Legion is a recurring boss in the Castlevania series. He is referred to as "the one who is many".
Origins[]
(Sebastian Bourdon, 1653)
The origin of Legion's design comes from a biblical account about a demon –or several demons– who possessed a man. The New Testament outlines an encounter where Jesus healed a man from Gadara possessed by demons while traveling, in an event that came to be known as "the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac". The story has many variations; according to the Gospel of Mark, a man "possessed by a demon" came from the caves to meet Jesus. Jesus approached and called the demon to come out of the man and asked him his name, to which the demon replied: "My name is Legion, for we are many." Thus, from the concept of being composed of "many" came the design of the shell comprised of a large number of human bodies seen in the Castlevania creature.
In most accounts of the story, however, it is a large number of demons who possessed the man. The demons make Jesus a plea to not cast them out of the region (in the Gospel of Luke, they plea not to be sent back into Hell), but instead to send them into a herd of swine on a nearby hillside. Jesus consents, causing the possessed swine to run down a hill into a lake and drown (other variants of the story have the demons allowed to run free and they enter the herd of swine on their own resolution).
The English localized name used for this boss enemy in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, "Granfaloon", has its origin on a concept found in Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 science fiction novel, Cat's Cradle. In the novel, the fictional religion of Bokononism defines a "karass" for a group of people who are linked together by some purpose or destiny. They also define a "granfaloon" as a "false karass", or a group of people who think they are in a karass together, but actually aren't because their connection is meaningless. It is a satirical reference to a group of high-minded people who share a similar belief, 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 description[]
In almost all of its appearances, Legion is depicted as a floating sphere that is protected by an outer shell composed of a massive gathering of innumerable humanoid bodies. This enormous lump of flesh conceals an inner core whose identity can vary depending on the game it is encountered in. In most cases, the shell must be broken apart piece by piece by striking it repeatedly before parts of the core can be exposed, and only by damaging it can the boss be defeated. In most portrayals of this enemy, when the shell is hit, pieces of it will crumble to the floor, these usually being either the bodies that comprise its structure and which sometimes will aimlessly shamble across the floor in a zombie-like manner, or small and infectious maggots, or even harmless spurts of bodily fluids.
In most incarnations, the grotesque entity will move from side to side in an almost imperceptible motion, although never getting too far from its initial place at the center of the room. Its movements are so deceptive that they may take the player by surprise while they're focused in only inflicting damage, potentially resulting in them getting bumped with the massive weight of the monster and receiving a considerable amount of damage.
Appearances[]
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night[]
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.
A viable method to defeat Legion without too much effort and with the means of attack the player should likely have acquired by that point in the game, is to transform into a bat and repeatedly perform Wing Smashes, left and right, aimed at Legion's central area, which will take care of some of the body shell segments and also heavily damage the core until defeated.
Another very easy method to defeat him is to quickly throw vials of Holy Water at the center of the room –where the core will emerge– as soon as one enters the boss room. Depending on the player's stats, this can kill Legion in just a couple of seconds, not giving him time to attack even once.
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Castlevania: Circle of the Moon[]
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 Graves fights many of these in the Observation Tower.
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Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance[]
In Harmony of Dissonance, there are two Legions:
Legion (saint)[]
Legion (saint) is found in the Sky Walkway in Castle B. It is similar to the Symphony of the Night Legion, although this time its shell only has four parts and destroying any of them will expose the core. It hovers in mid-air using twelve angelic wings (arranged in pairs, with three sets on each side). Unlike the Symphony Legion, Legion (saint) doesn't drop any bodies and will instead occasionally produce smaller versions of itself which will then fly toward the player for physical damage, as well as inflict Curse status on contact. Destroying the shell will reveal a small core with three tentacles which can periodically shoot dashed laser beams.
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Legion (corpse)[]
Legion (corpse) is found in the Skeleton Cave of Castle A (a catacombs-like area). Instead of a shell of bodies, this Legion is protected by a shell of bones mostly comprised of human skulls and which is indestructible. However, hitting this shell sufficiently will cause it to open and reveal a bobbing-head skeleton at its bottom (along with a graphical touch of flies flying away), and this skeleton is its actual weakness. The skeleton must repeatedly be hit 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 will slowly crawl on the floor toward the player. Also, notably, even well into its death animation, Legion will still stay onscreen, damaging the player if they touch it during this time (contact confers Curse status, as well as damage to Juste and Maxim; Simon Belmont cannot be cursed).
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Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow[]
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 Cruz 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 its eyes, and vanish in a small circle of light if defeated after destroying all the shell parts, yielding its soul.
