Lilith (リリス Ririsu) is a fictional character from Capcom's Darkstalkers series. She first appeared in Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3 in the west) in 1997 and later reappeared in Vampire Savior 2. During her development, she was intended to be the half-angel sister of Morrigan Aensland.
In Vampire Savior, Lilith serves as the boss battle for Morrigan as well as the special mid-boss fight for Victor von Gerdenheim. She was originally voiced by Hiroko Konishi with Miyuki Sawashiro currently voicing her in Onimusha Soul.
Appearance
Lilith appears similar to Morrigan Aensland, but with obvious changes. Her hair is neck-length varying from lavender, lilac or a bright purple in color. Her outer wings, leotard, shoes and eyes are all red. The inside of her wings are dark green but can be seen as brighter green in one art, presumably from lighting. Her tights are light blue with darker blue bat patterns and her gloves are the same color as the bats. The cut-out on her leotard is changed from a heart to a diamond. She is also two inches shorter than Morrigan.
Background
Belial Aensland foresaw that Makai would be exposed to the crisis of perishing soon. Some great Life Form would be needed to maintain the unbalanced world of Makai. He foresaw that one with such power would not be born in the family of Aensland for another 1,200 years. Knowing this, he decided to leave the future of the Aensland family in Morrigan's hands. To Belial, the future of the Aensland family was the same as the future of Makai.
Morrigan was a very special Succubus, even within all of the Darkstalkers. She was born as an S Class noble. But at that time, roughly 300 years ago, a struggle for power had already started. Various battles had occurred in various locations. It was unacceptable for a Succubus child to be given rights to power at the time. The problems didn't end there, either. Morrigan had no way to control the enormous powers that she held within. If she were to be left alone, she would destroy herself and the land around her. Belial decided to split her powers and isolate them to protect her. Morrigan's soul was split into two; one half being closed off into a space that Belial had created.
But her powers weren't simply split evenly. Because her powers were forcefully divided, they kept drawing each other with a powerful force. To control this, Belial took another part of her power and sealed it within himself. Thus, Morrigan's soul had been divided into three. One in Morrigan, one in the sealed space, and one in Belial's body. When these become one, Morrigan can regain her full power. But if one doesn't recognize their own ability, it is difficult to sense one's own existence, let alone control it. Morrigan herself found out about her other half after Belial had died.
When Belial died, the sealed off power was supposed to return to its rightful owner. Once this was complete, the next ruler of Makai was supposed to be born, as Belial foresaw it. But even though Belial's demise has resulted in Morrigan reclaiming her power, she feels it has not returned to her completely, unaware of the third partition of her soul. All this was due to a certain accident that had occurred in the sealed space that even Belial himself did not notice.
The sealed off power had begun to have its own will. This new soul, calling herself Lilith, had began to recognize herself roughly ten years after the sealing. It was Morrigan's heart which slipped into Lilith's consciousness, although Morrigan herself never noticed this. As Lilith found about Makai, her feelings grew. These feelings were different from normal emotions like admiration and jealousy. They were closer to a primitive instinct to want to go back to its home.
In Makai, power is indicated by the strength of the soul. If a soul is forcefully divided, it is not surprising that the soul will try to return to its full self. Morrigan's soul was powerful enough that it was able to produce a will of its own.
Due to Jedah's plot, Lilith was able to attain a body. In return, Lilith was to lure Morrigan and the other Darkstalkers. Morrigan's true powers were something that Jedah could not overlook. It's unknown if Lilith understood Jedah's intention and the meaning of his salvation, but Lilith enjoyed her new found freedom. To Lilith, the Majigen was a real world that she was able to be born in. Her enjoyment will last as long as she can fight someone who can satisfy her curiosity, and be able to somehow return to her true body. She is like a child who doesn't know the true darkness yet, but is also very potently powerful.
After she and Morrigan met, Lilith was finally able to return to her true self when she and Morrigan fused back together into one.
About Succubi
In Darkstalkers
It is generally said that the Succubus race absorbs the spirit of the opposite sex and uses it as their own energy source, however the succubi that live in the Aensland family are slightly different. They create a special secretion liquid in their body when they are either physically or mentally stimulated. They use this liquid to maintain their life. If one were to be trapped inside a small secluded area, she would die within two days due to the lack of stimulus.
