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Cain

 Cain
type
FeatureClass
 Cain
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Cain
 Cain
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Cain
 Cain
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After seeing God accept offerings from his brother Abel but decline his own, Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, became jealous and killed him, thus becoming the first human to commit the sin of murder. As a punishment, God made him Walk the Earth forever. As this story is firmly imprinted in popular culture, Cain is a recurring character in various media other than The Bible.
He is typically The Atoner. He is immortal in every single incarnation, and sometimes he is also a Walking Wasteland, a restless wanderer, and any harm done to him is avenged sevenfold. Usually seen as the very first Biblical Bad Guy that is human, sometimes is seen on the good side in God Is Evil stories where he was framed up or he rebelled against God. Some realistic myths make him the first murderer in human history. And some others... that Cain never was the bad guy, but his brother Abel. In the stories where Cain is the good guy, expect him to be more of an Anti-Hero.
Sub-Trope of Biblical Motifs and Biblical Bad Guy. See also Cain and Abel (the original Red Oni, Blue Oni), Cain and Abel and Seth (where a third (and sometimes unknown) sibling appeared), Name of Cain (characters named after this character), The Descendants of Cain (offsprings or followers that continue Cain's path or fate), and Names To Run Away From: Biblical Names (to other names that inspires fear as Cain).
For tropes about Cain in The Bible, see Characters: The Bible in Old Testament section.
Has nothing to do with the French series Caïn.

Examples
 Cain
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2024-04-12T21:31:11Z
 Cain
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2024-04-12T21:31:11Z
 Cain
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Dropped link to NautilusPompilius: Not an Item - IGNORE
 Cain
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Dropped link to TheSixties: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Cain
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Cain / int_261c8d3f
type
Cain
 Cain / int_261c8d3f
comment
The Simpsons: In "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass", Ned makes a movie about Cain and Abel starring his sons Rod and Todd, respectively.
 Cain / int_261c8d3f
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 Cain / int_261c8d3f
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 The Simpsons
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Cain / int_261c8d3f
 Cain / int_2c9a932f
type
Cain
 Cain / int_2c9a932f
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In Vampirella, Cain appears as character, who is not only revealed to be a sympathetic figure but also Vampirella's father.
 Cain / int_2c9a932f
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1.0
 Cain / int_2c9a932f
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 Vampirella (Comic Book)
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Cain / int_2c9a932f
 Cain / int_42ffb88e
type
Cain
 Cain / int_42ffb88e
comment
SCP Foundation: SCP-073 is the Biblical Cain, still laboring under his curse; the soil becomes dead and sterile where he walks, anything made of plants corrodes upon contact with him, and any attempt to harm him is completely reflected back. Abel is also present as SCP-076. Interestingly, Cain is quite a nice person while Abel is a homicidal psycho.
 Cain / int_42ffb88e
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 Cain / int_42ffb88e
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 SCP Foundation (Website)
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Cain / int_42ffb88e
 Cain / int_43576f5
type
Cain
 Cain / int_43576f5
comment
Supernatural: In the episode "First Born", Winchester brothers found Cain, who owns the "First Blade", a magical sword who kills Abbadon (the Big Bad then). Here, Cain explains to Dean about why he killed Abel in the first place: he wasn't talking to God, he was talking to Archangel Lucifer. To save his brother, Cain made a deal: his soul in Hell in exchange for Abel's in Heaven. Lucifer agreed if Cain killed Abel himself. Cain did with the First Blade and was transformed into the first Knight of Hell and trained the rest.
 Cain / int_43576f5
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 Cain / int_43576f5
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 Supernatural
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Cain / int_43576f5
 Cain / int_4c56381b
type
Cain
 Cain / int_4c56381b
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The Binding of Isaac: Cain is one of the playable characters/alternate personalities of Isaac. Wears an eyepatch as a refference to some beliefs that he wears his mark as a murderer in his eye. Repentance then added Tainted Cain, who is unable to grab items, instead turning them into pickups when touched. He needs to take pickups and combine them to create items he can keep.
 Cain / int_4c56381b
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 Cain / int_4c56381b
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 The Binding of Isaac (Video Game)
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Cain / int_4c56381b
 Cain / int_538a9709
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Cain
 Cain / int_538a9709
comment
In The Unwritten it's pretty clear that Pullman is Cain as well as some other mythological bad guys.
 Cain / int_538a9709
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1.0
 Cain / int_538a9709
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 The Unwritten (Comic Book)
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Cain / int_538a9709
 Cain / int_6a4e2e01
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Cain
 Cain / int_6a4e2e01
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Avenged Sevenfold take their name from the biblical story, and their song "Chapter Four" on the 2003 album Waking the Fallen is based on it.
