Aguni

Not to be confused with Agunea.

Aguni
Aguni as he appears in Dawn of Sorrow.
Japanese name(s)	アグニ Aguni (Agni)
Alternate name(s)	Balrog
Abilities	Aguni Fire Levitation Swipes at the ground with his claws
Type(s)	Deity
Origins	Hindu mythology Tolkien lore
Appearances	Dawn of Sorrow Portrait of Ruin Moonlight Rhapsody

Aguni is a boss enemy introduced in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. He is the embodiment of fire, a primitive god which was captured by Dracula's magic inside an alternate realm which can only by accessed by entering through a mirror. Aguni is the main source of the pyrokinetic powers Dario Bossi controls and must be defeated instead of him to be able to get to the real ending of the game.

Aguni also appears in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin as an optional boss.

Origins

Agni, the Hindu god of fire.

Agni is a Hindu and Vedic deity. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" (noun), cognate with Latin ignis (the root of English "ignite"), Russian ogon (pronounced agon: "fire"), and ogni (pronounced agni: "fires"). Agni has three forms: fire, lightning and the sun.

Agni is one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods. He is ever-young, because the fire is re-lit every day, yet he is also immortal.

18th century depiction of the Moloch idol.
Die Alten Jüdischen Heiligthümer (1711, 1738)

His cult survived the change of the ancient Vedic fire worship into modern Hinduism. The sacred fire-drill (agnimathana) for procuring the temple-fire by friction (symbolic of Agni's daily miraculous birth) is still used.

However, Aguni's physical appearance in the Castlevania series is more reminiscent of Moloch, the biblical name of a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice, through fire or war.

Durin's Bane from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Another origin of the Castlevania enemy character is the Balrog. Balrogs are powerful demonic monsters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The first of these creatures to appear in print was in Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, where the Fellowship of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in the Mines of Moria. Balrogs also appear in Tolkien's The Silmarillion and other posthumously published books. They are tall and menacing beings which can shroud themselves in fire, darkness, and shadow. They are armed with fiery whips "of many thongs", and occasionally use long swords.

Appearances

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Aguni first appears when Celia Fortner decides that Dario Bossi is completely outmatched by Soma Cruz. In order to grant him enough power to defeat Soma, Dario binds his soul with Aguni, and by doing this, he greatly increases his pyrokinetic powers. The game hints that something is not right during their conversation by displaying Aguni and not Dario's reflection on the mirror that is behind him. And so, instead of fighting Dario directly, Soma uses the power of Paranoia, Phase Shifter, to enter the mirror and destroy Aguni.

Aguni is an impressive looking demon that resembles the giant skeletal torso of a bull-like humanoid hybrid creature clad in spiked armor, with large clawed hands, and engulfed in flames. He mainly stays near the top of the screen and hovers from side to side. His main form of attack consists in unleashing a variety of fiery attacks.

Since Aguni's body is very large and he almost always remains on the top half of the screen, using a weapon that traces a wide overhead arc is advisable, such as a great sword or an axe. Furthermore, precisely because of these characteristics, Aguni is especially vulnerable to thrown axes (sub-weapon type), as they'll inflict several hits to him during their travel.

Attacks

• Claw swipes: Aguni quickly positions himself above the player and performs up to three consecutive swipes downward with his powerful claws. Each time he performs a swipe, he'll quickly reposition himself above the player's new current position. Luring him to claw on one spot and then moving away with proper timing will allow the player to easily avoid these attacks.
• Aguni Fire: Aguni stops for a moment and remains hovering in place, extending his arms. He then proceeds to spew a series of fireballs toward the ground that, once they land, turn into medium-sized pillars of fire that travel along the floor until they leave the screen. These traveling flames leave a considerable space between them, allowing the player to jump over one, land, and then jump over the next (care should be taken not to bump onto Aguni's extended hand above).
• Swoops: Aguni starts performing large swoops across the room in an attempt to bump into the player. He usually performs these when he's far away from the player or after having finished another attack, and can perform up to three consecutive swoops. In most cases, just crouching and/or sliding away from his path is enough to avoid these.
• Flaming dive: Aguni suddenly stops and launches himself upward, leaving the screen, just to drop headfirst with great force a moment later, unleashing two large fountains of fire from the place of the impact –one left and one right– that travel a short distance.

Aguni's soul allows Soma to unleash the Aguni Fire, which sends a shockwave of flames in a forward direction on the ground. This soul is very similar to the Frozen Shade's soul, except that Aguni's travels across the ground much faster.

If the player decides to defeat Dario directly (thus getting the bad ending), then Soma will seal Dario's power with a Magic Seal, which will cause Aguni to overload Dario and destroy him from within.

No. Name JPN HP MP ATK 113 Aguni アグニ Aguni (Agni) 4,000 9,999 99 Tolerance Weakness Fire, Clockwork (unaffected) Water Location Common Drop Rare Drop Soul EXP The Pinnacle - - Aguni Fire 10,000 Description "A being that is the embodiment of fire."

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Aguni also appears in Portrait of Ruin as an optional boss found in the coliseum-like secret portrait, the Nest of Evil. He fights exactly like he did in the previous game, the only difference is that his appearance in this game isn't canonical.

No. Name JPN HP 133 Aguni アグニ Aguni (Agni) 4,000 Tolerance Weakness Fire Ice Location Common Drop Rare Drop EXP SP Nest of Evil - - 3,500 70 Description "A primitive god of fire, captured by Dracula's magic."

Gallery

Balrog artwork from Moonlight Rhapsody.

Balrog beta bestiary entry from Moonlight Rhapsody.

Trivia

• Aguni may be an incorrect translation of the name "Agni", although it could also be a pun on the word "agony".
• Aguni's trademark attack, Aguni Fire, which creates a pillar of fire that travels across the ground, may be the base of Dracula's iconic yet unnamed flame pillars attack (first seen in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse), as this was a power only the Dark Lord Candidates were able to control (the same way as Dmitrii Blinov mastered Dracula's Power of Dominance).
  • Other characteristic Dracula's powers (such as Hellfire, Bat Form and Death Touch) were previously given their origins in the prequel Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

See also

• Agni's Flame