Night Creatures

A Night Creature is the product of the reanimation of a corpse through the process known as "forging", which involves the insertion of a foreign soul or a demon into the body through the employment of magic and which can only be performed by certain humans, appropriately referred to as "Forgemasters". More than simply reanimating the body, the forging process's main goal is to give it new life, which encompasses restoring it to its original form (even though sometimes partially, due to the permanent loss of some of its parts) or making it take a completely new shape. In most cases, it also means giving the resurrected being an all-new identity completely different from the body owner's former life.
==Overview==
The forging process, to some extent, is similar to necromancy, although the main difference strives in that the former employs the insertion of a foreign soul or a demon into the dead body. These souls, for the most part, are collected from Hell, an alternate realm where the souls of those who have been damned in life go to be punished. As Hector explains to Godbrand that interpreting it as necromancy fundamentally misses the point because the goal of forging is to create living beings ("He's not dead. We create life from death here."). Indeed, Hector further explains to Carmilla that "night creatures" are species in hiding, able to increase their numbers in nature without the help of Forgemasters. Also, the Forgemaster can choose the morphology of the Night Creature during the creation process, including their size or features (Isaac deliberately creating a gargantuan night creature to fight the Magician's mind controlled slaves is one example of this ability).
Even if the goal is the same –that is, bringing a dead body back to life–, the manufacturing techniques seem to differ among practitioners, the reason for this in the series is unknown; it may be that the manufacturing process and skills involved are unique to each Forgemaster, or, conversely, it may be that all members possess a similar skill set and how night creatures are made is a matter of preference in methods and procedures.
In the series, the two most prominent Forgemasters are Hector and Isaac.
Hector's forging process involves a thorough and careful reconstruction of a dead body, which takes a considerably amount of time and is done in a workshop, where he employs special tools specifically intended for this end. It's worth mentioning that many but not all of Hector's creations appear to rise in a zombified state; as such, they often have badly damaged bodies, with some of their parts sometimes permanently missing. On the other hand, of both Forgemasters he's the only one seen to bring the dead back to life with their former bodies (although he's also able to create transmogrified ones). Once the body is ready, he employs his hammer to summon a soul and with it give it new life. It's also worth noting that not all creatures created by Hector display advanced combat abilities; in some cases, they look and behave almost identically to their former living selves, although in other cases, they're just mindless shades of their former identities. Night creatures forged by Hector are distinctive for emitting a light-blue glow from their eyes.
Isaac's forging process, on the other hand, is much quicker and efficient. He makes use of a ritualistic dagger, and all he needs to do (relatively speaking) is plunge it into a living being to almost instantly transmogrify it into a night creature (it is implied that the entire process of dying, transmogrifying, and resurrecting already with a new soul takes place in quick succession in one swift move). Isaac is only seen working with living bodies, although that doesn't mean he isn't able to work with dead ones as well; in fact, at one point, he remarks that he only can't bring back to life bodies that are already too decayed. Isaac's creations are characteristic for having a more menacing appearance, being much more aggressive and powerful. Isaac's forged night creatures have a red glow emitting from their eyes.
Manufactured night creatures can take all sorts of shapes and sizes, which in most cases might appear as horrifying abominations to the human eye. They can either be beast-like, bear large fangs, clawed, winged, horned, multi-eyed, or even a combination of all of these, along with the addition of all sorts of other possible features. However, one thing most of these monsters have in common is that they bear a great amount of strength, speed, agility and stamina which far surpasses those of a human, making them extremely dangerous and considerably difficult to fight against. Furthermore, many night creatures natively and/or instinctively already know how to use certain weapons and do so with great skill, whether they are axes, lances, bows, etc.
It is also implied that when a damned soul goes to Hell, it's at that point when it adopts a new and monstrous form as part of their punishment, becoming a "demon" from then onward (an example would be Flyseyes, who was a human philosopher in life and was transformed into a fly-like monster when his soul arrived to Hell), and that these are the creatures that are brought back to the terrestrial plane by the Forgemasters, using the dead bodies provided by the latter only as vessels to contain their souls, but taking their demoniacal shape in the real world (on a related note, there is no clarification if in Hell there are also purebred demons which weren't created from human souls).
