Simon Belmont

Simon Belmont is one of the most prominent protagonists of the Castlevania series, and the first one created. He has starred in nine different games, seven of which are remakes of the same events. He has also had cameos in several other games. Examples include Ganbare Goemon and Ganbare Goemon 2 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 1993), Snatcher (TurboGrafx 16 CD-ROMd, and Sega Saturn), and Dream Mix TV: World Fighters (Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2).

Before Castlevania
Simon Belmont was the heir to the renowned Vampire Killer whip and of the Belmont clan and became the most famous vampire hunter. He was born in 1667, possibly the son of Desmond (himself the son of Soleiyu [who was the son of Christopher] and the great grandson of Trevor, the descendant of Leon). Simon grew up hearing stories of his great ancestors that who had defeated Dracula, along with those who helped them. As he trained in the ways of the whip, he would often wonder how he compared to these legendary warriors. He was rather brash and inclined to force his way through situations.

Events of Castlevania
At the age of 24 in 1691, he would be given the opportunity to prove himself worthy of his family's legacy. On Easter Day, 100 years after he was defeated by Christopher Belmont, Count Dracula had returned. He was reawakened by a dark order of humans on Easter Day during a dark mass in an abandoned monastery. Simon was determined to end the threat of a new reign of terror, and entered Dracula's Castle alone to face the Count. Simon slew Dracula's servants and then faced off against Dracula himself as his ancestors had. Unable to kill him in the battle and unbeknown to Simon at the time, Dracula had managed to place a curse on a wound he inflicted on Simon's back. Simon destroyed Dracula, but did not burn his remains. Thinking that Dracula was finished, he left the castle, which began to crumble. Simon earned the peoples gratitude and he became famous in the land. His mind was still troubled, however. Although he had defeated Dracula, was it really his own strength that had allowed him to defeat him, or was it the power of his ancestral whip that had defeated him ?

Events of Castlevania: Judgment
One fateful night a year later, he entered a dark forest while pursuing the last of Dracula's minions. However, he soon found himself in a strange place and greeted by a time traveler who called himself Aeon. Aeon explained that he had entered a time rift, which is where he would find what he desired. Confused, but recognizing that there was a strange air to the place, Simon decided he had no choice but to believe him and took a series of trials, starting with a test battle with Aeon. These trials allowed him to test his skills against heroes from many different time periods, including the lengendary three warriors (Alucard, Sypha, and Grant) he had learned about as a child. After defeating these warriors, he finally had a chance to face off against his ancestor Trevor Belmont himself. By defeating him, who also wielded the Vampire Killer, Simon was finally convinced that his power was more than just the whip. He then returned to his normal era.

Events of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
The curse that Dracula had placed upon Simon 7 years ago slowly began to ravage his body. He began to think that his death was near. One night, six years after he returned from the time rift, he was contemplating his situation at his family's cemetary. Suddenly, a mysterious woman appeared behind Simon standing in the morning mist. She explained to him that this feeling he had was due to a curse that Dracula had placed on him and that his life was in real danger. In order to be free of this curse, he would have to collect Dracula's remains - his nail, heart, rib bone, eyeball, and ring, and after resurrecting Dracula and defeating him again, burn them all in the ruins of Castlevania. While this would defeat him for the time being, she warned him that even this might not be enough to defeat Dracula forever. She then vanished within the mist as mysteriously as she had appeared. Simon resolved to take up this challenge and began his new quest. The land had once again become infested with monsters and the villagers would board up their houses at night and hide from the creatures that would take over their towns. Some villagers, perhaps grateful to be able to help the man who had saved their land from Dracula years earlier, assisted Simon on his quest by offering him advice on where to go next. Others did so for the money and items he would give them in exchange for their goods. Other villagers, perhaps fearful that Dracula's return would be hastened if Simon was successful in gathering his remains, would refuse to help him or offered him misleading information. Simon was able to find each of the remains that had been gathered by Dracula's servants and placed in their strongholds in various mansions throughout the land. He returned to the site of the ruins of Dracula's Castle, which was abandoned by humans and monsters alike, and placed his remains there. Dracula was resurrected when this happened, but Simon was able to defeat him a second time. This time, he burned his remains and his curse was lifted. He buried what was left of Dracula in a graveyard. He was forever remembered for his bravery.

After Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Simon would marry at some point and his line was continued. His whip would be passed down to his son and then to his grandson, Juste Belmont, who would later have to fight against a new spirit that had arisen when his friend had gathered Dracula's remains, which had returned to the world, and ultimately defeat Dracula's ghost.

While Super Castlevania IV is only a remake of the original Castlevania in the official Japanese Canon for the series by Koji Igarashi, Konami USA modified Super Castlevania IV when they localized it into a sequel to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest by altering the introduction story within the manual and game itself, making the game the third time Simon took on Dracula. Konami USA still reflected the modification within the US canon, as seen in a Konami timeline printed in an issue of Nintendo Power around the release of the "Sorrow" series. However, recently Konami USA left out the US Version of Super Castlevania IV, in their Xtreme Desktop Timeline, which indicates that Konami USA has changed their decision, and are taking the series closer to IGA's vision.

Castlevania
Simon was the protagonist in the original Castlevania game. Many of his abilities in this game became the mainstays for future games.

His primary weapon was the Vampire Killer whip, which started out as a Leather Whip at the beginning of a life, and change to a Chain Whip and then a Morningstar Whip when he gained Morningstar powerups.

