I think the dismay of people regarding the sequel with the son of John Morris deals with the large chunk of plot not explained. Richter was the last recognized holder of the whip so someone or something happened after him and leaves a big blank spot as to what happened.Also, konami has not given an indication as to ever explaining this. Generally, they have been great as far as keeping an over arching story and giving the characters personality the sudden drop is just weird. Hopefully, they will go back and explain it. Given Richer under the control of magic when he fought Alucard and the whip remembers him as the last user it wasn't him. Either the whip was stolen after Richter's death or it was passed to someone who did something horrible with the whip.