Topic: Women in the Lords of Shadow universe

[Pfil]

By request, I'm making this thread about how MercurySteam displayed female characters and their roles and importance in their games.
I already spoke my mind on another thread, but feel free to continue it here if you want.

[Chernabogue]

Spoiler: They all die.

[flyingchai]

Spoiler-heavy explanation.

(click to show/hide)

MS portrays the women with the strength to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, and provide the drive necessary for the men their deaths affected to complete their quests.
Marie, Claudia, and Laura all sacrificed themselves for Gabriel and Sypha for Simon.

- Marie knew her fate, and knew that what was going to happen would result in Gabriel being driven to complete the quest to save the world from Satan and ultimately absorb the power of the Lords of Shadow. I have a feeling that there's more to her story in LOS2.

-Claudia's sacrifice provoked the Black Knight into attacking Gabriel and ultimately giving up the gauntlet, a tool that Gabriel used quite a bit during his fight with The Forgotten One.

- Laura's sacrifice transferred all her power to Gabriel in order for him to confront the Forgotten One and obtain his power. He would have never survived in the environment otherwise.

- Sypha sacrificed herself in order to save Simon, and even in death still protected him.

The sacrifice of all these women had a purpose; they all accepted their fate. These sacrifice in and of themselves all showed great strength.

[crisis]

what about Baba Yaga

[jestercolony]

Marie - Through the concept of belief, what people do not understand, is that Marie did see Gabriel's fate through the mirror, but she did not see her death. Bastarnized and orphaned her son, Trevor to the Brotherhood of "Light". You also must realize, is that she did not 'sacrifice' herself, she was murdered in cold blood through the influence of the Devil's Mask in which was put on Gabriel by Zobek. You must also take into consideration, that in the end: SHE is the reason for Gabriel's downfall, she LIED to him. But no matter how much hate grew in  his heart, Gabriel loves her dearly. As the quotation at the end of the game "I know what it is you yearn for.", Zobek is speaking about his wife, that is ALL Dracula wants back, he could give a (pardon my french) fuck less about humanity, god, or Satan.  She too forgives Gabriel.

Claudia - Yes, she saw her fate through her psychic powers and that the gauntlet was a key. But again, you must realize that, the very gauntlet itself, again as I have stated over a million times, is the POWER OF DOMINANCE. If you pay strict attention to when Gabriel actually uses it, he absorbs the power of: Carmilia, The Necromancer, TFO. Death had the ability to control Gabriel at the very end through the sheer power of "Dominance".  But in the end she, Claudia forgave him, in silence.

Laura - You must take into consideration, that it isn't just her blood, it is in fact the blood of the Dark Lady (The Queen; Carmillia) that Gabriel took in. Purely drinking the "blood" of the innocent. A child like spirit, and or vampire is far more powerful, due to its purity. This is why Gabriel/Dracula turned so quickly and became THE king of Vampires and later The Prince of Darkness.

Take in consideration that: Dracula has 3 wives (Stoker lore) which is why 3 women had been very important.

Sypha - Yeah, she sacrificed herself in order to save Simon's life; but she returns as a Spirit due to being a Belnades. She aids Simon on his quest and what I feel (which really isn't stated) comforts him.

There are also two other women you are forgetting that had been murdered in cold blood -


Malphas (by Gabriel)
 
Baba-Yoga (who cannot die; Zobek, which he thinks). Baba is also very important in actual lore to a "Mirror of Fate".  She is the only one who -CAN- defeat Death.

Two very important witches. Both cursed by Love, both betraying one another, both of which are in fact (in actual real life lore/mythology) are Skinwalkers (Navajo legend)


But, to get off subject -  if anyone had paid strict attention to the MoF storyline - The BELMONT clan is NO longer apart of the order (I.e Simon and so on). They sole purpose is to destroy Dracula at any cost due to one thing: vengeance.

[crisis]

I'm pretty sure Baba Yaga was just used as a plot device for that particular moment in the original game (music box segment), she had 1 scene, and is killed off-camera (if her character was crucial to the storyline then shouldn't they have at least shown Zobek sneaking up behind & stabbing her or something? Or having her mentioned anywhere in MoF? We KNOW Zobek is important, because despite him not appearing at all in MoF, he is at least mentioned. The player knows that Zobek is somewhere behind the scenes. But there's nothing concerning Baba Yaga). So I'm not exactly sure where you're getting the idea of her being immortal & the only one that can "defeat death," from.

[jestercolony]

Baba is seen at the end of CVLOS* stalking Zobek. And as for the defeating death portion, I am getting it from actual real life mythology. Baba-Yaga was said to be a real witch; and she is also the very same witch in nursery tales.

[Gecko]

Baba is seen at the end of CVLOS* stalking Zobek. And as for the defeating death portion, I am getting it from actual real life mythology. Baba-Yaga was said to be a real witch; and she is also the very same witch in nursery tales.

Oh damn, I forgot about that.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow Ending Dracula 1080P (True Ending)

Right when Zobek says "Soon old friend, soon it will all be over", Baba Yaga is standing right behind him, disguised as a bystander.

I really look forward to seeing how all these loose ends are tied together in LoS2. I really hope they handle it well.

[Chernabogue]

I don't think it is Baba Yaga, but just a random old lady.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah you can see this 'cloaked old woman' at 6:35.  I didn't think that was Baba Yaga, though.  I just thought it was some random old woman.

[jestercolony]

Yes, again - please take what I say as pure speculation and observation (also with a grain of salt) with the storyline. We will not know for sure until LoS2.

[crisis]

Haha yeah, if that old beggar woman had a staff or a large nose like Baba Yaga, then I can see where you might think that. But.. they're both short, and that's about it. If she was awkwardly stalking him inside the church, then there might be more credence to that theory.

Speculation is awesome [and funny] though, just like how some people thought the old man taking baby Trevor away was actually Rinaldo in MoF. Or how Gabriel's reflection is Dracula when he confronts Pan for the first time. People see what they want, I guess.

[TheFly22284]

This is a topic about which I have pretty mixed feelings. On the one hand, I really enjoy the LoS universe and think that the gender dynamics are reasonably appropriate for the pseudo-historical moment they're trying to capture. However, most of my scholarship deals with systems of privilege and oppression, and I have spent a lot of time writing and thinking about the role of conventional narratives of female subordination, domesticity and self-sacrifice in normalizing and perpetuating male privilege. The very qualities flyingchai is celebrating are admirable, in a way, but at the same time they also reflect a cultural inability (or unwillingness) to transcend our inherited history.

I don't think it's an overtly sexist act on MS's part, but I also don't think that sexism is about bad people as much as it is about people following paths of least resistance which reinforce received conceptions of hierarchy. In other words, it's just easier to give those roles to women, and they are ones which audiences will not, for the most part, question.

[crisis]

Cox confirmed via Twitter the whole "baba yaga" situation

@CastlevaniaLOS Is Baba Yaga still alive after the events of the first LoS?
@niqhtwing Nope


and there you have it. Another theory squashed. Next!

[darkwzrd4]

Cox confirmed via Twitter the whole "baba yaga" situation

@CastlevaniaLOS Is Baba Yaga still alive after the events of the first LoS?
@niqhtwing Nope


and there you have it. Another theory squashed. Next!

Still, he could be lying. He's trolled us before after all.