Cute.

The Insane Power of Flynn: The Defense of Chad Samurai Man

It’s time for the lies and slander to stop. Flynn is not weak and it’s time to set the record straight. This is the defense of the power of chad samurai man. This is a more in depth version of my earlier post questioning why people think Flynn is weak. This goes over all Flynn’s major achievements, compares him to some of the other protagonists, and explains just what he can do. If you disagree on what I say and want to debate me I’m open to it. I’m still new at powerscaling this is based solely on feats of characters and what is stated in the games. I made this because people think Flynn is weak and I simply don’t agree based on what I have seen of him from playing SMT4 and SMT4A.

Edit: I added a feat I completely forgot about.

Preamble: This is a composite Flynn using feats from the neutral route of SMT 4 and SMT 4 Apocalypse. I believe the feats are fair game for Apocalypse Flynn because if the timeline didn’t diverge he would have gone right on to do these feats after giving Masakado the spirit of hope. This includes the side quests and dlcs too.

*Spoiler warning: Major spoilers for SMT4 and SMT4 Apocalypse.*

*Trigger warning: Reading this may trigger intense salt. If you get salty easily or really don’t like Flynn or think anyone without demon power is fodder or if you can’t take jokes (mostly of this is serious but I threw in some jokes for fun) reader discretion is advised.*

This isn’t everything Flynn’s done, just the most impressive stuff he’s done.

Feats (Solo):

-Defeats Lucifer in his true form even after his transformation

In the chaos route he tells Flynn that his form in this game is his true form. After Flynn beats down Lucifer in the neutral route he transforms presumably getting stronger.

-Defeats Sanat and Ancient of Days (dlc)

Both Sanat and Ancient Days are heavily implied to be beings on higher dimensions of reality. These beings couldn’t even be analyzed by Burroughs the AI Steven made. At first Flynn can’t perceive them, but then for some unexplained reason he suddenly can. After this he fights and defeats both of them in their respective quests.

Also, Ancient of Days is a part of YHVH. Flynn defeats a part of YHVH alone.

-Defeats the White

This one is probably the least important because it’s not exactly known how strong they are. What we do know is that the white are the incarnation of humanity’s despair. They had the power to send Flynn to parallel words and even trap him in their own dimension. Flynn is able to escape with Stephen’s help after defeating the white.

-Defeats Krishna very casually (in the bonds route)

After being separated from Krishna who has power comparable to Lucifer or Merkabah he easily defeats him after two sword strikes. You could argue Krishna was weakened, but Flynn is shown here to be perfectly fine even though he was just fused with Krishna. It doesn’t make sense for Krishna to be more damaged than Flynn after all Krishna was in Flynn’s body so if anything he should be more hurt after the battle with Nanashi’s group than Krishna. If you want to say Krishna was weakened then Flynn should be equally weakened too by the damage sustained by Vishnu Flynn.

-Defeats the four archangels separately (dlc)

Mastema recruits Flynn to defeat the Archangels for him so he can seal them. So, he goes through time like samurai Jack and fights them. He defeats each one of them individually so Mastema can capture them. Flynn could have killed them considering the dialogue choice your given.

If you say yes Mastema persuades Flynn not to though it’s very clear if he wanted to, Flynn could kill them.

-Defeats Beelzebub (side quest)

In a side quest he kills the lord of the flies Beezlebub. Beezlebub is a very powerful demon for the chaos faction and was once the deity Baal. He also, like everyone in SMT4A, wants Flynn.

-Defeats Masakado’s Shadow

He beats sense into Masakado’s shadow before the nukes hit Tokyo. Masakado’s shadow absorbs all the elements, physical, gun and resists almighty yet Flynn was still able to damage him.

Edit:-Flynn also tanks multiple lightning bolts from Odin. It is shown that Flynn is faster than lightning because he dodges Odin’s lightning. The only reason Odin hit him to begin with is because Matrieya threatened to kill Asahi. So, Flynn can speed blitz and tank multiple lightning bolts from a God. Also remember Odin was able to completely manhandle Nanashi’s entire group including Isabeau. Even with the rematch Nanashi and his entire group were needed to defeat Odin. I think Odin taking a hostage implies he couldn’t have defeated Flynn fairly because if he could of he would of like he did in his first encounter with the bonds squad.

Feats (w/other people):

-Defeats YHVH

Obviously defeating the creator is a big deal. In the bonds route he defeats him alongside Nanashi’s friends and his fellow samurai. In the Dadga route he defeats him alongside Nanashi and Satan. An important thing to note here is the fact that Flynn aids Nanashi in his victory no matter which route he chooses. Dadga’s whole ideology revolves around the individual and doing things by yourself. He only revived Nanashi to be his Godslayer because only a human can kill a god. The point I’m trying to make is that Dadga would only revive Flynn if he absolutely had to. This implies that Nanashi could not have defeated YHVH alone and that he needed his help to win.

-Defeats Merkabah (a fusion of the four archangels)

In the neutral route he defeats Merkabah with just his samurai companion Isabeau.

-Is one half of Vishnu-Flynn a being on the same level of power as YHVH

This is the power Krishna intended to use to defeat YHVH. Remember this is after all his allies are out of commission so he is confident they can defeat YHVH in their fused state.

-Defeats Satan (a fusion of Lucifer and Merkabah)

Self explanatory he does this with Nanashi in his friends in the bonds route and with just Nanashi in the Dadga route.

Comparisons:

-Nanashi

He also fought Lucifer and Merkabah, but had WAY more help. He had his immortality from Dadga and also the help of Asahi, Nozomi, Hallelujah, Gaston, Toki, Navarre, Isabeau, the people of Tokyo, and Shesha disguised as Flynn. Even then him and his team still had to resort to sacrificing swaffs of Tokyo’s people and distracting Lucifer so Shesha Flynn could stab him in the back.

