Zobek

Zobek was a founding member of the Brotherhood of Light and one of the Lords of Shadow in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow who aids Gabriel on his quest. He encourages Gabriel to use the God Mask to bring back his dead wife Marie. Zobek serves also as the narrator of the game (except for the DLC chapters). Zobek reveals at the end of the game to be an antagonist, the third Lord of Shadow and master of the Necromancers, the Lord of the Dead.

Character History


Zobek was one of the three founders of the Brotherhood of Light. When the three founders of the Brotherhood of Light ascended to Heaven and left their dark sides behind them, Zobek became the Lord of the Dead. The Lords of Shadow, as these beings became known, formed an uneasy truce between themselves. Zobek however became resentful of this and wanted to gain power over the others. He probed the depths of Hell for knowledge of how to acquire such power. There he unknowingly came under the influence of Satan, who provided him with knowledge of the dark arts, and planted the idea to manipulate Gabriel into his mind. Zobek cast the spell which separated the Earth from the Heavens, knowing his counterpart in Heaven would be forced to contact the Order on Earth.

He manipulated Gabriel so that he would be motivated to complete the God Mask. After putting him under the influence of his Devil Mask, he had Gabriel murder his own wife. He then posed as his ally, and spurred him into finding the God Mask to resurrect Marie. Later, he again influenced Gabriel into unknowingly killing Claudia, so that in the end he could use the Black Knight's gauntlet to control him.



After Gabriel gained the final piece of the mask from the Necromancer, Zobek reveals himself as the true Lord of the Necromancers and the remaining Lord of Shadows to Gabriel. Disguised as Zobek, the Lord of the Dead was able to walk among mankind as a member of the Brotherhood. His ruse was eventually found out by Marie Belmont, the wife of Gabriel Belmont. But before she could reveal the Lord of the Dead for what he truly was, he used the Devil Mask to take control of Gabriel, and made him behead his wife.

Gabriel was shocked to see Zobek as the last Lord of Shadow. As the Lord of the Dead admitted the truth, he also confessed that through Gabriel's quest, the Lord of the Dead was pulling his strings, making him collect the God Mask's pieces for him so that he could gain it's power. He even told Gabriel that he himself killed Marie. As Gabriel fell into despair, the Lord of the Dead electrocuted him, killing him instantly.

The Lord of the Dead then walked up to Gabriel's body, and took the God Mask from him. He laughed triumphantly, but just as he was about to use the mask, he heard a voice in his head. The voice belonged to Satan, the Devil himself. Satan was the reason that the Lord of the Dead had such powerful knowledge, and now that the Lord of the Dead was of no further use to him, Satan set him on fire, burning the Lord of the Dead into ash, leaving nothing left, except his Devil Mask.

Events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
It was evidenced that Zobek revived himself shortly after the events of Lords of Shadows and sought Trevor Belmont's combat cross for unknown reasons, as a Necromancer serving Zobek impeded Simon Belmont's progress, having been promised by Zobek the return of its soul if it successfully delivers the combat cross to him.

Lords of Shadow Epilogue
Years later, in modern time, Zobek, alive and well, finds Gabriel hiding out in a church as the vampire calling himself Dracul, meaning "The Dragon". Zobek tries to coax Gabriel into helping him stop Satan's return, lest he take revenge on both of them. The two begin to fight and Gabriel falls from his tower into a street full of people. Out in the streets, Zobek reveals that he knows what Gabriel yearns for: an end to his current existence as neither dead nor living. He offers to free his old friend of his immortality in return for his help, and Gabriel vanishes, leaving Zobek to walk off into the night, promising his "old friend" that it would soon all be over.

Lords of Shadow 2
Continuing from the last game's epilogue, Zobek returns to form what seems to be an uneasy alliance with Gabriel/Dracula, both sides showing unhampered aggression towards one another though seemingly willing to cooperate in order to prevent Satan's return.

While Dracula has been hidden away, Zobek has somewhat adjusted to the modern world, appearing to have become business man of some sort. He helps Dracula regain his strength by offering him a family of mortals to feed on. Zobek's Lieutenant acts as a bodyguard and servant.

Throughout the story Zobek acts as Dracula's mission giver, tracking down Satan's acolytes for him and occasionally sending his lieutenant out to assist him. Ultimately he is the victim of a far greater conspiracy arranged by Alucard his thought to be loyal lieutenant, the goal being to kill both him and Satan. Zobek fights Dracula in his true form but is ultimately killed by the Vampire lord.