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Akumajō Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisōkyoku[]
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 Darkness[]
- See also: Nuculais
Legion dwells in the innermost depths of Garibaldi Temple. In order to reach the path that leads to its lair, the player has to make use of the Magic Circle ability (or any of its variants) of a Devil-Type Innocent Devil to pass under the crack on the wall of the room located near the lower-left corner of the map, and from there follow the only path down until reaching the boss room.
Legion is fought in a tall room entirely made of living flesh and bones. The mass hovers in the middle of the room and is reached by climbing a spiraling walkway made of bones protruding from the wall. Legion itself does not attack in any way, but featureless zombies will infinitely rise from the ground at an alarming rate and quickly walk toward the player as their heads start swelling with bodily fluids until they finally explode (dealing around 200 damage at Level 50). These minions can be dealt with a single hit from any weapon. Legion is weak against Light based attacks, although any other weapon should do decent damage to it as well, as long as it isn't Dark based, since Legion is strong against this element.
The player will first have to climb up the long walkway almost to the top of the room until reaching a section of Legion that is reachable to their attacks. After giving the mass a few hits, a chunk of its protecting layer of bodies will drop to the ground and expose a section of the core. Once this happens, Legion will descend a little through the room and another section of his shield of bodies will become reachable elsewhere down (or up) along the walkway; so, the player will have to descend (or ascend) as well until finding this spot to attack the shield again, making another chunk of it to drop and further expose the core. This process will repeat a few more times until finally exposing the entire core.
Only at this moment will the player become able to lock-on to Legion, and this will open its stealing window for a brief moment before dropping to the ground and transitioning to the second phase of the boss fight; so, the player will have to make haste and find a spot where they can jump at the core and steal a slice of Pizza from it. If the player landed at the bottom of the room while stealing, they should quickly get out of the way, as the core will drop shortly afterward and deal heavy damage if it lands on them.
When Legion is defeated, it will release a giant translucent white humanoid with an exposed heart known as Nuculais, which is one of the hardest bosses in the game. Interestingly, while Legion is weak against Light and strong against Dark, Nuculais is exactly the opposite, he is weak against Dark and strong against Light.
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Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin[]
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.
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Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night[]
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Castlevania: Harmony of Despair[]
Legion reappears as the boss of Chapter 8: The One Who Is Many. Once again, he retains his appearance of Symphony of the Night but resumes his attacks from Portrait of Ruin. His theme is Poetic Death.
This time, his spinning-launching fire is a bit more difficult to avoid, due to the somewhat unpredictable rotation of the tentacles.
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Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls[]
Legion reappears as a Vital Soul boss. It was left significantly stronger thanks largely to Hermina's meddling by rewriting the text, resulting in the 1797 version of Maria Renard being left in grave danger. After its defeat, Alucard, upon gaining its Vital Soul, ended up encountering Soma Cruz, who apparently succumbed to his true nature as Dracula before Hermina revealed herself.
| Enemy Data: Legion | |||||
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| Image | Name - Game Description |
Statistics | Items | Location | Notes |
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| Many become one. An accursed being shrouded in a countless number of corpses. It will dispose of those who discover its true identity and add them to its collection. | Soul: Enchant Weapon to level 6 |
That Which Writhes: 4-1 |
Abil: Burn, Curse | ||
| ' | Unreleased in original game |
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Other appearances[]
Castlevania (animated series)[]
- Main article: Castlevania (animated series) Easter eggs: Legion
Legion appears in Season 3 of the animated series as a giant mass of humans controlled by the Magician. Seeking to increase his own power, the Magician casts a spell on a village and neighboring settlements, making all of its inhabitants to blindly obey his command while losing their own will. Informed of this by Miranda, the only survivor and also a Forgemaster, and telling him that he can build his army with the bodies of the already lost villagers, Isaac heads to the town. Sensing the incoming danger, the Magician casts another spell that makes most of the villagers to float in the air and form an enormous ball of bodies to try to stop Isaac. However, the Forgemaster manages to elude their attacks, breaks into the Magician's tower and kills him, breaking the spell and making the bodies to drop to the ground.
