Editing Castlevania (section)

==Canon Games==
===Lament of Innocence (Castlevania 0)===
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A long time ago, during the year 1096, there were two knights who were friends; Baron Leon Belmont, and Baron Mathias Cronqvist. Leon was the fighter, Mathias the tactician and scholar. Together they lead a company of knights who were greatly successful during the First Crusade. During the crusade, Mathias's wife Elisabetha had taken ill and died. Mathias cursed God's name, and decided that if He would take away Mathias's wife while he was fighting God's war, Mathias would defy him and live forever. Using his knowledge of alchemy, specifically in utilizing the souls of beings to grant power and gain dominion over them, Mathias created a magic gem called the Crimson Stone which, when filled with the soul of a Vampire, would grant him immortality without being bound to any master. 
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Mathias baited a powerful Vampire named Walter Bernhard, known for kidnapping the loved ones of powerful mortals to bait them into his great castle to fight for his amusement, into kidnapping Leon's future wife Sara Trantoul. Walter possessed the Ebony Stone, the twin to the Crimson Stone (the two together being a corrupted, unmerged version of the Philosopher's Stone), which granted many powers that the Vampire did not understand. He knew that it created a shroud of eternal night and believed it would allow him to control Death himself (a property actually belonging to the Crimson Stone). Believing himself to be immortal and unbeatable, he anxiously awaited the fun a knight of the Church would bring. Mathias, feigning illness, informed Leon the Vampire had taken his bride-to-be and where Walter's castle could be found. 

However, Leon was forbidden from pursuing the Vampire due to the Church pursuing punishment of heresy before destruction of monsters. Forced between love and duty, he broke his oaths and entered the Forest of Eternal Night on foot. There he met an Alchemist named Rinaldo Gandolfi (a former adventurer who had failed to rescue his own daughter from Walter in the past) who enchanted his armor and gave him a whip formed of Alchemy that was particularly strong against magical beasts. 

Leon battled through Walter's castle, arranged in a grand hall with a room filled with magical elevators leading to other portions of the castle. 
* Within the Anti-Souls Mystery Lab, an Alchemy wing filled with libraries and furnaces, he fought an unfinished Golem. 
* In the Garden Forgotten By Time, he fought through prehistoric and unnatural flora and fauna before killing an extremely large [[Medusa]] that resembled a [[Beholder]]. 
* In the House of Sacred Remains, the former chapel that was in a state of terrible disrepair even before Walter's minions converted much of it into a torture maze, he fought a mass of flesh and demon insects feeding on it from the former slaves. 
* In the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, a massive underground series of chambers and sewers connecting to aquifers and complexes inspired by Escher, he fought Joachim Armster, a Vampire servant of Walter's imprisoned within the maze of water for trying to usurp him who wielded multiple swords telepathically. 
* In the Ghostly Theater, a massive complex of rooms and halls decorated anachronistically for grand performances with cast and audience stuck forever in a show, Leon found a suspiciously vacant stage with only one seat; here, a Succubus posed as Sara and attempted to assassinate him. 

After clearing the castle, Leon assembled the key to the Pagoda of the Misty Moon (a translation error, the intended meaning is "Shrine/Temple Of The Misty Moon") where Walter confronted him, congratulating him and returning Sara. Leon attempted to use his whip on Walter, who was unaffected claiming that Death could not take him. Leon returned Sara to Rinaldo's cottage where he discovered she had been turned into a Vampire by Walter. The only way to save others from her and Leon's fate was to kill her and bind her soul within the whip. Thus was born the Vampire Killer whip. 
Leon, enraged and heartbroken, battled his way through the castle keep where he discovered the key to a hidden room behind a painting depicting a powerful monster not long after confronting a Doppleganger of himself. Entering the Prison of Eternal Torture, which consisted of a bloodstained hallway, a miles-long staircase in almost pitch-black darkness, and finally a room covered in spikes and chains housing the upper half of a gigantic monster that was flayed alive and left to rot and be consumed by giant maggots yet was still alive; the Forgotten One, which in it's youth challenged God and almost destroyed the world. Leon tested the Vampire Killer by killing the Forgotten one by destroying it's exposed organs, then it's remaining hand, then finally collapsing it's skull (yes, the VK is that fucking powerful). 
Satisfied Sara's sacrifice was not in vain, Leon destroyed the last of Walter's servants and challenged him in his throne room. Leon defeated the arrogant Vampire, who was shocked to find Death take his soul and deliver it into the Crimson Stone. Mathias appeared, reclaiming the Ebony Stone for himself, and revealed his plot to Leon. He offered Leon immortality at his side, which was then rejected (apparently Mathias thought doing what God had done to him would make someone else come to the conclusion God was to blame for that too). Mathias fled, leaving Leon to fight and banish the grim reaper himself with a message for Mathias; the Belmont clan would use the Vampire Killer to hunt him, and all other monsters, forever.  The castle fell apart and the sun returned to the forest. 

====Intermission Lore====
Leon's family no longer had the support of the Church. Although not branded outright heretics, they became pariahs and their wealth and prestige diminished greatly. Despite this, they continued to hunt and destroy monsters, using the Vampire Killer and passing it between father to son and brother to brother. The spirit of Sara within the whip refused to be wielded by the impure or one not of her lost love's family; any who attempted to claim the Vampire Killer wasted away as Sara fed on their life force. 
But every beast destroyed by the Belmonts was claimed by Mathias unbeknownst to them. With his alchemy, Mathias absorbed the powers of the Crimson and Ebony Stones, making the power of Dominion his own. Every creature he claimed became an extension of his own will, although Walter's soul within him gave Sara's power the ability to harm him and any pawn of him with ease. 

[[Matt Ward|Mathias]] traveled far and wide, even journeying to Hell itself to battle Lucifer for the title of Prince of Darkness. Mathias traveled to the realm of [[Chaos]], absorbing the energies of the beings within and forcing [[Chaos Gods|them]] into the shape of a great and ever-changing castle who's very grounds can be the size of a province and who's immensity defies the laws of physics, the titular Castlevania. 
Mathias even dominated abominations and unknowable horrors, pressing beings such as [[Cthulhu]] and the kin of Walter's Forgotten One into service as mere guards within his halls. Taking on the name of Vlad Tepes, or Dracula, he claimed Walachia as his own and dared God to move against him. God indeed responded, by giving Vlad hope of redemption. 
Within his new kingdom was born a woman named Lisa, the reincarnation of Elisabetha. Vlad fell in love with her as he had her past life, and married her. After she gave birth to a son whom he dubbed Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, Vlad retired from gathering the forces of darkness and ruled his people wisely and justly. Lisa was skilled with the healing arts, and with the spread of the Black Death in the 1400's did her best to ease the suffering of the people. But in a frightened riot, Lisa was burned at the stake as a witch. 
Vlad finally became Dracula, and enacted a war of genocide against the human race. He selected humans with dominant personalities and a talent for Alchemy, called Devil Forgemasters, to lead his armies as the forces of darkness were unleashed and caused immense suffering on every continent. Dracula sipped wine served by Succubi to the wails of the hundreds of dead and dying within dungeons below. The rivers of blood nourished Castlevania, and hellish weapons were forged using the souls of the doomed. Anywhere his minions treaded was cursed, a spreading toxic influence of evil that warped the wildlife into twisted beasts, filled men's hearts with sin, and rendered the landscape inhospitable. 
Adrian, who was told by his dying mother that mankind suffered more than  enough hardship, was unwilling to be a part of his father's evil and vanished for a time before returning using the holy blade of his mother's ancestors and using the name Alucard to wage a one-man war on Dracula.

