Death (Castlevania)/Synopsis

History
Death appears in most games of the series, with the exceptions of Castlevania the Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, the phone game Order of Shadows (though there is an artwork of him), and the arcade game Haunted Castle. Death will be dwelling either in the Clock Tower or the Dungeons of the Castlevania, being most often the second-to-last boss. Death is in most cases a formidable foe, sometimes even harder than Dracula himself, and the King of the Night is rarely a boss to be sneezed at.

Death frequently confronts the heroes when they enter the Castlevania, or when they are about to enter it (as seen in Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night and Castlevania the Arcade). Although there are some games in which he only has a minor role, he mostly serves as a major antagonist.

1094: Lament of Innocence
After Mathias Cronqvist became a vampire and seized the Crimson Stone, he gained Death's allegiance. He had him "serve" under he Vampire King Walter Bernhard, wielder of the Ebony Stone, while he manipulated both Walter and Leon Belmont, to make the latter destroy the former. When it was done, Death stole the defeated Walter's soul and gave it to his new lord. As Leon refused to follow Mathias on the path of evil, he ordered Death to deal with him, but Leon defeated him.

Death serves as the final boss for the first (and very likely last) time. He is a highly powerful and difficult boss, fought right after Walter. The battle takes place in Limbo. This is one of the only games in which he never uses his sickles. Contrary to most games, Death remains static and teleports when Leon gets too close. He must be fought at close range. He fires five tormented souls like homing rays, makes explosive fireballs fall from the sky, conjures flaming skulls, swipes his scythe or launches it like a boomerang, and causes a devastating fiery explosion.

In the following centuries, Mathias used Walter's soul, powers and the stones to become a Vampire King even mightier than Walter, renaming himself Count Vlad Tepes Dracula. Death became his number two and helped him build his empire.

Around 1430, Dracula fell in love with a woman named Lisa and had a child, Adrian Farenheit Tepes who would later be known as Alucard. Alas, she was tried as a witch and burned at the stake, pushing Dracula over the edge. He fully became the King of the Night and declared war to humanity, with Death helping him.

1450: Castlevania Legends (non-canon)
In this alternate timeline, Death made a pact with Dracula, gaining vast powers in exchange for his service, in contradiction with the canon backstory.

Death is surprisingly easy to defeat in this game. He keeps hopping from one side of the room to the other to strike Sonia Belmont with his scythe, and conjures (few) sickles afterwards. His attack pattern his pretty simple and he should be defeated with little trouble.

1476: Dracula's Curse
The game takes place at the apex of Dracula's conquest of Transylvania, after he took over most of central Europe and spread devastation all around, with Leon's descendant Trevor (Sonia's son) standing against him, allied with the mage Sypha Belnades, the pirate Grant DaNasty, and Alucard.

Death is fought near the end of the game. The battle is very hard and his attacks are very damaging. He fights as he always does, flying around in an undefined patter and conjuring never-ending waves of sickles. Triple Axes and Sypha's Thunder spell prove very useful, but it is best to avoid getting near him.

When defeated, Death turns into a highly dangerous giant reddish, skull who floats quickly and spits scythes when blue fire lights up within him. Be careful not to get trapped into a corner of the room to avoid troubles.

1479: Curse of Darkness
Death is the central antagonist of this game, set three years after Dracula’s Curse. Dracula is dead but he left a curse that plagues the land and corrupts its citizens, which Death uses to resurrect him.

The primary protagonist Hector, a former Devil Forgemaster who betrayed Dracula, sets out to avenge the death of his wife Rosaly, caused by his fellow Devil Forgemaster Isaac. Hector befriends Zead, a priest who gives him advice all over the game. Zead tells him to get back the Dark Powers he relinquished to stand a chance against his nemesis, who must be killed to lift the curse. The Castlevania ends up resurrected and both Forgemasters settle their score there.

After Hector wins but refuses to finish Isaac off, it appears that Zead was the true mastermind behind Isaac’s plot, who set up everything from behind the scenes to make them resurrect the Castlevania and fight to the death.

Since a fully corrupted Devil Forgemaster is the vessel necessary for Dracula’s resurrection, Zead wanted the more suitable Hector to succumb to the curse by quenching his thirst for revenge, but Isaac would do just fine. He seals Isaac in a coffin and sends him to the Throne Room, before unmasking himself as Death and dragging the now useless Hector in Limbo to get rid of him.