Powers and Abilities
Even before his status as the Dark Lord of Death was revealed, Zobek displayed impressive combat prowess. He was able to hold back the Ice Titan's hand to protect Gabriel and leap to its shoulder as well as survive the fall to the ground. He also displayed incredible strength in Wygol Abbey, where he and Gabriel took turns holding up the stone roof as it nearly crushed them. In his final monologue to Gabriel, he describes his fights through the realm of Satan against the demons as one source of his strength.

As the Lord of the Necromancers and considered as the most powerful Lord of Shadow, Zobek posessed powerful magical abilities, augmented by the Devil Mask. In his monologue to Gabriel Zobek tells of his battles in the Abyss against demons granting him strength, until Satan entered into him and expanded his knowledge of the Dark Arts to "unimagined heights". This signifies that he is privy to powers previously held by Satan, evidenced by his control of the Black Knight's Gauntlet. He also posesses the power to control life as well as death, evidenced by his return centuries later.

It is unknown if Zobek as the Lord of the Dead would have had the power to kill the Forgotten One, as he is not known to have returned to Bernhard Castle after his transformation.

Personality
Zobek is a ambitious, master planner with a desire for more power and a treacherous deceiver, hiding under the "mask" of being a friend and mentor to Gabriel. Despite being a pawn to Satan, he was able to fool Gabriel into retrieving the pieces of the God Mask, under the belief that it could resurrect his wife Marie. Zobek had clear dislike for the other Lords of Shadow, despising the truce they formed to divide the power of the God Mask pieces amongst themselves, believing they should have combined the power. Zobek also seems to revel in the defeat of his enemies, as he laughed triumphantly after revealing himself for who he really was, killing Gabriel and taking the God Mask. Despite being the catalyst that made Gabriel into what he is now, even Zobek did not foresee the great darkness within Gabriel and stating God Himself has seen what Gabriel truly was, calling him a "cold-blooded murderer. Beyond redemption, beyond hope".

Despite all this, he is a clear enemy to Satan. He was aware that Satan's acolyte's were preparing for his return and would seek revenge against him and Gabriel. To counteract Satan he sought the aid of Gabriel(Dracula), despite his treachery against Gabriel. Knowing how Gabriel seeks to truly die and finally rest in peace, he offers him to free him of his immortality if he aids him.

Given his resurrection and wandering amongst the living in modern times, he seems to have adapted to the modern era, as he is seen wearing modern day clothing and smoking a cigerette.

Trivia

 * David Cox has mentioned on Twitter that some of Zobek's facial features were modeled after Patrick Stewart himself, while others were based on Christopher Lee and Sean Connery.
 * Though he is Satan's pawn for most of the game, in the years following Satan's defeat, Zobek becomes Satan's enemy (even trying to form an alliance with Gabriel/Dracul in order to combat him).
 * It is unknown what became of Zobek's heavenly counterpart after his death at the hands of Satan, given that he was able to revive himself. Conceivably, his angelic half is still alive.
 * Zobek's title as Lord of the Dead and Lord of the Necromancers, along with his vast power and initial friendship with Gabriel, who would later become Dracula, denotes him as the Death character of the Lords of Shadow universe, who in other Castlevania games serves as Dracula's ally and second-in-command.
 * In a Facebook post by David Cox, several facts were revealed about the Lords of Shadow series. Cox further confirmed Zobek is in fact the Lords of Shadow amalgamation of both the dark priest Shaft and Death from previous installments.
 * In Zobek's description on the Main Character page, Zobek claims to have inherited his Brotherhood of Light attire from a distant ancestor who was a founding member of the order. Combined with the knowledge that the founding members became the Lords of Shadow, the conclusion that Zobek is the Lord of the Necromancers (or at least connected to him) can be made before ever encountering him in the Land of the Dead.
 * When Zobek returns, his eyes are completely black, save for white irises, hinting that something may have changed in him.
 * He is the only member of the Lords of Shadow not to be killed by Gabriel.
 * Instead he was killed by Gabriel in Vampire identity of Dracula.
 * He is the only member of the Lords of Shadow whose name doesn't begin with a "C", although like the others there is at least one hard consonant "C/K" sound in his name. He is also the only one without fangs in his true form.