Exactly, it was removed. My point stands.
The guide states it's Dracula's weapon, it never makes mention of Simon using it and it's not the sole purpose for his resurrection. I believe you're taking poetic licence with this one artifact which was intentionally deleted from a game.
Dude, it was removed as an item from the game. Doesn't mean the story could not have been worked around its removal, becoming the means through which Dracula returned to life.
Also, it does say that Dracula returned from his fang AND that it is the reason why it is his only weapon. Both informations are on the guide. None of this is my "poetic license."
Now, before you ask for page number, panel, exact text, color of the page and possible typos, I'll post here the pages from where possibly this text comes from. I summon thee, japanese speakers, to tell me if this mention of the fang really exists. Because until now I'm basing himself on what the Wiki's text done by a japanese told me:
http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv2/packing/drac2guide16-17.jpg (http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv2/packing/drac2guide16-17.jpg)
http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv2/packing/drac2guide60-61.jpg (http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv2/packing/drac2guide60-61.jpg)
So what is Maxim trying to accomplish then?
Maxim Long ago, you told me of Dracula's remains. Do you rememer that?
Juste Yes, I remember. The story of how my grandfather, Simon, gathered
Dracula's remains and destroyed them to undo his curse.
Maxim I thought my wishes would be granted if I too could gather and
destroy them.
Maxim is not even trying to revive Dracula. Like I said before, he gathered them under a "higher influence" but always had in mind their destruction.
So why were the body parts spread all over the non-existent Castle, for what purpose if not to resurrect Dracula?
Juste That means the remains found in this castle are genuine...
Maxim They are identical to the ones I found. But, I have little memory of
what happened after that. I only remember Lydie being brought here.
If you don't have any Relics:
Juste What?! You found them?
Maxim According to legend, it's still too early for Dracula's
ressurection. It is not like anyone is cursed right now either. At
first, I was doubtful that I could find the remains... but I
uncovered six parts, as if guided by a higher being...
Juste That's impossible...
Maxim I have little memory of what occured after that, but the remains
have vanished. I do remember clearly though that Lydie was
kidnapped....
If Maxim himself has no idea why they were hidden, I can't answer. HOWEVER it seems obvious they were hidden by his evil self. Why did the evil entity not manifest right then and there is anyone's guess.
Plus, if the purpose was to revive Dracula, why would he hide the remains all over?
He was not influenced, but he was also not impervious to Dracula's power/ magic, so the point (aside from corruption/ influence) doesn't.
Of course, but I never once said they are impervious to Dracula's magic, only influence:
Another point is that Maxim is not a Belmont. And we learn in Ecclesia that Belmonts are naturally impervious to Dracula's influence, be it from himself or some manifestation of his power, such as his remains. So, even though Simon was not influenced, Maxim could very well have had his feeling amplified by the remains' power.
I never said "his power" or "his magic" specifically because Dracula's magic can OBVIOUSLY hurt the Belmonts.
I guess it can manifest as other things, however Dracula, Dracula Wraith etc still returns. If this is as you were stating occuring via Maxim and it wan't Dracula per se, why did the Dracula wraith (Maxim) have no memory of the Belmonts? Yet as you've stated the Castle manifested from Maxim's mind still has Simon Wraiths? The two ideas conflict imo.
I'm not denying anything rather asking (as I did above) if Dracula's Wraith is not Dracula, and it has come about via Maxim (as you state the castle has - which contains memories of Simon Belmont) why does it not remember the Belmonts?
Well, Maxim is not able to "remember" how Dracula felt upon being hit by a Belmont, is he? D. Wraith says "So this is the power of a Belmont?"
The point here is that he doesn't know what "the power of a Belmont" feels like. Also, Dracula Wraith is not made from Maxim's memories, but his feelings. I proposed that Simon Wraith up there is made from what Maxim remembers of Simon's telling, but this is just a wild hypothesis man. No need to take it seriously. I can't really answer "why there is a Simon Wraith" there.
We've seen the power of darkness copy Sypha, Grant and Trevor, too. This could be one such case. But this could not be, too, because we have no idea about the extension of the dark power used to achieve this.
Then why was Maxim 'co-erced' into gathering the remains? If the remains' agency had nothing to do with Dracula's agenda to be revived why did this happen, and why did the Castle manifest? SOTN shows us that even prior to Dracula's resurrection (when Richter was technically the first Castle's Lord) that a Castle can manifest. The two castles still comprised the real Castlevania. SOTN's castle had Trevor, Grant and Sypha Wraiths, HOD's has Simon Wraiths, imo it makes sense to be the real Castle - even if in incomplete form.
