Janos Audron

JANOS IN BLOOD OMEN

Janos didn't appear in Blood Omen, but he was mentioned. When Kain was a fledgling vampire in Blood Omen, he relied heavily on Heart of Darkness artefacts. Kain collected many hearts, each imbued with the gift attributed to the original, legendary relic: they could restore his vampiric unlife. The original Heart of Darkness was said to have been ripped from the body of Janos Audron, the "greatest vampire to have ever existed". Later, as Kain reached the village of Uschtenheim, he commented that Janos had hunted its people mercilessly until his execution.

JANOS IN SOUL REAVER 2

In Soul Reaver 2, Raziel pursued Kain into Nosgoth's past. He uncovered evidence that conflicted with the historical image of Janos Audron. Although Janos was demonized in the stained glass of the Sarafan Stronghold - the fortress of the order that had killed him centuries before - Raziel started to believe there was much more to the notorious vampire's story. Raziel's interest was fuelled further when he met Vorador outside the Dark Forge. Raziel learned that Janos was connected to the winged vampire race depicted in Nosgoth's ancient shrines. Also, Vorador revealed that Janos, his maker, had been the guardian of the Reaver.

Raziel had noticed a similarity between his appearance and that of the winged race. He was convinced that Janos Audron alone could explain his role in Nosgoth, now that he had become disillusioned and unsatisfied with the prompts he was receiving from Moebius and the Elder God. But to reach him, Raziel had to journey even further back into history. Moebius intervened and sent Raziel to the future instead. The Time Guardian's action only strengthened Raziel's conviction. He was sure that finding Janos really was the right thing to do. Raziel eventually found his own way back to the era he sought. The Time Streaming device he used had been suspiciously set, but he overlooked the implications.

Five hundred years before the events of Blood Omen, Raziel entered Janos' mountain retreat, located in the canyons north of Uschtenheim. He used his unique powers to make a path for himself up to the vampire's library-chamber. There he found a striking winged individual, very different from the demonic creature legend had taught him to expect. Janos was 'darkly beautiful', and radiated 'a sense of priestly detachment, and long-suffering patience'.¹ He knew Raziel by sight (although he was surprised to see what a mess Raziel was), and had awaited his arrival for centuries. They discussed the history of the vampires and their relation to the Pillars of Nosgoth. Janos explained how he was called to be the protector of the Reaver, the tenth Guardian. While the rest of his race had died out, he alone remained, sustained by his duty. He presented the Reaver to Raziel, but, overwhelmed with a feeling of dread in the blade's presence, Raziel refused to take it.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the Sarafan Inquisitors. The vampire-hunting warriors had followed Raziel's path through the aerie, and Janos could no longer elude them. More concerned for Raziel's safety than his own, Janos used his magic to teleport Raziel into the adjacent Fire Forge. Raziel could do nothing against the Sarafan until he imbued his wraith-blade with fire.

Raziel returned to Janos' chamber too late to prevent the inevitable. The head Sarafan Inquisitor hacked open Janos' chest and pulled out his still-beating heart. The Inquisitor's second-in-command held Moebius' staff. They were using it to immobilize Janos and leave him at their mercy. Raziel recognized with horror that Janos's murderer was none other than his former, human self: the Sarafan Raziel. The Sarafan Inquisitors fled with the heart and the Reaver as Janos began to die, his retreat collapsing around them.

Raziel moved to where Janos was laying, wracked with grief, guilt and self-loathing. Compassionate to the last, Janos did not blame Raziel, he only urged him to reclaim to Reaver and fulfill his role as the saviour of Nosgoth. Raziel left the aerie intent on avenging Janos' murder by killing his assassins. Raziel planned to take back the Reaver and Janos' heart. He would then use the heart's legendary power to restore Janos' life. Raziel followed the Inquisitors back to the Sarafan Stronghold. He managed to kill the men, and reclaim the Reaver, but the heart was nowhere to be found.

Raziel was not the only one who sought vengeance for Janos' assassination. Vorador had entered the Stronghold around the same time as Raziel, although their paths did not cross, and their targets were different. Vorador killed six of the Circle of Nine, but Moebius - the individual that orchestrated Janos' murder - escaped his wrath. Officially Vorador's motivation was wanting to punish the Circle for supporting the Sarafan's Vampire Purge; Kain said that in Blood Omen. However, the timing of Vorador's attack was surely too perfect to be a coincidence.² It seems certain that Janos' death triggered Vorador's action.

