Death - Castlevania

Please allow me the oppurtunity to gush over my favorite boss in the Castlevania series.

Death, or the Grim Reaper is a recurring boss, and sometimes an important character in the plot of the Castlevania series. His dark cloak and emotionless skull have been his trademark ever since his appearance in the NES classic, Castlevania. He is often referred to as Dracula's right hand man, confidante, and best friend. Dracula's role as dark lord is all the motivation Death needed to be one of his subordinates, as Death would have all of the souls his black heart desired. Death's relationship with Dracula is apparently explained a little bit in Lords of Shadow, but I have yet to play that one. Death has always been cold and heartless, however. Usually, he appears near the end of the game, I speculate is is because he underestimates the protagonist until that point, or that's when he is truly hungry for their souls. Death has never questioned Dracula's word, and gives it all he has in a battle, leading him to be one of the hardest bosses in the series in each title, and that's partly why I love him so much.

Death appears as the stereotypical Grim Reaper, usually appearing as more of a wraith than human. He usually wears a long, flowing robe and often appears without legs so that he may float around the stage like a ghost. He always uses his scythe and floating sickles in his fights, making him difficult to approach, let alone damage. His scythe is even a usable weapon in some of the games, being the strongest axe type weapon always carrying a Dark attribute. His robe is wearable in some games as well, usually with a weakness for Holy damage, but a strong resistance to Dark damage. His face is always a skull, generally without emotion, sometimes only grim pleasure (excuse the pun), making him fearsome to behold as his disgusting smile burns into your eyes as he takes your soul. With this visage alone, he can set the tone for the battle with him before it even starts, and when it does, he will rock your socks off.

The following is a clip of me fighting Death in Aria of Sorrow on an emulator. If I were able to record off my DS, the run would have been better. >_>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXz6c4MAKbA

In every installment Death has appeared in, he has been an excitingly tough boss (maybe not SotN, but still fun) and a loyal companion to Dracula. His motive is also selfish, cold and heartless, which explains the Grim Reaper in a nutshell. He is voiced by Travis Willingham in recent titles, who does it really well, except for the laugh, playing him dark and almost demanding, like he REALLY wants the souls. His voice is echoey, and husky, another trademark of how I imagine Death to sound, almost like he's a hollow shell with no soul to call his own. Death is not a person, but a monster that is after souls, and I believe he does not truly love Dracula, but sees the same goal in mind and will do anything to achieve it. Death is death, no emotion, cold, and determined to see that he rules over all souls.

I dunno, I think my interpretation of Death goes along the lines of him being in the same boat as Dracula. Imagine if one day you were told that it's now your job for the rest of eternity to reap the souls of the dead, how happy would you be? After enough of it, I believe he hit the Garland threshold, and gave in to being hated and cursed, and saw a kindred spirit in the man who cursed god for his misery.

Just my view of it, I don't neccasarily agree with either of them, but Misery is a very strong source of resentment.