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Darkstalkopedia


Jon Talbain, known as Gallon (ガロン Garon) in Japan, is one of the original playable characters in the Darkstalkers series, debuting in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (known as Vampire: The Night Warriors in Japan). He has appeared in every game since with the exception of Vampire Savior 2, from which he was omitted along with Rikuo and Sasquatch. Jon is a werewolf that has learned martial arts to retain his humanity over his primal instincts.

Outside of the Darkstalkers series, Jon has made cameos in Pocket Fighter and Capcom Fighting Evolution. He appeared in the American Darkstalkers television series, and has made several appearances in UDON's Darkstalkers series of comic books, in which he had his own standalone side story, "Talbain's Bane." He is also notable in Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (Darkstalkers 3) for having to face the unique character called Dark Talbain, a sinister version of himself.

Jon is one of the characters that had their name originally created by Capcom USA, but was changed in Japan as a result of Capcom Japan feeling that the name would be seen as strange to the audience[2]. When referring to the original name, some Japanese websites render it as ジョン・タルバイン (Jon tarubain) in the language[3].

Background

Jon was born to an English human mother and a werewolf father. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him. He had no contact with his father, as there was no knowing where he was or how to find him. He lived a peaceful life as a human until one full moon. The transformation caused him to be shunned from human society. Though shocked by discovering he was a Darkstalker, Talbain harbored no animosity towards his parents, whom had never been a part of his life. Talbain was determined not to let the his primal instincts consume him. Following his inner voice, he devoted himself to fighting and pushing himself beyond his limit, believing that if he retained his inner humanity, he might regain his physical humanity as well.

After Pyron was defeated, Talbain's supernatural form was lifted and regained his human form. Despite this, humanity still feared him, and he found acceptance only amongst children. Although he sustained his human form for many years, he often felt that the beast still dwelled within him. One day, he heard a voice in the back of his mind and he turned into a werewolf once again. It was then that Talbain discovered it would be impossible for him to be rid of his curse.

During the battles in the realm of the Majigen, Talbain came face to face to tame his inner beast in the form of a darker version of his Werewolf state, Dark Talbain. After defeating his malevolent doppelganger, Jon was finally able to control his form and resolved to live his life as a wolf. Regardless of this, he retained his humanity, like his father, he has great compassion for children, even caring for two orphans (as seen in his Darkstalkers 3 ending).

Personality

Jon's personality is shown to be mostly aggressive and anti-social in most of his dialogue with other characters, but he apparently has a softer side, as shown by a pair of young kids he's shown to be taking care of in Darkstalkers 3. Aside from brash responses to the cast and this one piece of information, most of Jon's character and personality is left in the dark.

Powers and Abilties

Jon Talbain is a very skilled fighter in both hand-to-hand combat as well as ki-based attacks in his normal state. As a Werewolf, all of his powers are far greater. He also has a great sense of smell like most canids. He can transform into a Werewolf at night anytime by will power alone, it is also hinted in the UDON Comics that he can become stronger under a full moon.

Weakness

Because Jon is a Werewolf, he can be harmed by silver-based weaponry, as shown in the UDON Comics, when a sword was able to cause physical harm to this body when he saved Felicia. This is the original weakness of werewolves in general.

Talbain's bloodline

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The Kreutz family is one of the seven noble families of Makai. Although the family is recognized title as a noble one, it would be more suitable to call it an army of warriors and fighters. The current master Xell stands at a height of 5 meters and is a war dragon. He has the most unique appearance out of all the noble classes. And those who are of his family also have appearances that are far from a human form. But there is no vulgarity and roughness within the family. In contrast to their savage forms, they are all first class fighters who are highly trained and organized group. The group is very loyal to the master - to the point where evil actions are paid off with death. Though their numbers are few, they possess powerful one hit attacks and are known as the "Bullet of Makai".

Baraba Kreutz, known as the "Wolf Lord" of the realm of Makai, is the leader of the royal guardsmen of the Kreutz family. His eyes were the eyes of those who survived countless wars. Twenty years ago, he had wandered into the human world. He vaguely remembers about the woman who cared for him when he was injured in the human world.

When he came back to Makai, he played an active heroic role as a fighter of the Kreutz family. Demitri, before his desire to control Makai, had even said, "He is my best rival in my life". Demitri felt a certain kind of respect in the wolf lord before he was casted out for his crimes, a respect not found in the lower darkstalkers. But roughly ten years after he returned to Makai, he suddenly disappeared. Master Xell had searched for him for many years, but he could not be found. Some say that he had returned to the human world to reunite with the woman again. But no one knows the truth of the events.

About werewolves

In popular folklore, a man who is transformed, or who transforms himself, into a wolf in nature and appearance under the influence of a full moon. The Werewolf is only active at night and during that period he devours humans and corpses. According to legend, Werewolves can be killed by silver weapons such as silver arrows and silver bullets. Before a Werewolf is killed, they returned to their human form.

The origin of the word is a contraction of the old-Saxon word "wer", which means "man", and wolf to arrive at werwolf or manwolf. A Lycanthrope, a term often used to describe Werewolves, however, is someone who suffers from a mental disease and only thinks he has changed into a wolf.

The concept of Werewolves, or lycanthropes, is possibly based on the myth of Lycaon. He was the king of Arcadia, and in the time of the ancient Greeks notorious for his cruelty. He tried to buy the favor of Zeus by offering him the flesh of a young child. Zeus punished him for this crime, and turned him into a wolf. The legends of Werewolves have been told since the ancient Greeks and are known all over the world. In areas where the wolf is not so common, the belief in Werewolves has in fact counterpart within the folklore where men can change themselves in tigers, lions, bears and many other animals.

