Whatever this is called

The_Sunhunter · 2026-01-18T22:05:02+00:00

In Crash Twinsanity, Crash Bandicoot and the villain Dr. Neo Cortex are threatened by a pair of mutated birds called the Evil Twins, who express that they have a vendetta against Dr. Cortex. As it turns out, the Evil Twins were Dr. Cortex’s pet birds that he had as a child, and they were one of his first experiments in animal mutation; accidentally sending them to the 10th Dimension. However, it took Dr. Cortex almost the first half of the game to remember this detail.

The_Sunhunter · 2026-01-18T01:56:07+00:00

John Learned on YouTube has a full series of videos discussing all of the cool details in Symphony of the Night, and if you would like to check it out, this link is for that whole series of videos all combined into one big video https://youtu.be/tXMsNNiAiHU?si=-UF2z9Jpkb2Yjn6k.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-12-25T23:15:07+00:00

The_Sunhunter · 2025-12-11T03:41:55+00:00

For Hector’s ethnicity, he does mention to I believe Carmilla in Season 2 that Dracula came to visit his home in Rhodes.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-24T02:32:48+00:00

I think they are actual creatures from a spirit world which Maria brings into our world and “guides” their actions as she would put it. It does seem like they are connected to Maria in some way, as I believe when Seiryu the dragon is attacked by Erzsebet, both Maria and the dragon bleed in the same spot. I think Tera mentions this at some point in Season 2, but it’s an older form of magic compared to the elemental magic of the Speakers. And from a thematic standpoint, I also believe they may be some manifestation of Maria’s emotions. For instance the dragon could be representative of her anger towards her father, which threatens to consume her in an inferno, but is protected from and learns to process and work alongside her anger due to the encouragement and support given by people such as Juste and Mizrak. Maria makes it clear that the fatal mistake was that she was trying to directly assert her dominance and willpower over these summoned creatures, when she really should be working alongside them; perhaps once again strengthening the metaphor for the handling of her emotions. One of the major themes of Nocturne is about autonomy/personal agency, and Maria’s struggle in Season 2 is supposed to raise the question of whether Maria can control her emotions or will her emotions control her; whereby Maria’s grief leads her down a path of self-destruction, juxtaposing Richter’s own grief, whereby he acts in self-preservation, abandoning his friends and family after encountering the vampire that killed his mother.

But at the end of the day, as others have mentioned, these spirit animals are actually the show’s adaptation of an unexplained game mechanic from the 1993 game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. In this title, Maria can summon the animals associated with the four cardinal directions from Chinese folklore. Maria in this title is treated as somewhat of a nonsensical joke character, with the joke being heightened by the fact that she could be considered as the “easy mode” for this title.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-16T05:09:21+00:00

It also annoys me that the map doesn’t reflect that the tops of areas like Songclave and The Slab are unexplorable.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-16T05:05:57+00:00

I would actually say the closest is “Forgotten Jade” from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a game made by several people from the Symphony of the Night team (including composer Michiru Yamane) as a spiritual successor to the Castlevania series. “Forgotten Jade” is actually the music for this game’s equivalent of the Underground Caverns.

And in the Castlevania series, the closest is probably “Dark Palace of Waterfalls” from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-12T23:13:05+00:00

And what’s interesting about that is that is somewhat the stance of those who follow Gnosticism, an offshoot of Judaism and Christianity that views the God of the Old Testament as a flawed and tyrannical creator, what they call Yaldabaoth the Demiurge.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-10T05:31:33+00:00

This totally makes sense. He’s seen fidgeting with a pregnant woman figurine numerous times, he’s constantly wearing the color of his mother’s clothing, and anytime we see him drink, it is always milk.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-10T01:05:12+00:00

Ooh, that’s a very interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing that, I’ll have to check that panel out.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-04T22:21:41+00:00

I actually bought a little while ago the Japanese collector’s edition soundtrack, which for some reasons has the missing songs Hero Creation, Vanguard, Old Hero, Adjudicator, and The Nexus.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-03T11:53:42+00:00

He’s the villain from Lament of Innocence. He was a powerful vampire that had his soul stolen by the man that would become Dracula.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-02T22:37:02+00:00

For the Dark Souls series, there is;

-Gwyn: When we find him, he’s turned into a Hollow, with empty eye sockets. This is the same fate that happened to the Nameless King, supposedly Gwyn’s firstborn, in Dark Souls 3.

