Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Meaningful Movement: The Labyrinth and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

This paper argues that the castle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night structures the player-character's movement in a manner analogous to the treader of a classical labyrinth, one defined by turning back on oneself.

• The paper argues that the castle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night functions as a labyrinth not through its visual layout but through a recursive pattern of movement that makes the player repeatedly turn back on themselves, producing a labyrinthine experience.
• The author holds that the meaning of a labyrinthine movement pattern depends on context, citing its different significance in the Theseus myth, the Troia dance in the Aeneid, and medieval English turf mazes before reinterpreting it in the game.
• Within the game, the recursive movement is read as a spatial expression of protagonist Alucard's ambivalence, linked to oedipal themes such as desire, self-control, repression, distorted memory, and the death instinct.