Topic: Essay on Chaos -- What Does Its First Form Mean?

[theplottwist]

Hello Dungeon. This will be my second huge-ass article trying to explain an aspect of the series with evidence in an effort to further enrich our understanding of specific imagery and symbolism on the games we love. For reference, my previous one was trying to unravel Saint Germain, and although I believe it could get a touch up, I still think it gives a pretty nice idea of the general concept.
 
But today isn't Germain's day. Today I'm talking of Chaos. More specifically, Chaos' first form:
 

I will be trying to demonstrate what exactly is Soma Cruz fighting on the first round against Aria of Sorrow's final boss. Also, I should credit Dracula9 who has co-written the reasoning behind this whole thing.
 
HUGE text ahead, be warned.
 

(click to show/hide)

"So, what IS Chaos?"
 
First of all, you must understand that "Chaos" and "chaos" are essentially the same thing, but pratically not. "Chaos", the Aria of Sorrow final boss, is an actual being spawned from "chaos", which is a power source.

Castlevania's concept of chaos is an accumulation of humanity's negative emotions, desires and wickedness. It's the worst of mankind amassed into a source of power that, in turn, produces demons and devils such as Death to torment man into further feeding it. Chaos is not the same as the primordial force of the universe, but instead a man-made singularity of evil that served as the root of Dracula power, resurrection cycle and was used to make the Demon Castle and fuel its existence.
 
Much has been speculated about chaos' sentience, and while many agree that chaos ISN'T sentient, I pose that this might not be entirely true depending on what your definition of "sentience" is. Chaos has been stated by Death--who is made of chaotic power--to issue a calling for a Demon King. Once a Demon King is found, they are then tasked with terrorizing (and possibly annihilating) humankind, becoming the opposite of God. Furthermore, chaos influences the evil will of Dracula, thus causing Dracula to actually act out of evil. Arikado states that the evil intention of Dracula is made so due to chaos' influence.
 
One could argue that chaos is acting out of instinct, like an animal, or that it is purely evil noise made of mankind's wickedness (this last one being the perspective I agree with). We can only infer here, since the available evidence is not conclusive.


"What is Soma Cruz fighting?"
 
This is the million dollar question.
 
It would make no sense for Soma to fight something that is literally undestroyable and win. Chaos is perpetually fed by humans, and if there is a way to end it, that would entail ending humanity itself as it's the root of chaos.
 
However, while reading the Ricordanza of the God's Abyss for the millionth time, something ocurred to me: What if Soma is fighting one specific aspect of it?
 
You see, on this novel, Death explains that "human death only comprises a part of chaos" the context being that he was born from and controls only a part of it that reigns over death. This line, alone, implies that chaos is made of different "parts" arising from humans' wide range of expressions, emotions and actions that result on their undoing. We could surmice, for instance, that Paranoia was born from the "Paranoia" part of chaos, or that Balore was born from the "human fear" part of chaos, etc etc.
 
What if, then, Soma were fighting the most relevant part of chaos to his being? What if he were fighting Cyclical Reincarnation? "Oh but he IS a reincarnation!" you could say, but pay attention: I said CYCLICAL reincarnation, something that Dracula was subjected to, but Soma is not. And what if the game were spelling this right at your face, but you were not seeing it?
 
Things will get a great deal interesting from here, but before that I must explain one thing to you called "Saṃsāra". Brace yourselves.
 

Saṃsāra and Buddhism
 
"Saṃsāra" is the name given by Buddhism to the concept of reincarnation, and it's known as the "Wheel of Rebirth" or "Wheel of Life/Death". It explains that, by accumulation of good karma or bad karma, a living being can get reincarnated/reborn into one of six different realms: Devas (God Realm), Asuras (Demi-god/Demon Realm), Manusya (Human Realm), Tiryag (Animal Realm), Preta (Hungry Ghost Realm) and Naraka (Hell/Torture Realm).
 
