Analysis Blog

Long time without an update, huh? Turns out it’s hard to formulate whole analysis essays compared to barely-coherent Tumblr posts :P

Ok, total death of the author case right here. I firmly believe these readings are barely intended by the original text if at all. A lot of these takes are “reaching” or overanalyzing, but the fact of the matter is this: I read Dracula’s Castle as a symbolic mirror of Ecclesia itself. This analysis is rewritten from a much older Tumblr post I’ve made, which I’m still quite fond of.

This is built on the idea that the Castle builds itself to emotionally challenge whoever comes to raid it, being a “creature of chaos” and all...

The Entrance - Nightmare Gate- This is where Shanoa finally becomes her “true self”. This is where her theme plays for the first time in the entire game; this is where she renounces her original purpose in favor of a new one; this is where she becomes the morning sun. Furthermore, this area is populated with the Black Panther enemies, who are cat-women with black fur. Shanoa’s name means “Chat Noir”, so I think the black cat symbolism here is obvious.

The Library - Bloody Tomes- The scholarly pusuits of Ecclesia- the pursuit of knowledge. There’s also a large kitchen area, which when I initially made the post I read as the “nourishment” Barlowe gave his disciples- the food, shelter, teaching, etc. that earned their loyalty to the order. This, of course being all part of his control. This area is filled with piles of decadent food you cannot eat: fake nourishment; fake abundance. Comfort that the master of Ecclesia can take away at a moment’s notice (so shouldn’t you just obey?). The subtitle of this area is “Bloody Tomes”- when we consider all of Ecclesia’s deep knowledge is “stained” and bloodied by its evil intent, well... The meaning is obvious.

Arms Depot - Cry in the Night- To be brought up as a weapon/as Ecclesia’s “arms”. Shanoa compares herself to a blade or weapon constantly; it’s the purpose she was carefully conditioned to fulfill. This place is filled with living swords as a prominent enemy in particular, and the boss is Eligor, the mechanical centaur; his body is made of weapons, armor, crossbows, and he wields- what else- a giant blade. Eligor is a “weaponized creature” in the way Shanoa is. This is the cry in the night, the agony at having been subjected to this unhealthy upbringing.

Barracks - Distant Memory- A barracks is where soldiers are kept; Ecclesia’s students were trained to be soldiers as children (see Arms Depot, which it’s in close proximity to). Distant Memory of course relates to Shanoa’s amnesia.

Underground Labyrinth - Flirting with Shadows- The theme of this area is a phantasmagorical shadow play; puppets and deception. I admittedly never had much of a read on this one, but the ideas of “light and shadow” are key here. Perhaps we could see it as an “allegory of the cave” thing (with Ecclesia being the cave) but I’m not certain.

Mechanical Tower - Styx Passage- The home of death, and the scientific aspects of Ecclesia’s research (Albus’s forte...) It’s a traditional clock tower level, but the aesthetic is distinctly more modern and industrial (and even has electrical devices to activate) than is typical for the clocktowers of the series, which are more “steampunk”. As implied by the subtitle, this is a passage between life and death, and whos death does Shanoa regret more than the scientifically-minded Albus? He has died, but his soul has not passed on yet.

Forsaken Cloister - Gazing Towards Heaven- This is an interesting one, being a pretty small area and the location of the Cerberus statue (the guardian of hell, and Shanoa directly calls this place the gate into hell.) Despite this, the subtitle, interestingly, is “Gazing Towards Heaven”. After all, everything Ecclesia does as the “Lord’s work” is actually in service of the dark lord... A cloister is a typical part of a monastery or cathedral but something being cloistered can also mean “secluded or silent”- there is no music in this area, it is dead silent. And as for "forsaken", they've already been abandoned by the heaven they are gazing towards. This area is the central connection between all segments of the castle. Additionally, to progress from here to the Final Approach, Shanoa must collect three pieces of a Dark Glyph to undo a sealed statue- much like her intended role in Ecclesia.

