Elder God

"I am eternally present, here and everywhere, now and always. I am the still center of the turning wheel, the hub of this world’s destiny."

- The Elder God

The Elder God is one of the main villains from the Legacy of Kain series. He is a giant squid-like creature with god-like powers who feeds on the souls of the dead.

Pre-Blood Omen era
The Elder God is a ancient and omniscient creature, who was worshiped by the Ancients, one of the races that inhabited Nosgoth. They praised his Wheel of Fate, his cycle of life and rebirth to which all souls return upon death, although it was just his justification for feeding on souls. The Hylden, another race of Nosgoth, refused to be submitted to the Wheel, so the Elder God incited the Ancients on waging war against them.

The Ancients banished the Hylden to the Demon Dimension, erecting the Pillars of Nosgoth to trap them there, but the Hylden took vengeance upon the Ancients by placing a curse upon them, turning them into vampires unable to reproduce, thirsting for human blood and immortals. The Elder God them silenced himself to the vampires, as their immortal souls couldn't return to the Wheel, thus not feeding him. From this moment on, he decided to wipe out the vampires, turning his eyes to the humans. Moebius, the guardian of the Pillar of Time, become his most faithful servant, serving his master by creating the Order of Sarafan to exterminate the vampires.

Soul Reaver
Centuries after the corruption of the Pillars, the now ruler of Nosgoth Kain throws his lieutenant Raziel into the abyss. When the remnants of Raziel's body reach the bottom of the abyss and awakes, the Elder God greets him, claiming he reborn him to be his devourer of souls. He incites Raziel on taking revenge on Kain, so that the vampires, who now rule the land, are destroyed by him so his Wheel of fate can turn again. Raziel kills his brothers and makes his way to Kain, who was in the Chronoplast of Time waiting for him. They have a brief discussion, but Kain flees into a portal on the chamber. Raziel follows him into the portal.

Soul Reaver 2
Arriving 500 years before Kain took his decision at the pillars, Raziel is greeted by Moebius, who tries to manipulate Raziel into killing Kain. After Raziel have a discussion with Kain at the Pillars, he finds the Elder God in a subterranean chamber down the Pillars. He was waiting for Raziel, but Raziel wasn't so happy with this meeting. Raziel starts distrusting the Elder, as he wanted to find his destiny by himself.

The Elder God try to reason with Raziel, telling him to not be deceived by Kain or the murals that he find in his journey. As Raziel progresses in his journey, the Elder God slowly loses the control he had over him, getting displeased when Raziel calls him a squid and a parasite, but especially when Raziel argues if the Elder really had any part in his rebirth or if he was just conveniently at the right place and right time when he reached the bottom of the abyss. When Raziel is saved by Kain from being absorbed into the Reaver after killing his human self, he is left weakened, thus returning to the spectral realm, where the Elder God traps him.

Defiance
The Elder God left Raziel trapped during 500 years, to the point of starvation, until Raziel finally decided to submit to his will. But the Elder wanted to test Raziel's loyalty; Raziel takes this chance to escape his grasp. 500 years before, as Kain enter a sealed chamber in the Vampire Citadel, the Elder talks to Kain, addressing himself as the oracle of his ancestors. Knowing that Kain wanted to find Raziel, he shows Kain an image of Raziel in the future, as he was trying to find the Heart of Darkness to resurrect Janos Audron.

The Elder God the creates a time portal for Kain, so that he can reach Raziel five centuries ahead, but his plan was that Raziel killed Kain there. Raziel, under the influence of the Hylden after killing his brother Turel, fights Kain and takes his heart out, as it was the Heart of Darkness itself. Raziel resurrects Janos, who leads him to the Spirit Forge, where he would find the answers he sought. The Elder talks to Raziel, showing how he was pleased that Raziel had killed Kain. He tried to impede Raziel on activating the forge, but is unsuccessful. The forge summons all Balance Guardians, which included Kain, who was still alive.

Raziel fights Janos, who was possessed by the Hylden Lord, but his body is destroyed and he returns to the spectral realm. The Elder is satisfied with Raziel, saying that he now will spend the rest of eternity with him. He summons Moebius, who he recently resurrected, to the place, but Kain arrives and kills him. In the spectral realm, Raziel purifies Moebius's soul and devours it, after Moebius sees horrified that the god he worshiped was just a giant squid. Raziel uses Moebius's corpse to reappear in the material realm, but Kain instinctively strikes him with the Reaver.

However, Raziel stops Kain from withdrawing, because he needed to see the “True Enemy”. Raziel purifies Kain, as his soul is sucked into the Reaver, which then becomes the Soul Reaver. Kain, for the first time, is able to see the Elder God. Kain fights him and is successful in harming him, but the Elder God starts a frenzy, knocking the entire place in an attempt to bury Kain under the rubble, but Kain manages to escape.