#rompa

I got my hands on the art book for Castlevania Netflix, and it had a lot of cool stuff! Unfortunately, if you’re here for a comprehensive look at the show’s night creatures, you might be a bit disappointed... Only a few have their models shown, but never a full character model sheet; Some are depicted only in concept art, and some not at all, such as Queen B, whom we DID get an actual character model sheet for!

But amidst this disappointment, we did get lots of new information! Particularly with Isaac’s army of night creatures, my favorite... Apparently a lot of his monsters are based on creatures from African folklore, something I’d never considered, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense! African folklore is an incredibly broad yet highly underrepresented category.

Since Castlevania is no stranger to directly naming/adapting its bestiary after folklore and myths, we may as well go with these names! Of our new names, there’s the Abada, AKA Isaac’s demonic steed;

There’s Ninki Nanka, a long and reptilian creature once compared to a Chinese dragon;

We also have mentions of a Bultungin. In folklore, this is a werehyena... So most likely this night creature, which fits the description more than anyone else;

Impundulu means Lightning Bird, so obviously these creatures (also shown in the previous picture on the right)!

They’re a particular favorite of mine, and I liked to call them Lightning Harpies before we got the art book! There’s also the Rompo, though we already know that the one we see in the show is called Rompa, according to a tweet!

Finally we have the Grootslang, which... Aside from Abada, none of the names are specified, so it’s up to the reader to figure out which Night Creature was adapted from which myth named.

The Grootslang confuses me most, because in folklore it’s described as a giant serpent... So possibly the night creature with actual scales, but some renditions of the myth give the Grootslang elephantine features.

The latter creature has more mammalian characteristics in addition to its serpentine tail, as well as the larger fangs that are more like tusks! I honestly can’t tell which of these is meant to be the Grootslang, the night creature with the spear, or the one that gets memorably killed as the first casualty against Legion.

We also have the Merman and Abel (from the games), as well as Flyseyes and Fisharoo (fully original). To cap this all off, knowing Isaac’s night creatures are named after African folklore, might I suggest Anansi as the fanon name for this spider-like creature?

Anansi is a famous spider trickster deity from Akan folklore, and this night creature’s appearance reminds me of the story of how Anansi’s legs became long and thin; To put it in a nutshell, it’s because of his hunger that led to Anansi’s limbs being pulled and stretched out like that.

The spider creature also has attention drawn to its potbelly in the art book, which COULD be a reference to that appetite, amidst the obvious drool... Is this a stretch? Perhaps. But for now, I’m happy with my suggestion of Anansi as the name for this night creature!