In the Rose Garden / Parallels between SKU and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

Overlord Morgus · Back to Top

Spoilers ahoy!

In SOTN, they explain the origins of Dracula's "evil." It turns out that Dracula didn't turn against humanity until they burned his wife at the stake on suspicions of her being a witch. Obviously, this was done because of her association with Dracula, and because they were probably unable to attack Dracula himself, being mere mortals. So you have the queen (Anthy) being killed in place of the king (Dios), as well as the wounding of the master morality represented by Dracula and family by the slave morality of the rabble. Dracula even hints at this ideological conflict in the intro, saying that religion is an institution that steals men's souls, mirroring Nietzsche's own claims that Christianity was a nihilistic religion that destroyed one's natural love of life.

And of course, if you play things right, you'll find an inverted castle, which opens up a whole other game and allows you to get 200% completion.

Last edited by Overlord Morgus (03-30-2011 07:13:30 PM)

Giovanna · Back to Top

Die monster! You don't belong in this world!

It was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh.

I was called here by humans who wish to pay me tribute.

Tribute? You steal men's souls, and make them your slaves!

Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.

Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill-needs a savior such as you!

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!

But enough talk...have at you!

SORRY. I couldn't resist. emot-biggrin To be honest, I've never thought about SoTN that way--I could never get over the dubbing! The inverted castle thing does seem terribly strange, though. I've often wondered if it's actually some sort of Japanese cultural thing I don't know about. Inverted icons always imply their opposite, or at least usual do. Like the use of an inverted cross of pentagram. The inverted castles both contain unpleasant truths, because a normal fantasy castle is the opposite of that.

BTW, I'VE NEVER GOTTEN 200% grrrr.

Overlord Morgus · Back to Top

Actually, now that I think of it, Dracula and SKU have so much in common.

Class and ideological conflict suffused Bram Stoker's original book. On the one hand, you have Dracula, who represents birthright, martial valor, and tradition, and you have Johnathan Harker's crew representing science, industry, social mobility, and Christian innocence. And Dracula's own transformation into a vampire is brought about by the refusal of Christian priests to sanctify his dead wife's soul due to her suicide, which brings to light a conflict between a morality characteristic of ancient Rome or feudal Japan, which would hold her suicide to be something honorable, and a Christian morality forbidding suicide.

And then you have Akio, a dethroned royal who despises the modernist rabble and mourns the imprisonment of his queen throughout the series.

Last edited by Overlord Morgus (04-02-2011 02:39:27 PM)

gpink · Back to Top

I'm reminded me of the conflict between Buddhism's forbidding of suicide and the Japanese concept of suicide to perverse honor.

BioKraze · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
AWESOME WORDS AND PICTURES OF WIN

Oh, I can't resist this one. I'm gonna put the PSP Dracula X Chronicles retranslation of SotN in. Nobody minds, correct? emot-biggrin

Belmont, son of Belmont. I've been waiting for you.

Dracula! Die now, and leave this world. You'll never belong here!

Oh, but this world invited me here.

Your own kind called me forth with praise and tribute.

Tribute? You're a thief! You steal men's souls, their freedom...

Freedom is always sacrified to belief, good hunter. Or are you truly here by choice?

To Hell with your heresy! You're nothing but a blight on mankind.

Ha! Mankind. A cesspit of hatred and lies.

Fight for them, then, and die for their sins![

... ... ...

Dude, I think the fanboys and girls are rightly pissed about changing the original script. :/

deeds24 · Back to Top

Oh wow, I never realized they changed that much in the retranslation. Although I kinda like the use of the word "cesspit." While watching SKU for the first time, I kept thinking about how Touga, Saionji, and Akio's hairstyles reminded me of Alucard's hair (long and wavy) in SOTN. Also the manner in which Utena defies the societal roles placed on her is similar to how Alucard defies a societal role by refusing to kill humans despite having Vampire blood.

CarolineWellwater · Back to Top

(( Well... for myself, I have, effectively three copies of SotN.

I have the digital copy for my PS3.

I have the hard-disk version for the PS1 / PS2.

And, I have Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP... but I've never been able to unlock StoN from the Chronicles, and I'm die-ing to see what the two, hidden, re-released levels are.

I still think SotN has some of the best music, atmosphere, and art ever. I especially liked the Cathedral (both normal and inverted), and the boss-fight with Ba'alzamon.

Never did get to 200% either. I think the best I had was like... 190% or something. ))

#1 | Back to Top03-30-2011 07:13:04 PM

Parallels between SKU and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

#2 | Back to Top03-31-2011 12:35:50 AM

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#3 | Back to Top04-02-2011 02:37:17 PM

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#4 | Back to Top04-02-2011 07:06:35 PM

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#5 | Back to Top09-20-2011 11:09:19 PM

Re: Parallels between SKU and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

Giovanna wrote:

#6 | Back to Top05-28-2016 07:58:27 AM

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#7 | Back to Top05-28-2016 05:13:25 PM

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