Golem

The is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is a powerful man-made monster created by infusing special stones with magical life.
==Origins==
The golem was conceived long ago in Jewish folklore. During the Middle Ages, it was seen as a symbol of one's own great holiness and power to create a golem, and many prominent rabbis were rumored to have actually created a number of golems. A golem is built from the dust of the earth, much like how God made Adam. There are multiple ways to activate a golem:
*By inscribing one of the many names of God onto its forehead.
*By inscribing one of the many names of God on a slip of paper and placing it in the golem's mouth.
*By inscribing a specific religious command using one's own blood on calfskin and placing it into its mouth.
*By inscribing the Hebrew word emet ("truth") on its forehead.
It is always the wisest decision to never give the golem the ability to speak. If it has the ability to speak, then the golem is given a soul; and if it is given a soul, the Golem becomes anarchistic and cunning, in a sense. The golem becomes a wicked, foul creature. Another good idea is to always allow the golem to rest on the Sabbath (Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, Sunday for Christians), or else the golem will go berserk and become destructive of everything around it. If either one of these mistakes are made, or if for any other reason, there are also a few ways meant to deactivate the Golem.
*If activated using the word emet, one must erase the "e" to form the word met ("death").
*If activated using the calfskin parchment, the parchment must be removed from its mouth.
*If activated using the slip of paper, the paper must be removed and destroyed.
In all definitions, a golem is meant to be a servant to the one who created it. While there are many forms of golems throughout Castlevania, they all really stay true to the original myths surrounding it.
==Description==
Most Golems are made of rocks or clay, including several boss varieties like those in Haunted Castle, Super Castlevania IV, Harmony of Dissonance, Lament of Innocence, Aria of Sorrow and The Adventure ReBirth.
Circle of the Moon introduced the Iron Golem boss, which soon became a common regular enemy in its own right and is renowned for its incredible resilience to damage. Aria of Sorrow featured two Golems not found in other games: the Wooden Golem (which was replaced later by the Treant) and the bizarre Flesh Golem, whose soul allowed Soma to eat otherwise spoiled food. The Lords of Shadow games featured gigantic Golems known as Titans, as well as a smaller one called the Black Knight Golem.
Castlevania Judgment features a playable Golem who has obtained self-awareness and can be considered a character in his own right. Like other monsters in the series, the Golem's role in each game ranges from boss threats to nonexistent.
==Appearances==
===Haunted Castle===
A massive Golem serves as the boss of Stage 4: Basement. It is suspended by a heavy chain, which slowly pulls it around the arena like a puppet on a string. Its only attack is to launch its own fist at Simon, then reform its fist moments later. It can be damaged by attacking its face or its fist; the fist can be damaged while it is still reforming.
====Haunted Castle Revisited====
This Golem with only the upper body can be seen suspended by four chains. It can slam the fists on the ground while sending a dust wave, or punch forward, or unleash a flow of debris from both hands. Its weakness is the two cores in the chest and forehead, but only the one glowing red can take damage, after which the other one turns red. The forehead core can be whipped by jumping off the fists after punching.
===Super Castlevania IV===
Koranot is the King of the Golems. Simon meets him at the end of the Trick Manor after beating Puweyxil. Koranot spelled backward reads "Tonarok"; this can be interpreted as "Ton of Rock", which would be an accurate description of this boss enemy. A spectacular monster showcasing the Super Nintendo console's cutting edge capabilities of the era by making heavy use of innovative Mode 7 effects, such as rotation and scaling.
===Castlevania: Rondo of Blood===
Golems appear in the first stage of the game. It's revealed during one of the introductory cutscenes that an army of Golems, along with the Behemoth and many other creatures, were responsible for razing the town of Aljiba, where they took Annette hostage. A couple of Golems appear toward the final segment of the stage. They have two attacks: punching forward and spewing three fireballs in a spreading manner.
Rondo of Blood also introduced a very different race of golems: the Bone Golem. Instead of being a huge juggernaut made of rock, this boss is composed by a multitude of bones from different creatures which assemble in different ways to form three different monsters:
#A centaur-like creature with four arms.
#A long-tailed flying creature.
#A mass of bones that rams from side to side.
===Castlevania: Bloodlines===
In this game, the Golem is featured as the boss of the Atlantis Shrine (Stage 2), which takes place in Greece. After defeating the Wizard who was using his magic to force the waters of Atlantis to rise to threatening heights, the player rides the tide down to the bottom of the Atlantic palace and comes face to face with the Wizard's creation: the Golem. Its body has multiple layers the player must break in order to do damage to a red orb that acts as its head (and, therefore, its weak point). Its attack are mainly just pummeling the ceiling to cause rocks to drop down on the player and trying to slug them from a point-blank distance. After the Golem is defeated, it raises its fist, as if to threaten that it will return someday.
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
Golems appear in three forms in this game:
#The first is the Iron Golem, a powerful boss fought at the end of the Machine Tower. This appearance marks the introduction of this particular variant of the enemy into the series, which from this point on would become a regular foe in following titles.
