Whip Skeleton

The Whip Skeleton is an enemy in the Castlevania series. They carry around a whip, like the members of the Belmont clan, and do great amounts of damage in most of their appearances. Red Whip Skeletons have also appeared in the series; they are soaked in blood and will reassemble after being destroyed, just like normal Red Skeletons. The Whip Skeletons are a type of Skeleton Chain enemies.
==General information==
Whip Skeletons are similar to the average, run-of-the-millskeletons, except for the fact that they are armed with a long-reaching whip. They usually take a couple of hits before they go down, so heroes have to stay on their toes and be very careful.
==Name==
The Whip Skeleton first appeared as an enemy known asShimon (死門, literally "Gate of Death") in Konami's 1987Famicom game Getsu Fūma Den. The character is a parody of Simon Belmont, the first protagonist in the Castlevania series. The name "Shimon" is also the Whip Skeleton's Japanese name, which has led to varying translations in the series.
When the Whip Skeleton first appeared in the 1989 NES game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, the English instruction manual called him The Gates of Death instead of "Whip Skeleton" like in Nintendo Power. The reason for this is because the Kanji used to spell Shimon is represented with "Gate" (門 Mon) and "Death" (死 Shi). Together, they make Shimon (しもん), a pun on "Simon" (シモン). The Japanese word for death is "shi", which makes the name a portmanteau of "death" and "Simon". This is befitting as they are skeletons.
The use of the name "The Gates of Death" was first properly translated when Harmony of Dissonance came out. In the English translation, Shimon was called Simon Wraith.
==Trivia==
*A secret miniboss can be found in Contra: Hard Corps (Konami, 1994) called Simondo Belmont. He uses a whip as his main form of attack and his overall design is based on famous anime and tokusatsu vocalist, Masato Shimon. "Shimon" being the name given to the first Whip Skeletons which appeared in a Konami game (Getsu Fūma Den, 1987).
==Gallery==
Category:Main Characters
Category:Characters
Category:Skeletons
Category:Males
Category:Heros
Category:Team Villalba