I never got this one bit. Dracula doesn't need a vessel in order to resurrect. He's come many times without the need of possessing another body. Even if his remains aren't present he'll come back.
Even though at the start of Rondo - which is a centennial resurrection - there's a cut scene of a young woman (presumably a virgin) being sacrificed by a bunch of evil men to resurrect Dracula.
In COD a vessel was required, in other cases it's a blood sacrifice, in the 64 games (although not canon to the main timeline but still canon to the multiverse) Dracula absorbing Cornell's Lycan powers allowed him to resurrect through Malus, implied to be Cornell's child, in HoD it was through Maxim's subconscious mind, the list goes on. It's safe to say that there's no singular method in resurrrection, some dark shit has to happen.
Now for plot's analysis, it got me thinking...
Seraphim are mention in Isaiah 6:2 :
"Above Him [God] stood the Seraphim.
Each had six wings:
with two he covered his face,
and with two he covered his feet,
and with two he flew"
The whole "above God" inference could no doubt be due to Dracula's disdain and cursing God (for eternity as Mathias states in LOI)
Something struck me in the phrase "each had six wings"
There are 6 wings on this crest, which doesn't mean it can't represent two entities, but to me this means this is 1 single
two-headed seraphim. The fact it's eating its own tails creating 3 infinity (figure 8 ) symbols is probably indicative of the nature of Dracula, constantly devouring his own soul upon his departure from this dimension via the Crimson Stone (which in my opinion was actually a part of his pact with Satan, part of the reason he made the pact knowing he could keep on resurrecting if anyone rose to defeat him).
Therefore this dual headed creature is eating its own tail(s) and it is a creature of duality at its essence.
In my opinion, this could represent Dracula himself and his perpetual resurrection, yet it characterizes/ portrays both Hector and Isaac through its nature; Isaac being the darker side with the demonic wings, Hector being the lighter side with the angelic wings.
To reaffirm this assumption I turn to COD, Hector was able to maintain his humanity (although it is clear he's no regular human) by not killing Isaac under the influence of Dracula's curse. Hector was in fact strong enough to defeat a NCR Dracula with Isaac as the vessel.
Additional information on Seraphim:
- These types of heavenly beings have six wings, only using 2 to fly.
- They use 2 to cover their face, being so close to God, they would witness His full glory which would be too powerful to behold. - - - 2 are used to cover feet, as feet are considered 'unclean' and so not worthy to be shown to God.
- Their position is flying above God's throne, where as Cherubim residebeside/around it.
- The Seraph in this crest is covering neither its eyes, nor it's feet which it's potentially devouring. In this sense it's anti-God.
The two stars:
Sirius, coincidentally or not is known in ancient Egypt as Sopdet or Sothis in Green, is recorded in the earliest astronomical records. During the era of the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, namely the day it becomes visible just before sunrise after moving far enough away from the glare of the Sun. This occurred just before the annual flooding of the Nile and the summer solstice. The hieroglyph for Sothis features a star and a triangle. Sothis was identified with the great goddess Isis, who formed a part of a triad with her husband Osiris and their son Horus. It's my opinion that Hector is the brighter closer star to the moon crescent, Isaac is the smaller star which is further away. On the crest, the Angelic side's light rays/ spokes are covering/ enveloping slightly more of the moon crescent as well. It is my opinion (and I know I share this in part with theplottwist that Hector was originally to be the vessel for Dracula's resurrection (NCR) in COD, however, events of the games changed (imo due to St Germain aka Eneomaos) and thus so did Hector's destiny, with him resisting and Isaac becoming the vessel. (Sirius B plan... Bad pun and more on this below)
The moon crescent itself one only has to turn to the Egyptian flag for example. However, aesthetic design aside the closest astrological occurrence I can recall is the relationship between both Sirius A (the larger star Hector) and Sirius B (the smaller star = Isaac)The Moon/ Crescent is notorious for representing fertility, in this case fertility in the form of rebirth via Dracula's perpetual resurrections. The moon crescent plus stars is also literally symbolic of the "fertile crescent", no coincidence there. Therefore, the crescent itself in context symbolises Dracula or his resurrection, both which are perpetual as well as his position in regards to the two DFM's.
A side note to the moon/fertile crescent from Wiikipedia:
Before Islam, the crescent was the symbol of Sassanids, In the 12th century the crescent and star were adopted by the Turks and since then the crescent has been a frequent symbol used by powerful Muslim empires such as the Ottomans and the Mughals. It is a historical symbol of the Turks, associated especially with the Ottoman Empire, but pre-Islamic Turkic nations such as the Göktürks used the crescent and star figure on their coins. I guess Mathias/ Vlad would have had access to this type of symbology given Dracula's context and place in history.
Other Symbology/ Numerology:
-6 wings
-12 rays/ spokes coming out from the centre moon crescent (6 light; 6 dark)
The above could be read as 6-6-6
6+6+6 = 18; 1+8 = 9 (the number of completion)
6 x 6 x 6 = 216; 2+1+6 = 9 (as above) / 2 x 1 x 6 = 12 (self explanatory)
Three infinity symbols from the dual headed Seraphim = 8-8-8
8 x 3 = 24; 2+4 = 6 / 2 x 4 = 8
8 x 8 x 8 = 512; 5 +1+2 = 8
8 symbolises infinity and is the number of God, number of prosperity in Chinese culture.
9 is the number of completion
12 spokes/ rays speaks for itself.
2 stars speak for themselves.
I never got this one bit. Dracula doesn't need a vessel in order to resurrect. He's come many times without the need of possessing another body. Even if his remains aren't present he'll come back.
I have an hypothesis about this. I'll present it here, but please do not take it seriously. Assume this as merely a brainstorm:
In CoD Dracula is not revived by his remains, but through Isaac. What strikes me odder than Dracula needing a vessel, is Death not knowing that his remains can bring him back just as fine.
I've seen arguments about Dracula's remains needing time to power up, but they don't add up when you consider the time between Castlevania I ~ Simon's Quest. The remains had the potential to revive Dracula just fine in Simon's Quest.
I've though, then, the following: What if Dracula's remains are not his remains at all, but Isaac's remains?
Suppose after CVIII, Dracula was completelly and utterly destroyed, nothing remained but the curse he put in the land. Then, this curse corrupted Isaac, turning his body into a suitable vessel to become Dracula's incarnation. This curse is also deeply linked with the misery it brings to men's hearts.
Had Dracula's body been completelly destroyed, Death would have no remains to look for. Thus the need to use one of the Forgemasters' bodies.
And THEN Isaac died. Where? Inside Dracula's Castle. We clearly see his body being buried by the castle's rubble.
Fast foward to Drac's next resurrection - The Adventure. The Bartleys check the ruins, and what would they find? Bodily remains pulsing with darkness. Of course they'd suppose they belonged to Dracula, as those were the ruins of his castle and those remains pulsed with his power. However, in fact, they'd be Isaac's remains, preserved by the curse that took root in him and linked it with the misery in men's hearts.
This would explain why Death is unaware of the remains in CoD - there are NO remains to be found. By turning Isaac into the vessel, his body (and remains) become Dracula's perpetual way to return to the world, therefore no vessel is ever needed again as it has already been provided ages ago.
which is how Dracula was created
Hector speaks about "the humans" in COD's ending which infers he is not one of them. At the very least he and Isaac possess superhuman strength and the tone of their flesh is more grey in complexion than a regular human.