Sypha Belnades

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Sypha Belnades (ja. サイファ･ヴェルナンデス Cipher Fernandez) is a sorceress from Konami's Castlevania series. She appears as a playable character in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, which was published on the NES in 1990. Sypha is a magic user who attacks with a weak staff and three elemental spell books that allow her to cast powerful spells.

The english version of the Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse's instruction manual refers to Sypha as a male, leading to confusion of Syphas gender early on. This confusion lead to Syphas male appearence in a Captain N episode.

Before Castlevania: Judgment
Sypha Belnades was a witch who harnessed the energy of spirits to command the power of the elements. Sypha grew up among witches in Wallachia. When she was very young, children of the night, including the vampire Carmilla, darkened that hearts of men and helped spark the great witch trials which resulted in the death of many of Sypha's sister witches. Both of her parents were killed in the process. Sypha escaped and was found wandering near a monastery in Wallachia and was granted protection by the church. Sypha would remain at that monastery for some time and would train as a monk. Perhaps utilizing ancient forbidden knowledge found in the libraries of the monastery, Sypha would make a deal with spirits of her slain kin and they would allow her to gain mastery over the elements of fire, ice, and lightning. Sypha had a burning desire to destroy anything tainted by darkness who she felt was responsible for mankind's actions against her kind and would become a hunter for the church and would leave her homeland. It was an interesting relationship considering many in the church would have considered her a heretic and she would never completely bend to their belief structure. Sypha would go on to become the greatest and most famous hunter of the church, but she would always want to know how she compared to the "true vampire hunters" who had been banished from the land. By taking roles that were normally only relegated to men, Sypha had to deal with a lot of grief over the fact that she was a woman. Although she could show anyone not to underestimate her just because she was a woman though, she would grow to resent some of the aspects of herself that made her female.

Events of Castlevania: Judgment
One day while she was working alone, she was approached by an unfamiliar man, Aeon, who explained to her that she had entered a time rift, a place where she could touch her desires. She was grateful for the opportunity to achieve her goal of punishing the dark beings who were responsible for so many of her losses. Along the way, she fought many beings from different time periods who were tainted with darkness. However, she failed to recognize that some of these individuals had no evil intentions. Among these were Alucard, Golem, Cornell, and Shanoa. Wary of deceit, she ignored their claims of good intentions and struck them down without mercy. She recognized her final opponent as Carmilla, who she remembered as being one of the ones directly responsible for starting the trials. Carmilla chided her for wearing priestly robes and cooperating with the Church and helping mankind despite continued persecution of her people. She defeated the vampire and declared to her lost sisters that she had punished one of the ones who began their persecution. After she returned from the rift she continued her work as a church hunter.

Events of Castlevania: Dracula's Curse
Years later, the witch trials were still raging in her homeland of Wallachia. Humans had wrongly accused Dracula's beloved wife Lisa of witchcraft and had burned her to a stake. It is not known if dark beings like Carmilla had a role in this trial as well, but Dracula had decided that all of humanity would pay for their sins. He raised an army of devils and began to raze Europe to the ground. The church wasted no time in arranging a hunting party, but the powerful army they had sent to counter the vampire never returned. As a last resort, they called upon Sypha, who accepted the mission, knowing that her beloved home was now in ruins. Because of the region's especially high intolerance of witches, she decided it was best to enter the area disguised as a man. As she was making her way into the Mad Forest towards Dracula's Castle, she was captured by the Cyclops and turned to stone.

After she did not return from her mission, the church believed that she was dead and started looking far and wide for one of the legendary Belmont warriors to save them. They found in Trevor Belmont a mighty warrior, calling himself a "true vampire hunter", who accepted the task. He, possibly with the help of the rogue Grant DaNasty, battled the Cyclops with a seemingly normal stone statue in the background. When they defeated it, the curse was lifted, and Sypha returned to her normal state. Sypha was grateful for being saved and joined their party. Trevor and Grant mistook her for a man and accepted the help. They were later joined by Alucard, the son of Dracula who wished to oppose him. At some point during their quest, it became apparent that Sypha was a woman. Grant grew to admire Sypha and began to have feelings for her, perhaps even before Trevor had even figured out that she was a woman. But the man that Sypha was truly interested in would be that "true vampire hunter" that she had always dreamed of meeting, Trevor. She started feeling more comfortable with herself when she was around him. The party of four warriors may have split up several times along the way, but they rejoined prior to facing Dracula. The battle was very fierce and left its mark on the participants, but together they were able to defeat Dracula for the first time. After the battle, Sypha felt safe enough to put her hood down and watched the castle crumble in Trevor's arms. Grant would later say "I should have fought for her".

After Castlevania: Dracula's Curse
Sypha likely left her hard life as a hunter of the church and settled down as Trevor's wife. Their marriage may have been a cause for celebration throughout the land. However, Grant could not bear watching Sypha getting married to another, and they would sorely miss him at their wedding. He would avoid them for the next three years. It is also possible that Alucard would not have attended their wedding either, as he may have already have submerged himself for guilt of his part in his father's death. They would soon have children that would carry on the Belmont legacy. Sypha proved to generally have the final say in matters dealing with the home and Trevor would continue his role as Vampire Hunter.

