Clock and Machine Towers

The Clock Tower is a recurring area in the Castlevania series, perhaps being the most infamous of them all. They have been featured in almost every game since the series began. These areas are generally comprised by a series of large, vertical rooms where all sorts of heavy clockwork machinery can be seen, such as giant rotating gears, large chains moving up and down, giant swinging pendulums and metal counterweights, just to name a few.
==Characteristics==
Most clock tower areas feature moving platforms in the form of large gears, as well a spike-covered walls and pits. While the gears move the character slowly, becoming petrified by a Medusa Head will prevent movement for a period of time and greatly increase any further damage taken. Occasionally, the spikes and gears are used together; for example, if the player stays on a moving gear, they may be pressed against a spike-lined wall, dealing immense damage. In Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania Chronicles, some of the gears fall off and try to hit the player. In Dawn of Sorrow, a few new traps were added, such as rotating spike-covered beams and pistons that rise to push the player against the spike-lined ceiling.
The first two Game Boy Advance games, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, have differently designed clock tower-like areas. While Circle of the Moon has no area named "Clock Tower", encountered somewhat early in the game is the Machine Tower, which utilizes the typical "clock tower" music from previous installments and employs similar features.
Harmony of Dissonance's clock tower is perhaps the weakest in the series. There are few enemies (only Harpies and Gold Medusa Heads), and the gears are used to little effect and manly for a few easy-to-solve puzzles involving them.
A few games feature a characteristic room (or rooms) often referred to as the "room of clocks", where several grandfather clocks can be seen perfectly aligned in the background and all have their pendulums swinging in perfect synchrony with each other. These rooms are usually found either within or after completing the clock tower level, although sometimes they can be found in a totally different area. Likewise, as the series progressed, the big clock to which all the machinery seen throughout the level is for, is found at the end of the level and serves as the location where the battle against the area boss takes place.
==Enemies==
Most clock tower areas feature Medusa Heads, generally in two varieties: a blue head with green hair and another with a gold head and brownish-red hair that can turn the player to stone upon contact; depending on the game, the bestiary entries for them may be separate or lumped together. The Gorgon Head, a rarer, silver Medusa Head, was introduced in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, which, even if it has exactly the same powers as the Gold Medusa Head, it has a guaranteed drop of the Fidelis Medusa glyph.
Death, Dracula's confidant, typically resides in the Clock Tower, although in some games he may be encountered in other, usually underground, areas as well. In recent games, Death's two loyal servants, Slogra and Gaibon, usually appear here as well. Other common enemies include Harpies and other sorts of flying foes to increase the difficulty of traversing the area's many obstacles. Of note, Circle of the Moon features a boss called Iron Golem and Dawn of Sorrow's Cursed Clock Tower is not home to Death, but to an enemy named Zephyr, whom appropriately has the ability to stop time. However, since the castles in which these two games take place are not Dracula's, these instance are not as odd.
It's also here where Trevor Belmont fights (and has the option of gaining as an ally) Grant Danasty in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.
==Additional information==
The Clock Tower is usually in the (upper) right part of the castle, although in a few games, it's not. Typically, it is the highest section of the castle and usually leads to Dracula's chamber via a large stairway.
At the very top of the Clock Tower, there's usually a room in which the background displays the 'outside' of the castle, as well as a panoramic view of the clock itself; such instances are somewhat rare in the series.
The area usually can be seen in the background on the stairway leading to Dracula's keep. Two such towers were seen in Lament of Innocence, suggesting there may be multiple towers.
==Music==
Generally, the Clock Tower's music is the most distinct in the game, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is a prime example of this. Several remixers on OCRemix and the Video Game music band The OneUps incorporate the Clock Tower theme into their songs. Even the Castlevania series does this; Circle of the Moon's Machine Tower area uses the Clock Tower theme from Dracula's Curse. The music is somewhat "organ heavy" in most games.