 Cain / int_6a4e2e01
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1.0
 Cain / int_6a4e2e01
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 Avenged Sevenfold (Music)
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Cain / int_6a4e2e01
 Cain / int_6c013d08
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Cain
 Cain / int_6c013d08
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The World of Darkness: Vampires suffer from the curse of Caine — all of the clans are fathered by the sons of Caine, who is implied, if not outright stated, to be the original Cain who murdered his brother. Caine is around too, and is the first vampire. Rules for fighting him are provided, but they consist of "You lose," because any damage done to him is instead reflected back sevenfold, in accordance with God's curse upon him. Vampire: The Masquerade refers to vampires as "Cainites" after Caine, who is referred to as the first vampire and is depicted in the vampire mythology as the Messianic Archetype who righted wrongs and punished the wicked. In Demon: The Fallen, it's noted that Caine invented murder and the killing of sentients.
 Cain / int_6c013d08
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1.0
 Cain / int_6c013d08
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 The World of Darkness (Franchise)
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Cain / int_6c013d08
 Cain / int_7f49dfdb
type
Cain
 Cain / int_7f49dfdb
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Devil Survivor: Naoya, the protagonist's cousin, turns out to be a reincarnation of Cain. He claims that his killing Abel was a plot orchestrated by God, and his motivations revolve largely around getting revenge on God for this.
 Cain / int_7f49dfdb
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1.0
 Cain / int_7f49dfdb
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 Devil Survivor (Video Game)
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Cain / int_7f49dfdb
 Cain / int_9b2b9859
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Cain
 Cain / int_9b2b9859
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He Never Died features Cain as the main protagonist, still alive in the modern day.
 Cain / int_9b2b9859
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1.0
 Cain / int_9b2b9859
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1.0
 He Never Died
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Cain / int_9b2b9859
 Cain / int_9be1af9a
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Cain
 Cain / int_9be1af9a
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The Multiversity: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1, Vandal Savage of Earth-40 is heavily implied to be Cain, with the meteor that gave him his powers being the rock that he used to kill Abel.
 Cain / int_9be1af9a
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1.0
 Cain / int_9be1af9a
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 The Multiversity (Comic Book)
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Cain / int_9be1af9a
 Cain / int_a03824e8
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Cain
 Cain / int_a03824e8
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In The DCU, Vandal Savage is eventually revealed to be the man who inspired the story of "Cain". Depending on the Writer, Savage can be the real Cain who survived many centuries as well as "Cain" being one of his aliases, all thanks to his immortality. Of course, Vandal never met House of Mystery's Cain before.
 Cain / int_a03824e8
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1.0
 Cain / int_a03824e8
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 The DCU (Franchise)
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Cain / int_a03824e8
 Cain / int_a5e160e0
type
Cain
 Cain / int_a5e160e0
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Lucifer (2016): Cain shows up in Season 3 as the true identity of both Marcus Pierce and the Sinnerman, which also makes him the Arc Villain. In this series, he is a Death Seeker who is sick of seeing everyone he loves be killed over and over, literally trying every single way to die and surviving all of them. He also points out that Abel was hardly the saint the Bible makes him out to be. In fact, the brother fought constantly. Had Cain not killed Abel, it would've likely been the other way around. This is seemingly confirmed by the fact that Abel is Hell's oldest resident (not counting Lucifer himself and the demons).
 Cain / int_a5e160e0
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1.0
 Cain / int_a5e160e0
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 Lucifer (2016)
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Cain / int_a5e160e0
 Cain / int_bb3b5431
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Cain
 Cain / int_bb3b5431
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Kane Series, by Karl Edward Wagner, has the titular character as a Conan-esque version of the Biblical Cain, with stories that take place in a dangerous and dark prehistory. Kane himself was cursed with immortality by an insane elder god after having strangled his brother, Abel (or half-brother, as he at one point claims that Eve was his step-mother, which suggests his real mother was Lilith). From the evidence given in the stories, it's pretty clear that the insane elder god is meant to be Jahweh, i.e., God.
 Cain / int_bb3b5431
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1.0
 Cain / int_bb3b5431
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 Kane Series
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Cain / int_bb3b5431
 Cain / int_bcadd7cb
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Cain
 Cain / int_bcadd7cb
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Warhammer 40,000: The daemon sword Drach'nyen (essentially an Eldritch Abomination currently choosing to be in the shape of a sword) was supposedly born when the first human deliberately murdered another, making it all but explicit they were talking about Cain.
