| “ | The castle Miriam is exploring was summoned into the same space occupied by the former Alchemy Guild, and thus shares many of its features. | „ |
| ~ Terms description |
The Hellhold, also colloquially referred to as Gebel's Castle, is a recurring location in the Bloodstained series. It is an enormous and majestic looking castle –vaguely designed in the shape of an open hand– summoned from hell by the Shardbinder Gebel, from where he waged his war against Humanity. The Hellhold acts as the main setting in most installments of the Bloodstained series.
Plot[]
Ritual of the Night[]
In 1783, due to the rise of industrialism and the progressive abandonment of their wealthy patrons, the Alchemy Guild created the Shardbinders –humans transplanted with an alchemically created crystal that attuned them with demonic power– in a reckless ploy to preserve themselves. The Alchemists then carried out a rite in which they sacrificed all the Shardbinders except two, Gebel and Miriam. Gebel miraculously managed to survive the sacrificial rite, thanks to his latent exorcist blood, while Miriam was spared because she unexpectedly fell into a deep magical slumber prior to it, a precaution secretly taken by the senior alchemist Alfred, who objected his superiors' plan and hoped to diminish the collateral damage that their foolhardy scheme would inevitably cause. Nevertheless, even with half of its full strength cut off by Miriam's exclusion, the result of the ritual, which coincided with the Laki Eruption which obscured the skies of Europe, was the summoning of a massive horde of demons, which ravaged the continent before finally being curbed down, although it cost a great expense of human life. Meanwhile, progressively corrupted by the crystal he was implanted with, Gebel swore to take revenge against those who had murdered his kind and almost himself. Taking advantage of this, the demon Gremory took control over him and lent him her power to carry out this task.
Exactly ten years later, in 1793, an enormous castle summoned from hell itself, the Hellhold, suddenly appeared among the English countryside from which demons came out to attack all of the nearby villages one by one. The site it rested on actually was where the Alchemists' Guild once lay and traces of its former facilities could be found intermingled with the rest of the building, featuring many separated areas, each dedicated for individual studies.
Meanwhile, at the very hour of the castle's emerging, Miriam also awakened from her coma. Upon learning that Gebel was behind the appearance of the castle, she and the alchemist Johannes set forth by sea toward its location in order to investigate it. However, they weren't the only ones that were chasing after Gebel; the former high guild alchemist Alfred also went to the castle in his search, but more importantly, he was seeking to retrieve the Liber Logaeth, a powerful magical tome that Gebel had stolen from the guild during his rampage ten years prior.
After many struggles, Miriam was able to cut Gremory's influence over Gebel with the aid of the Zangetsuto, a mystical katana lent to her by the demon slayer Zangetsu. However, in the process, the Liber Logaeth fell in Alfred's hands, and Gebel, while briefly able to regain his real self, quickly succumbed to the curse and perished. Miriam's new mission from this point onward thus was to destroy the castle and free the world from all its demons.
On her part, Gremory also chased after Alfred and tracked him down to the Den of Behemoths, where she stole the Liber Logaeth from him and left him badly injured. Miriam, Zangetsu and Johannes arrived soon afterward, but found him already agonizing. It was at this point when Alfred's true intentions were finally revealed: he wasn't trying to get in Miriam's way, but to keep her as far away from the Hellhold as possible to prevent her from also being used to channel the demons' powers, as was Gebel's case. It was also here where the heroes realized Dominique had been manipulating them all along and that it was actually her the mastermind behind all the catastrophic recent events.
Zangetsu went ahead first and managed to corner Gremory in the Glacial Tomb, where he cast an enchantment to prevent her from teleporting through the subspace. However, without his sword, he was no match for Gremory and she quickly disposed of him. Miriam arrived soon afterward, and wielding the Zangetsuto, she was finally able to defeat Gremory, whose real intention was revealed to summon the King of Demons, Bael.
