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 also serves as the narrator of the game (except for the DLC chapters).

At the end of the game he is revealed to be the third Lord of Shadow and master of the Necromancers, the Dark Lord of the Dead. He is one of the the main antagonists of the Lords of Shadow series along with Satan. Zobek returns in the sequel, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, as both an ally and enemy.

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 with their bodies creating the Lords of Shadow, Zobek became the Lord of the Dead.

The Lords of Shadow 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 and the abyss for knowledge of how to acquire such power.

There he unknowingly became possessed by Satan, who provided him with knowledge of the dark arts, and planted the idea to manipulate Gabriel Belmont into his mind, using the Devil Mask to force him to kill his wife Marie, sending him on a ultimately tragic path.

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 then posed as Gabriel's 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 Golem's Dark Gauntlet to kill him if he became too powerful.



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. In the guise of his original human self, the Dark Lord of the Dead was able to walk among mankind as a member of the Brotherhood. Gabriel was shocked to see Zobek as the last Lord of Shadow. As he admitted the truth, he also confessed that through Gabriel's quest, he was pulling his strings, making him collect the God Mask's pieces for him so that he could gain its power. He even revealed to Gabriel that he himself (under Zobek's control) had killed Marie. As Gabriel fell into despair, the Dark Lord of the Dead electrocuted him, killing him slowly and painfully.

The Dark 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 Zobek had such powerful knowledge, and now that he was of no further use to him, Satan proceeds to burn him alive as he exits his host's body. After Gabriel defeated Satan, Zobek somehow escapes leaving only his Devil Mask behind.

Events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
It was evidenced that Zobek gone into hiding 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 his soul if he successfully delivers the combat cross to him.

Lords of Shadow Epilogue
In 2057, Zobek, alive and well, finds Gabriel hiding out in a church as a vampire calling himself Dracul, meaning "the Dragon" or "the Demon", as the words are synonymous (in modern Romanian only). 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 Dracula 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


Shortly after, Zobek's Lieutenant retrieves Dracula after saving him from one of Satan's soldiers and gives him a human family to feed on.

After Dracula brutally murders the family and regains his strength and appearance, Zobek greets him (at which point the Prince of Darkness is then seen with an expression of possible remorse for his cruel act while opening the door to the room in which the family lie dead, likely to awaken "undead" - though this is never revealed in LoS 2). He begins to convince Dracula to aid him in combating the return of Satan and his acolytes by once again offering him eternal rest he longs with the legendary Vampire Killer, having found the fragments in the Underworld and reforged the weapon ages ago.

With their deal set, he sends Dracula to the first location of the acolyte: the Bioquimek Corporation. He advises Dracula to avoid foes he cannot fight like the Golgoth Guard and later after entering a strange large room where scientists are preparing a fatal gas, Zobek becomes aware that he is being sensed by a powerful presence, Raisa Volkova.



After Raisa releases the gas, turning the scientists into demented monsters and fights Dracula in fierce battle, he transports them both back to his tower to interrogate Raisa. Once there, Zobek realizes that he cannot read her mind due to it being shrouded in chaos. Dracula proposes that he be sent back to the corporation, in order to retrieve the antidote and cure her. While Zobek agrees to the plan, he is unable to transport him once more, fearing that he will be drawing suspicion to himself, forcing Dracula to venture back to the facility on foot. Dracula, with the antidote now in hand, injects Raisa with it, only for him and Zobek to learn too late that she is the Acolyte that they were looking for at the corporation.

After she chants a spell, Raisa blows the the roof off of the facility and assumes her true demon form. Zobek, aware her power will attract attention, casts a confusion spell to keep Raisa from giving away their location to the other acolytes while Dracula fights the demon spawn. Once Raisa is defeated Dracula disappears, Zobek searches for him, with his search became unsuccessful, he then repairs his facility.

Finally encountering the Prince of Darkness, thankfully unharmed. A skeptic Zobek questions him on his whereabouts, with Dracula merely replying that he was attending to his own "affairs", with no time to question him further, he sends him to look for a powerful being at the cathedral where he first awoke; believing it to be another acolyte looking for Dracula. However, that "being" turns out to be, much to his and Dracula's surprise, Dracula's distant descendant: Victor Belmont, leader of the Brotherhood of Light. Regardless, the latter still lures out the second acolyte, Nergal Meslamstea, at the cost of his own life, to a powerful weapons corporation. With two of the Acolytes dead at last, Zobek congratulates Dracula on his victory.

However, Zobek informs Dracula that he has pinpointed the third and final acolyte, Guido Szandor, leader of the Church of Satan and the most powerful of the acolytes, in the Basilica. He sends both his lieutenant and Dracula to the Basilica to stop Guido from summoning Satan and fulfill their deal. However, upon them reaching the Basilica and the Acolyte, Dracula's memories have been restored and reunited with his son Alucard, who had disguised himself as the lieutenant. Zobek reads their minds and soon realizes the terrible truth behind Dracula's return; he has become the victim of a conspiracy, masterminded by Alucard with the ultimate goal of killing both him and Satan. After Guido disappears when he received a message from Satan an enraged Zobek appears, he arms himself with the Vampire Killer and takes his true form, Death.

