Flea Man

The Flea Man is an enemy in the Castlevania series. He is a sinister little man who leaps about as if he were a flea.
==Description==
The Flea Man is a hopper enemy who appears in most recent Castlevania titles, replacing the more traditional Hunchbacks from classic entries. Like all hoppers, Flea Men tend to hop around in short or long movements back and forth, although unlike their predecessors, they do so more erratically and may combine their leaping movements with tiny continuous hops which traduce in a scurrying motion. They maintain hunched backs like most common hoppers, but also feature some flea-like characteristics, such as having tiny heads and arms, and sometimes even antennae.
Some Flea Men come armed with diverse weaponry. The Armored Fleaman has armor that must be destroyed first and wields a large axe which can deal out large amounts of damage. Flea Men usually dual-wield twin axe blades in the 3D games (Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness). An advanced variant of Flea Men known as Rippers will often throw blood-soaked knives.
Like other hoppers, Flea Men can be dropped by an aerial enemy, either a Bat or an Eagle, although they also have several additional methods of transporting themselves around. In some games, instead of being dropped by eagles, Flea Men will mount battle geese and ride them about, and are instead referred to as Flea Riders. They may also ride White Dragons, in which case they are referred to as Dragon Riders. In Symphony of the Night, if Alucard knocks a Flea Man off of a free floating White Dragon (or Wyrm, called Orobourous), the latter will be released and help him destroy any other enemies in the room out of gratitude. A reference to this can be seen in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, where if a White Dragon familiar is summoned, a minimized Soma Cruz will be riding it.
In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, Flea Men are spawned from the Wakwak Tree and will pop out from bubbles on their branches when they're fully grown. They will keep on spawning until the tree is destroyed.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Castlevania: Dracula X===
Rondo of Blood marks the first appearance of the Flea Man in the series, which is of particular interest as it also marks a departure from this type of enemy's traditional Hunchback design, now having a more slender complexion and a peculiar mobility, giving it with this its very own appearance and personality.
Furthermore, this game is also notorious for having an alternate version of this enemy, the Flea Rider, which is a Flea Man riding on a battle goose, introducing with this the concept of Flea Men having different occupations and inferring the idea of them being a whole species of little men notorious for carrying out different jobs (a concept that would be further expanded in Symphony of the Night).
The Dracula X version of the Flea Man is pretty much the same from Rondo of Blood, although the Flea Rider was scrapped from this game (possibly, due to the Super NES's hardware limitations).
===Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
Rondo of Blood, the direct prequel of Symphony of the Night, had already introduced the idea of Flea Men having different occupations, but the latter further expanded it by adding a great variety of these enemies:
*Flea Rider: Same enemy from Rondo of Blood, although now each spawns in a specific spot of the rooms they're encountered in.
*Flea Armor: A Flea Man clad in heavy armor who wields a battle axe almost as big as him. When one detects the enemy, he frenetically charges forward while incessantly swinging his weapon. When hit once, the armor breaks apart in pieces, leaving behind its normal Flea Man occupant to continue the battle.
*Dragon Rider and Orobourous: Flea Men which somehow have tamed White Dragons and now ride them. Overall, these enemies behave just as White Dragons of the unattached kind. Unique to the Orobourous variant, if the player manages to knock the rider off, the dragon will become a temporary ally and help them destroy the rest of the enemies in the room.
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
Interestingly, the Fleaman in Circle of the Moon isn't the base version of this type of enemy in the game and instead it's just an advanced version of the Hopper. As such, it has two big claws instead of hands (these appear to be made of metal and could be gauntlets in that shape, although the sprite hints on them being prosthetically attached). In addition, it apparently either wears a black, beaked mask (similar to those worn by plague doctors) or its head outright has that avian-like shape. Apart from the colors and stats changes, the only difference between the Hopper and the Fleaman is that the former wears suspenders.
