Joachim Armster

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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.

	“	It'll be a nice prelude to defeating Walter. I'll beat you to a pulp.	„
		~ Joachim Armster to Leon Belmont

Background

Joachim Armster is a character and boss in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. He once served as a trusted lieutenant to Walter Bernhard but was ultimately imprisoned after attempting to overthrow him.

Joachim Armster was lured by Walter Bernhard with the promise of eternal life through vampirism. After becoming a vampire, Joachim sought to overthrow Walter, but his ambition was thwarted when Walter's mastery of the Ebony Stone rendered him invincible. Walter easily defeated Joachim and, rather than destroy him, chose to imprison him in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls as a demonstration of his own dominance.

Joachim’s prison was sealed with streams of water, a deadly barrier for vampires, ensuring his eternal confinement. Walter further humiliated Joachim by using him as a pawn to challenge adventurers who ventured into his domain, sealing one of the keys to his inner sanctum with Joachim. The constant hunger and memories of his defeat left Joachim maddened and seething with rage.

When Leon Belmont encountered him as the boss of the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, Joachim unleashed his fury, hoping to drain Leon's blood and gain the strength to escape and take revenge on Walter. Despite his desperation, Joachim was defeated by Leon. Before fading, Joachim lamented his failure and the absence of the Crimson Stone, which he believed could have turned the tide in his favor.

After completing the game as Leon, Joachim becomes a playable character by entering @JOACHIM at the name entry screen. Playing as Joachim introduces several significant gameplay changes. He cannot carry healing items and is physically weaker than Leon, resulting in a higher difficulty level. However, these drawbacks are offset by his increased speed and potent magic-based attacks.

Joachim's playthrough lacks cutscenes to advance the story, except for a brief scene after defeating the final boss, where he assumes control of the castle by taking Walter's throne. Additionally, the credits sequence features different images compared to Leon's ending.

Personality

• Rage and Resentment: Joachim's defeat and subsequent imprisonment left him consumed by rage and resentment. Trapped in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, he became maddened by his humiliation and his inability to escape, harboring an intense hatred for Walter and an unquenchable thirst for revenge.

• Defiance and Bitterness in Defeat: Even in defeat, Joachim displayed a defiant streak, lamenting the absence of the Crimson Stone—a power he believed could have secured his victory. His final moments are marked by bitterness, as he reflects on his failure and the futility of his ambition.

• Desperation and Madness: Joachim’s prolonged isolation, coupled with his constant hunger and memories of failure, pushed him to the brink of madness. This desperation fueled his ruthless nature, evident in his encounter with Leon Belmont, where he sought to drain Leon’s blood to regain the strength needed to confront Walter.

General Information

Name: Joachim Armster

Origin: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

First Appearance: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

Latest Appearance: Vampire Survivors

Company: Konami

Creator: Koji Igarashi

Actor

• Japanese Voice Actor: Hiroshi Kamiya
• English Voice Actor: Michael Lindsay

Sex: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: Unknown

Homeworld: Earth

Residence: Walter's Castle (In the prison)

Story Role: Boss, Supporting Antagonist, Minor Antagonist, Secret Playable Character

Classification: Prisoner of Walter Bernhard

Species: Vampire

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Vampire Physiology

In-Universe Creator: In-Universe Creator: God

Occupation: Lieutenant of Walter Bernhard's army (Formerly)

Ranking: Lieutenant (Formerly)

Affiliations: Walter Bernhard (Formerly)

Enemies: Walter Bernhard (Joachim has an intense desire for revenge against Walter due to Walter imprisoning him underground after he tried to rebel)

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Deceased (Killed by Leon Belmont)

Date of Death: 1094

Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Views humans as beneath him, attempted to kill Leon Belmont)

Threat Level: Street Threat (Immediately attempted to kill Leon Belmont upon seeing him)

