Coffin

:"Iron maiden" redirects here.
The Coffin is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is an old funerary box that has been possessed by an evil spirit and which now seeks new inhabitants to trap inside it forever.
==Description==
Coffins, caskets and sarcophagi are boxes where the dead rest. In many Castlevania installments, Count Dracula's coffin can be seen lying in the background of the castle's throne room instead of the throne itself. In some occasions, the vampire himself is seen rising from it once the player finally makes it to his chamber or after he has been resurrected by his followers.
Dracula's coffin has also made numerous appearances in the introductory cutscenes of several games, where his loyal servants are seen carrying on a black mass, where usually a young maiden –who was probably abducted from a nearly village– is laid unconscious over the coffin itself and then is sacrificed by plunging a blade through her heart, making her blood to run all over the box, as well as moistening its interior, nurturing and infusing its long dead contents with new unholy life and bringing the Count back from the dead once more.
Another notable coffin is Alucard's, which was first seen in his introductory game, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. It is found lying open on the floor of his burial chamber, from which he first comes out in the form of a company of bats, and after adopting his humanoid form, proceeds to attack the heroes in order to test their abilities, in an encounter that reminisces previous battles against his father, Count Dracula.
The Save Rooms in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night feature coffins inside where Alucard, being a dhampir, can sleep in and take a rest from battle.
In recent games, however, coffins have taken a more interactive role, acting as enemies that usually attack either by chasing the player in an attempt to snatch them inside and trap them forever or by spawning endless hordes of undead creatures. Mummies are often seen coming out from their coffins or sarcophagi, more so if it's a boss version of the enemy.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse===
Even though coffins don't appear as enemies in Dracula's Curse, they play a significant role in a couple of boss fights. Either two or three coffins will be found standing in the background of these boss rooms, where a malign spirit known as an Evil Flame will also be seen floating over an altar. The entity will then proceed to enter one of the coffins and bring back to life whatever atrocity was lying dormant inside. These enemies can either be a pair of Mummies, a Cyclops, or even the diabolic Leviathan.
===Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Castle===
Dracula himself is not present to face off against the player in this parody game, but an empty coffin handles any intruders for him. It is shown to have legs and contains a trap when opened: a boxing glove on a spring.
===Super Castlevania IV===
The Snapper Casket, as its name implies, awaits for prey to pass by and then starts giving chase while "snapping" its lid in an attempt to trap them inside it. It initially remains stationary and shakes violently every once in a while before turning hostile. This variant can only be damaged once it has commenced its attack, so the player must walk past it in order to trigger it and be able to destroy it.
On the upper levels of Stage VI, The Halls, a gathering of possessed caskets can be found levitating and forming a spinning circle to hinder the player's progress. These can be struck and destroyed from a safe distance, however, making them just a minor obstacle.
Some caskets can be found in the underground section of Stage IX, The Treasury. One such casket is oddly found on an upper ledge, standing beside one of the many background holes that periodically suck in a surge of wind which temporarily keeps the hero in place if touched. This hole in particular will take the player to a secret bonus area if allowed to suck them in.
In the Japanese version of the game, the caskets have a cross on the lid. These were removed from the overseas releases in an act of censorship.
===Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
A pulsating icosahedron is found inside of each Save Room in this game. When Alucard (or any other playable character) operates this floating object and chooses to save, it will deconstruct and reform into a coffin, where the character can sleep inside and save game progress.
Exclusive to Alucard's adventure, a special purple coffin can be found in the Underground Caverns, which leads him to a nightmare world where he faces the Succubus.
The fight against Akmodan II in Death Wing's Lair starts with a solitary sarcophagus standing in the middle of the room, from which the boss comes out.
The fight against Fake Trevor, Fake Grant and Fake Sypha will have those bosses start inside open coffins as skeletons. Before the battle begins, the coffins will close and start spinning around; then the fake trio of zombies will come out of the coffins and start fighting.
===Castlevania (N64)/Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness===
Some coffins conceal hidden paths in Dracula's domain. A coffin found at the end of the Villa will lead the player to many different areas depending on the hour of day it is entered at. Additionally, there are a couple of breakable coffins in the cemetery of the Forest of Silence, hiding a couple of items when destroyed.
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
A coffin briefly appears at the beginning of the game, containing Count Dracula's undead body. It is destroyed when Camilla uses her magic to unseal him.
In the Catacombs, levitating coffins can cause damage when the lid is forced open by the Mummy inside. An endless horde of Mummies may then come out of them if not destroyed.
During the course of his journey, Nathan Graves will come across two green and large iron maidens in the Abyss Stairway and the Eternal Corridor that seem to block some path. Once he defeats Adramelech at the Chapel Tower, in the next room, he'll find a third identical iron maiden, as well as a stepping switch on the floor. Once he steps on the contraption, the iron maiden will explode and crumble, giving him access to the room behind it, as well as a subtle hint on where to go next. This switch will make the other two iron maidens to crumble as well, although this will happen offscreen. As such, Nathan will have to backtrack to where the second iron maiden was standing, gaining with this entry to the Underground Gallery, or take an early access to the Underground Waterway.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
The battle against the Mummy Man in the Forgotten City is preceded by a beautifully crafted Egyptian sarcophagus lying on the ground of the burial chamber, from where wrappings suddenly start coming out and fly toward the ceiling, descending a moment later to form the body of the boss.
===Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls===
==Gallery==
===Artworks===
Wai Wai 2 Coffin.JPG|Living Coffin from Wai Wai World 2.
C4 Coffin.JPG|Maneating Casket from the Japanese Super Castlevania IV instruction booklet.
