| “ | We tire of these hunters and their holy power. If they would but turn on one another... Then the strongest one among them would eliminate the rest. Belmont. | „ |
| ~ Alucard, discussing Shaft's plot in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. |
Shaft is a major antagonist in the Castlevania franchise.
He is a corrupted clergyman with immense dark powers, leader of a secret cult of worshippers of evil and is one of Count Dracula's highest-ranking vassals and fanatically seeks to resurrect Dracula, whom he believes able to "purify" the world.
Personality[]
Shaft is cold, collected and courteous, but malevolent, imperturbable and obsessed. He delusionally regards Dracula as the "saviour" who will cleanse the world to bring "perfection". He loathes harmony and wielders of Holy Powers. From his warped view, desire and sin stem from peace and order, and believers of the Scriptures enable such "corruption". To him, Dracula's uncompromising evil is preferable to the depravity of humanity, and he sides with him willingly.
Shaft is highly intelligent, clever and crafty. He acts through proxies and scapegoats, or devises smoke-screens and false tracks so as to divert suspicion, making it appear like he was thwarted while he can still work unnoticed and undisturbed. He attempts to remove threats before they can strike, or if possible, use them for his own gain.
He does not hesitate to escape when the situation is out of hand, to wait for a more opportune situation. He is far from cowardly though, and faces his foes without fear when challenged, although he is not above wearing them down with summons beforehand. He is very confident, taunting and boastful, notably when he succeeds. Finally, dying does not disturb him as his goal is achieved, for he cares a lot more about his demented "mission" than any personal gain.
Powers and Abilities[]
Being a priest instead of a traditional wizard, Shaft does not directly controls magic forces, instead channelling evil power through rituals and conjurations. He casts his spells through green Orbs of Sorcery, using them as weapons to cast mostly Fire and Lighting Magic.
Still, he is immensely powerful, being able to create an entire replica of the Castlevania, upside down in the sky right over its model, and to submit the extremely powerful vampire hunter Richter Belmont to his will, although he had to keep Richter under constant control.
He can teleport, float, levitate things, summon and control monsters of every shape and power, surround himself with a protective force-field, manifest himself under the shape of a spectre, a possible form of astral projection, and cast all manners of spells.
History[]
Background[]
Shaft was once a holy clergyman, who grew disillusioned over time with the state of the world, becoming a twisted fanatic of the worst kind. As such, he reneged the way God and turned to worshipping Evil, founding the sinister cult of evil worshippers called the Followers of Darkness, pledging fealty to Count Dracula.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood[]
A close-up on Shaft's face.
In Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, (and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles) Shaft and the Followers of Darkness perform a sacrifice to resurrect Dracula, who makes him his henchman. (What happens to the other cultists is not known, though they are seemingly killed by Dracula's power when he arises.)
Dracula sends monsters to destroy Richter Belmont's hometown as a preemptive strike against the young hunter, but Richter was training away. Thus, he abducts four maidens, including Richter's girlfriend Annette and the magical girl Maria Renard.
In Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Shaft appears when Dracula offers to make Annette his vampire bride (and laughs at her insults), to warn him that Richter is storming the Castlevania. In Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, Shaft appears in the burning town before a fleeing Annette, telling her that he will give her to Dracula as a bride, but a projection of his lord appears.
Dracula (who sensed Anette's connection to Richter) orders Shaft to bring her to him, planning to use her to gain leverage against the vampire hunter. The Dark Priest casts a sleeping spell on her and teleports with her back to the Castlevania.
Shaft later remarks Maria's vast magical powers. He puts her in a stasis and prepares to extract them, but Richter barges in and he teleports away. Maria then joins Richter's quest, and both heroes fight their way throughout the Castlevania, slaying Shaft and then Dracula, who gloats that he will forever return.
Shaft and his summons.
Shaft is next seen in the Ceremonial Room. He destroys the exit with an energy ball and summons four Bosses one after the other, forcing Richter or Maria to destroy them before fighting.
- The Mummy attacks by elongating its arms, by sending a flock of flying bandages, and by conjuring three stone blocks that must be climbed over to reach it; otherwise, they crush the heroes against the wall.
- Medusa can be quite tough. She swipes her tail, sends three homing, spinning snakes and her petrifying eye-beam must be dodged.
- the Phantom Bat can dash at the heroes, spit homing fireballs, and much worse, wrap its wings around itself to attack like a living drill.
- Frankenstein's Monster can grab the heroes to launch them in the air, can stomp the ground to make boulders fall from the ceiling, and can fire a bolt of lightning.
Shaft attacks after his last summon is destroyed, taking advantage of the heroes' weakened state. The less damage they took the better, since he is a foe to be reckoned with. He always warps out of reach to the other side of the room and attacks through two floating Orbs of Sorcery. Turning them into flaming projectiles; uses them to conjure lightning bolts striking the ground; and making them rotate infused with energy. Shaft is rather hard to reach and his attacks are dangerous so it is advised to remain careful.
Vampire Annette
In Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, if Richter or Maria failed to save the other two captives by the time they reach Annette, Dracula's curse turns her into a winged vampire and she is fought as a boss. (If Annette is rescued, a female vampire looking and fighting exactly like her can be fought as a boss in a secret level.)
If the heroes destroy Vampire Annette, the Dark Priest himself will appear to rescue Dracula and take him away after the heroes defeat his second form, leading to the bad ending of the game.
- Vampire Annette is not so hard to defeat but the heroes must remain cautious. She flies over the room, constantly surrounded by a swarm of bats which protects her from all attacks. Annette sends her bats in formation following different patterns: a frontal rush, an arrow-shaped swarm, parallel lines, and one line spiraling outwards. She is only vulnerable when she sends her bats to attack.
