Legion

Legion is a boss in the Castlevania series. He is referred to as "the one who is many".

OriginsEdit

The origin of Legion's design is a biblical account of a large number of demons who possessed a man. The New Testament outlines an encounter where Jesus healed a man from Gadara possessed by demons while traveling, known as "the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac". Thus, from the concept of being "composed of many" came the design of the shell composed of a large number of human bodies.

The Symphony of the Night boss, Granfaloon, is named after a concept from a 1963 novel called Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In the novel, a "Granfaloon" is a satirical reference to a group of high-minded people who share a similar belief. The group is described by Vonnegut as "a proud and meaningless association of human beings". The Granfaloon in Castlevania would be a literal representation of this idea.^[1]

General descriptionEdit

A seething lump of flesh made from innumerable human sacrifices. Crushes foes with its massive weight. The general design is a floating sphere composed of numerous featureless humanoid bodies that acts as a shell concealing a center core of varying identity. Generally speaking, the shell has to be broken apart by repeated strikes before the core is exposed, and only by damaging the core can the boss be defeated.

AppearancesEdit

Castlevania: Symphony of the NightEdit

Legion is found as the boss of the Catacombs. The shell has nine parts (arranged like spaces on a tic-tac-toe board), although just by destroying the center section is sufficient to expose the core. The shell "attacks" by dropping bodies which fall to the ground and then walk aimlessly like zombies. If Alucard is closest to a non-destroyed portion of the shell, Legion will occasionally let out a growl and then a scream, followed by a shower of bodies raining upon him. If the portion of the shell Alucard is closest to is destroyed, then the newly exposed core tentacle (out of eight) will start firing off powerful laser beams instead.

Legion can be defeated without first destroying all nine shell parts (eight (inter)cardinal directions and one directly covering the core), but if all shell parts are destroyed, then inbetween single laser shots, Legion's tentacles will also fire off sets of homing laser shots that are very difficult to avoid.

Castlevania: Circle of the MoonEdit

The Legion found in Circle of the Moon is very different from the rest of his other incarnations. For starters, it is a lesser enemy, not a boss. Instead of being a composed of many full corpses, it is smaller and is only composed of an amalgamation of heads. It's still relatively large, however, has a rather deceptive high mobility, and will inflict Curse status on contact.

Nathan fights many of these in the Observation Tower.

Castlevania: Harmony of DissonanceEdit

In Harmony of Dissonance, there are two Legions:

Legion (saint)Edit

Legion (saint) is found in the Sky Walkway in Castle B and is similar to the Symphony Legion, but only has four parts, and destroying any one of them will expose the core. It apparently floats in mid-air using a pair of angelic wings (only a graphical feature, not gameplay-relevant). Also, Legion (saint) does not drop bodies, but will only occasionally produce smaller versions of itself which fly over to the player for physical damage and inflicting Curse status. Destroying the shell reveals a small core with three tentacles which can periodically shoot dashed laser beams.

Legion (corpse)Edit

Legion (corpse) is found in the Skeleton Cave (a catacombs-like area) in Castle A. Instead of a shell of bodies, this Legion is protected by a shell of bones, mostly human skulls - a shell that is actually indestructible. However, hitting this shell sufficiently causes it to open and reveal a bobbing-head skeleton at the bottom of it (along with a graphical touch of flies escaping), and this skeleton is its actual weakness. The skeleton must be hit repeatedly quickly enough or the creature will attempt to close itself again. If the shell is to any degree open, it will also drop strange-looking maggots that crawl slowly along the ground toward the player. Also, notably, even well into its death animation, Legion will still stay onscreen, damaging the player if it touches it during this time (contact confers Curse status, as well as damage to Juste and Maxim; Simon Belmont cannot be cursed).

Castlevania: Aria of SorrowEdit

Similar to its depiction in Symphony of the Night, Legion is an amalgamation of featureless bodies, this time arranged to resemble a fetus during a sonogram, surrounding a tentacled golden cage containing a demonic fetus.

It can be found at the end of the Underground Cemetery, after Soma tracks its shambling husks through the level to a large, square room. Once Soma enters the room, the last of the bodies are sucked into the sphere and Legion awakens.