In a silly non-canon (maybe) side story, a small boy (or monster) in burlap clothes wearing a pumkpin on his head trick-or-treated Walter's castle.
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===Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (Castlevania 1)===
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The Eastern Orthodox Church sent the armies of Europe to slay Dracula, who became additions to Dracula's army of the undead. Without any other option, the Church secretly called upon the Belmonts, who have been pushed to the fringes of society by the fearful populace, to put Dracula to death. In 1476, Trevor Belmont reached the edge of Dracula's castle and fought his way through. Along the way, he was joined by a former thief named Grant Danasty (whose entire family had been killed by Dracula when the nobles of Wallachia rebelled against him, followed by Grant being turned into a giant hulking brute when he attempted to get revenge), Sypha Belnades (a witch who's parents were killed by the same riots that killed Lisa, who grew up at a monastery and befriended the remaining Feyfolk unaligned with Dracula before becoming an official assassin of the Church), and finally Alucard (The son of Dracula and a human woman who was burned as a witch, in his first appearance before his more famous appearance in Symphony).
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[[File:CV 3.png|thumb|right|400px]]
Trevor's path was long (and in fact during a playthrough multiple times players have the options to choose one level over another) and lead from Warikiya (Wallachia?) town outside Dracula's castle to the town clock tower, through the forests surrounding the countryside, through a marsh where Dracula's fishmen navy breeds, on a ghost pirate ship (which is for some reason located in Dracula's lake) which they used to reach the island Castlevania is located on, through a sunken city populated by ghosts (which floods as you reach the end of it) then through the mines (which are being washed away as you cross them) and mountains on the cliffface (which are crumbling) and into Dracula's dungeons, tower leading to Dracula's gates (where you fight Frankenstein's Monster, even though he was created in 1792) across Dracula's bridge and aqueduct, through the catacombs and into the ramparts then the castle armory, through the main hall (where once again, Death has his ass beaten) and into Dracula's own clocktower, then finally into his keep and throne room to confront him. Dracula initially fights by teleporting and causing magical flames to shoot out of the floor, but after enough strikes with the Vampire Killer he assumes a form more befitting the new lord of Chaos; six grinning faces that vomit poison blood topped with an exposed brain. After whipping the flesh from the skulls of those faces, Dracula assumed a final form; that of a giant Demon man-bat which warped reality around him and shot lasers from his hands and eyes. After being defeated in this form, both Dracula and his castle as well as the bulk of his armies were pulled back into the realm of Chaos. Trevor and his allies watched the castle crumble and the dawn finally return to the world. Grant and Trevor became rivals for Sypha's affection, although in the end it was Trevor who won her over causing succeeding Belmonts to inherit her magical affinity. Grant became the leader of the new Wallachia and rebuilt the towns and villages destroyed by Dracula's armies. Alucard, ashamed at taking part in patricide and guilty over being unable to save his father, took to a long sleep within his coffin. 

Trevor, Sypha, Grant, and Alucard also spent a great deal of time eating fully-cooked porkchops they found whenever the Vampire Killer was able to break through a wall. You know, because video games.

The events of Dracula's Curse are retold in the Netflix Castlevania series, which is notably FAR more adult (and less musical) than the game. Despite Netflix’s notoriety of infamous adaptations, this has been regarded as one of the best of all time. Granted there are some things it was unable to do (Danasty is reduced to a one-off line, and they tried their best to put in a reference to the wall porkchop), and it is clear that they were [[derp|forced to add real world diversity/equity in a medieval fantasy,]] but such details should not get in the way of its satisfying fight choreography, stellar storywriting, enjoyable characters and humor. Should you find this series on a torrent site or watching on a friend’s account, you will be entertained.

====Intermission Lore====
During the events before Dracula's Curse, one of Dracula's Devil Forgemasters named Hector began to question his loyalty. Hector was born with the ability to communicate with spirits and animals, and was neglected by his devout mother who believed him to be evil and his father who's only interest was in governance. His fey friends became enraged at mankind's neglect of their friend and caused the local Church to catch fire, giving him a chance to escape to a being they said would understand him; Vlad. His surrogate father positioned him as the controller of the myriad horrors within his castle during the time of peace and taught him the advanced Alchemy including the creation and manipulation of life. With the death of Lisa he commanded Hector and his fellow Forgemaster Isaac to send forth the beasts under their command to raze Europe while Death commanded the armies remaining in Wallachia. He also sent them whatever they required to forge greater beasts and weapons including souls and blood. Isaac and Hector, both runaways feared for their abilities who found prestige and respect as Dracula's generals, would diverge in ideology. Hector became disgusted with Dracula's slipping sanity and cruelty, and simply abandoned his position to live under an assumed alias in a village after Dracula ordered him to track down and wipe out the Belmonts, leaving his army to infest the countryside and block Trevor's path from time to time instead. Isaac by contrast became obsessed with impressing their master, forging more and more wicked weapons and creatures and inventing horrors never before seen in heaven or hell. Hector's disappearance concerned Dracula, who at this point still had the capacity for human attachment (not to Isaac though), and sent Isaac with several cultists and a werewolf to find Hector's body for honoring, or his treachery and return him for torture. Isaac decided instead to simply off Hector either way, and ensure Dracula's favor would fall on him alone. While the werewolf tracked Hector's scent to the village where he'd taken shelter, it decided to prey on some of the townsfolk. The screams of a small boy who's parents had previously been eaten by Hector's werewolf forces brought the former general to reveal himself by killing the werewolf. Isaac and Hector engaged in battle, although the death of Dracula at Trevor's hands caused Isaac enough of a shock that Hector was able to beat him and leave him for dead. 
For three years Hector lived in the village, and became engaged to a woman of faith named Rosaly. Sheltering himself in the ruins of the countryside surrounding Dracula's former castle, Isaac was left a ranting and wailing mess clothed only in the tatters of his former uniform and tattooed in the emblems that once adorned the coat. He blamed Hector for the death of Dracula, waited until he had achieved happiness before spreading the rumor that the apples Rosaly sold in the next village were poisoned. Hector came to the town that day to find the village square empty save Rosaly's charred skeleton hanging in the town square, having been burned by a fearful mob, while Isaac stood atop a nearby building and cackled insanely. By the time that Hector reached the roof, Isaac was long-gone. Hector returned to the chapel and dug out his old uniform, then set out in pursuit of his former ally. 
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===Curse of Darkness (Castlevania 2)===
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The story now focuses on two humans, Hector and Isaac, who served Dracula as Devil Forgemasters, i.e.: they actually created many of the monsters you fight in the games. When Trevor Belmont and his friends went after Dracula, Hector was having a crisis of faithless, and left Dracula's service. Isaac was mad about that, and got Hector's wife killed. 

