Beelzebub (originally named Beezelbub in game, but not in the descriptions) first appeared in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as a giant, rotting corpse boss with no attacks of his own. Alucard battles him in the Reverse Castle, at the Necromancy Laboratory area, and is an entirely optional boss. He attacks by taking control of the giant flies that are attracted to the stench of rotten flesh. He also releases maggots that can poison Alucard. The battle starts rather easy, because of his legs, which are very easy to hit. The more damage he absorbs, the more body parts will fall down, at last leaving only his head and half of the corpse hanging high under the ceiling, surrounded by giant flies. Beelzebub returned as a boss in Encore of the Night and in the DLC chapter 9 of Harmony of Despair, properly named Lord of Flies.
While many people identify Beelzebub with Satan, Symphony of the Night seems to take his "Lord of the Flies" title literally.
Origins
Illustration of Beelzebub by Louis Le Breton, from the Dictionnaire Infernal
In Christian demonology, Beelzebub is one of the seven princes of Hell, according to Catholic views. The Dictionnaire Infernal describes him as a demonic fly who is also known as the "Lord of the Flies". In later Christian and Biblical sources, he is referred to as another name for the Devil.
The source for the name "Beelzebub" is variously understood to mean "lord of the flies" or "lord of the (heavenly) dwelling". Ba'al Zebub was used in Hebrew as a pun of Ba'al Zebul, where Zebul meant "of the manor"; and in a derogatory manner, Ba'al Zebub was used to offend the enemies of the Israelites. In addition to this last position, is the fact that it was long ago suggested that there was a relationship between the Philistine god, Baal, and cults of flies appearing in the Hellenic world, referring to viewing them as pests, feasting on excrement.
Appearances
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
A neat trick that makes this boss very easy is to simply stand on the highest platform and spam the Axe sub-weapon at his head. After repeated strikes, his head will fall off and his body will need only be struck once or twice more to kill him. Some have managed to beat him in a matter of seconds and taken no damage in this fashion.
Another trick is to hover over the center of his body in Mist Form with the Gas Cloud relic active, allowing the player to hit his entire body at once. Caution must be exercised, though, as if Alucard runs out of MP he will be in trouble.
If somehow Alucard was able to obtain the Dark Armor from Malachi, by equipping both Dark Armor and Topaz Circlet, Alucard won't be harmed at all.
The Cross is another alternative, as its pillar-esque attack can hit several of Beelzebub's parts at once, doing massive damage quickly.
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Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
While Beelzebub does not appear physically in Curse of Darkness, he makes a cameo as the combination material, Beelzebub's Seal. This item is dropped by Unicorns and it's one of the most difficult materials to obtain in the game.
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night
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Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
The battle against Beelzebub has three phases. The first one plays out similarly to Symphony of the Night albeit in the contrary, as he starts the battle with a large amount of flies which decrease as he takes damage instead of the other way around. Fortunately for the player, he won't use maggots, so there is no risk of poison. Since he "loses" flies the more he is damaged, one should destroy his legs quickly, preferably using attacks that can hit both legs at once and multiple times. The Yasutsuna's Special Attack is very powerful to perform this feat; otherwise, magic like Nitesco or other multi-hit attacks are just as good. When Beelzebub launches his flies to the player, one should avoid them by sliding quickly in a single direction. Since they are quite spread up, it makes jumping unwise, although sliding works fine as long as one is persistent.
After losing approximately half of his body, the second phase plays out and Beelzebub will employ a different tactic, summoning flies in formations instead of using them as a shield. The flies will come from either the very left or the very right and fly in straight horizontal lines in swarms attempting to ram the player, during this time the flies can move upward or downward, but they do so in set patterns and will never return to their original "line" (that is, if they start their rush from the bottom, they'll never rush from this position again until the swarm is respawned). These patterns are not difficult to avoid and at most require the player to pay attention from where they will appear and memorize them, which isn't difficult since they are rather simple in nature. Doing so will help the player calculate when to avoid the flies to continue on the offensive.
Beelzebub during this phase will also employ his Fly Shield, albeit sporadically. When only few parts of his upper body remain, Beelzebub enters his final phase and he will forsake his Fly Shield in favor of his Fly Formation, which he expands by being able to throw swarms in either the upper, middle and lower parts of the room, albeit with enough space to avoid them in between. It plays basically the same way as the second phase. The player should just be patient and pummel Beelzebub when they have the chance and avoid the flies when they come. For this phase, physical attackers like Soma or Alucard may be at a disadvantage if they don't have long range attacks they can use to deal good damage. Soma can use the Medusa Head's soul in order to float in air, which can help him pummel Beelzebub without having to jump continuously.
All in all, the fight is a battle of patience.
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Item Data
| Item Data: Beelzebub | ||||||||
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| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Increases the player's maximum HP (life) capacity. | Maximum HP +5 (Alucard); maximum HP +10 (Richter and Maria) |
Find: Found throughout the castle, often in containers Drop: Most bosses |
Effect: Restores all life and increases Max HP | |||||
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| Boots that increase running speed. | HP +5, MP +5, STR +1, DEF +1, INT +1 |
Rarity: ***** Drop: Beelzebub First Obtained: Chapter 9 (Hard) |
Effect: +60% movement speed | |||||
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| Alucard's favorite sword. | Attrib: Slash #hands: 1 |
ATK +60 Sell: (cannot be sold) |
Rarity: ***** Find: Chapter 9 (Hard) Drop: Beelzebub (Hard) |
Special: ↓↘→ + [Attack] for Attack From Behind Strike (20 MP) | ||||
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| Calls forth the power of spite. | Attrib: Strike, Lightning, Darkness, Curse Consume: 20 MP |
ATK +10 |
Rarity: * Find: Purple & Boss Chapter 9 (hard) Drop: Beelzebub |
Effect: Curse | ||||
Gallery
Trivia
- Beelzebub is considered one of the most disturbing enemies of Castlevania, alongside Legion and the Forgotten One.
- Beelzebub is somewhat of an oddity, as it is never known from where he summons flies, much less how or even why he ended up hanged in the first place.