Three of these realms (Devas, Demi-god/Demon, Human) are considered generally good or "higher", while the other three (Animal, Ghost, Hell) are generally bad or "lower". Even within some of these realms there are subdivisions, such as the Demon Realm being divided into "upper" and "lower" planes, with extremelly powerful demons ranking above humans but below demi-gods and gods (such as Mara, who is the original Buddhist version of "Demon King").
 
Karma is accumulated by practicing good deeds and cultivating positive emotions, while bad karma is gained by seeking mundane desires and destructive actions. Many seek in life to practice good karma and be reborn into one of the good realms, but here is the thing: Buddhism teaches that you should want to ESCAPE the reincarnation cycle, not stay in it. And why is that? This is because Saṃsāra is a wicked cycle, not a fulfilling one. It traps an individual into a cyclical state of meaninglessness, material attachment and repeated existence of non-enlightment, rebirth, pain and death. EVERYONE trapped on Saṃsāra--humans, animals, gods, demons--WILL die and be reborn on another realm depending on the karma accumulated on their past life.
 
True freedom from Saṃsāra comes with one's realization and subsequent detachment from all mundane, impermanent things, including material and emotional, which leads one to attain Nirvana--true "emptiness of self", and break free from the shackles of death and revival--achieving true permanence of state. This is the true goal of Buddhism.
 
Buddhism says that it is possible to achieve true emptiness in any realm but that the Human realm, amongst all realms, is the easiest one to do so because it is not ruled by one single concept or state of existence. They explain that, while Animal realm is ruled by instinct and violence, or Hell is ruled by suffering, or that the God realm and Demon realm are ruled by pleasure and decadence, the Human realm has all of this in equal measure, thus allowing a human a much greater degree of free-will and control over their training and own fate.
 
Now, here is a visual representation of Saṃsāra:
 

 
At the very center of the wheel is the first layer. In it there is a representation of the Three Poisons called "Kleshas": Ignorance/Delusion/Misconception, Hatred and Greed. These Three Poisons are the primary fuel of the wheel, produced by the souls trapped in it and perpetuating their own cycle. They cloud the mind of individuals and are manifested in unwholesome actions and thoughts.
 
The second layer is a depiction of the karma produced by these poisons, one half indicating good karma and the other, bad karma.
 
The third and largest layer depicts the six realms (sometimes five) to where the reincarnated souls go.
 
The fourth layer depicts the Twelve Nidanas: Twelve links of causality from which the poisons are born, trapping the individual on Saṃsāra. Here it is depicted that one's clouding of the mind with these poisons is brought upon themselves through cause and effect. The two first links of the Nidanas represent the past life, and the two last ones, the future life.
 
The enormous entity holding the wheel is Yama, god of death. Outside of the wheel is a figure (almost always a depiction of the Buddha) pointing towards the Moon, which in itself means the path to enlightment and freedom from the wheel.
 
WHEW that was long, but still superficial. This was a really quick rundown of the concept because this is not a lecture on religion, but only an overview of concepts I need you to understand before I proceed with the relevant explanations and, if you want to know more in more detail, I'll advice you to seek somewhere else.
 
Are you still with me? Because that's where the promised interesting bits come. Read on.
 

The first form of Chaos is a depiction/manifestation of Saṃsāra, the cycle of rebirth
 
And I imagine some of you (if not all of you) have already figured this is where I was going. But I'll proceed anyway because there are things I guarantee you don't know.
 
Now that you are familiar with the Saṃsāra symbolism and meaning, I'll start by going over every detail of Chaos' first form. To begin, its main structure:
 

 
Chaos appears as a rotating wheel. The main body of the wheel is adorned by 8 visible arms and 4 hidden ones (more on that shortly). Protruding from it are three statues holding an orb each, used to absorb Soma's souls. Each of these statues uses a different attack to keep Soma away. Let's look at those:
 

 
The first attacks by turning into a creature impossible to discern. The second attacks with green crystals to keep you away. The last attacks by eating hungrily at your MP. You can very easily say that the first is Delusion/Misconception, the second is Hatred (and remember how Dominus Hatred produces green pillars of light?) and the third is Greed. The Three Poisons of the Saṃsāra.
 
