Shanoa

From Castlevania Wiki - Forbidden Library

Shanoa
Japanese name	Shanoa
Appearance(s)	18??:Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia 18??: Castlevania Judgment
Role(s)	Vampire Hunter, Glyph Master
Weapon of Choice	Glyphs
Abilities	Absorbing Glyphs, Bearing Dominus
Voice Actor(s)
Seiyuu(s)
Music Theme(s)	An Empty Tome
Gender	Female

Shanoa is a vampire hunter from the 19th century, and also the first canonical heroine from the Castlevania series, due to popular demand. She is the only character that loses Magic Points every time she does basic attacks, as a consequence of using Glyphs, symbols that represent the magic in all things. Besides her main appearance in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, she is an unlockable character in Castlevania Judgement, either via Wi-Fi connection between Order of Ecclesia and Judgment, or by beating Trevor Belmont's story mode.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Before Castevania 1.2 Events of Order of Ecclesia 1.2.1 The Stolen Seal 1.2.2 Events of Judgment 1.2.3 Finale 2 Other Appearances 3 Image Gallery 4 External Links

Story

Before Castevania

After the events of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the Belmonts vanished, leaving no one to fight Dracula and the other creatures of the night. Many organisations and clans of vampire hunters arose to counter evil, but only Ecclesia succeeded by using the Glyphs that were developed by Barlowe, the leader of Ecclesia.

Very little is know about her before the events of Order of Ecclesia. She was adopted by Barlowe at a young age and raised in the Order of Ecclesia, where she met Albus, another child adopted for Ecclesia. They became like siblings. Shanoa was trained to use Dominus, the ultimate glyph, as she was the only one able to use the glyph.

Events of Order of Ecclesia

The Stolen Seal

Shanoa's quest began sometime in the early 1800s, when the ritual for Shanoa to accept Dominus was about to begin. While Shanoa was preparing, Albus returned from a mission to find that Barlowe lied to him. Barlowe had promised Albus that he would be the bearer of Dominus, but Shanoa was about to absorb the glyph instead of Albus. After a small and intense conversation, Shanoa went to the room where the ceremony was to take place, and she was about to absorb the Dominus parts: Anger, Hatred and Agony. In the climax of the ritual, Albus abruptly appeared and stole Dominus, making Shanoa lose her memory and emotions.

Two weeks later, after being re-trained, Barlowe sent her to find the traitor, Albus, and return Dominus to Ecclesia headquarters. Barlowe told her that Albus was the one that took her memory and emotions from her. In her quest, she pursued Albus through many parts of the Transylvanian countryside, finding Wygol Village with all but one of its villagers gone. Albus had kidnapped them and placed them in different areas of the countryside. While chasing Albus, Shanoa rescued the villagers and did errands for them in exchange for rewards.

During the adventure, Albus showed erratic behavior by running from Shanoa, leaving an obvious trail for her to follow, and freely giving her pieces of Dominus and letting her absorb them on two occasions. Albus also shared information he had uncovered with Shanoa, revealing to her that the Dominus glyphs were created from Dracula himself. When Shanoa questioned Barlowe about this, she learned that Barlowe had Dracula's Remains sealed away in an altar of Ecclesia headquarter's ceremonial room. He planned on using Dracula's own powers to destroy him forever, and so he developed the Dominus Glyphs from the remains.

When Shanoa finally cornered Albus in the Oblivion Ridge Chapel, he imprisoned her using a Torpor glyph and told her why he let her absorb the other Dominus parts: to learn how to absorb the Dominus glyphs and not let Shanoa recover the final piece of Dominus. After returning to the Ecclesia base, her mission objective from Barlowe changed - kill Albus and recover the final piece.

Events of Judgment

Note: The following events are from Castlevania Judgment and its canonical merits are uncertain.

While in the midst of her quest, Shanoa was approached by a stranger. He introduced himself as Aeon and welcomed her to a rift in time. Shanoa asked what kind of place they were in and Aeon explained it was an alternate universe he created. It was the place where she may touch that which she desired the most. Yet, there were many trials she had to pass in order to achieve that goal. Her first test was to defeat him, in which she succeeded.

Shanoa faced many opponents she never heard of, one of them being Grant DaNasty. After analyzing the situation, she concluded that Grant was no ordinary man, since he possessed unusually high speed and agility. Grant introduced himself to her and stated that he was the man who defeated Dracula. Shanoa was surprised by that and requested a match with him in order to test his abilities and her own. Shanoa came out victorious and continued on her way.

Shanoa encountered a teenage girl accompanied by an owl and was surprised to find the likes of them in such a dangerous place. The girl, Maria Renard, seemingly offended because Shanoa referred to her as little, said that she also beat Dracula, which was of much interest to the Glyph Master. She once again requested a battle, to which Maria accepted, which ended in Maria's defeat. After the match, Shanoa wondered if she already had the strength to vanquish Dracula.

