Topic: Castlevania: Umbra of Sorrow (1999 Fan Project)

[Shiroi Koumori]

I like this new Julius more than the previous one.

[theplottwist]

Just small update on what I'm doing now:

Lately, I've been trying to trace the origins of the Lecardes. I succeeded in the side of Eric, and most recently, I traced the side of Eric's second wife. This is important to tie up with how Jonathan acquired both the Stellar Sword and the Alucard Spear, and the knowledge to teach Julius the Omnia Vanitas technique, which is developed from Maxim's ancient technique. Here it goes:

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Remember how I established that Daniela, in Ecclesia, is the descendant of Maxim with a Belmont female, and therefore has the knowledge of the secret arts used for monster hunting that she mentions having learned from her grandfather? It turns out that Daniela inherited Maxim's Stellar Sword from him, too.

Further in the future, Daniela had no children, and Shanoa had no family. After the events of Ecclesia, Shanoa settled in Wygol to become Sanctuary's guardian, but also to live with Daniela due to the bond they formed during Shanoa's quest, causing Daniela to see Shanoa as her own granddaughter.

Before passing on, Daniela taught Shanoa her grandfather's secret art, and gave Shanoa the Stellar Sword representing the art, and as a symbol of their bond.

Further down the road, Shanoa had her own children. She would teach her children the secret art, along with passing onto them the Stellar Sword representing it. She would also unwittingly pass on her natural ability with Glyph magic.

Many decades later, by 1922, on a trip to Wygol looking for a cure for John Morris whose condition slowly deteriorated with the years [1], Eric would meet his second wife - a descendant of Shanoa, and current caretaker of the Sanctuary glyph.

Together, they would bring two sisters to the world. Eric choose the name for one of the girls: Loretta. His wife choose the name for the other: Stella - a name derived from the sword passed down her own family [2]. Unfortunatelly, Eric's wife couldn't sustain giving birth to both girls, and became bedridden, dying shortly after [3]. Before dying, however, she made Eric promise to train both girls, helping Loretta develop the latent magic that was present in her and inherited by her bloodline [4], and teaching Stella swordsmanship. She, then entrusted Eric with the secret art passed down her family, and gave him the Stellar Sword [5].

Eric trained both of his daughters, helping them develop magical and fighting skills, but one day in 1942, word of Brauner surfaced, and hearing from the Church about the vampire's goal of summoning Dracula's Castle, Eric grew fearful.

He told his daughters to not search for him for he would come back to them soon [6], and before hastly setting out to hunt Brauner down before he could accomplish whatever sinister plans he had for Dracula's Castle, he taught the sisters the secret of the Lecarde family - How to unlock the Vampire Killer's true power in case evil arose and the whip's owners came to fight it [7].

Unfortunatelly, he wound up dying before his daughters' eyes, unable to complete their training and pass onto them the sword of his wife's family.

Later, with his daughters brainwashed and without hope for their recovery, Eric gave the sword to Jonathan Morris, and taught him the secret art passed down to him by his wife, so he could fight Brauner inside Dracula's Castle without the need for the whip in his possession.

Jonathan, in turn, would return the sword Eric's daughters later, after destroying Brauner and stopping Dracula. But the knowledge of the secret art would be mastered by him during the years to come, and be taught to Julius in the form of the Omnia Vanitas.

Now for the detailed explanations:

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[1] - As we know by Portrait's dialogue, John Morris condition was deteriorating due to using the whip. However, by the same dialogue, he was still alive enough to train Jonathan in the basics. So, in my story, while his condition was not that bad yet, Eric set out to look for a way to cure him.

[2] - This, along with [4], was one of the major pieces of info/connection I used to build this story.

At first, I though that the "STELLAr Sword" sounding so alike to the name of one of the sisters was just a silly coincidence, since "stellar" is a word derivative from "something related to the stars." Soooo, in japanese, the sword's name may read/sound something like "Sword of the Stars (恒星の剣)" or maybe have "Hoshi (恒星)" somewhere in it's name right? RIGHT? Well, would you look at these curious images!:



The first one is from Harmony of Dissonance's japanese manual. The second one is from the official Portrait of Ruin character portraits. You see the katakana? The one under Maxim is talking about the Stellar Sword. The other is Stella's name.

