A decent question of lore: What IS Caleb?

[KillerKrieg]

This has been something of a subject of debate pretty much since the game was released. First and foremost, I would say that it's pretty safe to assume he is the same species as the cultist/fanatics(and their other more rarely seen ilk) whatever that may be.

A kneejerk is to simply call him a vampire although that seems naive for a handful of reasons, but I would say the most convincing reason is that as I seem to recall it was implied that he *eats* flesh rather than just drinking blood, and that the enemy hearts he procures are but a snack to him, which would also make sense considering he bothers with removing their heart while traditionally a vampire just bites your neck to extract blood. I seemed to recall that in the *SPOILER ALERT*

end cutscene of the second chapter, he ate Gabriel's heart, although, upon rewatching it my memory seems to have misled me for some reason, although the cutscene seems to fade out before you see the end result. I think it's safe to say however, that he snarfs the hearts instead of taking the time to drink the blood out of them considering that would take longer.

There are also other lore-breaks from vampires. For example, most vampires do not breathe, and cannot touch water at all(at least without incurring near fatal damage to themselves) and Caleb does both. I could think of near a million other little things from difference pieces of vampire lores that do not apply to Caleb.

I made the argument that he is a Wendigo of native American lore essentially, which him eating the heart would strongly imply. Also, Wendigo of such legend were depicted as being bald, pale, with sunken in red eyes, in the original game, these traits defined Caleb perfectly, it was only in the second game when Caleb mysteriously grew hair.

Ultimately, I would like to hear the straight answer from someone from Monolith who had something to do with the writing of the original story of the game from way back when, rather than the translation whatever modern employees that may still be remnants of Monolith or representatives connected to the company that now own's Monolith's I.P.s. People tend to get a hold of intellectual properties and change the story to whatever their personal preference is which is something I do not like.

The question, for the rest of us I suppose, is nothing but a curiosity. I would accept any answers from whoever wrote the original story, or at least an ex monolith employee who might have some insight.

[Talon]

There's another detail about Caleb that you don't know and it unfortunately comes from Blood 2 (which is a very bad game). In the intro, you see him briefly looking skeletal before reverting back to looking like he's of flesh and blood. Sort of like the curse that the pirates in the first Pirates of the Caribbean had going on. So, I'd say that Caleb is definitely at least some type of undead creature at this point and was human once before joining up with the Cabal.

That's the most I know.

[Enker-Zan]

Caleb and the rest of the Chosen are a type of Ghoul.

[Steven Seagull]

Not a vampire for sure.

[KillerKrieg]

Originally posted by T4LON:

There's another detail about Caleb that you don't know and it unfortunately comes from Blood 2 (which is a very bad game). In the intro, you see him briefly looking skeletal before reverting back to looking like he's of flesh and blood. Sort of like the curse that the pirates in the first Pirates of the Caribbean had going on. So, I'd say that Caleb is definitely at least some type of undead creature at this point and was human once before joining up with the Cabal.

That's the most I know.

Oh yea, that is one kind of thing I have heard him be called aswell. A "revenant", essentially, or someone who has risen from the dead. That came up in a prior search for the answers to this question. Like I said, this has been a lore question that has existed since the start of the game, and tbh I think Monolith would prefer we keep speculating because that adds to Caleb's legend, potentially building up to their more than likely disappointing reveal(which, if they were smart, they wouldn't do at all.)

[Enker-Zan]

There's enough evidence in the game to suggest that the Chosen are not Revenants because they feed on flesh to restore themselves and prolong their life span. Revenants don't do that, they are people who are raised from death and retain consciousness, essentially a non-zombie with no zombie qualities. Other times they are raised with purpose and put back when the purpose is fulfilled (example The Crow).

[Zaxx]

My bet was always on revenant, just in a more general term. You don't know what Caleb is exactly but really that's only true for the "name" of what he is. Apart from that here's what you do know:

- He died a violent death and then came back to life so he's certainly an undead creature.

- He's not a zombie, he's not a vampire but he feeds on blood.

- At the end of the game Tchernobog reveals that he knew Caleb would come back, in fact it was all part of the plan. Caleb apparently becomes stronger with every single life he takes, Tchernobog wants that power for himself and that's why he tries to kill him again at the end of the game.

So really he's just a type of revenant that has no specific name since he can collect the life essence / power of his fallen enemies (most likely by drinking their blood, eating their hearts or both).