Shanoa's final opponent was a man who brandished a whip, which seemed to radiate amazing power, and she asked if he was from the lost dynasty of vampire hunters. The man, Simon Belmont, confirmed her supposition, and was indeed of the Belmont Clan, but asked what she meant by the word "lost". She explained that in her time, his clan had completely vanished and that others had been seeking power in order to counter Dracula. Simon commented that he knew nothing of her tale, but was seemingly interested in her strength. Shanoa triumphed over him, not fully confident that she had the power to stop the Lord of Darkness.

Aeon gained another soul key and came a step closer to his goal, while Shanoa returned to her own time period, where she continued to hunt for Albus.

Finale

Shanoa chased Albus to the Mystery Manor to find that he was possessed by absorbing the final piece of Dominus and she fought him to complete her mission. Shanoa killed Albus and absorbed his memories when she absorbed the final piece of Dominus that Albus left behind when he died. From having Albus' memories, she learned why Albus wanted to prevent her from using Dominus. It would interfere with her memories and emotions, and the true price of the power would be higher still. After that, Shanoa talked with Albus' spirit and he told her that since Dominus came from Dracula, it would kill the user. He also hoped to control Dominus by using the blood of the villagers, who were all descendants of the Belmont Clan, but it was not enough. The whole time, Albus had been on a mission to save Shanoa's life, so that he may make the sacrifice to Dominus instead of her. Albus asked Shanoa to promise that she would never use Dominus. After that, she returned to Ecclesia to talk to Barlowe and ask him about what she had learned about Dominus.

Barlowe tried to make her use Dominus. After learning about what would happen if she did, Shanoa refused. This act caused Barlowe to reveal his true ambitions and he attacked Shanoa. After being defeated by his student, Barlowe said that mankind's wish was to resurrect Lord Dracula, and that was the true purpose behind the Order of Ecclesia. He wanted her to use Dominus not to destroy the Count, but to destroy the seal preventing his return. After hearing Dracula's voice in his head, he used all of his remaining strength to destroy the altar where he was holding the remains of Count Dracula, which was the seal. After which, Castlevania, Dracula's castle, appeared, and Dracula was brought back from the dead.

"Now I have lost everything," was Shanoa's thought after Barlowe's death; but that thought died fast. When she went out of Ecclesia, she saw the Castle and made her way to it. There, in front of the Nightmare Gate, she swore that she would kill Dracula and complete her mission. While she traveled around the Castle, she found a large statue of Cerberus sealing the Castle Keep's main entrance. While searching for the Cerberus glyph and killing Dracula's most powerful minions, she found a secret exit of the Castle that lead to an abandoned Training Hall and a Large Cavern under the mountains, killing the Asian vampire, Jiang Shi, that resided within. When she found the three Custros (the Cerebrus glyphs) pieces, she used them in front of the Cerberus statue and entered the keep.

When she reached the Throne Room, Dracula thought she was the one who revived him and asked her if she desired power and eternal beauty as her reward, or a place at his side (like other women before). Shanoa replied fiercely, telling him that she was only there to defeat Dracula. Dracula was amused by her, and after the conversation, the fight began. Though Dracula was a formidable enemy, unlike anything Shanoa had ever fought before, she was able to damage him. Dracula was surprised at this, but belittled Shanoa by claiming that her weapons were useless against his true power. Dracula gathered his power and was about to kill Shanoa when she used the Dominus glyphs' union, what she had promised Albus that she wouldn't do. Dracula was shocked at the realization that what Shanoa had just used was his own power, and died shortly afterward.

In her "final" moments, Shanoa was ready to die from using Dominus when she noticed that she was still alive. After getting up to her feet, Albus' spirit came to her and told her that Shanoa's emotions, sacrifice and memories were inside Dominus and in the exact moment she used Dominus against Dracula, all the darkness rushed away, leaving only her sacrifice, and that Dominus needed only one life. Shanoa's memories and emotions returned, and Albus offered to sacrifice his own soul instead of Shanoa's for the price of Dominus. Shanoa, crying, asked how she should repay Albus. He asked her for just one thing: that she smile for him, and she did so. After that, Albus' spirit departed and Shanoa escaped the crumbling castle.

In the end Shanoa looked at the collapsing castle and ran into the forest. All the Ecclesia records were erased from history, making both Ecclesia and the sacrifices of Shanoa and Albus disappear forever.

Other Appearances

Eternal Knights 2 is a strategy RPG with slot machine elements released in 2008. Shanoa, along with Richter, and Maria are playable. Players can form their own teams out of several classess and the goal of the game is to complete dungeons to earn medals, which can be exchanged for prizes.

Image Gallery

External Links

• Chapel of Resonance Characters Section