Old Axe Armor
From the Castlevania Wiki, the Castlevania wiki
An enemy that, in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, can be unlocked as a secret character by killing 1000 or more on "Jonathan Mode" (the game's "regular playing mode"). They are found on the 2nd to last floor of th "Nest of Evil" and the north east portion of Dracula's Castle.
| Old Axe Armor | |
 | |
| Game | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin |
|---|---|
| Enemy Number | 92 |
| Description | A veteran zombie warrior wearing antique armor. |
| Level | |
| Experience | 156 |
| Hit Points | 145 |
| Abilities | Axe-Hand Swing (Main Attack) Axe-Hand Salute (Press Up while standing, damaging enemies who touch its rised Axe-Hand) Axe-Hand Uppercut (Damages over-head enemies while jumping) Axe-Hand Rush (Dash Attack) Axe (sub-weapon) Puppet Master (as a sub-weapon) |
| Attack Power | |
| Tolerance | Ice |
| Weakness | Hammer, whip, lightning |
| Timestop affect | |
| Drop Items | Voulge Ancient Armor |
| Steal Items | |
| Location | Nest of Evil |
| Soul Details | N/A |
| Skill Points | 0 |
[edit] Gender Speculation
There is a small debate as to the Old Axe Armor's gender. In the official artwork it is depicted as female, however in the "Old Axe Armor" mode (in which it is playable) it has a distinctively male-sounding voice (in both the Japanese audio and the English audio tracks of the game), which consists of basic grunts and screams of pain. Also when playing as it in the "Old Axe Armor" mode, the Zacchino demon will present it with a rose (an action that occurs only when it encounters a player-control female characters: Charlotte, Maria Renard, or the "Lecarde Sisters": Stella & Loretta). Due the in-game spite's design, graphically it is impossible to specify gender (its armor could possibly mask any feminine traits).
- Note: It is highly likely that given the fact the "Old Axe Armor" mode is a secret game mode (and hard to one to unlock at that), it is possible that the mode itself wasn't very well thought out (possibly a last minute extra added by the developers, meaning they might have reused some Richter's voice track, or his voice track was used by default). As given the fact that this mode is the only mode in which the player controls a single-character (as all the other modes there is at least one playable female), it is possible that (from at least a gameplay standpoint) the playable "Old Axe Armor" could be considered somewhat of a fusion of both the male & female attributes (which are a sort of in-game mechanism that allows for gender-specific responses from enemies in the other game modes), which was likely done to prevent having the "Old Axe Armor" fall under the boss enemy, Astarte's temptation technique (which causes male player characters to attack their female partner while under the bosses control), something which could cause problems for a sole "Axe Armor" (in short, the fusion of said "gender attributes", complete negates any problems with it at least from a "gameplay standpoint").
It's also possible from at least a "storyline standpoint", given its nature as an undead entity (reborn via magic), it could also be either genderless or a hermaphrodite (or maybe a undead female body possessed by a male spirit, however this theory is bit far-fetched).
Due to the non-canonical nature of the "Old Axe Armor" mode itself, it is merely a topic of fan speculation (and opinion), due to quirky gameplay mechanics and a piece of character art, showing a female (which may in itself be nothing more than a piece of artwork that amounts to nothing more than fanservice, and was never meant to be taken seriously).
(Note: All the above explanations, are based on pure speculation and were presented to show a topic which is mainly a fan generated debate on a "playable enemy" character's gender, which is mainly due to people getting information from both the game & various sources; some of which are official, unofficial, and semi-official. The important thing for people to remember is that unless officially its true gender is stated & confirmed, by either a later game or is officially stated by the developers themselves, it will remain a source of debate and a matter of opinion.)
