This character or verse has mature themes and concepts, thus those of young age are ill-advised to look through these.
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It was five years ago... A cold night with a full moon. I returned home from picking herbs necessary for the secret arts and what greeted me was a sea of steaming blood. And at the center of it were the bodies of my wife and son... I could not believe my eyes... My daughter was there, laughing, blood dripping from her mouth...
Rinaldo Gandolfi is a support character introduced in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. An alchemist by trade, Rinaldo's life was forever altered when his daughter was captured and turned into a vampire by Walter Bernhard. Now residing in a modest hut within the Forest of Eternal Night, Rinaldo dedicates himself to aiding others in their battles against the forces of darkness.
Rinaldo is responsible for crafting the Whip of Alchemy, a powerful weapon he bestows upon Leon Belmont to aid in his quest. This whip later undergoes a tragic transformation, becoming the legendary Vampire Killer after being fused with the life essence of Leon's fiancée, Sara Trantoul. It ultimately becomes the iconic weapon of the Belmont Clan.
This dropdown contains the synopsis of Rinaldo Gandolfi’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!
Five years prior to the events of Lament of Innocence
Rinaldo experienced a devastating tragedy when his daughter, Justine, who had been turned into a vampire, took the lives of his wife and son. Determined to put an end to her suffering, Rinaldo created the Whip of Alchemy and used it to destroy Justine. Fueled by grief and a desire for justice, he later confronted Walter Bernhard. However, the whip proved ineffective against the vampire lord, and their battle ended inconclusively. Amused by Rinaldo's defiance, Walter allowed him to live and even encouraged him to set up shop in the Forest of Eternal Night, where he could aid others seeking revenge against Walter. Walter found this added a layer of "fun" to his twisted games.
Despite his failures, Rinaldo remained hopeful that someone else would eventually succeed where he had failed. At one point, he encountered a Succubus who served Walter but ultimately spared her. She later suggested that Rinaldo hesitated because she had transformed into an image of Justine, causing him to falter.
Following Leon Belmont's defeat of Walter, Rinaldo's fate and whereabouts are left unknown.
Personality
Grief and Determination: Rinaldo Gandolfi is defined by the deep grief stemming from the loss of his family and the burden of having to destroy his own daughter, Justine, after she was turned into a vampire. This tragedy drives his determination to aid others in their struggles against darkness, as he channels his pain into a steadfast commitment to fighting evil.
Selflessness and Resolve: Despite his personal losses, Rinaldo dedicates his life to helping others, creating tools and weapons to empower those who fight the forces of darkness. His selflessness is evident in his decision to remain in the Forest of Eternal Night, enduring its dangers so he can provide aid to anyone challenging Walter Bernhard.
Hope and Perseverance: Although he was unable to defeat Walter himself, Rinaldo remains hopeful that someone else will succeed where he failed. This unshakable hope fuels his perseverance, as he continues to craft alchemical weapons and assist those who share his mission, believing in the potential of others to bring justice to the forces of evil.
Inner Conflict and Vulnerability: Rinaldo's encounter with the Succubus reveals his vulnerability, as he hesitated when confronted with the image of his daughter, Justine. This moment underscores the lingering emotional scars he bears and the conflict between his sense of duty and the memories of his lost family.
Mentorship and Support: Rinaldo takes on the role of a mentor, guiding Leon Belmont in his quest to defeat Walter. His wisdom, experience, and willingness to share his knowledge highlight his supportive nature, as he seeks to empower others to achieve what he could not.
Legacy:Ancestral Legacy (The Gandolfi family are well known by their descendants and carry out their legacy in helping the Belmont Clan)
Influence:Personal Influence (Rinaldo helped Leon Belmont throughout his journey, giving him wares in his shop along with giving him the Whip of Alchemy to help him fight against the creatures of the night)
Whip of Alchemy: A whip forged by and wielded by Rinaldo Gandolfi, using alchemy learned from the Cronqvist Family's alchemic books.