Final Approach - Dust to Dust- My reading is more focused on Dracula’s room than the rest of the Final Approach, but it's probably the most important point in “the castle is a reflection of Ecclesia”- a direct reference to a room IN Ecclesia! You might know it as Barlowe’s boss room or the “forbidden room”- this is Shanoa’s hell, beyond the Cerberus gate. The forbidden room is a room of great trauma for Shanoa, being where she lost her emotions, and where Barlowe intended to have her killed as sacrifice, where Barlowe attacked her physically, emotionally, and verbally, etc. The battle against Dracula ends with her using Dominus as “intended”- Albus’s intervention then allows him to “become the bearer” of her burden like he planned. And I think the subtitle, “Dust to Dust”, is a reference to that final moment of the fight. It is the location where Shanoa triumphs over the same god that her abuser worshipped, with the same weapon that was meant to kill her.

One of the most common criticisms I’ve seen of OOE’s plot is that Albus doesn’t tell Shanoa that Dominus will kill her. I posit two things- one, this is an intentional character flaw of Albus’s, and that, two, Shanoa, before undergoing character development, wouldn’t have cared, and would have probably used Dominus anyway.

So, my first point- we see this blow up in Albus’s face. Shanoa even affectionately jokes about how he’s always trying to solve problems on his own, near the end of the game. His attempts to fix everything behind everyone’s back ends up with him possessed by Dracula and promptly killed. In my video essay “Cycles of Trauma”, I said this game was about agency- Albus is reacting to Barlowe taking his and Shanoa’s agency, and his plan ends up with it getting further robbed from him as he grasps for power over his own life and autonomy. The irony of this plan is that by not providing Shanoa with the information and context behind his actions, he robs her of her own choice. Shanoa refused to use Dominus when confronting Barlowe, however her decision to storm Dracula’s Castle and even use Dominus against him was her own, and wholly uninformed by Albus, as he never knew that Barlowe was planning to summon Dracula.

My second point- Shanoa, at the beginning of the game, is wholly dedicated to her duty as the bearer of Dominus, to the point of dehumanizing herself, referring to herself as a weapon. She’s been raised for this for her entire life. In fact, in a flashback scene she even tells Albus she would take his place in some unknown experiment that would cause him to “destroy himself”. Shanoa has, frankly, been raised to die, and believe that it’s her purpose- whether she realizes it or not. She can only communicate with Albus’s soul and understand his wishes once she’s rescued the villagers, and, in my opinion, the implied arc is that she on some level starts understanding the value of her own life through interacting with others. That is why she trusts him enough to promise not to use Dominus.

Background characters seldom receive much fan attention- in a video game, the humble “quest dispenser” is a means to add direction to your wanderings through the game world and provide the satisfaction of completion, and is often assumed to be little more. This leaves one of Order of Ecclesia’s (Or even one of Castlevania’s) best realized characters essentially hiding in plain sight.

Laura. So... Who is Laura?

She’s one of the villagers, and her questline is like a mirror held to Shanoa’s character arc. They are both characters defined by hidden emotion trapped beneath the surface, acknowledging and healing from past abuse, and the value of joy and kindness (Laura is a deeply kind person, at one point even insisting on doing work without pay to help one of the village children). The basic jist of it is that Laura notices Shanoa can’t smile due to her emotionless nature and tries to create handmade jewelry that will help her feel happiness again- to “touch [Shanoa’s] heart”, in her own words. Immediately there are probably parallels you are seeing to Albus, the one who cares for Shanoa most- the drive to fix everything for someone you love no matter how hard and futile that effort is, and, of course, the smile. The centerpiece of the narrative, the grand finale, the note on which the song is ended. This intricately ties her in with Order of Ecclesia’s narrative, one gleaming facet of the whole gemstone. As one completes her quests, one might notice a sort of subtle self-doubt that eats at her. For every failure to move Shanoa, there’s often an insistence that this is her fault, that her efforts weren’t good enough, that she’s not trying hard enough.

Laura: Still can't smile, huh...? I wonder if my skills just aren't up to it yet...
Laura: I must be doing something wrong...
(In every instance Shanoa is quick to correct this, to assure her that it’s beyond her control.)
There is a reason for this.
When you finish every quest:

“I see... Guess I couldn't do it. But I CAN do all this. You just took my work to a whole new level. And all this talk about your feelings made me think about my own... Would you take this Royal Crown? Call it a memento.”

