Hector was a devil forgemaster who betrayed Dracula and in the minds of some dealt a blow to evil's cause. Soon after, Dracula was felled at the hands of Trevor Belmont. After renouncing his powers, Hector began to live a normal life of peace with his wife Rosaly. Though, forces who blamed his betrayal for Dracula's defeat were planning their revenge; that is, his former friend Isaac, a fellow forgemaster, orchestrated and manipulated a series of events where Rosaly was accused of witchcraft and after a sham trial burned at the stake. Hector vowed to extract revenge. Isaac's plan had a second part, which was less clear: This baiting of Hector, he revealed, was an attempt to force his former friend to once again embrace the dark power of devil forgery so that the two could tangle in a real battle of revenge--namely for Hector's betrayal of the Count.

The vengeful Hector raced to an abandoned castle, where Isaac was hiding, but he knew he'd be no match without his powers. He'd have to descend into darkness--give in to Isaac's games and reclaim his powers regardless of the result. Over the course of his adventure, he rediscovered his mastery over Innocent Devils, as Isaac had hoped. Some friendly forces, like Julia and Zead, aided in this mission, while others, like the ever-patrolling Trevor and Saint Germain, saw his involvement as meddling. He would not relent. Upon the continued advice of Zead, he tracked Isaac back to the abandoned castle--to a hidden chamber, a magically sealed corridor that with Trevor's help he was able to breach. Though, this, too, was desired: The fully powered Hector's battle with its guardian, Dullahan, was the force needed; the enormous energy from the encounter was harnessed by Isaac and used to raise from the depths Dracula's castle!

Upon the urging of Julia Laforeze, Hector infiltrated the castle and located Isaac in its keep. The two battled until Hector gained an edge, but before he could deal a final blow, he was met with a soothing vision of the Rosaly-resembling Julia, which curved his murderous impulse. However, his momentary wavering allowed the real mastermind, Zead, to step from the shadows and use the dark energy to resurrect Dracula via the incapacitated body of Isaac, which would serve as the vessel in place of Hector, who Zead would have preferred. Zead then revealed himself to be Death and stalled Hector while the resurrection was underway. Hector eventually confronted Dracula and delivered to him a sure defeat. Before the castle could collapse, he transported to safety with at his side Julia, who in light of his recent life events offered to share with him her home. To Hector, who was clearly smitten, this wasn't at all a bad idea.

Christopher has managed to remain one of the lesser-known Belmonts when it comes to the Game Boy titles and their importance to the series. Despite being perhaps the most overlooked, he played as important a role as any other who was cast into the role of hero. Christopher is also in the category of rare Belmonts who have fought Dracula on two occasions: The first was part of the Belmont tradition whence the Count raised from his slumber as part of the eternal cycle. Through his show of heroism in combating this evil, Christopher did his part to further earn the trust of the skeptical countryside; over time, the local populace even began to share in the festivities that represented the celebration of the elder Belmonts handing down the Vampire Killer whip and the mystic sub-weapons to the next hunter in line.

Dracula managed to for many years survive and avoid Earthly banishment through the use of magic and trickery. The question would be, "Who would destroy Dracula if his return is imminent?" Sixteen years after his first adventure, Christopher was ready to hand down the weapons to his son, Soleiyu, who wasn't likely to battle the Count due to the time-period. But by then, Dracula had revived much of his power, and on the night before the celebration, he used a spell to possess Soleiyu in order to use the potent power of the Belmonts' bloodline to raise his dark forces from their slumber while causing a rift within the family; ultimately, his goal was to raise his castle from the depths. With the odds against him, it was the aging Christopher who once again took hold of the weapons to complete the mission, to find his son and somehow bring him to his senses, and to finally put Dracula in his place.

Desmond is our first "Hero of Gaiden," a Belmont warrior whose tale doesn't fit into the functioning storyline and instead exists as a "side story," which is video-game lingo for an alternate reality (which suggests that Konami, or more specifically Koji Igarashi, didn't trust the American team with the task of developing a canon title). Despite this dubious status, his creators were at least kind enough to supply a date and time during which his adventure unfolded--"the late 1600s," which would measure in at a few years before Simon Belmont's legendary escapades and do so without overlap, perhaps serving as hope that Order of Shadows may one day find its way into the main storyline via one of Igarashi's wacky ideas or shocking swerves.