Dracula and Zobek finally have their long awaited and brutal battle. However despite his great necromantic power and skill, Zobek is beaten back into his human form with the Vampire Lord closing in. Making one last stand with the Vampire Killer against his nemesis, their fight nonetheless ends with Dracula impaling the Lord of Death with the Void Sword, freezing and shattering his body to pieces, all the while laughing. With Zobek dead for good, the Vampire Killer is left behind along with Dracula finally achieving his long awaited goal of vengeance: the death of the man responsible for ruining his life.

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.

As the Lord of the Necromancers, he is considered the most powerful Lord of Shadow, Zobek possessed powerful magical abilities, which were 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.

Like his fellow Lords of Shadow, Zobek is immortal, evident by his return centuries later. Though he later meets his end at the hands of Dracula.

Lords of Shadow 2 reveals Zobek possesses knowledge of a variety of spells, ranging from teleportation to even confusion, no doubt learned over the centuries of his long life. He also possesses telepathic abilities, able to read Gabriel's mind, though this ability can be blocked or even misdirected.



Zobek's true form is Death itself, and with it has a slew of formidable powers and abilities. In it he has extreme durability, able to take several blows from Dracula's weapons, the ability to summon legions of the dead, and wields a long, whip-like scythe forged from bones and metal with extreme proficiency.

Personality
It is unknown what Zobek was before his ascent into heaven and the birth of his dark side, other than being a devoted follower of God but Zobek is an ambitious, master planner with a desire for more power and a treacherous deceiver, hiding behind the charade of being a friend and mentor to Gabriel. Despite being a pawn to Satan, he was able to fool Gabriel with the sophisticated plan into retrieving the pieces of the God Mask, under the belief that it could resurrect his wife Marie while appearing to aid and care about the two.

Zobek had a 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", even giving Gabriel the legendary and infamous title "The Prince of Darkness", the title Gabriel would be known in the future as Dracula.

Despite all this, he is a clear enemy to Satan, whom he viewed as one of his greatest enemies, the other being Dracula himself. Zobek was aware that Satan's acolytes were preparing for his return and would seek revenge against him and Gabriel. To counteract Satan, he sought the aid of Gabriel, now known as Dracula, despite his past treacheries against him, because he knew he was no match for Satan by himself. Knowing how Gabriel seeks to truly die and finally rest in peace, he offers to free him of his immortality if he aids him.

During Lords of Shadow 2, Zobek remains as intelligent, manipulative and ruthless as ever. Also during their mission against Satan, Zobek and Dracula hold a sense of respect as respected enemies but hold hostility towards each other. This however doesn't prevent them from working together cooperatively against their shared enemy, once more acting as a guide, adviser and "task giver" to the Prince of Darkness.

Given his immortality 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, becoming a revered, wealthy, influential businessman and smoking a cigarette.

Battle Quotes

 * I'll exterminate the filthy lineage of the Belmonts!
 * I'll take you to the limit of pain!
 * I'll savor your death, traitor!
 * I'll destroy your body and cause your soul to yield!
 * I'll force your soul to serve me!
 * You've never been a match for me!
 * Your soul will kneel before me!
 * Your efforts are pathetic!
 * That creature you call a son will follow you in death.
 * Chamberlains, let the banquet begin!
 * Come, my children. Come eat.
 * Take his flesh; I'll take his soul.

Actors

 * 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.
 * Before Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen was MercurySteam's first choice to voice Zobek. McKellen wasn't available at that time, but suggested Stewart to voice Zobek.

Zobek

 * As Zobek reveals his true identity and his scheme to Gabriel, Gabriel curses him in anguish, calling Zobek a liar. Zobek responds to this with "Search your soul, Gabriel. You knew it to be true." This line is a direct reference to the infamous scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where Darth Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father, using the exact same line after Luke denies it.
 * The only difference in the line is that Zobek says "soul" instead of "feelings".
 * Like Brauner under Carmilla, Zobek has his own Lieutenant.
 * 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 until the 21st century, when he was killed by Dracula.
 * 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.
 * Zobek's appearance when wearing the Devil Mask mostly resembles Shaft (long fingernails, pale greenish skin, hooded robe), except his face then is not shown at that time. His true form in LOS2 is akin to Death from the original series.
 * 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 Dead (or at least connected to him) can be made before ever encountering him in the Land of the Dead.
 * When Zobek returns in Lords of Shadow 2, his eyes are completely black, save for white irises, indicating that either he is putting less effort into appearing Human in front of Gabriel, or he was weakened by his death and resurrection, and can't appear fully Human anymore.
 * He is the only member of the Lords of Shadow not to be killed by Gabriel as a human, instead killed by him as a vampire.
 * 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; it is possible his true body in the first game had fangs, but it was never seen without the Devil Mask on.
 * Zobek was killed in two exactly opposite ways; instead of being burned alive by Satan, in the third game, Zobek is killed by Dracula with his Void Sword, where he was frozen and shattered.
 * One of the city memorials found in the game regards Zobek to be 102 years old, despite the fact that his true age remains unknown, it's quite possible that this could be his physical age and not his real one.
 * Although it is never confirmed what Zobek intended to use Trevor's Combat Cross for, the events of the second game hint he may have been attempting to use it to create a second Vampire Killer, prior to obtaining the original.
 * Zobek is the only incarnation of Death to have wielded the Vampire Killer to a certain extent.
 * He may have found inspiration in the Vampire Killer when Zobek created his scythe, due to its whip-like nature.