Death fights as he did in Lament of Innocence and he is a deadly foe. He remains static and conjures sickles, throws his scythe like a boomerang, conjures fire from the ground, swipes his scythe, turns transparent and strikes with a glowing hand, or causes a devastating fiery explosion.

1576: Castlevania: the Adventure ReBirth
In this remake of Castlevania the Adventure, Death makes up for his absence in the original, being fought in a very tough battle atop the Clock Tower.

He first appears without his scythe, conjuring sickles from his hands. When he goes to one side of the screen he conjures a huge scythe of blue energy that strikes Christopher Belmont and then hooks him down. Christopher must first avoid it and then run towards Death faster than the scythe.

When he creates a doppelganger of himself, they attack from both sides of the screen with bewitched, homing sickles. Striking the doppelganger makes it disappear. After a while Death starts using his scythe. With each swipe of his weapon, Death hurls a red beam to hit at both ranges. Death can also separate his scythe into three huge scythe blades that hover around him before chasing Christopher, or summon several purple, homing, ghostly skulls that must be destroyed.

1691: Castlevania (and its remakes)
Death serves as the second-to-last boss of the first game of the franchise, and he is by far the hardest foe faced. He hovers from one point to another, conjuring swarms of sickles. Long-range attacks are better, although the best weapon is the Holy Water that can momentarily stun him.

Death fights in an exact same fashion in the remake Vampire Killer.

Super Castlevania 4
Death leads Dracula's Personal Gard. He is fought right after Slogra and Gaibon in the Clock Tower, as the last and the hardest boss who guards the way to Dracula. As usual, he hovers around spamming waves of homing sickles or charging with his scythe forward, but he will also throw his scythe like a boomerang and magically attract Simon Belmont towards him to hinder his dodging until it returns to him.

Castlevania Chronicles
Death is quite tough, but striking him sends him backward, so Simon must harass him without respite to avoid getting cornered. He swoops around and conjures waves of three sickles. He can also create a dangerous black hole that vacuums Simon and deals damage at contact, and send homing skulls and sickles while you escape it.

1698: Simon's Quest
Death keeps one of Dracula's remains. Oddly enough, the battle against him can be avoided by going to the next room. He slowly tracks down Simon and hurls sickles one after another, and fights just like in the first game. However, he also dives towards Simon Belmont to strike him with his scythe.

1748: Harmony of Dissonance
A warrior named Maxim Kischine gathers Dracula's remnants to destroy them, hoping to prove his worth and to relieve his best friend Juste Belmont from his cursed fate as a Vampire Killer. By doing so, he gets corrupted by Dracula's spirit and resurrects the Castlevania, creating a reflection of the castle in the Spirit Realm.

Death joins side with the corrupt Maxim. He starts looking for Juste’s and Maxim’s friend Lydie Erlanger, who was brought to the castle by the corrupt Maxim but hidden away when his true self took back control. Death eventually finds Lydie and brings her to the corrupt Maxim, for Dracula needs to bite her in the Ceremonial Room to fully resurrects through him. As for Death, he fights Juste to prevent him from meddling.

Death is not that hard to defeat. He fights with his usual waves of sickles, scythe strikes, and boomerang-like throws, but he can also teleport and make pillars of blue energy erupt from the ground.

When defeated, he turns into a gigantic, skeletal, snake-like monster with scythe-shaped antennas, who flies erratically, taking a large part of the screen, trying to corner Juste. Instead of remaining on the ground, Juste must jump on his back and strike his skull to defeat him for good.

1792: Rondo of Blood (and its remakes)
Death attacks Richter Belmont at the beginning of the game, as the latter is rushing back to his hometown destroyed by Dracula's forces on a carriage drawn by running horses. He throws his scythe at him before summoning a giant, ghostly skull and Richter must deflect his attacks.

The battle against Death takes place atop the mast of the Ghost Ship. The first stage of the showdown is not that challenging. He floats in figure eight patterns conjuring his signature sickles, but after losing two thirds of his life-bar, he summons a wave of huge, green, ghostly skulls (you must avoid all of these otherwise he will get another chance) before shedding his cloak.

He then lands to fight at close range with his scythe, and the battle becomes much harder. He still conjures sickles, strikes, performs dangerous jumping, whirling dashes, and destroys Richter's projectiles, whose remains must be dodged. Richter must keep his distances and strike when he is not moving.

