Origins of Simon Belmont and the Belmont Clan

Origins of Simon Belmont and the Belmont Clan Though “Castlevania” games tend to be light on story and heavy on action, there’s still quite a tale underpinning the adventures of the Belmont Clan. Drawing a lot of inspiration from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” as well as the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 40s like “The Mummy” and “Frankenstein,” the “Castlevania” series bases itself on one part history and three parts fiction to create an interesting timeline that spans from the High Middle Ages right up until The Age of Enlightenment. The newer, “Lords of Shadows” timeline goes even further, reaching the “End of Days,” but for the origins of Simon and other Belmonts we’re only looking at the original ‘Vania timeline. With both Simon and Richter being announced as playable characters in “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” for the Nintendo Switch , there’s no better time to take a trip down memory lane and relive the history of the “Castlevania” series in preparation for laying serious beat downs on some of the cutesy, fuzzy Smash characters with the badass vampire hunters and their legendary whip. Though gamers were first introduced to Simon in 1986’s “Castlevania,” the history of the Belmonts spans back a good six hundred years before that with his ancestor Leon and the events of “Lament of Innocence.” The Belmont saga picks up in 1094 A.D. – a time of lords, knights, alchemists, and wizards. Two of the fiercest knights of the time were Leon Belmont and his good friend Mathias Cronqvist, and they soon find themselves involved in a plot to recuse Leon’s fiancé Sara from a powerful lord named Walter Bernhard … who just turns out to be a vampire! Leon somehow manages to rescue his fiancé despite being greatly outmatched by Lord Bernhard, but once he has her to safety he learns she’s slowly turning into a vampire. An alchemist offers to infuse her soul with Leon’s whip to create a weapon that could rival the powers of the undead and Leon reluctantly agrees – giving birth to the legendary Vampire Killer whip. Leon defeats Walter Bernhard but learns that the whole kidnapping was plotted by his friend Mathias who also just so happens to be a vampire. Betrayed and angry, Leon vows to hunt his former friend until the end of time if necessary, igniting the long-running, generational battle between Belmonts and vampires that continued uninterrupted throughout the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. The next Belmont we meet goes by the name of Trevor and his tale picks up in the late 15th Century when the immortal vampire, now known as Dracula, is once again on the loose leading to the events of “Dracula’s Curse.” With the countryside devastated by The Count’s actions and unable to combat his strength, the Church has no option left but to hire another Belmont to hunt down Dracula and end his reign of terror for good. Trevor hunts The Count to his castle where he encounters Dracula’s son Alucard who is also there to end his father’s genocide against humanity. The two join forces and vanquish Dracula once more, but The Count’s presence still hangs over the countryside bringing illness and violence with it for the next one hundred years before he’s fully reborn in the year 1576 A.D. This time it’s Christopher Belmont, Trevor’s direct descendant, who sets off to end The Count’s reign of terror and over the next fifteen years he finally manages to do so while keeping his son Soleiyu safe from Dracula’s evil clutches during the events of “Castlevania: The Adventure” and “Castlevania: Belmont’s Revenge” for the Game Boy. All is well in the world for exactly 100 years before Dracula is once again reborn and we meet one of the more famous Belmonts: Simon. His quest against The Count’s dark forces plays out very similar to his forbearers in Trevor and Christopher, but with a slight twist: having managed to defeat Dracula after assaulting his castle and laying waste to an untold number of undead monsters in the original “Castlevania,” Simon is struck down with a curse from The Count, causing his body and mind to slowly decay over time. Roughly seven years later in 1698 A.D. and the events of “Simon’s Quest,” a mysterious woman claims that Dracula will be reborn when the curse finally manages to kill Simon, so the Famed Vampire Hunter has no choice but to heed her warning and sets off to collect the body parts of Dracula he scattered over the countryside after defeating him initially with the intention of burning them and ridding the world of evil for good. Along his journey, however, the ghost of Dracula emerges from one of the body parts and the weakened Simon is just barely able to defeat the spectral incarnation of The Count to prevent his reappearance. With Dracula fully defeated, Simon is freed from his curse and restores hope and harmony to Transylvania once more, but history suggests that the battle is far from over. Simon’s role goes from that of famed vampire killer to that of grandfather to Juste Belmont who continues the family’s legacy of hunting vampires fifty years after Simon’s quest in the year 1748 A.D. Juste continues his grandfather’s mission of destroying all Dracula’s body parts, and although he never comes face-to-face with The Count, Juste does battle with evil spirits attempting to revive Dracula and set the world to darkness. Like the long lineage of vampire hunters before him, Juste tirelessly works to keep the countryside safe from all types of evil, not just Dracula. True to the legend yet again, Dracula fully appears one hundred years after being defeated by Simon in 1691 A.D. The Count is revived by a dark priest named Shaft in 1792 and once again the Belmonts are called on to eradicate evil, but this time it falls on the shoulders of Richter Belmont – a direct descendant of both Simon and Juste. Richter manages to overthrow Dracula in “Rondo of Blood,” but – like Simon – he’s left badly cursed, as the dark priest Shaft’s spell transfers from the defeated Dracula to the youngest Belmont leaving him battling for his life. As the curse worsens, Shaft gains more and more power of Richter, until five years later during the events of “Symphony of the Night” he gains full control over the Vampire Hunter and plans to revive Dracula by using Richter as his puppet. With Richter unable to battle the forces of evil, Dracula’s castle is able to appear once more, making way for the eventual rebirth of The Count himself. But, sensing a rise in evil, the long-slumbering Alucard awakens from his sleep to once again stop his father from gaining power, and the Son of Dracula also manages to free Richter from this spell, leaving Transylvania free and clear of evil once again. With Richter’s disappearance also comes the end of the Belmont’s long-running battle against Dracula, which sees other groups and heroes step in to fill the gap left by the legendary vampire hunter family. Yet, for nearly 700 years, the Belmonts kept Transylvania and its countryside safe from vampires and other ghoulish types, while creating one of the most famous families in gaming history. With both Simon and Richter being playable characters in “Super Smash Bros Ultimate,” we sure hope that we’ve not heard the last from this whip-cracking, vampire-smacking family of heroes and, as always, we’re hoping for another “Castlevania” game down the line!