devices ("Many Questions" by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing).
- Guardian of Time powers
- "The flowing currents and shifting movements of time were kept in check long ago by the original Vampire Guardian of Time." (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 72)
- Time Manipulation:
- Raziel: "The Oracle’s Cave, where Kain’s first fateful meeting with Moebius occurred. Moebius played the role of a doddering soothsayer, stirring his pot of visions while dispensing enigmatic predictions to gullible visitors. Underneath the facade was Moebius the Time Streamer, sorcerer of the Circle of Nine - a ruthless manipulator with the power to bend time." (Soul Reaver 1)
- "Moebius is one of the most ancient members of the Circle of Nine, the oligarchy of sorcerers sworn to serve and protect the Pillars of Nosgoth. Moebius—also known as the Time Streamer—serves as Guardian of the Pillar of Time, a role that grants him the power to bend time and manipulate history". (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 8)
- Nigh-Omiscience/Ability to see the Time-Stream
- Moebius: "My role as Time Guardian affords me a certain level of Omniscience, Raziel. No, you don't kill me. That honor belongs to your maker, Kain, some thirty years from now." (Moebius, Soul Reaver 2)
- Kain: "When I first stole into this chamber, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of knowledge. To know the future, Raziel – to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite... As a man, I could never have contained such forbidden truths. But each of us is so much more than we once were." (Kain Soul Reaver 1 ending/Soul Reaver 2 intro)
- Kain: "Yet Raziel retains his free will. And that's what frightens you, isn't it, Moebius. You cannot see his path, and so you cannot control it." Moebius: "And neither can you. Yes, Raziel is shrouded from us, but we see the ripples of his potential actions. And every path he might choose leads to the same outcome: He will kill you, Kain." (Legacy of Kain Defiance)
- Moebius: "Poor, deluded Raziel... did you somehow imagine you had the guile to change history on me? I’m the Time-Streamer – I knew your every intention before you did, you imbecile". (Soul Reaver 2)
- "Moebius had washed out eyes because he sees the time stream." (Various Art and plot question at DCabdesing by Daniel Cabuco) (Archived)
- "I imagine Raziel and the reaver as the center of the loofah, while all the branches are what you can do around it (still trapped in loops or destiny). Now imagine every time Raz and the reaver get together, a whole new loofah branches off that moment fractally. That's why it takes an advanced mind to look into the choronoplast. It can show you what you want to see if you know where to look.. but you have to sort through a LOT of data. Normal men would go mad" (The Paradox Paradox at DCabdesing by Daniel Cabuco)
- " In the depths of Moebius’ time-streaming apparatus, Raziel discovers a series of portals displaying scenes of past and apparently future events. As he descends, passing these various scenes, he reflects on the images confronting him." (Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver official in game script, page 35)
- Moebius showing him with the Time Stream to a young Kain, Vorador's combat against Malek, and Malek having his soul fused to his armor (500 years in the past). The legions of the Nemesis and King Otmar (present). Where Vorador Lives (Present) (Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 1)
- Time Travel and Space-Time Powers
- "Moebius is an intensely devious and conniving sorceror. Not many of the Circle trust him, despite the fact that he has maintained his post for many years. His power stems from his control over time travel, and its use in forecasting history." (Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", Characters Biographies). (Archived)
- Ariel: "Well done. You have found Moebius's toy. Azimuth, not content with summoning demonic thrall, stole the Time Streaming Device in order to gather creatures from other ages as well. Take care of the device, Kain. It will deliver you in time. (Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain)
- Time Travel: "Moebius the Time Streamer - an ancient human sorcerer gifted with the power to bend time - constructed Time Streaming Devices to travel to various ages of Nosgoth's history." (Soul Reaver manual page 34)
- "Soul Reaver 2 picks up where we left off. Raziel, against the Elder God's admonition, has jumped through the portal after Kain. The portal itself is part of the Chronoplast, a giant time machine that was constructed by Moebius—remember him from Blood Omen?" Amy Henning (Legacy of Kain: Funk Soul Brother (Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine)
- "Raziel has leapt through the Chronoplast portal in pursuit of Kain – fueled only by blind rage and a desire for revenge. He appears in a different time and place – in the depths of the Sarafan Stronghold, in one of Moebius’s time-streaming devices" (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 official script, page 1)
- Moebius: "Even now, Kain is lying in wait for you, unaware that I’ve snatched you out of the time-stream and brought you here, to me. See how he lingers at the very Pillars he is destined to destroy...foolishly confident that he has eluded your grasp." (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver official script page 4)
- Guardian of States powers
- "The shapes and forms of all physical matter were once presided over by the original Vampire Guardian of States who now rests within a tomb within the Vampire Citadel. (Legacy of Kain: Defiance official prima guide page 65)
- Quiescent Transformation – This spell turns the Guardian into mist, making him invulnerable to attack. In this form he has a Dash Attack that if it hits will envelop you and hold you in place."