Codex Statistics

Grade: A

Tier: 7-C

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Town level (Potency) (Vampires are considered far larger threats than standard creature of the night monsters, which would put her above creatures such as Golem, from Castlevania Judgement, 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 fight and harm Leon Belmont)

Durability: Town level

Striking Strength: Town Class (Potency)

Lifting Strength: At least Class 10 (Vampires are considered far larger threats than standard creature of the night monsters, which should make her 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: At least Superhuman regularly (Vampires can assume the shape of a wolf, a bat or fog). At most Faster Than Light at top speed (Vampires are loved by the night, beyond even the typical Creature of the Night, making her 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. Vampires can move so fast that the light itself cannot keep up with them, leaving an afterimage behind. Alucard in his suppressed Genya Arikado form can still move so fast that an afterimage made of light is behind him)

Attack Speed: At most Faster Than Light

Reaction Speed: At most Faster Than Light

Stamina: Limitless (Vampires are loved by the night, making them so powerful that vampires like Walter Bernhard never been defeated before Leon Belmont gained the vampire killer)

Range: Standard Melee, Extended Melee with swords, Several Meters with Weapon Control (Joachim's swords can reach out this far), Higher with Energy Blast (Joachim can conjure a massive glyph that shoots out a massive energy blast)

Intelligence: Supergenius Intelligence (Joachim is a master magic user 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: At least Master level

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Powers and Techniques

Is a Creature of the Night, which gives:

Superhuman Physical Characteristics (Even the smallest creatures of the night can destroy a bridge, one of Dracula's bats easily destroyed a stone ground block), Intimidation (Creatures of the nights appearances can cause one to have their body's cells cry out in terror), Immortality (Ageless; The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however, dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations. Immortal Metaphysical Aspect; Creatures of the Night can continue to exist even as a spirit and use their spirit form to form bodies out of inanimate material around them), Acausality (Causality Immunity; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. With their souls being completely free from time. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however, dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations), Free Will (Creatures of the Night do not follow the hand of God and instead choose of their own free will), Empowerment (Creatures of the night are empowered by the night, becoming stronger when it's night time), Evolution (Creatures of chaos can inherit evil natures awakening into stronger enemies with new abilities and less weaknesses), Resurrection (Self-Resurrection; Creatures of chaos can be brought back to life from the power of hate. This has also been shown with slain heads reviving as an angry wraith), Regeneration (Mid-Godly overtime; Even the castle from Castlevania is a Creature of Chaos, where they are always rebirth from Chaos with each rebirth, the creatures takes a new form, with this state being referred to as a "regeneration cycle"), Invisibility (Creatures of Chaos possess a natural aura of darkness, which makes one unable to see those with an aura of darkness by the naked eye), Time Manipulation (Passive; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon), Darkness Manipulation & Subjective Reality (Creatures of chaos very existence causes dark powers to flow beyond the control of the Elgos' grimoires, due to them collecting documented information on Dracula and his castle. Causing their power to materialize in the real world in the form of monsters. With the real world and world of grimoires being one and the same), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (Passive; Creatures of the night's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to strengthen their dark powers greatly. It is noted by Lucy that the "vital soul" of a monster is the cause of the grimoire chaos. Their vital souls are causing the grimoires contents to be overwritten changing history to things such as Jonathan Morris is now at a disadvantage in battle, or Charlotte fading from existence due to them messing with the history of the Grimoires, Maria starting to fade because Richter's history is being rewritten, where if the contents of the book change the creatures magic will keep growing and eventually overflow into reality, causing the grimoire to fall into chaos and even more monsters materializing into the real world. The text alterations also make the monsters stronger. With the real world and world of grimoires being one and the same), Law Manipulation (Creatures of Chaos can alter grimoires, which do not adhere to the laws of reality), Power Modification (Creatures of the night alterations of the Grimoire can greatly limit the powers of those far stronger than them, such as Jonathan Morris' power being limited due to the alterations. The Chaos of the Grimoire destabilized the magic of the others).