Legion slowly chases Soma around the rectangular circuit of the room, occasionally shedding husks. It consists of four shells parts and a core. Each of the shells has 5,000 HP, 55 ATK and 0 DEF. While the core can be damaged without destroying any of the shell parts, the boss's soul, Legion Laser, will not drop unless all the shells have been completely destroyed before the boss perishes. As the shells are removed, the tentacled core will begin firing lasers at Soma, and if the shell is entirely removed, the core will gain the ability to infrequently retract the tentacles and rapidly bounce around the circuit.

Once slain, Legion's central cage will shatter and release the demonic fetus, which will either immediately die in a burst of flames if defeated while still having one or multiple shells attached, or float up, open it's eyes, and vanish in a small circle of light if defeated after destroying all the shell parts, yielding its soul.

Akumajō Dracula: Kabuchi no TsuisoukyokuEdit

Legion was brought back along with the Puppet Master by the remnants of Graham's cult during a partial eclipse. He created an imitation of the castle from Graham Jones' time by using bodies of humans, as well as other monsters, and which was disguised by Count Olrox. Everyone killed in the castle was assimilated by it.

This version of Legion had limbs at the center of the castle. Part of it was destroyed by Michelle Danasty and it was finished off by Julius Belmont.

Castlevania: Curse of DarknessEdit

See also: Nuculais

Legion is fought in a tall room, seemingly composed of flesh, under Garibaldi Temple. The mass hovers in the middle of the room and is reached by climbing a spiraling walkway protruding from the wall. Legion itself does not attack in any way, but featureless zombies will infinitely rise from the floor and explode if they come into contact with the player (for around 200 damage at Level 50).

When Legion is defeated, it releases a giant translucent white humanoid with an exposed heart known as Nuculais. Nuculais is one of the hardest bosses in the game and has many attacks, including turning into a mobile pool of lava, throwing the aforementioned zombies at the player (which explode on contact), and a powerful charge attack by turning its hands into blades.

Castlevania: Portrait of RuinEdit

Graphically ported from Symphony of the Night, in Portrait of Ruin Legion appears as the boss of the Nation of Fools. Like his counterparts from previous games, he is protected by a core made with the bodies of innumerable men which fall and pace on the ground when the core is attacked. Legion himself is a grotesque flying being with bearing nine tentacle-like limbs.

He cannot be defeated without destroying his outer shell first. Even if the player concentrates their attacks on the core, all sections will eventually fall anyway, revealing the monster himself. In this form, Legion will not only fire the blue lasers seen in other games, but it will also spin slowly and launch fire under pressure from the tentacles.

Enemy DataEdit

Enemy Data: Legion
Image	Name - Game Description	Statistics	Items	Location
	98. Granfaloon  (Legion)			[ edit ]
	Symphony of the Night
	Nightmarish creature. Composed of many.	Strong: Dark Weak: Holy Level: 28 HP: 400 Exp: 3,000	Guard: Life Vessel, Mormegil	Catacombs
	Legion (jpn)			[ edit ]
	Circle of the Moon
	''Abil: Curse	Strong: Darkness HP: 420/540 (*) Exp: 1,590/2,900 Atk: 610/760 Def: 375/480	Common Drop: Cure Curse (5%) Rare Drop: Potion High (0.5%)	Chapel Tower, Observation Tower, Battle Arena(*)
	68. Legion (saint) (jpn)			[ edit ]
	Harmony of Dissonance
	'	Level: 35 HP: 1,920 Exp: 2,230		Castle B: Sky Walkway
	85. Legion (corpse) (jpn)			[ edit ]
	Harmony of Dissonance
	'	Level: 43 HP: 4,620 Exp: 3,388	Guard: Cipher's Charm	Castle A: Skeleton Cave
	109. Legion			[ edit ]
	Aria of Sorrow
	He is many, he is one.	Strong: Darkness Weak: Holy HP: 5,000 MP: 9,999 Exp: 12,000 Atk: 55 Def: 25 Timestop: Unaffected	Soul: Legion Laser (you need to destroy all 4 parts of shell before killing him)	Underground Cemetery (as a boss)
	148. Legion Lv.52			[ edit ]
	Curse of Darkness
	A seething lump of flesh made from innumerable human sacrifices. Crushes foes with its massive weight.	Strong: Dark Weak: Light Level: 52 HP: 6900 Exp: 0	Steal: Pizza	Garibaldi Temple
	143. Legion			[ edit ]
	Portrait of Ruin
	The one who is many.	Strong: Dark Weak: Slash, Fire, Holy HP: 2,000 Exp: 4,000 Skill Pt: 50	Guard: Cog	Nation of Fools
	Legion			[ edit ]
	Encore of the Night
	''Abil: Corpse Toss - Turns (unknown formula) of the player's blocks inactive.	HP: 3600 Exp: +1 level	Drop: Twilight Cloak Steal: ~2 gold, 70 silver	Marble Gallery
	57. Legion			[ edit ]
	Harmony of Despair (dlc)
	The one who is many.	Strong: Darkness Weak: Strike, Lightning, Holy	Drop: Globus (Normal and hard Shanoa only) Soul: Red (0.50%) Fire a beam at enemies.	Chapter 8