49coffin.jpg|Maneating Casket from the All About Akumajō Dracula guide for Super Castlevania IV.
Pachi 4-Panel 5.JPG|Dracula's coffin in the official Koma comic strips of Pachislot Akumajō Dracula.
===Screenshots===
Coffin - Castlevania - 01.png|Block 5(Castlevania)
Throne Room - Castlevania - 01.png|Dracula's coffin in Castlevania.
Cv-c64-2.jpg|Dracula's coffin in Castlevania.(Commodore 64)
Throne Room - Castlevania (Amiga) - 01.png|Dracula's coffin in Castlevania.(Commodore Amiga)
Throne Room - Haunted Castle - 02.png|Dracula's coffin in Haunted Castle.
Caixão de Alucard 01.png|Alucard's coffin in Dracula's Curse.
Coffin - Kid Dracula - 01.png|Kid Dracula's coffin in Kid Dracula.
Throne Room - Super Castlevania IV - 01.png|Dracula's coffin in Super Castlevania IV.
Coffin - Kid Dracula (GB) - 01.png|Kid Dracula's coffin in Kid Dracula.(Game Boy)
Throne Room - Bloodlines - 04.png|Dracula's coffin at the ruins of his castle in Bloodlines.
Throne Room - Bloodlines - 02.png|Elizabeth Bartley's coffin in Bloodlines.
Throne Room - Bloodlines - 03.png|Dracula's coffin in Bloodlines.
Throne Room - Castlevania 64 - 01.png|Dracula's (or Gilles de Rais's) coffin in Castlevania 64.
Coffin - Harmony of Dissonance - 01.png|Possibly the coffin of an apostate in Harmony of Dissonance.
Coffin - Harmony of Dissonance - 02.png|The same coffin in Castle B.
COD-IGA.jpg|IGA's casket in Lament of Innocence. First room of the 7th Floor of Dracula's Castle.
Curse of Darkness - Chair - 22.png|Iron maidens in Dracula's Castle in Curse of Darkness.
Coffin - Portrait of Ruin - 02.png|Iron maiden from Portrait of Ruin.
Throne Room - Portrait of Ruin - 01.png|Dracula's coffin in Portrait of Ruin.
Coffin - Order of Ecclesia - 03.png|Underground Labyrinth(Order of Ecclesia)
Coffin - Animated series - 01.png|Alucard's coffin in the Castlevania animated series.
Dracula's Castle - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 03.jpg|Dracula's coffin in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
===Miscellaneous sprites===
Coffin - Haunted Castle - 01.png|Coffin in Haunted Castle from which Mummies come out.
Coffin - 02.png|Coffin in Dracula's Curse from which an Evil Flame can resurrect Mummies, a Cyclops or Leviathan.
Coffin - Symphony of the Night - 01.png|Save Room coffin from Symphony of the Night where Alucard can rest inside.
Coffin - Symphony of the Night - 02.png|Akmodan II's sarcophagus.
Coffin - Symphony of the Night - 03.png|Coffins from where Fake Trevor, Grant and Sypha come out during their boss fight.
Coffin - Symphony of the Night - 04.png|Coffin in the Catacombs from which either a Blood Skeleton or a Monster Vial 3 is released.
Coffin - Circle of the Moon - 01.png|Dracula's coffin from Circle of the Moon.
Coffin - Circle of the Moon - 02.png|Path blocking iron maiden from Circle of the Moon (destroyed when pressing the switch found after fighting Adramelech).
Coffin - Aria of Sorrow - 01.png|Destroyable coffin from Aria of Sorrow.
Coffin - Aria of Sorrow - 02.png|Iron maiden from Aria of Sorrow.
Coffin - Dawn of Sorrow - 01.png|Puppet Master's iron maiden from Dawn of Sorrow.
Coffin - Portrait of Ruin - 01.png|Mummy's sarcophagus from Portrait of Ruin.
Coffin - Order of Ecclesia - 01.png|Iron maiden from Order of Ecclesia.
Coffin - Order of Ecclesia - 02.png|Jiang Shi's coffin from Order of Ecclesia.
Coffin - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 01.png|Simon Belmont's summoned coffin during his Grand Cross attack in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
==Trivia==
*A coffin and a casket are actually two different things. A coffin is usually six-sided or twelve-sided (almost always an elongated hexagonal or elongated dodecagonal) funerary box (somewhat shaped like the body) and is usually made of wood, while a casket is generally a four-sided or eight-sided (almost always a rectangular or long octagonal) funerary box and is usually made of metal.
**Having this in mind, the "Snapper Caskets" ("Maneating Caskets" in Japan) that appear in Super Castlevania IV are actually coffins and not caskets.
*What appears to be a destroyed coffin with a statue of a saint built over it can be seen inside the Save Rooms of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.
**This imagery is possibly related with the Save Rooms from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where coffins with a similar design are used by Alucard to rest inside.
*In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Grand Cross attack shows the enemy being encased in a coffin and thrown into the air.
*In the 1995 fantasy role-playing game Suikoden (also by Konami), in Neclord's castle (a vampire), instead of inns the player has access to coffins where they can rest in and heal up. This concept is similar to the coffins Alucard uses to rest in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the mechanic could probably have been inspired from Suikoden, although this is mere speculation.
==See also==
*Creeping Corpse
*Throne Rooms
*Tombstone
Category:Flying Enemies
Category:Poltergeists
Category:Circle of the Moon Enemies
Category:Grimoire of Souls Enemies
Category:Super Castlevania IV Enemies
Category:Wai Wai World 2 Enemies