There have also been instances where demons are seen escaping from Hell directly into our world via the Infinite Corridor (such as was the case of Malachi and the Malebranche demons), without having to go through the forging process. For all intents and purposes, these are also referred to as "night creatures" in regard to the animated series. In this group would probably also be included all the demons Dracula recruited during the year following his threat to Targoviste, although it's undisclosed if by that time he had already sought the assistance of the Forgemasters and that this simply was not shown onscreen (for example, Blue Fangs is implied to have been forged by Hector, due to emitting a blue glow from his eyes, characteristic of the creatures created by this Forgemaster).
The basic nature of a night creature is to "kill, destroy and despoil", and they instinctively seek and eat meat and blood; however, this doesn't mean they cannot feed through other sources (plants, fruits, vegetables, seeds, etc.). A noteworthy example is when Flyseyes asks Isaac why he is making his creatures to bury the dead and reconstruct a city, going against their rapacious nature, to which the latter invites him to eat a berry. Flyseyes's former life memories suddenly come back to him at the taste of the fruit, and Isaac then asks him if their penance in this world should be as eternal as their damnation, to which both don't know the answer. Isaac explains to him that as their master, they are what he wishes, and that is being more than mere tools. He wants to set the ground ready for them to do more than what they were intended for, probably hinting at them eventually living their lives following their own will."Walk Away" (S4E03): Plot
==History==
===Castlevania===
After the Vampire Lord Dracula declared war against all Humanity for the unjust execution of his wife, he realized he would need an army to carry on such mighty enterprise. He came to the conclusion that he would find the soldiers he needed in the pits of Hell itself.
At some undisclosed point, he sought the assistance of two Forgemasters named Hector and Isaac. These individuals possessed the knowledge and means necessary to bring souls back from Hell and use them to create monsters for the vampire's desired army. Due to having these abilities, Dracula held a great sense of respect toward them –even if they were humans–, conversely to the rest of his vampire army, which merely saw them as two weak and annoying additions to their ranks.
Nevertheless, the Forgemasters resulted in being key during Dracula's hostile campaign, giving him an ample edge in battle, as well as providing him with an almost infinite supply of powerful soldiers for his army, with whom he devastated the cities and towns they attacked, almost rendering the latter's defenses useless against them. For the most part, no human really stood a chance against these abominations, until Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades and Alucard, Dracula's own son, taught them how to fight back.
However, during their attack on Braila, Carmilla, one of Dracula's most powerful generals, carried on a treacherous attack against the Vampire Lord's own forces with the objective of taking over the war campaign for herself and her country. Unfortunately for her, this resulted in almost the extermination of both armies.
Defeated, Carmilla returned to Styria, although she brought a very important spoil of war with her: the Forgemaster Hector. After discussing their next move with her Council, they came to the conclusion that Hector could provide them with an army in the same vein as Dracula's. For this end, one of the Council's members, Lenore, offered herself to convince Hector to do this task.
On his part, during the final moments of the battle of Braila, Isaac was saved by Dracula by being thrown by the latter inside a transmission mirror. Having a strengthened sense of loyalty toward his former leader and savior, as well as out of gratitude, Isaac decided to continue Dracula's campaign by himself. As such, he also sought the extermination of all humankind to cleanse the world from their conflicting presence. He then started a long journey toward Styria to vanquish the betrayer Carmilla; doing so by recruiting the bodies of all those living in the cities and towns he crossed in his path in order to build a new army.
Isaac's campaign proved to be successful. He managed to arrive at Styria with a huge army of night creatures loyal to him and ultimately defeated the Vampire Queen with their aid. Nevertheless, during his journey, he went through many tribulations, and in the end, he concluded that humankind deserved its place in the world. After his final victory over the vampire army, Isaac became the new King of Styria from that day onward.
===Castlevania: Nocturne===
After Carmilla's defeat around 1476, for more than three hundred years there weren't any further sightings of night creatures, possibly because they were no longer needed, even though many were known to survive. Vampires, on the other hand, became a somewhat common annoyance, but a few vampire hunters were known to hunt them down, whether it was for monetary gain or just for fun. However, in 1792, there was a sudden rise of vampire attacks in France, in places such as Paris and the mountainous commune of Machecoul. Not long after the emergence of these attacks, night creatures started to appear fighting alongside them. Suspecting members of the aristocracy could be involved, monster hunters, Richter Belmont and Maria Renard, decided to let the Church know about it. Despite coming from a family of monster hunters that had vast knowledge of the creatures of the night and how to stop them, Richter seemed oblivious to what they were. It was later discovered that the Abbot of Machecoul, who was also secretly a Forgemaster, had pacted an uneasy alliance with the vampires, where they would provide him with fresh dead bodies to turn them into night creatures for their army, in exchange for them to help end the ongoing revolution to secure the political position of the Church in France.
