- "You dare to challenge me? You will die for your blasphemy. Your soul belongs to me!"
- — Satan to Gabriel before their fight
Satan is the name of the Devil in the Abrahamic religions. He is the fallen rebel archangel Lucifer who was cast out of Heaven and onto Earth as punishment for leading the revolt of the angels and attempting to become equal to or greater than God.
He is also one of the main antagonists of the Lords of Shadow series along with Zobek, as well as the arch nemesis of Gabriel Belmont, a.k.a. Dracula.
Story
Lords of Shadow
Satan is the main antagonist of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
When searching Hell for a way to assemble the God Mask, Satan secretly possessed Zobek, endowing him with a vast amount of knowledge and power, and implanted the idea to use an elaborate charade to obtain his goals.
Presumably, this is how Zobek obtained the Devil Mask. As such, he is mainly responsible for all Zobek's following actions, especially his manipulation of Gabriel and the spell that separated the world from the heavens. When Zobek reveals to his machinations to Gabriel, he in turn reveals himself and his part to him.
He incinerates Zobek and takes form from out of his host's body, and explains to Gabriel his intention of ascending to Heaven to challenge God and take His place. He offers Gabriel a chance to join him, but he refuses. Satan and Gabriel then engage in combat.
Despite his power and badly injuring Gabriel near the end of the fight, he is defeated, and Gabriel maintains a choke hold over Satan. Satan still tries to convince Gabriel that God has betrayed him, and when he ignores him, he begins to taunt Gabriel, saying that he will "introduce Marie to such pleasures" in Hell.
Gabriel tells Satan that her soul will go only to God, and Satan begins to laugh. After this, Gabriel shines with an intense light, finally vanquishing Satan, and undoes the spell keeping the lost souls on Earth.
Lords of Shadow 2
- "If I cannot rule the world of men... then no one will!"
- — Satan before summoning the Leviathan
By modern times, the acolytes of Satan prepare for his imminent return. This spurs Zobek to search for Gabriel (now known as Dracula) so that they may prevent Satan from returning and taking revenge on both of them. Dracula accepts Zobek's offer, but must reclaim his powers before facing his nemesis.
Upon being returned to the mortal world by his last acolyte, Satan brutally slays him for his offspring's failures to defeat Dracula over the centuries while he was imprisoned in Hell. He speaks with Dracula about potentially sharing the world, but he sees that Dracula wants to kill him out of vengeance. Proclaiming that if he can not rule men's world, then no one else will, Satan proceeds to summon a massive beast in order to annihilate it. Dracula and his son Alucard jump onto the beast and manage to subdue it before Satan can destroy the world.
As they fall, Satan possesses Alucard's body and engages Dracula in combat. Defeated, Satan and Dracula fall to the ground. Satan begins to taunt Dracula, calling him by his real name and claiming that his feelings would not allow him to sacrifice his own son in order to stop him. When Dracula refutes his claims and prepares to deliver the final blow, Satan fearfully flees from Alucard's body in attempt to escape. However, expecting this, Dracula pins Satan to a nearby building and impales him through the heart with his old Vampire Killer weapon, killing him once and for all.
Spoilers end here.
Appearance
Satan has pale, white skin and numerous veins appearing in his face and body. He doesn't use any type of clothing. However, his body is covered by a black aura from his waist to his legs. His hair is black just like the aura, and the globe of his eyes are also black, but the íris is a light-yellow. Such a dark appearance is likely due to the fact that he embraced his pride and hate, corrupting himself and falling from grace.
In Lords of Shadow 2, his appearance is significantly altered. He is much taller, capable of towering over his arch nemesis, also his build is no longer lean but more muscular and larger in proportion. His hands and forearms are now covered in what appears to be black matter. His upper body part is completely exposed, excluding the lower part that is clad in an exoskeleton that is made up of what seems to be, thick metallic plates resembling feathers (in a fashion quite similar to the Forgotten One) and the feet are equipped with sharp talons. On his lower back near his waist is a pair of large dark feathered wings. He still retains his long black hair, though it i significantly shorter than it was in Lords of Shadow.
Personality
Satan is very prideful, arrogant and manipulative. He was the real mastermind behind all the events of Lords of Shadow and has manipulated Zobek and the other Lords of Shadow to acquire the God Mask for his own means. He will try to manipulate every being to reach his purpose and refers to his rebellion as if he was just doing the right thing and says that he was abandoned by his Father, a feeling that he believes he and Gabriel share.
With a very persistent attitude, Satan tries to continue his fight against the Almighty and declares that he will use the mask to accomplish his objective. Satan's arrogance and sense of entitlement is so great that he feels it is his divine right to rule by God's side as either His equal or even superior and rule over mortals who he views as "monkeys" that are too inferior to deserve redemption. Satan also attempts to act as a "king," and tries to show that he's far greater and more compassionate than God, principally when he falsely claims to a distraught Gabriel that he would love him more (though this may have been simply him trying to throw Gabriel of guard so as to tempt him to his side) Despite all of this, he shows anger against God because of his fall.
