Christopher Belmont

is the protagonist of the first two Castlevania games on the Nintendo Game Boy, Castlevania: The Adventure and Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. An alternate version of him appears as the protagonist of the remake of the first game, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, on the Wii. Prior to his appearance in the series, Christopher was mentioned in the Japanese instruction booklet for the original Castlevania.
Christopher faced Count Dracula one hundred years after Trevor Belmont's first adventure in Dracula's Castle, and killed him one hundred years before his descendant, Simon Belmont, did so himself. In the late 1600s, Christopher was a legendary hero for his deeds.
==History==
===Castlevania: The Adventure===
Count Dracula resurrected in the year 1576, one hundred years after his death at the hands of Trevor Belmont and his team of heroes. At that time, the Count's one hundred year resurrection cycle became evident. Christopher's blood called for him to challenge Dracula and seal his evil nemesis away for another one hundred years.
With the Vampire Killer, the very same whip Trevor used to first destroy the Count, Christopher set off toward Dracula's Castle, passing through a graveyard, a cave and a booby trapped tower before reaching the Dark Lord's dwelling. Christopher met and defeated Dracula in battle and afterward escaped the castle before it could crumble atop him.
On a hillside cliff, Christopher watched the castle decimate into rubble and walked away from the site of his victory, reassured he had destroyed the Count. Unbeknownst to Christopher, Dracula escaped destruction by turning into mist. The vampire would eventually fly away in bat form from the ruins of his castle and patiently lie in wait for an opportunity to strike back against the Belmont Clan.
===Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge===
15 years passed. Christopher Belmont's son, Soleil, was coming of age as a Vampire Hunter. There was a celebration in honor of his passage into manhood. The inhabitants of Transylvania were confident their peace would be long lasting with both Christopher and Soleil keeping a vigil over the land.
Meanwhile, Count Dracula was staggering from his crushing defeat. He survived the battle with Christopher, but was too weakened to bring his body out of the mist form that saved his undead life. Dracula took note of Soleil and saw him as an opportunity to become whole and defeat Christopher.
The day after the celebration, Soleil disappeared and four elemental castles arose. When Christopher found out that his son had gone missing, he departed to save him. He broke into the castles and destroyed their guardians, causing the elemental spirits of the castles to drift away, and Count Dracula's castle emerged from the earth. Within the castle, Christopher found Soleil, but Dracula had magically influenced him and turned him against his own father. The two engaged in a duel that ended with Christopher's victory, releasing his son from Dracula's influence. Soleil told his father that Dracula was going to use the four castle spirits to become whole again. Christopher pressed on for the final confrontation with Dracula and destroyed the Count, ridding the world of him for the time being.
Christopher and Soleil watched Dracula's castle fall with full confidence that he was gone and the Belmont bloodline would strongly continue.
==Personality==
Christopher's personality has only ever been explored in the comic series Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy, which is debated on whether or not it is canonical. Nevertheless, it presents Christopher as a more reluctant hero compared to his predecessors and successors. He is plagued by nightmares of Dracula, which he fears is an omen to his return. His stress is increased by the knowledge of the mass destruction and death that the Dark Lord caused when he was alive. He hopes that he never has to face those same kind of horrors that his ancestor Trevor did, and just wants to live in peace with his newly wed wife. When Dracula is resurrected by a dark cult and immediately desecrates the grave of Christopher's parents, the latter realizes that his time has come to take up his families' destiny. Because of his battles, Christopher overcame his fear and reluctance, and fully accepted the Belmont Clan destiny of passing down the whip for generations to come.
==Item Data==
<tabber>Castlevania: The Adventure=
|-|Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge=
</tabber>
==Other appearances==
===Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy===
Christopher was given a more developed background in the 2005 graphic novelization Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy, which elaborates on the events of Castlevania: The Adventure and greatly expands it by introducing an entire new cast of characters, as well as Christopher's motives for setting forth to the vampire's castle.
The setting of the comic changes drastically from that in the game, now appearing to take place in the Victorian era. It also changes Christopher's status in society and now presents him as a member of a honorable family (probably of noble heritage).
However, even though The Belmont Legacy is an officially licensed product, it has never been used as reference in any further products of the Castlevania franchise, and therefore, all events on it are assumed to take place in an alternate continuity.
==Trivia==
*Any mention of Christopher was completely removed from the story in the western localization of Castlevania: The Adventure, including all corresponding documentation and packaging.
**Probably due to this, some video game magazines and advertisements of the era mistakenly labeled Christopher as "Simon Belmont" in certain promotional features for that game.
*Christopher was the first Belmont with the capability of using the Vampire Killer to shoot fireballs (not taking into account characters from different timelines).
**In Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, one of the many combination of cards in the game (Diana + Salamander) allows Nathan Graves to shoot a fireball out of his whip, making a callback to Christopher's ability.
**In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, an item called the Bullet Tip (or "Christopher Soul" in the Japanese version) is a homage both to this ability and to Christopher himself, as it enables Juste Belmont to shoot fireballs from his whip if he has full health (this is likely a callback to the fact that in The Adventure, Christopher loses the upgrade if he gets hit while having it).
*He shares the same given name with the actor Christopher Lee, who is famous for his portrayal of Count Dracula in many horror films.
*Despite his obscurity in the series, he is an important Belmont in the traditional timeline. Before Simon, he was the first Belmont to have not only defeated Dracula twice, but also to have done it alone. Plus, he would also be the oldest to have defeated him.His age is never specified in games where he appears in, but some Belmont's Revenge artworks show him old.
**Christopher was not included in the Greatest Five special attack in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.
**He was also overlooked in the 2009 Wii game Castlevania Judgment. Simon Belmont's attentions in that game were focused on the exploits of Trevor Belmont and "the legendary three warriors", instead of "the legend of Christopher the hero" as he did in Castlevania.
*According to the Japanese instruction booklet for Vampire Killer, he was the responsible for beheading Medusa and sealing Dracula in the Castle Keep (called the "Carpathian Tower").
*In Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, Christopher reuses Trevor's voice clips from Castlevania Judgment.
*Christopher Belmont was the first Castlevania hero to watch the castle crumble from afar during the credits (the credits of the original game only depicted the castle crumbling without Simon onscreen).
==References==
==External links==
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de:Christopher Belmont
es:Christopher Belmont
pt-br:Christopher Belmont
Category:Belmont Clan
Category:Humans
Category:Male Characters
Category:Playable Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Vampire Hunters and Huntresses
Category:The Adventure Characters
Category:Belmont's Revenge Characters