Book of Dracul

The Travel Book is the leather and metal bound book containing the chronicles of Gabriel Belmont's rise as a hero of light and fall into darkness as the Prince of Darkness, Dracula. After that point, the Travel Book is abandoned and the story of Dracula's reign is instead recorded in the Book of Dracul.
==Game specific information==
===Castlevania: Lords of Shadow===
The Travel Book is first seen in the title screen of the first Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. At that time, the book featured a replica of the God Mask and a normal colored hardcover. It served as the menu screens for the player, as well as a record of all characters, creatures and items encountered by Gabriel. Each "chapter" is a stage containing levels. Each stage is narrated by Zobek, describing Gabriel's quest and his fall into darkness. Following Zobek's apparent death, Gabriel briefly took up recording in the book, describing his feelings after the failure of his quest and his final fall after drinking Laura's blood and becoming a vampire.
===Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2===
What exactly happened to the Travel Book is unknown, but at some point after the conclusion of the Resurrection DLC chapter, Dracula chooses to use a different book, with a stylized dragon face and a red hardcover, to record his history and memories.
This tome, the Book of Dracul, is the book Dracula is reading during the title screen and load screens in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. It is kept in a secret chamber behind his throne, both in the past as well as in his memories. When he is about to interrupt the ritual of Guido Szandor in summoning Satan, Zobek's Lieutenant held him in place by the shoulder, which caused his consciousness to wander back to his castle. This time, the young Trevor and Marie guided him to the location of the book. As Dracula flips the book, it is shown that the pages contained sketches of the time when the Brotherhood of Light, led by Roland de Ronceval, siege his castle.
Lastly, the Book of Dracul helps him remember his good side, and his plan to defeat Zobek and Satan with the help of Alucard. Reading the book, Dracula recovered some fragments of his lost memory after the Great Explosion. It was revealed that he and Alucard devised a plan to allow the coming of Satan in order for them to defeat the two evils. And in order to create a charade, he allowed Alucard to put him into deep sleep using the Crissaegrim. This explains the time lapse after the Great Explosion, as well as few events of the Revelations DLC.
Alucard is also shown reading the Book of Dracul on the title screen and load sequences in the Revelations DLC chapter. The book itself plays no significance in the story of the DLC.
==Gallery==
LOS-book.jpg|Travel Book render
BookofDracul.png|Book of Dracul concept art
==Trivia==
*The Book of Dracul is named in a similar fashion to the books of the Bible.
*The Travel Book is used as the menu screen in the first game, while the Book of Dracul is used as a physical prop in the second one.
*Zobek's narration is the first time Gabriel is referred to as "Prince of Darkness".
*The Travel Book seems to fit with the concept of members of the Brotherhood of Light recording their adventures, which are found on scrolls hidden throughout the games.
*If the game is paused at any time, the books will have a short description of what is presently happening; the Travel Book describes the scene as if done by an outside narrator, while the Book of Dracul describes the mission in first person, in the words of Dracula or Alucard. If paused during a cutscene, the book will instead have whatever current dialogue is being said.
*Zobek narrates the story during Lords of Shadow chapter loading screens. Gabriel narrates after the battle with Satan up until the death of the Forgotten One.
**As the book first appears to be Zobek's property, it is unknown how Gabriel was able to find it and use it himself.
**It is possible that these travel books were akashic records or an equivalent of them, as they seem to chronicle the past and present of the warriors of the Brotherhood and can allow outside parties (such as Zobek) to spy on them. It would also explain why Gabriel's travel book changes by the events of Lords of Shadow 2 to reflect his monstrous nature. It is possible that Pan was the reason the Brotherhood of Light had these.
Category:Magic Books
Category:Storyline Elements
Category:Lords of Shadow
Category:Lords of Shadow 2