Resistance to Ice Manipulation & Absolute Zero (All enemies in Castlevania III: Dracula's curse can eventually break out of being frozen from Sypha's ice magic. Along with this to protect against ice attacks in series, one normally wears rings that help them resist against absolute zero), Time Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time. With time in Castlevania being so potent that not even eternity can withstand time, along with even artificial life being subject to the laws of time. Some creatures of chaos are immune to time stop, normally being boss-level creatures), Fate Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time, with fate being a truth wound by time)

Is a Vampire, which gives:

Superhuman Physical Characteristics (Vampires are considered far larger threats than standard creature of the night monsters), Stealth Mastery (Vampires are able to attack stealthily in search of human blood), Disguise Mastery (Vampires will sometimes disguise themselves as villages in order to get near one), Immortality (Ageless; Vampires defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity, with Mathias noting he has eternal life. Aeon notes that vampires exist for eternity. Walter is noted to be a vampire that has eternal life. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however, dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations. Immortal Metaphysical Aspect; Vampires will someday come back to life despite them being killed due to being immortal), Acausality (Causality Immunity; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. With their souls being completely free from time. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however, dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations), Free Will (Vampires do not follow the hand of God and instead choose of their own free will, defying God's decree), Enhanced Senses (Vampires can smell that Reinhardt Schneider and Carrie Fernandez smell different from the usual adventurer), Surface Scaling (Vampires can stand on ceilings), Flight (Vampires can either naturally levitate grow wings to fly, turn into a bat, or into mist), Immersion (Vampires can infuse magic into paintings to increase their power), Empowerment (Vampires are loved by the night, making them so powerful that vampires like Walter Bernhard never been defeated before Leon Belmont gained the vampire killer. Noted by Leon that the night should help Joachim Armster as well due to him being a vampire, with the only reason it doesn't is due to Walter holding the ebony stone), Resurrection (Even if one somehow manages to kill a vampire, they will someday come back to life despite them being killed due to being immortal), Transformation (Shapeshifting; Vampires can assume the shape of a wolf, a bat or fog. Vampires can disguise themselves as huamns), Teleportation (Vampires possess the ability to teleport freely. Even non-threatening vampires such as Rosa, fade out from view), Power Suppression (Vampires can submerge their own vampiric powers if needed), Life-Force Absorption (Vampires can consume one's lifeforce, allowing them to heal themselves through biting into a victim), Vampirification (Vampires can turn others into vampires, Walter turned Rinaldo's daughter into a vampire), Invisibility (Vampires possess natural aura of darkness, which makes one unable to see those with an aura of darkness by the naked eye), Time Manipulation (Passive; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon), Animal Manipulation (Bats serve under the control of vampires, being freely spawnned by any vampire), Cloth Manipulation (A vampire's blood can transform clothes, such as Hector combining a vampire's blood with a prince's clothes to get Dracula's clothes), Electricity Manipulation (Vampires can sometimes have electricity form around them as they transform), Soul Manipulation (The candles in Castlevania are people's souls that were taken by Death or by vampires).

Resistance to Temperatures (Vampires bodies turn cold, with them feeling no heat), Biological Manipulation (Vampires biological functions are no longer required for them), Time Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time. With time in Castlevania being so potent that not even eternity can withstand time, along with even artificial life being subject to the laws of time), Death Manipulation ("Death" loses all meaning for Vampires, as they defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity. Where even if one "kills" a vampire they will simply just come back as they are not bound to death), Fate Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time, with fate being a truth wound by time), Law Manipulation (Vampires defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity)

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)

Aura (Joachim has a natural aura of darkness around him at all times), Flight (Joachim naturally moves around by levitating), Weapon Control' (Joachim utilizes swords that float around him and can attack through his mere thoughts), Statistics Boost (Can charge his sword for stronger attacks), Lock-On (Joachim can have his swords lock onto and home into a target), Shielding (Joachim's swords can shield him from all manner of attacks), Energy Projection (Joachim can conjure a massive glyph that shoots out a massive energy blast) & Glyph Manipulation (Joachim can conjure a glyph that shoots out a multitude of spears), Earth Manipulation (Can cause sword shaped projectiles to come out of the ground), Fire Manipulation (Can conjure fire to come out of the ground), Forcefield Manipulation (Can control all of his swords to form a magic barrier around himself, with Joachim being immune to all harm until Leon destroys all four of the orbs in his boss room), Electricity Manipulation (Can charge electricity into himself and imbue it into the next sword he throws).