In the SNES remake Dracula X, Death awaits in the clock tower, but only if Richter saves Annette. He fights as in Rondo, though he does not summon skulls between the two stages, and he fires three white sparks moving in a circular pattern. Death acts the exact same way as in Rondo in the 2.5D remake The Dracula X Chronicles.

1797: Symphony of the Night
"So, you made it this far. In the name of your father, cease this foolishness! Not while there's a breath in my body. Then for the master, i'll feast on your soul this night."

- Death's last confrontation with Alucard. In the beginning of the game, Death greets Alucard and politely asks what he is doing in the Castlevania. Upon learning that Alucard intends to oppose his father, he angrily scatters Alucard's weapons all over and departs.

Death is only fought if Alucard could see through Shaft's deceit and enter the Reverse Castle. He is the last of the five bosses of the original game who keep Dracula's remains, which Alucard needs to confront his father. He is powerful, but not that hard to defeat.

He is faced in the Reverse Catacombs, in a small room that can hinder Alucard’s movements, but also makes him easier to reach. The more Alucard wounds him, the more sickles he sends, and he starts using increasingly fast and dangerous magic attacks that keep returning to him at increasing speed: first two big, green orbs, then two large, green, ghostly skulls and finally two very damaging red scythe blades.

When defeated for the first time, he transforms into a skeletal demon wielding two huge scythes. He can strike downwards, but he mostly uses them as boomerangs. He is surprisingly easier to defeat in this form, with slow attacks easy to telegraph, especially if Alucard gets behind him out of his reach and strike until he turns back.

Early 1800: Order of Ecclesia
"The candlelight of your soul has burned itself out."

- Death, if he kills Shanoa. Death plays his "traditional" role as Dracula's last line of defense, and he is pretty tough so be prepared. In addition to his sickles and his scythe strikes, either from above or forward, he can conjure six scythe blades of blue energy around Shanoa, summon dark souls whirling outwards, or unleash a deadly onslaught of sickles from his hand.

1830: Circle of the Moon (non-canon)
Death only appears as an optional boss, looking and fighting like he did in Symphony of the Night. He flies and sends waves of sickles, also attacking with two large, green orbs or six bony spears from his cloak. His second form is a skeletal, turtle-like monster with scythe-shaped arms. He is very slow but he conjures sickles and can create a shield in front of him or slow down Nathan Graves to hinder his movements.

1844: Legacy of Darkness
In Cornell's quest, Death leads a plot to resurrect Dracula, seconded by Actrise and Gilles de Rais. They perform a ritual to bring Dracula back at the start of the game. They abduct Cornell's adoptive sister Ada to sacrifice her and fully restore their lord.

It is Death himself who appears in the Clock Tower where Ada was hidden, to take the young girl away. He is hinted to have stealthily followed Cornell after Ortega told him where he hid her. After Cornell defeats Dracula at the cost of his Beastman Power, Death and his associates fetch Cornell's werewolf form and sacrifice it, ensuring Dracula's return in eight years.

In the second part of the game which is a remake of Castlevania 64, Death's role in Reinhardt's quest is exactly the same.

1852: Apocalypse (Castlevania 64)
He increases the powers of Rosa, a vampire girl who retains her human soul, and has her overcome with her curse to send her fight Reinhard, who befriended her. Reinhardt defeats Rosa but spares her, and Death takes her away saying that she will soon become a full-fledged vampire.
 * Rosa is not that hard to defeat. She floats and strikes with a rapier, but she also hurls a sonic shockwave, fast fireballs from above, and an irksome homing rose thorn that must be dodged until it vanishes. (She lacks this attack in Legacy of Darkness). It is best to keep distance and keep moving, attacking with projectiles.

Death later ambushes Reinhardt atop the Room of Clocks, and he only owes his life to Rosa's sacrifice.

Death then engages a battle that can prove very hard, especially without long-range weapons. He conjures waves of sickles that can intercept projectiles, but he also sends them by waves of different pattern: a circle, a much larger arc, a group of sickles arcing towards Reinhardt and several homing ones. He often flies at contact, either to launch his scythe like a boomerang or to summon a horde of demonic barracudas one after another. Jump to strike him and do not hesitate to strike him when he flies at contact.