To simplify a lot of time-wasting plot, there's two characters who appear constantly; a monk named Zead who is actually Death in disguise guiding Hector into killing Isaac and becoming Dracula's new body, and Saint Germaine who is dressed like a flamboyant Victorian ringmaster/gentleman and is Death's arch-nemesis as well as a time-traveler. Germain is the strangest part of the Castlevania canon, seemingly only being there to lead into a crappy fighting game called Castlevania: Judgement that he doesn't even appear in, and may be part of a dropped plot for the series which was largely killed after this game. 
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[[File:Castlevania Exterior.png|thumb|400px|right|Castlevania's entrance in Curse of Darkness]]
At the start of the game, Hector finally caught up to Isaac at their former base of operations called the Abandoned Castle, a fragment of Castlevania left in the mortal world. Isaac taunted Hector, and goaded him into pursuit. Hector fought his way through the remnants of his own former army haunting the walls, first through the primary part of the castle which had begun to show signs of neglect. When Hector reached the stairway that would have lead to Dracula's chambers he instead discovered a room still partially within the realm of Chaos where the soul of one of Dracula's army was contained. He claimed it as a servant, gaining the loyalty of a small infant fairy. As he completed the ritual "Zead" appeared and told Hector that Isaac had fled out the back of the castle to take refuge in a chapel in the ruined town of Cordova through the mountains. Hector continued on through a small pond to reach the overly large catacombs, and after breaking a pillar and entering through a portion of the collapsed floor above reached the castle dungeons/laboratory where many skeletons were chained to the wall and dried bloodstains covered most surfaces. Hector then reached the higher reaches of the castle decorated with lordly furnishings such as lopsided paintings, burning fireplaces with lit candles, decaying curtains, gilded surfaces and carved ornamentation on the wall, ceiling, and floors, which lead to a decorated room where he faced a giant clockwork knight powered by a demon. After defeating it he used a chair lift to reach the rear exit to the castle into the mountains where he discovered another soul within Chaos; this time, a molten golem. 

While exploring the paths of the Baljhet Mountains that had been carved with pillars, decorated walkways, eternal braziers, and stairs to aid travelers in happier times, Hector reached a crossroads with an elaborate door to the massive aqueduct complex Dracula erected in his benevolent period where a young woman was digging herbs from the ground. Hector was amazed at how much like Rosaly she appeared, and asked her if she had seen a man with the same symbols as he wore crossing though. She was cautious until Hector confirmed the man to be his enemy, whereupon she offered to keep the creatures that he freed from Dracula's power safe. Identifying herself as Julia, a prophesying witch who had fled western Europe due to the Church's relentless persecution, she offered him hospitality at her home further up the mountain. Hector continued his journey, reaching a fortress that used to protect the path into Wallachia with cannons and a barricade protecting it. Hector utilized a cannon outside the walls manned formerly by skeletons to blast his way in, and defeat the garrison of creatures within. At the summit of the mountain, he faced a Wyvern that had kept travelers out of Dracula's lands and killed it. 

Upon reaching the other side of the mountain ranges, Hector made his way to a former monastery called the Garibaldi Temple, passing by a massive tower which seemed to reach the clouds and could not be entered. At the entrance to the temple he encountered Saint Germain. Disregarding Germain, Hector entered the monastery to find it had been taken over by Dracula's former minions. There was no indication of the fate of the humans that once resided within, and the temple entrance halls were either completely intact with stained glass windows or portions that are damaged including smashed windows, large holes in walls, bloodstains both large and small, and rubble suggesting a small battle occurred at some point involving something large and wounded. Further into the monastery, he found long hallways wrapped around square dead gardens. Beyond that was much more somber hallways, dimly lit by tinted candles where motifs were more depictions of the grim reaper and angels, which had windows to view the outside gardens where only trees and a worn statue of an angel were still visible. Within the main chapel, a room full of tinted windows and depictions of heaven, Hector encountered Trevor Belmont. Recognizing Hector as a Devil Forgemaster, Trevor attacked and the two battled until Hector was exhausted. Surprised that Hector had been so easy to defeat when the Forgemasters were the equals to Death, he remembered that the events of Dracula's Curse had only been possible because of a Forgemaster traitor and put two and two together. Hector continued into the catacombs, fighting Demons and Slogras (skeletal bird-like servants of Death) until he could empower his Golem so it could open the entrance to the Mortvia Aqueduct leading from the mountains to the town.

Hector began by walking along aqueduct pathways lined with hooded statues when he encountered first Zead, then Saint Germain who were both surprised to see Hector, having been waiting for each other and leaving before they could meet. Hector traveled though the aqueduct canals, each ending in a large tower with aesthetic fountains within until he reached another large fortress occupied by monsters armed with cannons, this one to control sea travel into Dracula's realm. Hector once again commandeered an artillery piece with which to blast away the beasts, destroying a tower to create a bridge across in the process allowing him to enter the aqueduct fortress keep. He continued through the fortress interior, decorated with further hooded statues and fountains of various shapes and sizes depicting everything from lions to dragons and tattered banners of Dracula's reign hanging in windows, while fighting various aquatic and wild foes lead by more of Death's servants, the giant demons called Gaibons. Finally exiting the fortress, he reached the edge of a lake where Dracula's castle once stood. Continuing on past the old remnant he entered a large room with a pool and a walkway leading over it, which collapsed as he tried to cross leaving him on a small patch of land around which patrolled a skeleton shark mounted by a skeleton wildman, who used to execute prisoners for Dracula's spectatorship. After defeating the pair, he discovered another entrance to Chaos where he freed the spirit of a giant crow who carried him across the water to the entrance to the Forest of Jigramunt. 

As soon as he set foot in the forest, Hector heard voices and ducked behind a tree to watch the exchange between Zead and Germain. Hector then continued through the forest made up of paths similar to those in the Baljhet Mountains, former sites of small fortifications in extreme states of disrepair, a burned-out windmill by a river, a length of actual forestland with a barely-visible path, and a series of caves including a former mine and an underground Colosseum where he fought a massive Minotaur who's back was split, exposing it's spine. 

From the back of the Colosseum Hector entered the town of Cordova (where Trevor began his journey in Castlevania 3), finding it completely devoid of life with undead such as Zombies, Ghosts, and horrible patchwork beings formed of multiple corpses alongside warbands of Lizardmen. Every building was completely vacant and boarded up, with the roofs crumbling and falling inwards. When Hector reached the church, no longer the giant cathedral that Trevor has scaled but instead merely the walls of the first story and a facade, he encountered Isaac and the two fought (the fight is portrayed in the demo cinematic of the game, albeit with Hector's fully-leveled up demon against Isaac's, even though Hector doesn't even have the Devil-type companion yet). Isaac commented his powers were returning as expected and rushed forwards to continue the duel until Julia appeared and begged her (big reveal moment) brother to stop. Isaac, annoyed, stated it's still too early to finish off Hector anyway and disappeared in a magic circle on the ground. Julia stood in Hector's way to prevent pursuit, and after being accused of manipulating Hector for Isaac she told him that she wanted to see her brother freed from Dracula's Curse and that to do that Hector had to grow stronger both in his capacity for combat and his spirit as well. She claimed that the only being she could trust to free Isaac instead of merely slaying him is Hector due to their history, and that if it did come down to slaying him Hector is the only being she would accept doing it. Hector then left the cathedral, contemplating her words, and found another of the gateways into Dracula's Chaos. This one contained a Mage-type Innocent Devil, who had the power to stop time for a short few moments. This allowed him to pass through the street that lead to the Eneomaos Machine Tower (possibly the same Clocktower Trevor freed Grant from due to it's location, although the Clocktower in that game fell apart at least to some degree due to having to escape as debris fell from the ceiling after the defeat of the possessed Grant; this may be another tower in the same location, or was rebuilt either by monsters or the lingering influence of Castlevania, or may possibly only appear to be standing as it currently exists outside of time. It's all open to interpretation) which was lined by enchanted fires that blew out and sealed the door to the first courtyard if he tried to approach normally. 