#The second is the properly named Golem enemy, encountered in the Underground Warehouse. It walks around at a slow pace, and when damaged enough, its lower body falls off, leaving its torso crawling forward as it cannot change directions anymore.
#The third is the Golem DSS card, which represents the element of Earth, thus creating earth effects when combined with other cards (such as earthquakes). When the Uranus card is obtained, the Golem can actually be summoned, which makes stones to launch out from the ground as the monster emerges, dealing extreme damage to weaker enemies.
===Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance===
Harmony of Dissonance was famous for its numerous boss fights, and the Golem joins this large cast too. It behaves much like its Bloodlines counterpart, even so far as to have the same red orb that acts as its weak point. It also has a ball and chain in place of one of its arms, although this is just only aesthetic, as it won't actually use it in battle. The fight has two phases:
#At first, the Golem will walk slowly, trying to punch Juste when he's close, and jumping from time to time to make rocks fall from the ceiling. It can be damaged by hitting any part of its body.
#After sustaining enough damage, the rock formations on its head and chest will break, revealing a red orb which acts as its weak spot. At this point, only the orb can be damaged, so Juste must resort to jumping or making use of the two nearby platforms to attack. In this phase, it constantly attacks by spewing a cascade of rock shards that cover a considerable distance.
===Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow===
In this game, most Golems are relegated to being just very strong enemies. There are many more Golems than just the familiar stone giant, one of which, made of iron, is nearly impossible to defeat without use of the Killer Mantle's soul, Astral Veil, because its defense is ridiculously high. While most of them aren't bosses, the Golems make nuisances of themselves all the same. Regardless of their high defense, all Golems (except the Big Golem) can be destroyed with one hit of Astral Veil. This weakness also makes obtaining their souls much easier.
====Wooden Golem====
This is the weakest golem in this game and is the first one encountered in a normal playthrough. It has weakness to Fire and the second lowest defense among the other golems. It has two attacks, one is a low uppercut, which can send Soma flying, and the other is kicking a stone forward, which can be reflected using the Witch's or Giant Ghost's soul.
It could be considered to be the predecessor of the Treant enemy found in later titles.
====Golem====
This is the second variant of golems. Despite having the lowest HP, its tolerance against every element makes up for it. It has the same moveset as the Wooden Golem.
====Flesh Golem====
Essentially, a large glob of flesh given life. It drops rotten items and does not give out a lot of experience. Despite its weakness against Sword and having the lowest defense among the other golems, it has more HP. Its soul grants the Demon Stomach ability, which is useful for restoring health, as Soma can eat otherwise harmful food (like Rotten Meat and Spoiled Milk, both of which are dropped by the Flesh Golem) and restore HP instead of decreasing it. As the other golems, it has two attacks, a low uppercut and kicking a stone.
====Big Golem====
The Big Golem appears in the Dance Hall as the game's fourth boss, and later in the Underground Reservoir as a regular enemy. It has about thrice the height of the other golems and moves almost exactly as Talos did in Harmony of Dissonance, by slowly pacing back and forth while swinging its long arms near the ground, inflicting coincidental damage upon contact. It has two attacks:
#He thrusts the palm of its hand at Soma. It can thrust its palm downward or upward (he will bend its body to do this). Interestingly, each attack hits twice, displaying the damage received as only half of the actual amount.
#He opens up its mouth and spits rocks out at Soma. While not as devastating as the arm thrust attack, it covers some distance between it and the player, so it's best trying to avoid it. The Witch's and Giant Ghost's soul can reflect the rocks.
After defeating this boss the first time, the player will obtain the Skeleton Blaze soul, which grants the Sliding ability and allows Soma to slide underneath narrow places, which helps to unlock the Inner Quarters area. Also, Soma can acquire the Big Golem's soul, which grants the Guardian Golem ability. It behaves much like the Creaking Skull's and Cagnazzo's souls, mainly because it's a Guardian Soul, and it supports battle from behind the player. While not as powerful as Cagnazzo's soul, it is more powerful than the Creaking Skull's soul; however, it doesn't cover as much distance as the latter, so the player may want to equip the soul depending on the room's layout they're fighting in.
It's possible for Soma to slip behind the Big Golem by trying to walk past it, although he will receive heavy damage (in Julius's case, he can warp behind it with no damage taken), once there, the player can attack it from behind and the boss/enemy will not be able to turn around, making it easier to beat. Caution needs to be considered, though, as Soma/Julius can still get hit if the Big Golem takes a step back, so a bit of spacing needs to be taken in mind.
====Iron Golem====
This is the strongest Golem and the most durable enemy in the game. It has 9,999 HP, 255 Defense, and tolerance against every element, making almost any attack do only 1 damage (occasionally, and on very high levels, some powerful attacks may do 2 points of damage to it). The only way to beat it fast is by using the Killer Mantle's soul, Astral Veil. For this reason, trying to beat it in Julius Mode is practically useless, since all of Julius's attacks will only deal 1 damage. It has two attacks, a downward punch (instead of the other golems' low uppercut), and kicking a stone.