Satan is also shown to have a sort of cowardly side. During the final battle with Gabriel, instead of facing him personally as before, he chooses to possess the body of Gabriel's son Alucard, claiming that he would hold back and refuse to kill his own son to stop him. When Gabriel is seemingly about to deliver the final blow to the possessed Alucard, Satan cowardly flees from the body at the last second in a desperate attempt to save his life.
Powers and Abilities
Different from the other bosses, Satan uses more magic than the others. It's said that Satan has unimaginable power to wield on Earth. However, he is not able to command his full strength while chained to the earthly plane, and thus remains weakened against Heaven's chosen. With the use of both light and shadow magic, he is one of the most treacherous enemies.
Satan is an immortal angel with superhuman strength and endurance that allowed him to challenge Gabriel. He has the power to fly with his shadowy wings. He set Zobek ablaze with pyrokinesis.
Satan conjuring a Shadow Magic's Seal.
The use of both magic types is very high, to the point he can cast destructive spells or even summon demonic Reapers from other planes that can only be destroyed by the opposite magic and also create with his hands, magical seals that has the capacity to capture (and protect Satan when he's very weakened) can only be destroyed (or passed when a "barrier") by the same magic that these have come.
Satan can also sense magic, other beings and conjure a rain of fire with his hands. Apparently, he can control the appearance of the scenario, due to the fact when he "gets serious", the scenario changes to an obscure area with green lightning.
Satan uses the God's Mask to gain more power and also use the staff to concentrate his magical energy due to his weakness.
When Satan tries to avoid or advance against his enemies, a pair of shadow wings appear on his back. He can levitate, though his wings grant him superior maneuverability and speed. He has also demonstrated sufficient skill in close-quarters combat.
Weapon
Satan uses his black staff as a symbol of authority and as a weapon, perhaps as an aid to his weakened powers in the material plane. It glows with white energy when not used to channel magic, blue when channeling Light magic, and red when channeling Shadow magic.
It appears to amplify his magical prowess, or at least aid in its usage, for Satan was witnessed to be able to unleash a wave of force that created fissures in the earth by striking it with the base of his staff, and manifesting a wave of fire by striking the earth with the top of his staff. It is highly resistant to damage, but is by no means unbreakable.
Quotes
Lords of Shadow 1
- Father! I come for you... Before the end YOU will bow down to ME!
- Hate can bring us back, give us strength. Embrace it!
- Bow down to me, it's Satan who commands you!
- Didn't Pan teach you anything?
- Surely you can do better than that, Gabriel!
- God doesn't love you! He let your beloved die!
- Surrender your weapon, and I'll show you mercy!
- Impossible! ... is... that... the power of God?
Lords of Shadow 2
- Your son wants to serve me. Why don't you?
- Alucard has surrendered to me without reservation.
- Join us, Gabriel. Let's form a trinity.
- Don't hit me, father!
- Argh! It's your son who is suffering, not me!
- Alucard only longed for your power, Gabriel, I know that now.
- Your son hates you, Gabriel. What did you do to him?
- Alucard's plan was always to betray you.
- How much punishment can this body endure?
- Your hate for me gives my life direction. Deep down inside, you need me!
- When this is over, you'll bow down at my feet!
- I'll sink you in a darkness that you'll never get out of!
- I'll crush your will! I'll do it!
Trivia
- A concept art of Satan's Beast form hints the final boss in Lords of Shadow 2 could have been different. The Beast looks like a red dragon with multiple crowned heads, and shares similarities with the Leviathan.[2]
- Many of Satan's taunts during his battle in Lords of Shadow 2 are lies, which is consistent for him since he's known as the "Father of Lies".
- Generally Lucifer and Satan are in fact understood to be different characters in the course of Christianity, with Lucifer being the fallen angel while Satan is the devil that the fallen angel became, being one in the same.
Enemy Data
| Enemy Data: Satan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Description |
Statistics | Items | Location | Notes |
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| The real mastermind behind these events, the fallen angel Satan was cast down to Earth as punishment for his rebellion against God. (...) | Strong: Everything ×3 (Dagger, Fairy, Holy Water, Crystal) Size: Medium Difficulty: High |
Chapter The Final Fight |
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Traditional Timeline
Within the traditional timeline, Satan is rarely mentioned, as his role as the symbol and embodiment of evil is taken by the Dark Lord, Dracula. Therefore, it can be said that the "Satan" of the main series is the Dark Lord. Certain enemies, bearing the name of the Devil, do make an appearance in various games, but the fact that they are common enemies in all of their appearances suggests that they are low-ranking demons rather than beings of high power or authority.
One of the most direct references is the Satan's Ring in the Sorrow series. In the first the description says it was once worn by Satan, and in the second game it says it was once worn by the Dark Lord. There is the Lucifer's Sword in Lament of Innocence.
In Castlevania 64, if the player uses the scroll too often, Renon appears near the end of the game, and admits that the hero has agreed to a contract with Satan (In the Japanese version, it's written "悪魔 (Akuma, Demon)". Not Satan). Those who borrow over 30,000 pieces of gold, their soul is forfeit. Because the hero has taken far more than that, he comes to enforce the contract, and take the hero's soul. This leads to a boss fight.