Resistance to Walter's Castle (Can move around in and fight in Dracula's Castle back when it was owned by Walter) The Castle Abilities Include:

Reality Warping (The Castle does not work on standard logic, where changing rooms can have one view a completely different background, such as room with a blue sky that is reflecting up and downwards and having the clouds rotate at a fast speed), Transmutation (Beings that come near are subject to the castle's influence, such as a local barnyard owl which was mutated just from flying near it), Possession (The castle possesses objects with its magic, such as a ouija table), Sealing (Dracula's magic captured Aguni, a primitive god of fire. The Castle has doors sealed off without solving puzzles. This can extend to walls being sealed off where explosions will not affect it until the seal is gone), Mind Manipulation (Everything that enters the castle is under the control by the power of Dracula's castle, the ghost of Eric Lecarde needed to cast a magic barrier to bind himself so he could be free from the control of the castle. The Castle corrupts the minds of those who enter it, such as making Maxim Kischine feel strange ever since coming to it. It also corrupted the mind of Hugh turning him against Nathan with Nathan noting he's being controlled by Dracula. The castle increases one's dark desires, allowing Dracula to easily control them. The magic of Dracula's power that empowers the owl enemy also spurs it to violence), Madness Manipulation (The Castle warped Gergoth, a once-gentle beast and drove it mad), Size Manipulation (Magically enlarged a toad through the use of demonic baptism), Fear Manipulation (Even while far away, Curtis and Michelle felt malicious intent from the castle where their bodies seemed to squeal "run away". Michelle even being at the entrance to the castle had her body telling her to not go in and her leg muscles being petrified like stone), Curse Manipulation (The Curse status that spirits inflict comes from them absorbing the magic power around the castle. The Castle cursed a human to turn into a lizard man), Life Manipulation (The castle can bring inanimate statues to life to attack. Can cause the glass murals to come to life and attack), Soul Manipulation (Those that die in the castle become one of the floating spirits that wander the halls of the castle for eternity), Abstract Manipulation & Hell Manipulation (The castle can create a core of evil made from hatred, envy, anger and other dark emotions)

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Equipment

• Joachim's Swords: Has no official name, they are Joachim's primary weapons. The sword orbits and hovers either around him or clutter behind his back. Joachim when attacking has one of the swords strike the target while the others stay around him. Through charging, the sword can increase its size and damage output, and with enough magic, he can release a powerful beam from his swords or send them slashing around everything.

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Notable Techniques

• Blood Draining: Vampires can bite and drink the blood of their victims. Blood acts as a source of energy and life for vampires and creatures of the night, an example of this being Red Skeletons who endlessly regenerate, from any kind of damage due to it absorbing blood.
• Transformation: Vampires are able to turn into bats, wolves, fog, and other sorts of creatures as they please.
• Super Strength: Vampires are incredibly superhumanly strong, even for the average creature of the night, being noted to be stronger than even Werewolves.
• Super Speed: Vampires can move incredibly fast, to where all of them leave behind light projections due to how fast they're moving, while they can control their speeds even to approach speeds such as sound. They are normally beyond even other creatures in the castle such as the White Demon who moves at the speed of light at top speed.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Joachim will put up light orbs around the area to give him a forcefield that protects him from all harm, he will then proceed to use many attacks, such as charging electricity into himself and imbuing it into the next sword he throws, causing a glyph to spawn underneath the opponent that shoots out energy weapons, causing the ground to shake and having gigantic swords come out, or attacking with one of his many flying swords.

