Soleil Belmont

"Attacks his father, Christopher, because of the evil magic. Having the same whip attack as Christopher, and uses 3 daggers as weapons."

— Japanese Belmont's Revenge instruction booklet description.

Soleil Belmont (ソレイユ・ベルモンド, Soreiyu Berumondo^?, lit. "Soleil Belmondo"), also known as Soleiyu Belmont,^[3] is a major antagonist in Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. He is the son of Christopher Belmont, the protagonist of the previous game, Castlevania: The Adventure.

Soleil learned all the skills to become a vampire hunter from his father. However, once he reached adulthood, he turned against him due to being under the evil influence of Count Dracula.

Character's history

Description from the North American instruction booklet:

In 1591, fifteen years after Christopher Belmont defeats Dracula, a ceremony was held in the town of Transylvania. The son of Christopher Belmont, Soleiyu Belmont, had come of age, and it was time for the title of vampire hunter to be passed down to him.

But on the morning after the ceremony, it was discovered that Soleiyu Belmont had vanished into thin air. The ceremony was the chance Dracula had waited for. Soleiyu received great sacred power in the ceremony to mark his adulthood, and Dracula used his last bit of magic to turn Soleiyu's powers against him, transforming him into a terrible demon. Then, aided by Soleiyu-demon, Dracula was able to assume human form once again. That evening, to the northeast of the village, the earth shook with a thunderous roar and four ominous castles appeared.

Boss battle

Soleil starts the battle by hurling three spinning swords high on the room, which after a moment launch themselves individually directly at the player. Meanwhile, he will advance forward and start striking incessantly with his whip when in close proximity to the player. He may or may not jump on the platforms that are present in his room, making his fight a bit unpredictable and potentially making it difficult to plan effective evading maneuvers ahead.

Dialogue

The following are the dialogues that are played when encountering Soleil in the castle. These are different between the original Game Boy version of Belmont's Revenge and the one included in the Konami GB Collection series. Note that those are the only dialogues in the game.

Original

• Soleil: I'm surprised you made it this far! The rebirth of Dracula will occur soon. You cannot destroy me. Father.

After the battle.

• Soleil: Ouch, what am I doing? Oh father. Since Dracula cannot use my powers, Dracula will use the power of the 4 castle spirits. Hurry up! Quickly!

Konami GB Collection

• Soleil: You have made it here! I will soon bring him back to this world. There's no way you can beat me. Father.

After the battle.

• Soleil: Urrrh... What am I... Oh! Father! Now that I lost my powers, He's after my men's powers. Hurry! Father!

Enemy Data

Name JPN Alt. Name Soleil-Demon ソレイユ・ベルモンド (Soleil Belmondo) Soleiyu-Demon Location Chapel Description

Gallery

For additional artwork, please visit Soleil Belmont Artwork.

Soleil Belmont from the Japanese Belmont's Revenge cover

Soleil Belmont from the Belmont's Revenge instruction booklet

Soleil and Christopher watching Dracula's Castle crumbling

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Trivia

• Soleil was the first protagonist turned to antagonist boss to appear in the Castlevania series and also the first Belmont to be fought.
• "Soleiyu" is a mistranslation of the French word soleil, meaning "sun", a reference to the traditional weakness of vampires.
  • His name was corrected with "Soleil" in the European version of Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge appearing in Konami GB Collection Vol. 4, and officially referred as such in that game's description in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, as well as its bonus e-book.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (U)

Konami GB Collection Vol. 4 (E)

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• Soleil's name is never mentioned in the graphic novel Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy, although at the end, Christopher's yet unborn son is implied to eventually become that continuity's version of Soleil.
• The event of Count Dracula's resurrection by Soleil was treated confidentially as a "scandal in the family". For this reason, only one victory of Christopher over Dracula was known on Simon Belmont's time.^[4]
• It's unclear what whip Soleil uses during the events of Belmont's Revenge, as it's never explained in-game or by IGA himself.

See also

• Belmont-like enemies
• Son of Christopher

References

1. ↑ Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Japanese instruction booklet, p. 2.
2. ↑ Castlevania Timeline
3. ↑ The word Soleiyu is a transliteration from the original Japanese pronunciation of Soleil, and the character was officially known by that name in the original export releases of Belmont's Revenge.
4. ↑ Dengeki PlayStation Koji Igarashi interview.