[Enker-Zan]

"- He died a violent death and then came back to life so he's certainly an undead creature."

Incorrect, he never died, he thinks he did, but he didn't. The Cabal performed a ritual on him to turn him into what he is now. And as I said before, Revenants don't consume flesh to restore themselves, Ghouls do. He has every characteristic of a Ghoul, glowing eyes, appetite for flesh of any kind, and uncleanliness.

[VolnuttHeroP64]

The story for Blood is really hard but is that there once was a Western Gunslinger named Caleb whos part of a Demon Cult and is summoned only find out that he's failed & is to be slaughtered. Years later, he rises from his grave with thirst for revenge against the cultists that killed him in the first place.

[Adaaification]

I can tell you what Caleb becomes. He absorbs the powers of Tchernoborg and becomes the god of death himself at the end of Blood. But his powers are unstable because his body is still mortal, so he retrieves the scroll of eternity at the end of Cyptic Passage and bringing his powers under control. Then he absorbs the power of the other Chosen in Post Mortem to become even more powerful and in the future the Cabal seek to extract all that power from him what leads to the events of Blood 2. In the Blood 2 Expansion he also gets the power to control dreams and manipulate them. A little like Freddy.

[HenitoKisou]

Caleb is undead gunslinger, Tchernobog incarnate and raw, furious conduit of power. Custcene in Blood2 shows you exactly that, being one with life and death and having the chosen mark, also skeletal appearance of The One That Binds within him in essence form. To become one you must kill previous avatar of it basically. Priest dudes in Post Mortem are not Chosen, only supposed to replace, but they turn all Beast, lose all control, since method isn't the same, wthout Tchernobog guidance. The Chosen are more like Generals, representatives of god's will, so obviously they contain more power than anyone else. That lore of Blood2 stated that not only Tchernobog binds life and death, but also dimensions and before Caleb that avatar was a very hateful man so appearance, way of the cult and methods reflected that in more demonic, sinister agenda.

[niccbilac]

A bit old question but, Caleb is probably a lich, according to Wikipedia, this is a lich:
"In fantasy fiction, a lich (/ˈlɪtʃ/;[1] from the Old English līċ, meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature.
[...]
Often such a creature is the result of a willful transformation, as a powerful wizard skilled in necromancy who seeks eternal life uses rare substances in a magical ritual to become undead. Unlike zombies, which are often depicted as mindless, liches are sapient, retaining their previous intelligence and magical abilities. Liches are often depicted as holding power over lesser undead soldiers and servants."

Well, Caleb is not exactly a wizard afaik, but he's pretty much undead.

[BlueCollarFurry]

I would guess some kind of revenant, but with human level intelligence still intact in contrast to usual depictions of them being mostly empty shells driven by primal emotions.

[g0bl1nsm@ck3r]

Considering his non-undead status, it's safe to say he ISN'T a vampire,due to vampires being undead,and the wendigo thing doesn't make sense,and the cultists all seem to be human,so perhaps he IS just human,an extremely cannibalistic human, considering the whole heart-eating thing he has going,but the sunken red eyes are likely a result of his work with tchornebog (or however ya spell it) and his becoming a high ranking disciple of his,and the baldness is just because I assume he is possibly older than he seems

[niccbilac]

Originally posted by g0bl1nsm@ck3r:

and the baldness is just because I assume he is possibly older than he seems

Actually, according to Kevin Kilstrom (head artist and character designer of Blood), he was bald (as least visible in cutscenes) because of technical difficulties, it was difficult to animate hair on 3d characters, and in the first game it was actually planned to him to have short hair.
You can see more info on blood fan wiki

[The Grand Mac]

Originally posted by KillerKrieg:

I made the argument that he is a Wendigo of native American lore essentially, which him eating the heart would strongly imply. Also, Wendigo of such legend were depicted as being bald, pale, with sunken in red eyes, in the original game, these traits defined Caleb perfectly, it was only in the second game when Caleb mysteriously grew hair.

It's a small thing, I know, but Caleb was always supposed to have hair. Him without it in the game is a big oversight, especially when you take a closer look at him and see he doesn't have ears on his model, either. So, not mysterious at all when you consider that.

I know some people will argue "But we have to consider things just as they are in the game, not from the designer saying this or that," but you are going to make it very hard on yourself if you stick rigidly to that mindset, cause sometimes things are NOT as they are as we see them, and it's because it wasn't able or can't be represented in a way that matches the devs' vision.