Castlevania timeline

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This timeline was provided to MONSTAAH by our

new, mysterious, freelance operative known only as

THE ACOLYTE.

When this young man informed me that our

MONSTAAH Timeline was overlooking many key

events that involved the supernatural creatures of

which we chronicle, we were, of course, skeptical.

However, through his persistence and initiative he

was able to show proof that secrets were being

divulged in the medium known as 'Video Games.'

How the creators of said games were able to obtain

so much information that we at MONSTAAH were not

privy to remains an enigma, as does the fact that they

reveal this dangerous knowledge in such a manner.

Whatever the case, the evidence of the accuracy of

the Acolyte's research holds up, and has caused

quite a stir amongst MONSTAAH scholars.

As we research this timeline, on an event by event

case, we will begin to incorporate it into the Main

MONSTAAH Timeline.

Until then, study the Castlevania timeline as

presented here for yourselves, and perhaps you

might find more clues to help MONSTAAH explain

any inconsistencies between this timeline and the

established MONSTAAH research.

- Prof. Chuck Loridans

"I Will Hunt You And The Night!"

A Castlevania Timeline

by The Acolyte

Updated 12/07/2003

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Some parts of creating a chronology for Konami's Castlevania saga

have proven relatively difficult, due mostly to contradictory information.

Konami has been very inconsistent with their Castlevania information. The

manual of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, for one, states that Trevor

Belmont is the great grandfather of Simon, but it was later shown that

there is a two hundred year time difference between them, making the

notion impossible. Originally, Konami had stated that Dracula rises every

one hundred years after his last death, but taking the setting of the

games' years, this would imply there is always some loyal follower of the

Count or other ready to resurrect him or conjure a soul-clone.

The official timeline from Konami Japan (which might be subject to

change) has formed most of the skeleton of this chronology,

as has information from Kurt Kalata's Castlevania Dungeon, some

admirable theories put forth by Mr. P of Mr. P's Castlevania Page, and

then followed by my own conjectures and beliefs. I have had to adjust

some of the years towards the late nineteenth century. This is to keep

pace with the events of the Dracula novel in the Wold Newton Universe

[WNU] (Castlevania 5: Bloodlines states that Dracula was killed by

Quincey Morris in 1897, but in the Newtonverse, it is actually ten years

earlier).

This work also seeks to explain the relationship of clearly definite Belmont

clan members to those whose connection to the family was not explained

by Konami. Example: some are of the opinion that since Nathan Graves

does not carry the Belmont surname yet wields the Hunter Whip (which I

see as the Vampire Killer), he is thus of a distant branch of the clan. The

explanation in this document is comparatively simpler: I believe he is

Richter Belmont's nephew.

Excluded in this timeline are Simon Belmont's appearances in the video

games Konami World 1 and 2 (until further notice, at least); the

Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest novel in the Nintendo Worlds of Power

series written by FX Nine (1); his highly irreverent role in the cartoon

Captain N: The Game Master; the Castlevania parody games Kid Dracula

1 and 2; and various other references to the Castlevania series--sly and

comedic, mostly--in other Konami games, such as Metal Gear Solid and

Snatcher, to name a few; the cancelled Castlevania Resurrection for Sega

Dreamcast; and all fan fiction and fan-made games.

A very special thanks to Prof. Chuck Loridans for hosting this timeline.

His MONSTAAH master chronology should be considered a must-read 



prerequisite for reading this document. Thanks also goes to fellow operative 



Jeremiah Klar for smoothing out the level of involvement of Dracula in the 



events of Castlevania with regards to the Wold Newton Universe [WNU], 



as well as for other helpful comments and suggestions. 






The Acolyte

LEGEND

ARC = Arcade

GB = Gameboy

GBA = Gameboy Advance

MSX = MSX Home Computer

NES = Nintendo Entertainment System

SNES = Super Nintendo Entertainment System

SGEN = Sega Genesis

SONX6800 = Sony X68000

PCE = PC Engine

PS = Sony Playstation

SSAT= Sega Saturn

N64 = Nintendo 64

????

The Crimson Stone and the Ebony Stone are accidentally created during efforts to

create the Philosopher's Stone. The Crimson Stone turns the souls of vampires

into power for its master (but will turn the owner into a vampire himself). The Ebony

Stone contains the vile spirit of the Grim Reaper and gives the power of eternal

darkness, of Chaos, to the owner. This stone however chooses it master. When

combined, these two stones will give their owner eternal life (2).

Both stones are supposedly lost, but the vampire Walter Bernhard ends up in

possession of the Ebony Stone (supposedly because the Grim Reaper chose him).

Bored with immortality, Walter casts a spell of darkness over a forest and creates a

castle there. The forest will come to be known as Eternal Night. Over the years he

will kidnap loved ones from many warriors, goading them to come to Eternal Night

and try to save them, all for his own entertainment. Among such victims is the

daughter of alchemist Rinaldo Gandolfini. But instead of killing him, he allows

Rinaldo to live in Eternal Night so he can sell items to the various warriors who

come, thus making the game more 'interesting.'

The baron Leon Belmont and the alchemist/strategist Mathias Cronqvist are

members of a powerful order of knights. Mathias returns home from a battle to

discover his wife Elisabetha had been killed. Bedridden with grief, Mathias curses

God for his loss and swears he will defy God's 'decree' of limited life for human beings

by seeking immortality.

