- "I will add you to my collection."
- — Headhunter at the beginning of the fight (translation)
The Headhunter is a boss in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. This demon collects the severed heads of his victims.[1]
Origins
Illustration of Princess Langwidere from Ozma of Oz (1907).
The Headhunter is based on Princess Langwidere from L. Frank Baum's book Ozma of Oz, the third book in the Oz series. She is the Princess of Ev and is extremely vain. Instead of changing clothes, she prefers to change her head with one of the thirty she keeps in her large boudoir.
When Dorothy and friends arrive, the princess decides she wants her head for her personal collection and imprisons them until she agrees to her demands. Later, when Princess Ozma comes on a mission to free the Queen of Ev and her children, Langwidere agrees to release Dorothy to her.
Another inspiration for the Headhunter could be the cursed human thief Jacqueline Montarri from the Dungeons & Dragons game setting Ravenloft. Jacqueline was a thief looking for eternal youth and she murdered a Vistani (gypsy) elder to get the secret. It led her to the castle of Strahd von Zarovich, who caught her in his library and had her beheaded for her crime. The Vistani took her body and placed a curse upon her: she did get eternal life as she wanted, but woke up with the head of the murdered Vistani elder attached to her body instead of her own. She soon realized she could replace the head with others, and since the heads she wore aged fast, she collected hundreds of them over the last 200 years. Much like the Headhunter, she can use whatever skill the head's original user possessed, so if she wears a wizard's head, she can cast spells, if a fighter's, she has better melee skills, and so on.[2]
Description
The Headhunter is one of the most bizarre bosses Soma encounters in the game. This demon first appears as a noblewoman who wants nothing more than to welcome him into her parlor... so she can chop his head off. She wields a dagger and performs short lunges with it in an attempt to stab him.
Once she has sustained enough damage, her head suddenly falls off from her body and is immediately replaced another of an old, white bearded magician, allowing the Headhunter to fly about the room and cast fire and lightning spells. Once Soma lops that head off too, the Headhunter comes back with one final surprise in the form of a reptilian head.
With the reptilian head on, the rest of the Headhunter's body changes entirely to match it, becoming a humanoid lizard monster. The boss can now scutter about the parlor's walls and ceiling, lashing out its lethal tongue toward Soma and sometimes spraying poison out of its mouth. Once this third and final head has been chopped off, the Headhunter will die in a burst of flames while the entire head collection in the background will spontaneously combust as well.
Enemy Data
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Item Data
| Item Data: Headhunter (edit) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
|
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| Collect souls to increase strength. (The more souls it collects, the stronger it becomes.) | Drop: Headhunter |
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Notes
- It¿s possible to skip the Headhunter without using any glitches, since the other entrance to the Inner Quarters can be reached by performing a double jump with the Flying Armor's soul equipped.
Gallery
Trivia
- In the Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku novel, it is mentioned that Count Olrox knew the Headhunter, although he never came to understand his bizarre pastime of collecting heads.
References
- ↑ The Headhunter's in-game Enemy data entry refers to him as a male.
- ↑
http://www.lomion.de/cmm/humacurs.php
| Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow |
|---|
| Characters |
| Protagonists |
| Soma Cruz • Mina Hakuba • J./Julius Belmont • Yoko Belnades • Genya Arikado (Alucard) • Hammer |
| Antagonist |
| Graham Jones |
| Bosses |
| Creaking Skull • Manticore • Great Armor • Big Golem • Headhunter • Death • Legion • Balore • Graham • Belmont • Chaos |
| Areas |
| Castle Corridor • Chapel • Study • Dance Hall • Inner Quarters • Floating Garden • Clock Tower Underground Reservoir • Underground Cemetery • The Arena • Top Floor • Forbidden Area • Chaotic Realm |
| Music |
| Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Original Soundtrack |
| Guides |
| Futabasha Official Guide • NTT Pub Official Guide |
| Archives |
| Bestiary • Inventory • In-Game Formula • Julius Mode • Voice Translations |