Medusa

 is a legendary monster with living venomous snakes in place of hair, whose gaze can turn her victims to stone. Sometimes she's referred as Queen Medusa, which endows her with power over all snakes and knowledge of secrets long time forgotten. She's one of the three sisters (the other two being  and ) and the only one to be mortal. She has appeared in nearly every Castlevania game to date and is generally portrayed as having a serpent tail from her waist down instead of legs, like the, although she has also appeared only as a giant head.

Besides Medusa herself, several floating Medusa Heads appear as normal enemies in most games. According to many games' descriptions, all of these creatures were born from the head of Medusa, in some cases spawned from her severed head.

Origins
The three Gorgon sisters, Medusa, Stheno and Euryale, were all children of the ancient marine deities and his sister, chthonic monsters from an archaic world. Their genealogy is shared with other three sisters, the.

In most versions of the story, Medusa was beheaded by the hero, who was sent to fetch her head by King of Seriphus because he wanted to marry his mother. The gods were well aware of this and Perseus received their help. He received a mirrored shield from, winged sandals from , a sword from and 's helm of invisibility. Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, so Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by. When Perseus beheaded her,, a winged horse, and , a golden sword-wielding giant, were born from her body.

Medusa's head retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, which Perseus used as a weapon, most prominently to defeat the sea monster Cetus, sent by Poseidon, and save Andromeda, who he married later. After these events, he gave the head to the goddess Athena who placed it on her Aegis shield.

Another version of Medusa's origins places her as a former mortal priestess of the goddess Athena who was assaulted by the god Poseidon inside her temple. For that blasphemy, Athena turned Medusa into a Gorgon, a monster with snakes for hair and a glance that turned people to stone.

Castlevania
Queen Medusa's first appearance in the series. After crossing a long hallway suspiciously inhabited by a horde of Medusa Heads in Block 2, Simon arrives to a chamber decorated with stained glass windows in the background and a huge marble bust of what seems to be a Greek female deity. Not long after that, though, the head of the sculpture comes to life, detaching itself from the neck and flying around the room. A myriad of snakes will grow from her hair,  letting them loose to slither on the floor. Attacking her fiercely with the Cross sub-weapon or with a couple of well placed Holy Water flasks will make short work of her, however, earning Simon 3,000 points.

Haunted Castle
This time called the Wicked Mermaid, Medusa is the boss of the first stage, the Graveyard. After traversing through a haunted cemetery, Simon arrives to a mausoleum where he encounters a sculpture of the legendary monster, Medusa; her face partially hidden behind a giant cobweb. Not long after that, though, a multitude of bats swarm over him, while the statue slowly comes to life. She doesn't pose as much of a threat as in other games, as she only paces back and forth, releasing little snakes every now and then which slither over the floor trying to make contact damage.

This is the first game where Medusa displays her serpent-tailed body form, a design which would become a staple for future games in the series.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Medusa was replaced with the Snake Man Sentinel in the North American release of Dracula's Curse, most probably to avoid displaying nudity and violence against women to Western audiences.

Super Castlevania IV
Medusa appears as a mid-boss at the end of the swamp section of the Transylvanian Wilds. She doesn't leave a Magic Crystal to be collected after the battle, however, and the aqueduct section continues immediately after facing her.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Medusa appears as the second boss summoned by the dark priest Shaft. Her appearance is a reference to the original Castlevania bosses, where she was the boss of the second level.

Castlevania: Bloodlines
Once you finally meet with Elizabeth Bartley, she will summon Medusa in a final attempt to stop you. If you manage to defeat Medusa, Elizabeth will confront you personally.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
In this game, Medusa wields a sword and a shield as a reference to her Greek origins. She can block attacks with her shield, stab the player with her sword, and shoot out a beam that will turn Alucard to stone if he lacks immunity. The player should be especially careful of this attack, because if it connects, Medusa will follow up with two projectiles that will, at this point in the game, do heavy damage if they manage to hit Alucard before he breaks free from petrification. Speaking lines include "Stone!", when firing her beam; "Venom!", when following up; and "I'm petrifying!", whilst dying.

Castlevania Legends
In the Game Boy game, Castlevania Legends, Medusa is the sub-boss of the fourth stage.

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Medusa is the boss of the Underground Waterway and she can only be fought in Carrie's story.
 * Medusa will spawn a multitude of snakes from her hair every now and then throughout the entire battle.
 * She will try to get near Carrie, curl up her tail, and let it go, trying to hit her with it.
 * Soon after that, Medusa will pull out a snake from her head and it will transform into a Greek shield which will protect her from any harm if Carrie's attacks land on it. However, the shield can be knocked off of her by attacking it enough times, and Medusa herself can be damaged if Carrie's attacks land on other parts of her body not being protected by the shield, like her back.
 * Eventually, Medusa will try to gain distance from Carrie and then she will pull out another snake from her hair, although this time it will transform into a bow, and with it she will shoot a barrage of snakes. If she's attacked while she's preparing to shoot, her attack will be canceled and she'll be stunned for a brief period of time.
 * Further into the battle, Medusa will attack with her distinctive petrifying gaze, covering a considerable area of the field. If Carrie is hit with it, she'll be paralyzed while huge rock formations start to build up around her body. Fortunately, as with the bow attack, if Medusa is attacked while she's preparing to use her petrifying gaze, the attack will be canceled and she'll be stunned for a brief period of time too.
 * When only ⅓ of her health remains, she'll gain the ability to become invisible. At this moment, most of her attacks will be enhanced in one way or another: her tail slash will have more range and her petrifying gaze will cover about half of the whole room. Carrie should jump over this beam twice, instead of trying to run away from it.