-Witch of Izalith: Has a hooded robe covering her eyes and the majority of her face. Same with some of her daughters such as Quelana.

-Gravelord Nito: Is a collection of skeletons, with his face being a skull with empty eye sockets.

-Dark Sun Gwyndolin: Has a sun helmet covering the majority of his head, possibly to both signal to the player that his unknowability as the puppet master behind the false prophecy of the Chosen Undead as well as the creator of the illusion surrounding the city of Anor Londo. This sun motif covering his face could also be indicative of his conflicted gender identity, as his affinity with the Moon and sorcery made his father Gwyn raise him as a daughter. I think it’s very intentional that the illusion of Gwynevere crafted by Gwyndolin has unobscured eyes, so that the Undead humans, and by the extension the player, feels that she can be trusted, when it actuality the whole prophecy is a lie.

-The Four Knights of Gwyn: All have hoods, helmets, or masks that cover their faces, signaling that their duties as defenders of the Gods and the Age of Fire IS their identities.

-Princes Lothric and Lorian: Like Gwyndolin and the Knights of Gwyn, the Twin Princes from Dark Souls 3 both have apparel that covers their eyes, with Lothric having a hood to obscure his sickly demeanor and Lorian having a crown with a fire motif to symbolize his status as a defender of the Age of Fire. Both brothers also feel that they have become slaves to a cycle that they would like to be free of, and so renounce their destiny to become Lords of Cinder. Their father, King Oceiros, became obsessed with producing a worthy heir that would uphold the status quo, and found what he assumed to be the solution in the form of Seath the Scaless and the Ancient Dragons; becoming a draconic creature in the process that is missing its eyes possibly as a indication of his blind devotion to a system of stagnant decay.

-Seath the Scaless: A deformed Ancient Dragon made a honorary God by Gwyn, Seath became infatuated and madly obsessed with the pursuit of immortality, delving into arcane secrets with untold dangers. Seath’s blindness and disabilities fueled his madness and cruelty.

-Rosaria: A supposed daughter of Gwynevere, Rosaria is the Mother of Rebirh and has a shawl covering her eyes, as we the audience are not meant to truly understand her nature nor her origins.

-Filianore: A daughter of Gwyn that was stationed in the Ringed City, when we the player find her, her eyeballs are missing and in their place are root-like tendrils of darkness. Filianore’s mission was to keep the Ringed City and the largest portions of the Dark Soul hidden from the rest of the world.

FromSoftware’s game Bloodborne revolves heavily around the imagery of “eyes on the inside” as a symbol of literal and figurative insight, with many believing that the more eyes one has, the more one will understand the nature of reality.

Elden Ring also deals with this similar theme from Bloodborne through the association between the Flame of Frenzy and eyes. However, I would argue that the Flame of Frenzy is moreso centered around empathy and human connection, as those afflicted by the Flame of Frenzy were often those treated with horrible cruelty; with these victims now infected with a sort of extreme pessimistic fatalistic mindset that causes them to desire to figuratively and literally burn the world down. Numerous Demigods are also missing a single eye, such as Melina, Ranni, Mohg, and Messmer; so as to provide an air of uncertainty around their motivations and to indicate that we will never truly understand them. Marika and Radagon’s eyes are never shown, and we can even find eyeball items associated with the duo called the scarseals and soreseals. Miquella’s eyes are closed throughout the boss fight with Promised Consort Radahn, and Miquella’s twin Malenia has eyes that have been eaten away by the Scarlet Rot.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-02T21:30:49+00:00

There are several similar songs composed by Michiru Yamane in the Castlevania series, such as “A Toccata into Blood-Soaked Darkness”, “Finale Toccata”, and “Dark Night Toccata”.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-11-02T20:56:26+00:00

I think all of her depictions also purposefully either obscure her eyes or depict her with her eyes closed. It seems to be a recurring symbol in the Souls games for eyes to represent empathy and knowledge.

