Topic: Mystery Meat

[TheouAegis]

I was reading through some of the old posts in the forum and saw this quote from IGA about the Meat dropped in Castlevania games:

"You should ask, why do they eat it! I've thought about this stuff. I've actually thought about the candles. The candles are people's souls that were taken by Death or by the vampires. In Japan there are candles that represent life. So, when you release the souls from the candles by whipping them, they give you a "thank you" present. Thank-you hearts, or thank-you holy water. The meat, I have no idea. "

It made me wonder, which is worse: eating a meat found in a centuries-old haunted castle or drinking some unknown potion (if you've ever played Angband or Rogue -- although I'm not sure if that feature was actually in Rogue -- it will make a lot more sense to you).

I mean in Angband, there were tons of different potions, but when you found one for the first time you had no idea what it actually was. You either had to use a Scroll Of Identify (or cast the Identify spell) on it or experiment by drinking it. Some potions would lower your stats or poison you, so it was always a risky venture.

Then there's the Meat. IGA's comment at the end made me laugh. But let's just think about this for a sec. First off, the Meat is understandable from a design standpoint. Food has frequently been used, especially in the good ol' days, to restore health. Heck, Kid Icarus: Uprising uses a whole smorgasbord to keep Pit's health bar full. So when game designers thought "healing", they thought of food. The difference between Castlevania and Kid Icarus: Uprising, though, is KIU's foods are blessings from Palutena, whereas Castlevania's Meat is found in crumbling walls. So there are some obvious problems with this and some you guys may have not actually considered.

First, the most obvious problem: The castle is old old old OLD. So any food found in the castle is probably also old. Serious food poisoning, right?

But wait, the castle might be old but it's not unoccupied. Who's to say Dracula doesn't like a good steak or two? Later games show he even has a kitchen. OoE even shows he has a cooking staff! So maybe the Belmonts are just finding hidden cellars or pantries. ... Ok, so it's not certain what kind of meat the cooking staff is serving up. And by the looks of some of the staff, it doesn't seem too pleasant. Cannibalism, anyone?

If the meat is indeed fresh and if you don't want to go along with the cannibalistic hero story, the only living things in the castle are demons or alchemic chimaeras. Mmm, Buffalo-style Griffon Wings!

Here's where my mind took a turn down the wrong path... So yeah, it's an old castle. It's haunted. In nearly every iteration it has catacombs or a mausoleum. In many catacombs, corpses are placed in a hollow that is then covered/sealed with brick and mortar to keep the corpse out of sight (and maybe provide some privacy). Our valiant hero walks through the castle and sees what looks to be a cracked, crumbling wall, so he smacks it with his magical whip. Sure enough, the wall starts to crumble away. Smack smack smack. It's been an arduous trek through the castle and our noble hero sure is famished. What does he find? A meaty thigh bone!

So now I pose this question to you all: Did Dracula really curse Simon or was that just a lie Simon fabricated so he wouldn't have to tell people about the meaty thigh bone he found in Dracula's catacombs?

[Flame]

Dracula: WHO THE FUCK KEEPS HIDING MY POT ROASTS IN THE CASTLE WALLS!? THAT SHIT AINT FUNNY!

good question, the fuck does that meat come from, and why the hell do they eat it.

[whitedragon_nall]

I like your theory on Simon. Poor guy just had bad food poisoning.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Okay. New best thread ever.

Yeah. I can't imagine bits of stone and mortar in one's digestive system is exactly healthy.

[VladCT]

Remember that trap wall with infinite flea men in block 1 of Chronicles? The actual meat wall was directly opposite of it. What if flea men actually live inside the castle walls' hollows, and the meat were actually their lunch?
(And which CV character would fit the Conspiracy X meme the most?)

[whitedragon_nall]

Another thought. Doesn't The Mummy in Rob/DXC drop a pot roast when you defeat him? Why is there a mummy carrying meat around the castle? Did somebody hide the meat in it''s bandages or was The Mummy hoarding it? Why would Richter be so eager to feast on meat he found wrapped up inside a preserved human corpse?

Can't recall off the top of my head if any other creatures drop meat when killed...

[crisis]

What's also odd is the fact that Alucard was eating frankfurters, caviar & many other modern foods in 1797.

But with meat in the walls, the castle is alive, thus produces it's own meat! Perhaps wild animals somehow wander into the castle, they get swallowed up by the castle's magic, andthjsweh;r,43w

[Neobelmont]

But with meat in the walls, the castle is alive, thus produces it's own meat! Perhaps wild animals somehow wander into the castle, they get swallowed up by the castle's magic, andthjsweh;r,43w

Maybe it is not meat at all with the castle being alive and all  After all it's a mystery right.

[GuyStarwind]

Alright, here is my guess. Someone mentioned Fleamen living in the walls of the castle and they're correct. However, it's not wall/mystery meat that Belmont finds but the dead corpse of a Fleamen. However, due to be so hungry and not packing a lunch Belmont's mind plays tricks on him and makes him believe it's a tasty feast. Now one might ask themselves "wouldn't that be hazardous to their health?" No and here is why. Belmont is a holy guy and therefore has Divine Health. Divine Health you ask? Well, here's a link to what I mean http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Paladin#Divine_Health and with Divine Health he isn't effected by the rotting corpse of a Fleamen.

[Chernabogue]

Video games. That's why.

[X]

I think IGA doesn't know much (if not anything) about "Game Mechanics". He's trying to answer questions that have no real relevance to CV's story. The food in the walls, power-ups, candles containing hearts and weapons... all game mechanics which helps to individualize the games they are in. It doesn't need anymore of an explanation then that.

[thernz]

that was from an interview where someone asked them about that though. i mean, he never put the explanation into the games either.

[Nagumo]

The meat belongs to Wallman's secret food stash.

Obviously!

[shelverton.]

It's like this:

Simon sent a couple of very discreet scouts into the castle to draw a quick map for him, build a few platforms AND hide food in different locations, för example: Meat. They did this when all the monsters were sleeping. In their beds. And... and...

No.

I'm going with the fleamen-hiding-food-in-walls theory.