Now, you could argue that since they are present on the statues themselves, and not on the center, this interpretation is not correct. And you are right on the first assertion--yes, I am saying the statues are depictions of the Three Poisons--, but I raise you this: Even though they are not depicted at the center, the two layers at the center WERE depicted as existing as part of the wheel:
 

 
A number of arguments could be made here to explain why the center looks so abstract instead of being faithful to the wheel of life, but I'll bring only the two most compelling ones:
 
1. Artistic freedom: Chaos must look chaotic and pretty damn disturbing. As evil as the Saṃsāra is, there isn't anything very much disturbing and incomprehensible about a pig, a cock and a snake biting each other.
 
2. Game Designing: The Gameboy screen is small and the device is not very powerful. If I needed Chaos to fit perfectly on the screen, needed to depict the Three Poisons prominently, have the symbolism walk with Castlevania's concepts AND have it all run neatly on the device, I'd take some liberties.
 
So, they got creative, but still kept the concept recognizable.
 
About the arms: On the main wheel, you can clearly see eight arms. But, if you pay attention, you'll notice two hidden ones beneath the main 8 ones (in red), and two ones that seem to be going behind the demonic figure, with only its elbows clearly visible:
 

 
These would represent the Nidanas, the chain of causality of which two chains represent the past (put behind), and two represent the future (obscured by the present = arms in front of them).
 
Now, you have the statues, the layers and the arms. What else? Well, the Saṃsāra is a wicked wheel where all the souls are trapped in a cyclical state until the Three Poisons are overcome. Then, Chaos is a wicked wheel that traps all of Soma's souls into a cyclical state until the three statues are overcome...
 
That would be enough imagery to base the point, but there is more...
 
Remember up there where I explained that a figure--generally the Buddha--pointing at the Moon means the path to enlightment? Well:
 

 
Not only that, but AoS treats the Moon as a literal path to enlightment by having Soma enter it and traverse the Chaotic Realm until he battles the evil force feeding Dracula's will, which in turn is trying to take over his body and make him into another cycle of Dracula all over again.
 
The entire story is about how Dracula was killed for good and then reincarnated as a human who willingly choose to not follow on the Demon King's footsteps. Remember what Buddhism says about Saṃsāra and the higher chances of escaping it by being born into the Human realm? As a demon, Dracula became trapped into a constant cycle of resurrections with no means of breaking free, being forced by his evil will--his karma, his own poison, the result of his choice to follow on this Demon King path--to revive time and again. But as a human, Dracula finally was able to willingly break free from his evil will, ending his karma.
 
No, Soma isn't free from his own Saṃsāra. Remember: Soma is his own being, with his own will. But he did break his soul free from its past cycle by being in the human realm and seeking to free himself. What happened in 1999 was the forced separation of Dracula and his evil will/spirit, but his evil will was NOT dealt with and came back to take Soma -- exactly like how karma works. It'd have suceeded hadn't Dracula gotten another shot at humanity.
 

"This is all fine and dandy, but it's conjecture. You just did a bit of wiggling here, a bit there, and read what you wanted to read. You can't prove all this buddhist symbolism on this game nor its connection with Dracula. I could read symbolism for The Three Stooges there if I wanted."
 
And that's why I have this username. If I couldn't prove a clear connection with dead-on evidence beyond some symbolism reading/interpreting, I'd not be here.

To see what I mean, let's talk about this fuckin' guy:
 

 
So, what does he have to do with all of this? Well, he's the guy who permanently destroyed Dracula AND can hand you your ass while holding back. This guy is also the smoking gun connecting everything.
 