After this, Miriam finally caught up with Dominique at the innermost chamber of the Glacial Tomb. Showing heavy signs of corruption by the curse, Dominique revealed she purposely allowed her to get inflicted by it, while also having learned from the alchemists how to control the power of the Shards - the very same Shards Miriam had been giving her during her travels. Revealing she was discontented with God for allowing the demons to slay countless people (implied this also included her parents) without doing anything to stop it, she resolved that the world would be better if there was no God, so she sought the summoning of Bael, while also showing complete disregard of how many human lives would have to be sacrificed for this end.
Dominique then engaged Miriam in battle, although she was also ultimately defeated by the latter. However, this battle had bought her enough time for Bael's summoning to complete and the King of Demons was finally brought into the world, with Dominique merging with him in the process. Nonetheless, Miriam was able to defeat him as well and sent him back to his own realm, with Dominique also being sucked alongside him back in Limbo. Johannes arrived soon afterward, and picking up the Liber Logaeth, he proceeded to finish Alfred's mission. Alfred had been inscribing Enochian letters onto each of the castle's structural weaknesses and all that remained was for the final rite to be carried out to send it and its demons back from whence they came. A gigantic magic seal then appeared above the Hellhold and this was then sucked into it piece by piece, bringing with this peace to the world once again.
Curse of the Moon and Curse of the Moon 2[]
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Description[]
The Hellhold castle follows a Gothic Revival architectural design for the most part, with four main towers that end in tall conical spires, and one great central main entrance. The building lies at the end of a long and slightly elevated walkway adorned with a series of angelic (though actually demonic) statues all along it, which connects the building's domains with the nearby village of Arvantville. The overall shape of the castle slightly resembles an open human hand, with the four main towers resembling fingers and a giant demon wing-like structure erected on its east wing that would make for the thumb. The entrance is adorned by a large arch around it that culminates high above in a peak, and the rest of the facade, as well as the towers themselves, are adorned with elaborated stained glasses almost on their entirety. The castle is accessed via a medieval-like drawbridge that passes over a wide chasm.
The solid parts of the structure seem to be in standard stone gray color, although as the building is eternally under a crimson red sky and everything around it is darkened as if it was in a neverending night, the building acquires a purple and violet tone; and the light of the red moon above it filters through its many strained glasses giving the appearance of magical lights coming out of it.
The building is settled on the remains of what formerly was the Alchemy Guild, and many of its former facilities can still be found intermingled with the castle's own structures. The castle also has several other minor areas and towers, and the main construction sits over a large complex of underground tunnels below. Said tunnels include a large cavernous waterway, a sandy, desert-like cave containing ruins, and a volcanic vein, where magma flows freely.
One of the structures transported from the demon world, which has technology slightly ahead of the human world, is a closed railroad system, which does a loop that starts from the Hellhold itself, does a scenic route around the nearby lake and across the forest, and then returns back to the castle. To board its steam powered train, however, similarly to modern railroad systems, a passenger needs to show its gates an identification pass; since said pass requires a photograph of its owner, technology normally out of reach for most humans of the time period, the train's passengers are usually restricted to demons only.
Areas[]
Ritual of the Night[]
- Entrance
- Dian Cécht Cathedral
- Towers of Twin Dragons
- Forbidden Underground Waterway
- Livre Ex Machina
- Bridge of Evil
- Underground Sorcery Lab
- Dead Lands
- Hidden Desert
- The Tunnels
- Secret Sorcery Lab
- Inferno Cave
- Oriental Sorcery Lab
- Hall of Termination
- 8-bit Nightmare
- Den of Behemoths
- Glacial Tomb
Individual rooms[]
Classic Mode[]
Curse of the Moon[]
Curse of the Moon 2[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Hellhold is analogous to Dracula's Castle from the Castlevania series and serves a similar purpose; it is an enormous building that acts as a gathering point for all sorts of demons and from where they conduct raids against the nearby population. Both buildings are located in Europe (though not always in Dracula's Castle's case) and are also considered to be a symbol of their owners' power.