Board Thread:Lords of Shadow 2/@comment-24.150.98.227-20140407212227/@comment-24642986-20160201010901

79.152.116.76 wrote: I have to disagree with the comment about AoS.

The LoS saga has the best story in the Castlevania series, in my opinion. The Soma Cruz thing would be somehow out of place from my point of view, and I will explain why:

As we all know, in Los 1 we are beign told about the story of a pure hearted warrior who is tested by God´s will, tasked with a seemingly impossible mission in order to reestablish the balance in the spiritual world (the souls of the dead can not enter into Heaven). This man alone has to face this task having lost his beloved wife, Marie (the most important thing in his life as is stated in the game´s scrolls)  just recently, which only remarks the commitment and faith of this warrior, who ultimately and after beign revealed as to be manipulated by the Lord of Death, Zobek, who indeed is beign manipulated by Satan, is revealed to be God´s choosen one to defeat Satan himself, preventing the fallen angel to become more powerfull.

Gabriel achieves his victory after getting the power of Heaven, when Marie begs to the lost souls trapped in limbo to help him, and his faith reaches his maximum. After all, in the end, he couldn´t forgive himself for all the damage done, losing his faith, feeling abandoned by God...and becoming a vampire merged with the demon king of darkness doesn´t help him precisely, so he turns mad and his soul becomes rotten. Dracula has been born.

In Mirror of Fate, Dracula is the Evil himself, representing hell on Earth, his sole existence dedicated to bring pain and suffering to the mortals. Trevor Belmont, Gabriel´s secret son, is set to put an end to his father´s reign of terror, just to be finally killed by him. When Gabriel discovered who Trevor is, the last humanity left in him tries to save his son, only making things worse, transforming Trevor into a vampire, Alucard. Simon Belmont, Trevor´s son, tries to finish this task and avenge his father. In the end, Alucard and Simon defeat Dracula, knowing he will be back.

It seemed that God´s plan has failed, and that one evil has been changed for another.

Then, in LoS 2, Dracula is bring back to life again, and Zobek asked him to team-up because Satan´s inminent return, knowing they both will be the firsts targets of his fury.

What may seem to be a repeat of the events on the first game (Gabriel beign manipulated by Zobek) turns into a plan orchestrated by Alucard and Gabriel, to destroy Zobek and Satan. Furthermore, Marie and Alucard are the ones who initially planned this, believing that Gabriel, despite everything, is still the choosen of God, and that he will redeem himself, fullfilling his destiny. Marie told Gabriel "all of this has to happen for a reason". She acts here as the emisary from Heaven, God´s messenger if you want to say it. So you can understand by this, that Dracula was not an error, but something permitted by God Himself.

Because the ultimate reason behind the existence of a "Prince of Darkness" in the Los universe, is no other than to prevent Satan to unleash hell on Earth and to save mankind, and through that,  redeem a tortured soul who was pure, chosen and tested to its very limits, fallen in darkness, but saved by love.

Gabriel Belmont´s destiny was beyond human thinking. God´s plans are inscrutable.

I have to admit that it is sad this final chapter has not been properly developed, because the "bad ending" didn´t enveloped all that was expected (and continuously  hinted) to happen. Everybody, me beign the first, after the end and epilogue of Los 1 (in my opinion one of the greatest ends in videogame history) wanted to see this correctly done: watching Gabriel redemption and reunited with his family in Heaven, resting in peace and Bliss. I was hoping for Gabriel to separate from Dracula for one final confrontation, alas the Founders of the Order of Light, dying in killing Dracul with his son, as happened with Alucard and Simon before. This could have been amazing.

I know there are a lot of things that could have been managed in other way, ok, like the modern setting parts, too much for my taste, but I enjoyed it a lot. LoS saga is one of the best videogame sagas I have played in my life. I love the characters, gameplay, design, music, and in terms of story, as I said, the best Castlevania has offered yet. For a christian like me,  is a very simbolic, profound and edifying one. I agree with most everything you said with the exception of God planning for Gabriel to become a vampire. Gabriel rejecting God and becoming the Prince of Darkness was his own choice, despite believing that he was a pawn of fate in Reverie through LoS2. Just look at Alucard: Trevor made a concious choice to not act like a monster after becoming a vampire. Gabriel as Dracula went mad in the Forbidden Wing and went on to slaughter entire villages during MoF as well as most of the Brotherhood of Light's army in the prolouge of LoS2. Dracula made the choice to become evil by himself. That's why it was important that Alucard slowly convinced Gabriel that he was capable of making his own choices. It's why Gabriel destroys the Mirror of Fate and says "Who knows what fate has in store." The entire theme of the LoS Saga is free will vs. predestination (which is an idea from Calvinism). Heck, even Jesus had a choice about sacrificing himself on the cross. Otherwise why would he make that prayer in the Garden of Gatseneme?

BTW I'm an Existentialist who doesn't folow religion, but I can appreciate the themes in LoS because I've studied the Bible in the past. And I agree, LoS saga is one of my favorite games trilogies in recent memory. :)