Other
Standard Tactics: Rinaldo has not been directly shown to fight, though allegedly in the lost media Lament of Innocence manga, he fought with his Whip of Alchemy against the Succubus who used his own daughter against him.
Rinaldo shares his last name with Barbara Gandolfi, one of the partners of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the man whose name inspired that of the Belmonts, whose Leon Belmont is the first representative. However, this is only a coincidence, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Barbara Gandolfi started living together in 2008, while Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was released in 2003.
Giovanni Gandolfi, a mentioned character in the 2007 cell phone game Castlevania: Order of Shadows, is stated to be a descendant of Rinaldo, and even gives to the heroes the Magic Gauntlet Leon Belmont used.
Misconceptions
"Gaiden" means "Non-Canon" or "Alternate Timeline"
This stems from the belief that when Iga or a producer calls a Castlevania game a "Gaiden" it is therefore non-canon or an alternate timeline and can be dismissed. This, however, is not the case.
The term "Gaiden" merely just means a side story, spin-off, or a separate tale. The term "Gaiden" does not determine the canonicity of a work, it just lets you know if the game is a spin-off/side-story or if it's a main story. Take, for instance, the Kingdom Hearts series. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories would be considered a gaiden, as it's a side-story and spin-off title that isn't a mainline numbered title, however, it is in all manners canon and important to play to understand Kingdom Hearts II.
The same can be applied to Castlevania itself, Castlevania Symphony of the Night is a gaiden game. Yet it is very obviously canon and pretty important to play to understand more of Alucard's backstory. The idea of a Gaiden game for the Castlevania series itself would be any game not dealing with one of Dracula's main 100-year-resurrections, which in this case, even Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest is in a way a gaiden, despite being completely canon.
This is all to say that Gaiden does not at all mean "non-canon" or "alternate timeline" and should never be treated as such, the term itself has nothing to do with the canonicity of a product.
IGA Statements Quoted by a Fan
Any statements Iga has made about Judgment that don't come from this IGN interview or a sourced and reputable article are not usable. This is, of course, referring to the popular statements used when discussing Judgment's Canoncity about a fan asking IGA about the game's Canoncity on Facebook, here are some of them below:
Fan: You mentioned Legend of Cornell was an alternate continuity. However, Cornell appears in Castlevania Judgment, which I believe is not an alternate continuity. How does that work? is he from a different universe than the other characters? It is not really explained in the game itself so I was hoping you could give some clarification on the issue.
IGA: Judgment is a work that surpasses space and time and brings them together.
Fan: I get it. So, is the explanation I suggested in the previous reply possibly correct?
IGA: I don't think it's exactly correct. Judgment is a work born of thinking it would be fun to remove all the hedges and bring characters that appeared throughout the series together. I think that you need to view it as an event from another world which does not consider things like timelines or parallel dimensions at all.
Now these seem like pretty clear-cut statements until you start to try to find where these come from.
There is no way to find anything sourced or verifiably proven that this person spoke to Iga. Trying to look up the person didn't get any real results either.
Translation: Regarding the Famicom version and the X68000 version, the X68000 version is an arrangement based on the Famicom version. The arrangement of a game is the kind of thing where you add a lot of different things as needed, so honestly speaking, it think they both should be considered legitimate. In conclusion, I think they should be considered as the same scenario of fighting to defeat Dracula, just with a different middle part. The Super Famicom version is different as well... If you simply must have a clear answer, the Famicom version must be given deference."
Now the quote itself doesn't state remakes or remasters are non-canon despite what people believe. It's moreso a quote of Iga stating that all of them are the same scenario, just with differences. However, an interesting point is that Iga says the NES version should be given "deference", as in to defer to the NES version.
