designer Mike Ellis inviting comparison to Final Fantasy VI'''s Kefka Palazzo and Revolver Ocelot of the Metal Gear series. Design issues, raised by the wealth of abilities and equipment he accumulated in Blood Omen, prompted the team to add to his backstory and convincingly deprive him of these powers. Producer Sam Newman described him as "a very unique character" who "doesn't fit to the generic character molds you find in many other games, books and movies [...] not good, he's not necessarily evil - Kain does as Kain believes".Legacy of Kain: Defiance, released in 2003, returned to the aged, elder Kain from Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2, now controllable alongside Raziel. The prospect of making this incarnation of Kain playable left the development team "very excited", and was agreed upon very early in pre-production. Recognizing that he is "the most important character in the series", designer Kyle Mannerberg named several parallels and influences concerning his development up to that point, citing Neo and John Murdoch (the protagonists of The Matrix and Dark City respectively), the archetypal Fisher King of Arthurian legend, the story of Oedipus, and Gnostic myth as inspirations (with both latter sources being reaffirmed as strong influences by Hennig in a later interview). The spells he obtains over the course of his levels were intended to pay homage to the original Blood Omen. Characteristics Kain's appearance undergoes "pretty dramatic changes" throughout the games as he ages, but core personality attributes cited by Defiances developers include his intelligence and cynicism, arrogance and regality, and his defiant nature. In the series' fictional universe, he is described as the guardian of balance, a being responsible for preserving the health and integrity of Nosgoth (the games' setting), but left incapable of realizing this duty due to spiritual corruption that he inherited at birth. The character's transformation into a vampire, and the visceral nature this trait lends the series, was derived from William Shakespeare's classical models: "for the drunken commoners in the front rows he would insert dirty jokes to keep them entertained but for the aristocracy in the balconies he would write very cerebral metaphors". According to Silicon Knights, the graphic violence and vampirism in Blood Omen served as their "dirty jokes", supplemented by a complex story. As the story progresses, Kain evolves from a directionless young nobleman, to a lithe and devious vampire, to a "craggy" figure. As a playable