You see, remember how I said that the goal of Buddhism is reaching total emptiness of inherent being by overcoming all poisons and escaping the cycle of reincarnation called Saṃsāra to reach Nirvana? This was taught by the Buddha to humanity, and this is why the Buddha is shown pointing at the moon. The name of this teaching -- the impermanence of everything there is and detachment from it -- is Heart Sutra and it is a core concept of Mahāyāna Buddhism (the biggest and most popular branch of this religion), appearing even on Shinto. The sutra is summarized on this word: "Shikisokuseku", one of the words appearing on the full sutra. Do you know how to translate that? I'll help you:
 

Omnia Vanitas

Yep. This is the exact name of Julius' move in Japanese, down to him reciting it on Harmony of Despair. "Shikisokuzeku" is a verbal mantra, recited to keep one's focus on their transcedental-related shenanigans, and is the Buddhist equivalent of "All is vanity".
 
Julius is literally able to transcend matter and become weightless, immune to all evildoing, empty of being, if just for an instant. Do you know who else could do that? Buddha. And do you know when was the exact moment he reached this state? It was when he defeated the Demon King Mara, who is trapped on the Saṃsāra and envies Buddha's enlightment. The man who defeated the Demon King Dracula, a being stuck in perpetual resurrection that seeks to tempt and destroy mankind, has acquired complete emptiness of being.
 

Conclusion:
 
I think this is enough. The conclusion after all of that is this is clear: The first form of Chaos, the final boss of Aria of Sorrow, is embodying the Saṃsāra as a prelude of what is to happen to Soma in case he fails--his fate as Dracula, trapped on the perpetual Demon King role without a chance of enlightment. Much like Chaos has a "human death" part, Soma could be fighting a manifestation of Chaos' "unfulfilling cyclical resurrection" part that plagues all humans, appearing to him as the wheel of life and death.
 
And, just an addendum I want to put out there before I'm done:
 
"Rondo of Blood" is well-known to be called "Chi no Rondo" in Japan. It's name is "悪魔城ドラキュラX 血の輪廻" which can also be translated as "Reincarnation of Blood".
 
A man who worked on this game, Toshiharu Furukawa, grew very close to IGA as they both went on the create Symphony of the Night, both as story-writters. The idea of the battle of 1999 predicted by Nostradamus was first expressed by Furukawa way back in 1997, not IGA, just after finishing SotN.
 
The "Rondo" part of the Japanese title is written "輪廻", and is the word for "reincarnation" on the context of Saṃsāra.

[Foffy]

Fascinating post, friend. I am intrigued with how you explained the Buddhistic connection, though as someone personally familiar with Zen, I've noticed a few interesting things as I pondered on your post.

One of the realizations of any discipline of Buddhism is emptiness of form, which is to say, the lack of a vitalistic "fixed" entity like a self or ego. In a sense, this plays into the Dracula/Soma connection, because the powers of Dracula when passed to Soma are "empty" in that they don't carry the malice and evil Dracula had when in use: Soma largely uses them to deal with the threats he encounters, but doesn't use them as a means to eliminate humanity. All that transferred was the process, or in this case, the power Dracula had to Soma. It's all of Dracula's tools, but not Dracula's soul, in which was the mechanism that used those tools for hatred of humanity.

Another thing I've pondered is the imagery with the moon. Another key aspect of Buddhism is "nonduality" which, if I were to use secular words, is to describe an interconnected, interdependent, innate reality. What is in reality is of reality, and not disconnected or separated. You can perhaps see this theme with Soma and accepting his role as the inheritor to Dracula's powers, to Julius' connection and "calling" to the castle, to Soma having to deal with Chaos all as themes that the characters in play are not separate from their calling, from their "karma," for what they must do. They are not isolated or disconnected from the conflict in the game who are there by happenstance. You could use the word "destiny" if this helps.

However, the imagery with the man and the moon reminds me of a quote about the finger and the moon, which I'd like to share...

“Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger.”