In the span of about a year, Mathias finds the Crimson Stone and covets the Ebony

Stone for himself.

PS2

(Castlevania: Lament of Innocence) Monsters begin to appear in Leon's domain. 

He wishes to lead a military assault on these beasts, but the church is more focused on 

fighting heathens than demons. Leon's betrothed, Lady Sara Trantoul, is kidnapped. 

Mathias informs Leon that Walter Bernhard was the culprit. Leon renounces his title as a 

baron and sets off for Eternal Night to rescue Sara. He meets Rinaldo Gandolfini, who 

gives Leon the Whip of Alchemy with which to fight his way through the castle. After 

defeating the vampire Joachim Armster, Leon learns of the existence of the Crimson 

and Ebony Stones. He later rescues Sara, who had already been turned into a vampire by
 
Walter. Without any means of being able to kill Walter (for the whip did not affect him) and 

thus save Sara from her curse, Sara surrenders her life and becomes one with the whip. 

The conflicting energies between her essence and Walter's evil will harness a force strong 

enough to defeat the evil lord. The Whip of Alchemy is empowered by that force and 

becomes the Vampire Killer. Leon defeats Walter with the weapon and Death bestows 

the vampire's life force to Mathias, who was behind the entire plot so that he could take 

Walter's soul. Mathias flees and Leon defeats the Reaper, for the Vampire Killer has the 

power to vanquish all connected to vampires. The castle crumbles and the spell of eternal 

darkness is over.

Mathias flees to a foreign land (presumably Transylvania) where he will continue to

curse God. Eventually he will dub himself the Lord of the Vampires, and King of the

Night.

Conjecture: Perhaps he also starts calling himself 'Dracula', Son of the Devil. He will

be called Dracula-Mathias for the rest of this timeline. A part of the dark power he

received likely included the centennial curse (3).

The Belmont clan's war against the night begins.

????

Dracula-Mathias falls in love with a woman named Lisa, the doctor of a village in

Transylvania. Their son is the dhampir Adrian Tepes, also known as Alucard. For

sometime, Alucard follows in his father's footsteps by preying on humans and serving

as his father's second-in-command.

????

On suspicion of being a witch, Lisa is burned at the stake to the horror of her son, but

she pleads with him not to succumb to his vampiric side, and not to prey on humans

despite their deed. Alucard leaves his father's company, repenting for his past

misdeeds and swearing to right not only his own wrongs, but also those of his father.

The death of Lisa creates in Dracula-Mathias a simmering hatred of humans, adding

to his hatred of God, and will become his other reason for waging war on humankind.

Conjecture: Dracula-Mathias uses his chaotic powers to exploit a window area and

create Castlevania, a.k.a., the Demon Castle. It will become a converging point, a

ground zero, for many supernatural forces throughout time and space (4). The Demon

Castle is either a witting or unwitting copy of the real Castle Dracula. Dracula-

Mathias becomes the nightly secret terror of Europe, with none being able to

stand against him.

Sonia Belmont is born in a remote area of Romania. As she matures, she is trained

in the arts of combat by her grandfather (4). She is told her powers are meant "for a

higher purpose and not yourself."

GB

(Castlevania Legends) On her seventeenth birthday, her grandfather awards 

Sonia Belmont with the Vampire Killer (a.k.a., the Hunter Whip or the Mystic Whip, all 

one and the same weapon), also revealing that it is her fate to end Count Dracula's reign 

and to vanquish all evil. Sonia meets Alucard and they fall in love. Later, both separately 

invade Castlevania and encounter the other. Sonia defeats Alucard in battle, proving to 

him she can and must be the one to destroy Dracula. Dracula-Mathias is slain for the first 

time and Castlevania crumbles (5), but not before he vows to return.

Conjecture: Despite Sonia's heroism, she is exiled from Wallachia by the citizens.

For some reason, she entrusts the Vampire Killer to the Poltergeist King. Alucard

enters eternal slumber, but not before leaving Sonia with a gift. (6)

Conjecture: Dracula-Mathias was not actually killed, but severely weakened from his

battle with Sonia Belmont. Seeing the damage Sonia had done, and noting the

possible future usefulness of this Vampire Lord, Rasalom recovers Dracula-

Mathias' body and puts it into a slumber state. He will awaken this self-proclaimed

Prince of Darkness when the time is right.

Conjecture: Trevor Belmont is born. He is trained in the ways of vampire hunting by

his mother. Somehow, the union between his supposed father Alucard (a dhampir)

and his mother Sonia (a peak human) awakened no vampiric qualities in the child,

except perhaps the ability to sense the Undead.

Upon his human death, Vlad Tepes becomes Dracula-Prime, the true Prince of

Darkness.

Conjecture: Rasalom shows Dracula-Prime the sleeping body of Dracula-Mathias

and lets him know what happened years ago. Fearing that the Belmonts would be

there to stop him, Dracula-Prime turns Dracula-Mathias into a soul-clone. He fuses

his memories and experiences into him, though Dracula-Mathias is still able to retain

his own volition. He then places on Mathias' finger his old family ring, melded with bits

of the Star Stone to endow it with magic. Dracula-Mathias is awakened by

Rasalom, 'turning him loose' on the world while Dracula-Prime is free to go on his

own endeavors while having little to no worry about the Belmonts. Possessing the

ring and the memories of Dracula-Prime lead Dracula-Mathias to believe he is

indeed the true Son of the Devil.