In the dark Middle Ages, the Church stigmatized the wolf as the personification of evil and a servant of Satan himself. The Church courts managed to put so much pressure on schizophrenics, epileptics and the mentally disabled, that they testified to be Werewolves and admitted to receive their orders directly from Satan. After 1270 it was even considered heretical not to believe in the existence of Werewolves.

The charge of being a Werewolf disappeared from European courts around the 17th century, but only for the lack of evidence. The belief in Werewolves, however, did not completely disappear. In Europe after 1600, it was generally believed that if there were no Werewolves, then at least the wolf was a creature of evil. This resulted in an unjustified and negative image of the wolf; an image that most people still have today.

The Wolf Man

1941's The Wolf Man introduced silver, wolfsbane, and the pentagram into Werewolf mythology and heavily influenced related folklore for decades to come. In the film, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is bitten by a Werewolf (Bela Lugosi) while visiting a gypsy camp. He turns into a Werewolf and wreaks havoc until he is killed by his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains) using a silver wolf's head cane. Jon Talbain's date of birth (c. 1940) is presumably an homage to the production of the film. 

Appearances

Capcom Fighting Evolution Ryu Ending

Jon Talbain as seen in Ryu's Capcom Fighting Evolution ending

Cameos in other Games

  • Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Jon appears alongside various other Darkstalkers in their Pharaohs Judgement form across various stages.
  • Pocket Fighters, Jon appears on the Dhalsim's Toy Shop stage next to B.B.Hood as well as the Chinatown Restaurant stage ontop of a large piece of food near Gen and Guy. He is most likely also the shadowed wolf howling in the background of the Moonlight Dark Castle stage.
  • Capcom Fighting Evolution, Jon appears in Ryu's ending as well as the Underworld stage
  • Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Jon appears as a DLC costume for the sun deity Amaterasu.

Other media

  • Jon is featured in the Darkstalkers cartoon, with his role relatively unchanged from that of the video games. He is shown to occasionally have moments of great sorrow in remembering his childhood, growing up as an orphan. He is also shown to be wise in the ways of magic, able to see the leylines that can trace magic back to its source. His human form is very rarely seen, though he has blonde hair rather than the white hair featured in the games.
  • Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge OVA: Aside from being in the intro of the series, Jon also appears in various episodes of the four part series.
  • Vampire Savior (manga): Jon appears in the manga of Vampire Savior as he is friends with Lilith and her initimate relationship with John after who went against Jedah.
  • Street Fighter VS. Darkstalkers; Jon appears in the comic crossover of Street Fighter VS. Darkstalkers.

Trivia

MvC3 Ammy Jon Talbain costume

Amaterasu's MvC alternate costume

  • Amaterasu from Capcom's Okami series received an alternate costume in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 based on Jon.
  • Jon's last name comes from Lawrence Talbot, the name of the titular Wolfman from the Lon Chaney Jr. film of the same name. His Japanese name is pronounced similar to "garou", a Japanese word meaning "hungry wolf".
  • Jon Talbain's Moment Slice can dismember an enemy from head to toe, whose effects are more obvious in more recent versions of the game.
  • In the Udon comics and anime OVA, he became a protective friend of Felicia, as she understands how it feels to be discriminated against, wishing to help him with his self-conflict and teach him to trust others and let go of his hatred of humans.
  • It has been hinted in ''Darkstalkers 3'' that John's dad has been watching his son's progress as a hero from the shadows in the human realm.
  • Though they fight, ironically, vampires like Demitri have respect for werewolves. In modern pop culture, werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies that fight to the death. In ancient and medieval folklore, werewolves and vampires had no animosity and were sometimes considered one and the same.
  • It is possible that Jon was also inspired by real-life martial artist Bruce Lee, characters based on him having been a major staple of fighting game rosters in the 90s. The resemblance can be seen through his use of nunchaku, his taunts and poses, some of his attacks, his association with dragons, and even the way he howls during attacks sounding much like Lee's famous yells. His body is also lean and relatively slight, comparable to Lee's. Furthermore, he dresses in kung fu pants and fights shirtless, although this is perhaps attributable more to martial artist stereotypes in general.

Sprite

Sf-talbain

Dark Jon Talbain

Darkstalkers
series
Darkstalkers series Dark Talbain

SVC CCF card Talbain SVC CCF2 Jon Talbain SVC CCF DS Jon Talbain

SVC CCF DS action Jon Talbain

Card Fighters' Clash
Card Fighters 2
Card Fighters DS
Card Fighters DS

Gallery

Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge Jon Talbain 01 Jon Concept 07 Jon Talbain Darkstalkers 3 Darkstalkers 3 Jon Talbain Versus Port Udon Comics B B Hood Mercenary
The full image gallery for Jon Talbain may be viewed here.

Videos

Navigation

Darkstalkers cast
Main cast
AnitaAnakarisBaby Bonnie HoodBishamonDeeDemitri MaximoffDonovan BaineFeliciaHsien-KoHuitzil
Jedah Dohma Jon TalbainLilithLord RaptorMorrigan AenslandPyronQ-BeeRikuoSasquatch
Victor von Gerdenheim
Secondary cast
Belial AenslandDark TalbainLe MaltaMarionetteMei-LingOboro BishamonOzomShadow
Other cast
BarabaComputerDeeresDracula DragonElijah Grimoire & MerlinHairballHarry GrimoireHeinrich BauerHendrick FarrIrving I. IrvingJackJohn StatelyKlaus SchmendrickLexLily LemayMajorette/ThomasMorgan le FayMrs. GrimoireTerramon


External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Capcom, (2008). Darkstalkers Graphic File. Udon Entertainment Corp, pg. 34. ISBN 1897-37604-9
  2. All About Vampire
  3. https://kakuge.com/wiki/pages/%E3%82%AC%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3
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