Template:Qlisten In the final areas of Soul Reaver 2, shortly after retrieving the Reaver, Raziel faced the Sarafan warrior inquisitor Rahab along with comrade Dumah in combat. The battle took place in the nave of the Sanctuary Cathedral area of the Sarafan Stronghold.
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Raziel encounters Dumah and Rahab in the nave of Sanctuary
After witnessing the death of Janos Audron at the hands of the Sarafan warrior inquisitor group, Raziel pursued them as they retreated to the Sarafan Stronghold carrying with them the Heart of Darkness and Reaver blade. Infiltrating the stronghold, Raziel was able to recover the Reaver during a brief confrontation with Malek and Moebius but soon found himself channeled into combat with the inquisitors themselves - as he was initially confronted with Melchiah and Zephon in the Cloister.
When Raziel reached the Sanctuary area of the Stronghold, portcullises (and other locked gates) sealed the exits and he was he was confronted by the second pair of inquisitors - Rahab and Dumah. Unlike other 'boss' battles in the series, the battles with the inquisitors had no puzzle aspect to them and were treated the same as any regular combat encounter - albeit against incredibly powerful opposition and with Raziel invincible due to the effects of the Reaver.
At a distance all the inquisitors would walk slowly, while in direct combat Rahab had power, speed, health and defensive capabilities far exceeding that of ordinary enemies. Armed with a Sarafan sword, Rahab was a close-range fighter (broadly comparable to Sarafan warrior swordsmen), attacking viciously and often with a series of deadly sword strikes, frequent lunges and relentless blocking, but also being somewhat vulnerable to counters and sidesteps himself. Appearing together with Dumah also allowed Rahab to double-team Raziel, preventing any offensive maneuvers on his part. With Raziel's Health coil sustained by the Reaver, any damage was healed almost immediately, making the defeat of the inquisitors inevitable. Upon Rahab's death his soul was released but quickly rose away, and when both inquisitors were defeated Raziel headed into the choir and a confrontation with Turel.
Notes
- The battles against the warrior inquisitors in Soul Reaver 2 are arguably not true boss encounters. Unlike battles against major characters in other titles in the series, these battles were confined to a final 'rush' at the climax of the game, contained only regular combat with no puzzle element, conferred no special abilities upon completion and did not mark the end of 'levels' - apparently efforts by developers to avoid the artificial nature of levels and boss battles. The final rush arguably begins at the onset of Blade of Vengeance, as after leaving Janos Audron's Retreat Raziel is confronted by increasingly difficult battles against various Demons utilizing Combat barriers (each similarly marked by a cutscene), culminating in the battles with the inquisitors.
- In game files, textures used for Rahab are labelled as "rahab".
The Sarafan Rahab mural in the Chapter House in the Pre-Blood Omen era
- The Sarafan Rahab is memorialized in the Chapter House of the Sarafan Stronghold in the Pre-Blood Omen era. In this depiction, Rahab is depicted with a Sarafan trident instead of the sword he carries in the battle against Raziel, perhaps hinting at the versatile combat skills of the inquisitors. Rahab is the only lieutenant not seen infiltrating Janos Audron's Retreat in Nosgoth's early history, ultimately Daniel Cabuco would explain this his absence was due to technical limitations: "Rahab was there.. but we ran into a performance issue with having Raziel, Janos, human Raz, and all the lieutenants on screen at the same time. So we had to cut one.. We picked Rahab at random."[1]
- With Rahab's death, the Reaver can be seen drinking his Blood and his soul can be observed departing the body. The souls of the inquisitors, destined to become lieutenants in Kain's empire, were colored blue unlike other human souls (which were yellow) and quickly rose away, unable to be consumed by Raziel or the Reaver (hinting at later revelations about the nature of the blade). After his death, Rahab's body was taken with the other inquisitors and interred in the Tomb of the Sarafan, providing the corpses for Kain to revive as a lieutenants a millennium later, keeping them ignorant of their human lives.
- Using the debug menu it is possible to skip passed the scene where Raziel gains the Reaver and battle the inquisitors unarmed without the healing effects of the Reaver, presenting a much greater gameplay challenge than the usual fight where Raziel is invincible. This allowed Raziel to enter the Spectral Realm in these locations and recover the Pikes (and swords) of the inquisitors as weapons, but did not allow Raziel to consume their souls, which were unaffected by attempts to devour them.
- Rahab's Sarafan appearance contains subtle references to his later vampire form, seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Rahab's facial appearance and hairstyle is notably similar to those observed in his initial vampire form (seen in the opening prologue); his armor was marked with seahorses, along with his blue color scheme and curved horned helmet (producing inhuman appearing eyes when worn) this was evocative of the later vampire Rahab's marine devolution. A symbol reminiscent of that later associated with the Rahabim clan is also seen on the 'sash' beneath his waist and the color of Rahab's armor matches the color-coding of the clan standards in Soul Reaver.
- The order of the 'boss' encounters in Soul Reaver 2 also closely matches the order of boss encounters (and by extension the revival and ranking order of the Vampire Council members) in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with Rahab - likely the fourth created and ranked of the lieutenants (third-weakest),[2] the third encountered in each title - though here he is fought along with Dumah, whose direct participation in Raziel's execution presumably related to seniority over Rahab.[2] This ranking is not necessarily related to human age, with Raziel acknowledged as the youngest and Turel the oldest at the time of their human deaths.[1]
Appearances
- This article is about the battle against Rahab in Soul Reaver 2. For the boss battle against Rahab in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, see Rahab (SR1 boss). For character details, see Rahab.
See also
- Dumah (SR2 boss)
- Sanctuary (Sarafan Stronghold)
- Sarafan warrior inquisitors
- Rahab
- Rahab (SR1 boss)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:Icon-DCab Some questions about SR2 Sarafan at DCabDesign (by Lexy), post #3 (by Daniel Cabuco)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:Wiki-Icon-DC.pngRahab at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Tryhorn).
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