He can be equipped with any one of the following traditional subweapons at a time: Dagger (thrown straight forwards), Axe (thrown up in an arc), Holy Water (thrown on the ground and burned enemies above it for a while), Cross Boomerang (thrown forwards and returned), or Stopwatch (stopped or slowed down some enemies for a few seconds). Subweapons could be found as drop items from a slain enemy or from a candle. If he picked up any subweapons, it would replace the one he currently had equipped. A subweapon was thrown when pressing up while pressing the attack button. Simon was limited to the number of subweapons he could use by the number of Hearts he had collected. Small and Big Hearts (worth five small hearts) were sometimes dropped when an enemy or candle was destroyed. All subweapons consumed one heart, except for the stopwatch, which consumed five.

His basic controls were to be able to move right or left, duck, jump, jump forwards, and go up and down stairs. He could attack while doing any of these moves, however, he would pause if moving forwards when attacking.

Simon started his game with three lives and if he ran out of lives, he would start back at the beginning of a stage after a continue. He could gain an extra life when he gained a certain amount of points. Money bags could be dropped by enemies or candles, whose only purpose was to give him more points towards an extra life. There were also several hidden special items worth a lot of points that would appear if he kneeled down in the correct location.

Non-Canonical Traditional Castlevania Games
The only games that are considered canon that Simon appeared in are the original NES Castlevania I game and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest On the Japanese website, Castlevania Chronicles is shown by IGA to be interchangeable with the original Castlevania for the timeline slot. All information about him obtained from Vampire Killer, Super Castlevania IV, Haunted Castle,are considered non-canonical and are considered officially in Japan as remakes of the original Castlevania. Simon did not really fight Dracula a third time during the events of Super Castlevania IV as the US intro suggests.

Non-Castlevania Cameo Appearances
As the first Castlevania playable character, Simon Belmont has represented the Castlevania franchise in several games that feature characters from throughout the Konami franchises. He plays Mahjongg in the game Hai No Majutsushi. He is a playable character of the game Konami Wai Wai World and its sequel ''Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Paseri Jou. In the game Ganbare Goemon 2'', he can be seen residing in a house in Edo era Japan. He appeared in the arcade 3D fighter Battle Tryst along with Richter Belmont. He later appeared as the sole Castlevania character in the 3D fighter DreamMix TV: World Fighters for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Simon is an unlockable character in Evolution Skateboarding and can battle Dracula and his minions in Dracula's Castle on a skateboard. He also is present in the Nintendo DS game New International Track & Field game, where he attempts to shoot down Dracula in bat form with a crossbow.

Castlevania Cameos Appearances
The original NES Castlevania version of Simon Belmont is able to participate in the Boss Rush mode of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

Captain N: The Game Master
Simon Belmont was one of the stars in the cartoon Captain N: The Game Master. He was a member of the N-Team, a group of mostly video game characters who defended Video Land against the evils of Mother Brain and others. He does not appear in the comic book form of Captain N.

The Simon Belmont of Captain N is portrayed very differently from his real video game counterpart. Instead of being a hero, he appears as a vain, machoistic man of beauty and style. He consistently admires himself and makes sure his hair is never a mess. Furthermore, he is a coward at heart in the series, fleeing from any real danger and often leaving Kevin Keene (the main protagonist) to fight.

Throughout the series, Simon Belmont has a crush on Princess Lana. From the moment the central character Kevin Keene appears, he constantly fights to gain the attention of Princess Lana.

At one point in the series, Simon Belmont and the N-Team travel to Castlevania where they attend the "Simon Belmont Awards," an event that intended to celebrate the life of Simon Belmont and to present the equipment of his famous great-grandfather Trevor Belmont to Simon. However, the equipment is stolen and, with Kevin Keene's help, Simon is successful in getting it returned.

One item that Simon has in the series is a seemingly bottomless backpack, from which he is often able to pull a variety of strange and useful objects. The whip he normally wields also seems to have a mind of its own in Captain N, being able to move on its own.

Simon Belmont was voiced by Andrew Kavadas in the show; Kavadas' appearance was also used as the design for Belmont's character.

For more details on Simon's appearances in individual episodes, please see Simon in Captain N Episodes.

Castlevania Movie
Simon Belmont was the protagonist of Paul Anderson's original script of Castlevania: The Movie. Several rewrites of this script have taken place and it is not known if he will make an appearance in the final cut.

Appearance in Judgement
$Judgment$ Simon wears a black vest and pants with a silver lining and Golden Cross at his back. Following Kojima's artwork of Simon. Judgement's Simon has red hair instead of blonde. Simon also wears slightly armored arm guards and boots with black and silver lining with small cross motives on some parts of the armor.

Trivia

 * Simon's theme in Judgement is "Vampire Killer", though "Simon's Theme" from Super Castlevania IV is considered by many fans as his character theme.
 * Simon's name may be a reference to Simon Carson, the protagonist of the 1970 Hammer film Scars of Dracula.
 * Castlevania: Judgment, for the Nintendo Wii, marks Simon's third appearance in a 3D fighting game, after his bouts in Battle Tryst and DreamMix TV: World Fighters. Like many of the other playable characters, Simon is also able to use his traditional sub-weapons in the game.
 * Keith Silverstein, Simon's English voice actor, also did the voice of Albus in Order of Ecclesia.
 * The original concept behind 2010 series reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was to remake the original Castlevania starring Simon. While this idea was ultimately not followed through, Lords of Shadows' protagonist, Gabriel Belmont, wears armour which is reminiscent of Simon's artwork and sprite from Simon's Quest. Lords of Shadow developer David Cox mentioned in an interview that Gabriel is wearing armour similar to Simon's. This is presumably a reference to Gabriel being the first main character of a new Castlevania series, as Simon was of the original franchise.

Appearance Gallery
See also