1914: Castlevania Bloodlines
Death is a boss encountered in the Proserpina Castle in England, guarding the way to Elizabeth Bartley and Dracula himself. He surrounds himself with a circle of six Tarot cards, and John Morris and Eric Lecarde must strike them all before fighting him. Three will make them fight a previous boss, two will make him hurl a red energy blast from his scythe, and one will conjure plenty of energy-replenishing meat. Death’s sickles explode when striking the ground, and he can fire a cluster of them rotating around him. He will also dash over the ground to strike the heroes, and throws his scythe like a boomerang while magically attracting them towards him, exactly like he did in Super Castlevania IV.

1944: Portrait of Ruin
Death once again returns to the newly resurrected Castlevania, wondering why there is no trace of his lord. Upon meeting Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin, he learns that the Vampire Lord Brauner has raised the Castle and taken it over through his bewitched paintings, intending to take Dracula’s place. Outraged, Death almost considers an alliance with the protagonists but he dismisses them and sets out to deal with Brauner on his own.

Death runs into the heroes in the Tower of Death, and they fight him to prevent him from seeking Dracula's return. He then flees, taunting Jonathan for being far weaker than his father John, hinting that he was but testing them.

He resists attacks but is weak to spells, but this is reversed when he turns white. He conjures the now traditional endless sickles, swipes his scythe or chops vertically to the ground, generates a barrier of chains around him that must be destroyed, and conjures chains to grab the heroes, leaving them open to a dangerous attack.

When the protagonists defeat Brauner, Death, who was counting on this, appears and finishes him off, lifting the seal that prevented Dracula from rising again.



Death ultimately fights alongside his lord during the first stage of the final battle, befitting the game's theme of partnership. Dracula and Death either attack separately or combine their power in a devastating attack. Dracula teleports repeatedly and hurls fireballs or orbs of dark energy in succession, while Death strikes with his scythe from above or at contact. There are three different super attacks:


 * Dracula turns a swarm of scythes into orbs of dark energy.
 * Dracula turns Death’s sickles into a huge swarm of demonic bats.
 * Death transforms into a giant scythe with which Dracula stabs the ground to cause an extremely destructive explosion of dark energy.

Fighting both villains can prove very tricky, as each will impede the protagonists when they try to strike the other. Fortunately, they share the same life-points and striking one damages them both. When they are defeated, Death urges his lord to use his power, so that he can unleash his demonic form.

2035: Aria of Sorrow
After Dracula's final destruction in 1999, Death remained in the Castlevania as it was sealed in an eclipse. He attacks Soma Cruz, Dracula's reincarnation who refuses to inherit the throne of the King of the Night, likely hoping to pave the way for a more willing heir.

Death is a very powerful and dangerous foe. He is intangible at first, meaning that Soma must strike his scythe while dodging his strikes, sickles and pillars of blue energy. Then, he conjures a double-bladed scythe made of bones. During the second phase, he charges at Soma and mostly fights at close range, but he is also able to throw his scythe in a boomerang-like fashion or in a spinning, circular motion all over the room. Stay away from his scythe after defeating him to avoid huge damage.

2036: Dawn of Sorrow
Death does not meddle with Celia Fortner's scheme to awake a new King of the Night, despite sharing her goal, most likely because he knows that Soma Cruz is the one and only reincarnation of Dracula. He still attacks Soma though, likely with the same intent as before.

The first stage of the battle is rather easy. Death attacks by striking with his scythe, by throwing his scythe which separates into a circular wave of sickles, and by creating three doppelgangers of himself to fire four parallel beams. Soma must not hesitate to pummel him after avoiding the second attack. Death then gets angry and things get serious. He now attacks by making his scythe whirling around him, by teleporting to strike, by conjuring his usual waves of sickles and by summoning four gigantic ghostly skulls that charge at Soma from right and left one after the other.

2037: Reminiscence of the Divine Abyss
Death is the Villain Protagonist of this semi-canon novel. He investigates the mysterious reappearance of the Castlevania, as no King of the Night is around. He visits Soma and asks him if he plans to succeed Dracula, departing without fight when dismissed, but refusing to tell Soma anything, as he answers to the King of the Night.

As Death investigates the Castle, he is attacked by Gaibon and Slogra, who do not even listen to his orders, but he easily destroys them. He then discovers that the Castle is occupied by cultists following the late demented prophet Graham Jones, who obey Olrox as he promised them to resurrect their master. Death confronts his former associate, who plans to take over both the Earth and the Chaotic Realm. Since Chaos is bound to humanity’s malice, he wonders whether Chaos and anyone linked to it, Death included, would disappear inf he could control the hearts of humans.

