Recently, I've had people deny the information I put on the table because "they came from Judgment, and Judgment is not canon" both on social media, and here on the forums. Although the most recent was explained better to me as the person felt they had expressed themselves wrong, this happened enough times to warrant this thread. I'll rant about this later and, before that, I want to present a case about what is the canon run inside Judgment's own, canon-contradictory logic if you want to believe it to be canon, like I do. I believe most of you think like this and I'll be stating the obvious to you, but here I go anyway:
Judgment presents us with the following information (both textually and visually):
- One needs ALL Soul Keys to be able to enter the Time Reaper's domain.
- Only one person is allowed to enter.
- Aeon has a Soul Key-collecting device.
- Aeon's run is the last.
- Aeon's device is shown to be collecting every key at the end of each character's run, even though THEY defeated him, not the opposite.
- Aeon is the first foe of everyone's run.
- Aeon has no Soul Key.
- No other character fights all other characters for their keys.
Thus, my hypothesis is that the only true run on Judgment is Aeon's, the hardest to unlock, and the only to align with the info given above:
- He is the only one to fight ALL characters and, subsequently, obtain all the keys.
- He's the one with the Soul Key-collecting device.
- His run is the hardest to unlock -- as "true endings" generally are.
- He's meets every single character as their first foe.
On the scenario I propose, Aeon defeats every character before they can meet anyone else. Their Soul Key taken, they are sent back to their respective times as Aeon beats the crap out of them all one by one, finally destroying the Time Reaper at the end, and erasing the Time Rift.
With everyone beaten, none of them can meet each other, and their memory of Aeon is absolutelly useless for anything in their stories -- for all they know, a guy in white appeared out of nowhere, beat the crap out of them, and disappeared. Hell, for all WE know, Aeon could just as well have sent them back to a time BEFORE their meeting, with no memory whatsoever of him.
So, if it's canon or not, it's utterly irrelevant. But, if you wish to think it is to explain something in the series (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=8509.msg188491.html#msg188491), you can.
There. Now, for my rant about the canonicity of Judgment, which I'll keep on spoiler tags and spare those too bored of me:
This is more of a rant than anything else, so here it goes:
You can consider Judgment non-canon all you like. But the fact of the matter is that the information given by the characters inside Judgment about events OUTSIDE Judgment cannot be considered "non-canon." Considering Judgment non-canon does NOT automatically invalidate events outside of it.
Take, for instance, Dracula assertion in Judgment about his powers previous to his coming to the Time Rift. When confronted by Alucard, Dracula says:
"Yes, you were with that wretched Belmont, and I had not reached my full power."
He's referring to Castlevania III, and to Alucard's allegiance with Trevor. He's saying here that he was not at his full power at the time.
If you come here and say "Oh but Judgment is not canon, therefore this info also isn't!" I'll be forced to point out the OVERWHELMING info present in Judgment that is canon very much, thank you. You can't pick and choose about those. But you are allowed to say Judgment, in itself, is not canon in a way. IGA himself has stated the story happens in a time "beyond time" where "anything is possible." If it's possible for it to be canon, it's also possible for it to not be.
However, Judgment not being canon does NOT erase the fact that IGA inserted characters with a canon background in it, which he had full control over during his stay as head of the series. Therefore yes, this means Dracula wasn't at full power in Castlevania III, that Maria helped Richter defeat Dracula, that Alucard never met Eric Lecarde, and yes, even that Trevor is unable to beat Sypha on his own household.
So, I know Judgment is not a good game, people. I know the characterizations are pitiful and revolting. But please, stop denying info from Judgment just because you don't like it. In your headcanons you're allowed anything, but don't force it on others. I dislike Simon's Quest and Harmony of Dissonance as games, and I don't go about saying that Simon being cursed or meeting the ghost in the graveyard is not canon, or that there never was a Juste Belmont and his psycho friend Maxim.