The path to the Eneomaos Machine Tower was made up of three garden courtyards leading up to the entrance with brown grass and dried fountains and squatting monsters such as Orcs. The courtyards were bordered with buildings long since collapsed, with only a few shattered walls standing and barely visible from the walkway. Hector encountered another obstacle, this time a twisting path of stairs that raised from the ground at the pull of a lever but withdrew back into the ground after a mere three seconds. Once again, the aid of the Mage enabled him to reach the doorway to a short stairway that lead into a very, VERY tall tower. The inside of the tower was quite old, and a few pieces of information within said that a mad nobleman named Eneomaos built the tower in ages past for an unknown reason. Everywhere behind cages and inside walls where damaged had exposed the hollow interior was machine components still moving in time for an unknown purpose, from cogs to springs to chains to weights. Hector was able to skip exploring much of the tower due to his use of a room on the first floor where a disk was lifted by a screw mechanism as a kind of elevator. By jamming his weapon into the screw, he was able to turn it and use the elevator to reach the much higher in the complex. At the higher reaches of the tower, it became apparent that it was once part of a much larger building as walls trailed off from the already massive building at a height where the ground could no longer be seen over the mists, and windows that appeared to stretch into large dormitories could be seen below the exterior walkways. Upon going around the outside of the complex from the exit of the first elevator, Hector reached a second within a small side tower. Once again using a screw-elevator mechanism, he exited near the top of the tower. The upper chambers were much more intact than the lower ones, with intricate cages and complex machinery still running at full strength. Upon reaching a room with a large engine and a store of replacement parts, Hector dislodged a lose cog that set in action a Rube Goldberg device of machine components breaking down until a piston was sent flying through a wall, exposing a hallway. Through this hallway he reached the stairs leading to the very rooftop courtyard of the massive tower, where he found Saint Germaine casually leaning on a small tower at the center on which was a clock face. The two fought and Germain surrendered, promising not to interfere more and disappearing. Past the tower roof on the other side lay another portal into Chaos, where Hector discovered a small loyal Devil to bring under his control. This Innocent Devil allowed him to use Isaac's trick of turning into a symbol on the ground and move almost anywhere, easily crossing the rubble and hidden passages of Wallachia. Hector finished exploring the top of the tower, which was increasingly showing it's advanced state of disrepair now that the time warp had ended as he progressed. 
Hector retraced his steps to the Temple, where he was able to use his Demon to reach a second catacomb hidden behind a wall. Within, the stacks of bones gave appeared to be covered in purple ooze the further down he progressed until the final path, far below the surface, gave way to flesh and cancerous growths on the bones leading further still while Demon fetuses within floating eggs drifted through. At the end of the pathway was the door to a nightmarish room, lined with flesh and with a floor made entirely of an unknowable number of naked human corpses. On the sides of the walls was a staircase made of bone, leading up to a gigantic ball called "Legion" of pure evil made of similar bodies to the ones below at the top of the room. He ascended the staircase, attacked by corpses that stood from the floor to block his progress while filling with a pus-like acid until they burst, and hacked away at the corpse-ball until the core was exposed. The core then cracked and exploded, with a being made of pure light emerging. The being was called the Nuculais and was in the shape of a humanoid although it lacked any form of features barring an exposed heart. It morphed it's hands into blades and leaped into the floor, leaving behind a surface of plasma, to get around the room and attack Hector. Upon defeating it the creature exploded into pure light. 
He then returned to Cordova, and used the abilities of the Devil to travel beyond the magical gates at the top of the village hill that kept the bulk of Dracula's forces trapped within the Aiolon Ruins. 

The Ruins consisted of a deep and ancient forest which had overtaken the ruins of a previous civilization, which blends real-world architecture and iconography of different kinds into the general feel of a long-abandoned city in the hills. He once again encountered a fortress protected by cannons, this time an ancient fort of times long past that had become a bastion of Dracula's forces. Once again, Hector commandeered a cannon and blew the piss out of the fortifications and stormed the gates, pacifying all resistance. Utilizing an underground tunnel full of statues and carvings where more Slogras and Gaibons appeared, Hector found Isaac and Trevor locked in combat and evenly matched. After seeing Hector, Isaac claimed to have already gotten what he needed and taunted Trevor by saying that his defeat of Dracula was only a fluke before claiming that he would kill both of them before vanishing. Trevor finally believed Hector was an ally but accused him of getting in his way any left, after which Zead appeared out of nowhere and told him that Isaac could be found in a hidden room below where they first met, the Abandoned Castle, and in the exchange Zead panicked and seemed to think Germain had changed history. Hector then returned to the Abandoned Castle, to the long open stone staircase up to the top tower where he encountered the Golem and found that a metal staircase had been lowered. In the higher room, Hector found Trevor and told him what Zead had said. Trevor claimed it was impossible, that only the blood of a Belmont would be able to open that chamber before realizing that was why Isaac had attacked him. Trevor then attacked Hector to test how much stronger he'd become, and noted that Hector fought almost as if an entirely different person. Trevor then cut his hand with a dagger and allowed his blood to fall on the floor, which caused a magical rune to appear. 

After stepping on the rune, Hector found himself in a room not unlike anything else in the castle, although in a much better preserved state. Upon exiting it however he found himself standing on a path of stone leading upwards from the room, which was externally the bottom floor of a massive tower, floating in a void of purple with ghostly lanterns lining the path; the Infinite Corridor, which lay within the Chaos Abyss where Dracula had been banished. He followed the path to another similar tower, then a third, then to a small portion of battlements all floating within the nothingness. Past that, stone walkways lined with running water with cracks in said walls also somehow leaking water despite nothing being behind them. In the sky, large chunks of what had also once been Castlevania floated in storm clouds. He continued through these upwards paths, towers, and waterways until he reached an apparent dead-end of a shattered stone walkway. But upon walking partway up, Hector found himself in a totally new landscape, floors and partial walls that appeared to be made of bismuth with carved pillars, tiles depicting strange designs, and candles situated atop root-like organic structures which floated in a maelstrom of wind and floating debris despite being calm within. Each "room" ended in another staircase to nowhere which when ascended somehow lead to another such room. He eventually reached a large example of such rooms, which lead to more debris from Castlevania, then to more bismuth rooms, then finally to a four-way hub lit by iron lanterns on dead trees and at the center of which lay a large lavender crystal formation, which lead to a bismuth room where a seemingly infinite number of the skulls of some animal blocked his progress (which the Mage was able to stop time to enable him to cross), leading finally to a final walkway. At the end, he entered a bizarre room lined by shelves filled with jars in which severed heads floated and was lined by columns that appeared to be spinal cords erupting from a fleshy entrance in the floor. The master of the chamber, the Dullahan, was left there by Trevor due to it's lack of loyalty regarding who it slays, making it the perfect jailer to the beasts of Castlevania. After it's defeat, the souls it had consumed escaped and it burned to nothingness. After it vanished completely the rune at the center of the room began to glow, and Wallachia shook and buckled as massive vortexes in the sea caused the water levels across the country to recede, and Castlevania re-formed and returned from the depths to the world. Back in the Abandoned Castle Trevor was stabbed through the back by Isaac, who revealed he had baited Trevor into sending Hector to the seal which could only be broken by a great deal of demonic magic  and by fighting the Dullahan, he had broken it simply by being near it. Isaac then cackled like a madman as he left Trevor to bleed to death on the decaying carpet. Hector managed to return to the mortal world, and quickly made his way to the bridge from the Aqueduct that lead to the castle. As he approached the bridge Julia appeared and implied that the reason Dracula's Curse had continued to spread was its source was never banished, that now it could be sent with Dracula himself back into the abyss. She told him to give up his grief and regret and focus on defeating Dracula again. Hector knew his knowledge of demons would enable him to find where the Curse originated, but Julia explained that she found Trevor near dead and he would not be able to help. 