Weaknesses

• Creature of the Night Weaknesses: Creatures of the night become weaker when exposed to the morning sun. Garlic significantly weakens creatures of the night, and causes demons to die if its placed on the ground. If a vital soul is defeated, the grimoire will revert back to its original content.
• Standard Vampire Weaknesses: After a vampire is sufficiently weakened, the sunlight can kill them. Otherwise Vampires can stand out in the sunlight just fine. Though some weaker vampires can have the sun burn them overtime, killing them. Oak Stakes are able to break through the magic of a weakened vampire. Defeating a vampire will stop the effects of someone they have bitten, but only before they've turned. This is shown in Harmony of Dissonance where through Juste killing Dracula's Wraith, the bite marks on Lydie have vanished. Vampires reflections do not appear on mirrors, making them easier to identify.
• Unique Weaknesses: If all of the light orbs are destroyed, Joachim loses his invulnerability.

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.
• While vampires have some weakness to sunlight and can burn overtime in them, higher tier vampires, can stand out in the sunlight just fine without being weakened. It should also be noted even with Dhamphir's like Alucard, in original lore, he was considered a full vampire yet could stand out in the sunlight perfectly fine.

Trivia

• Joachim is the only playable villain in the Castlevania series (aside from the Lords of Shadow saga and Castlevania Judgment), although his antagonistic nature is softened by his somewhat sympathetic portrayal in his cutscenes, as well as his unfortunate circumstances.
• There are four musical themes related to this character:
  1. Melancholy Joachim (哀愁のヨアヒム): Played while fighting against Joachim. It can also be heard in the ending credits of Order of Ecclesia.
  2. Castlevania Reincarnation: Played while fighting bosses as Joachim (including the Joachim Doppelganger boss). It is a remix that merges "Dracula's Castle" and "Black Banquet", both themes from Symphony of the Night.
  3. Young Nobleman of the Water Prison (水牢の貴公子): Not used in the game. Available only on the sampler CD that came with the Japanese special edition of the game. A softer remix of "Melancholy Joachim" featuring piano and oboe.
  4. Joachim of the Clear Blue Riverside (透碧湖畔のヨアヒム): Not used in the game. Appeared only on the Lament of Innocence Original Soundtrack.
• While playing as Joachim in Joachim Mode, it is possible to collect all of the orbs except for the White Orb, which is not present in the room where it is found in the main game. The Black Orb, on the other hand, is still obtainable by defeating the Forgotten One, despite its uselessness.
• In Joachim Mode, the name of the boss counterpart of Joachim becomes "Doppelganger". Doppelgangers of Leon Belmont are displayed as "Leon Fake".
• The hilts of his Symbiotic Swords are, incidentally, shaped the same as that of the Spectral Sword's central sword in Symphony of the Night.
• Joachim and Albus are the only characters to canonically die, and they also become unlockable playable characters in the games they appear in.
• Joachim's background seems to draw some similarities from Vlad Drăculea, the historical figure whose the vampire novel character, Count Dracula, was mainly based upon. Vlad was a vassal of Matthias Corvinus (who in turn was the inspiration for Walter Bernhard), and at one point he was even his prisoner, basically the same roles Joachim plays in Lament of Innocence. However, it is unknown if these similarities were intended or coincidental.
• The name "Joachim" is of Hebrew origin and means "God will establish". This is probably a reference to the Crusades that took place during the year 1094 in which Lament of Innocence is set, seeing as how the main goal of the campaign was to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Battle Records

0 - 2 - 0

None.

• Walter Bernhard - Fight
  • Conditions: Walter had the ebony stone.
  • Location: Castlevania
  • Note: Little is known about the fight other than Joachim rebelled against Walter and he locked him up for that. Along with this, Joachim notes he only lost to Walter because of his ebony stone.

• Leon Belmont - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Dark Palace of Waterfalls

None.