Julius Belmont

Julius Belmont is the latest warrior in the Belmont family line that have been the heroes of nearly all the Castlevania series games. He was responsible for the apparently ultimate defeat of Dracula during 1999, previous to the events of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, but this caused him to have amnesia. Only remembering that his name started with a "J" he wandered the lands and eventually found himself in Dracula's castle. He also makes an appearance in Aria's direct sequel, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, where he joins Yoko Belnades and Genya Arikado in attempting to stop Celia Fortner and her cult from reviving the Dark Lord once more.

Aria of Sorrow
During the events of Aria of Sorrow, Julius has had amnesia ever since his battle with Dracula in 1999. Through some hidden intuition, he arrives at Dracula's castle and begins searching it for clues of his identity. He later regains his memory and learns that it was Soma Cruz, not Graham Jones, who was the reincarnation of Dracula, and goes off to find the Vampire Killer whip of his lineage - used by him to help seal Dracula and his castle in the eclipse - to prepare for the inevitable conflict between him and Soma, should Soma succeed in defeating Graham and regaining Dracula's power.

Just as he predicts, Soma does indeed regain Dracula's power, and the two engage in battle right before Soma enters the Chaotic Realm to sever Dracula's ties with the Chaos that fed him. Despite being at full strength, Julius was defeated by Soma, who realized Julius had intentionally held back. This was because Julius could sense Soma's pure soul fighting back the dark influence of Dracula's power, and desired to help him fulfill his quest to rid himself of that influence. Before they parted, Soma made Julius promise to finish the job their fight had started, should he fail. Should the player fail in defeating the final boss, Chaos, then Soma sits upon the throne in the castle, drinking from a goblet containing a liquid of blood red color. Julius enters, and says that he will make good on his promise. Soma rises and it is assumed the two do battle. The canonical ending, however, is that Soma defeats Chaos, and preserves his humanity.

Dawn of Sorrow
In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Julius comes to the reflection of Dracula's castle along with Genya Arikado and Yoko Belnades in order to stop Celia, the leader of a shadow cult from reviving the Dark Lord. Soma's first encounter with Julius is at The Lost Village, as Julius and Yoko are standing at the edge of a chasm. Julius encourages Soma to leave the castle, due to the fact he may succumb to his dark nature. Soma refuses and Julius accepts his determination. He then makes a massive leap across the chasm, and continues down the bridge on the other side.

The next encounter with Julius is in the Condemned Tower, where Julius is examining a barrier that has been formed in that location. While Soma asks Julius whether he can break the barrier, Julius says that he can, but it would drain his powers immensely. He then asks Soma about his current investigation through the castle, and Soma reveals Celia's plan to revive the Dark Lord via defeating Soma with one of the Dark Lord's candiates, Dmitrii Blinov or Dario Bossi. Julius leaves to search for Arikado, with whom he will confer with on this matter.

Shortly after Soma enters the Cursed Clock Tower, Julius enters along with Arikado to confront Celia. Celia is overconfident as she has finished bonding the soul of a powerful flame demon to Dario's soul, granting him vastly increased powers. Arikado instructs Julius to follow Dario and he himself will pursue Celia.

Evidently, Julius did battle Dario but was defeated due to his inability to use a Magic Seal. Because he could not use a Magic Seal, Dario simply gathered more dark energy from the gates of darkness in the castle and renewed his health, something he could do indefintely. Soma arrives to save Julius and Dario retreats, but reveals to Soma the location of their final battle at The Pinnacle. Julius explains to Soma why he lost but Soma asks him whether he had faced enemies that regenerated before, in which case, Julius revealed he had, but he had destroyed them before they could regenerate. Due to Dario's powers, however, and the gates of darkness, this tactic was impossible. Julius then sends Soma off to stop Dario, saying his flame powers are immense, but Soma should have the necessary power to stop him.

Near the end of the game, Julius converses with Arikado next to the barrier he originally claimed he could break while Soma enters. Although Julius is reluctant to use so much power, as it will leave him unable to continue the fight, Arikado convinces him that his power is the only way to pierce the barrier. Julius relents and uses his full power to break the barrier, and following the ordeal, is exhausted. He then tells Soma the pains of age and asks him to pursue Celia and Dmitrii through the newly opened passageway.

Julius' last scene in the game is after Soma has defeated the final opponent, Menace, and escaped the castle along with Arikado. He laughs with the other characters as they poke fun at Soma and his girlfriend, Mina.

Julius Mode
Once the player has completed Aria of Sorrow, if a new game is stared with the file name 'JULIUS', they can play through the game as the vampire hunter, with all the classic Belmont abilities. However, most players prefer playing as Soma, since Julius cannot acquire souls or new weapons and in Aria of Sorrow never levels up, making the first parts of the game ridiculously easy and the latter parts of the video game almost 'broken' with the extreme difficulty (that is, if the player choose not to fight some of the bosses that could be skipped as a result of Julius' inherent ability to double jump, high jump and slide from the beginning, since killing bosses increase Julius' attack and defense powers). Beating Aria of Sorrow as Julius is seen as a badge of honour among Castlevania fans.

In Dawn of Sorrow, Julius Mode is unlocked if the player does not equip Mina's Talisman when Celia slays a fake Mina in the Garden of Madness. This causes Soma to succumb to his dark nature and he becomes the new Dark Lord. This mode can be selected in the start menu and the character starts the game as Julius (it will also unlock if the player wears Mina's Talisman and proceeds to complete the game, earning the "best" ending). He is armed with the Belmont heirloom whip, Vampire Killer, as well as a variety of subweapons, which include an Axe, a Holy Water assault that goes along the ground, a Cross Boomerang, and a powerful, multi-hit attack known as Cross Slash. Unlike the representation in Aria of Sorrow, Julius can level up and increase his power in this game. Furthermore, he can find two other characters that join his party, which are the witch Yoko Belnades, and the prodigal knight Alucard.

Notes on Julius' age

 * Julius may be the eldest of the Belmonts to be called into active battle. In Dawn of Sorrow, he is 56 according to the Konami manual, which indicates he was born in 1980. This would place him at age 19 in the battle of 1999. This last fact should be kept in mind because, like the other Belmonts, he was at his prime during his biggest adventure, but the battle of '99 was never made into a game.
 * In Castlevania: Bloodlines, Belmont decendant John Morris took up Vampire Killer to take on Dracula. Although John has been slated to make an appearance in the upcoming Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, he has passed the whip, and role of hero, to his son Jonathan Morris. It is likely that Julius would have done the same thing, but the amnesia he recieved after the battle of 1999 made him forget the importance of having a child to continue the Belmont legacy. Thus, when the cult threatened the world, he was forced to go back into battle himself.