Turel (Hash'ak'gik)

TUREL IN SOUL REAVER

In Soul Reaver, Turel was Kain's second-born vampire 'son'. He was dutiful and loyal to his creator. When Kain ordered Raziel's execution, Turel did not question it for a moment. He and Dumah carried their fallen sibling to the Abyss and threw him in on Kain's command. With Raziel gone, Turel was promoted and became Kain's new chief lieutenant.¹

Centuries later, Raziel returned from the Abyss as a Reaver of Souls. He was eager to take his revenge on his former brethren, and he hunted them down in their respective territories. He successfully destroyed Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab and Dumah, but Turel was nowhere to be found. Raziel arrived at Moebius' Chronoplast before going after the second-born, and allowed Kain to lure him into Nosgoth's history. Presumably Turel was left behind, safe and well in the corrupted present.

TUREL IN SOUL REAVER 2

During the course of Soul Reaver, Raziel learned that Turel had been a Sarafan warrior-priest in life. There was more evidence of this in Soul Reaver 2. Turel's portrait was in the Sarafan Stronghold with all the others. Travelling further into the past, Raziel had the opportunity to meet his elusive brother in the flesh. Five hundred years before the events of Blood Omen, the human Turel had been a Sarafan Inquisitor. He was actually second-in-command to the human Raziel.² When the Inquisitors finally managed to infiltrate Janos Audron's aerie, Turel was present, bringing Moebius' staff with him. Using the staff, Turel incapacitated Janos, while the Sarafan Raziel killed the Ancient Vampire.

Raziel followed the fleeing Sarafan - including his former, human self - to the Stronghold, and killed each of them in turn. He took particular pleasure in defeating Turel; the individual who had twice been his second-in-command, and twice wronged him. Thus the Sarafan Turel was dead, but his future vampiric incarnation was still beyond Raziel's reach... for the moment. Turel's body was interred in the Tomb of the Sarafan, and there it remained until Kain resurrected him as a vampire around a thousand years later.

TUREL (HASH'AK'GIK) IN DEFIANCE

In Defiance, in the Blood Omen era, Raziel encountered the evolved vampire Turel at last. In the depths of the Avernus catacombs, he stumbled upon a strange ceremony. Masked humans, led by Mortanius, were engaged in ritual worship of the god Hash'ak'gik. From the edges of a huge pit, the faithful Cenobites praised Hash'ak'gik, offering blood sacrifices to appease him and avert his wrath from them. When the Necromancer finally dismissed the gathering, Raziel drew near, curious. He was not cautious enough, and the 'god' made a surprise attack. Raziel fell into the pit, and met Hash'ak'gik face to face.

Hash'ak'gik first recognized Raziel by smell, then by his voice. He referred to Raziel's execution in the Abyss, and commented on the fate of Kain's other lieutenants - he had heard what Raziel did to them. Raziel suddenly realized that this monster was in fact Turel, devolved and hideous as all his brethren had been in Soul Reaver. The second-born claimed he had been 'summoned', experiencing darkness and great hunger before being 'found'. He was trapped in the pit and tormented by a number of Hylden. They regularly possessed him and used his voice to command his followers. Through Turel, the Hylden told Raziel that he must prevail against the Ancient Vampires' champion. They seemed to be referring to Kain.

Turel shook off their influence with some effort. He needed blood to strengthen himself against them, and he expected that Raziel's would be sufficient - presumably he didn't understand what Raziel had become. Turel attacked Raziel with powerful telekinetic assaults and charged at him whenever possible. The second-born had very large ears, and, like his Soul Reaver offspring, his hearing was very sensitive. Raziel used the gongs placed around the pit to incapacitate Turel with sound, making him vulnerable to attack. When Turel died, Raziel gained enhanced telekinetic ability from his unfettered soul.

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS

It has been confirmed that Turel was 'found' by Azimuth,³ as she had a Time Streaming device (in Blood Omen), and she had been seduced into the service of the Hylden (see the first Defiance Q&A page at thelostworlds.net). Also Turel, in his devolved/evolved form, was partially sighted; this is confirmed by Prima's Official Defiance Strategy Guide. He didn't really see Raziel; rather, he determined his identity and position using his other senses. This type of trade-off - one sense weakened (sight) in preference of another (hearing) - had a precedent in Rahab, who lost his resistance to sunlight in Soul Reaver.

Also, until the release of Defiance, Hash'ak'gik was commonly regarded as another name of - and perhaps the real name of - Blood Omen's Dark Entity. This assumption was based on the Plot section of the Silicon Knights Blood Omen FAQ and clues from within Blood Omen. The storyline of the series has evolved since then, introducing the Hylden Lord/Sarafan Lord and identifying him to be the Dark Entity. The first Defiance Q&A page at thelostworlds.net tells us that 'Hash'ak'gik' is the name the humans use to refer to their god: Turel, intermittently combined with the Hylden that possess him. For the record, The Hylden Lord was not one of those Hylden possessing Turel, so there is nothing concrete to link him to the name 'Hash'ak'gik' any longer. However, it is possible that 'Hash'ak'gik' is the Hylden Lord's real name, and he loaned it to Turel just because he liked hearing it chanted by fearful humans in reverence.