JANOS IN BLOOD OMEN 2

In Blood Omen 2 it appeared that Raziel had managed to carry out his pledge to restore Janos. If not, someone else had. The younger Kain encountered a large, demonic-looking creature trapped within the Device. The Beast was being drained of its blood - and therefore its life energy - in order to feed the Mass, the living heart of the Device. It longed to escape its prison, and told Kain what measures were necessary to destroy the Device. Kain returned later with the blood of the Builder in his veins, and descended into the Device. He poisoned the Mass, killing it, and thus rendered the Device useless. He was leaving the ruined machine when he passed the Beast again. However, the creature was much changed, and Kain did not immediately recognize the winged vampire that stood before him. Janos identified himself through Kain's knowledge of his legend.

Janos spoke of the Hylden race, and the Sarafan Lord's intention to lead them back into Nosgoth through a magical gate. Kain and Janos then returned to Sanctuary. Vorador was understandably shocked to see his maker alive, nine hundred years after his murder. He allowed Janos to share his knowledge of the Hylden City, and Kain acted on the plans they made. Janos remained with Vorador, arriving at the Hylden City only after Kain had deactivated its magical shield.

Kain finally faced the Sarafan Lord in battle. He dropped the Nexus Stone into the Hylden Gate, and it began to close. The fight continued, and Kain started to get the upper hand. However, he still couldn't regain possession of the Soul Reaver. Janos arrived to confront the Sarafan Lord. He could not contain his hatred for the Lord and his race - the mortal enemies of his own kind for aeons, the cause of their blood-thirst, and the ones who had held him captive for centuries. He flew at the Sarafan Lord, but still weakened by his long imprisonment, he was easily defeated. Lifting Janos by the throat, the Sarafan Lord threw him down into the closing gate, sealing him in the dimension the Hylden had been banished to so long before. Janos was now trapped in a hell of his own people's making, but his intervention allowed Kain to seize the Soul Reaver and destroy the Sarafan Lord. There are currently no clues to Janos' fate after this event, we will have to wait for a future game to tell us.

JANOS IN DEFIANCE

Defiance bridged the gap between Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2. It explained how Janos had been resurrected, and how he had become imprisoned by the Hylden. It also revealed another reason for his intense loathing of the Sarafan Lord - the only individual we've seen to inspire hostility in Janos, let alone hatred.

In Defiance, Raziel visited Vorador during the Blood Omen era. Raziel had learned that Vorador had forged the Reaver originally, and when asked about it, Vorador told Raziel he had crafted the sword, but only because Janos had asked him to. Vorador had his maker's body within his estate - presumably he had retrieved it personally from the ruins of Janos' aerie. It was intact and free of decay, reverently laid upon a bier and surrounded by candles. Many times, Vorador had searched unsuccessfully for the Heart of Darkness, believing that if the heart was returned to Janos, there was a chance he would be restored. Vorador suggested that Raziel should travel to Avernus Cathedral to look for the heart himself. Janos would be the only individual capable of answering Raziel's questions about the Reaver's sorcery.

In the Avernus catacombs, Raziel ran into Mortanius. The Necromancer explained that he had used the Heart of Darkness "to set prophecy in motion" - he had used it to resurrect the nobleman Kain as a vampire. Raziel suddenly realized that it was in Kain, and always had been. Armed with this knowledge, Raziel ripped the Heart of Darkness from the elder Kain's body when they fought at Avernus a little while later. He then returned to Vorador's estate and replaced the heart into Janos' open chest cavity.

Janos revived. He remembered the events of Soul Reaver 2, and was shocked when Raziel told him that five centuries had passed since his murder. He inquired about Vorador, only to be told that Vorador was now dead, and all vampires were facing extinction. Raziel expressed his confusion about his role in the Ancient Vampires' prophecies, and why the Vampires would "devise a weapon to consume and imprison their savior". He showed Janos that he already wielded the Reaver, but as a wraith-blade rather than the physical sword he was meant to hold. Janos, although shaken by this, did not abandon his faith in Raziel - he only wondered if he may have misread the signs, and said that Raziel's destiny seemed "more labyrinthian" than he had realized.

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