Hector's Golem forced open the gate to Castlevania for him to enter, where he found himself in beautiful marble hallways populated by Dracula's strongest servants. After fighting through the gatehouse and ramparts, he entered the main hall and battled through Dracula's elite. Exiting through a side staircase, Hector came to Dracula's torture chambers; chambers lined only by iron maidens with wire floors above large pits, every surface somehow covered in blood and gore. The connected hallways were lined by long corridors where giant spiked mechanisms separated segments above further blood-collection channels. Empty cells, stacks of bones, and shackles on the walls to force people to watch their friends and family reduced to pulp decorated other areas. Past that was the dungeons proper and the catacombs (conveniently in one place) where Dracula likely entombed the bloodless remains of the humans he found particularly interesting. Above that, Dracula's inner hallways which were decorated with statues of demons, highly elaborate carvings of demons in flight, painted frescoes with iconography of Wallachia's nobility, carvings that depicted humans suffering or weeping with altars surrounded by candles and obscured by piled skulls, and candle holders in the shape of a coffin containing a vampire in rooms with high tiled ceilings and dark hallways lit only by moonlight against curtains. After a great many such hallways, Hector reached the entrance to the Pinnacle; a shattered staircase leading from the main castle keep to a tower that only existed from the place the staircase reached it and upwards. Within was Dracula's inner sanctum, a dark room decorated with black and gold engravings where black magic bled like water, where marble pillars lay between sconces where candles burned purple light, where on the walls lay four glowing orbs held up by golden statues of hands and a large statue of demons kneeling before teeth and eyes; one had cracked open, revealing a (still alive) incubating demon akin to those floating freely in the catacombs of the Gaibaldi Temple. On the ground lay a swirling purple energy contained by the iron wire floor. Here Isaac had waited, congratulating Hector on his restoration of Castlevania. Promising Hector's gruesome death was at hand, he attacked while cackling insanely. Hector defeated each of his Devils, and slammed Isaac to the floor ready to stab him to death with his own glowing purple (a recurring evil color apparently) sword before he recalled Julia's warning not to let the Curse take hold of him. He fell to his knees, recognizing that the bloodlust in him was Dracula's will trying to control him. Zead stepped into the room, clapping as a magical coffin rose from the floor and pulled the unconscious Isaac into it. Zead explained that since Devil Forgemasters are the only beings infused with Dracula's magic, one of them would need to become his new body. He voiced regret that Hector, the stronger of the two, had been able to resist the Curse before revealing Dracula's soul was now taking control of Isaac's body. Hector correctly identified him as Death before he was pulled into the Chaos Abyss where the bottom of the Pinnacle tower resided permanently and Death had been banished by Trevor and his allies. Standing on the hems of Death's massive cloak, he battled the Grim Reaper's body and avoided his blades. After severely weakening the Reaper, Hector was pulled back to reality and exited the chamber to reach the last staircase, which had not yet emerged from the Chaos Abyss and lay within a maelstrom of purple smoke and clouds. At the top of the stairs was the floating structure that Hector saw far above in the Infinite Corridor, Dracula's Throne room which was still incomplete with the walls and ceiling having not reformed. Only the back wall, a few pillars depicting vicious draconic serpents, and the throne itself still existed. As Hector entered the coffin that had drawn Isaac in opened and revealed the reborn Dracula. 

Dracula greeted Hector, asking why he had betrayed him. Hector replied that Dracula's persecution of mankind and indiscriminate slaughter forced him to, and they had a back and forth conversation about humanity before fighting. Hector beat Dracula's first form, the usual fly/teleport/shoot fireballs (and now lasers) with the added power of forcing bloody spikes from the ground that chased Hector around the room. After taking significant punishment, Dracula shattered the remnants of Castlevania around him save a single piece of ground and transformed into a massive demonic black dragon with four feathered wings. Dracula attacked with various powers using black magic of all kinds as well as his own claws before succumbing to his own power in Hector's control. Dracula, defeated and near death, returned to the throne room with Hector and realized he could not fully merge with the impure and damaged Isaac. He claimed that although he could be temporarily banished again from the world, his Curse could never be lifted and would cause the wickedness in mankind's hearts to obliterate themselves. Hector replied that being a Devil Forgemaster he had the power to diminish it into a harmless state. With that, Dracula was pulled back into the Chaos Abyss and Isaac's body collapsed lifeless. Hector drew the Curse (which was apparently all of the purple glowing shit everywhere throughout the game) into one final Innocent Devil (the form of which is not shown), and with the loss of the energy Castlevania was again pulled into the Abyss with it's master. Julia appeared and created a magical rune on the floor with her staff which returned them to the mortal world. As they disappeared, she said one final goodbye to her brother's body. Castlevania shattered once more into lifeless stone and dust back in the material plane, and remnants of the Curse disappearing into the world around. The dark clouds around Wallachia departed and the sun shone again for the first time since the death of Lisa. Viewing the crumbled remains of the castle Hector and Julia acknowledged the Curse had touched the heart of every human, but both still had "faith in the morrow". Saint Germain is then seen in the clocktower, giving an ending narration directly to the player. 
Hector and Julia are then seen walking the road to her shop in the mountains. Upon being asked what he intended to do now, he replied that he had to find some hidden place for his free-willed monsters. She offered him to stay with her which he happily accepted. It's unknown if they had any children or what happened to his many Innocent Devils after his death (or even if they did die, as he still has the power of Dracula and Julia is a powerful witch) as Curse of Darkness came near the end of the series and thus can't be referenced later without retcons. 

Throughout his journey, Hector collected many chairs. Many were anachronistic, and likely were somehow involved with Saint Germaine. Hector stored them within a pocket dimension where he could happily sit in Dracula's throne and play Pachinko next to a flush toilet nearby all day erryday. Because vidya.
Within Dracula's Castle, he found a special Innocent Devil; Pumpkin, the non-canon(?) hero from Leon's time, had somehow been forced into servitude under Dracula and was freed by Hector! Adorbz. This is Pumpkin's last appearance in the series. 

Hector also fought his way upwards through one giant tower, the Tower of Eternity in the Forest of Jigramunt, then flew to the Tower of Evermore outside the Garibaldi Temple from it's top and fought his way down to the bottom. There was no real purpose for this except to kill more shit. 
<gallery>
Image:Abandoned Castle.png|The Abandoned Castle exterior.
Image:Garibaldi Temple.png|The Garibaldi exterior.
Image:Damaged Garibaldi.png
Image:Mortvia Aqueduct 1.png|The Mortvia Aqueduct entrance.
Image:Forest of Jigramunt.png|The Forest of Jigramunt entrance.
Image:Infinite Boss.png|Dullahan's collection.
Image:
</gallery>
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===Castlevania: The Adventure/Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy (Castlevania 3)===
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Originally a Gameboy (not Color, not Advance, not DS; that big blocky black and white screen Gameboy that sucked batteries like Drac himself during a heatwave) game, the story was later retold in a short comicbook series released by IDW. Initially there was confusion as to who the main character was, since the English version of the game box, manual, and advertising stated that Simon (a later Belmont) was the main character when in fact it was Christopher, a new member of the family. Since this was around the time that Castlevania's storyline was actually beginning to link game to game, Konami had to clear up the mystery of the Belmont family and timelines by clarifying it goes Trevor, then Christopher, then Simon (the original Belmont video game hero) with Leon being added later as the one that preceded Trevor. 
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[[File:Castlevania Adventure Castlevania.jpg|thumb|right|400px]]
Exactly 100 years after Trevor defeated Dracula, the powers of Dracula's Curse return to the world. The Belmont clan had grown powerful and rejoined the nobility of the rebuilt Wallachia after Dracula's first defeat, although the people were still highly superstitious and believed the magic that the Belmonts were able to use was black magic rather than holy. Cultists have spread, worshiping Dracula instead of God, and their nightly heretical rituals and sacrifices (initially animal, later human) strengthened the returning Curse.

