Topic: Salvaging Sonia? Plus, reflections on IGA....

[Kensuke]

The baby isn't necessarily Alucard's. Though it's STRONGLY implied in a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" sort of fashion by the fact that the ending text says that the child has the "blood of dark ways" and that Sonia and Alucard were lovers. I can't remember what game it was, but this is later contradicted by the fact that the Belmonts are supposed to be of pure blood.

One thing that's fairly certain is that the child is Trevor. That's not in and of itself a bad thing, but it would cause major headaches given the above. It would mean that Trevor fights his own father in CV3 and Alucard is completely oblivious to it. I think that's a bit ridiculous.

In any event...I'm LITERALLY not hating the player, but rather the game. I think Sonia can be salvaged, even if Legends needs to be dumped for the sake of continuity.

- John

[Kensuke]

In Reply To #15

Yeah, like Joan of Arc (who incidentally lived in the same time frame as Sonia). Destroying the English Army in the name of God is one thing, but killing vampires in the name of God is quite another. Back to the kitchen bitch!

Seriously....it's a video game....it doesn't HAVE to follow any set historical conventions. But even if it did, IGA's argument is flawed as all hell.

- John

[le052383]

I find it humourous that ppl shout sexism towards IGA for removing Sonia since I believe the majority of ppl who are fans of her like her because she was major eye candy if you know what I mean.  I mean, I don't see ppl gettin worked up on Reinhart or Nathen, but it is Sonia. 

No offense, but she was a bland character, storywise.  I mean, she is just a Belmont chick in a game that hardly have any prolong cutscenes or character developement.  I know ppl can say the same to Simon, but he is different since before Trevor, he was the main protragonist in all the CV games.

 If Iga adds a chick in scantily clad armour, I wouldn't be suprised she would have some sort of fan following.  I mean, R.mika, a crummy Street fighter character imo, is popular for her large boobies.

I havent sleep for a day, so I may sound peeved, which is unintentionable.

[Kensuke]

There's some disagreement as to whether the N64 games and CotM are completely out of cannon. Only that they're out of the main story arc. They're on the official Konami time line published in 2006 (Legends is the only one that's not there). IGA has said that they were developed to be side stories from the beginning. I take that to mean that the events depicted COULD have happened in the Castlevania universe, but have little bearing on the main story arc. Legends was always intended to be part of the main story arc, but all records of its existence have been nixed. Along with Sonia.

I agree that Sonia's character wasn't that well fleshed out, but honestly, VERY few of the Belmonts have been.

- John

[Kale]

Eh, I thinkSonia could be a good belmont like everyone else, but from what I've heard of the story, and read on it, it didn't seem that great of a game. Her other game didn't make it out either. So I don't think Iga did anything bad about taking it out.

As for "his beloved Trevor," Trevor wasn't his creation iirc. So itsnot "his" persay.

[Long John Silver]

They're on the official Konami time line published in 2006 (Legends is the only one that's not there).

That thing was american made just like the entire preorder package, including watered down artbook made from low quality images. It wasn't official. Iga's official timeline still keeps these games out and has no mentions of them.

[The Last Belmont]

The baby isn't necessarily Alucard's. Though it's STRONGLY implied in a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" sort of fashion by the fact that the ending text says that the child has the "blood of dark ways" and that Sonia and Alucard were lovers.

I think the dark ways thing is really implying that the people feared them because of sonia's display of power and looked at their power as black magic and that she passed that power on to Trevor, remember before legends the belmonts hadn't displayed their great powers not since leon killed Walter but only Rinaldo lived to tell the tale, and if Trevor was the start of the belmont's super human powers via alucards blood, then Sonia shouldn't have been able to kill drac. Not to mention Alucard should have said something about it in 3 when they met, and I don't think it's strongly hinted at in legends, just a possible conclusion one could come to given the ending text is ambiguous as to who the father is.

Eh, I thinkSonia could be a good belmont like everyone else, but from what I've heard of the story, and read on it, it didn't seem that great of a game.

It's better than the other castlevania titles on the original gameboy. It's the most balanced and has the best controls. The drac. fight is pretty tough too.

[VoDkA]

Yeah, uhh I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there. Have you completed Lament of Innocence? The Vampire Killer (the Belmont whip of course) obtained its power through a woman. Her soul is what gives it its strength. So to suggest that Iga is a sexist and doesn't want a female protagonist is absurd.

First of all, "power of a woman's soul" is hardly the same thing as "woman warrior."  Second, one of the reasons IGA first cited that Legends was removed was because he felt that a female could not be a warrior during this era, that such a thing was unrealistic (because fighting Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and a mummy, plus a bunch of other mythological baddies doesnt push suspension of disbelief by itself).  So, his initial reason for removing Legends from the timeline was quite sexist, but wrapped up to look legitimate.

[PFG9000]

I think they had a thing but they never did it or did it with protection.

What kind of protection did they have in 1450?

[Kale]

What kind of protection did they have in 1450?  I think a leather condom might take the fun out of things a bit.

