Shaft

Shaft is a dark priest from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
In 1792, Shaft resurrected Dracula and aided him in his plans to kidnap several young girls, including Maria Renard and Annette. Richter Belmont encountered him at least once in his adventure, and Shaft was defeated after conjuring several monsters previously fought by Simon Belmont. Exclusively in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, Shaft's final fate depends on the protagonist's actions. If Richter or Maria failed to rescue Annette, she took the place of Shaft Ghost as the boss of Stage 7, and Shaft Ghost survives, arriving before Dracula is killed and protecting him long enough for him to escape. If Annette is rescued, Shaft Ghost is fought properly and destroyed.

Shaft would come to exist only as a spirit transferred and kept in a crystal ball.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
In 1797, Shaft kidnapped Richter and brainwashed him, knowing no one could defeat him because he was the strongest of all vampire hunters. He was instrumental in using his evil powers to control Richter, turning him against anyone who would seek to defy the Count (unbeknownst to Maria and Alucard). Maria guessed that he was under supernatural coercion and helped Alucard see past Shaft's deceptions. Alucard was able to save Richter instead of killing him and put an end to the dark priest's ambitions.

Abilities

 * Magic Mastery: Shaft can use many types of magic attacks, most of which are fire, ice, or lightning-based. Shaft usually uses his magic through his orbs.
 * Summoning the Dead: Like the Necromancer, Shaft can resurrect the dead.
 * Immortality: Shaft can be killed, like Death and Dracula, but he can return in ghost form.

Shaft
Shaft will not, at first, fight the player but instead summon Phantom Bat, Medusa, The Mummy, and Frankenstein Monster to fight, in that order. After all the monsters are taken care of, Shaft will teleport to fight Richter himself and summons orbs with elemental properties. They can transform into large flames that can be redirected with a strike. The orbs will also float to the top and unleash lightning downward. Shaft will also command the orbs to simply rotate around a point, creating an obstacle for Richter.

Shaft Ghost
As his penultimate form, Shaft manages to cheat Death himself for one last shot at Richter. When Richter enters the ceremonial chamber, Shaft's empty cloak appears on the altar, and soon comes to life. Shaft Ghost attacks mainly by flying around the room, continually pausing to summon the rotting remains of two past enemies: the Wyvern and the Behemoth. Wyvern breathes fire and dives at the hero, while the Behemoth leaps out from the ground itself.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
During Alucard mode, Shaft is encountered first in Richter's room. He appears as a green orb, and cannot attack Alucard at all. He can be seen as long as Holy Glasses is equipped. Though his HP is only 10, his defense is so great (5000 DEF) that each hit only deals 1 damage. Though he has no weakness, it's recommended to use Holy or Stone attributed weapon such as Holy Sword or Medusa Shield, since Richter is immune to those weapons. Killing him in this form will let Alucard go to Reverse Castle and continue his quest.

Shaft returns as the penultimate boss directly before encountering Dracula. He utilizes orbs (30 ATT, Hit) as he did in Rondo of Blood but they're far more numerous. The orbs also use the same elemental properties but attack in completely different ways. The orbs can turn into flaming spheres that launch toward Alucard's general direction that burst into towering flames on impact (42 ATT, Fire). When two orbs become parallel with each others they'll launch lightning continuously between them (43 ATT, Thunder). The orbs will also occasionally start to rebound around the room (64 ATT, Hit).

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night
Shaft appears as an opponent in story mode of Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night. He also is available as a playable character in Arcade Mode.

Quotes

 * Hmm, intriguing. Strong indeed. Very well, then. Face me!
 * Shafton Fire!
 * Shafton Lightning!
 * Protect me!

Trivia

 * Carmilla's abilities in Castlevania: Dracula X are similar Shaft's own powers in Rondo of Blood.
 * Ghost on Stage 4' of Castlevania: Dracula X, is basically Shaft's equivalent in the game.
 * In Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, the remake of Rondo of Blood, Shaft's skin tone was changed to match the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night artwork of his ghostly self.
 * Also in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, if the player has not yet felled his ghost, Shaft will appear after Dracula's second form is defeated. The two villains will flee, thus ending the battle and the game prematurely.
 * Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles also changes the storyline of the original game somewhat by giving Shaft a somewhat larger role he was ironically responsible for detecting and unlocking Maria's magical potential (rather than Maria getting caught while trying to be a hero), and was also the one to explicitly kidnap Annette.
 * According to David Cox's post on Facebook, in Lords of Shadow universe, Zobek is an amalgamation of Shaft and Death.