Kane: the Immortal Prophet of the Brotherhood of Nod

Kane is the reason people remember Command & Conquer's story. He's the founder, prophet and absolute leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, played in live action by Joseph D. Kucan, and he looks straight at you through the screen and makes you feel he's got you exactly where he wants you. He's usually right. (Command & Conquer)

Who is Kane?#

The games never give a straight answer. The story offers clues: the name, the Brotherhood's claim to a past reaching back to the land of Nod, his complete lack of ageing across nearly seventy years of in-game time, and followers who treat him as a prophet. Fans read that as Kane being the biblical Cain, or something else very old. I think the games are stronger for not saying. (Command & Conquer)

The First Tiberium War#

The Kane of 1995 is an information warrior before he's a general. He builds his power on the crystal, then almost beats GDI with a false report of a massacre at Białystok that cuts off its funding. He's also ruthless in a way that defines him: when his commander Seth plots his own operation, Kane has him shot on camera, mid-briefing. GDI's Ion Cannon strike on the Temple of Nod in Sarajevo seems to end him. (Command & Conquer)

The second return#

In 2030 he reappears on GDI's own command channel, unaged, more than three decades later. The war he starts is about the Tacitus and a missile that would remake the planet. At Cairo, Michael McNeil kills him. Firestorm then shows he isn't finished, with the rogue AI CABAL linked to his recovering mind. (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun)

The long game#

Tiberium Wars reveals how far ahead he thinks. He brings Nod back in 2047, destroys GDI's Philadelphia station, and lets GDI's Ion Cannon detonate a liquid Tiberium bomb at Temple Prime, killing millions. The purpose was to draw the Scrin to Earth, because he needs their Threshold towers. (Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars)

In the final game he's even allied with GDI, working on the Tiberium Control Network. It's a means to an end. He has it activate Threshold 19 and walks through the portal with his followers, leaving the Earth to recover. (Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight)

Kane in Red Alert#

He also appears in the first Red Alert, as a quiet adviser at Stalin's side. In the Soviet ending Nadia poisons Stalin and claims the world for the Brotherhood of Nod. Then Kane shoots her and tells the player that he is the future. (Command & Conquer: Red Alert)