They are EXACTLY THE SAME. The sword is named Stella!

So, from there I drew the first connections: Eric has the Stellar Sword... Stella's name is the same as a sword which just happens to be under Eric's possession... Therefore, Stella was named after an important relic in her family: The Stellar Sword.

Why would such a relic be so important? Well, because just maybe it was from her mother's side and represented something important? I know, big leap here, but as I said before, fanfiction is unavoidable.

As I had established before that Daniela was Maxim's descendant due to the "secret art" bit, and as the game showed us the Daniela had a sentimental connection with Shanoa, the whole connection was set: The sword was passed down from Maxim to Daniela, from Daniela to Shanoa, and from Shanoa to her children, until it reached Eric through his wife, who descended from Shanoa.

Now, how to show that this wife could be a descendant of Shanoa? That's what I'll try to do in [4].

[3] - Portrait never mentions Eric's wife anywhere, but we know it's a second one due to his first girl, Gwendolyn, being vampirized by Elizabeth.

After analysing the game, I started thinking she died very early, specifically because she's never, ever mentioned. Even in the locket, she's not present. Furthermore, in the Sisters Mode at the beginning, the sisters express zero concern for a possible mother, and too much for Eric. This all indicates (to me) that a mother is not present at all, because she died too long ago to be relevant right now.

[4] - Here is the other part of the big connection thing I stated in [2]; I knew that the "Stella" bit was important, but I also knew it was not strong enough to set up the whole "Stella and Loretta are descendants of Shanoa through their mother" plot convincingly. I needed to find a way to get the goddamn Stellar Sword to Eric's hands, so I set to look for a last evidence that I could retroactivelly rationalize.

Stella received the name of the sword, so, what did Loretta inherit? She inherited Shanoa's natural gift of using Glyph magic, that's what.

Looking for a way to connect the sisters to Shanoa, I stumbled upon the game's graphics. Look at this:



This picture is Loretta's magic spritesheet. See the blue circle with symbols all over it there? It looks a hell of a lot like a giant glyph. Sure, it could be merely a magic circle of course, and therefore it was still not strong enough evidence for me to convince myself that she could be using a variation of Glyph magic, a trait that she could've inherited from Shanoa herself. Stella also uses a magical attack that looks a lot like Shanoa's Pneuma, only much stronger. Like Loretta's magic looks like a much stronger version of Shanoa's Grando. But STILL was not enough of an interpretation, so I went to watch the Stella/Loretta boss battle.

Skip to 1:12:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyz39w_FqyI

Did you see it? The ice sword attack? Do you remember who also could do it, with a movement scarily similar? She could:



We DID see in Order of Ecclesia that Shanoa could do a Grando Glyph Union like this. If she equips Grando in one arm, and a sword glyph in the other, this attack comes out.

Now, with the help of Loretta's magic, Stella can do it too. And if you pay close attention, it's almost as if they were a Glyph Union... Where one is the "arm" with the sword glyph and the other is the "arm" with the ice glyph.

This all made me think that yes, this looks like a convincing interpretation of things. The sisters are performing a "Glyph Union" where one represents the sword property, and the other represents the ice property, reflecting Shanoa's use of the attack with one sword glyph arm, and one ice glyph arm.

Another evidence that the sisters compliment each other is hinted by their eyes: Each one has a different red eye. As if they are indeed meant to be combined, just like two arms in a Glyph Union.

Therefore I drew the last connections: Loretta inherited properties from Shanoa's ice glyphs, and Stella inherited properties from Shanoa's sword/wind glyphs. Both of them combined allow them to execute a "glyph union"-like attack, due to having inherited these powers.

And let's not forget that Ecclesia states that Shanoa is a natural, that she possesses something on her makeup that allows for her to grasp Glyphs much easier than anyone else. It IS something on her blood or spirit. What if she were to have descendants?

Now, after aaaaall this you could say "Ah, but what if Eric was the one to actually descend from Shanoa, and therefore have the sword?"; Sure, it could be, but there is a problem: We never see Eric display any similarity with Shanoa at all. Not in the magic, not in the dual wielding, nothing. From who could the sisters have inherited these traits then? The only answer left is "from their mother."

[5] - This explains how Eric got the sword from his wife while there being no wife to receive it from. It also explains how Jonathan can use the art while having the sword: Eric taught him after learning it from his dying wife.