This is because the liquid needed to maintain her life can't be secreted. But to make up for this, they have become able to look into the dreams of others. When no stimulus was given, they evolved to look for other ways to look for excitement. When a creature dreams, a special secretion liquid is formed in the brain. A succubus can take this liquid from the outside. Those who have been robbed feel a strange feeling. As if one's dream was completely taken away. This is quite different from not having any memory of a dream. This liquid, which the succubus robbed, is dissolved into the body of the succubus and is composed.
Their blood and saliva has a powerful lustful effect. Their body odor causes their blood vessels to dilate and causes a large amount of perspiration. If a man is confronted by a succubus, unless they have a very strong mind, they would instantly be under her spell.
The succubus race lives about 400 years. Roughly ten years after they are born, they gain their adult appearance and keep this beautiful form until they die. Their adult appearance is kept intact even when they are old. Over the past several hundred years, their ability to reproduce has been in danger. The amount of spirit that can be taken from an individual is limited. Their search for new dreams have caused them to reach into the human world, but it is becoming more and more difficult to reach a good amount of nutrition. When Morrigan became the successor of the Aensland family, there were roughly only 200 Succubi left. At this rate, the Succubus race would disappear after two generations. However, the Succubi themselves do not care about the crisis and are enjoying their everyday lives.
About incubi in Darkstalkers
The Incubus race is said to be the opposite race to the Succubus race. The Incubus is not simply a distinction like a male and female in a race but a completely different race. Although they are treated as a lecherous race like the succubus, they are quite different. First off, their physical looks are not all handsome men, unlike the succubus where they are all beautiful women.
Many of the Incubi are inhuman and may have four feet or may be dragon types. 60% of the Incubus race is made up from these types. They have a powerful aphrodisiac digestive fluid in their body and they pour this into their victim. This fluid causes the victim's elements inside to change and becomes a very efficient food type for them. This method is similar to an insect or an animal. They prefer women because they are a better food type than men. They only eat men when they have to.
About real succubi
Lilith takes her name from the Alphabet of Sirach from a proverb about the supposed first wife of Adam, who was said to suck the blood of infants, and from whose name the word Lullaby (Lili Abi) is supposed by some to have been derived. She was long regarded as the Queen of the Succubi.
In medieval European folklore, a Succubus is the female variety of an Incubus, the word Incubus being Latin for nightmare. According to one legend, the Incubi and the Succubi were fallen angels. The ordinary phenomenon of nightmare, as the name imports, was associated with their belief. The Succubus is a female demon or evil spirit who visits men in their sleep to lie with them in ghostly sexual intercourse. The man who falls victim to a Succubus will not awaken, although may experience it in a dream. The very word Succubus is derived from the latin word Succuba meaning "strumpet" or "prostitute" (from the verb Succubare - "to lie under").
During these times, consortion with demons was long one of the most ordinary accusations in witch trials. Morrigan's date of birth coincides with the first appearance of a Succubus in Scotland. Although the appearance of Succubi were comparatively rare to that of the Incubus, there are anecdotes of a priest who had commerce with one for more than forty years and another priest who found a faithful mistress in a devil for half a century: They were both burnt alive.
About real incubi
In the real world, Incubi were supposedly more common than their female counterparts. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women were burnt on account of the belief of consortion with an Incubus. The very word Incubus is derived from the latin verb Incubo, Incubare - "to lie upon". It was observed that they had a peculiar attachment to women with beautiful hair, and it was an old Catholic belief that St. Paul alluded to this in that somewhat curious passage, in which he exhorts women to cover their heads, because of the demons.
The Incubi generally had no children, but there were some exceptions to this rule, for Nider the inquisitor assures us, that the island of Cyprus was entirely peopled by their sons. Should the female victim get pregnant, the child would grow inside her as any normal child, except that the child will possess supernatural capabilities. Usually the child grows into a person of evil intent or a powerful wizard. Legend has it that the magician Merlin was the result of the union of an Incubus and a nun.
Lilith's relationship with Morrigan
The true nature of Morrigan and Lilith's relationship has always been a topic of discussion and debate. The most common depictions of their relationship have been being familial sisters, having some type of conflict usually caused by their split state of being (even to the point they can be envious of one another) or simply being more affectionate and caring. This is mainly because each piece of media with the two tends to portray their relationship very differently from the last and assumptions viewers make from the mixed content they see. Lilith was originally intended as the biological sibling of Morrigan, while Jedah was this as well, only Lilith remains having a direct relation to Morrigan in the finalized version. This could lead to some believing their connections as sisters is even stronger.