Enraged, Death attacks him, deeming him a traitor to be killed, but the equally powerful Olrox battles him to a standstill, countering his conjured sickles with summoned bats. Olrox leads Death into a magical trap laid by Graham’s cult, defeating him, and seals his power into a bloody hand. Death’s soul is forced to possess the dying body of Julius Belmont’s apprentice Curtis Lang, who tried to storm the Castle but was defeated and left for dead. Death as Curtis is then saved by Soma's and Julius' friend Hammer, along with Curtis' partner Michelle DaNasty.

Death feigns amnesia and a curse preventing him to wield Curtis' Holy Whip to justify the differences between him and his host, worrying Michelle, who starts suspecting that something is amiss when they storm the Castle and Death destroys a monster with a spell that Curtis is not supposed to master. The pair confront Olrox, who reveals the truth and explains that the Castle is in fact a construct born from Legion and that the monsters are in fact replicas created by the Puppet Master, two bosses that Graham's cult summoned. Death engages a rematch, but respects Curtis' wish to keep Michelle safe by having her stand aside.

Olrox summons again the bloody hand but Death destroys it and regains his powers. Michelle takes profit of the battle to shoot Olrox with a silver arrow, enabling Death to destroy him and his servants, but Olrox dies satisfied. As the fake Castle crumbles, Death, who is still possessing Curtis, disappears ignoring Michelle's pleas, but it is eventually revealed that his possession protected the young vampire hunter, whom he released without harm.

Harmony of Despair (non-canon)
In this medley game, Death looks exactly the same as he did in Order of Ecclesia, and the battle against him is also strictly identical. However, he fist chases the heroes, intangible and impervious to attacks, bombarding them with his sickles.

He is also fought in the chapter "Origins" (the first Castlevania), in the same way.

Castlevania the Arcade (non-canon)
Death is first fought on the bridge to the Castlevania, slicing a statue with his scythe. He flies, strikes at close range, summons zombies, launches his scythe like a boomerang and hurls a barrage of dark fireballs. He flees after a short skirmish.

Death engages the true boss battle atop the Clock Tower, under the much deadlier form of a ghostly reaper, and starts the true boss battle. He is fast and aggressive, but once again never uses his sickles. He dives at high speed and hurls many dark fireballs at once. Strike as much as possible when he gets close while avoiding direct contact.

Castlevania Judgment
Death is a playable character in the fighting game Castlevania Judgment. He lacks his usual cloak and robes, and bears robotic features, most notably the hook which replaces his left hand.

Fighting style and Attacks
Death is a well-balanced character, proficient in both close range and long range fighting (though he is arguably better in long range). His most basic attack consists in a spinning scythe strike followed by a forward dash. He can also teleport.
 * Spinning Scythe: He makes his scythe spin around him.
 * The Reaping: He launches his scythe like a boomerang, which he can remotely control for as long as the player maintains the attack.
 * Twin Sickles: He fires two homing sickles.
 * Orb of Gehena: He fires an orb of dark energy that engulfs his victim and paralyses him/her for a determined amount of time.
 * Judgment: He grabs his victim and violently throws them to the ground before landing a diving slash.
 * Corpse Hunt: He creates a magical pentagram over his victim that blasts the ground with dark energy.
 * Hyper Attack: The Gates of Hell: Death summons the fallen souls, forming ghostly hands from the ground which hold his victim in place. Death then changes his hook into a blade and stabs his victim before dislodging his head and "swallowing" the victim's soul in a burst of blue flames.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Death appears in this fighting game, playing a role in Simon Belmont’s trailer. As Luigi explores the Castlevania, Death rips his soul out in a single scythe swipe. Fortunately, Simon pummels him away before he can devour his prey’s soul, who returns to his body after a last scare.

Death appears in the Castlevania stage, breaking out of the stained glass window to fly around without endangering players. Also, his Scythe serves as a very powerful weapon, surrounded with purple fire. It deals darkness paralysis when striking damaged players, and instantly knocks out players struck in a smash attack when their damage is above 100%, making them vanish in a puff of purple smoke instead of the usual ring-out.

Death also appears as a Support Spirit, with his ability able to heal the player when they knock out an opponent. His Spirit Battle is against Robin equipped with Death's Scythe, while the player is hard to launch and receives critical damage after a while, enough to be knocked out by a single smash attack from the Scythe.

Lords of Shadow
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