The vidya version is extremely basic. Christopher fights his way through a forest, then a graveyard, until he encounters an evil knight which he fights and kills. He then entered the bat-filled dungeons of the castle, then made his way into the caverns below it, and fought a small army of Flea Men. He then progressed into the castle itself and was menaced by constant spike traps in floor and advancing wall varieties before fighting a Harpy. He then progressed into the castle courtyard, through the halls, then confronted Dracula himself who first did the standard "teleport around the room and throw fireballs" trick he always does before turning into a giant bat that shot smaller bats. After being defeated, Castlevania (this time resembling more a giant insect hive than a castle proper) crumbled as Christopher watched from a nearby cliff. After he left however, Dracula (in bat form) burst from the rubble and flew off...

The comic story is CONSIDERABLY more complicated. The Belmonts are local nobility, and the past heroes of the clan are regarded as saints and are immortalized within the Church. Dracula himself had three wives at some point in the past, which was never previously shown. Christopher Belmont shook off his recurring dreams of finding his young son turned into a vampire by Dracula, and married a woman named Illya the same day as cultists within the town, lead by a noble family that were the descendants of the mortal servants of Dracula, secretly resurrected him with sacrifices of cultists. While Christopher consummated his marriage, Dracula broke into the family cemetery and defiled the corpses and graves of the clan, in particular Christopher's parents, with the symbol of Dracula's dragon heraldry carved into the walls of the tomb. 
Ilyana and Christopher armed themselves with the Belmont relics (the axe, watch, holy water, cross, and dagger-the subweapons of every game) while Gaspar, the patriarch of the Totoya clan that had been entrusted to keep the Vampire Killer safe and hidden, returned it to the two warriors. Gaspar, his grandchildren Viktor and Pascha, the Belmont family servant Deimos, and the two wedded Belmonts set off on horseback towards the location where the traitor nobles were located. In the meantime Sona, the eldest daughter of the traitor clan, had resurrected Dracula's form from an emaciated skeleton bat to his blue-skinned red-eyed glory using her own blood before becoming his lover. 
As the heroes entered the lands of Dracula's spreading curse they were attacked by zombies. Viktor's throat was torn open by Dracula himself before he captured Ilya and flew to await the return of Castlevania itself. Viktor, now a vampire, attacked the heroes. Gaspar allowed himself to be bitten in order to use the time of transformation to relay information to Christopher about Dracula's current actions and strength. The heroes killed Viktor and forced the transformed Gaspar to lead them to the cave where Dracula had made a home in the skeleton-filled section of subterranean caverns normally used by Belmonts to reach his castle with Sona, whom he had been callously draining for sustenance and otherwise forced her to walk naked through the caves until needed.
As Dracula attempted to turn Ilya into a new bride the heroes attacked him. Gaspar's last act of freedom before using Pascha's holy blade strike at Sona to take his own life was to break the chains holding Ilya in place. Sona was beheaded, but Dracula escaped in bat form while dragging Christopher through the ceiling. In midair, Christopher used the Vampire Killer to break Dracula's neck and ride the disintegrating corpse to safety. 
Viktor and Gaspar were buried in the Belmont cemetery while Pascha was made a vassal of the clan. However, when Christopher and Ilya conceived a child it was shown to have Dracula's pointy ears and glowing red eyes...
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===Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Castlevania 4)===
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Yet another original Gameboy game. 

Christopher's son, Soleiyu Belmont, had been turned into a demon/vampire by Dracula on the day he was to be passed control of the family and the Vampire Killer in 1591. Christopher first had to conquer four castles held by Dracula's minions. 
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[[File:Adventure 2 Castle.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Top left: Sunken Temple. Bottom left: Plant Castle. Top right: Cloud Castle. Bottom right: Rock Temple. Center: Castlevania.]]
* The Crystal Castle is an elaborate series of halls full of waterfalls, with the sunken city that Trevor once braved now having risen to surround it. The boss of the area was the Dark Side, an elemental wizard.
* The Rock Castle, partially formed out of the same caves where Christopher fought Dracula before, full of hieroglyphics and ancient traps. The boss was the Iron Doll, a goat-headed demon wearing a suit of armor.
* The Plant Castle was not a physical building so much as a marsh with vines and branches making a massive palace, with rope bridges and ropes forming the pathways between sections. Kumulo and Nimbler were the bosses of the castle, a pair of living statues with goatlike heads attached to moving walls.
* The Cloud Castle was a fortress resting in the mountains surrounding Castlevania that resembled a decrepit eastern monastery (possibly the Garibaldi Temple). The castle boss was the Angel Mummy, a humanoid being stuck to the wall with a human skull and a dragon head on the tail, both of which breathed fire and swapped vertebrae by firing them like boomerangs to each other. In the middle of the body was a scowling face which roared at Christopher.

With all four castles conquered and the orbs the bosses dropped collected, the hive-like Castlevania rose again from the lake in the same way it had for Hector. Once again he braved the courtyard, this time pursued through the main hall by a giant tunneling serpent-like Bone Dragon. He then traveled through the chapel and encountered his son in the keep, ready to die to buy Dracula enough time to be fully resurrected. Soleiyu fought the same as Christopher using a dark whip, but was unable to defeat his father and was cleansed of Dracula's control by the Vampire Killer and the spirit of Sara. Christopher left his son to recover and traveled through an outdoor hall decorated with statues of the Grim Reaper bowing to their master before descending on a rope to the same place he had (in the previous game) fought Dracula before. Using the souls of the four beings Christopher defeated, Dracula reclaimed his old form and attacked Christopher by...teleporting around the room and telepathically juggling energy balls and throwing them at him. This time, Dracula was defeated without taking a second form. 
Christopher and Soleiyu watched Castlevania crumble again into the lake. This time, no giant bat or vampire baby was seen and Soleiyu spent the rest of his life dedicating himself to cleansing the land of any presence of Dracula or the Curse. 
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===Vampire Killer/Castlevania/Haunted Castle/Super Castlevania 4/Castlevania Chronicles (Castlevania 5)===
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The very first Castlevania game, starring a Belmont that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan The Barbarian and He-Man had a lovechild that stole Indiana Jones's whip. 
First released for the floppy disk (look it up, kids) peripheral for the Famicom, AKA Japanese NES. Americans then Europeans got it as a cartridge game later, before it was ported back to Japan as a cartridge not long before the launch of the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. To date, the game has had a grand total of seven rereleases with the most recent ones being graphical and control upgrades. 