― Hui-Neng

The quote is a "pointer" in contemplative efforts, but I feel the quote and the game showing imagery of a man and a moon is more to highlight that Soma is not subservient to the same ways of engagement as Dracula, where he does not have to live and act with malice, and that in a sense, can transcend that "cycle" of hatred and violence. Soma is not Dracula, and can escape that cycle by facing Chaos, which attempts to force Soma into being the "rebirth" of Dracula if he loses.

Hope my rambling was of interest, for I find the topic here fascinating. Much like "pointers" in Buddhism, a topic like this is helping us see what clearly has been in front of us for perhaps the first time that we've deeply overlooked.

[theplottwist]

I'd like to just point out one thing in particular (which generates much confusion over here):

All that transferred was the process, or in this case, the power Dracula had to Soma. It's all of Dracula's tools, but not Dracula's soul, in which was the mechanism that used those tools for hatred of humanity.

Soma's soul is that of Dracula's, which is that of Mathias. Soma inherited Dracula's power of Dominance AND his soul, but not his will. This is important to point out because a lot of people don't understand the concept of the soul without the will. Even though this soul still possesses all of Dracula's memories (which Dmitrii Blinov was able to scan) and his power, it is free from the evil will spawned from Dracula's dabbling with Chaos.

Dracula's will, dubbed by Aria as "evil spirit", is the thing that drives Dracula's tools, as you put, to be used for evil. This evil spirit is what made Dracula revive as a maniac after SotN up until 1999 even if he had already repented at the ending of SotN.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Cool! I knew you're gonna make a topic following a translation request.

I think you are the only person who read Ricordanza lots of times. Did you catch any weird parts? Do I need to edit the translation?

[theplottwist]

Cool! I knew you're gonna make a topic following a translation request.

I think you are the only person who read Ricordanza lots of times. Did you catch any weird parts? Do I need to edit the translation?

You once told me that this translation was done literally so I believe that there is nothing to be changed. Many people dislike its writting because its too obtuse -- and I kinda agree. I had to read it a couple times to figure out who was saying what or what they were referring to. Sometimes a character is responding to another and it feels like they're speaking of something completelly unrelated to the question or context but, again, after re-readings I entered the "mindset" of the author (and your translation) and understood what those sections meant. Nagumo's explanation of how Japanese structure works also helps you understand the text.

So, in respect to keeping it as close as to the author's intention as possible, I would say that no, don't change anything unless you think there is something really mistranslated. I don't fully understand Japanese (I can only discern and read a very small bit of the katakana) so I'd not be able to tell if there is something mistranslated.

Sometimes I'm able to tell if something is mistranslated/the idea is lost on translation on the translation alone (IGA's Double Jump interview is such one very egregious example). But this doesn't seem to be the case on your text.

[Shiroi Koumori]

You once told me that this translation was done literally so I believe that there is nothing to be changed. Many people dislike its writting because its too obtuse -- and I kinda agree. I had to read it a couple times to figure out who was saying what or what they were referring to. Sometimes a character is responding to another and it feels like they're speaking of something completelly unrelated to the question or context but, again, after re-readings I entered the "mindset" of the author (and your translation) and understood what those sections meant. Nagumo's explanation of how Japanese structure works also helps you understand the text.

So, in respect to keeping it as close as to the author's intention as possible, I would say that no, don't change anything unless you think there is something really mistranslated. I don't fully understand Japanese (I can only discern and read a very small bit of the katakana) so I'd not be able to tell if there is something mistranslated.

Sometimes I'm able to tell if something is mistranslated/the idea is lost on translation on the translation alone (IGA's Double Jump interview is such one very egregious example). But this doesn't seem to be the case on your text.

Thanks.

[Guy Belmont]

Cracking post. well put indeed, as this think is always helpful to understand the more hidden parts of CV. shame IGA never made a third game staring  Soma.
Can I ask, was it always Omnia Vanitas, or was it called Shikisokuzeku in Japan

And on a side note just got The Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Castlevania.  And Gutted to see that
 Umbra of Sorrow Or Last light   was not present  anywhere, as they talked about other fan projects.
 