[6] - This is present in the Sisters Mode dialogue. The sisters say that Eric told them to not come, but they follow him anyway after him being out for too long.

[7] - This is meant to explain how do they know the technique even if Eric is dead, and why they got taught it in the first place. Eric knew that the rising of Dracula's Castle is a bad sign, so this is why he set out to hunt Brauner and why he taught his daughters how to unlock the whip's power. When the castle appears, someone with the whip is not too far behind.

Now, the only thing left is Eric's side and how the hell he got the Alucard Spear. It's already written and is being reviewed.

[X]

Why the hell weren't you in charge of the Castlevania series?! All this is good stuff! You're really paying attention to every minor detail in order to make the best possible/logical connections however you can. It's unfortunate that IGA never did this or would would have a more fluid series with little to no contradictions and plotholes to patch up ourselves.

[Chernabogue]

The details, man, the details. Awesome.

[theplottwist]

Thanks dudes

Unfortunatelly, the side of Eric of the family will require waaay more fanfiction, because there were little to no threads for me to pull.

Also, I added a bit about the sisters' eyes symbolism to the detailed explanation up there. Nothing major, just one more hint at how the sisters behave like a glyph union themselves.

[Shiroi Koumori]

This is awesome plot! I can't wait to read about Eric's side.

Oh and the characters that made up the name "Stella" are called katakana and not Kanji. Kanji are the Chinese characters. Katakanas are characters used for foreign loan words like English, for instance.

[Kirihara Akira]

Good stuff, thank you for looking up all these. Actually, can I ask some questions?

Abut the eyes of the sisters.They only have the "red eye" when they were vampairized. After purified, their "red eye" disappeared. Do you noticed that?

Also, something about Shanoa. Well, this is nothing more than my own imagination. I just wonder that, why Shanoa can be the host of Glyph magic, while Albus could not even with the help of Belmont blood?

OK, here comes my imagination----Is Shanoa a Belmont? I just think that only the blood of Belmont can contain the power of Dracula without being consumed. It just my imagination thought. What do you think?

[Inccubus]

It was my understanding (could just be headcanon) that Albus could use regular glyph magic just fine albeit not nearly as well as Shanoa. It was specifically Dominus that he failed to control despite using Belmont blood to augment his abilities.

[Kirihara Akira]

Oh yeah, OK, I got it wrong. But do you understand what I meant? Why Shanoa was able to control Dominus but Albus can't? What is the different between them? Don't tell me Shanoa could control Dominus because she was a female. I will not take that.

[X]

Don't tell me Shanoa could control Dominus because she was a female. I will not take that.

You may have just answered your own question there Kirihara Akira. and with all due respect you just might have to accept that.

Throughout history in terms of the old religions, females have often been represented as of divinity and purity; the physical manifestation of the great goddess on earth. You'll find this all throughout the teachings of sprituality. It was only later on (through the advent of the male-dominant christian religion) that that representation was reversed and women were seen as harlots and prostitutes with unclean bodies associated with sin and lust (which is just not true on any level and is disrespectful of women in general).

As far as I'm aware of Shanoa isn't blood-related to the Belmonts and the game does not tell you otherwise either. I've done several play-throughs and found no evidence pertaining otherwise. But when she gets the first Dominius glyph which Albus had, it partially contained the magic of the Belmont blood so this could have also aided in preventing Shanoa from being corrupted. However Shanoa is not immune to the effects of the Glyphs. In other words if she uses Dominius she dies. There is no stopping that. Albus took her place as the blood sacrifice in order to prevent her death after using Dominius so she was spared.

[theplottwist]

As far as I'm aware of Shanoa isn't blood-related to the Belmonts and the game does not tell you otherwise either. I've done several play-throughs and found no evidence pertaining otherwise. But when she gets the first Dominius glyph which Albus had, it partially contained the magic of the Belmont blood so this could have also aided in preventing Shanoa from being corrupted. However Shanoa is not immune to the effects of the Glyphs. In other words if she uses Dominius she dies. There is no stopping that. Albus took her place as the blood sacrifice in order to prevent her death after using Dominius so she was spared.