NES

(Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse) (7)

Dracula-Mathias begins to wreak havoc once more. He turns Grant Danesti, a thief and 

rebellious member of the Danesti clan (the Tepes family's historical rivals), into a demonic 

guardian, and stations him outside Castlevania. Sypha Belnades, a sorceress who had 

gone to Wallachia to stop the Count's menace, is turned to stone by a Cyclops-like 

monster. Alucard awakens, having sensed his father's return. 



Trevor Belmont reclaims the Vampire Killer from the Poltergeist King, and it remains with 

the Belmont family permanently from then on. He journeys to Wallachia and begins his 

quest against Dracula-Mathias. Along the way, he frees Sypha and Grant from their 

curses and they join him, as does Alucard following a brief battle (it is highly unlikely 

Trevor knew he was meeting his own father). Their combined might brings down the Count,

giving him his first century-long sleep. Grant sets to help rebuild the destruction caused by 

Dracula while Alucard returns to his self-imposed state of hibernation.

Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades marry.

GB/ARC

(Castlevania Adventure/Haunted Castle) With the hundred year cycle up, Dracula-Mathias 

rises and kidnaps the newly wedded wife of Christopher Belmont, descendant of Trevor 

and Sypha. Christopher sets forth to defeat him and save his (unnamed) wife. Realizing 

he would be killed again, Dracula-Mathias retreats and fakes his death, with the castle 

crumbling and Christopher believing the Count dead. Dracula-Mathias decides to bide his 

time and regain his energies for revenge. (8)

Birth of Soleil Belmont, son of Christopher.

GB

(Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge) On Soleil's fourteenth birthday, the time of his vampire 

hunter initiation ceremony, the Count uses his accumulated energy to possess Soleil and 

empower himself. Four castles rise in a lake, with the main castle of Dracula-Mathias in 

the middle. Christopher invades the castles and slays the monster lords of each of the first 

four castles in order to level the strongholds. He then, with surety, defeats Dracula-Mathias 

in the central castle, fighting and freeing his son from Dracula's spell prior to the battle.

NES and etc/MSX/X68000 and PS/SNES

(Castlevania/Vampire Killer/Akumajou Dracula and Castlevania Chronicles/Super

Castlevania 4) Dracula-Mathias returns from his second centennial slumber. The

newest vampire-hunting member of the Belmont clan, Simon, probable great

grandson of Soleil, moves to slay him. (9) He succeeds, but before Dracula dies, he

lays a curse on Simon: that the wounds he suffered in their battle would never heal,

and that he would die a very slow and excruciating death.

NES

(Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest) Simon Belmont is plagued with pains and never-healing 

wounds ever since his fight with the Count. He is told that he has been cursed by 

Dracula-Mathias, and that the only way to lift it would be to gather the Count's five body 

parts, which have been scattered all over Transylvania by his loyal minions and hidden in 

five of Dracula-Mathias' mansions, and burn them. (10) Simon carries out this quest,

 fights a zombified Dracula-Mathias, and triumphs.

Juste Belmont, grandson of Simon, is born.

Juste continues the Belmont line of hunters and inherits the Vampire Killer whip at

age sixteen. His friend, the swordsman Maxim Kischine, wanting both to surpass

Juste and redeem him from his destiny, sets out ostensibly on a training expedition,

but in reality follows the legend of Simon Belmont's quest and recovers Dracula-

Mathias' body parts. His dark side (where all his evil selfish desires reside) is

awakened, possessed by Dracula-Mathias' soul. Maxim thus acquires a dual

personality, with his good, normal side remembering little to nothing his evil side did.

Two Demon Castles appear upon his reception of Dracula-Mathias' power from the

relics. One is of a daytime nature, and corresponds to Maxim's soul, and the other is

of a nighttime nature, and corresponds to the evil second soul.

GBA

(Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance/Concerto of a Midnight Sun) Maxim, in his evil side, 

kidnaps Lydie Erlanger, hoping to use the energy of a loved one to unite the castles. 

However, his good side, wanting to protect Lydie from himself, is able to hide her and 

scatter the relics throughout the castles before losing his memories. He returns home 

covered in blood and informs Juste that Lydie has been kidnapped, also stating that he has 

only vague recollections of the kidnapping. Juste and Maxim separately invade the castles 

(albeit with Juste initially being unaware that there were actually two castles to begin with) 

as Maxim slowly recovers his memories, and as Dracula-Mathias' hold over his soul 

grows stronger. Juste recovers the relics, fights and frees a possessed Maxim from his 

alter self, rescues Lydie, and defeats Dracula-Mathias' phantom.

Birth of Richter Belmont (probable son of Juste Belmont and Lydie Erlanger), and

Tara the village nun.

Birth of Annette Renard (member of a family of distant relation to the Belmonts)

and Iris, the daughter of the town of Verossa's village doctor.

Birth of Maria Renard, sister of Annette.