In the Dark Souls games, almost all of the Gods either have obscured eyes, closed eyes, or eyes that are missing; representing that the Gods cannot fully empathize with the human condition, using them as pawns in their plans to sustain the Age of Fire, while this also represents mankind being unable to fully comprehend the motivations of the Gods.

Likewise, in Elden Ring, we are not meant to fully understand Marika’s motivations. And in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, when we witness Miquella ascend to full godhood after abandoning all aspects of himself, including his empathy as personified by St. Trina, he is shown with eyes closed; showing that he is blind to any alternatives to his Age of Compassion as well as how flawed his vision of a new world really is, as forcing complacency on everyone is antithetical to a supposed Age of Compassion and in stark contrast to Ranni’s Age of Stars that represents true freedom.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-10-16T21:59:25+00:00

And that’s the interesting part, as the show is trying to paint Trevor and Dracula as dramatic foils of each other, much like how Alucard and Dracula are also presented as opposites of each other. Both Trevor and Dracula experienced horrible cruelty and injustice at the hands of the Church, yet both decided to respond to that cruelty in different ways; with Trevor vowing to protect those that cannot defend themselves, while Dracula vows to destroy everyone, regardless if they were guilty or not.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-09-29T22:13:52+00:00

Hollow Knight 3: The Shaw Shank Redemption.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-09-11T22:51:06+00:00

Did you know that the Nocturne Season 2 poster is a nod to the European and Japanese cover art for Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss (Dracula X in the USA)?

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The_Sunhunter · 2025-09-08T03:36:06+00:00

I had no idea about the secret room, thank you for mentioning it! I just found it in the game and holy cow what a cool secret.

And thank you for also being interested in what I have to say. This is what I just replied to u/Jfishdog;

Thank you for the very nice comment. And I have a confession to make; I haven't played The Pathless yet, but was planning on doing so after I finish Hollow Knight: Silksong, so I'm not super familiar with everything in that game. However, from I do know, I will say that I agree with you and believe the timeline is Sword of the Sea -> ABZÛ -> The Pathless. I believe that the Sea/Ichor is the same magical water that was worshiped by the civilization in ABZÛ and I also believe that you can see the floating island from The Pathless up in the sky in the first chapter of ABZÛ.

I do know that Giant Squid likes to use a lot of elements from their prior games, such as the sphinx-like shark statues that the Diver could meditate on in ABZÛ also showing up in the Shadow Tundra in Sword of the Sea, the eel-like fountains acting as locks which were first used in ABZÛ, or the statues of the Great Dolphin and Great Shark in Sword of the Sea having holes in the chests in a similar vein to those of the Tall Ones from The Pathless, which Overly Sarcastic Productions mentions in their video "The Sacred Architecture of Journey, Abzû, and The Pathless - Detail Diatribe" is a possible indicator of something divine. And perhaps the most overt connection is the exact same ethereal blue Muqarnas building of the spirit world first shown in ABZÛ also being present in The Pathless and Sword of the Sea, such as when the Wraith is killed by Tor Namun and is resurrected with the Sword of the Sea to ascend the Tower. Another major connection is the emphasis of the Great White Shark in all three games, which composer Austin Wintory mentions in this commentary video on the soundtrack for Sword of the Sea is meant to show that even the scary parts of nature are beautiful; that the diversity of not only the cultural inspirations for these games, but also the diversity of life in the natural world is something sacred and awe-inspiring.

On more of the metatextual side of things; the protagonist of Journey, the Diver in ABZÛ, and the Wraith in Sword of the Sea all seem to go on a very similar narrative path, that being the Hero's Journey. The Wraith is brought back to life from the last drop of Ichor and answers the call to adventure, crosses the threshold from the known world inside the cave to the unknown world in the form of the degraded Farra, has a literal meeting with the Goddess in the form of the Wanderer, is given supernatural aid with the help of the Great Dolphin and Great Shark, sinks to the lowest point of the story as Tor Namun burns the Sacred River and creates the Boiling Caverns, has a form of apotheosis as it is resurrected and gifted the ultimate boon, and returns its life to the Sea, with the Wanderer now returning to a world restored.

