Topic: Do you think the Belmonts perform traditional exorcisms?

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Or are they strictly warriors?

Technically speaking you don't have to be ordained Clergy to do it (though I imagine it helps), never mind that there's hundreds if not thousands of cultures around the world and through history well versed in their own kinds of exorcisms.

It seems like it would make sense that Belmonts at least learn how to do it properly as part of their training -- not everything evil is so tangible that you can whip at the head off, but it can attack you nonetheless.

[BLOOD MONKEY]

not everything evil is so tangible that you can whip at the head off, but it can attack you nonetheless.

Depends on the kind of whip. ; D

[Dracula9]

not everything evil is so tangible that you can whip at the head off

LUMI

THEY MURDER GHOSTS WITH A MAGIC COW NOODLE

[AlexCalvo]

Don't they mention "J" performing exorcisms in AoS?  I seem to remember that being what he was up to pre-game.

[Nagumo]

Soma asks if Julius is an exorcist in the English version but that's a bit of an awkward translation. In the original version he essentially asks him if he's a monster hunter. The term that is used can both refer to the type of monster hunter who uses Bibles to drive out demons (what we would call an exorcist) but also to the weapon-wielding type. Since the Belmonts are always portrayed as hunters, that interpretation makes the most sense to me.     

[X]

There are ghosts wandering about in Castlevania and the Belmonts kill them just fine with one good strike from the vampirekiller. They don't do exorcisms because they have at their disposal, the ultimate weapon of choice. But in case they find themselves in a situation where they don't have said whip then I'm sure they are taught the ways of the church priests, incantations and so-fourth. It's always wise to have a backup plan.

[AlexCalvo]

I imagine whipping a possessed person until the demon pops out is not a very favored method.  Any way, when I played AoS they called Julius an exorcist, that's good enough for me until I see something in game to counter it.  So I'll say yes.

[Guy Belmont]

I always thought that they could. If its  holy and can get rid of evil then. The belmonts can use it.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

It may also be a thing they reserve for Belmonts who don't inherit the whip, like brothers, sisters, cousins, etc. Being trained in more conventional weapons, magic, and exorcisms so that they can still do the Belmont thing, even if not at "Dracula-killing" levels of effectiveness, and could inherit the whip if the current bearer happened to become incapacitated or killed.

[theplottwist]

I imagine whipping a possessed person until the demon pops out is not a very favored method.  Any way, when I played AoS they called Julius an exorcist, that's good enough for me until I see something in game to counter it.  So I'll say yes.

Soma asks "Are you an exorcist?" and Julius responds "You might say that" implying "I'm probably not the kind of exorcist you think I am.". At least, that's how I understood that. Besides, if we stretch the definition of "possession" a bit, Christopher Belmont performed the "pummel possessed subject until they return to normal"  kind of exorcism

Despite all that I agree and believe Belmonts might have training in traditional exorcism buuuuut.... Not before Juste Belmont. Maxim was more traditionally "possessed" and Juste wasn't able to simply perform exorcism to pull the evil spirit out without hurting his friend. He too went the "attempt pummel until unpossessed" route, and wasn't until Maxim himself fought back by seeing Juste wear the bracelets that the evil spirit willingly fled his body. Maxim kinda just exorcized himself. I think (like Lumi) brothers and sisters are more plausible to spend their lives learning the more traditional forms of exorcism to help people, while whip Belmonts spend theirs learning the more... unorthodox form.

[zangetsu468]

There's actually something in DoS about Julius being strong enough to destroy the demons without the use of a magic seal i.e. what Soma does once the monsters are destroyed (captured in the boss fights). This and given the Belmont family's history, it makes sense in context in English the term "exorcist" would be used instead of "monster hunter". It's essentially like Bleach's translation of Shinigami to "Soul Reaper". It's not necessarily a literal translation, but some things don't sound right if they are, because there's no common term for those titles in English. An exorcist drives away or casts out demons, it's a function. #combofiend

[Nagumo]

When I hear "exorcist" the first thing I picture is a scene from the movie of the same name. I think this is more of a case of the translator picking the first definition in the dictionary without really thinking about it.

[X]

There's actually something in DoS about Julius being strong enough to destroy the demons without the use of a magic seal i.e. what Soma does once the monsters are destroyed (captured in the boss fights).

All the Belmonts could do this without magic seals because of the supernatural power within their bloodline. The vampirekiller is an added bonus. This makes them the ultimate exorcists.

[chainsawmidget]

Being monster hunters, I would think they'd at least know how to do it even if it's something they don't practice often. 

I'm sure they run into situations where whipping things to death isn't always the best choice.

[zangetsu468]

All the Belmonts could do this without magic seals because of the supernatural power within their bloodline. The vampirekiller is an added bonus. This makes them the ultimate exorcists.

Yeah I know, but wasn't Julius running out of steam at one stage, particularly with fighting Dario it could be a legit canon explanation given that to add even less fuel to that fire, the Vampire Killer's rage was dormant after AoS.