Sypha Belnades

From Castlevania Wiki - Forbidden Library

Sypha Belnades
Japanese name	Cipher Fernandez
Appearance(s)	1476:Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse 147?:Castlevania Judgment
Role(s)	Elemental Sorceress
Weapon of Choice	Staff, Elemental magic, sub-weapons
Abilities	Magical powers
Voice Actor(s)
Seiyuu(s)
Music Theme(s)	Mad Forest
Gender	Female

Sypha Belnades is a sorceress from the 15th century and also a hunter in service of the church, gifted with great magical abilities. She prefers to hide her gender and is presumed by many to be male. Her name is a pun on cipher - an unknown or an enigma. This fits in well with her hidden true nature.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Before Castlevania 1.2 Events of Judgment 1.3 Events of Dracula's Curse 2 Image Gallery 3 Trivia 4 External Links

Story

Before Castlevania

Sypha grew up among the witches of Wallachia who lived harmoniously with nature but were feared by man. During the middle ages the hearts of these people were filled with fear by the children of the night. This eventually set the with trails in motion and resulted in the death of Sypha's parents and her fellow sisters. She managed to escape and was found wandering near a monastery and was put under protection. Sypha, now an orphan, had no other place to go and remained there where she studied to become a priestess. Sypha had a burning desire to vanquish those who walked the path of wickedness and this strong desire resulted in a pact with her former kin. This made it possible for her to tap energy from the elements of fire, ice and thunder which were once worshipped by her fallen sisters. Sypha eventually became a well known hunter for the church and she did her duty with ambition in order to restore her tainted homeland to grace.

Events of Judgment

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

One day, while being on a solo mission, Sypha was approached by a stranger. He introduced himelf as Aeon and welcomed her to a rift in time. Sypha was shocked by this relavation and asked if he summoned her here. Aeon ignored her question and explained that this 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 the time traveler in which she succeeded.

Sypha faced many opponents she never heard of, one of them was a werewolf who said he didn't want to cause any harm. The wolf, known as Cornell, quickly told her to hold and not be fooled by his appearance as he was her ally. But Sypha was blinded by her oath to cleanse those who were tainted by darkness and ignored Cornell's pleads. The two battled and Sypha came out victorious and expressed her disgust of foul creatures that come from the night.

Eventually Sypha faced a woman, she tought to be most unusual as the energy she radiated was that of a vampire. The woman, Shanoa, claimed not to be one and said that she had the power to defeat them. But once again, words had no effect on Sypha and Shanoa commented that she wouldn't be satisfied with any explanation. Sypha swore that she would defeat her and attacked without further questing. She was able to overpower Shanoa and continued on her journey.

After a while, Sypha finally found the person she was after. It was the vampire countess Carmilla who was partially responsible for most of the mass hysteria that resulted in the witch hunts. The vampire taunted Sypha and asked if she was proud of herself for being in service of the church while her other sisters were hunted down for hideous crimes. Sypha said that only because vampires meddled with the hears and mind of mankind. Carmilla commented that it was actually the true nature of man and that she and her kind gave them a little nudge. The two engaged in battle and Sypha was able to punish the one who had began the persecution of her people.

Aeon gained another soul key and came a step closer to his goal while Sypha returned to her own time period to continue her mission.

Events of Dracula's Curse

Several years later, Dracula started his war against humanity and his legions were sent out to entire continent of Europe. The church wasted no time and sent one of their agents to investigate Dracula's casle and it's surrounding. Sypha who had gained fame and prosperity due to her campaings against evil, was requested by the Pope himself to embark on the mission and she accepted.

She hid herself in robes, so that she didn't draw unnecessary attention from fanatics who were still searching for witches to hunt. As she was making her way through a dark forest, she was attacked by an enormous Cyclops. Sypha tried to put up a fight but was ultimately defeated and turned to stone afterwards. After she didn't report back for several days, rumours of her death started to spread throughout the countryside.

After a while, Sypha regained conscientious and noticed that the paralysing from the Cyclops' glare was broken. She was saved by two man who introduced themselves as Trevor Belmont and Grant DaNasty. After she too introduced herself, she thanked them for freeing her. She then asked to join the two in their quest to slay Dracula. Trevor accepted, and they continued toward Dracula's Castle. Sypha kept her identity hidden, as she saw it as her duty to liberate Wallachia and didn't wanted to be sent home because of her gender.

The three went through many other obstacles and formidable enemies until they reached a tomb. Inside it, an undead man resided. He introduced himself as Alucard and said that he would like to join the group in their quest to slay the Vampire Lord.

With more might added to the already powerful group, the four pushed through Dracula's evil hordes until they reached Dracula himself. With much effort, the Vampire Lord was finally slain and peace brought back to Transylvania.

While standing on a mount cliff watching Dracula's crumble, Sypha realised that she felt more comfortable with herself since she met Trevor. After living a life of many hardships, she didn't wanted to let this feeling of comfort go away and she accepted when Trevor asked her hand in marriage.

Image Gallery

Trivia

• Zombies impersonating Sypha, Trevor, and Grant appear in a boss battle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. The false Sypha wears her trademark blue robes, and casts fire, ice and thunder spells. She also flies, which she could not do in Dracula's Curse, and if the fake Trevor is struck down first, Sypha will resurrect him and will continue to do this until she is defeated.
• Sypha appears as an old male wizard in the episode of Captain N: The Game Master, which is actually consistent with the American manual of Dracula's Curse. His spirit tells Simon Belmont that his grandfather Trevor was an honorable man, dispelling the lies that Dracula had told while posing as the Poltergeist King. He has a tough time remembering spells, but does aid in the battle against Dracula and his son Alucard.
• The Fernandez warrior from Castlevania 64 was originally conceived as Sypha Belnades herself. The designers ultimately scrapped the idea before the game's release, simply making her a Belnades descendant.
• Juste Belmont is mentioned have magical abilities, even among his clan consired to be prodigious, due to blood ties to the Belnades Clan.
• In Akumajo Densetsu: Shinsei Vampire Hunter, Zouk, one of the protagonists is mentioned to be a descendant of Sypha.
• Other descendants are Carrie Fernandez and Yoko Belnades.

External Links

• Chapel of Resonance Characters Section