Overall due to the quote itself having no source, it is unusable. The way we will treat remakes, remasters, or ports here however is that they are all equally canon unless stated otherwise. Most of these tell the same story with the only real differences being extra background information added, such as Haunted Castle having it be Dracula stole Simon's wife, though the same overall story still applies even here. Iga himself has already expressed that the original Castlevania's story is pretty simple[93] and Simon having a wife does not affect anything in the overall narrative. Super Castlevania IV notes that Simon is a vampire, though this was due to a novel writer making him a vampire in their novel. The novel was originally supposed to be an adaptation of Super Castlevania IV but was then dropped and made its own thing. Super Castlevania IV itself is still canon, but the subplot of Simon being a vampire is not. The most recent timeline even acknowledges it as canon[94].
A: This is a potent ability but has nothing to do with Attack Potency, there is no quantification for "destabilizing the flow of time", along with this, even if it was taken as physically, then it would be overtime as the effects are not noticeable throughout most of Curse of Darkness. Thus this is merely potent Time Manipulation.
Q: Shouldn't Dracula and by proxy anyone that scales to him get tier 2 for him being able to sustain his castle?
Q: Shouldn't Castlevania characters that scale to Death have Infinite speed due to Death being able to kill distance itself with his attacks?
A: Killing distance to attack is not a speed feat, it's a method of Spatial Manipulation by circumventing and ignoring distance, while one can say the attack spawns on you instantly, this is not really something quantifiable. Along with this, it would only scale to characters comparable to Death during post-Dawn of Sorrow, as Soma notes Death is far faster than he remembered from his fight with him in Dawn of Sorrow[107].
↑Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Bestiary No. 44
↑Akumajo Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku "From the time they stepped into the mountains, Curtis and Michelle felt malicious intent in the air.
Even though it is still far away, their bodies seemed to squeal [run away]. There was definitely no room for doubt. It is certain that the [castle] exists at the back of the mountains. The church’s greatest vampire hunter, Julius Belmont must be contacted. However, the conversation jumped into the matter of the disappearance of several village children."
↑Akumajo Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku "A drawbridge suspended from the main gate is seemingly welcoming Michelle’s arrival. And her body was telling her [do not go] as her leg muscles were petrified like stone."
↑Akumajo Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku "“Uh……aa……Mi……chelle……” That really is no doubt an obsession. The youth had more than 28 holes penetrating his limbs and body. His heart is already starting to fail and he is desperately trying to say something amidst the darkness. “Only…… protect…… you……-----“ When he said those words he must say, the man’s soul already left his body-----becoming one of the floating spirits that wander the halls of the castle. However----- Fate did not allow it. For those people who are involved with the demon castle, even the loneliness of death seemed half hearted----- The man’s soul is pierced by a small scythe that flew in from somewhere. That scythe did not exist physically. It was a diabolic blade created by some magic and possessed a strong soul."
↑Akumajo Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku "“Oh, it does not matter much. Here, here!”
Hammer sensed that the air between the two suddenly felt heavy so he laughed out while holding a weapon. It was a whip that was soaked in blood in some places. “I picked this up at the garden and I believe this is yours, right? Old man Julius also uses a whip. I came here just to deliver this to ya.” Whoosh, receiving the thrown whip, Michelle noticed that it was the magical whip that serves as Curtis’ weapon. “That’s great……! Curtis! With this your power-----“ In order to shake away the confusion she had a while ago, Michelle raised her voice, but----- “Sorry, but…… with my current self, I could not handle it.” “……? What are you talking about? Curtis……” was he still confused, Michelle made him grip his whip. Snap, some kind of popping sound rang and Michelle felt a light shock in her arm. “Uh……!?” What happened, she directed her eyes on the origin of the shock----- A part of the whip’s handle had a rotten like disintegration----- A part of Curtis’ hand was burned, and that skin immediately returned back to as before. ----- No way…… “Curtis……?” “……I am currently weak at holy magic.” “Eh……”"
↑Akumajo Dracula: Kabuchi no Tsuisoukyoku "This ominous vortex of magic was similar to what he felt in the [demon castle]. Among all the magic Soma knows, this particular type of sophisticated [power] belonged to----- “……I know I am being rude……” Faster than he can remember, that husky voice rang in front of Soma----- From the shadow of the forest, a large shadow emerged. “……tch!”