The method employed by the Abbot was quite different than those used by the Forgemasters of old times. Instead of manually preparing the bodies to summon and insert a souls from Hell to give them life, the Abbot had a machine in the catacombs of his abbey where dead bodies were introduced and moments later emerged as reanimated monsters, allowing him to create a vast number of them in a short time. However, just like the old Forgemasters, he was also compelled to use a tool to gather souls from Hell and with them activate the machine; in this case, an Enochian spell book.
Despite this (or probably as a consequence of), some of the night creatures created by the machine soon started to show signs of having retained some of their humanity, being easily capable to remember their past lives as humans and soon developing speech and free will. The first creature to show these traits was Edouard, a friend of Annette, Richter and Maria. During a mission to attack the heroes, both Edouard and Annette recognized each other during battle, and Edouard, disobeying orders, saved her from another creature.
For this disobedience, Edouard was thrown into the abbey's cellars. The creature would then frequently start singing, just like he did when he was a famous opera singer as a human. The sound of his songs would have an unexpected effect on some of the other creatures, soothing them and leaving them more open to start remembering their past lives.
==Notes==
*Even if the forging process involves the use of another soul than that the body formerly had, many of the night creatures forged by Hector seem to retain their former identities (notably Cezar, other reanimated pets and Flyseyes). A possible explanation is that they simply are their original souls, which Hector reinstates to their former bodies.
**Another possibility is that the soul summoned by Hector contained within the body is actually the one that loses its identity. For this to work, Hector possibly would have to influence the dead vessel to emulate the same identity the body formerly had. However, this is just speculation.
==Gallery==
===Castlevania===
====Screenshots====
Night Creature - Animated series - 02.png|Isaac with his army of night creatures during the final battle against Carmilla.
Abel.jpg|link=Abel|Abel
Armored Beast.jpg|link=Armored Beast|Armored Beast
Dracula's Army - 05.png|link=Bald Priest|Bald Priest
Bandit leader - Castlevania (animated series) - 07.png|link=Bandit Leader|Bandit Leader
Hector and the revived bishop.png|link=Bishop|Bishop
Ratko's night creatures.png|Black Eyes and Red Eyes
BFNetflix.png|link=Blue Fangs|Blue Fangs
Werewolf Netflix.png|link=Werewolf|Brawler
Buer (from S3E10).jpg|link=Buer|Buer
Cezar - Animated series - 05.png|link=Cezar|Cezar
Cyclops-Netflix.PNG|link=Cyclops|Cyclops
Minotaur - Castlevania (animated series) - 01.png|link=Minotaur|Deadfast
Crusty.jpg|Crusty
Rusty.jpg|Rusty
Dusty.jpg|Dusty
Flame Demon.jpg|link=Flame Demon|Fire Demon
Fisharoo - Animated series - 01.png|Fisharoo
Fisharoo - Animated series - 02.jpg|Fisharoo's child
Golem Netflix.png|link=Golem|Fist
Flea Man Netflix.png|link=Flea Man|Flea Man
FlysEyes.jpg|link=Flyseyes|Flyseyes
Boys.jpg|link=Gaibon|Gaibon
Garg.png|link=Gargoyle|Gargoyle
GergothNetflix.PNG|link=Gergoth|Gergoth
Unknown creature (animated series) - 01.png|Greater Demon
Minotaur - 02.png|link=Minotaur|Hammerhead
Devils.jpg|link=Lesser Demon|Lesser Demons
Evil Stabber Netflix.png|link=Mad Diver|Mad Driver
Malachi Netflix.png|link=Malachi|Malachi
Malebranche - Castlevania (animated series) - 01.png|link=:category:Divine Comedy Monsters|Malebranche demons
Malphas.jpg|link=Malphas|Malphas
Merman Netflix.png|link=Merman|Merman
Possibly a ninki nanka.png|A night creature similar to the Ninki Nanka.