PCE

(Dracula X: Rondo of Blood) The dark priest Shaft and his attendant cult resurrect

Dracula-Mathias. The Count's minions attack the town of Verossa and kidnap

Annette, Maria, Tara, and Iris. Richter Belmont goes to rescue them, freeing Maria

first, who assists him in saving the others. Dracula-Mathias is killed while Shaft is

merely beaten, only to return in due time.Conjecture: Richter Belmont and Annette

Renard marry and have a son named Michael Gelhart Belmont, who later in life will

change his surname to Schneider to protect against enemies of the Belmont clan,

and from the Count's followers.

Shaft resurfaces and mind controls Richter Belmont to help him bring back Dracula-

Mathias. Richter vanishes. With no knowledge of what had happened to him, Maria

Renard, now sixteen and a vampire hunter in her own right, sets out to find him.

PS/SAT

(Castlevania: Symphony of the Night/Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight)

Castlevania materializes out of the mist and becomes the focus of Maria Renard's

search (11). Alucard awakens, likely having sensed the shift in the balance of power,

and attacks the castle. He repeatedly encounters Maria Renard along the way and a

trust develops. Alucard later frees Richter Belmont from Shaft's spell, then moves

on to the second inverted castle, collecting Dracula-Mathias' body parts to open the

way to the room whence he will be resurrected into. Shaft is killed and Alucard

defeats his father, telling him his mother's last words: "She said: 'Do not hate humans.

If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm. For theirs is already a

hard lot.' She also said to tell you that she would love you for all eternity." (12)

Alucard returns again to his eternal slumber, but Maria, having fallen in love with him,

goes after him.Conjecture: Alucard and Maria Renard do have a relationship, and

their descendant is Eric Lecarde. (13)

Conjecture: Richter, guilty from not being strong enough to fight Shaft's mind spell,

and from being partly responsible for making Alucard fight his father, passes the whip

to a younger sister, who will marry a vampire hunter surnamed Graves.

Dracula-Mathias rises by unknown means, possibly another premature gathering of his 

body parts. A vampire hunting couple surnamed Graves (the mother likely being Richter 

Belmont's younger sister) and their close friend and colleague Maurice Baldwin (of 

distant enough relation to the Belmonts to be called a 'friend') defeat him before he 

reaches full power, but at the cost of the Graves couple's lives. The Vampire Killer ends up 

in the possession of Maurice. He adopts the Graves' young son Nathan, and trains him 

and his own son Hugh in the ways of vampire hunting. (14) Though Hugh is the superior of 

the two, Maurice eventually awards the Vampire Killer to Nathan, much to Hugh's 

jealousy (all this narrated during Circle of the Moon).

Birth of Reinhart Schneider, son of Michael Gelhart Schneider and possible

grandson of Richter Belmont.

GBA

(Castlevania: Circle of the Moon)

In her castle in Austria, Countess Carmilla (15) performs a ceremony to resurrect 

Dracula-Mathias. Maurice Baldwin, Hugh Baldwin, and Nathan Graves move to stop 

her, but are only seconds too late. Nathan and Hugh end up separated from Maurice, who 

is taken prisoner to empower Dracula-Mathias. Both start separate quests through the 

castle, though the focus of the tale is Nathan's. Carmilla is slain by Nathan. Hugh's anger 

towards Nathan is turned against him, and Dracula-Mathias mind controls him and 

empowers that anger. Nathan frees Hugh from the spell, learning the reason for Hugh's 

jealousy and earning his respect. He then saves Maurice Baldwin and defeats the Count.

Conjecture: Perhaps feeling he is not worthy and/or ready to wield the Vampire Killer,

though he proved himself well with it, Nathan returns the whip to his older cousin,

Michael Gelhart Schneider, and thus to the direct Belmont lineage. Michael must

be considerably aged by this time to realize someone must carry the Belmont legacy

past himself.

Birth of Carrie Belnades, descendant of Sypha Belnades (16). In the past, the

patriarchal figurehead of her family fell under the curse of the vampire and annihilated

much of his own kin, leading others to believe this clan was dead. Carrie's parents

were among the few remnants, but were later burned at the stake by fearful villagers

believing the two to be demons. Carrie is eventually adopted by an unknown woman,

and she matures with an inherent fear and hatred of adults.

Reinhart Schneider leaves home to train in the Carpathian Mountains. His father,

Michael Gelhart, has the village priest Samuel seal the Vampire Killer away for

safekeeping until Reinhart is worthy enough to return for it.

N64

(Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness)

The Grim Reaper, the vampire sorceress Actrise (a witch who had murdered many 

children, including her own), and the vampire Gilles de Rais (perhaps a vampirized version 

of the historical Gilles de Rais), band together to resurrect Dracula-Mathias. They attack 

a village and capture several women, among them a girl named Ada, for the purpose of 

human sacrifice. The werewolf Cornell (17), a native of this village, returns home from 

abroad and vows to save Ada, whom he considers his adopted little sister. Along the way 

he does battle with and defeats his fellow man-beast friend and rival Ortega, who had been 

responsible for leading the dark forces to their village. He also manages to rescue a boy 

named Henry Oldrey from Gilles de Rais, who had vampirized Henry's parents. Cornell is 

able to save Ada and defeat the Count, at the cost of projecting his werewolf power into 

the holding crystal whence Ada was contained.

It is revealed that Ada was the last of a human village that Cornell's tribe all slew,

and eventually adopted her. With no family and home left, Cornell and Ada

rebuild their lives, while Henry supposedly joins the Roman Catholic

Church and trains to become a holy knight.

