Also The Symbolism Surrounding Simon Ive Noticed Seems To Generally Lead Back To Martyrdom And Sacrifice Which Is Hmmmm Interesting - Tumblr Posts

I redrew something from 2022 :3! Yippie, now you guys get to see the old one and the new one next to each other heck yeah.

I’m gonna rant like absolutely bonkers length about Simon’s Quest and the endings and story under a cut for anyone interested:

The original version (the last image) had this like long rant about how I see the endings of the game, but it wasn’t as comprehensive cause I was still kinda new to things and well instagram character limit lol.

The endings of the game are a really really cool topic to me because of how ominous and vague they all are. They’re all left pretty open! But I’ve always gotten some sinking dread even when getting the fastest “red sky” ending. The game really sets up the ending with a lot of empty areas and suspense beforehand, especially with the still present but now more pressing clock still ticking ya know, and the final battle is kinda just there, but it ends off all this tense build up with

A eulogy. One definitely written for Simon too. In every ending.

The first ending (grey sky) is really vague, just a general statement that “Simon you will always be remembered for your bravery and courage” and that “Peace and serenity have been restored to Transylvania and the people are free of Dracula’s curse”. Which is really odd for what would be assumed to be a “bad ending”. This generally sounds like a pretty good outcome and it’s primarily the same in the Japanese version just slightly worded differently. Heck, it’s not even stated in the text outright if he died. But the visuals, oh man. Dreary greyscale and Simon doesn’t even appear on screen in front of Dracula’s grave. Did Dracula even get reburried? It’s some really bleak imagery compared to the otherwise pretty unsuspecting text.

And second ending (blue sky) is very interesting. Simon appears on screen with some nice bright generally cheery colors, but the text deliberately mentions his death in both versions. The English version however says something the Japanese version doesn’t: it says the curse wasn’t broken. The original text says “until a young man to fight against evils like him comes again to this world, Transylvanians will keep praying forever.” Which I guess you could assume means that something went wrong and the curse still exists, but it could also be taken as a general “there’s no cool badass vampire hunter guy to kill any other general threats, so we hope another one comes along”. So, again, it’s so extremely vague.

So far the first and the second don’t really have all that much different as far as implications go: Simon beat Dracula but he died.

So what about the third ending (red sky)? Would it shock you if I said there’s not much difference from the text of the first ending? It’s essentially just another eulogy text with nice things to say about him. It says “Simmon Belmont put an eternal period to the legend of Dracula” (yes the Japanese version says Simmon lol it happens), which is something we know isn’t true because well more games got made later. Also because Dracula’s hand pops out of the ground afterwards! Which is hard to say the meaning of, is it just a teaser like “to be continued” or is it actually meaning that Dracula wasn’t put down properly and will be back really soon? Because that still is in line with things since yeah Drac did kinda sorta come back early in Harmony of Dissonance. Anyway— But it’s just another way of saying “he killed Dracula” and probably “he ended the curse”. The last section is just “his blood and sweat have penetrated into the ground of Transylvania and will bring us full-blown flowers with happiness in next spring”. Which is, again, just a really pretty, poetic way of saying “we’re never gonna forget this guy”. And again, this ending never outright says if he lives or dies!

Which is so!!!!! Weird!!!!!!!!!!! Why have multiple endings in a game if they’re all so vague that they’re almost completely interchangeable and can all be argued to be the ending of the game? You could genuinely make an argument for each of the endings being the canon ending and it would affect essentially nothing. They’re so vague to the point that a lot of people assume that they were mixed up at some point in development, which I find unlikely coming from the dev team of the guy said to want his games to be a cinematic experience. But it’s so strange! Why!?!?!

But I think that this vagueness and sense of idk how to put it— um ya know when something builds something up to get you all excited and convinced it’ll go one way and then it pulls the rug out from under you? Like when it’s set up to where it feels like the protagonist is finally going to get something and then it just doesn’t happen completely unceremoniously? Like a hope crushing twist?

Idk what I mean is, to me, it feels completely intentional. It feels to me like the game is just ramping up the tension and the suspense and the dread just to cut it off with vague, bittersweet endings that just seem to imply sad things and don’t sit right. It’s like as if the game wants you to get the first ending, see that it’s really gloomy, try to figure out the game more and get the second ending, see that that one outright says he’s dead, then try to get something better only to run into another awkward seemingly negative ending and a realization that you can’t do anything about it.

And I was thinking about this again a bit ago and realized that it really fits with the rest of Simon’s story. Simon kinda has this general “hero goes to save the day” plot in the first one with some slight mention of Christopher before him and the fact that this is a clan and a repeating 100 year Dracula cycle right? But things go wrong and he gets cursed and presumably either struggles to figure out what to do or just puts it off for like 6 ish years. Add the general vibes of “will I ever be as good as my ancestors?” and repeating themes of being alone and then compare that with Dracula’s Curse that comes out not long later and this game is suddenly the most “power of friendship” “seeing the good in people” “together we can overcome this” kind of story in the whole series and it hit me: Simon feels like a subversion of the lone hero trope. Like this super uplifting, unlikely band of heroes story coming out right after the solitude if it were personified as a 1600s vampire hunter story feels so so so so important to me. And then The Adventure and Belmont’s Revenge come out and what are they about? Christopher goes into the castle alone and something goes wrong! And I’ve noticed how other Belmonts and protagonists in later games get companions or friends or helpers or somebody else, and oh boy does that make how alone Simon is that much more noticeable.

It just all comes together in a messed up way. I really feel like Simon dies in all of these endings. And I didn’t even get into weird symbolism discussion lol—

And maybe this is just me looking too hard into an old game from a modern used to stories in games being detailed perspective, but idk man, I love the Simon’s Quest because it never fails to baffle me. Honestly so much of Simon’s Quest genuinely haunts me (affectionate), like I’ll just be sitting around and think of another possible answer to something and it’ll end up just as vague and full of holes as any other speculation, it’s wild. This game will have you sitting around looking for answers only to consistently run into dead ends with sad or nonexistent implications. I hope any of this makes sense, this game drives me insane I love it debating replaying and overthinking it again hmmmmmmm—