Pretty much what I was going to answer. The Belmont power contained in the villagers helped Shanoa withstand Dominus' corruption. By the time she gets Dominus' first piece, she already has the power of at least one villager. She never had to put up with Dominus before, like Barlowe and Albus did, and see where that took them both.

Also, something about Shanoa. Well, this is nothing more than my own imagination. I just wonder that, why Shanoa can be the host of Glyph magic, while Albus could not even with the help of Belmont blood?

That's the thing, the Belmont blood was useless without the Belmont power of the villagers. Albus never had it, while Shanoa did.

Shanoa could tap in the Belmont power because it was stored in the glyphs imprisoning the villagers, and according to the game, the glyphs contain "the power in all things, great and small".

Therefore, Albus couldn't tap in this Belmont power because he couldn't absorb glyphs like Shanoa can. He can only use them through Agartha. On my understanding, using a Glyph by proxy and actually absorbing it and the power contained within it to use it are different things.

As far as I'm aware of Shanoa isn't blood-related to the Belmonts and the game does not tell you otherwise either.

And I think IGA confirmed that, too, if I remember well. He said in his latest reddit AMA that he had not thought about making her blood-related to anyone at the time.

Oh and the characters that made up the name "Stella" are called katakana and not Kanji. Kanji are the Chinese characters. Katakanas are characters used for foreign loan words like English, for instance.

Thanks! I knew I had screwed up somewhere with the japanese -_-' Corrected it!

[theplottwist]

While I write up more stuff for you to read, I'll post here some ideas for unique monsters I had for this project. I might even draw some sprites for them in the future!

Here they are, even followed by Castlevania-styled short descriptions:

[REDACTED]

[Lelygax]

Headless Mule (this one has a sprite to go with it lol):
Demonic mule said to once have been the daughter of a priest.

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Funny thing for you: I always wanted this monster to appear in a Castlevania. It comes from brazilian folklore, along with Mapinguari. So when I started my project, I made sure to draw and write about it. Curiously, a team of brazilian journalists did a quick interview with IGA quite recently, and asked him about it. He said that had he known about this creature before, it'd surely had appeared in a Castlevania as an enemy.

Mapinguari:
Brutal monster with a deadly glare in its eye, and a hungry mouth on its belly.[/spoiler]

That was a nice surprise to me, as a brazilian. Now about this interview, you've a link? I'm really interested in this now! 

[theplottwist]

That was a nice surprise to me, as a brazilian. Now about this interview, you've a link? I'm really interested in this now! 

It's really freaking short. I don't even think it qualifies as a proper interview:

http://jogos.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/2015/08/05/ex-diretor-acha-que-mula-sem-cabeca-seria-bom-monstro-para-castlevania.htm

English translation for the fellow dungeonites:

The "Castlevania" series made it's fame with monster-infested adventures inspired by the various legends from around the world - particularly European ones.

But does any creature from Brazilian folklore have a chance in Konami's classic franchise or some other game in the same style?

"The headless mule certainly would make a good enemy! Maybe even a boss" said the renowned producer Koji Igarashi to UOL Games shortly after the Microsoft pre-Gamescom presentation.

We've shown the Iga-san a drawing of the headless mule and also of the Saci, the elusive boy with one leg who is always accompanied by pipe and red cap.

"The Saci would concern me more about using him in a game, specially as an enemy," he said.

"A lot of people might misunderstand the idea and think it's prejudice against disabled people to place a character without one leg as an enemy that must be defeated."

There was no time to show other monsters from Brazilian folklore, but we also asked about a portuguese localization for "Bloodstained", the producer's new game in the style of "Castlevania" which is one of the latest crowdfunding hits on Kickstarter.

"What I can say is that we are thinking about it and if there are enough people interested, we will do everything possible to include it in the game," said Igarashi.

Funnily I was going to add the Saci to my list too (dude is too iconic, you have no idea), but decided against it due to his too-humanoid and not-so-menacing appearance.

There is one more monster from brazilian folklore I want to add, and this would be "Boitata." However, I find this name a bit silly for a freaking giant snake on fire, so I'd use it's original, tupi name "Mbae tata" that sounds more like something in the leagues of "Quetzalcoatl."

[Kirihara Akira]

Too bad I only know Chinese and Japanese monster. It seems I can't help you here. However, if you need anything about Chinese and Japanese religion, I would happy to help.