Rompa - Animated series - 01.jpg|Rompa
Image0.jpg|link=Slogra|Slogra
Unknown creature (animated series) - 03.png|Unknown demons
Unknown creature (animated series) - 02.png|Unknown reptile-like demons
Visitor.JPG|link=Visitor|Visitor
====Concept art====
Abel Model Sheet.jpg|Abel
Armored Beast - Animated series - 01.jpg|Armored Beast
Bald Priest (Night Creature Form) Model.jpg|Bald Priest
Zombie bishop model sheet.jpg|Bishop
Night Creature Black Eyes Model Sheet.jpg|Black Eyes
Blue fangs model sheet.png|Blue Fangs
Brawler (as).jpg|Brawler
Buer Model Sheet.png|Buer
Cezar model sheet.jpg|Cezar
Night Creature Chomps Model Sheet.jpg|Chomps
Crusty Model Sheet.jpg|Crusty
Cyclop model.png|Cyclops
Deadfast.jpg|Deadfast
Dusty Model Sheet.jpg|Dusty
File:Night Creature Fillberts Model Sheet.jpg|Filberts
Golem (Night Creature Fist) Model Sheet.jpg|Fist
Flame Demon Model Sheet.png|Flame Demon
Flea Man Model Sheet.png|Flea Man
FlysEyes Model Sheet.jpg|Flyseyes
Gaibon palette sheet.jpg|Gaibon
Gargoyle model sheet.png|Gargoyle
Gergoth Model Sheet.jpg|Gergoth
Mad Driver (Evil Stabber or Assassin Zombie) Model Sheet.jpg|Mad Driver
Malachi Model Sheet.png|Malachi
Malebranche Model Sheet.png|Malebranche demon
Malphas Model.jpg|Malphas
Isaac Night Creature Queen B.jpg|Queen B
Night Creature Red Eyes Model Sheet.jpg|Red Eyes
Rusty Model Sheet.jpg|Rusty
Slogra palette sheet.jpg|Slogra
The Visitor Model Sheet.png|Visitor
Night Creature Spooder Model Sheet.jpg|Spooder
Night Creature Twins Model Sheet.jpg|Twins
Isaac's Night Creature Horse Model Sheet.png|Isaac's night creature horse.
Isaac's Night Creature Horse Model.png
Isaac's Night Creature 1 Model Sheet.png|Isaac's night creature.
Isaac's Night Creature 1 Model.png
Isaac's Night Creature 2 Model Sheet.png|Isaac's night creature.
Isaac's Night Creature 2 Model.png
Isaac's Night Creature 3 Model Sheet.png|Isaac's night creature.
Isaac's Night Creature 3 Model.png
===Castlevania: Nocturne===
====Screenshots====
Horrors Rising from the Earth - Nocturne - 35.png|Chief Torturer
Horrors Rising from the Earth - Nocturne - 37.png|Edouard
Guilty Men to be Judged - Nocturne - 29.png
Guilty Men to be Judged - Nocturne - 31.png|Jacques
Guilty Men to be Judged - Nocturne - 48.png
Devourer of Light - Nocturne - 22.png
Devourer of Light - Nocturne - 24.png
Devourer of Light - Nocturne - 25.png
Devourer of Light - Nocturne - 26.png
Devourer of Light - Nocturne - 29.png
====Concept art====
Night Creature Alberto.jpg|Alberto model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Bandage Night Creature Model Sheet (S1E3).jpg|Bandage model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Bandage Night Creature Model (S1E3).jpg
Chief Toturer Model Sheet.jpg|Chief Torturer model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Chief Toturer Model.jpg
Cockroach Model Sheet.jpg|Cockroach model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Edouard (Night Creature Form) Model Sheet 1.jpg|Edouard model sheet by Katie Silva.
Edouard (Night Creature Form) Model 1.jpg
Edouard (Night Creature Form) Model Sheet 2.jpg
Edouard (Night Creature Form) Model 2.jpg
Night Creature Finneas.jpg|Finneas model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Night Creature Helmut.jpg|Helmut model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Jacques (Night Creature Form) Model Sheet.jpg|Jacques model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Jacques (Night Creature Form) Model.jpg
Moth Model Sheet.jpg|Moth model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Scree Night Creature Model Sheet (S1E3).jpg|Scree model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
Scree Night Creature Model (S1E3).jpg
Two Headed Night Creatures Model Sheet.jpg|Two Heads model sheet by Mari Arakaki.
==Trivia==
*The Chief Torturer from Castlevania: Nocturne is apparently a loose reference to Dracula's final form in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. His three helmeted heads bear a resemblance to the three heads of the boss. However, it is currently unconfirmed if the night creature was in fact inspired by him.
==See also==
*Dracula's Army
*Forgemaster
*Infernal Machine
*Innocent Devil
==References==
==External links==
*Night Creatures at the Villains Wiki
Category:Antagonists