Vorador

Vorador is the first human turned vampire in Nosgoth and a protagonist from the Legacy of Kain series.

Past
Vorador was born in an ancient part of Nosgoth’s history and was the first human turned into a vampire by Janos Audron. He suffered greatly at the hands of the Sarafan Order, who killed everyone close to him in their intent to wipe out vampires. Enraged, Vorador attacked the Sarafan Stronghold, killing six members of the Circle of Nine in revenge. He also fought and defeated Malek, but left him alive. Afterwards, Vorador swore to stay out of the affairs of humans, deciding that it only brought trouble to vampires. He stayed in his mansion, hidden deep in the Termogent Forest.

Blood Omen
However Kain was advised by the Oracle of Nosgoth to find Vorador and managed to track him down. But he was unimpressed upon meeting Vorador, who told Kain the vampirism was a blessing, not a curse and called him a young fool. Vorador also added that Kain should be careful to avoid the Sarafan’s hunts for vampires and that he found the young vampire amusing, giving him a ring he could use to summon him if need be. Later, Kain was facing the Pillar Guardians of States, Nature, and Energy, Anarcrothe, Bane, and DeJoule. Anarcrothe summoned Malek to fight while he retreated, but Kain used the ring to summon Vorador. The two old foes engaged each other while Kain went after Bane and DeJoule and returned to find that Vorador had defeated Malek. But after the young vampire went back in time, killing William the Just to prevent the emergence of the Legions of Nemesis, Moebius, Guardian of Time, used this to generate genocidal hatred for vampires amongst the people. Vorador was eventually captured and executed and Kain, having grown to respect him, later took on his ideals, relishing in his vampirism. He chose to sentence the land to decay as opposed to sacrifice himself so as to ensure the survival of the vampires and took to wearing Vorador’s ring as an earring.

Soul Reaver 2
Vorador remained a famous figure in Nosgoth to the point that Raziel was at least somewhat aware of his exploits. After he traveled through time to the past and left the Sarafan Stronghold, the wraith felt himself being watched by crow agents of Vorador. Eventually, the vampire met Raziel in person and clearly didn’t trust him, calling him more demon than vampire. Vorador tried to find out if the wraith was responsible for the Pillars’ corruption, but when he learned that Raziel didn’t even know about his destiny, the vampire decided he wasn’t responsible. Vorador told the wraith that Janos Audron might have been able to help him find the answers he was looking for. However the vampire added that Raziel was out of luck, since Janos was long dead, before leaving.

Defiance
After Kain stopped Raziel from being absorbed by the Reaver blade, a fourth timeline was created. Vorador, along with being the first human turned vampire, was revealed to be the one who forged the Reaver blade, but the original Circle of Nine had enchanted it and he had not known its true purpose. Vorador, now tired of the vampire’s failing fight against Moebius’ purging, informed Raziel of this, after he came to him for answers about the Reaver. He also seemed to have realized the wraith’s purpose; that he was both the prophesized vampire and Hylden champions, and because he had free will, he could ally with either race, making Vorador suspicious. The vampire also brought Raziel to the crypt containing Janos Audron’s body and asked him to revive the ancient vampire with the Heart of Darkness, which he’d constantly failed to find. Vorador told Raziel Janos would be able to give him the answers he needed and told him to look in Avernus Cathedral. However he told the wraith to beware the unspoken evil that existed within. Raziel found the Heart of Darkness, but found Vorador’s mansion overrun by Moebius’ mercenaries with Vorador himself capture and about to be executed. The vampire was then beheaded, an act that would, as before, be witnessed by a younger Kain.