In the games, when it comes to Lilith being a part of Morrigan, many believe both accept each other as sharing the same soul or even being the same person. But the truth is that only Lilith recognizes that she even has some kind of relationship to Morrigan and views her as the individual who has the original body she spawned from. Once realizing her current body is only temporary, Lilith goes on the search to find her original body because she is afraid of dying and wants to survive more than anything. On Morrigan's end, she only recognizes Lilith as a complete stranger and refers to her as "that girl" and doesn't understand why she came to challenge her in the first place. When Lilith's body starts slowly disappearing, Morrigan mocks and laughs that as someone is about to challenge her she looks like she's fading away but still decides to fight her because she enjoys the thrill of it. After defeating Lilith in Morrigan's ending when Lilith explains that she "only wanted a body of her own to live in", Morrigan takes pity in Lilith and allows her to merge with her. This is not because Morrigan is now consciously aware of Lilith being a part of her, as seen in her ending when she talks about her as if she was a stranger, but because Morrigan was friendly enough to see what seemed like a dying entity need a place to survive in and their primitive instinct to sense each other allowed them to become closer. Morrigan after the fusion says that she feels new and different instead of that she feels more complete because Morrigan was never aware of her soul being incomplete in the first place so there's no reason for her to use that type of wording even if she can instinctively feel a more complete feeling.
In Lilith's ending after Lilith becomes part of her left hand, Morrigan finally becomes more responsible and finally becomes the true master of the Aensland family and wears the Isis Ring. While Morrigan is aware that she has gained new feelings and that it is coming from her left hand she still questions "but why?" Since being with Lilith causes Morrigan to gain a piece of what her true personality could have been over the years, it is very possible this responsible side of Morrigan's soul is what made Belial feel like Morrigan would be a great heir to rule Makai. One other explanation is that Lilith is just attracted to the Isis Ring for some unknown reason but wanting to wear it would still cause Morrigan to become the head of the family and rule Makai.
The reasons why Morrigan never got to recognize Lilith as being related to her in some way despite their obvious physical similarities to each other has never been fully explained. But Morrigan never felt a connection to her own race as succubi are a very rare species and she has more of a connection to human culture. It is very likely Morrigan just assumed all succubi have a similar appearance to one another.
A commonly shared idea is that after their souls have been reunited, Lilith can roam freely outside of Morrigan's body and the two can now co-exist side by side since Lilith now exists on Morrigan's power instead of Jedah's allowing her body to manifest longer. In Marvel vs. Capcom this seems to be the case and one of the influences for where this idea came from. But in the main Darkstalkers games all that is confirmed is that Lilith is now a part of Morrigan and nothing is explained after that.
Early stages of development
In the early stages of development, Lilith was quite different from her current form. According to rumors, she was supposed to be called Genevieve; and was Morrigan's older sister at first and had the blood of angels mixed in her. She had angel wings on her head but this was always folded to hide them due to her being a Darkstalker. Physically, she looked like Morrigan. She was always picked on by Morrigan as a child. But this was cut because there were enough angel types in games. Her next design was much closer to the current Lilith, the only difference being that she was either a male or a hermaphrodite.[2]
Some of her angelic motif related to light survived in her moveset, becoming light counterparts to Morrigan's dark-themed move sets.
Appearances
- Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
- Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
- Darkstalkers Resurrection
In Japanese only games
Videouego | Plataforma Original | Publicación |
---|---|---|
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (as a "Lilith"-style palette swap from Morrigan) |
Arcade | 1998 |
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash | Neo Geo Pocket Color | 1999 |
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 | Neo Geo Pocket Color | 2001 |
Namco × Capcom | Sony PlayStation 2 | 2005 |
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS | Nintendo DS | 2006 |
Cross Edge | Sony PlayStation 3 | 2008 |
Zombie Cafe | Mobile | 2011 |
Minna to Akashic Heroes | Mobile | 2012 |
Onimusha Soul | Browser | 2012 |
Game | Place |
---|---|
Capcom Fighting Jam | She appears in Felicia's ending. |
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes | Appears along with Morrigan in various animations and attacks. |
SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium | Appears in Morrigan's "Darkness Illusion" super move and in a special error message alongside Kaede. |
Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter) |
Appears on the "Tessa's Den" stage when neither of the players are controlling Morrigan, in Morrigan's "Darkness Illusion" Mighty Combo and in Morrigan's ending. |
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars | Appears in both game versions on Morrigan's "Darkness Illusion" super move. |
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 | Appears as a alternate costume color for Morrigan, as a card on the "Heroes and Heralds" and also in Morrigan's ending. |
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition | Appears as a DLC costume for Juri. |
- Darkstalkers (UDON)
Trivia
- Lilith's name comes from a figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology. Accounts and interpretations generally depicts her as a primordial demon.