As for a time I really thought that it was a sounding board for a Real CV game, as the work put in to it really, really blows one away, and I really think it deserves to be put in something like a Book about Castlevania, as I just saw your new art work. I mean F**** it looks like there  from an  official  game... will there be a fan game of this, as would play/ pay for that over.
blood-stained.
As far as i'm concerned UoS  IS apart of the cannon timeline.

But on topic, This was outstanding helpful and interesting, and well made.

[Foffy]

Cracking post. well put indeed, as this think is always helpful to understand the more hidden parts of CV. shame IGA never made a third game staring  Soma.
Can I ask, was it always Omnia Vanitas, or was it called Shikisokuzeku in Japan

And on a side note just got The Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Castlevania.  And Gutted to see that
 Umbra of Sorrow Or Last light   was not present  anywhere, as they talked about other fan projects.
 
As for a time I really thought that it was a sounding board for a Real CV game, as the work put in to it really, really blows one away, and I really think it deserves to be put in something like a Book about Castlevania, as I just saw your new art work. I mean F**** it looks like there  from an  official  game... will there be a fan game of this, as would play/ pay for that over.
blood-stained.
As far as i'm concerned UoS  IS apart of the cannon timeline.

But on topic, This was outstanding helpful and interesting, and well made.

Sorry to pivot from the main topic at hand, but I have two remarks to offer here.

- What is Last Light? o:
- Umbra is likely not mentioned by HG101 because the book came out years ago. Umbra started work as a fangame with a game engine last year, IIRC.

[theplottwist]

Sorry to pivot from the main topic at hand, but I have two remarks to offer here.

- What is Last Light? o:
- Umbra is likely not mentioned by HG101 because the book came out years ago. Umbra started work as a fangame with a game engine last year, IIRC.

"Last Light" is the name of a track on Umbra of Sorrow that is available on Youtube. He probably mistook it for the project's name.

Can I ask, was it always Omnia Vanitas, or was it called Shikisokuzeku in Japan

It was indeed always called "Shikisokuzeku." The translation equivalent of this idea is the Bible's "Omnia Vanitas"

As far as i'm concerned UoS  IS apart of the cannon timeline.

Thank you for the consideration of the project. It's nice to see that there's a lot of people betting on us to make this story happen.

But I have to say that, as much as we're trying, this project is can't be considered canon. We will try our best to make this as closest as everyone is expecting the Demon Castle War to be (and, if I may be so bold, I'd say we're suceeding), but ultimatelly it's only a fan project and can't be considered canon.

[Shiroi Koumori]

But I have to say that, as much as we're trying, this project is can't be considered canon. We will try our best to make this as closest as everyone is expecting the Demon Castle War to be (and, if I may be so bold, I'd say we're suceeding), but ultimatelly it's only a fan project and can't be considered canon.

Yeah. Once it is considered canon, the suits at Konami would come knocking.

[Dracula9]

I prefer to think of it as the ultimate headcanon.

We're working to ensure everything technically-situated within the canon is adhered to and what new material we come up with fits as snugly in there as possible, but more importantly we're working to retain and expand on the feel that made us all fall in love with the series.

This to us is much like what the final boss of Dark Souls 3 was to the Souls community--a love letter of grand proportions.

[Guy Belmont]

"Last Light" is the name of a track on Umbra of Sorrow that is available on Youtube. He probably mistook it for the project's name.

It was indeed always called "Shikisokuzeku." The translation equivalent of this idea is the Bible's "Omnia Vanitas"

Thank you for the consideration of the project. It's nice to see that there's a lot of people betting on us to make this story happen.

But I have to say that, as much as we're trying, this project is can't be considered canon. We will try our best to make this as closest as everyone is expecting the Demon Castle War to be (and, if I may be so bold, I'd say we're suceeding), but ultimatelly it's only a fan project and can't be considered canon.

Yeah silly me I thought  that the album name to the UoS OST, and silly me again I saw that the book was done in 2014 so, yeah. But yes must say that UoS is really amazing looking.