 Cain / int_bcadd7cb
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 Cain / int_bcadd7cb
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 Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)
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Cain / int_bcadd7cb
 Cain / int_c5be7279
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Cain
 Cain / int_c5be7279
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Barón Rojo: "Hijos de Cain" (Sons of Cain) is about Cain being the first rebel against God and being cursed because of that, being their successors (the narrator included) known as the "Sons of Cain".
 Cain / int_c5be7279
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 Cain / int_c5be7279
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 Barón Rojo (Music)
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Cain / int_c5be7279
 Cain / int_ced9895f
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Cain
 Cain / int_ced9895f
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Sera Myu has Cain the Dark who is the biblical Cain as a spirit possessing Sailor Astarte and later a homunculus made for him.
 Cain / int_ced9895f
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1.0
 Cain / int_ced9895f
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 Sera Myu (Theatre)
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Cain / int_ced9895f
 Cain / int_d1548747
type
Cain
 Cain / int_d1548747
comment
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series: It's hinted at that the Nod commander Kane is... Cain. Evidence for indicates that he is shown to be the same age during the 1940s, he survives an Ion Cannon blast that he embraces and when assumed to be be the Biblical Cain by followers does not deny it. Command & Conquer: Renegade confirms it, since you find Abel's tomb beneath the Temple of Nod. In the rather poorly received final chapter known as Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, it is revealed that Cain is actually an alien stranded on Earth for the past thousands of years, and has likely shaped the advance of civilisation to reach a point when he can leave the planet. He phones home at the ending, leaving through a portal left by a failed Alien Invasion.
 Cain / int_d1548747
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 Cain / int_d1548747
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 Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series (Video Game)
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Cain / int_d1548747
 Cain / int_d50ee4b7
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Cain
 Cain / int_d50ee4b7
comment
Beowulf antagonist Grendel is sometimes portrayed as Cain in later adaptations. What we have of the original was rewritten to include Christian elements, so this isn't particularly surprising (though the wording it uses would be more straightforwardly interpreted as Grendel being one of The Descendants of Cain).
 Cain / int_d50ee4b7
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 Cain / int_d50ee4b7
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 Beowulf
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Cain / int_d50ee4b7
 Cain / int_d628ec33
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Cain
 Cain / int_d628ec33
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The Strange Talent of Luther Strode is about the eponymous character gaining superpowers thanks to the "Hercules Method" based on a Religion of Evil, made by noneless than Cain himself who's alive and is the Big Bad of the story.
 Cain / int_d628ec33
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 Cain / int_d628ec33
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 The Strange Talent of Luther Strode (Comic Book)
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Cain / int_d628ec33
 Cain / int_d62bbf7a
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Cain
 Cain / int_d62bbf7a
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In Assassin's Creed II, it's revealed in the optional glyphs that Cain killed Abel over a Piece of Eden and was the founder of the Templar Order.
 Cain / int_d62bbf7a
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1.0
 Cain / int_d62bbf7a
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 Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)
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Cain / int_d62bbf7a
 Cain / int_d7c4626a
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Cain
 Cain / int_d7c4626a
comment
The Sandman (1989) features both Biblical brothers again as characters in the Dreaming and associates of Morpheus. Cain is a violent man who is prone to murdering Abel, which is a cycle they continually repeat thanks to Abel's Resurrective Immortality. When Dream came back to the Dreaming, both brothers healed and served him, with Abel as his messenger between Dream and Lucifer, as well other services. In one story, Abel tells a version of their backstory and Matthew the Raven questions how this fits with evolution and so on. Abel begins "Oh, this wasn't on Earth..." before Cain silences him.
 Cain / int_d7c4626a
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 Cain / int_d7c4626a
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 The Sandman (1989) (Comic Book)
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Cain / int_d7c4626a
 Cain / int_faf84cd
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Cain
 Cain / int_faf84cd
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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: Cain(e) is alluded to. Apparently, he spends his eternal afterlife working as a cab driver in Downtown LA. Playing as a Malkavian, you realize this when you eventually meet him. You would Go Mad from the Revelation, but, y'know, you already are.
 Cain / int_faf84cd
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 Cain / int_faf84cd
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 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Video Game)
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Cain / int_faf84cd

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Cain
processingCategory2
Biblical Motifs
 Vampirella (Comic Book) / int_e540d168
type
Cain
 Vandal Savage (Comic Book) / int_e540d168
type
Cain
 Assassin's Creed (Franchise) / int_e540d168
type
Cain
 Lucifer (2016) / int_e540d168
type
Cain
 Sera Myu (Theatre) / int_e540d168
type
Cain
 Devil Survivor (Video Game) / int_e540d168
type
Cain