Castlevania’s Cornell

Time to get all geeky on your asses. Cornell the werewolf was the main playable character of Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness on the Nintendo 64. He’s also a playable character in Castlevania: Judgment on the Wii and there’s a rumor that he will be in the upcoming game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Spoilers ahead!

Cornell’s story is quite vast, so we’ll just stick with the basics here (wouldn’t want to ruin the games for you anyhow). Anyway, Cornell is a member of a warrior clan that have been cursed to turn into beast-men, however, due to extreme training he is the only member of his clan with the power to control his change. He was also the only one to be able to break the seal on the Man Beast power that the ancients had created. This earned him the name “Blue Crescent Moon.” It also caught the attention of Dracula, who wanted Cornell to join his forces, but he refused. Cornell’s only goals are to protect his sister Ada and to cure the curse.

One day while Cornell was out training he found himself unable to control his powers and was stuck in beast form. He encountered Aeon, a time traveler, who told him that he had entered a time rift. Aeon then told him the time rift would let him learn more about the nature of his curse. After battling several champions from different eras, he learns from Carmilla and Death that they still need him, and is told that there may be a cure for him.

Eventually Cornell returns to his own era, 1844. He comes home to find his village in flames, and his sister Ada kidnapped. Going after his sister’s kidnappers he discovered that Dracula’s castle had risen again and that his fellow man-beast Ortega had kidnapped his sister. After lots of fighting, Cornell learns that Ada had been captured to be used as a sacrifice for Count Dracula.

In the end, Cornell fights Dracula (of course) and wins! Not only does he save his sister, but he is also freed from his curse. Now fully human, he and his sister live a normal life.

If you’ve played the games then you know damn well I cut out a lot – but leaving out some much gives people a reason to play and learn ALL the little details. So go play!

– Moonlight

By moonlight

One of the writers for werewolves.com, as well as vampires.com.

8 comments

  1. That is kickass, I can’t believe no one has ever told me about him, he’s not in any of the GBA and DS versions I think :( and the reason why I can’t fathom.

    Think you could reply and tell me what other games he’s in besides the two mentioned if any else?

    Anyway, tyvm for the post! Another character I can add to my little base of personal werewolf knowledge. ;D

    1. He wasn’t in the GBA nor the DS games, the only ones he made an appearance in were Legacy of Darkness on the Nintendo 64, and Judgment on the Wii. Both games were not really considered as high point of the series either, so he ends up being one of the more lesser known and less popular CV characters because of that.

      There were no other games that he’s been in, though, not even as a cameo appearance due to the N64 games being cut from the storyline canon, (Although I have heard that recently they have been reinserted in the series timeline as a sort of side or gaiden story, but sadly I can’t find the source of where I read that at. So that may not be accurate.

      The reason why he wasn’t in the DS or GBA ones is because of timeline purposes. Cornell’s story takes place in around 1844, in which he’s I estimate 2o or so years given his appearance. Many of the DS/GBA ones take place at least a decade before or many many years after, making him unable to make an appearence in those games unless time travel ended up being involved in the plot somehow. (Circle of the Moon: 1830, Harmony of Dissonance: 1748, Aria/Dawn of Sorrow: 2035/2036, Portrait of Ruin: Early 1900’s?, Order of Ecclesia: Early 1800’s)

      And the rumor of him being in Lords of Shadows is sorta true from the images that I’ve seen, although please don’t quote me on this as this is just going by what information I’ve found as well. But the thing is that since Lords of Shadows is considered to be a reboot to the series timeline, so he won’t be technically the “same” Cornell as the one in LoD. Heck, even the human form of the 2 versions are vastly different, so it’s safe to say the one in LoS is a different Cornell whom is also a werewolf.

      Anyways, this last part is aimed towards the original post creator here, but it’s sorta interesting to see this up here. I actually stumbled across this while looking for other Castlevania sites. Nice to actually see someone give some recognition to one of the more underrated and lesser known characters of the series. ^^

  2. In Castlevania: Judgment, there is a meter that, when full, enables you to use a “Hyper Attack.” With which, Cornell could be considered as having two hyper attacks. One that has the normal cutscene sort of look, and then another that you actually control. It’s a kind of “Rampage Mode” that allows Cornell to dish out some serious power while the meter drains slowly. He keeps most of his same abilities, just strengthened to a huge degree, and then a few other attacks are thrown in. In addition to a higher attack power, when he is recieving damage, he won’t stagger or be knocked down such as he would normally. Unfortunately, when the Hyper Meter runs out, Cornell takes a few seconds to recollect himself and is vulnerable to attack.

    And yes. I’m a geek, proud of it.

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