- The Wolf and Bat forms of Kain in Blood Omen 1 are transformations of the guardian of the state.
- State Guardian Ability to transition between states like solid, gaseous and liquid. Can warp the states to make them different (Earth to liquid becomes lava, etc.) ("Many Questions" by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing).
- "The shapes and forms of all physical matter were once presided over by the original Vampire Guardian of States who now rests within a tomb within the Vampire Citadel. (Legacy of Kain: Defiance official prima guide page 65)
- Guardian of Death powers
- "This original vampire Guardian who helped to ensure the balance of life and rebirth long ago served the reverend Principle of Death". (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 65)
- Kain "Tis a spell worthy of the Necromancer himself. This allows me to dissect a creature's soul from its vessel of flesh. For these poor wretches, only oblivion awaits" (Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain)
- "As it was borne from hellfire, forged by the Necromancer's magic, my armor resists fire and provides me with strong defense."
- The nick name of Mortanius (Guardian of Death) is "Mortanius the Necromancer".
- "This original vampire Guardian who helped to ensure the balance of life and rebirth long ago served the reverend Principle of Death". (Legacy of Kain Defiance official prima guide, page 65)
- Kain Being Purified:
- Legacy of Kain Defiance
- Legacy of Kain Defiance Script page 104
- 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. - Jennifer Fernández and Kyle Mannerberg at Eidos Forum.
- Scion of Balance being able to use other guardians powers:
- Kain/Scion of Balance Immortality
- Kain: "You are not the only one at risk. I may carry the instrument of your destruction, but I, too, have taken a chance in coming here. Or haven't you realized -- you bear the only weapon that can kill me". Raziel summons the wraith blade. Legacy of Kain Defiance game Script page 72.
- "How can Kain survive without the Heart of Darkness?" "His nature as the Scion of Balance allows him to survive". - Amy Henning. "Question and Answer with Amy Hennig" by Ben Lincoln at Lost World.
- " Kain, as the embodiment of the Scion of Balance can only be killed by the Soul Reaver, which would pull his soul out with or without a link. (Thank goodness Raziel used a claw instead of his wraith blade). - Daniel Cabuco. "The Elder God, Moebius and Kain questions!" at DCabDesing.
- "Kain, as the Scion of Balance, tied to the pillars, could only be killed by the Soul Reaver. (Pillars are the lock, the Reaver is the key). Kain's death by the Soul Reaver would have shattered the last remaining pillar, thus unleashing the Hylden. He was just damn lucky Raziel wanted the Heart of Darkness and grabbed it with his claw instead of stabbing him with the Soul Reaver. Kain can suffer, be damaged, incapacitated, contained and forced to decompose to bats, but not killed" - Daniel Cabuco. Post: "The Elder God, Moebius and Kain questions!" at DCabDesing.
- JANOS AUDRON: "The Binding must be secured, Raziel. The Pillars are the lock" – RAZIEL (completing the thought) - "and the Reaver is the key". JANOS (pleased) "Yes". Soul Reaver 2 script page 69.