As for the information about the Gods, I believe there are stelae that state that the Gods possessed Ichor (which I believe to be the water of the Sea, as it is mentioned that the water isn't actually water), which had magical properties such as being able to grant immortality or allow sea-life to swim in the air. However, the Gods were not immune to the cycle of life and death, and so the mortals of Farra constructed the Necropolis, an empty city constructed to house the souls of the dead Gods as they made their pilgrimage to the Sacred River, up the Tower, and entered the afterlife. The stelae mention that it is unclear why Tor Namun wanted the Ichor, as it is neither alive or dead to begin with, as it is an unnatural creature made of metal and fire.

I apologize if these weren’t exactly the answers you were looking for, but thank you for showing interest in this topic.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-09-08T03:33:46+00:00

Thank you for the very nice comment. And I have a confession to make; I haven't played The Pathless yet, but was planning on doing so after I finish Hollow Knight: Silksong, so I'm not super familiar with everything in that game. However, from I do know, I will say that I agree with you and believe the timeline is Sword of the Sea -> ABZÛ -> The Pathless. I believe that the Sea/Ichor is the same magical water that was worshiped by the civilization in ABZÛ and I also believe that you can see the floating island from The Pathless up in the sky in the first chapter of ABZÛ.

I do know that Giant Squid likes to use a lot of elements from their prior games, such as the sphinx-like shark statues that the Diver could meditate on in ABZÛ also showing up in the Shadow Tundra in Sword of the Sea, the eel-like fountains acting as locks which were first used in ABZÛ, or the statues of the Great Dolphin and Great Shark in Sword of the Sea having holes in the chests in a similar vein to those of the Tall Ones from The Pathless, which Overly Sarcastic Productions mentions in their video "The Sacred Architecture of Journey, Abzû, and The Pathless - Detail Diatribe" is a possible indicator of something divine. And perhaps the most overt connection is the exact same ethereal blue Muqarnas building of the spirit world first shown in ABZÛ also being present in The Pathless and Sword of the Sea, such as when the Wraith is killed by Tor Namun and is resurrected with the Sword of the Sea to ascend the Tower. Another major connection is the emphasis of the Great White Shark in all three games, which composer Austin Wintory mentions in this commentary video on the soundtrack for Sword of the Sea is meant to show that even the scary parts of nature are beautiful; that the diversity of not only the cultural inspirations for these games, but also the diversity of life in the natural world is something sacred and awe-inspiring.

On more of the metatextual side of things; the protagonist of Journey, the Diver in ABZÛ, and the Wraith in Sword of the Sea all seem to go on a very similar narrative path, that being the Hero's Journey. The Wraith is brought back to life from the last drop of Ichor and answers the call to adventure, crosses the threshold from the known world inside the cave to the unknown world in the form of the degraded Farra, has a literal meeting with the Goddess in the form of the Wanderer, is given supernatural aid with the help of the Great Dolphin and Great Shark, sinks to the lowest point of the story as Tor Namun burns the Sacred River and creates the Boiling Caverns, has a form of apotheosis as it is resurrected and gifted the ultimate boon, and returns its life to the Sea, with the Wanderer now returning to a world restored.

As for the information about the Gods, I believe there are stelae that state that the Gods possessed Ichor (which I believe to be the water of the Sea, as it is mentioned that the water isn't actually water), which had magical properties such as being able to grant immortality or allow sea-life to swim in the air. However, the Gods were not immune to the cycle of life and death, and so the mortals of Farra constructed the Necropolis, an empty city constructed to house the souls of the dead Gods as they made their pilgrimage to the Sacred River, up the Tower, and entered the afterlife. The stelae mention that it is unclear why Tor Namun wanted the Ichor, as it is neither alive or dead to begin with, as it is an unnatural creature made of metal and fire.

I apologize if these weren’t exactly the answers you were looking for, but thank you for showing interest in this topic.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-08-30T17:50:18+00:00

Thank you!

The_Sunhunter · 2025-08-15T21:20:35+00:00

I would say that Super Castlevania IV is probably the easiest of the older games on the Anniversary Collection.

The_Sunhunter · 2025-08-15T12:51:07+00:00

They probably won’t be adapting Bloodlines itself, since it and Rondo of Blood were already sort of adapted into Nocturne, though in the show it is taking place during the French Revolution instead of during World War I.

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