===Castlevania: Lament of Innocence===
In perhaps one of its most memorable appearances, the Golem is one of the bosses Leon Belmont must defeat in order to open the door to Walter Bernhard's keep. While traversing the Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab, the stage where the Golem dwells in, Leon must first find the "e" Tablet and bring it to the boss's room. Once there, the tablet must be inserted into an epitaph that has the word "meth" written on it (this is one of the historical ways of activating a golem, by writing the word "emeth" on it; see Origins). However, this Golem doesn't seem willing to obey the one who brought it to life and attacks Leon instead.
Golem appearance (LoI).gif|Golem's appearance in Lament of Innocence.
The monster is basically a bruiser boss; many of its attacks consist in swinging its arms, throwing punches in a wide arc covering a considerable area around it, or jumping to create an area-of-effect shockwave around it. It can also smash the ground with both fists to create yet another shockwave, this time causing Paralysis.
Golem Summons rocks on every step (LoI).gif|Causing debris to fall on every step.
Golem jump-smash the ground (LoI).gif|Using its fists to smash the ground and jumping to create shockwaves.
Golem fist (LoI).gif|Swinging its arms attack.
After the Golem's first HP bar has been depleted, the rock formations on its head and chest, along with its right arm, will crumble, revealing an inner red orb (very similar to its Harmony of Dissonance counterpart). Only the red orb can be damaged in this phase, so Leon must resort to jumping in order to attack it. At this point, the Golem can only perform one swing with its remaining arm, although it has a much wider range. It can also take aim and shoot its arm at Leon, pulling it back via a retractable chain attached to it. When it does this, its arm will get stuck on the floor and it will take the Golem a moment to free it and pull it back, presenting a perfect opportunity to get near the monster and attack its orb.
Golem red ord form (LoI).gif|Golem transformed into its second form.
Golem red ord form fist (LoI).gif|Swinging with its remaining arm attack.
Golem red ord form retractable chain fist (LoI).gif|Shoot arm attack.
Golem red ord form retractable chain fist (LoI) (2).gif
Golem defeated (LoI).gif|Golem defeated.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
Three golems appear in Dawn of Sorrow: Golem, Treant (replacing the Wooden Golem from Aria) and the Iron Golem. Their sprites have been redrawn to fit the more powerful graphical capabilities of the Nintendo DS.
===Castlevania: Curse of Darkness===
The Golem is a Level 2 Battle-Type Innocent Devil in Curse of Darkness, which is an ally instead of an enemy. It can be obtained by evolving a Magmard by collecting 40 Sword or Special Evo Crystals.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
Appearing in the Buried Chamber, the Golem from Portrait of Ruin is the same which first appeared in Rondo of Blood. They are simple enemies who have resistances against most of Jonathan's sub-weaponry.
===Castlevania Judgment===
The Golem is a playable character in the 3-D fighting game Judgment for the Nintendo Wii. His design seems to be a mixture of both the Golem and Frankenstein's Monster. It's revealed throughout his story mode that the Time Rift the game takes place in has granted the Golem a measure of self-awareness, which he uses in an attempt to make himself fully human. However, only in the rift can his sentience be maintained. The rift would doom humanity if he remains extant; as such, the Golem sacrifices his chance at humanity to help seal the rift and save mankind. After the Golem mends the rift in time, he loses his sentience and becomes a mindless monster once more. Sadly, he was later destroyed by a vampire hunter. His theme is "Tower of Dolls", a song from Castlevania Chronicles.
===Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth===
In The Adventure ReBirth, the area boss of The Chapel (Stage 4) is an enemy that resembles a Golem. It is capable of smashing, jumping into the air and landing (creating a shockwave), and summoning several mini-golems which float around. Its head is not shown until the end of the battle, although when he's collapsing, it's shown that it bears the uppercase Omega (Ω), the final letter of the Greek alphabet.
===Castlevania: Lords of Shadow===
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data ==
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The Golem from Harmony of Dissonance is one of only two bosses in the game who receives non-neutral damage from an element, Golem resisting Thunder, and the Skull Knight, who is weak to it.
*This same boss also possesses mirrored sprites: although it has a ball and chain on its right arm when it is first encountered, when it turns around, the ball and chain will appear on the left arm instead. 
* In Aria of Sorrow there is a rare chance a wooden golem would look like an iron golem, a good place to find it is in Dance Hall.
==See also==
*Bone Golem, Iron Golem, Treant, Stone Golem (other kinds of golems)
*Bound Giant
*Golem (character)
*Golem (DSS card)
*Golem (Innocent Devil)
*Guardian Golem, Summon Golem (allies)
==External links==
*Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin – Bestiary by Darth Nemesis at GameFAQs
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