- "The Reaver is the key by which, depending which way it is used, can seal or sunder the pillars. It can kill Kain, sundering the Pillars, or purify him, allowing the new guardians to be born." - Daniel Cabuco. Post "The Reaver final purpose" at DCabDesing
- "Also, since you said only the reaver can kill Kain, does that make Kain somewhat undefeatable in general by any foe he may come up against unless they use the reaver? Or does it literally have to be the wraith blade?". "Yeah Kain wouldn't die to the Blood Reaver, only the Soul Reaver (sword with Raziel in it) or Raziel's Wraith Blade (Raziel x Raziel"] - Daniel Cabuco. Post: "The Elder God, Moebius and Kain questions!" at DCabDesing.
- "One thing to remember, the Pillars aren't completely destroyed as long as a single guardian exists (thus the binding holds). And Kain can't be killed except by the Reaver. (one of the reasons the Reaver is the Key)" - Daniel Cabuco. Post: "The Hylden's Plan" at DCabDesing
- "Once Kain was a vampire, remember the only thing that can kill him is the Soul Reaver, which meant Moebius or some champion of Elder God would have had to wield the Soul Reaver and beat him in physical combat." - Daniel Cabuco. Post: "Kain Soul and the Pillars" at DCabDesing.
- "The only thing that can permanently kill Kain is the Reaver which pulls souls out of the body." - Daniel Cabuco. Post: "The Heart of Darkness" at DCabDesing.
- [https://archive.org/details/legacy-of-kain-defiance-manual/page/n19/mode/1up Both Raziel and Kain are immortal, and
cannot be killed by ordinary means. But if they fail to feed, or are wounded too grievously, they are forced to dematerialize and suffer a setback. Kain bursts into a swarm of bats, re-forming at his last checkpoint. Raziel becomes dissolute and is swept back to his last checkpoint in the Spectral Realm] -Legacy of Kain Defiance manual.
- ↑ Blood Omen 2 page 58
- ↑ [https://archive.org/details/the-ancient-vampires-creating-the-pillars-of-nosgoth-to-sell-the-hylden The Ancients Vampires creating the pillars of Nosgoth to sell the Hylden]
- ↑ The Hylden Curse
- ↑ Vampires committing suicide and humans taking control of the pillars
- ↑ "[
Nupraptor, with his blind act of vengeance, threatened to destroy all of Nosgoth. Each Circle member was bonded to the Pillar he served. The Pillars reflected the mental state of their servants, and as the minds of the Circle degenerated and descended farther into dementia, the Pillars crumbled. To restore them, each member of the Circle had to die, and the artifact that served as their link to the Pillar had to be returned. Only when all the Pillars were restored, did Ariel claim my curse would end. And so my hunt for Nupraptor began]"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Legacy of Kain: Character Biographies
- ↑ Soul Reaver 2 script page 53
- ↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance prima guide page 09
- ↑ Blood Omen 1 script page 23
- ↑ Blood Omen 1 script page 8
- ↑ [https://legacyofkain.fandom.com/wiki/Legacy_of_Kain_Wiki:Legacy_of_Kain:_Funk_Soul_Brother_(Official_U.S._PlayStation_Magazine)?file=OPM-36-6.jpg Legacy of Kain: Funk Soul Brother (Official U.S PlayStation Magazine)
- ↑ Nupraptor using his mental powers across Nosgoth
- ↑ Nupraptor using his mental powers across Nosgoth Soul Reaver 2
- ↑ Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Dark Eden
- ↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance Kain purified Script page 105
- ↑ Answers to questions from the Defiance team at Eidos Forum
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Legacy of Kain: Defiance script page 88 and 89
- ↑ Soul Reaver 1 script page 17 and 18
- ↑ Soul Reaver 2 script page 83
- ↑ The Human Revolt
- ↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance script page 91
- ↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance Manual page 10
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 So Many Questions by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing
- ↑ Concept Question by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 The Elder God, Moebius and Kain questions by Daniel Cabuco at DCabDesing
- ↑ The Elder God invisibility Legacy of Kain: Defiance
- ↑ Question about EG & Misc by Daniel Cabuco
- ↑ Soul Reaver 2 script page 25
- ↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance script page 20