List of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow Characters

List Of Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow And Dawn Of Sorrow Characters

This is a list of characters of Konami's action-adventure games Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, part of Konami's Castlevania video game series. The games take place in 2035 and 2036 respectively, and each game deals with the effects that the death of Dracula, the primary antagonist of the Castlevania series, has had on the world. Aria of Sorrow features the coming of a prophecy that Dracula's reincarnation will inherit all of his powers, and the paths of the game's characters are led to Dracula's castle by this event. Dawn of Sorrow takes place one year later, with the antagonists seeking to revive the dark lord when he did not surface in Aria of Sorrow.

The primary playable character and protagonist of the two games is Soma Cruz, a reclusive transfer student who has a mysterious power connected with Dracula's death. The major supporting characters include Mina Hakuba, Soma's close childhood friend and the miko of the Hakuba shrine; Genya Arikado, a withdrawn and enigmatic government agent specializing in supernatural events; Julius Belmont, the latest member of the Belmont clan featured in the series; Yoko Belnades, an energetic and forward witch in the service of the Roman Catholic Church; and Hammer, a member of the United States Military with aspirations of becoming a vendor of military material. In Aria of Sorrow, the antagonist is Graham Jones, a deranged missionary who believes himself to be the reincarnation of Lord Dracula and seeks to inherit his powers. In Dawn of Sorrow, the antagonists are Celia Fortner, Dmitrii Blinov, and Dario Bossi, members of a cult who wish to create a new dark lord in Dracula's absence.

In Aria of Sorrow, the character designs were done by Ayami Kojima as part of producer Koji Igarashi's desire to take a "different route" with the series in Aria of Sorrow. In Dawn of Sorrow, however, Ayami Kojima was not part of the production team, and the characters were recast in an anime style, which was heavily criticized by several video game publications. Despite this, the characters were the subject of praise from many video game publications. Although many reviewers derided the stereotypical roles that the characters fell into, other reviewers noted that the new plot Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow featured provided a better context for these characters. The storyline of the two games also received praise, and was compared to the plot of the widely acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.