But Desmond and his magically inclined sisters are heroes all the same, and it was apparent that fate had come calling their names when a group labeling itself "The Order" emerged and was threatening to resurrect Count Dracula. The wicked group's leader, Rohan Krause, was also of considerable power and had a long, violent history with the Belmonts, especially Desmond's deceased parents. While his sisters investigated the scene, Desmond infiltrated The Order's mansion, Castlevania, and silenced the beckoning darkness, doing so of his iron will and not motivated by the newfound knowledge that Krause was actually responsible for his parents' death. Desmond struck down the vile cult leader, whose very blood served as the vessel for Dracula's return, much to the hero's dismay. Regardless, the determined Desmond marched forward into the Castle Keep and destroyed the Dark Lord as the Belmonts always had.

Simon is the most famous of the Belmont family members, and he's earned well this reputation by appearing in more titles than any other of the series' hero characters. In terms of his descent, Simon is most likely to be the grandson or great-grandson of Soleiyu Belmont, and, skill-wise, he can be described as marginally more powerful than Trevor, depending on which translation of his adventure you're experiencing. Almost all of the Akumajou Dracula remakes and translations employ the same tale, but the NES titles Castlevania and Simon's Quest are the only ones relevant to the accepted storyline.

Simon hunted Dracula the first time around for the sake of Transylvania, for Dracula was back with a vengeance and above all intent on instigating a rematch with a Belmont after Christopher had spoiled his first great plan. During the battle, Simon was unwittingly inflicted with a curse via his wounds that would slowly reveal itself over a seven-year period; upon learning of the true nature of the infliction thanks to the divine intervention of a beautiful vision, Simon's only option was to cure the life-threatening ailment by returning to action to search for and locate the five hidden body parts of Dracula; the result is that that he would then have to restore to human form the Dark Lord and within the ruins of the ancient Castlevania battle the specter and destroy it, finally ending the phase of a current cycle; it was only through this method would his wounds heal. Simon overcame all of the odds, foiling another of Dracula's seemingly foolproof plans. The only question that remained: Would future Belmonts take the proper precautions and learn well this lesson?

In Action: Vampire Killer | Castlevania | Haunted Castle | Simon's Quest
Super Castlevania 4 | Akumajou Dracula X68000 | Chronicles | Harmony of Dissonance

Juste is the very grandson of the famed Simon Belmont, and his plight was similar in that he, too, had to collect Dracula's remains in order to break a curse--in this case his friend Maxim's--and save their good friend Lydie Erlanger and, in effect, the world. Juste learned well Simon's brandishing technique (if you take Super Castlevania IV's story as canon) and he also originated many of the special moves that Richter and others of his ilk would one emulate and build upon; these include such recurring maneuvers as the slide, the double jump and the super jump. Juste would come to enhance the Vampire Killer by attaining whip attachments, a character-defining trait. It was these abilities that he used to conquer Castlevania and its transient brother, therein saving Maxim's soul from Dracula's possession, rescuing Lydie, and destroying Dracula's weakened spirit.

Juste's more important role in the storyline is that he also located and utilized magic books that allowed him to power up his mystic sub-weapons via the "Spell Fusion" system. Harnessing the propensity of Sypha's ever-present genes, he was able to use the books, as Sypha once could, to afford superpower to his already potent arsenal. This may very well have been the catalyst in building toward the family's item-crashing ability and the DSS Card System. So none too subtly, he was written in as a prototype, a character who originated many of the future generations' then-typical arsenals.

Click here for Juste in action

Maxim may be a hidden character in nature, but not mentioning him would be ignoring one of the more complete heroes within the series. Maxim was Juste's good friend, but he became jealous of Juste's place in the lineage and even more envious when Juste was proclaimed the one worthy of receiving the Vampire Killer whip and the mystic sub-weapons. Keeping these feelings hidden, he left for a "training expedition," which took a turn for the worst. In reality, Maxim, feeling slighted, had been searching Castlevania for Dracula's remains in the hope that he could find them and use them to resurrect a weakened Count, at which point he could destroy the specter and thus earn the respect of Juste as well as the onlooking public. Instead, he became a victim of Dracula's possession and a pawn in an even more deadly game. It was Juste that had to come forward to clean up Maxim's mess in addition to fulfilling his obligation.

After Juste saves his soul from total possession and completes the adventure, you can use Maxim to run through the castles for an exclusive mission, which is totally irrelevant to the game's story and to that of the series as a whole. Nevertheless: As a playable character, Maxim uses his sword, for direct combat, and a shuriken, his personal sub-weapon, for a long-range assault. His abilities are altogether familiar, and they include a slide, a triple jump, a jump kick, and a midair somersault that allows him to roll along the ground and over enemies. At Maxim's command is ninja magic, which he can use to chant two spells: A healing spell that restores depleted energy, and an illusion spell that overwhelms enemies.

Click here for Maxim in action