Too many info I don't agree with here. In parts:
1. If the remains' agency had nothing to do with Dracula's agenda to be revived why did this happen, and why did the Castle manifest?
That's the catch: The dark influence is meant to push people in doing evil, that's why I don't think it has an agency of itself. People are drawn to reviving Dracula due to having him in mind and being corrupted, since this is one of the evil thoughts that can take shape, but not the only thoughts.
I base this idea on Maxim himself: He was corrupted, but he did NOT seek Dracula's revival. Therefore he developed an evil split personality (which I defend to be an entity born out of his feelings) that probably even hid the remains. Why the heck would this identity do that if it could ensure its own revival as Dracula on his own body? The only logical answer I can see is that it is not Dracula at all, and it is not seeking his revival. It becoming Dracula Wraith was a last minute refuge to try to destroy Juste.
See, if the thing inside Maxim is Dracula, hiding the remains is EXTREMELLY counter-productive, don't you think? Plus, along the game we see that it bears a distinct hatred towards Juste, specifically. Looks a hell of a lot like Maxim's envy taking place.
2. SOTN shows us that even prior to Dracula's resurrection (when Richter was technically the first Castle's Lord) that a Castle can manifest. The two castles still comprised the real Castlevania
I don't agree with this either, even if it does sound logical. As Inccubus put it "the castle is not bound to a single form." Makes sense, but I do not agree specifically because of HoD. Both castles in SotN seem to be too disconnected from each other to actually be the same (for me of course).
If HoD can have a -fake- castle arise that needs to be "complete", as Death says, then it looks like the same thing is happening in SotN, in my opinion of course. So I cannot debate this honestly.
There is also the possibility that the things happening in each story are totally separate situations: Both castles in SotN are real, but in Harmony they're not.
Plus, in the dialogue, Maxim confirms that the spirit inside him is who summoned the castle, using Dracula's power it gained from the remains.
3. SOTN's castle had Trevor, Grant and Sypha Wraiths, HOD's has Simon Wraiths, imo it makes sense to be the real Castle - even if in incomplete form.
I don't agree with this because we don't know the full extension of the dark power used to accomplish these things - the creation of evil clones. I don't really pay a SERIOUS mind to Simon Wraith's presence on HoD because I don't know how could it exist. The series has established that supernatural phenomena of many sorts exist outside the castle, without its input in anything.
Therefore with an artifact which was purposely removed from a game and included as the final Bosses' attack in a guide, this changes nothing and doesn't alter the plot aside from explaining how the boss is attacking the player.
Refer to my first response. I very much want a direct translation of that (if you japanese masters are reading this), but I'm confident that the mention of Dracula reviving from the fang is there indeed.
EDIT: Here's yet another piece of dialogue confirming that it's not Dracula:
E.Maxim: I am... myself. Though, I'm not the same Maxim you know. I am the
desires that were once sealed away in this man. Since he obtained
the relics of Dracula, another spirit took form within him. I am
that other. I don't think he's even aware of me!
Just one thing though, are you saying CVII's Dracula was resurrected 'by the Fang' purely? Or are you saying the collective body parts 'plus' the fang?
See to me if the translators are right and the latter stands I wouldn't have so much of an issue, but if it was the former it would basically negate the entirety of collecting body parts in CVII.
I'm saying that returned only by the fang. Simon managed to destroy the rest, but the fang was intact.
I don't really think it would negate CVII because, by reviving through only one remain, Dracula returned stupidly weak. The guidebook mentioning specifically that this is the reason for him to only have one attack seems to me as a way to justify why he is so puny.
Also, I found out a translation directly from the japanese script that might be interesting:
M= Do you recall the story you once told me about the relics, the pieces of Dracula?
J= Yeah, I remember. My grandfather, Simon, gathered and destroyed the relics in order to end Dracula's curse.
M= I thought if I could gather and destroy those pieces of Dracula myself, my hopes would be fulfilled.
J= You're not saying the relics of Dracula still exist?
M= According to the legend, it's still too early for Dracula's revival. And, it's not like anyone is under Dracula's curse right now. At first, I also doubted the relics still existed... but following the legend, I somehow found the 6 pieces.
J= Ridiculous!
This dialogue implies that not only Simon told them that the remains were successfully destroyed, but neither of them (and probably not even Simon) believed they were still intact.
This fits with the CVII manual, that states that destroying the remains is the way to lift the curse, and not defeating Dracula again.
Lastly, Maxim also says that he "followed the legend" instead of being "guided by a higher power" like the english translation does. If this translation correct, then Dracula's influence is not even a thing here.
Here is the full translation:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/554981-castlevania-harmony-of-dissonance/faqs/17572 (http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/554981-castlevania-harmony-of-dissonance/faqs/17572)