Lady of the Crypt

The monsters in horror cinema are, generally, male. Most creatures, from werewolves to lab-grown experiments, and vampires, generally are of the male persuasion. Considering the fears they play on, coming out of the night to feed on the unsuspecting, their origins as creatures told to children to keep them in line, it makes sense for these beasts to be male. The young, the female (and the young and female) would be taught to fear those bigger and more powerful than them, and society tends to think of men as stronger and scarier than women.

Thankfully there has been a trend to turn this trope around. As female monsters, like Carmilla, have grown in popularity, their legends have expanded as well. Where men are the beasts that come from the night to stalk and kill, the female monsters use their wiles to lure unsuspecting men and get what they want. They turn the tables, so to speak, using that which was supposed to be viewed as a weakness instead as a strength. They create lust and desire and then strike, killing those they stalked.

The Castlevania series has seen its fair share of female creature luring the protagonists in. Sometimes it's acting innocent, such as Laura, or using their sex and dreams, like the Succubus. And then there's the Lady of the Crypt, a seemingly innocent being lost deep in the Crypts under Dracula's Castle. But, for those who approach, looking to aid and comfort, the Lady of the Crypt had a terrible secret: they were really just a lure for a larger beast, one that would devour the heroes whole.

Some have suspected that the Lady of the Crypt is a reference to one of Bram Stoker's other, non-Dracula works, The Lair of the White Worm. In that tale a woman lures unsuspecting men into a deep well beneath her house. There she would kill them and feed their bodies to a giant, white worm that lived in the tunnels. There is a certain parallel between the Lady of the Crypt and the creature of this novel, so the sly reference does seem accurate. That gives the creature a literary history, as well as a surprisingly effect moment of horror for the series.

Character History:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate

Years before, Trevor Belmont's father, Gabriel Belmont, went to fight the monsters of the night but, when he returned, he wasn't the same. Trevor didn't meet his father, having been secreted away by his mother, Marie, after he was born, but he heard the stories. His father had gone to fight the vampires and died and now a vampire, Dracula, ruled over the Castle of Vampires. Trevor, now working for the same organization that once employed his father, the Brotherhood of Light, knew he had to stop the vampire lord and avenge his father.

As he quested his way through the castle he ended up in the deep caverns and dark crypts far below the fortress. He crawled through the crypts, deeps past the labyrinth within, until coming to a large chamber. Within was a woman, pale but lovely, who seemed to need Trevor for something. He went to her, but at the last moment suspected this was all a trap. That was when she attacked revealing herself to be a monster. She tried to grab Trevor, to maul him, but he fought her off. He attacked with his whip, which, after a protracted fight, became wrapped around her body, and that's when her true form was revealed: she was just a lure, an angler attacked to a much larger worm. Trevor lost control of his whip, which the beast then ate, and the hero had to chase off after the worm, grabbing onto its tail as the beast dived into the tunnels below.

He fought and dodged as the worm dragged him past many traps, slowly climbing up the beast. Trevor moves forward to the head, grabbing the Lady's limbs, ripping them from the beast, angering the worm. The worm pushes through the ground, rising up, devouring Trevor in the process. This gives he hero access to his whip once more, which he uses to tear his way out of the beast. He then rides it as it burrows along through the ground once more before, finally, jumping off as it lurches towards the castle entrance, smashing against the great gates, before finally dying.

Fighting Against the Lady of the Crypt:

The first part of the battle with the Lady of the Crypt is fairly easy. She will rise up from the ground and move towards Trevor, flailing her arms to damage him. The player must block, and, when one of her attacks is blocked, go on the offensive while she's stunned to combo in damage. She'll repeat the process until a quarter of her health bar is gone. She'll cry out, and after this start performing sweeping dash attacks along the ground. Jump to dodge these, and then attack her from behind after she goes past. At half health she'll scream and add another attack, this time rising up close to Trevor to grab him before sinking back down, following this with a dash attack after. This delays being able to combo her, but continue dodging and layering on the damage. She'll then mix and match her attacks for the rest of her health until defeated.

The next phase of the fight isn't really a "fight", per se. Instead it's a series of Quick Time Events (QTEs) as Trevor climbs the beast. Button presses are needed to slowly scale along he beast's tail while trigger holds are used to grab the beast as it drags him along. He'll reach the head, and more QTEs will let him rip the Lady-angler apart. The rest, then, is just a long cut-scene until the beast dies of its own accord. This was probably the easiest way to have Trevor fight a giant beast, but using QTEs and cinematics for the whole back half of the fight does feel like a bit of a letdown.