Barlowe

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	This character or verse has mature themes and concepts, thus those of young age are ill-advised to look through these.

“	I'm proud of you, Shanoa. You will become our world's new savior.	„
	~ Barlowe to Shanoa during the Prologue

“	Shanoa, if you ever trusted me, then hear me: mankind needs you. Needs your life! You carry such a burden, my young girl... To give your life that Man might live his dreams... Do you not see how wonderful that is? Now, Albus, that boy had the right idea. He found a way to take in Dominus... and I shall put his research to good use. You see, girl, we don't need you anymore... My flesh can host the Glyph as well as yours! And since you're so unwilling to comply... I'll rip the Glyph straight off your bloody corpse! Poor fool; if I could only make you see. Now die, and YIELD DOMINUS TO ME!!	„
	~ Barlow revealing his true self to Shanoa

“	Dammit! I was so close! I could... taste the power... Because without Dominus, I'll never destroy that infernal seal. Of course! Ecclesia's mission is to realize the singular wish of all mankind: the resurrection of our lord, Count Dracula! Dracula's power comes from the darkness in people's hearts--our hearts. Ask yourself then, why does he continue to return, regardless of defeat? Because our hearts yearn for Dracula's presence! Haaaa ha ha ha ha ha! No, Shanoa... How can you be blind to this? ...If you refuse to see, then you are the fool! Oh ho ho... What's this? This power... My strength is returning! Yes my lord, I see... I will destroy the infernal seal with your blessing! ...Truly providence, that Dracula would honor me with his guidance! ...I will give my life to undo the seal, Master. Return to us, Lord Dracula!	„
	~ Barlowe revealing his true reason for Ecclesia

Background

Barlowe is the founder and leader of the Order of Ecclesia, a secretive organization formed to combat Dracula in the Belmont Clan's absence. Dedicated to developing new methods to counteract Dracula's power, Barlowe spearheaded the creation of Dominus, a glyph system designed to harness Dracula's might for the order's cause.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Barlowe’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Within Ecclesia resides Dracula's remains, an almost indestructible relic believed to prevent his resurrection if destroyed. Barlowe's research led to the creation of Dominus, a weapon capable of accomplishing this task, and Shanoa was chosen to wield it. However, before Shanoa could proceed, Albus, another disciple of Barlowe, stole Dominus and fled. Barlowe then instructed Shanoa to retrieve both Dominus and Albus if possible. In truth, Barlowe had likely already succumbed to insanity under Dracula's influence, aiming to revive the dark lord. The relic in Ecclesia was actually a seal confining Dracula, and the organization's true objective was his resurrection. Barlowe intended for Shanoa to sacrifice herself with Dominus to break the seal and release Dracula. After Albus realized the ritual would cost Shanoa her life, he refused to let her participate. Barlowe manipulated Albus by falsely promising to let him take Shanoa's place, ultimately sending him on a futile mission to keep him from interfering. In the bad ending, after Shanoa gathers all three Dominus Glyphs, she uses them to break the seal and dies, unwittingly releasing Dracula. While the consequences of this action are not immediately revealed, Barlowe’s fleeting psychotic grin as Shanoa dies subtly hints at Dracula’s resurrection. In the good ending, unlocked by rescuing all the villagers, Albus warns Shanoa against using Dominus. Shanoa rejects Barlowe’s will, prompting him to reveal his true intentions: to kill her and use her sacrifice to free Dracula. Barlowe fails to defeat Shanoa but succeeds in awakening Dracula by sacrificing himself to release the seal. Shanoa suggests moments before this that Dracula had possessed Barlowe to ensure his revival.

Personality

• Facade of Calmness: Initially, Barlowe appears to be calm, helpful, and even fatherly toward Shanoa, offering guidance and support. However, this outward demeanor is ultimately a facade, as his true nature is revealed when Shanoa refuses to follow his orders to use Dominus to destroy "Dracula's vessel."

• Insanity and Obsession with Dracula: Beneath his composed exterior, Barlowe is consumed by madness and a warped reverence for Dracula. He views Shanoa's refusal as betrayal and becomes enraged, showing a disturbing devotion to Dracula, to the point of being willing to sacrifice his own life to see the Dark Lord reborn. His fanatical belief in Dracula's divinity ultimately leads to his demise.

• Delusional and Hysterical Behavior: Driven by the influence of Dominus, Barlowe's insanity manifests in delusional thoughts and hysterical outbursts. This is most evident during his boss fight, where he displays erratic behavior and irrational speech, particularly when using his "Electrous" spell. His mental instability becomes more apparent as the battle progresses, further emphasizing the psychological toll Dominus has on him.

