Villager



Villagers are characters frequently present in the Castlevania universe, and as their name implies, they can be usually found inhabiting nearby villages. Either appearing only by mention or actively taking part in the protagonist's journey, these individuals often offer clues or are merchants who'll sell weapons and other mystical items. Some of them, however, may also be town pranksters who will give false information if talked to. Yet, in some rare instances, villagers will actually help the hero while in combat, providing supporting offensive power.

Their most prominent appearances have been in games like Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Order of Ecclesia, where they acted as quest-givers, presenting Shanoa with numerous quests and rewarding her accordingly for each one successfully completed (see Wygol Village). They also made a brief appearance in the introductory stage of Lords of Shadow, by helping Gabriel against a horde of Lycathropes and a Great Warg who were terrorizing their village.

It should not come as a surprise the appearance of villagers in the series, as they are generally Dracula's first victims every time he comes back to the world of the living. Either by razing the nearby towns surrounding the castle, poisoning their sources of water, killing them in large numbers and turning them into legions of zombies, abducting groups to keep them at the dungeons and later serve as sustenance for the vampire population, be fed to Dracula's monstrous pets, practice unholy experiments with them, or forcing them to fight for their lives at the castle's arena, villagers surely don't have it easy when the Dark Lord returns from the dead.

Some more "lucky" villagers end up given the "dark gift", as seen in Castlevania (Nintendo 64) and Legacy of Darkness. It's not clear why certain individuals are chosen over others for this special treatment, but perhaps they satisfy some specific requirements or simply happened to fall prey to another vampire. The least affected ones only end up slightly afflicted by the curse which befalls the land each time Dracula is resurrected.

In Simon's Quest, if night surprises Simon while in a village, all townsfolk will lock themselves inside of their houses, waiting for the morning sun to vanquish the horrible night while hordes of zombies and other night creatures lurk around. Once the night is over, however, they'll come back out and continue providing clues and services as usual.

Rondo of Blood actually shows a town getting rampaged by Dracula's forces in one of the introductory cutscenes, where we can see how Annette gets kidnapped while trying to escape. One of the optional objectives in the game then becomes finding and rescuing four kidnapped maidens along the various stages of the game, one of them being Maria Renard, who once rescued can be selected as a playable character. This game's 2007 revision, Dracula X Chronicles, elaborated a bit further on this premise, granting the heroes with special items for each maiden rescued, to unlock many alternate paths throughout their journey.