Heaven

Heaven is a location mentioned in various Castlevania games where God and the angelic host reside. It is traditionally considered to be the place where the good or redeemed souls of people go to dwell for eternity as a reward for their good actions in life. In this regard, it is considered to be the opposite of Hell, where damned souls go to be punished for eternity.
==Heaven in the Castlevania series==
===Original series===
Heaven is generally considered to be the place where God and the angelic host reside (despite the former's general consent of omnipresence), and also where the souls of all living beings go to dwell for eternity after their physical bodies expire, as long as they haven't been damned whether it is for wrong actions taken during their lifetime or due to other outside and unholy means, such as being the unfortunate victims of Death or a vampire, or for having been used to fuel a dark ritual or any other unholy activities, in which then the soul is instead sent to Hell or deemed to dwell in the nothingness of Limbo for eternity.
Worthy of mention are candles, a recurrent and iconic element of the Castlevania series which represent the souls of these unfortunate victims. When the protagonist destroys one of these, the soul it represents is considered to have been purified and freed, and is finally allowed to go to Heaven, leaving a useful item behind for the hero as a form of gratitude.
Furthermore, the idea of Heaven being part of this universe is also supported by the existence of the Church in the earthly world, which is an organization that has the objective of communicating that which is Divine to the mortal world with the intention of spreading its grace and help people to live a good life, as well as aid and comfort them when the time comes when their souls have to transcend to the spiritual realm, and ease as much as possible the dramatic experience of this mandatory and unnegotiable event.
Unlike Hell, Heaven has either played a role or has been referred to fewer number of times along the Castlevania mythos, but nevertheless, its existence is consistently felt by other aspects, such as the frequent presence of statues or other diverse imageries of saints and angels decorating the areas that are visited during the hero's journey, and in some cases even having a specific purpose. In most titles, these appear mainly to convey the idea of disparity between the forces of good an evil, with the implicit irony of having heavenly themed imagery decorating the abode where demons dwell in and which usually hosts the entrance to the Underworld itself.
While always been present in the series by the inclusion of religious assets (such as crosses and bottles of holy water, just to name a few), these artistic representations became much more prominent since the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997), possibly due to the change of artistic direction in addition to the more advanced technological capabilities of the gaming systems of the time. As such, many of the spells available to the player in that game and later entries frequently displayed the summoning of saints and angels to favor the protagonist with their grace, which usually traduced in the form of temporary stat boosts or calling forth a divine being, or even the elements, to vanquish all monsters in the vicinity with holy power.
Other worth to mention instances where the heavenly forces of good can be felt within the series are the churches Simon Belmont encounters during his adventure in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, where a Priest allows him to stay for a while to recover from his weariness with renewed strength granted by his faith. Likewise, Trevor Belmont is initially found praying in front of a large cross (which even emanates holy rays in the Japanese version) before he begins heading toward the Demon Castle, gathering the strength of spirit and mind necessary for such a long and arduous journey.
Statues took a much relevant role since Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, where statues of saints or angels could be found inside of Save Rooms, becoming a staple in the series from then onward and having only a few exceptions since then. In said game, a statue of Virgin Mary –who is also considered to reign almighty in Heaven– is found inside of all Save Rooms, to which the protagonist is implied to pray and which in return heals their weariness and mind. From then onward, statues of angels can generally be found inside of these safe rooms serving the same purpose.
On a related note, imagery of Virgin Mary can also be found in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, one in the form of a statue that is part of one of the game's many quests. When said statue is interacted with during the course of said quest, it starts shedding copious tears of blood. Likewise, a portrait of Virgin Mary crying tears of blood is also seen in the Game Over screen of Sisters Mode in the same game. In Christianity, this event is known by the name of "stigmata", which is the appearance of bodily wounds, scars and pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ; crying tears of blood or sweating blood are also considered to be forms of stigmata. Occurrences of stigmata are often considered to be of divine origin and perceived as miraculous.
It's generally consented that when Mathias Cronqvist –the man who would be later known as Count Dracula– turned against God, he also renounced Heaven and all it represents, making it the target of his eternal wrath; this under the philosophy that if mortal life is God's design, then he would rebel against it.
In the Castlevania series, the Dark Lord is considered to be the incarnation of evil in the real world, a power he gathers from Chaos, which is considered to be "the root of all chaotic things", and to which a path lies within the Demon Castle, which itself is a "creature of chaos" as well. The castle thus is a place inhabited by demons and where they possess a way of entering the real world. Certain demons, in turn, are many times described as "fallen angels" that rebelled against God. In Christian lore, Lucifer gathered and leaded an army of rebellious angels to usurp God's throne in Heaven, although they were ultimately defeated by the heavenly armies and thrown to the depths of the Underworld, where they reside since immemorial times, with Lucifer allowed to have sovereignty over that unearthly realm until the Day of Judgment.
===Lords of Shadow===
In the Lords of Shadow games, both God and Heaven take a much more prominent role than they ever did in the original timeline, and in fact both act as the main plot engines that move the narrative of the story.
The Brotherhood of Light was a sacred organization that had the objective of banishing the forces of darkness that were plaguing Europe at the time and send them back whence they belonged. Three elite warriors –Zobek, Cornell and Carmilla– were its founders and fought the forces of Satan constantly. Eventually and through constant study, they located three sacred places on Earth where God's power was such that it connected the spiritual and physical planes. By using this power, the three founders purified themselves and got rid of their physical forms, becoming spiritual beings ascended to Heaven with powers second only to God.
Their ascension, however, wouldn't come without their own drawbacks and made that all which wasn't pure on them to remain on Earth, where they evolved into evil counterparts of their former selves. These evil incarnations were called the "Lords of Shadow", as they were merely shades of their pure halves, although they were still connected to their heavenly counterparts, meaning that their destruction would also cause the death of their good halves.
Throughout the course of the first game in the trilogy, it is revealed that Marie, the beloved wife of the courageous Brotherhood knight Gabriel Belmont, was killed by one of the many creatures that were ravaging the land at the time. Due to the unholy nature of her murder, her soul was denied of salvation and instead remained trapped on Earth to roam it for eternity, as did all the rest of the souls of those who died during these attacks.
However, probably due to her goodness and purity, Marie was able to manifest to Gabriel numerous times and guide him during his quest to eradicate the evils in the world (all this while he was also searching for the legendary God Mask, which allegedly would allow him to bring Marie back to life).
In the end, Gabriel managed to prevail over all ordeals he came across during his journey, at one point even having a duel with Satan himself. By subjugating Satan and sending him back to Hell, Gabriel gained his own place in Heaven (although he would first have to endure his very own downfall before obtaining his redemption). After the encounter, the souls of all those who had died during the attacks were finally freed and permitted to ascend to Heaven. Marie's soul was among these and was able to manifest to Gabriel one last time, praising him for his deeds and bidding him goodbye until the time came for them to be finally reunited.
==See also==
*Church
*God
*Hell
==External links==
*Heaven at Wikipedia
Category:Alternate Realms
Category:Locations