When defeated, Medusa will turn to stone herself while dozens of snakes jump out from her hair uncontrollably, only to die a few moments later.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
The skeletal corpse of Medusa can be found in a background of the Skeleton Cave.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Medusa's portrayal in Lament of Innocence is a nod to her depiction in the original Castlevania, which makes sense as that was the first game in the entire series and Lament is the first game in chronological order from the original timeline. Finally arriving at the furthest chamber in the Garden Forgotten by Time, Leon's attention will immediately fall upon a grotesque stone bust of the legendary monster, Medusa. The bust suddenly comes to life and greets him, detaching her head from her neck, flying forward and marveling at how Leon's body will make an excellent statue. Leon will then realize that all the statues of warriors decorating the chamber are in fact the petrified remains of prior adventurers who confronted her.

In Lament of Innocence, Medusa has a number of attacks at her command:
 * She can command the snakes on either side of her head to lunge forward as a sort of "snake punch". She can also do this with both sides in succession for a one-two punch.
 * She can rise into the air and spill a trail of her poisonous blood to keep you away.
 * She can also rise into the air to drop a plethora of smaller snakes onto the ground to overwhelm you.
 * She can, of course, project beams ("Turn to stone!") from her eyes that can temporarily turn you to stone. If successful, she'll roll herself into a giant ball and rebound around the room a random number of times to inflict heavy damage.
 * Finally, when her energy is low, she'll command large stones ("Damn you!") to surround herself before firing them toward you one after another.

There are two differences in Crazy Mode: she'll do the snake punch in seven-step combos, and she'll do a stone gaze as part of the stone-throwing attack.

Once defeated, Medusa's agonizing head will utter her last words, astonished by the power of Leon's whip and pointing out it wasn't that powerful before. She asks Leon if the whip has gained its complete form, to which he seems oblivious to what Medusa is talking about. This scene reveals that Medusa had witnessed the power of the whip before at the hands of Rinaldo and that she had knowledge of the whip's true potential abilities.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Jonathan and Charlotte arrive to what seems to be a theater. This is no ordinary theater, however, as a series of statues, or to be more precise, the petrified remains of the audience, can be seen attached to the ceiling. Not long after that, the body of what appears to be a gigantic reptile will break through the ceiling, destroying all of them. Near the theater's stage, the head of an abominable serpent will emerge, slowly acquiring the form of the torso of a woman, Medusa. In this incarnation, Medusa has a more varied repertoire of attacks than in previous games:
 * She retracts near the stage and covers her face with her hands while a myriad of Gold Medusas spawn from the snakes she has for hair, covering almost the entire screen. Gold Medusas cause petrification, leaving the player unable to move, with lowered defense and open to further attacks, so one must be wary of how dangerous this attack can be. Positioning under Medusa, however, provides a safe spot where the player may even counterattack and deal moderate damage.
 * Medusa locks-on to the player and stretches her left arm, which briefly transforms into the lunging head of a snake attempting to bite the heroes. However, she telegraphs this move with enough time, allowing the player to easily avoid it just by getting out of her reach.
 * Medusa will quickly retract and raise her torso, widely opening her eyes and letting go her trademark petrifying gaze, which covers almost the entire screen. Standing below her, again provides a safe spot, but if the player can't get there fast enough, just facing away from her will nullify this attack.
 * Medusa will again cover her face with her hands, but this time her torso will transform into the head of the serpent from the beginning of the battle, quickly lunging with great reach and accuracy into the hero and dealing medium to heavy damage. Staying out of her reach or being able to crouch below her, near the bottom-left corner of the room, will allow to avoid this attack.
 * If the player positions him or herself below Medusa's body, she'll always resort to attack with her gigantic serpent tail, breaking out and in numerous times through the floor, forming big curls with her body and leaving only a tiny space between them to stand on. This attack is the key to defeat her easily, as the player only needs to stay below Medusa to make her unleash this attack and just carefully manage to stand between her body parts. Meanwhile, Medusa will be open for attack for a considerable amount of time and the player may then unleash his or her best moves. The best part is that as soon as this attack ends, the player may trigger it again to repeat the process.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Medusa appears in this game as one of three Gorgon Sisters, along with Euryale and Stheno.

Knightmare
Medusa is the first boss from the MSX shoot 'em up game, Knightmare, also developed and published by Konami.

Sexy Parodius
One of the bosses of Sexy Parodius is a giant Medusa. She's the boss of the first 3rd stage (Dracula's Castle), which is only played through if you fail to collect 300 coins in the previous level. The required objective in this level is to kill 100 mice.

Trivia

 * Medusa is voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in Lament of Innocence.
 * Medusa, Medusa Heads and Gorgon Heads, all are Greek female creatures called s, despite the fact that in the series, the enemy called Gorgon is inspired by an ox-like mythological creature of Libyan origins.
 * The Medusa Shield, originally introduced into the series in Symphony of the Night, may be inspired by the part of Medusa's origins where Athena places her severed head on her Aegis shield.
 * Many of Medusa's appearances throughout the Castlevania games seem to have been inspired by a particular scene from the 1981 film, Clash of the Titans. Her appearance on that film was one of her first portrayals with the now popular snake-tailed body from her waist down. Before that, most representations of Medusa in common media usually depicted her with a normal human body, only her skin was represented as greenish colored or covered with snake-like scales.
 * Medusa using a bow and shooting stiffened snakes as arrows (as first seen in Dracula's Curse and most prominently in Legacy of Darkness), may be inspired by a particular scene from the 1982 film, Conan the Barbarian. In one part of that film, the main antagonist, (played by ), takes out a snake and hypnotizes it to become stiff so it can be used as an arrow, then he's given a longbow and shoots the snake, killing Valeria (played by ) with it.