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[[File:Castlevania 1 Awesome Art.jpg|thumb|right|500px]]
Dracula's Curse has never been weaker thanks to the efforts of Christopher and Soleiyu, but as the strength of Jesus Christ grew on Easter 1691, the power of Dracula grew in the hearts of the wicked as well. Cultists held a Black Mass on the ceremony of the hundred years since he had been defeated, which succeeded in resurrecting him and making Castlevania manifest once more in the lake in Transylvania (no mention of Wallachia). The next Belmont in line, Simon, was eager to fight Dracula as his before him did. Simon made his way through Dracula's castle, starting with the entrance way, another hall with insta-kill spikes, a broken rooftop, an underground cavern that leads to a garden, a prison, and a bridge leading to a clock tower. Simon also had to fight many monsters along the way, which include the return of Giant Bats, Medusa Heads, Mummies, The Frankenstein Monster who has decided to partner with the annoying hunchbacks, and once again Death.  
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===Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (Castlevania 6)=== 
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''What a horrible night to have a curse!''

7 years after the events of Castlevania, Simon slowly starts to die from a curse that was placed on him by Dracula in their last fight. Simon goes to his family graveyard to pray, when he meets a old woman who tells him about the curse. After this, Simon must find 5 remains of Dracula that were found and hidden by his followers in 5 mansions and burn them to stop the curse. 
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In this game, the standard level system is replaced by a more nonlinear, free roaming style similar to Metroid (hence the term Metroidvania) with several RPG elements. Hearts are also now used as currency instead of ammunition.  This makes a lot of the game walking back and forth and grinding for hearts in order to buy all the items you will need on the journey. Along the way Simon will encounter townsfolk who will give him "advice" in the form of "clues" which usually end up not making any sense (Because this was still the age of that good ol' ''ENGRISH'' that was hilarious to see but nobody fucking understood). 

There is also a day and night system which will switch between the times of day every so often. The times of day have a lot of effects. During the daytime, enemies are weaker, but give out less hearts. During the night,monsters are stronger and take more hits to kill, but give out more hearts. Shops are also closed during the night. 

The 3 bosses in Simon's Quest (yes only three) can hardly be called bosses. Death can be avoided entirely by just walking past him, the new boss Carmilla is only limited to crying Bloody Tears (heh), and Dracula is a pathetic excuse for a final boss who looks like Death and throws Sickles instead of flames ( although you can just spam flame on him when he spawns and kill him before he even can attack at all). 
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===Castlevania: Harmony Of Dissonance (Castlevania 7)===
Juste the stand users goes against DRA Zu Wardo.

===Dracula X: Rondo Of Blood (Castlevania 8)=== 
Dracula X: Rondo Of Blood was a new game with a new Belmont named Richter on the PC and eventually the PSP and Wii Virual Console. Belmont comes to a town in fire as Dracula’s minions pillaged and despoiled the lands, but not after capturing several maidens to be used for sacrifices. It features a kickass soundtrack, dozens of levels, and a new playable character in the name of Maria Renard: A girl with animal influence and a double jump, but twice the damage taken and given. Shaft also makes his debut. This is the game that takes place immediately before Symphony of the Night, as that starts at the point where Rondo ends; Richter fighting Dracula.

===Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (Castlevania 9)===
Now this is the one people probably remember fondest, the PS1 darling which paved the way for an entirely new genre of gaming as well as a more in-depth look at edgelord darling Alucard, who was now the lone playable character.

After the intro which was just the end of Rondo - even including the part where Richter can get his ass bailed out by a little girl. Dracula was considered very much dead at this point with absolutely no hope of returning again...

Except not. 1796 rolls around and Richter Belmont ends up missing while Castlevania returns with seemingly no presence of its owner. Alucard is awakened, concerned about what this all means, and he is also accompanied by a grown-up Maria Renard on her own hunt for Richter.

As it turns out, Richter was indeed here all along, claiming himself to be the new owner for some stupid reason. Alucard is given some glasses by Maria and manages to undo Richter's mind control to reveal the real perpetrator: ''SHAFT!'' Shaft was a cultist dedicated to bringing back Dracula and wipe out the Belmont Clan. He fails. Drac re-extends his offer to his son to join forces and kill humanity and avenge his mother (Since Al's mother was burned for being a witch), Al tells the old man to stuff it (His mom made him promise that he wouldn't come to try and wipe out humanity despite being a bunch of pricks). Cue one road trip through a Castlevania turned upside-down, and they fight again. Alucard manages to do away with his father and reminds him of his mother's last wish, which finally gets through to the old bastard (even though he comes back to do the same shit again). With nothing left mooring him, Alucard resolves to end his damned bloodline and vanish into nothingness while Maria is conflicted because she kinda got the hots for a half-vampire. 


===Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia (Castlevania 10)===
Following the adventures of Richter Belmont, there's a group called the Order of Ecclesia who intend to take the Belmonts' place as demon hunters. Their main claim to this is the Dominus Glyphs (essentially the same thing as Soma does, except now there are three slots to do shit with and less shopping with souls).

Shanoa is a woman of this order who is meant to be the next bearer of these glyphs, but they're suddenly stolen by Albus, a colleague. She runs into a deserted village and discovers that its inhabitants have been abducted by Albus, suspiciously interested in their blood. Even more suspicious, Albus even gives away two of the big Dominus Glyphs after some quick matches. At the end of this hunt, she finds out that Albus was possessed by the last glyph and his intentions with the villagers? Turns out they're all descendants of the Belmont bloodline and his hope was that their blood would help him control the glyph from overwhelming him. He dies and Shanoa takes the glyph and Albus' soul, realizing that her emotions and past were all stripped from her.

So she confronts her master about all this. Turns out that he was actually planning to resurrect Dracula (SURPRISE!) and by dying, brings back Castlevania. Now with the full power of Dominus, she has to run her way on through and fight off the big guy. The issue here's that doing so quite literally requires someone to sacrifice their life. Well, Shanoa still had a body, so it fell upon Albus to take her place and give her back her memories.

===Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness (Castlevania 11)===
The second Castlevania game released for the Nintendo 64, this was a prequel to Castlevania 64 despite being released after the first in 1999.

The protagonist this time is Cornell, a member of a [[werewolf]] tribe who sees his settlement burned to the ground and his sister kidnapped by Drac's minions. Along the way of tracking his sister's scent, he's harassed by Ortega, a rival werewolf who joined forces with Drac for the chance to finally come out victorious. This rivalry comes back many times, only finally ending right before facing Dracula, though this also required Cornell to burn out his werewolf powers and inadvertently seal the doom of the ritual needed to restore ol' fangface to his full power.

===Castlevania 64 (Castlevania 12)===
As the title indicates, this was the first Castlevania game released for the Nintendo 64. It's Also the first to use a day/night cycle and a timer which determines whether or not you get the good ending. Because evil decides to not faff about now of all times.

1852 sees Dracula's power returning again, so it falls upon Reinhart Schneider, descendant of the Belmonts, and magician Carrie Fernandez to stop this. They're initially harassed by an aristocrat vampire type, whom pretty much fits the bill of being Dracula. They find allies in an old vampire hunter, a seemingly friendly vampire hunter, a demonic merchant, and a strange boy. 

Failing to reach the deadline sees the vampire hunter killed by the vampire and thus both die with the threat seemingly vanquished. Succeeding sees the heroes kill the vampire to realize that he's not really Drac and it's really the kid, whom then sucks everyone into an alternate dimension to fight his new monster-mode.

===Intermission Lore===
The events of Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula'' takes place around this time. Quincy Morris, a character from the novel, Had a son in this timeline named John Morris, who would take up the Vampire Killer years later.

