JBoc924The Castlevania series has always been known for putting players in the role of a vampire hunter, the most notable protagonists belonging to the Belmont clan, going up against Dracula and his minions. There have been some exceptions, though, like actually being able to play as the son of Dracula himself, Alucard. But, in regards to this franchise, we’ve never gotten a chance to actually experience Dracula’s tragic tale. And that’s exactly what Castlevania: Lords of Shadow did, technically.
Mercury Steam’s first entry in the classic franchise introduced us to Gabriel Belmont and the tragedy surrounding him. His wife was murdered, by his own hands thanks to Zobek’s influence. This proved to be one of the key twists in the plot, though in reality it wasn’t really a twist due to a trailer for the game showing a shadowy figure resembling Gabriel decapitating Marie with an axe. The moment of this revelation still came across strongly and we can just see from that moment on the darkness building up inside of Gabriel. Then, after defeating Satan and getting one last meeting with his departed wife, Gabriel goes to an unexpected place after the credits roll in the game’s epilogue.
As if the trailers weren’t enough, there were a lot of elements in the game’s plot that painted Gabriel as a tragic figure who could potentially end up getting engulfed in darkness. And that’s exactly what ended up happening, judging by the game’s epilogue scene. In it we flash-forward to present day, most likely 1999, and we see a Shaft-looking character, who is later revealed as being Zobek, entering a desolate church. Right away we’re met with an image of what seems to be Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms, continuing to signify the game’s religious undertones.
We get another showing of the game’s religious themes when Zobek approaches an image of Jesus Christ on the cross right in front of the altar. He stops and stares at the image for a good while before proceeding on towards the “throne room.” It’s here, in Zobek’s ascension to Gabriel’s throne room, where we get a look at Slogra. The popular belief is that what we see of the classic ‘vania baddie is his carcass after someone, presumably a Belmont, put an end to him. This may be the case, but I beg to differ.
The Slogra we see here, in my opinion, may just be a statue, serving as a nice easter-egg for ‘vania fans akin to Zobek’s attire that makes him looks like Shaft, Dracula’s “other” servant in Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. We’ve seen the concept art and Slogra was designed in a way to make him look like an actual breathing character, but I’m sticking with my belief that this is just a statue of said boss character in the epilogue. He just looks too stiff and upright to be a carcass of a downed Slogra. I’m sure the Belmont who would do battle with him would make sure to leave nothing behind. Said Belmont in this case would have to be Julius, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
The exchange of words between Gabriel(Dracula) and Zobek(Death) is pretty interesting here. A long time seems to have passed since their last encounter and the way Zobek claims how he’s ‘out there among the living’ should be more than enough to make one believe that Zobek is, in fact, Death (something that’s still being debated). In his true form he’s known as the Lord of the Dead and I’m 100% confident that Zobek is Mercury Steam’s version of Death himself. But, with it having been years since they last met, what has Gabriel been up to for so long? Has he really been dormant? Well, no. Let me explain.
We all know the 100-year cycle and constant resurrections Dracula experiences throughout the series’ lore, so this particular encounter in the epilogue may be towards the end of Gabriel’s current 100-year “life cycle” hence Zobek stating how long it’s been. We still haven’t seen Gabriel in his prime as the Prince of Darkness, instead, what we’ve seen is a withered, “shadow” of his former self. “Former self,” in my opinion, isn’t referring to his time as Gabriel Belmont, instead, I belive it’s actually referring to his glory days as Dracula where he would be much more active with his powers, attempting to dominate all humanity with the occasional battle with the Belmont clan, of course.
So, why isn’t there any mention of a Belmont by Zobek? All he warns Gabriel of is the uprising of Satan’s acolytes, preparing for his imminent return. The main concern has been that Mercury Steam may be intending to follow up Lords of Shadow with a sequel set in the depicted time-period in the epilogue, seeing players once again take on the role of Gabriel albeit as Dracula. I don’t think this will be the case whatsoever. What we see in the epilogue is the future that we’ll eventually get to experience as, possibly, Julius Belmont. Why Julius? Well, because I strongly believe that the present-time we see after the game’s credits is actually set in 1999.
To this day we’ve yet to see a game centered on the Demon Castle War come to fruition. Perhaps Mercury Steam and maybe even Iga are planning to give us the “1999” game after years of demands. That won’t happen for a while, though. I think there’s still a lot of story left to tell detailing what happens between the end of the “Resurrection” DLC and the events of the epilogue. A story which I think will span the lives of three Belmonts due to a certain billboard sign seen in the background after Gabriel and Zobek take their encounter to the streets outside of the church (which you can see in the upper-right corner of the image above).”3 Lives” may have actually been implemented into the background by way of the billboard to hint at what’s to come.
Yes, yes, I know. I may be looking into this a bit too much but think about it. Mercury Steam may end up giving us sequels to Lords of Shadow in which we play as a trio of Belmonts. We’ve already seen how Simon looks like in this universe and as I’ve said before, I can almost guarantee that Mercury Steam hasn’t completely discarded this render and design for the most iconic Belmont. Then that leaves the two remaining Belmonts: Trevor and Julius. I’m really hoping for Trevor to be featured in this universe eventually in a sequel but who knows at this point. He’s the “Big Boss” of the Castlevania franchise and Mercury Steam’s take on the character and his story should be quite epic. Then that would lead the way for Simon and eventually Julius in the time-period the epilogue is set in.
One thing’s for sure: Gabriel has truly gone through Hell in his immortal life as the Prince of Darkness. What invokes this notion the most is when he states: “ I cannot die…yet I cannot live.” Gabriel has seen death numerous times, thanks to the Belmonts, up until the time of the epilogue and he’s sick and tired of his constant resurrections and long periods of suffering. As Zobek states earlier, Gabriel has made a tomb for himself in that church, suggesting that he’s probably been there for the better part of his soon-to-be-concluded final century. He wants to be rid of his immortality, channeling Laura right before she accepts death at his hands in “Reverie.” All Gabriel has to do now is make sure he doesn’t lose round 2 against Satan; a battle which may play out with three factions going at it: Gabriel/Zobek and their creatures of the night in one corner, Satan in his acolytes in another and Julius and his allies in the third.