Not long after, a prophecy is revealed:

"One clear night after seven days of lighting and

rain, a blood moon will shine down on a foggy lake, and children of darkness

will gather in the old castle. An infant with blue eyes and blue hair will be

born on this night to a young couple living in a small village in the forest.

On this child's eighth birthday, the soul of the true devil will awake from a

deep sleep and play a destructive melody. Still there is no reason to grieve.

For our Lord has given to us one hope: to entrust our future to two youths who

inherited the power to fight the Devil."

Conjecture: Malus is born.

1852

N64

(Castlevania 64)

Attacks on villages happen once more with the Count's full return. Reinhart

Schneider returns from the Carpathian Mountains and claims the Vampire Killer whip

from the priest Father Samuel to fulfill his destiny. The village of Carrie Belnades is

attacked by the evil forces, and her foster mother is slain.

The psychological trauma of this event unleashes Carrie's inner magical powers, and

she too swears to destroy Dracula-Mathias. Henry Oldrey, the boy saved by

Cornell years ago, returns as a sword-and-gun-wielding holy knight to lend a hand in

fighting the Count, though his main purpose is to rescue six children held captive

throughout the Demon Castle. In the course of their quest (which deviated into

different paths for Reinhart and Carrie), they encounter people such as

Renon the demon salesman, Charlie Vincent (18) the elderly boastful vampire

hunter, and Malus, a young boy who allegedly became lost in Castlevania after his

parents were killed by Dracula-Mathias.

Reinhart meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman named Rosa, the gardener of

the Demon Castle who is under the Count's curse. He later fights

and kills her in her vampire form, then swears to avenge her. Carrie defeats Actrise

in battle. After slaying a fake Dracula, Malus is later revealed to be the real Dracula-

Mathias in disguise. With Carrie's help, Reinhart destroys the Count. Rosa is freed

from the curse and returns to life, as Castlevania sinks beneath the waves. (19)

Conjecture: Reinhart and Rosa marry, and later migrate to Ireland and change their

name to Morris. Their son or grandson must be the adventurer Quincy Morris.

(20)(21)

1882, May 3

Birth of Eric Lecarde, probable descendant of Alucard

and Maria Renard, in Segovia, Spain.

1885, December 12

Birth of John Morris, son of Quincy Morris, in Texas, U.S.A.

John must be the child of a first marriage, for Quincy

was courting Lucy Westenra early in the Dracula novel, thus making Quincy

either a widower or divorcee (or perhaps a philanderer?).

1887

The events of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Quincy

Morris, secretly of Belmont lineage, is killed by gypsies while

slaying Dracula-Prime. His son John and his friend Eric

Lecarde were somehow watching at this point, and observed the whole

incident (22). This sparks their vow to "rid the planet of the evil

creatures of the underworld." John trains in the ways of Belmont

vampire hunting like his forefathers did before him, as does Eric.

1914

GEN

(Castlevania 5: Bloodlines) (23) An amateur witch named Drolta Tzuentes,

practicing black magic in the ruins of Castle Dracula, accidentally resurrects

Elizabeth Bartley (or, more accurately, Elizabeth Bathory), a vampire descendant

of the real Vlad Tepes (24). In turn, Bartley seeks to revive her ancestor Dracula in

order to conquer the world (25).

John Morris and Eric Lecarde hunt her down across Europe following the

un-death of Eric's girlfriend Gwendolyn. The adventure climaxes to a final showdown

at Castle Proserpina in England, with John and Eric fighting a Dracula-Mathias

resurrected at the last minute. John continues the family business while Eric, having

avenged his love, lays down his spear and vanishes.

1980

Birth of Julius Belmont.

July, 1999

(26) In what will be known as the Demon Castle War, Dracula-Mathias

and his castle appear in Europe, presumably Transylvania. Either vampire hunters or

a joint team of vampire hunters and the military (possibly soldiers operating under the

auspices of the Ordnance) invade Castlevania. The Count is defeated by Julius

Belmont, probable grandson of John Morris. After slaying the Count, Julius seals

the Vampire Killer in Castlevania to weaken the Vampire Lord's power, which is

still present. Priests from the Japanese Hakuba family's Shrine of the White Horse

then conduct a ritual and seal Castlevania within a solar eclipse, thus ending the

Count's regeneration cycle. By the end of this adventure, Julius is traumatized and

suffers a loss of memory, unable to identify himself and his past (all this narrated

during Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow).

Graham Jones is born on the very day Dracula-Mathias is slain. This will eventually

lead to his belief that he is the Count's reincarnation.

2001

Hammer is born.

2011

Yoko Belnades is born.

2017

Soma Cruz, the true reincarnation of Dracula-Mathias, is born, as is Mina Hakuba.

2025-2035

Before or during this period, Alucard has since

resurfaced as Genya Arikado, an enigmatic man rumored to be working for

'national intelligence' (presumably Japanese). He visits the Shrine of the

White Horse several times over the decade. Mina will eventually tell

Soma in 2035 that in all the years she's known Arikado, he seems

to have not aged a bit. She will also mention that, physically, Arikado

is 'too beautiful' and 'nearly perfect,' which are clear indications of the

'charm factor' in a vampiric nature. These physical qualities, his name, and

the lack of aging serve as clues to his true identity.