===Castlevania: Bloodlines (Castlevania 13)===

This was the only game to appear on a Sega console, in this case the Genesis/Mega Drive. Taking place around World War I,  John Morris takes up the Vampire Killer and joins forces with the spear-wielding Eric Lacarde to battle the vampiress Elizabeth Bathory-er, Bartley, a real-life noblewoman who tried to maintain her youth by bathing in the blood of virgin maidens.

===Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin (Castlevania 14)===
A direct sequel to ''Bloodlines'', and as such, takes place during World War II. Jon Morris' son Johnathan and his spell-slinging childhood friend Charlotte Aulin investigate the sudden reappearance of Castlevania, which was brought forth by a grieving vampire named Brauner, who lost his daughters to the war. The game allows you to control both Johnathan and Charlotte together, with one following behind the other, and the player able to switch between them on the fly.

===Intermission Lore===
Frustrating as a time skip to Castlevania fans due to the massive events. In 1999 there is a war called the "Demon Castle War" which is essentially World War 3 (when Nostradamus predicted another World War supposedly) during an eclipse where the fate of the world would be decided. The reason the Belmonts took a break from using the Vampire Killer was to save their strength for this war. Alucard acted as a secret agent wearing sunglasses, and the nations of the world fought against Dracula's infinite monster hordes as Julius Belmont defeated Dracula for the last time, killing him for real at long last somehow. That time travel asshole from Curse Of Darkness, Saint Germain, also played a part apparently. No, Konami never made a game about this cataclysmic battle. Maybe they worried they would never be able to do it justice.

===Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow (Castlevania 15)===
in 1999, Dracula's scheduled resurrection finally came, and this time, everybody got together to make sure he died for good. No, you don't get to play this likely awesome battle out for yourself. 

So it's now 2035, several years in the future and everyone's pretty sure Dracula's finally dead. Shit's never so easy. Unlike the majority of the games, which tended to take more European tomes, this one went for a distinctly [[Weeaboo|Japanese backdrop]] before entering the castle.

Enter Soma Cruz, average pasty-faced high schooler who's accompanied by his childhood-friend-who's-so-not-his-gf Mina Hakuba (Totally not Harker, we swear). One day when they were looking at the solar eclipse, they both find themselves drawn into a world beyond the moon, which turns out to be Castlevania. He is immediately met by Secret Agent Genya Arikado (three guesses who it is, first two don't count), who explains that 1) Soma has the power to absorb the souls of slain monsters and use them as weapons, and 2) he should find the center of this castle to find a way out.

Along the way, he's met by a kindly missionary/secret cult leader named Graham Jones, Yoko Belnades (descendant of Sypha), U.S. Army Guy Hammer, and J (Amnesiac guy who's secretly Julius Belmont). The former is immediately considered dangerous because he doesn't believe the castle to be dangerous because he's the next successor to Dracula (he was born on the day Drac died, which is pretty ominous to be fair...). Yoko and Al both agree that this guy's a nutcase and at the throne room, Soma and Graham have their big bad duel.

Thus is the big spoiler revealed: Soma's actually the reincarnation of big ol' Vlad Tepes himself. However, this isn't all well and good and Soma's forced to fight his way out of being overrun by the Castlevania's flow of chaos. He's then set upon by a no-longer-amnesiac Julius, who deduces that Soma's Dracula. They have their match, but Julius notices that Soma and Dracula aren't as identical as he thought, and as a guarantee Soma makes Julius promise that if he ever goes Full Drac, Julius would be there to kill him again.

Thus motivated, he manages to break the chaos (by killing his past self) and is finally free to go home.

===Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow (Castlevania 16)===
This sequel to Aria of Sorrow is different in two fundamental ways: The first is the far more animu artstyle (whereas the former had art similar to SotN) and the second is that this was on the Nintendo DS and thus had to use touchscreen mechanics, though this extends only to "draw patterns to kill bosses".

It's a year after Aria, and we're back into Soma Cruz the neo-Dracula. He's then set upon by a cultist named Celia Fortner, who claims that she'll kill Soma and bring about the real Dracula. Soma's pissed that his powers are still around when he thought they were gone for good. Convinced that he's not safe, he joins the old gang and breaks into Celia's fake castle and starts reaping tallies between her minions and the demons. Celia's right hand man, Dmitri Blinov, turns out to more of hassle to kill than the rest.

Celia manages to piss off Soma enough to go Dracula by killing off (a doppelganger of) childhood friend Mina, but a gift she handed him and Alucard's intervention manage to reverse the transformation, however Dmitri manages to copy Soma's soul-taking shtick. When they find the crazy duo again, Dmitri kills his bitch of a boss and becomes powerful enough to take on Soma...except the strain of so many souls ends up overwhelming him and becoming their own menace. Despite being the real Dracula, Soma's able to fare little better and instead flees the castle out of fear that his responsibility was supposed to be to become Dracula again.

There is also a mode that you can unlock called Julius Mode. This is in an alternate universe where Soma becomes the new Dark Lord, which makes Julius get out of retirement to once again kill Dracula. Along side him are Yoko Belnades and Alucard as a clear reference to Castlevania 3 (Hammer was also shown to have text data of him joining Julius but he is not playable in the game, although he most likely would have played similar to Grant Danasty to complete the original group).

===Castlevania: Judgement (Time/space fuckery)===
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Remember that Saint Germain Doctor Who type shit from Curse Of Darkness? Here's where that plot ended up. The final Castlevania game in the canon continuity, its an arena-based fighting game along the lines of Super Smash Brothers (Where Simon and Richter would incidentally end up about a decade after this game's release) where players would have to use their powers as well as the various sub-weapons famous to the series. 

One of the bosses from Symphony Of The Night, Galamoth, has usurped Dracula as chief evil ten thousand years in the future (Though where the present lies in canon isn't really specified, if it existed) and sent his minion the Time Reaper (Unrelated to Death) back in time in order to kill Dracula. Ideally, this would result in Galamoth ruling all of time, despite potentially triggering a paradox.

Aeon, time-traveler and presumed servant of Saint Germain, pulls various characters from across Castlevania history to fight each other and to decide who gets to kill the Time Reaper. 
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The characters are Simon Belmont (From the original), Trevor Belmont (3), Grant Danasty (3), Sypha Belnades (3), Maria Renard (Rondo/Symphony), Eric Lecarde (Bloodlines), Shanoa (Ecclesia), Alucard, Carmilla, a Golem, Cornell (Curse of Darkness), Death, Dracula, and Aeon himself. They fight on ten different stages, the ultimate winner defeating the Time Reaper and setting the timestream back to the way it should be. If you thought the anime school<strike>girl</strike>boy-ification from the Sorrow games was bad, this game is your worst nightmare as every character is reduced to anime-esque clothing that male strippers would find too revealing, the female characters are thrown into gothic lolita dress (even the actual lolita) other than Sypha who is now a Final Fantasy-style nun despite being a (not very stereotypical) witch, and nobody knows or can explain what the fuck happened to Grant, Death, or Cornell. The chief suspect in all this is the fact that Konami decided to hire the artist for [[Anime|Death Note]], Takeshi Obata, to design the characters here, which is very obvious - if you need proof, just look at Simon and then at Light Yagami.

This is where Castlevania proper ended, with Konami deciding to make God Of War clones (as discussed below) in an attempt to reboot the whole thing before giving up entirely, eventually cutting off all their franchises (If you thought this was bad, just look at what happened to Metal Gear and Silent Hill), and deciding the future was in repurposing them all as mobile games and pachinko machines. No, really.
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