Interview: The souls behind Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise

The Legacy of Kain is deified. Longtime gamers tell tales of this series, few know the truth. This series was mortal once, with its ongoing narrative coming to a close with 2003’s Legacy of Kain Defiance. However, its penchant for amazing characters and strong storytelling drove writers Joshua Viola and Angie Hodapp to collaborate with various artists and creatives, including the team at Crystal Dynamics, in order to create Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise.

This graphic novel delves into previous untold aspects of the Legacy of Kain Universe and the character of Raziel, serving as an official prequel to the Soul Reaver games. Currently, this project is being funded through Kickstarter and has well surpassed its goal. I’m a big time Legacy of Kain fan, so I immediately shifted to the spectral realm to come up with some questions for Josh and Angie. Now I’m back in the Material Realm with answers, so feel free to sink your teeth in…to the answers. Not me.

The Dead Shall Rise delves into Raziel’s past. He’s my favorite video game character, so no pressure: What do you believe makes Raziel a compelling character, speaking both as a fan of the series (I read about your tattoo, Josh!) and as a writer on this project?

JOSH: First and foremost, Raziel is undeniably cool. When he first appears in the opening cinematic of Soul Reaver, he embodies the essence of a gothic, badass vampire, capturing the best of 90s aesthetics. Then in just a few minutes, he’s transformed—whether you see it as an upgrade or a downgrade—into one of the most visually iconic characters ever designed. But his appeal goes beyond just looks. Narratively, Raziel is brilliantly complex, almost like multiple characters rolled into one, each with distinct experiences and motivations. His complexity is what makes him so compelling.

ANGIE: While I’m not ready to follow Josh’s lead and get a Raziel tattoo, I certainly get why Raziel is a fan favorite. He’s lived thousands of years in various forms, and in every form, he’s been forced to come to terms with who or what he is. And was. And might become. The existential angst is glorious. I’ve always loved me a Byronic Hero.

When I think of Legacy Of Kain’s approach to storytelling, I think of long monologues, beautifully performed by its amazing voice cast. I love that stuff, but it seems like a tough fit for the medium of a graphic novel. What’s your approach to translating LOK’s classically dense dialogue into this format without bogging down the visual storytelling?

JOSH: I love that aspect too, but I don’t think it was as challenging as it might seem. From the start, we approached this project with a hyper-focused attention to the diction and voice of the characters. The dialogue is crafted to sound exactly like Raziel and Kain. We want readers to hear their voices as they read, and that was definitely our goal. The biggest challenge with the graphic novel format is the limited space for text in each panel. Kain and Raziel are known for their long-winded, philosophical speeches, so we had to find a way to honor that while working within the constraints of the format. Hopefully, we succeeded.

ANGIE: When I’m outlining and drafting, I’m working to vary each scene type so that reading the work as a whole will feel kind of like gameplay. Here are two characters talking. Here’s one character wandering an unfamiliar landscape. Here’s a fight scene. Here’s a flashback. Here’s someone delivering a big old monologue. Too many consecutive scenes of any particular type gets monotonous. I’d also say I’m pretty good at laying down snappy dialogue, too, but it’s Josh who’s great at making the characters sound like they do in the games. (He’s also the fight-scene master. My drafts have lots of “Josh, insert fight scene here” notes.)

I read that this project will be revisiting some unreleased ideas in Soul Reaver lore. Can you talk more about the nature of these ideas — particularly where they’re sourced from and what they involve?

JOSH: There were several idea threads, from cut content to unique concepts, that Angie and I discovered and used to shape what we developed for The Dead Shall Rise. Some of these ideas served as seeds that we’ve been carefully cultivating, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, I can’t dive into details without venturing into spoiler territory, but this story explores Raziel’s journey from the time before he gets his wings to when he finally has them—and what that transformation means for him, Kain, and our new characters, such as Elaleth.

ANGIE: All I can say is this: A big question we asked ourselves was, what was going through Raziel’s mind in the days he spent deciding whether to reveal his wings to Kain?

What have you found most creatively fulfilling about working on a LOK project?

JOSH: There’s so much that excites me about this. For one, this franchise is very close to my heart, and I’m thrilled to be part of its revival. But what truly stands out is the collaboration with so many talented creatives—Angie, Juan, all of our artists, and the team at Crystal Dynamics. It’s been an incredible experience.

ANGIE: Collaborating with Josh. This isn’t our first writing-partner rodeo, but it might be the most fun. Josh has all the passion of an LOK superfan, and I have the more academic, logical approach to crafting a story—especially a story in such an established world. In the early days of the project, Josh had a wishlist of characters, events, and lore he wanted to play with, and a couple times I had to be like, nope, that doesn’t work because *citation from wiki, cut scene, annotated timeline, etc.* Of course, he corrected me on the finer points of the canon more than once, too, so we make a great team.

Outside of material directly related to the games, did you look to any other inspirations when approaching this project?

JOSH: For me, the key has been immersing myself in the lore and existing material, making sure I’m truly living and breathing it. While other influences naturally seep in—from the content we consume in our spare time to the other projects we’re working on—I’m not actively seeking out other reference points. The most important focus here, in my opinion, is staying true to the existing franchise.

ANGIE: Ooh. Great question. Honestly, if we did, it was subconscious and unintentional. We stayed pretty steeped in the LOK world when we were developing this story.

While new LOK developments are exciting, they can be dangerous territory for a series that has been dormant so long. I made peace with LOK ending with Kain’s speech about hope in Defiance over 20 years ago. What’s your pitch for someone who is open to more LOK, but wasn’t necessarily looking for it?

JOSH: Given the vast scope of this franchise’s story—encompassing not just time travel but also significant events and epochs in its backstory—it’s clear to me that there’s immense story potential in this universe. There’s so much left to explore and discover in Nosgoth. I don’t think it’s a hard sell to suggest that there are plenty more tales waiting to be told.

ANGIE: With a world as rich and storied as Nosgoth, there are endless opportunities to go back into any of the timelines to pick up a thread, expand on things that were merely hinted at, or introduce new characters, new conflicts, new situations. I think with THE DEAD SHALL RISE, we’ve accomplished a little of each. We’re super excited to share this story with readers!

Are there any other corners of the LOK universe that you’d personally like to see expanded upon?

JOSH: I’d love to delve deeper into the brothers’ stories and the process of their devolution. That aspect of the lore is really fascinating to me.

ANGIE: Yes! One idea I floated very early on was to explore the story and legacy of Ariel and Nupraptor. What if they had children? Whose descendants diverged and are now at war with each other over…alas, you’ll have to wait and see! The Legacy of Kain Universe is full of countless possible stories.

Big thanks to Josh and Angie for taking the time to talk about Legacy of Kain and share some interesting insights to their approach! The Dead Shall Rise Kickstarter campaign ends this upcoming Thursday on September 12, 2024. If you’re interested in contributing to the project, or just want to learn more about it, you can do so here.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: