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11 The Arcana are the signature system of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse and the replacement for the sub-weapons of earlier entries in the series. Konami's own description is direct: once defeated, bosses are sealed into Rose's tarot cards, turning them into Arcana, and their skills are then used to cast spells and to obtain unique special actions.
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33 The deck was left to Rose by her mother, Sypha Belnades. It is also the progression guide. Cards start blank, progressively reveal the image of the boss she needs to defeat as she gets closer to it, and fill in completely once that boss is absorbed.
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55 The One-Card Rule
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77 Only one Arcana can be equipped at a time. That single constraint drives most of the decision-making around the system, because every card carries both an offensive spell and a special action, and swapping between them is a deliberate choice rather than a matter of cycling sub-weapons mid-fight. Spells are cast from the same mana pool used for healing, which recharges by landing attacks on enemies.
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109 Named Arcana
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1211 ArcanaSourceEffectCursed FlameHeld from the startA fireball. It is not a boss drop, and Rose has it from the opening.Holy CrossThe FallenA thrown cross that returns like a boomerang and can be caught.Infernal PyreJoan of ArcErupts flame across the full horizontal width of the platform Rose is standing on. Powerful, and expensive in mana. The name comes from preview coverage rather than from Konami.Holy LightJoan of ArcAn ability rather than a spell. Holding the trigger makes Rose intangible to Chaos Shards; a perfectly timed press parries instead.Petrifying gazeMedusaTurns enemies to stone. Konami has not published a card name for it.
1312 The stated boss count implies further Arcana beyond these, but no other card has been named and none should be assumed. Card titles reported for the first two slots are hedged in the coverage they come from and are not recorded here.
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1514 Works of Mercy
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1716 Each Arcana lists two or three Works of Mercy, which are objectives tied to that card. Konami's Japanese material calls them 救済の道. They are not all combat tasks: some are exploration or collection goals. Completing one grants a point.
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2018 ArcanaDocumented Work of MercyCursed FlameHit or kill twenty enemies with the fireballHoly CrossKill five enemies with a single throwHoly CrossKill ten enemies with a whip attackHoly CrossFind three different whip-type weaponsHoly LightDeflect a set number of attacksVariousHit an enemy five times with that card's spellVariousFind hidden places on the map
2119 Two of these numbers have been mistaken for a contradiction. Hitting one enemy five times with a spell and killing twenty enemies with the Cursed Flame are separate Works of Mercy on separate cards, and both figures are correct.
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2321 Blessings and Gifts
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2523 A Japanese account of the same system describes the points as working like skill points, with the player free to pick one of several additional effects per card, and says that completing every objective on a card should unlock all of its abilities. That matches the Blessing and Gift structure described here and puts a ceiling on it: a fully completed card is a finished card rather than an endlessly upgradeable one.
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2725 Points earned from Works of Mercy buy a Blessing for that Arcana, chosen from several options rather than being handed out on a fixed track. The Blessing that gets assigned then carries an unlockable Gift on top of it. Blessings change how a card behaves rather than only raising a number.
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2927 ArcanaDocumented BlessingHoly CrossThrow two crosses at onceHoly CrossThe cross deals more damage the farther it travelsHoly CrossCatching the cross on the return refunds ten per cent of the mana cost for every enemy it hit, up to sixty per centCursed FlameA larger projectile with heavier pushback
3028 Weapons and Relics carry their own upgrade criteria alongside this, which is covered on Progression and Upgrades.
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3230 Absorbed Bosses as Companions
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3432 Sealing a boss into a card does not remove it from the story. Rose can talk to the ones she has absorbed, and what answers is the version of that character from before the corruption took hold, released by its own defeat. Each has a distinct personality and its own agenda, and how helpful they are varies with how far gone they were.
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3634 BossBehaviour as a companionThe FallenAmiable and cooperative.Joan of ArcOpenly helpful.MedusaStays antagonistic, claims to see the future, and wants Rose to fail.
3735 This layer is separate from the ghost clues Rose collects around the city, which come from spirits rather than from bosses and are stored in the same deck menu. Every boss and the rewards each one pays out are listed on Bosses.