“Trying so hard to touch your heart... It taught me a few things about mine. I ran away once. My master kept pointing out my faults, and I ran away from him, but my faults came with me. You helped me get rid of them. I know what good I can do now, though.”

The parallel to Shanoa’s own hurt and abuse at the hands of Barlowe should be obvious- both are referred to as “Master”, the teachers behind their respective crafts. They hide their emotions, Shanoa behind cold, stone walls, and Laura behind a facade of unfettered optimism. In reaching out to try and alleviate Shanoa’s pain, this is what caused Shanoa to alleviate Laura’s- for Laura to understand she doesn’t have to burn herself out chasing perfection and beating herself up over every fault; to improve her jewelry-work on her own terms. It’s almost as if their meeting was fated, and there, too, is a reason for this:

Laura’s Official Bio: She places her trust in the cards of the tarot, which foretold she would do great things here, as well as finally locate her soul mate.

Indeed, running away from her situation is what lead her to her home in Wygol; Shanoa, too, finds Wygol, a healthier environment than the one she grew up within. Is it any coincidence that the catalyst for the Good Ending, for breaking away from the cult-like mentality of loyalty to Ecclesia, is to rescue every villager? Their essence, absorbed from the Torpor glyph is a metaphor- subtextually, it’s learning about other perspectives outside of Shanoa’s isolated bubble, and the control of her leader.

Either way, both of them found Wygol- one a Belmont, and one not. It almost functions as a strange role reversal- Shanoa plays the “Belmont role” here, the hunter giving up everything to save humanity, the same pressure put upon her that lead Richter down a dark path and was the catalyst for the clan’s disappearance in the first place; she was also raised to be a “replacement Belmont”. Laura, however, leads a normal life, much unlike the grand destiny her ancestors once had sworn to. And both of them found each other. Their relationship is not only an emotional bond of healing, but also carries some romantic subtext- when Laura is first approached in her shop after she is successfully rescued, she has this little gem:

Laura: You know, you dress like you're in mourning. Waste of a finely shaped-

She’s often eager to comment on Shanoa’s beauty, and her insistence on “touching her heart” often reads like it takes on a romantic context. However, she’s also slightly cagey about the true nature of her feelings while simultaneously alluding to her intentions:

Laura : ...Well, how about this? Got a man in your life?
Shanoa : Nobody I'm capable of caring for. What about yourself?
Laura : Well, there's someone... but I'm not good at talking about myself... Right, moving on.

This interaction is significant in that it’s one of the few times Shanoa comes close to expressing emotion- in this case, some interest in Laura’s love life (think like how she pitied Albus, felt enough to understand how Barlowe treated her was an injustice, etc. If we consider her emotionlessness as a metaphorical version of a cult’s emotional control, then this shows further how interacting with the villagers is helping her to break from that control. There are even moments that imply her inability to smile for Laura is something she feels regret for- subtle things like which talksprites are displayed, and so on). The jeweler’s response, shy and self-conscious, is telling. Laura’s flirtations, often indirect and obfuscated, are reminiscent of lesbian flirting; friendships and crushes between lesbians can often hit a grey area where obvious interest is expressed indirectly enough to lead to mixed signals about whether the parties are “just doing friend stuff”, likely due to the intimacy of female friendships as well. Shanoa and Laura are one of the more accurate depictions of this grey area of maybe-more-than-friends.

And Shanoa is a lesbian character, just as much as Laura is. On multiple occasions she outright refuses experiencing attraction to men, while consistently being placed in romantically charged interactions with other women- Laura, Monica, and even the various monsters that litter the landscape. The dynamic here is appealing, too, overly formal and serious Shanoa paired with the more casual and friendly Laura creates a nice contrast. The angst, too, is potent: Shanoa is someone who desperately needs to be loved, feeling alone in the world; Laura is desperate to show her that love; Shanoa is quite literally incapable of recognizing it. This is truly a ship for lovers of one-sided pining, AND happy endings: all this comes with the promise at the end, the smile for Albus, which implies much for their future. Shanoa would almost certainly return to the village after the plot resolves itself, as it’s the closest thing she has to a home.

They have endless potential: for postgame fluff, for angst, for anything really. They’re soulmates, and they’re an important thread of the web of Order of Ecclesia’s narrative.