Blood Omen 2
At some point, Vorador was somehow resurrected, joining Kain in his goal of reviving the vampires and making them supreme. Because he lacked the ability to create vampires himself, Vorador created an army of vampires with Kain. As they sought to take over the land, they fought a revived Sarafan Order, lead by the Sarafan Lord. The vampire army managed to take over the cities of Ziegsturhl, Provance, and Freeport, before they were betrayed by Kain’s lieutenant, Sebastian, who drew them into an ambush. The vampire army was crushed and Kain was defeated, but Vorador managed to recover his comatose body. He then went underground, forming a vampire resistance movement known as the Cabal in the city of Meridian so as to take down the Sarafan Order. Vorador also came to lose the ability to make more vampires and kept his identity as the Cabal’s leader secret. However the fight went badly for them with some vampires even joining forces with the Sarafan. Thus Vorador and the Cabal were left with no hope of winning except to revive Kain. They succeeded and Kain eventually arrived at the Cabal’s headquarters, Sanctuary, to meet with Vorador. He welcomed the vampire, though clearly didn’t fully trust him due to his ambition, and said they were only allies by necessity. Vorador began planning with Kain to take down the Sarafan Lord, but suddenly a wounded vampire ran in and told them that Umah had been captured. Vorador was greatly upset and told Kain to save her, telling him to go to the Bishop of Meridian who could get him into the Sarafan Keep. Kain agreed to help, though mostly wanting a shot at the Sarafan Lord and the information Umah had. Vorador told him how to find the Bishop and continued to give him information on Meridian telepathically. Kain rescued Umah and she told them of the Nexus Stone, which Vorador already knew about. He decided to let Kain obtain it, but only if he dedicated himself to taking down the Sarafan Lord. Later, when Kain was caught in the Main Factory as it was destroyed, Vorador sent one of his agents to save him. Kain asked him about the Device and he told him that he’d heard of strange going-ons underground and the Seer that could tell him more, an ancient being who owed Vorador a favor. Later, Vorador began talking with Umah about her worries about their failure to contact Kain. However they were both shocked when he returned with none other than Janos Audron. After hearing of the Hylden’s plans and that a magical shield prevented teleportation into the Hylden City, Vorador had Kain go to the Wharves so as to smuggle aboard a ship to the city. Umah, not trusting Kain, insisted on going with him, despite Vorador’s protests. After the shield generator was destroyed, Vorador and Janos teleported to Kain and Vorador was enraged and horrified to learn that he’d killed Umah (who’d betrayed him and stole the Nexus Stone, thinking he’d turn on the Cabal.) They started arguing and Vorador called Kain a monster, saying he never should’ve trusted him, while Kain said he’d done what anyone, even Vorador, would’ve. Kain even accused Vorador of telling Umah to betray him, but they decided to settle things later. However the Sarafan Lord appeared and fired a Reaver Bolt into Vorador, sending him motionless to the ground. Janos stayed behind to tend to him, but it’s unknown what became of Vorador.

Personality
Originally, Vorador is arrogant, proud, and hedonistic and keeps himself surrounded by vampiric luxury, such as his vampiric consorts and chained humans to feed on. Despite this sadistic decadence, Vorador is a tragic hermit, due to the murder of all he cared about in life. Even with his age and arrogant attitude, he can still be emotional. Vorador hates the human race, thinking of them as nothing but cattle, and fully views vampirism as a blessing. As time goes by, Vorador is Kain’s only real ally and Kain views him as a father figure.

In Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance, Vorador is less sadistic and hedonistic, having much more seriousness and apathy. The purges of Moebius’ mercenaries have made him dispassionate about the vampires and his hatred for humans is even more present, as well as his closeness to Janos Audron.

In Blood Omen 2, Vorador is much more compassionate and loyal to his vampire offspring. He takes a true leadership role towards them and clearly looks down on Kain’s desire for conquest and dominion over Nosgoth. Vorador even calls Kain a monster, having lost the friendly relationship they had.

Powers
Vorador is extremely powerful, possessing superhuman natural abilities, powerful vampiric powers, swordsmanship, and dark magic skills. He can transform into mist, transform into a wolf, and use telekinesis. Vorador also has some ability to control crows, but it is unknown if they are extensions of him or separate creatures. As vampire, he is immortal and can create vampire offspring, as well as telepathically communicate with other vampires and sense others of his kind. However creating other vampires apparently weakens Vorador.

Trivia

 * Vorador’s name may come from the Spanish/Portugese word, “devorador”, which means “devourer”, “ravenous”, and “wolfish.” It was at one point changed to Infernum during Blood Omen’s development, but it was changed back later.


 * Vorador is the only major character in Blood Omen to not have an in-game character sprite, only appearing in cinematics.


 * During Vorador’s attack on the Circle of Nine, it has been implied that there were other factors at work that allowed him to succeed.