Known by a variety of names, the Stained Glass Knight bursts from decorative stained glass windows in the background and attacks with a sword or by shooting little sharp glass shards at the player that are hard to avoid. Stained Glass Knights have played different roles throughout the series, appearing either as a boss, a miniboss, or simply as lesser enemies.
First appearance of this enemy in the series. Referred to simply as "a giant" on the Western arcade flyer, he is the end boss of the Banquet Room stage.
This glass knight is much larger than its arcade counterpart. It has also been given many new abilities that include performing a giant leap to the other side of the screen and descend with a downward cut, transform into a giant snake, or expand its shards into a large circle while marching forward. Its weakness is the shining crystal core in his chest.
Known as Splinter in this game. He is the mid-boss of the Cathedral stage. He suddenly bursts out of a stained glass window in the background while Simon Belmont is climbing up a series of stairs. A hovering mass of glass shards will float around Splinter to shield him from harm. Once he has sustained enough damage, he will burst into little glass pieces but his "shield" will remain in place, float up in the air, and break into little glass shards toward Simon, in a barrage of projectiles that can be hard to dodge.
In both of these games, they are just lesser enemies who appear in a couple of rooms in the Villa stage. They are very weak and always drop Red Jewels when defeated, either small or big. They respawn every time the player enters the rooms where they are encountered in, providing an easy source of Red Jewels.
The Stained Glass Knight from Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness is possibly inspired by a scene in the 1985 mystery adventure film Young Sherlock Holmes, where a reverend hallucinates seeing a knight coming out of a stained glass window and threatens to kill him.
