Whip Skeleton

The Whip Skeleton is a recurring enemy in the Castlevania series. They carry around a whip, similar to the members of the Belmont clan, and do great amounts of damage in most of their appearances. Their whips appear to be fashioned from bones strung together. 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.
==Description==
Whip Skeletons are similar to the average, run-of-the-mill Skeletons, 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. Whip skeletons are also often encountered on relatively small platforms, where the player needs to time their movements right to either climb the stairs or jump onto it to deal with them before they attack first.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance===
Called Simon Wraith in this game, this enemy is a reference to the famous vampire hunter, Simon Belmont. They are only encountered in the The Wailing Way and Shrine of the Apostates of Castle B, which likely are some of the final areas the player will visit in the game.
The Simon Wraith is one of the most powerful enemies in the game, and in fact, it is one of the few enemies that will still give a considerable amount of EXP, when most other enemies will only give a trivial amount of it at that point in the game. Even at a high level and wearing advanced armor, a Simon Wraith will deal a considerably amount of damage to the player; and likewise, it is also quite resilient. It is weak to Fire, though, so equipping the Red Stone is advisable while exploring areas where these enemies appear.
The Simon Wraith is also one of the two enemies that drop the Noon Star card, which allows access to the Merchant's shops in the Clock Tower (Castles A and B), although the Specter also drops it and more commonly.
==Name==
The Whip Skeleton first appeared as an enemy known as in Konami's 1987 Famicom 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 booklet 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 being 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.
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
Shimon manual.PNG|Shimon from the Getsu Fūma Den instruction booklet.
Whip Skeleton - Wai Wai World - 01.png|Shimon from Wai Wai World.
CV3 J Manual Whip Skeleton.JPG|The Gates of Death from the Japanese Dracula's Curse instruction booklet.
06whipskeleton.jpg|Whip Skeleton from the All About Akumajō Dracula guide for Super Castlevania IV.
HoD 095.png|Simon Wraith enemy list entry from Harmony of Dissonance.
Pyuu to Fuko Whip Toting Skeleton.JPG|Whip Toting Skeleton from Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar: Byō to Deru! Megane-kun.
==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" was the name given to the first Whip Skeletons that appeared in a Konami game (Getsu Fūma Den, 1987).
==See also==
*Fake Trevor, Fake Grant, Fake Sypha - Fake skeletons of other heroes which get skin grafted on.
*Skeleton Whip Sword
*Snake Bone Whip, T-Rex Spine - Other bone whips.
==References==
==External links==
*Shimon at the GetsuFumaDen Wiki
Category:Original Castlevania Lore
Category:Skeletal Monsters
Category:Dracula's Curse Enemies
Category:Harmony of Despair Enemies
Category:Harmony of Dissonance Enemies
Category:Super Castlevania IV Enemies
Category:Wai Wai World