==Appearances==
*Castlevania - Clock Tower
*Vampire Killer - Block 6
*Haunted Castle - Clocktower
*Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - Clock Tower of Untimely Death, Castle Clock Tower
*Super Castlevania IV - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - Clock Tower
*Castlevania Chronicles - The Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Bloodlines - The Munitions Factory
*Castlevania: Dracula X - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Clock Tower, Reverse Clock Tower
*Castlevania Legends - Clock Tower
*Castlevania (N64)/Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Room of Clocks, Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Machine Tower
*Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Cursed Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Curse of Darkness - Eneomaos Machine Tower
*Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Tower of Death
*Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Mechanical Tower
*Castlevania Judgment - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: The Arcade - Stage 5
*Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth - Stage 5
*Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - Caught in the Cradle of Despair, Song of the Unslakable Blade, Origins
*Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Chapter 8: The Clockwork Tower
*Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls - Clock Tower
*Castlevania: Moonlight Rhapsody - Clock Tower
==Gallery==
Castlevania Block 6 - 01.png|Castlevania
Castlevania Block 6 - Amiga - 01.gif|Castlevania(Commodore Amiga)
Vampire Killer CW.png|Vampire Killer
Clock Tower - Haunted Castle - 01.png|Haunted Castle
Dracula's Curse Block 2 - 01.png|Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania IV (USA)-37.jpg|Super Castlevania IV
Kid Dracula Clock Tower Work.png|Kid Dracula(Game Boy)
X68K STAGE13 X68000.png|Castlevania Chronicles
CVC Arrange CW.PNG|Castlevania Chronicles(Arrange Mode)
Rob CW.png|Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Bloodlines Stage 4 - 01.jpg|Castlevania: Bloodlines
Dracula X - 66.png|Castlevania: Dracula X
Symphony CW.PNG|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Symphony RCW.PNG|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night(Reverse)
Castlevania Legends CW.png|Castlevania Legends
CV64 ClockTower.png|Castlevania(Nintendo 64)
CASTLEVANIA2 01.png|Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Iron golem.PNG|Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Harmony of Dissonance Clock Tower A Gears.png|Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow 2012 12 23 22 21 12 615.png|Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Stage-clocktower1.png|Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Eneomaos Machine Tower - 04.png|Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Stage-towerdeath3.png|Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Stage-machine3.png|Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Judgment-Clock Tower.jpg|Castlevania Judgment
Arcade Stage 5 - Clock Tower.JPG|Castlevania: The Arcade
TAR Stage 5 Boss 2.JPG|Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
ClockTower (1).jpg|Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Clock and Machine Towers - Animated series - 01.png|Machine room leading to Alucard's chamber under Gresit in the Castlevania animated series.
Clock and Machine Towers - Animated series - 02.png
==Trivia==
*According to a developer mentored by Hitoshi Akamatsu, leader of the development team for the original Castlevania, the latter stated that the rotating gears in Dracula's Castle represent Dracula's heart. They turn so long as Dracula is alive. That's why, in the ending of Castlevania, the clock tower collapses, but the rest of the castle remains. Akamatsu said he intended that as a hint toward a sequel.Castlevania – Developer Commentary at Shmuplations - Compilation of a series of posts on X by a former employee who worked alongside Hitoshi Akamatsu.
**Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is one of the few games in the series that doesn't feature a clock or machinery area in any way, shape or form. This could be related to the aforementioned statement, as by the end, Mathias Cronqvist had just turned into the being who would later be known as Dracula, and thus the castle didn't yet require to have an area to represent he was alive (more so, because it is unclear if he finally took possession of Walter's Castle). However, this is just speculation.
*The clock tower can also represent the passing of time, explaining why Death is generally encountered as the boss of these areas, as a metaphor of aging, fate, and eventual and inevitable death.
==See also==
*Environments
==References==
==External links==
*Castlevania (franchise) at Giant Bomb - Source of images.
Category:Environments