Morning Star (クサリ)
Japanese name
Game	Castlevania Castlevania III Super Castlevania IV Castlevania Chronicles Castlevania 64 Legacy of Darkness
Type	Power-up
User	Various
Description	Increases the power of the whip in 2 levels: short chain for 1st level boost, longer chain for 2nd level boost. (SCV4 manual)
Found At	Candles, enemies

The Morning Star, also called the "Mystic Whip" (Castlevania III), "Chain" (Japanese Castlevania titles), "Whip" (Akumajou Densetsu), and most commonly the "whip power-up", is an item that no vampire hunter should be without. Found in most action-platformer Castlevania titles by hitting candles (or occasionally an enemy), it powers up the player's weapon (usually the Vampire Killer Whip) in two tiers, increasing attack power and/or range each time. These power-ups last until the player dies.

While the Belmont clan have been the primary users of this item for the longest time, Alucard (son of Dracula) used these back in Castlevania III to make himself more powerful. Reinhardt Schneider and Carrie Fernandez also used these to power up their attacks in both Nintendo 64 Castlevania titles.

GalleryEdit

Morning Star from the Japanese manual for Castlevania

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TriviaEdit

• The very first Castlevania game used a standard whip item rather than the blade-and-snake "Mystic Whip" that later appeared in Castlevania III. Despite its appearence, Super Castlevania IV and Akumajou Dracula once again call it a "Morning Star" and "Chain" respectively.
• In Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, three door switches in the House of Sacred Remains bear an emblem that resembles a Morning Star.

VariationsEdit

Not all vampire hunters use the Morning Star as their power-up of choice. Some prefer other items.

Coat of ArmsEdit

Coat of Arms (紋章)
Japanese name
Game	Castlevania: Bloodlines
Type	Power-up
User	John Morris Eric Lecarde
Description	Power-up John's whip and Eric's lance. Powers up to three levels.
Found At	Candles, enemies

The Coat of Arms was used first and last by John Morris and Eric Lecarde in Castlevania: Bloodlines. As with both the Morning Star and the Crystal, it empowered the player's weapon.

John's weapon, the Vampire Killer, would become a chain whip then a morning star as is the usual transformation for the whip whereas Lecarde's Alucard Spear (misspelled "Alcarde Spear" in-game) would elongate from a spear into a trident, then a much nastier-looking trident with folding blades. On higher difficulties, it was possible for players to obtain a third Coat of Arms which pushed the powers of the weapons a level further, engulfing the Vampire Killer in cyan electricity and the Alucard Spear with blue flames. (This state could also be achieved by finding hidden Spell Books in the walls of some areas.)

An interesting point of note is that each character has their own unique Coat of Arms. John's slightly resembles the Great Seal of the United States, though with a cross instead of an eagle, whereas Eric's is more generic, not quite matching any one real world coat of arms exactly. A variation on John's Coat of Arms returned as a background display in the later games, though most prominently in Portrait of Ruin, it taking place many years after Castlevania: Bloodlines.

See alsoEdit

• Crystal (power-up)