Desmond Belmont
If you want to find a character barely anyone knows (or cares about) in the Castlevania lineage, you need look no further than Desmond. Created for the mobile-only game Castlevania: Order of ShadowsThe first original Castlevania game released for mobile phones. Not a port of any existing title, this game was instead a new game built, from the ground up, as a Metroidvania title for mobile devices., Desmond's game was built, from the ground up, specifically for mobile phones. Sadly, what the makers didn't do was build a very good game, so no one paid attention to it.
It's hard to say this was a sad turn of events, as the game was essentially a side-story to the whole sage with little impact on the story or the characters moving forward. It did tie into Castlevania: Lament of InnocenceThe first title in the series for the Sony PlayStation 2, Lament of Innocence gave us the first glimpse of the earliest hero in the main series, Leon Belmont, he who first had to engage against the vampires by taking up a magical whip and knocking around the worst foes of the undead world. some, referencing items and locations from that game (such as the opening area, Forest of Eternal Night). Still, whether you played Order of Shadows or not, there was little here to illuminate your understanding or appreciation of the Castlevania series as a whole. And thus, Desmond faded into obscurity.
No, really. We went out of our way to research him and see what information might be out there about the character that we missed. Barely any of the fan sites have anything on him, and most of it amounts to two sentences stating "Desmond was from this game. He used a whip."
Sorry, Desmond, but no one seems to care about you.
Character History:
Castevania: Order of Shadows
Trained from a young age to wield the Vampire KillerThe legendary whip charged with holy magic and created for the Belmont clan to aid in their fight against the forces of darkness. It has been the constant, reliable weapon of the clan through the many generations of their battles. Strong against vampires., Desmond was the eldest, male child of his generation (he did have two younger sisters, Dolores and Zoe BelmontThe younger sisters of protagonist Desmond Belmont. They aid him in his quest to take down Rohan Krause and his evil Order of Shadows.). He never expected to fight DraculaThe lead antagonist of the Castlevania series and most famous vampire character in all media, all thanks to Bram Stoker. Based on the historical figure Vlad the Impaler, a vicious ruler of Wallachia in the mid-1500s. as the vampire wasn't scheduled to rise for close to thirty years. Unfortunately, a group of Dracula's followers, the Order, led by Lord Rohan KrauseThe villain and primary antagonist of Castlevania: Order of Shadows. Krause looked to bring back the Dark Lord, Dracula, and used the power of his order, and the relics they'd collected, in his attempts. He attempted to take out the Belmont line once, murdering the parents of Demond, but failed to wipe away their children, leading to his own eventual downfall., had other plans. They resurrected Dracula's castle, the home and source of his power, and planned to bring back the dark master. It was up to Desmond to venture into the castle and stop the Dark Lord's rising.
Armed with the family whip, as well as Leon BelmontProgenitor of the Belmont Clan of vampire hunters. Leon was the first to go up against the undead, chasing the evil vampire lord Walter Bernhard to his edifice of evil, all so the hero could rescue his kidnapped lady love, Sara. And, from there, a vow to defeat all vampires when they rose was born.'s magical gauntlet of alchemy, Desmond worked his way through the castle, from the Forest of Eternal Night through the dungeon and towers, Desmond fought the minions of Dracula, including MedusaOnce a beautiful maiden, Medusa was transformed into a hideous gorgon who could turn men to stone with a glance after she slept with Neptune in a temple of Minerva. Her repeated appearancecs in the Castlevania series have only helped to build upon her legend. and DeathThe Grim Reaper who, in the series, is Dracula's right hand man and most reliable supporter (although the Netflix series changes this some). He comes for the souls of the living, especially those of the Belmont clan.. He eventually fought his way to the final rooms where he confronted Krause. Killing the evil Lord, though, did not prevent the Dark Lord's resurrection; the spilled blood only ensured it. This forced Desmond to slay the evil vampire and force him back into his grave.
arkness (temporarily) defeated, Desmond watched the castle crumble before returning home with his siblings, safe in the knowledge that Romania was, for now, saved from Dracula's darkness.
While no one really remembers or cares about the game (including Konami, really, as Order of Shadows isn't part of the official timeline of the series), we do have to give credit to the fact that its makers were able to cram the modern-style of MetroidvaniaAt the intersection of Metroid and Castlevania lies the exploration platformer genre, the game style with heroes wandering expansive worlds, looking for items to expand their quest, known as Metroidvania. play into a mobile game. Previous attempts at making a mobile Castlevania game usually involved converting an older title to the mobile platform (which normally left the resultant game rather compromised). Here, though, the game was built entirely for mobile devices and, for all its flaws, it did at least play like a proper Castlevania.
The game might not have been very good, and way too short, and certainly not challenging enough, but just being able to deliver on the promise of "Metroidvania on your phone" is quite the accomplishment.
It's worth noting that originally Desmond wasn't intended to be a Belmont, but a random sword-and-axe wielding hero. His story was re-written part way into development. The character was redesigned into a Belmont once the changes had been made to the plot. His final design was thought of as a combination of Simon BelmontThe first hero of the Castlevania series (by release date), he's been featured in more games, and referenced more times, than almost any other character in the series. and Richter BelmontRevealed first in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood in Japan, and then Castlevania: Dracula X in the West, Richter is the Belmont hero of the late 1700s who worked with Maria Renard to bring down Dracula., just younger (supposedly fans asked for the Belmont to be aged down, although we can't find much in the way of references to back this tidbit up).
Playing as Desmond:
Like other heroes of the Metroidvania-era, Desmond had a whole (if small) castle to freely explore. He could do this with the aid of his whip, various sub-weapons, and some other items that would aid his exploration. For the most part, though, he was a pretty bog-standard Belmont -- not special but not terrible, either.