If it were a chinese setting, I wouldve said a bamboo condom... but ... since its not.........

[The Last Belmont]

What kind of protection did they have in 1450?  I think a leather condom might take the fun out of things a bit.

Yeah, that'd be funny, I can see it now

Alucard: hold on a sec. honey lemme put my leather on, okay let's go!

Sonia: Hell no!, last time I bled for a week down there!

If it were a chinese setting, I wouldve said a bamboo condom... but ... since its not.........

ow man that'd be brutal.

[DragonSlayr81]

I like Sonia as a character, but I dislike Legends in general. Sonia should've never been THERE, IMO. I think she's better fit for being the start of the Morris clan. It was already listed in the family tree that the Morris clan extends out of the Belmonts AFTER Trevor, but BEFORE Christopher. It would HAVE to be a DAUGHTER of the Belmonts who marries into the Morris clan, thus her children would inherit the Belmont blood, but would inherit the Morris surname. And that role, alone, would be VERY important when you bring Quincey, Johnny and Jonathan into the mix. And that has always been my thoughts on the matter. Sonia was TOO GOOD for Legends. Trevor was suposed to be the FIRST Belmont to kill Dracula, so Sonia doing so basically retcon's Trevor's importance. Trevor's main accomplishment, claim to fame, WAS the fact that he was the first to defeat Dracula. IGA comes off as being very biased regarding the games he loves. I think if I was that biased, I would've nixed Legends too. You don't mess with the storyline of the games he loves. You don't say something in CV3 was NOT correct. I think a lot of fans would actually be as biased. It's a fan's nature, actually. We all have our "loves" of games, and it's kinda like a lowblow when we see someone else make fun of our precious games.

AND, I still have that hunch that the Legends team made that game solely to capitalize on SotN's fame. There is no other reason Dracula and Alucard would be designed to look EXACTLY llike their SotN versions. I call it Alucard wanking. They just HAD to through Alucard into the picture, and make him Sonia's BOYFRIEND, no less. They could ONLY do that if the Belmont was female. That would be, IMO, sexist. Choosing to make a lead character female only so that she could be an object of affection to a cooler male character. Did they not think Sonia, alone, couldn't pull in the gamers? They had to bring in Alucard to get the SotN fanboys' attention. That, IMO, was wrong.

But yeah, it would be hard to see IGA "salvaging" her. If anything, it's much more easier to make another female heroine Belmont. I don't see IGA ever considering to salvage Nathan or Reinhardt. And that has nothing to do with gender. Resurrection was never completed, thus has never been a part of canon for the fact that it was never released. Victor falls into this category, and I definately don't see him being "recalled" to star in another game. Though I AM kinda glad Resurrection got scrapped. Didn't like how it looked and it was a travesty what they did to Sonia. She looked like a man.

[The Last Belmont]

Trevor was suposed to be the FIRST Belmont to kill Dracula, so Sonia doing so basically retcon's Trevor's importance. Trevor's main accomplishment, claim to fame, WAS the fact that he was the first to defeat Dracula.

When is this stated or implied? That's like saying because castlevania 3 takes place before 1 and simon wasn't the first to kill dracula so it's wrong, and if we wanna get really technical in the japanese version of 2, in the best ending it says simon kills dracula forever and we know that's not right, when you  have a giant ongoing series like castlevania some things are gonna be fluid and apt to change. Having sonia kill him first does not in anyway affect trevor at all, Dracula was back with a vengeance and was on the verge of conquering all of europe, the catholic church tried to stop him was unsuccessful and the pope went out searching for Trevor, he found him and sent him to kill dracula, because of the direness of the situation and the church being involved, Trevor was regarded as a giant hero much like the allies at the end of WW2, whereas when sonia killed dracula the situation was totally different. I've never heard that Trevor's sole reason for being important and famous was because he was the first to kill dracula, all belmonts are regarded as heroe's after they've killed dracula look at Harmony of Dissonance and how much it idolizes simon and he wasn't the first to kill drac. A belmont gains fame and glory as a result of killing drac, not just for being the first to do so. Also I just remembered that the poltergiest king was supposed to originally give trevor his subweapons and legendary vampire killer whip and we know this has been retconned now because of LOI.

[VoDkA]

I'm sure women were allowed to do many important things before the 1950's.

Its perfectly logical why Belmont protagonists are guys. Look at the times they are in.

Things post PoR however have a greater potential for a female lead.

Okay, except it's a game series about a super-human whip-weilding family that's cursed to fight the undead hordes of some guy who made himself a vampire/the lord of darkness by means of a magical red stone.  This is a series that no longer reflects any connection to Bram Stoker, the historical Dracula, or anything even remotely related to traditional vampire lore.  But, hey, I'm glad IGA decided to be historically accurate and cut a female protagonist from the timeline.   :

[Kale]

In Reply To #28

I forget where, but it does say hes the first to kill dracula. Its one reason why when LoI was made, Walter was the Vampire boss, not Mathias. That is not his sole reason of importance, hes also the one to bring honor or something to the Belmont family.... or something... iirc in CV3's ending.