Mud Man

The Mud Man is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is a figure made of mud, imbued with a tormented soul.

Description
Mud Men are generally found in swamp areas and are essentially mud animated by magical arts to resemble a humanoid creature. They usually don't attack directly after spawning, as they exhibit the qualities of a mindless creature. Commonly, whenever a Mud Man is encountered, an infinite amount will follow to aimlessly walk the swamp.

Mud men are known for the relative ease by which they can be destroyed, but could be a deadly threat to anyone unlucky enough to fall into the swamps from which they emerge, as they can spawn anywhere and deal damage in numbers while the player's movement is hindered.

When struck, they sometimes break off a little at a time and the mud may coalesce to form smaller mud men.

Castlevania: The Adventure
Mud Man (misspelled as "Madman" in the instruction booklet) falls from the top of the screen as mud and takes the form of a human to chase the player.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night / Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
In some games such as Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin, Mud Men have a technique where they will burst open their chest and stick out what appears to be large metal spikes with which to pierce the player. Whether or not these are metal spikes has yet to be determined, but it is an interesting ability, nonetheless.

In Symphony of the Night, a Mudman can only be encountered if it is summoned by the Lesser Demon fought in the Long Library, thus being the only way and opportunity in the game for this enemy's entry to be registered in the Master Librarian's Enemy List.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Mudmen in Circle of the Moon can be found in the Catacomb. They attack by jumping toward Nathan in an arc. Should the player dodge the attack, they will simply vanish upon contact with the ground.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
The Mud Demon appears in the sandy parts of The Abyss. It behaves much like Procel, being that it is a head made out of the material it resides in and uses attacks made out of it. The soul it drops is an ability soul which allows free movement in sand. It is not technically a useful soul, but it makes traveling through the Abyss much faster.

Trivia

 * Creatures made of animated mud or ooze by magical arts were first introduced into popular culture by several types of board games, mainly from the Dungeons &amp; Dragons franchise. They've also appeared throughout many classic horror-themed TV series and films.