It's worth mentioning that the Fleaman actually walks this time around instead of hopping like in previous versions; and when it attacks, it does so by first entering a beast-like stance –standing on all fours– and then performing a high leap at the player.
===Castlevania: Lament of Innocence===
Flea Men are encountered in the House of Sacred Remains and the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, and are introduced in special cutscenes in both areas, forewarning the threat they pose. They appear in a few other areas in Crazy mode as well.
They come armed with a pair of hand axes –one in each hand– and are always encountered in groups, often aiding more powerful enemies. Interestingly, they now have antennae on their heads, giving their insect inspired name a more literal sense (even though actual fleas don't have them). Unlike previous games, where they usually were minor annoyances, in Lament of Innocence, they can pose a considerable threat, as even if they have low health and can be dealt with just a few hits, they madly hop all around the player and constantly attack by leaping high and landing by swinging their twin axes downward, sometimes doing this three times in a row, which can turn into a relentless attack by all members of the group (not to mention any other enemies around).
Their high mobility and short time staying on the ground make them hard to target and likely force the player to adopt a more defensive stance. Activating relics like the Svarog Statue or the Lucifer's Sword, or area-of-effect or stationary attacks are very useful against them, as they'll get hit (and likely killed) every time they jump at the player.
As usual, the Death Reaper is a stronger variant of Flea Man.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
Dawn of Sorrow introduced the stationary enemy Wakwak Tree, an old tree whose branches continuously grow large fruits from which Fleamen are actually born. The tree will incessantly keep on producing more Fleamen, and if left unattended, it can create an overwhelming crowd of them in a short time.
===Castlevania: The Arcade===
Flea Men leap over walls in order to get to the player in the Rampart section of Stage 4.
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
HoD 007.png|Fleaman enemy list entry from Harmony of Dissonance.
AoS 025.png|Fleaman enemy list entry from Aria of Sorrow.
Flea Man COD Unused Portraits.PNG|Unused portraits of Flea Man from Curse of Darkness.
Dxc 024.png|Flea Man enemy list entry from The Dracula X Chronicles version of Symphony of the Night.
Arcade Credits Flea Man.JPG|Flea Man credits portrait from The Arcade.
Flea Man Netflix.png|Flea Man in the Castlevania animated series.
Flea Man Model Sheet.png|Flea Man model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
The Creature & Flea Man - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 01.png|The Creature and Flea Man (Igor) from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Flea Man MR.jpg|Flea Man artwork from Moonlight Rhapsody.
V Rising - Flea Man.png|Flea Man in V Rising - Legacy of Castlevania.
==Trivia==
*Flea Armors in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will break open when hit and eject their Flea Man occupant, usually straight at the player's character. For unclear reasons, the armor itself will bleed when hit with a bloody weapon.
*The Fleaman dropping a Fedora in Portrait of Ruin may be a reference to the fedora-wearing Choi Bounge, a character from SNK's The King of Fighters who, like Fleamen, is also small in stature, wears green, and attacks in rapid fashion.
==See also==
*Armored Fleaman
*Eagle
*Flea Rider
*Hunchback
*Ripper
*Wakwak Tree
Category:Film Based Monsters
Category:Literary Monsters
Category:Night Creatures
Category:Arcade Enemies
Category:Aria of Sorrow Enemies
Category:Castlevania Enemies
Category:Circle of the Moon Enemies
Category:Curse of Darkness Enemies
Category:Dawn of Sorrow Enemies
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Enemies
Category:Dracula X Enemies
Category:Encore of the Night Enemies
Category:Grimoire of Souls Enemies
Category:Harmony of Despair Enemies
Category:Harmony of Dissonance Enemies
Category:Lament of Innocence Enemies
Category:Legacy of Darkness Enemies
Category:Moonlight Rhapsody Enemies
Category:Order of Ecclesia Enemies
Category:Portrait of Ruin Enemies
Category:Rondo of Blood Enemies
Category:Symphony of the Night Enemies
Category:Vampire Killer Enemies