10 Things You Didn't Know About Castlevania
3. The Belmonts Were Almost The Dantes
The hero of the first game is Simon Belmont, or in the original Japanese Shimon Belmondo. Simon is the descendent of the first man to fight Dracula - Leon Belmont, a former crusader who would found the cursed Belmont line to Christopher, Trevor, Richter, and beyond.
But in the original design, the character was supposed to be a tribute to Peter Cushing, of Star Wars fame, and Dante Alighieri. Cushing played Abraham Van Helsing in the Hammer Dracula films and, of course, Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy. His name was to be Peter Dante.
Both Dracula and the Divine Comedy would give plenty of inspiration for the series, but not in the naming of the series' first hero. The creator of the series took a lot of inspiration for Simon from the legendary Romanian folk-hero Făt-Frumos, a handsome, proud, and courageous prince who defeats mythological beasts. His name is often translated from Romanian as 'Prince Charming'. Add in Indiana Jones' whip and you've got Simon almost to a 'T'.
Unlike either Făt-Frumos or Indiana Jones though, Simon was almost able to equip an item that would allow him to turn into a lycan. Can you imagine Harrison Ford as a Romanian Werewolf?