Topic: Oh Death, where's thy sting...

[Teh_C]

Alright, so I'm a HUGE CV fan and I've played all of the games religiously for 20 years, but here's the deal: what's up with Death? Every time I play one of these games and I come up against the Reaper, I can't help but wonder why he don't just, ya know, kill me. He's usually a really fun and challenging fight, and don't get me wrong, I love the idea of fighting with Death incarnate, but I'd like to see some good explanations from diehard fans as to why he can't simply kill a Belmont like he does everyone else. So let's have it. (I have my ideas too, but I want to see if anybody else is thinking along my lines).

[fallenangel86]

no one really knows for sure if he is THE death, or just a monster/demon with the appearance and name.

when he took walters soul, he was already beaten down by leon and the vampire killer. that was the only quick death i can recall from him.

besides, no one would play the games if he could make a 1 shot kill every time.

[Evil_Tim]

Because he isn't Death, he's actually the spirit of gravity, arch-enemy of the Belmonts since time began. That's why he tends to throw stuff from above you, and that's why Richter in Rondo of Blood couldn't double-jump after meeting him at the start of the game, but Maria could because she hadn't. Same with Leon [met him late] and Carrie jumping higher than Reinhardt in 64. It all makes sense.

[Teh_C]

I don't know about the spirit of gravity argument. I see the line of reasoning, but it seems like a spirit of gravity wouldn't have much difficulty with a mortal, even a Belmont. He could just make his enemy float or crush him to the ground and cut him into a million tiny pieces.

I recognize that there's a little ridiculousness in disagreeing with any argument. They has to make the fight interesting, and to have an enemy that just swoops in and  kills without a chance for defense wouldn't be much fun. Just for kicks I want to create a reason why the entity -- assuming it is, in fact, Death -- would be inclined to take his reaper form and actually fight.

[Evil_Tim]

Well, if you're not making silly arguments, you could, I suppose, argue that in the same way as Walter, Death finds his eternal life extremely dull, and so enjoys fighting the Belmonts on their own level. It's also plausible that Death has to follow the rules; everyone has to die of something, so he has to physically kill his opponent somehow before he can take their life away.

[CVfan13]

Because if he could kill you that quickly the game wouldn't be fair, case closed. Don't look for any logic or realism in Castlevania, you won't find.

[Teh_C]

I'm certainly not looking for realism, and I'm only looking for decent logic that would fit in the relatively illogical world of CV. Everybody knows the elements don't fit together very well, and there's very little continuity between games. And, after all, it's just a game.

Just a little imagination is all I'm asking for, something to give Death a bit more dimension in my mind than Dracs lackey.

[The Last Belmont]

because the belmonts are too powerful. They are actually on the level with the angel of death and his angelic powers don't work (like when he killed Walter, weak piece of trash) so he  has to physically kill them to win. (with the help of his little psythes of course).

[Long John Silver]

i always thought the death in cv is only an avatar of some sort, not the actual "death".

or maybe they modeled him after one of those japanese death gods, dunno since i don't know anything about those

[Teh_C]

because the belmonts are too powerful. They are actually on the level with the angel of death and his angelic powers don't work (like when he killed Walter, weak piece of trash) so he has to physically kill them to win. (with the help of his little psythes of course).

See, that's more like it. That's somewhat along the lines of what I was thinking. The way I have it figured, Drac has the crimson and ebony stones, and that gives him the power to order Death around. However, since the Belmonts of some powerful holy lineage, not to mention they have the Vampire Killer whip, Death has a bit of difficulty actually touching them. The only thing I have trouble with is his taking on a physical form. Maybe he has to take on a physical form when he's doing Drac's bidding? Maybe something to do with killing someone when it's not truly their time to die?

I think this argument works well for Alucard, too. Since he's half-vampire, he's immortal, and therefore Death must take physical form to face him.

Feel free to shoot this full of holes. It's just a fun topic to think about

[Long John Silver]

The way I have it figured, Drac has the crimson and ebony stones, and that gives him the power to order Death around.

ebony stone was destroyed by leon as soon as the battle with walter started. drac only had the crimson stone. that's why after beating walter daylight started returning and mathias escaped, afraid of the sun. if he had the ebony stone he wouldn't have to flee because of the daylight.

[Evil_Tim]

 It's probably much like Death in the Discworld novels: it isn't his power to kill people since other things do that, he just deals with the transition from life to afterlife immediately afterwards [Discworld Death uses his scythe to cut the thread joining soul to body]. That would mean he'd have to physically kill someone before his job actually came into play, hence fighting you in physical form.

[darkwzrd4]

First of all, I don't know where the one touch kill comes from, but I think that there is no such thing.  Besides, I think that there is more than on "angel of death" and the one in the cv series (Death) is a fallen angel of death that is bound to the crimson stone.  Therefore, he has to listen to drac and no one touch kill.

I'm probably wrong though.

[Gimph]

Maybe Death needs to take physical form in order to touch physical beings. Kind of like in cheesy horror films where ghosts go through people because they're not solid. So, in order to come into contact with a solid object, he himself must become solid. However, he is defeated because the power of the Belmonts and the Vampire Killer is greater than the power of any physical being.

Just a guess. I'm just making this up as I go along.

[castlevania legacy]

I gues the only explanation would be that hes death in a mortal form. all he can do in his spirit form is take your soul when your times up but maybe dracula resirects death into his mortal form that way he can do draculas bidding and death only has true power in his mortal form thats my only explanation of it.