2035

GBA

(Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow/Minuet of the Dawn) Soma Cruz is an exchange

student studying in Japan. He visits his classmate and childhood friend Mina

Hakuba at the Shrine of the White Horse, intending to witness a

solar eclipse with her. They fall unconscious upon getting past the shrine

gates and awaken inside the eclipse-sealed Castlevania. The two meet Genya

Arikado, and he begins to explain where they are, but Mina is

wounded by monsters, and Soma ends up discovering his ability to absorb

the souls of the foes he slays. Upon Arikado's urging, he ventures into

the castle to seek the Master's Chamber in an attempt to find a way out

for him and Mina. As he progresses, Soma begins to lose his sense

of self.

Soma encounters the following people along the way: Graham

Jones, a cult leader who believes himself to be Dracula-Mathias’

reincarnation, and aims to inherit the Count's power; Yoko

Belnades, an agent of the Roman Catholic Church sent to inspect the said

prophecy, and urged by Arikado to watch out for Soma; Hammer,

an Army soldier who was pulled into the castle while investigating the shrine,

but sets up a shop after meeting Soma; and the amnesiac known only as J,

who has come to the castle in an effort to regain his memories. (27)

It is later revealed that J is Julius Belmont, who had suffered a loss of memory from

the 1999 battle. Soma fights and slays Graham Jones, who had absorbed the

castle's essence from the Count's Throne Room. Graham's inherited power is

absorbed by Soma and he discovers the truth: that he, not Graham,

is Dracula-Mathias reincarnate, and that his ability to absorb the souls

of the castle's demons was a manifestation of this all along. He and Dracula-Mathias

are slowly becoming one, and if completed, Soma will resume the Count's

vendetta on humankind. Arikado reveals that to stop this transformation,

Soma must destroy the source of the chaos (a product of man's evil

desires), influencing the spirit of the Count within him. Soma

teleports to the Chaotic Realm beyond the castle, and defeats the

source, an entity known as Chaos (which may be the Lovecraftian being

known as Azathoth). With that, Castlevania crumbles and fades out

of the eclipse, into oblivion. Soma, Mina, Arikado, Yoko, Hammer, and Julius

safely return to the Earth realm.

Though Dracula-Mathias' soul still rests in Soma, as it is an irreversible part of him,

it is no longer evil due to the defeat of Chaos. Yoko Belnades embarks on

another job immediately afterwards; Hammer realizes that fighting is not

his calling and will set up a shop; Julius reveals that the Vampire

Killer's power is fading, though he does not know what it means; and Arikado

vanishes. Soma and Mina safely return home as the eclipse ends.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One very notable thing about the Castlevania video games is that they blend together

many popular monsters of not only film, but literature and world mythology besides.

Aside from Count Dracula, who is almost always the main villain in each

game, the Grim Reaper, the Frankenstein Monster, J.S. LeFanu's Carmilla,

Count Orlock of the film Nosferatu (he was called Olrox in CV:

SOTN, likely to prevent copyright issues), references to H.P. Lovecraft's

works, Scylla, Cyclops, Medusa, and Cerberus of Greek mythology, and

sundry others make appearances all throughout the series. Even if the Dracula

whom the Belmonts and friends repeatedly defeated was a

soul-clone/pretender, for him to have such diverse and powerful forces at his

command truly solidifies and attests to his vast power as Lord of the

Vampires, and one of the mightiest Wold Newton villains.

I have also found possible connections to Walter Gibson's famous crime fighting

vigilante, the Shadow. See notes 18 and 21 for details.

Notes:

1. In which a video game playing kid is sucked into a

dimensional portal and meets Simon Belmont, who is then assisted by the

said kid to slay Dracula. A betrothed of Simon's by the name of Linda

Erstwhile was mentioned in this book but she, as with that entire story,

will be regarded as fictitious for our purposes. This campy tongue-in-cheek

short novel was packaged and distributed with Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest.

2. There's a chance that Rasalom was behind the

creation of the two stones...and ultimately Leon and Mathias' fate.

3. This is the legend in the series: that 'Dracula rises every one hundred years.'

Though with the increase in frequency of Dracula-Mathias' return to the Earth realm

due to loyal fanatics (the 19th century had four resurrections), this

legend loses its accuracy after 1691. The curse also 'helped' Dracula-Mathias

in that it would allow him to keep coming back to wage war on humankind.

4. Special thanks to Chris N for discovering this one!

5. Sonia Belmont's grandfather, if her grandfather he really was, has been conjectured by

Jeremiah Klar to be a Watcher from the Order of Slayers. It would be

quite appropriate for a Belmont to join the Order.

6. What this gift was remains unknown.

7. Making a heavy-duty appearance in this adventure is the demon Pazuzu, of The

Exorcist fame. Trevor Belmont and friends encounter him right before

getting inside Castlevania's halls. This demon was either coerced by Dracula-Mathias

to help protect Castlevania, or he voluntarily joined, seeing a threat

in the Belmonts. Juste Belmont fights him again in 1748. Chris Nigro

has expressed the possibility that this points to Pazuzu having a bigger

role than previously thought in our world's ranks of evil. Hopefully, further

research will reveal its extent.

