The Coffin is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is an old funerary box that has been possessed by an evil spirit and which now seeks new inhabitants to trap inside it forever.
Coffins, caskets and sarcophagi are boxes where the dead rest. In many Castlevania installments, Count Dracula's coffin can be seen lying in the background of the castle's throne room instead of the throne itself. In some occasions, the vampire himself is seen rising from it once the player finally makes it to his chamber or after he has been resurrected by his followers.
Dracula's coffin has also made numerous appearances in the introductory cutscenes of several games, where his loyal servants are seen carrying on a black mass, where usually a young maiden –who was probably abducted from a nearly village– is laid unconscious over the coffin itself and then is sacrificed by plunging a blade through her heart, making her blood to run all over the box, as well as moistening its interior, nurturing and infusing its long dead contents with new unholy life and bringing the Count back from the dead once more.
Another notable coffin is Alucard's, which was first seen in his introductory game, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. It is found lying open on the floor of his burial chamber, from which he first comes out in the form of a company of bats, and after adopting his humanoid form, proceeds to attack the heroes in order to test their abilities, in an encounter that reminisces previous battles against his father, Count Dracula.
In recent games, however, coffins have taken a more interactive role, acting as enemies that usually attack either by chasing the player in an attempt to snatch them inside and trap them forever or by spawning endless hordes of undead creatures. Mummies are often seen coming out from their coffins or sarcophagi, more so if it's a boss version of the enemy.
Even though coffins don't appear as enemies in Dracula's Curse, they play a significant role in a couple of boss fights. Either two or three coffins will be found standing in the background of these boss rooms, where a malign spirit known as an Evil Flame will also be seen floating over an altar. The entity will then proceed to enter one of the coffins and bring back to life whatever atrocity was lying dormant inside. These enemies can either be a pair of Mummies, a Cyclops, or even the diabolic Leviathan.
Dracula himself is not present to face off against the player in this parody game, but an empty coffin handles any intruders for him. It is shown to have legs and contains a trap when opened: a boxing glove on a spring.
The Snapper Casket, as its name implies, awaits for prey to pass by and then starts giving chase while "snapping" its lid in an attempt to trap them inside it. It initially remains stationary and shakes violently every once in a while before turning hostile. This variant can only be damaged once it has commenced its attack, so the player must walk past it in order to trigger it and be able to destroy it.
On the upper levels of Stage VI, The Halls, a gathering of possessed caskets can be found levitating and forming a spinning circle to hinder the player's progress. These can be struck and destroyed from a safe distance, however, making them just a minor obstacle.
Some caskets can be found in the underground section of Stage IX, The Treasury. One such casket is oddly found on an upper ledge, standing beside one of the many background holes that periodically suck in a surge of wind which temporarily keeps the hero in place if touched. This hole in particular will take the player to a secret bonus area if allowed to suck them in.
In the Japanese version of the game, the caskets have a cross on the lid. These were removed from the overseas releases in an act of censorship.
A pulsating icosahedron is found inside of each Save Room in this game. When Alucard (or any other playable character) operates this floating object and chooses to save, it will deconstruct and reform into a coffin, where the character can sleep inside and save game progress.
The fight against Akmodan II in Death Wing's Lair starts with a solitary sarcophagus standing in the middle of the room, from which the boss comes out.
The fight against Fake Trevor, Fake Grant and Fake Sypha will have those bosses start inside open coffins as skeletons. Before the battle begins, the coffins will close and start spinning around; then the fake trio of zombies will come out of the coffins and start fighting.
Some coffins conceal hidden paths in Dracula's domain. A coffin found at the end of the Villa will lead the player to many different areas depending on the hour of day it is entered at. Additionally, there are a couple of breakable coffins in the cemetery of the Forest of Silence, hiding a couple of items when destroyed.
A coffin briefly appears at the beginning of the game, containing Count Dracula's undead body. It is destroyed when Camilla uses her magic to unseal him.
In the Catacombs, levitating coffins can cause damage when the lid is forced open by the Mummy inside. An endless horde of Mummies may then come out of them if not destroyed.
During the course of his journey, Nathan Graves will come across two green and large iron maidens in the Abyss Stairway and the Eternal Corridor that seem to block some path. Once he defeats Adramelech at the Chapel Tower, in the next room, he'll find a third identical iron maiden, as well as a stepping switch on the floor. Once he steps on the contraption, the iron maiden will explode and crumble, giving him access to the room behind it, as well as a subtle hint on where to go next. This switch will make the other two iron maidens to crumble as well, although this will happen offscreen. As such, Nathan will have to backtrack to where the second iron maiden was standing, gaining with this entry to the Underground Gallery, or take an early access to the Underground Waterway.
The battle against the Mummy Man in the Forgotten City is preceded by a beautifully crafted Egyptian sarcophagus lying on the ground of the burial chamber, from where wrappings suddenly start coming out and fly toward the ceiling, descending a moment later to form the body of the boss.
A coffin and a casket are actually two different things. A coffin is usually six-sided or twelve-sided (almost always an elongated hexagonal or elongated dodecagonal) funerary box (somewhat shaped like the body) and is usually made of wood, while a casket is generally a four-sided or eight-sided (almost always a rectangular or long octagonal) funerary box and is usually made of metal.
Having this in mind, the "Snapper Caskets" ("Maneating Caskets" in Japan) that appear in Super Castlevania IV are actually coffins and not caskets.
This imagery is possibly related with the Save Rooms from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where coffins with a similar design are used by Alucard to rest inside.
In the 1995 fantasy role-playing game Suikoden (also by Konami), in Neclord's castle (a vampire), instead of inns the player has access to coffins where they can rest in and heal up. This concept is similar to the coffins Alucard uses to rest in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the mechanic could probably have been inspired from Suikoden, although this is mere speculation.
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