Though Dracula had been defeated and they were now praised rather than scorned, their life was still not easy. Upon his defeat, with his dying breath, Dracula left a demonic curse that enshrouded all of Europe in misery and torment. After three years, Trevor set out to find the source of this curse and to a devil forgemaster Isaac who had been away on a mission while Dracula was defeated. After three years, Trevor left to investigate, probably leaving Sypha home to take care of the family. As soon as he entered Wallachia, he found himself in the same time rift that Sypha had encountered years ago. At about the same time, while he was rebuilding Wallachia, Grant also had entered the rift. Their experiences may have been different than Sypha's and each other's while in the rift. Grant started a quest to mend his broken heart, first by teaching Golem a painful lesson of what love was like, a battle. When he came upon the younger Sypha, he told her that he would become her husband. In disbelief, Sypha asked him to prove it by defeating her. Grant proved himself worthy of her by beating her, but then he apologized for lying to her. Grant was then able to tell Trevor how he had felt about Sypha and the reason he had not come to their wedding. Trevor took this as meaning he thought he was more worthy of her than he and asked him to prove it. After a satisfying victory over Trevor, Grant finally decided that he wished them a happy life together. After he returned from the rift, he probably came back in touch with their family. Meanwhile Trevor encountered the younger version Sypha and was delighted to be able to find out what it would be like to fight her while she was in her prime and still a warrior and with no emotional attachments. Upon defeating her, he declared "I fought fair and won the day", but then he lamented "If only the same held true in our household."

After Trevor returned he became entangled in a battle between two of Dracula's former Devil Forgemasters. He became grievously wounded in the events, and Dracula was nearly risen in the body of Isaac. The transformation was incomplete, but it became clear that Dracula was still a threat and might come back one day. Trevor and Sypha would raise their children and they would raise their children in preparation of the day that Dracula would return. Sypha and her compatriots Alucard and Grant who had fought alongside Trevor against Dracula became known as the "Legendary Three Warriors" and their tales were passed down from generation to generation of Belmonts. Sypha had passed along great magic abilities to some of her descendants, most noticeably Juste Belmont, who would be born two hundred and fifty years later, and was able to combine the elemental spiritual magic of Sypha with the holy power passed down from Trevor. Her descendants would face Dracula many times over the next five hundred years.

Other members of the Belnades Clan would also continue serving the church in much the same capacity that Sypha had for generations, including Yoko Belnades in the 21st century. Their exact relationship to Sypha is unclear. Other relatives of Sypha's include Carrie Fernandez and her cousin Camilla Fernandez of the 19th century, and Charlotte Aulin of the 20th century.

Sypha's descendants were not the only ones who remembered her though. Dracula's castle would maintain an image of her and Trevor and Grant. Once against Alucard, who had fought alongside them, skeletons came out of their caskets and grew new flesh that resembled these three warriors. It might not have be clear if these were in fact the reanimated remains of the heroes. Fake Sypha would hover in the air blasting elemental magic at Alucard and would revive Fake Trevor if he was ever struck down. Alucard would remain unaffected though and defeated them, but the deception was repeated a hundred and fifty years later when Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin explored the castle.

Castlevania Judgment
Sypha Belnades has been confirmed to appear in Castlevania: Judgment as a playable character.

Judgment Quotes

 * Short description: "A witch who made deals with spirits"
 * "If you wish to see the power of the elements, it would be my pleasure."
 * "Brand me a heretic, and I shall wear the title proudly."
 * Against Dracula, Alucard, or Carmilla: "Accursed vampire! It is time to die!"

Animated Castlevania
Sypha, along with the other Dracula's Curse characters, is featured in concept art for an animated Castlevania series by Project 51 Productions. She is confirmed to appear in the first Dracula's Curse Animated Movie.

Motion Picture
Sypha will make an appearance in the upcoming Castlevania motion picture.

Captain N
Sypha appears as an old male wizard in the episode of Captain N: The Game Master, which is actually consistent with the American manual of Dracula's Curse. His spirit tells Simon Belmont that his grandfather Trevor was an honorable man, dispelling the lies that Dracula had told while posing as the Poltergeist King. He has a tough time remembering spells, but does aid in the battle against Dracula and his son Alucard.

Appearance Gallery
For more artwork, please see category.

Trivia

 * Zombies impersonating Sypha, Trevor, and Grant appear in a boss battle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.
 * The Fernandez warrior from Castlevania 64 was originally conceived as Sypha Belnades herself. The designers ultimately scrapped the idea before the game's release, simply making her Sypha's descendant.
 * In Dawn of Sorrow Yoko Belnades is a playable character whose fighting style - very similar to Sypha's - includes the use of various spells and a weak staff.
 * In Captain N cartoon, an old wizard was unknown to be reveal in the beginning but reveal as a female instead to Simon Belmont and the other N Team.
 * Sypha's theme in Castlevania : Judgment is "Mad Forest".