8. It is my current belief that the Castlevania Adventure for Gameboy and Haunted Castle

for the arcade are actually the same event. This is taken from the fact that Soleil

is born one year after the events of the Castlevania Adventure (since he

is fourteen in 1591), implying Christopher could have had had a newly

wedded wife at this time. The Castlevania Adventure game is plot-less (as

most video games were back then), but Haunted Castle, on the other hand,

has an unnamed newly wed Belmont whose unnamed wife is carried away by

Dracula-Mathias.

It is entirely possible then that Dracula-Mathias had actually kidnapped

Christopher's wife and used her as a hostage against the Belmont.

9. Simon Belmont has appeared in the most Castlevania games,

yet almost all of them have very much the same storyline (e.g., Dracula-Mathias

rises, and in fulfillment of his Belmont destiny, Simon moves to slay the Count),

with only the castle layout, enemies, and bosses varying from each other.

Hence, the games Castlevania for the NES and others, such as Castlevania

for arcade, Super Castlevania 4 for the Super NES, Akumajou Dracula for the

Sony X68000 (and its Playstation reissue, Castlevania Chronicles), and Vampire

Killer for the MSX must all be regarded as one and the same adventure.

10. Once more,Konami's inconsistency is shown. In the 1698 adventure,

the relics of theCount that Simon found and collected were Vlad's Eye, Rib,

Heart, Ring, and Nail. Less than 50 years later, in Harmony of

Dissonance, the relics Maxim, and later Juste, recovered were

the same but an extra, the Fang of Vlad, had been added, making them six

relics. Forty-nine years later, in Symphony of the Night, the Vlad

relics that Alucard gathered were the same as in Harmony of

Dissonance, but the Nail was gone.

11. I must note here that Dracula-Mathias' castle never looks, at the very least,

exactly the same upon each return to the Earth realm. The layout and design of

the castle, as well as the monsters inhabiting it, change with every return. As

Alucard explained to Maria Renard in SOTN, Castlevania "...is

a creature of Chaos. It may take many incarnations."

12. It is quite a mystery to know that Dracula-Mathias continued to return

and plague the world despite his apparent repentance. My theory is that it is

part of the curse.

13. The release of Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight sparked the possibility of

Eric Lecarde's descent from Alucard. In the game, among the plethora of weapons

the player finds will be one "Alucard Spear," which just so happens to look and

perform (and name-wise, sound) much like the "Alcard Spear" Eric uses as his main

weapon in CV 5: Bloodlines. This hints that "Alcarde Spear" could have been a

misinterpretation of the Konami of America translators, and is thus actually "Alucard

Spear."

In addition, the Japanese language lacks the letter 'L,' and is thus substituted with 'R.'

This said, Maria's surname may not even be 'Renard' but actually 'Lenard.' If she

and Alucard had started a family in Spain and decided to give them a surname, it

wouldn't be far-fetched to believe that they combined their names (Alucard and

R/Lenard) to create 'Lecarde.'

Such a conjecture, assuming Alucard was Trevor Belmont's father, would make the

Lecardes relatives of the Belmont clan. Again, I believe Maria's possible begetting

of a child by a dhampir (like Sonia centuries ago) somehow resulted in a non-vampiric

peak human.

14. I conjecture that both Nathan and Hugh have Belmont blood in them

(though I believe Nathan's is of the more direct lineage), and are therefore both

qualified to wield the whip. Noting the rashness and hot-headedness of his son Hugh,

in spite of the fact that Nathan could never beat Hugh in training, was what led to

Maurice Baldwin giving the whip to Nathan.

15. This could well be the Carmilla of J.S. LeFanu's novella of the same name.

It’s possible that she survived her battle with Nathan Graves and returned in

time for her appearance to the girl Laura in Styria. Carmilla has

also had other run-ins with the Belmont family, notably in 1698 (Simon

Belmont) and 1792 (Richter Belmont). To further support this theory,

there is a scene in J.S. LeFanu's novella where the heroine Laura and

her father, by this time with Carmilla living under their roof, receive

a portrait of the Countess Mircalla Karnstein (in actuality Carmilla)

that is precisely dated 1698 (and the novella itself is set in the mid-1800s,

about a century and a half away). I see this as a deliberate move by the

creators to connect the novella to the Castlevania saga.

16. The American version of Castlevania 64 had 'Fernandez' as Carrie's

surname. She is undoubtedly a Belnades, however, for that is her surname

in the Japanese version.

17. Cornell's werewolf power is very comparable to that of Luke Talbot's of the

animated series Monster Force. Both have control over their own transformations.

18. This Charlie must definitely be a member of the Vincent family of vampire

hunters,thus also of distant ancestry to David Vincent and his conjectured brother

Harry Vincent, agent of the Shadow.

19. It occurred to me there could have been a connection to the Cthulhu Mythos

shown in the 1852 event, for the Necronomicon is very prominently displayed in the

game's selection screen.

It wouldn't be out of the realm of impossibility to

conjecture that Dracula-Mathias has a copy of the Necronomicon 

(as would other WNU villains who dabble in the arcane and occult).

In addition, though as of now I consider this a trivial connection,

among the myriad monsters Alucard faced in the 1797 event was a

certain hideoussquid-headed, winged abomination.

Perhaps Shaft had managed to summon a shadow of the submerged being

to serve him, even if the stars weren't right yet.