Item Data[]
| Item Data: Legion | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Increases the player's maximum HP (life) capacity. | Maximum HP +5 (Alucard); maximum HP +10 (Richter and Maria) |
Find: Found throughout the castle, often in containers Drop: Most bosses |
Effect: Restores all life and increases Max HP | |||||
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Black sword - strong vs. holy A dark sword that works against holy people
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Attrib: Dark/Cut |
ATT +25 |
Find: Catacombs (after defeating Granfaloon) |
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| Remove curse status. | Drop: Marionette, Legion |
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| Recover 250 HP. | HP +250 |
Drop: Wind Armor, Devil, Devil Armor, White Armor, Legion |
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| Speeds up the rate at which MP are restored. | Find: Skeleton Cave (Castle A) |
Effect: Increased MP regeneration. | ||||||
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| Fires an array of lasers. | Attrib: Darkness Consume: 66 MP |
320 ATK |
Rarity: Always get the soul if all shells are destroyed. Drop: Legion |
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| A simple-is-best thin crust with cheese topping. | HP +90 Sell: $1 |
Steal: Legion Lv.52 |
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| A cog from the clock tower.(...) | Sell: (cannot be sold) |
Find: Nation of Fools |
Effect: Used to open a path in the Tower of Death. | |||||
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| Unleash an energy sphere. | Attrib: Strike Consume: 12 MP |
ATK +6 |
Rarity: *** Find: Purple chests (Chapter 8 Hard) Drop: Legion First Obtained: Chapter 8 |
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| Fire a beam at enemies. | Attrib: Fire, Holy Consume: 20 MP |
ATK +13 |
Rarity: *** Steal: Legion (0.5%) First Obtained: Chapter 8 |
Effect: Legion Laser | ||||
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| Sword whose name means "Blessed Wind." | Attrib: Slash #hands: 1 |
ATK +10 Sell: (cannot be sold) |
Rarity: ***** Find: Chapter 6, 7, 8 (Hard) Drop: Dracula (Hard), Astarte (Hard), Legion (Hard) |
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Gallery[]
_with_Maggot.png "Legion (Corpse) with Maggot.png (12 KB)")
_-_01.png "Legion (animated series) - 01.png (712 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Legion (corpse) from Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance resembles a grotesque depiction of the act of giving birth. However, it is unknown if this resemblance was intentional.
- Legion (saint)'s core form from Harmony of Dissonance and Legion's core from Aria of Sorrow are apparently based on the Tentacle, a recurring enemy from the Gradius series, being that they are 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 Cruz to grow three tentacles on his back, similar to those from the aforementioned creature, and shoot lasers straightforward.
- Legion's core in Aria of Sorrow 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.
- Legion's appearance in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is one of the reasons the game got an M rating.
- In the Castlevania animated series, a green magical energy can be seen surrounding the Magician victims' heads which resembles the crown of thorns that sat on Jesus's head.
- This could also be a reference to a biblical account where Jesus healed a man possessed by demons; these introduce themselves by the name of "Legion" (read above).
- In the episode "Guardian (1)" of the Berserk manga (episode 105, "Conviction Arc"), a monster in the form of a giant ball of naked human bodies attacks the hero, Guts. It is unknown if this is a reference to Legion, although the issue was also released in 1997, just five months after the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
- An entity that strikingly resembles Legion appears in the manga/anime Soul Eater. However, it is unknown if this is a direct reference to the Castlevania enemy character, as Legion first appeared in 1997 in Symphony of the Night and the Soul Eater manga came out much later, in 2003, and its anime adaptation in 2008.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, after being slain, the character 2P morphs into an entity called The Compound, which strikingly resembles Legion. However, unlike Legion, the bodies comprising The Compound are androids instead of corpses.
- Legion from Curse of Darkness is referenced by the boss character, Flesh Prison, in the first person shooter game, ULTRAKILL.[2]
_-_Berserk_-_01.png "Guardian (1) - Berserk - 01.png (813 KB)")
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Castlevania & History Special - Did You Know Gaming? feat. Markiplier.
- ↑ Asked: "Not sure if this was already answered, but is the fight with Flesh Prison/Minos Prime a reference to Legion/Nuculais from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness or is that just a happy accident? @ULTRAKILLGame Answered: "It's on purpose"
External links[]
| Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance |
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| Characters |
| Protagonist |
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| Talos · Giant Bat · Living Armor · Skull Knight · Golem · Minotaur · Devil · Giant Merman · Max Slimer · Peeping Big · Legion (saint) Shadow · Pazuzu · Minotaur Lv2 · Legion (corpse) · Cyclops |
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| Antagonist |
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| Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls |
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| Characters |
| Playable Characters |
| Genya Arikado/Alucard · Simon Belmont · Maria Renard (RoB) · Charlotte Aulin · Shanoa |
| Assist Characters |
| Soma Cruz/Dark King Soma · Jonathan Morris · Richter Belmont · Maria Renard (SoN) · Albus · Trevor Belmont |
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| Ch I. Dracula's Castle · Ch II. A City of Fog · Ch III. Ash Banquet · Ch IV. That Witch Writhes · Ch V. Dark Laughter Ch VI. Accursed Cranium · Ch VII. Death's Reign · Ch VIII. Demonic Visions · Ch IX. A Vessel for the Lord · Ch X. Dracula's Curse |
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