The inverted version of Olrox's Quarters is called Death Wing's Lair, but who is Death Wing? I doubt it refers to Darkwing Bat, since he's fought in the Reverse Clock Tower and the boss of Death Wing's Lair is Akmodan II.
It could be referring to all that Karasumen that live there.
If Alucard took his name as an alias to show that he's opposing his father Dracula, then why do Death, the Librarian, and Lisa!Succubus address him as such? Shouldn't they call him Adrian?
By that point in the series, Adrian was already regarded as an enemy of Dracula, so Alucard was pretty much his go-to name now.
The radio drama sequel reveals in a flashback that he had been going by Alucard even since he still lived in the castle, but the below point regarding Lisa remains valid.
The point is, though, that there's no way "Lisa" should be calling him Alucard if her death was before he took that name on. Granted, one could easily say it's another hint that it's an illusion and not the real event. But that would make Succubus look really, really stupid.
I'm fairly certain that the Succubus was kind of a dumbass from the get-go (or maybe she was just doing it For the Evulz). I mean, if she actually knew Alucard, then she should've known that making him relive his mother's death, and then desecrating that memory would be a huge no-no.
What's with the Game Over Screen in Symphony of the Night? It has a random demon-headed skeleton with a cross necklace in its ribcage with a quote that doesn't seem relevant to Alucard dying. What is it, a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment as the death screen?
I think it's supposed to depict what has become of the world now that you've failed and Dracula's forces have overwhelmed it. Don't ask me where the horned skeleton came from, though.
Very few of the game over screens in the Metroidvania games make sense, the main exceptions being Dawn of Sorrow (Death holding what is presumably Soma's soul), and Order of Eccelsia's three game over screens. All the others are more or less unnconnected.
If the succubus from SotN didn't know that Alucard was the son of Dracula, how did she create that scenario with Alucard's mom?
Probably just a translation issue. In the PSP version's re-recorded dialogue, she says something like "You really are Lord Dracula's son", implying that she knew that already.
In-story, it could be that Dracula told the Succubus about that part of Alucard's past to screw with his mind, but left out the little detail that it was his wife they burned, only referring to Lisa as Alucard's mother.
I got the impression that, as an enemy who specializes in manipulating dreams, she was just summoning his worst memory as a nightmare, without really knowing the details herself.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The inverted castle. As in, how exactly did it appear randomly out of the clouds? Why is there a second castle? Why is it upside down? Is this EVER explained ingame? At least Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance's second castle is a reflection, and the two castles are sort of the extension of Maxim's will, so it gets a handwave. I know I'm asking for logic in a Castlevania game, but, you know, there is no plot justification for the inverted castle, especially the fact it's UPSIDE DOWN.
I always thought Shaft cast some kind of spell. Can't think of any other reason, though.
Considering that it appeared more or less the very instant Shaft was defeated, it was obviously him casting a spell, but I think we're supposed to assume he had it prepared in advance as some sort of last ditch diversion or means of buying time in case he failed. As for the backgrounds being upside-down along with the castle...
Well, as we learn in various Castlevania games, Dracula is resurrected once a century, but can have many botched resurrections that end up with him being summoned at weaker or lesser power than he'd normally have. Perhaps Shaft and Death organized the scheme with using Richter to kill off other Vampire Hunters who'd try to destroy the castle and Dracula, all the while utilizing the second Castle to host Dracula's resurrection. Perhaps the first castle is it's physical manifestation with the bare minimum amount of monsters to pose a challenge, while the second one is more of a spiritual manifestation that hosts the higher level monsters who'd pretty much serve as Dracula's praetorian guard so they can keep his resurrection going? As some evidence, the monsters in the Inverted Castle are indeed much stronger or have worse gimmicks than those in the regular castle.
Death appears and steals your equipment in SOTN, and doesn't appear again until the inverted castle, so, where is Death all this time? You'd expect to meet him somewhere along the course of the game, but where is he before the inverted castle? Also, why is the Alucard equipment scattered? Wouldn't Death have carried them around to stop Alucard from using them against him?
Perhaps Death was busy helping Shaft with Dracula's resurrection and had to spend all his time in the Inverted Castle. As for Alucard's equipment, he was too busy to carry them around and guard them along with whatever else he was doing, so he just scattered them around so they wouldn't all be in one place and easy to get at.
This then raises the question of why he handled Alucard's monogrammed necklace in the manner he did. It's been planted deep in Galamoth territory, and duplicates can be found in the possession of Galamoth's most loyal and powerful witches.
Not to mention that Galamoth is meant to be Dracula's enemy, according to Kid Dracula and the backstory to Judgment.
How, exactly, does the whole "collecting Dracula's body parts" thing work in SOTN? Apparently, Alucard has to do so to stop Shaft from summoning him? Despite them being key to his revival in prior games, and how he is only successfully summoned after Alucard gets them?
How well Richter does in his battle against Dracula in the prologue determines Alucard's starting stats. But how does this even make sense? Having a hard time means either Richter is weaker or Dracula is stronger; the former shouldn't have any effect, and a stronger Dracula would mean a stronger Alucard since they're of the same bloodline. This doesn't even make sense from a gameplay perspective since doing well against Dracula means an advanced player, in which case the game should give Alucard worse states to maintain the level of challenge in the game. (This is how Dragon Spirit: The New Legend handles the same issue: if you lose the prologue battle you play an easier version of the game)
The closest possible theory (which probably still makes very little sense) is that if Richter hands Dracula his ass handily, his weakened power leads to his castle, which is tied to his being, being weaker as well, and thus Alucard's higher stat can be thought as the castle being weaker and thus not as suppressive to him. If Richter doesn't win well, Dracula's power is still quite strong and thus his castle becomes stronger as well, making Alucard seem less powerful.