- Originally during development, Lilith was intended to be a half-angel sister of Morrigan.
- CAPCOM ditched the angel concept because they felt angels were overdone in video games at the time. Later when they came to something closer to Lilith's current design, they planned on making her an androgynous demon who looked similar to Morrigan with a slightly different outfit. Lilith was meant to be male or a futanari while being portrayed as an otoko no ko, or someone (a male) who participates in Japanese crossdressing, which like Western version is heavily conflated with androgynous by non-participants.
- Two of Lilith's moves contrast Morrigan's moves in their title. While Morrigan has Shadow Blade and Darkness Illusion, both having to deal with the dark, Lilith has the same two moves only they're titled Shining Blade and Luminous Illusion, both dealing with the theme of light.
- In a twist of irony, Lilith also can dismember enemies with her standing throw and Luminous Illusion, the only Succubi who can do so.
- Her main colors (purple, blue and red) are similar to Jedah Dohma. It is unknown if this is intentional or not as her own physical body was created from Jedah's power.
- Her dark green inner wings and purple hair are likely a reference/contrast to Morrigan's purple inner wings and iconic green hair.
- Lilith's in-game personality may be a reference to Morrigan's original concept as the cute one of the game.
- Being split from her when she was just born, she is often portrayed as the innocence or happiness Morrigan lost over the years and once fused with her again, in Morrigan's ending, she has a brighter look on life.
- Morrigan was originally meant to be a female vampire and some of Lilith's quotes imply she has some sort of obsession with blood which is something vampires are commonly associated with.
- Lilith was originally voiced by Hiroko Konishi, who also voiced Roll in the Japanese version of Mega Man 8 and had provided miscellaneous voices for the Vampire Hunter drama CDs. She was replaced by Yuka Imai, who also voices Leviathan and Copy X in the Mega Man Zero series. After Imai's retirement from voice acting, Miyuki Sawashiro took over in Onimusha Soul.
- For her cameo in Morrigan's ending in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter), Lilith is voiced by Kae Araki, who also voiced Felicia in the series.
- The time Lilith came into being may change depending on the interpretation, but in the games she was only born 10 years after the separation which would technically make her birth year 1688, but it's possible a birth year isn't listed because CAPCOM wanted to keep things hidden.
- On the PlayStation version of Darkstalkers 3 (Vampire Savior EX), there is a code to play as Lilith with a Morrigan color palette and voice clips called "Lilligan."
- A silent version of Lilith is playable in Vampire Hunter 2 due to coding errors. When Capcom was altering Vampire Savior to Vampire Hunter they left some data of the characters introduced in that game behind, with Lilith having the most making her completely playable just with the lack of a voice and victory music. This also causes the person playing as "Hunter 2 Lilith" to bump into other characters from Vampire Savior and fight them, but since they have less data than Lilith in this version they appear as silent and invisible.
Sprite
Official artwork
Videos
Darkstalkers cast |
Main cast |
Anita • Anakaris • Baby Bonnie Hood • Bishamon • Dee • Demitri Maximoff • Donovan Baine • Felicia • Hsien-Ko • Huitzil Jedah Dohma • Jon Talbain • Lilith • Lord Raptor • Morrigan Aensland • Pyron • Q-Bee • Rikuo • Sasquatch Victor von Gerdenheim |
Secondary cast |
Belial Aensland • Dark Talbain • Le Malta • Marionette • Mei-Ling • Oboro Bishamon • Ozom • Shadow |
Other cast |
Baraba • Computer • Deeres • Dracula • Dragon • Elijah Grimoire & Merlin • Hairball • Harry Grimoire • Heinrich Bauer • Hendrick Farr • Irving I. Irving • Jack • John Stately • Klaus Schmendrick • Lex • Lily Lemay • Majorette/Thomas • Morgan le Fay • Mrs. Grimoire • Terramon |
External links
- Lilith - Strategy Wiki
- Lilith - Mizuumi Wiki
- Lilith - Capcom Database
- Lilith - Marvel vs. Capcom Wiki
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Capcom, (2008). Darkstalkers Graphic File. Udon Entertainment Corp, pg. 119. ISBN 1897-37604-9
- ↑ https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/jun/01/lilith-darkstalkers-one-point-was-going-either-be-male-or-hermaphrodite-capcom-densetsu-article-talks-about-close-shave/