If the heroes rescued all four maiden, Shaft later appears under the shape of a Spectre that animates his cloak (or is conjured from an Orb of Sorcery in Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles), to fight the heroes another time.
Shaft's Ghost, the Behemoth and the Wyvern.
Shaft's Ghost can put up a serious challenge. He floats around and attacks by summoning the remains of two Bosses fought earlier in the game; the Behemoth and the Wyvern. The Behemoth's head charges along the ground and must be jumped over, while the Wyvern dives at the heroes and breathes a rain of huge fireballs. Shaft can also summon a flock of bats. The heroes must jump to strike their flying foe, but once again, the monsters he summons make him harder to reach.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night[]
Set five years after the events of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. How Shaft survived the battles of the previous game is never fully explained though. He manages to capture Richter Belmont, placing him under an invisible Orb to control him. Shaft then resurrects the Castlevania and places it under Richter's control.
The Dark Priest uses Richter as a smokescreen to make it seems he had gone mad, and attempted to revive Dracula to fight him again; so that all Vampire Hunters would come to destroy the Castlevania, and fall prey to the mightiest of them. This would also enable him to work unnoticed, even if Richter and the Castlevania were to fall.He later creates a Reverse Castle hidden in mist over the original one and starts working to resurrect Dracula a second time.
Since no Belmont can counter the threat, Dracula's dhampir son Alucard is awoken from his slumber and sets out to destroy the Castle. There, he meets with a teenage Maria and later with a brainwashed Richter.
Alucard eventually battles Richter, but the vampire hunter's death triggers the bad ending of the game; in which only the Castlevania crumbles as if its evil was lifted, leaving Shaft without opposition. If Alucard got special glasses from Maria, he will be able to see through the illusions and will notice the invisible Orb of Sorcery controlling Richter.
- Richter is extremely powerful, fast, spry, relentless and dangerous. He is at level 48, (nearly 20 levels over the strongest bosses in the Castle) and he wields his whip and his sub weapons. (Daggers, Axes, Holy Water, Crosses, Bible and Thunder.) Alucard must target the Orb to destroy it and free the Belmont. The Holy Rod is useful, since Richter is impervious to holy-based attacks, and Holy resist and turning into Mist are useful defences.
Richter must not be harmed, otherwise he might unleash his full power and become even deadlier. He would attack with devastating jumping uppercuts, dashes, Hydro Storm (downpour of Holy Water), Holy Cross (giant energy crosses around him), a giant beam from his Bible, circle of axes or lightning fields around him, onslaughts of daggers, and more.
When Richter returns to his senses, Shaft projects himself, deeming this but a small setback. The Reverse Castle is then revealed and Alucard storms it to defeat the Dark Priest once and for all. Alucard must defeat the Phantom Bat, Medusa, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy and Death (the five bosses of the first Castlevania game) to gather the five body parts of Dracula; which he needs to reach Shaft's secret hideout in the Dark Marble Gallery.
Alucard kills the Dark Priest and puts a definite end to his madness, telling him that the Darkness he loved so much will swallow him whole, but the villain dies gloating, for he successfully resurrected Dracula once again. Alucard, then sets up to confront his father and destroy him before he can enter the Physical Planes.
Shaft in his force-field.
Shaft is way easier to defeat in this game, but he still has very powerful attacks. He floats in a spherical force-field, surrounded by blades that protect him against projectiles. He uses around eight Orbs of Sorcery and always launches his attacks in the same order: 1) He infuses two Orbs with fire and hurls them at Alucard. 2) He infuses two Orbs with lightning and causes a long lasting electrical current between them, while they scout the room. 3) He infuses two Orbs with red energy and make them bounce repeatedly. All these attacks are quite tricky to dodge but Alucard can turn into mist to become intangible. Shaft must be struck in-between his attacks. He has low life points and with a sufficiently powerful Familiar, he shall fall very quickly. Be careful though, for Dracula is fought right after him.
Counterparts[]
Castlevania: Dracula X[]
The Cloaked Warlock
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood has been remade few years after its release. The game once again features Richter Belmont setting out to defeat Dracula, but Shaft does not appear.
However, one of the games' Bosses, the Cloaked Warlock, heavily resembles Shaft's Ghost and was most likely based on him, as he mostly fights with summons. Also, if Annette gets possessed by Carmilla, she will use Shaft's attack from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
Moonlight Rhapsody[]
In this IOS game, only accessible in Asia in demos, set about a century after Symphony, an old Dark Priest is featured as an obvious stand-in for Shaft, playing the same role. Like Shaft before him, Gary was a priest who went mad, finding "true guidance" in worship of Evil, becoming the new Dark Priest.
Shaft's elderly successor
The Dark Priest helped Death to tear a Rift through Time and Space, to draw power and revive the Castlevania. He abducted villagers as sacrifice them to gather more might.
The heroes face him in the Chapel of Heresy, saving all the villagers before he can sacrifice them, after defeating Death's corrupted alchemist servant Thelma, who just sacrificed her soul to Dracula. The Dark Priest states that Thelma's soul will grant the power he needs, but falls in battle. Upon dying, he sacrifices his own soul, restoring Death who had been destroyed by Alucard, so that he can finish their plan.
Like Barlowe, the Dark Priest casts his spells from a grimoire. He fires huge red energy balls, charges infused with red energy, or conjures powerful, giant energy pillars, either on each side close to him or three in succession in front of him forcing the heroes to get away. He is vulnerable when gathering power.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros Ultimate[]
Shaft makes a cameo in this medley fighting game, serving as a support spirit boosting the players' magic attacks.
External Links[]
- Shaft on the Castlevania Wiki.
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