General Information

Name: Barlowe

Origin: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

First Appearance: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Company: Konami

Creator: Koji Igarashi

Actor

• Japanese Voice Actor: Kōji Ishii
• English Voice Actor: Michael McConnohie

Sex: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: Unknown

Homeworld: Earth

Residence: Ecclesia

Story Role: Secret Villain, False Mentor, Antagonist

Classification: Leader of Ecclesia, Member of the Order of Ecclesia

Species: Human

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Humanoid Physiology

In-Universe Creator: God

Occupation: Founder of the Order of Ecclesia

Ranking: Founder

Affiliations: Shanoa (Formerly; His disciple), Albus (Formerly; His disciple), Dracula

Enemies: Shanoa, Albus

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Deceased (Gave his life to undo Dracula's seal)

Date of Death: Late 1800s

Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Lied about Albus sealing Shanoa's emotions, as Barlowe sealed them as a sacrifice to Dominus, along with lying to Albus by sending him on a fool's errand in order to hold the ritual in his absence, along with not telling Shanoa that the use of Dominus would kill her. After Shanoa refused to use Dominus he planned to kill her and take the glyph from her. In reality he wanted to destroy the seal and to resurrect Dracula)

Threat Level: Global Threat (In reality he wanted to destroy the seal and to resurrect Dracula, causing chaos across the world)

Codex Statistics

Grade: S

Tier: At least 7-C, Far Higher with Preparation

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: At least Town level (Potency) (Can fight and harm Shanoa, who can fight and defeat 1800s Death, where Alucard notes that Death is a force to be reckoned with, where not one other of Dracula's henchman being able to compare, Dracula also serves as the absolute evil, the opposite to God, where for God to be perfectly good, there must be a being of perfect darkness, being the entity opposite to God, with such power making him far superior to Golem from Castlevania Judgment, as he died to a random unknown hunter after his return from the time rift. Golem with his ultimate can shoot out a mouth blast that vaporizes everything it touches as far as the eye can see getting these results. Can harm and fight against enemies stronger than characters who can take hits from neutron bomb, that have a yield range of 1-10 kilotons of TNT), Far Higher with Preparation (Created Dominus, Ecclesia's ultimate weapon that is in reality, Dracula's magic itself)

Durability: At least Town level (Can take hits from Shanoa)

Striking Strength: At least Town Class (Potency) (Can physically harm Shanoa with his punches)

Lifting Strength: At least Class 10 (Should be superior to Hector's Battle-Type innocent devils who can move entire tree logs that are blocking roads out of the way where logs can weigh around 15 to 5 tons and Hector's battle-type innocent devils can lift open large iron doors that "no man could force open")

Travel Speed: Unknown: True level

Attack Speed: At most Faster Than Light (Can tag Shanoa, who can tag 1800s Dracula, who serves as the absolute evil, the opposite to God, where for God to be perfectly good, there must be a being of perfect darkness, being the entity opposite to God, making him faster then enemies such as the Sky Fish who moves so fast that it appears as a beam of light and is only slowed down when time is stopped and the White Demon, who can move at the speed of light at short distances)

Reaction Speed: At most Faster Than Light

Stamina: Superhuman (Had a long fight with Shanoa, utilizing all of his magic without tiring)

Range: Standard Melee. At least Tens of Meters with Attacks (Many of his attacks can reach across the entire room, such as his energy attacks)

Intelligence: (Created Dominus, Ecclesia's ultimate weapon that is in reality, Dracula's magic itself, where magic requires one to have a deep understanding of Quantum Physics to utilize it to its fullest, requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification")