Item DataEdit

Item Data: Legion
Image	Name - Game Description	Type / Users	Attributes / Consume	Statistics / Sell	Found	Notes
	Life Vessel [alt] - Symphony of the Night					[edit]
	Increases the player's maximum HP (life) capacity.	Item (standard) any		Maximum HP + 5	Find: Found throughout the Castle, often in containers. Drop: Most bosses.	Effect: Restore all life and increases Max HP
	Mormegil (Holy Buster) - Symphony of the Night					[edit]
	Black sword - strong vs. holy	Sword Alucard	Attrib: Cut, Dark	ATT +25	Find: Catacombs (after defeating Granfaloon)
	Cure Curse (jpn) - Circle of the Moon					[edit]
	Remove curse status.	Recovery Item (Cure) Nathan			Drop: Marionette, Legion
	Potion High (Hi-Potion) - Circle of the Moon					[edit]
	Recover 250 HP.	Recovery Item (Health Potion) Nathan		HP +250	Drop: Wind Armor, Devil, Devil Armor, White Armor, Legion
	Cipher's Charm (Sypha's Crystal) - Harmony of Dissonance					[edit]
	Speeds up the rate at which MP are restored.	Goods Juste Belmont			Find: Skeleton Cave (Castle A)	Effect: Increased MP regeneration.
	Legion - Legion Laser - Aria of Sorrow					[edit]
	Fires an array of lasers.	Bullet Soul Soma	Attrib: Darkness Consume: 66 MP	320 AP	Rarity: Always get the soul if all shells are destroyed. Drop: Legion
	Pizza - Curse of Darkness					[edit]
	A simple-is-best thin crust with cheese topping.	Food Hector		HP +90	Steal: Legion Lv.52
	Cog (jpn) [alt] - Portrait of Ruin					[edit]
	A cog from the clock tower.(...)	Item Jonathan, Charlotte		Sell: (cannot be sold)	Find: Nation of Fools	Effect: Used to open a path in the Tower of Death.
	Globus - Harmony of Despair					[edit]
	Unleash an energy sphere.	Hunter Skill Glyph Shanoa	Attrib: Strike Consume: 12 MP	ATK +8	Rarity: *** Find: Purple chests (Chapter 8 Hard) Drop: Legion First Obtained: Chapter 8
	Legion - Harmony of Despair					[edit]
	Fire a beam at enemies.	Bullet Soul Soma	Attrib: Holy Consume: 20 MP	ATK +13	Rarity: *** Steal: Legion (0.5%) First Obtained: Chapter 8

TriviaEdit

• Legion (saint)'s core form from Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Legion's core from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow are apparently based on the Tentacle, a recurrent enemy from the Gradius series, being that they're both floating spherical cores with three tentacles that end in claws from which they shoot lasers at the player.
  • Likewise, its soul in Aria of Sorrow, Legion Laser, allows Soma to grow three tentacles on his back, similar to those from the aforementioned creature, and shoot lasers straightforward.
• The Legion from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is one of the reasons the game got an M rating.
• Legion's core somewhat resembles depictions of the ophanim, a type of angel that is said to hold up God's throne, and among the highest ranked in the angelic hierarchy. They are described as several wheels spinning and rotating within each other, similarly to a gyroscope with rims covered in eyes.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Castlevania & History Special - Did You Know Gaming? feat. Markiplier.

External linksEdit

• IGN's Big Boss of the Day: Castlevania's Legion