Castlevania: Sypha Belnades

Between Halloween and all the talk of female characters who don't show their feet often enough, it made me think of the Castlevania women. Castlevania is one of those series that has several gorgeous female characters but we never get to see what their feet look like in the games. The new Netflix animated Castlevania series does feature an attractive sorceress from the videogames however and we are treated to some brief glimpses of what her feet look like. ^_^  

A Custom Figurine that I found of her here. :-)

(Most of these are from the Netflix Castlevania series episode 4)

My first exposure to this character was from playing Castlevania Symphony of the Night so my initial impression was that the Netflix series gave Sypha a much more Tomboyish look than I imagined her having. She explains to the lead character of the series Trevor Belmont that dressing like a boy makes it easier for her to travel without attracting unwanted attention. There is some basis for this interpretation of her in the games though. Sypha originally appeared as a playable character in Castlevania III. At the time it wasn't clear that the character was female. The instruction manual released with the game listed the character as a "Mystic Warlord" and the English version of the game actually referred to the character with the male pronoun 'him' when she joins your party. The picture of her used in artwork is even ambiguous with a hood covering the characters head.

This suggests that the game translators either made a mistake or were going for a surprise reveal about the character's gender (similiar to Samus from Metroid).

The ending reveals the character to be female though.

Castlevania III was a great game for its time period. One of the cool features of the game was that it allowed the player to play as multiple characters. The main character for the game was the vampire hunter Trevor Belmont  but you could also take control of  Grant, a thief with the ability to climb walls, Alucard, Dracula's rebellious son who could turn into a bat,  and Sypha who had a variety of spells at her disposal.

The Player first encounters Sypha as a stone statue. She was sent on a mission by the Church to fight against Dracula but was turned to stone by a Cyclops on her journey. The player as Trevor defeats the Cyclops reverting her to normal. She then joins Trevor on his quest becoming a playable character and helps him fight against Dracula. Her spells really make her a powerful ally to have. ^_^ At the end of the game she falls in love with and marries Trevor. They have a child together who features in later games.

Sypha also has a cameo appearance in the Game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The main character of that game is Alucard but there's a boss fight where he winds up fighting Zombie Doppelgangers of his former allies. In that game, it is much more clear from Sypha's appearance that she is a female character as she no longer wears a hood and has long blonde hair.

You can watch her boss fight below as well...

It's worth nothing that Sypha's Zombie doppelganger reappears in the game Castlevania Portrait of Ruin too.

Sypha appears in two other games as well... Pachislot Akumajo Dracula III and Castlevania Judgement. The Pachislot game is Japanese Slot Machine game based on Castlevania III.  Here are some pictures from that game as well because her CG Character design for that was so cool. ^_^

In contrast Castlevania Judgement is a Fighting game similar to Final Fantasy Dissidia. Here are some pictures of Sypha from that as well.

The Netflix Animated of Castlevania follows the storyline of Castlevania 3 with some variations. (The biggest being that Sypha's connection to the Church isn't quite as strong as in the game series). Sypha is part of a group of speakers that try to protect the people of Wallachia from Supernatural threats. The Speakers wind up being persecuted by the Church and Trevor Belmont winds up helping them.

The Netflix series is actually really very good and I enjoyed watching it a lot. The first episode of the series is very slow but it picks up really strongly after that. As you guys can tell... the series has some really beautiful animation. It also has a very intense storyline. In addition to that, there some really epic fight scenes in it particularly in the last episode which I don't want to spoil too much. The animated series is only 4 episodes long but it has been renewed for a second season. :-) It is well worth the watch. Another interesting thing to note is that the Netflix series gives Sypha a latin accent. I didn't picture her having one when I played the game but it's not too much of a stretch given Sypha's last name and the location the game takes place.

Ok everyone I know I talked a lot for this post. If you managed to make it this far, thank you very much for reading this and more to come soon!

-KSC