20. Quincy must have tried to dodge his Belmont heritage, becoming instead a

cowboy-adventurer of the Old West. Hence, he never became a vampire hunter,

though he must have kept the ancestral whip and the other traditional weapons

anyway. The fact that he was, by the end of the novel, the one to kill Dracula

(and Dracula Prime at that), shows that destiny did catch up with him after all.

21. Prof. Matthew Baugh theorized that Cliff Marsland is the nephew of

Quincy Morris. Since the Castlevania storyline states that the Morrises are

descended from the Belmont clan, this would imply that Cliff is, also. Having

Belmont blood in Cliff would partly explain his being a successful soldier during

the First World War, and later a valuable operative of the Shadow as an underworld

infiltrator. Cliff, however, likely neither knows nor cares about his ancestry, seeing how

he values his loyalty to his chief above all else.

22. The 1897 date provided in the Bloodlines manual is in error, for the novel's

events in the Newtonverse have been set to occur in 1887. With this in mind, I

subtracted ten years from John Morris’ and Eric Lecarde's birthdays for

this chronology. How a two-year-old and a five-year-old were present to witness

Quincy's death, I don't know yet. It's probable John and Eric were under someone

else's care, and that Quincy had brought both boys with him when he journeyed to

England to seek Lucy Westenra's hand.

23. Castlevania 5: Bloodlines originally occurred in 1917. Konami changed their timeline,

however, to make it occur in 1914. As it turns out, having the adventure take place in

this year makes more sense, as it is the three hundredth anniversary of Elizabeth

Bathory's death.

24. The game's claim that Elizabeth Bathory is Dracula's niece who was executed

in 1421 for being a vampire is erroneous, for the real Bathory's life began a century

afterwards. Bathory was born in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountain foothills in

1560, to a prominent noble family noted for its sexual deviates, sadists, Satanists, and

other unsavory lot. When she later married Ferencz Nadasdy (scion of a prominent

Protestant family) in 1575, she chose the gloomy and remote Csejthe Castle for their

home, and had four children between 1585 and 1595.

By this time, Bathory was alreadytaking pleasure in inflicting pain on servant girls,

especially bosomy ones.

After her husband's death in 1604, her vanity and beauty led to her wish to

find the secret of eternal youth, and believed she had found it when a servant

girl she struck bled on her, and Bathory observed that her skin seemed whiter and

fresher when she wiped it off. From then on, her servants helped her round up peasant

girls and devise various gruesome tortures to bleed them whileBathory would bathe in

the torrent. When middle age came despite her actions, she turned to blue-blooded women.

Eventually the bodies became difficult to dispose, and some were left right out in the fields

where villagers would see them and suspect the Countess. She was finally questioned by

the Count Gyorgy Thorzo around late December, 1610, and upon finding damning evidence

in her castle, her accomplices were arrested and confessed to the murders. The body

count was no less than 650. Bathory's cohorts were executed, but since she herself was

nobility, she was spared the execution of a common criminal and was instead walled up

alive in her own castle. She died there August 21, 1614. Her exploits had earned her the

name "The Blood Countess." Curiously enough, she was actually a distant relative of

Vlad Tepes Dracula.

25. Dracula-Prime was still alive at this time, though in hibernation in his secret crypt at

the original Castle Dracula. Perhaps Elizabeth Bathory was not aware of this and sought

to revive the 'wrong' Dracula, this being Dracula-Mathias. Her motive for blazing a trail

through Europe, from Romania to England, could have been collecting Dracula-Mathias'

relics in order to resurrect him. She very likely got her hands on the Ring first, since she

would need some way to manipulate the various monsters along the path and use them to

slow John and Eric down.




26. It is interesting to note that Dracula-Mathias' return in 1999 is the very fulfillment of

Nostradamus' prophecy regarding the coming of the third Anti-Christ

in the same year. Graham Jones explains as much to Soma in 2035.



27. Comments regarding Yoko, Hammer, and Arikado/Alucard. Yoko Belnades' 

first name indicates that the side of the Belnades line that did not descend

from Sypha(male descendants of her siblings or cousins) married

into a Japanese family at some point.

Hammer mentions that he was sent by the Army to case the Hakuba

shrine, but I personally believe this to be a rather broad and vague

statement. He could actually have been working for CIALD 

 or any other global paramilitary agency. As for

 Genya Arikado/Alucard, Mina mentions that he is working for

'national intelligence,' but I also believe this to be an unclear

 statement.


 Similar to Hammer, he was very likely working with

 supernatural-centered organizations before 2035.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is a quick reference list for the main years of the CV saga and the fighters

involved.

1094 Leon Belmont

1450 Sonia Belmont

1476 Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant Danesti, Alucard

1576 Christopher Belmont

1591 Christopher Belmont

1691 Simon Belmont

1698 Simon Belmont

1748 Juste Belmont, Maxim Kischine

1792 Richter Belmont, Maria Renard

1797 Alucard, Maria Renard

1820* Maurice Baldwin, Nathan Graves' parents

1830 Nathan Graves, Hugh Baldwin, Maurice Baldwin

1844 Cornell

1852 Reinhart Schneider, Carrie Belnades, Henry Oldrey

1914 John Morris, Eric Lecarde

1999* Julius Belmont, unknown hunters

2035 Soma Cruz, Genya Arikado/Alucard, Yoko Belnades, Hammer,

‘J’/Julius Belmont

*undocumented, i.e., no video game.