Knowledge: Grandmaster level

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Powers and Techniques

Magic & Principle Manipulation (Through utilizing magic, one has to have a deep understanding of Quantum Physics to utilize it to its fullest, requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification". Magic comes from alchemy, a field that experiments with the principles of God's creation of the world, along with being said to be as great a task as recreating God's creation of the Earth), Non-Standard Interaction (Extra-Planar Interaction; Magic is able to interact with beings such as Camilla Fernandez, Physical attacks are difficult to land as Camilla lives in the Astral plane, and her earthly body is completely ethereal), Limited Immersion & Dimensional Travel (Magic users can align their magic with the magic of another to enter into painting worlds), Summoning (Magic can be used in order to summon weapons and items inscribed in grimoires)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Preparation (Created Dominus, Ecclesia's ultimate weapon that is in reality, Dracula's magic itself), Afterimage Creation (Moves so fast he creates afterimages. using this for fast punches), Flight (Naturally able to fly around), Telekinesis (Telekinetically lifted the books so that Shanoa could absorb the glyphs), Glyph Manipulation & Energy Projection (Can conjure glyphs to shoot out energy blast), Ricochet Manipulation (His energy blast ricochet off of walls) Fire Manipulation (Can shoot fireballs out of his books), Electricity Manipulation (Can create an electricity field around himself), Ice Manipulation & Absolute Zero (Can place his book to the ground and freeze the entire floor. Along with this to protect against ice attacks in series, one normally wears rings that help them resist against absolute zero)

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Equipment

• Books: Barlowe utilizes books in combat, using them for various different spells and glyph attacks.

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Notable Techniques

• Magic Mastery: Barlowe commands Fire, Ice, and Thunder through his magic tomes and can also fly using his mastery of magic.
• Superhuman Strength: By channeling magic into his punches, Barlowe strikes with enhanced power, capable of sending Shanoa flying.
• Glyph Use: Barlowe displays the ability to cast glyphs such as Globus, despite initially believing Shanoa to be the only glyph user. He also claims the capability to master Dominus, possibly using his tomes as artifacts to channel glyphs.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Barlowe uses a variety of powerful attacks during the battle, primarily relying on his magic. He can cast Fire, Ice, and Thunder magic using his tomes, each with different effects. He can also fly, making it difficult to hit him with ground-based attacks. He attacks by casting projectiles of fire, ice, and lightning in various directions. Barlowe will also utilize his superhuman strength to perform close-range strikes, sending one flying if they are hit. Barlowe demonstrates his glyph abilities by summoning various glyph-based attacks.

Weaknesses: Lost his sanity due to being close to Dracula's power.

Note

• Contrary to popular belief, holy attacks and the whips in Castlevania can affect and harm people that aren't apart of the creatures of the night. Leon's doppelganger can use holy water and holy attacks against him in this fight along with the alchemy whip despite Leon being a pure and noble warrior. Simon's doppelganger can harm him with the vampire killer, despite Simon being a noble hero. Holy Water even works and harms enemies such as the "Holy Armor", a knight who has natural holy powers. Corrupted enemies such as Charlie Vincent, use holy water attacks on Carrie and Reinhardt. Characters like Jonathan Morris wear armor like the Holy Mail, an armor that reduces damage from holy attacks.

Trivia

Priest from Simon's Quest.

• Barlowe's in-game sprite seems to have been designed after the Priests from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. This is further supported since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia draws many other gameplay elements from that game.
• Barlowe's true status as an enemy is foreshadowed in the tutorial when he tells Shanoa: "So armed, you can wield Glyphs against your foes. Imagine I am one of them, and strike!"
• On the English localization, Barlowe's enemy description says that his body has been turned into a vessel for Dracula. On the Japanese original, however, his description instead says that he has been driven mad by Dracula's influence, mentioning nothing about his body becoming a vessel to Dracula.
  • However, just before Barlowe sacrificed himself to undo the seal on Dracula, Shanoa notes that she senses a different power emanating from him, implying that Dracula did possess Barlowe in his final moments.
• Should the player use the Dominus Glyph Union to defeat Barlowe, instead of him screaming in agony, he will simply appear standing beside Shanoa and say "Damn you for giving me trouble." before the Game Over screen appears. However, the game will register as if Barlowe was in fact defeated until the last save is reloaded.
• Michael McConnohie, Barlowe's English voice actor, also voiced Rinaldo Gandolfi in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.
• Barlowe, as well as his and Ecclesia's true intentions of reviving Dracula, were referenced in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, with it also being implied that Barlowe's actions led to the then-current leaders trying to suppress Ecclesia's history to cover up their mistake.
  • Coincidentally, Elgos, the pertinent organization in the game, also ended up suffering a similar fate to that of Barlowe and Ecclesia, with the leader of the group, Seward, later being revealed to actually intend to revive Dracula, with Shanoa even comparing the situation afterward.
• His name is likely a reference to Kurt Barlow, the vampire from Stephen King's horror novel, 'Salem's Lot. Barlowe's overall design is based on Rutger Hower's portrayal in the 2004 miniseries based on the book.
• When he punches, he does it in a manner similar to the character Master Asia from the anime series Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

Battle Records

None.

• Shanoa - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Ecclesia

None.