So anyway the ‘morally unobjectionable’ bonds squad sacrifices a bunch of people to get advantage in a fight like the heartless monsters…*cough* *cough* I mean retarded heroes they are. They neither try to stop the people or even question Shesha Flynn. Why? I dunno because they think he’s Flynn? I guess if Flynn says it’s okay anything is alright? This is how far their simpage of Flynn goes. He’s like a god to these people and they will agree with everything he decrees. On the flip side Flynn not only fought Lucifer alone, but Lucifer even transformed into a stronger form and was still defeated by Flynn. Against Merkabah, Flynn is supported by Isabeau only having the one person as help compares to Nanashi who had support from his SEVEN FRIENDS and the hunters. And even with ALL that support underhanded tactics were still needed to defeat Lucifer and Merkabah. This is in contrast to Flynn who beat them in their transformed states fair and square with little or no support.

Vishnu Flynn is a big point people try to use to argue Nanashi being superior, but it makes no sense. In the bonds route he needs all his friends' support, and Flynn sabotaging Vishnu Flynn from the inside to win while in the Dadga route he just fights him alone. This realistically makes no sense. The feat I just mentioned just happened before Nanashi goes into the cosmic egg with his friends to fight Vishnu Flynn. Nothing between the bonds and Dadga route is different up until the choice where you either fight your friends or Dadga. Afterwards you immediately fight Vishnu Flynn. It makes zero sense for Nanashi to be stronger in the Dadga route since everything would be the same up to that point. Also, an important thing that people don’t bring up is that Krishna is controlling Vishnu Flynn not Flynn. Also, Flynn doesn’t have access to his demons or Masakado’s katana which he would have in a normal fight against Nanashi. Krishna even openly admits that he’s still getting used to the new body so it’s clear Vishnu Flynn isn’t at his peak.

And seriously you’re having a guy who uses a flute to attack suddenly use swords so he’d have no skill in using him which would make a big difference. For all we know Krishna just flails them like baseball bats at Nanashi. This would be very different if Flynn, a trained samurai whose main weapon is a SWORD, was in control. What I’m saying is this fight is not very reliable in determining how Nanashi would actually fair against Flynn. He’s not only not the one in control, he can’t summon, and he doesn’t have access to any of his normal equipment.

-The Hero (SMT 1)

I’m comparing the two since they both fight the archangels. Flynn is obviously above him considering his final boss is Michael and Flynn defeats a fusion of all four of the archangels with Isabeau. Not even best dog Pascal can save him from a guy who can kill beings on higher dimensions.

-Demifiend

Both beat Lucifer but Flynn beats a powered up Lucifer and rather than maybe fighting YHVH like Demifiend actually canonically beats YHVH. So, I know this will make people triggered but I honestly think he’s stronger than Demifiend. Not to mention Masakado’s katana bypasses Demifiend being null to everything and can give him a weakness.

Powers:

Masakado’s katana- He can give any enemy a weakness with it. Since it counts as an almighty attack this attack could even work on Demifiend. I mean it worked on YHVH for crying out loud.

Higher perception- He can perceive beings on a higher plane of reality than he is and can even fight them and beat them.

Magic-In Apocalypse he uses almighty magic and has healing spells. In the other version of him in the Diamond Realm dlc he has access to ice, wind, and lightning magic.

Higher tier skills-He can get more powerful versions of skills through demon whisper up to +8 stronger.

Has such samurai skill- He is really good with a sword to the point where other characters compliment him on this including the Gaia member you fight to get into Ginza.

Is a human-Means he can kill Gods and all that other crazy bs they say humans can do in Apocalypse.

Demon Summoning Program-Pretty standard he can summon demons.

Epic Chad Energy-Is so powerful and awesome freaking LORD KRISHNA SIMPS FOR THIS MAN!!! (You know the big bad main antagonist of Nanashi’s game😂) And a bunch of other gods, demons, and humans in Apocalypse. 90% of that game was just everyone fighting over him and his manly ponytail. Even the radical individualist Dadga couldn’t resist having him on his side when it literally goes against his whole ideology and makes him look like a huge dumb hypocrite. The entire population of Tokyo goes from being bloodthirsty sociopaths to his simps because he’s just that awesome. This motherfucker is like the Yu Narukami of mainline SMT everyone wants him. This guy is such a chad in fact he doesn’t need to be given a handout (immortality, demon powers, whatever the fuck is Aogami’s deal (I’m not done with SMT5)) in the beginning and just starts as a casual farm boy who can’t even bait a fishhook to chad messiah godslayer who has every faction simping for him. And yeah I know somebody is gonna say ‘what about Masakado’s katana? Isn’t that a handout?’. First of all Flynn doesn’t receive the katana in any route except neutral and that’s after he’s already defeated countless gods and the literal incarnation of humanities despair so no I wouldn’t call it a handout. He earned that katana after already proving himself to be capable. Other than that Masakado only supports him through letting him fuse his shadow to use in battle.

Conclusion: I would say he’s at the bare minimum above Lucifer. I do think realistically speaking he is stronger than Nanashi. It makes no sense for Nanashi to be stronger and if he was really so above Flynn why does he need his help?! Going off feats I would put him above Demifiend whose big bad boss was Lucifer. If Demifiend solos YHVH in a future Nocturne HD Redux Overlocked: Maniacs Edition I will gladly eat my words till that day comes. I believe the person who beat God is stronger than the guy who beat Lucifer. But, I’m going off what has happened in canon. Especially with his dlc feats I would place him above a lot of characters in mainline. He still doesn’t beat Aleph because he’s a freak. I don’t know about Nahabino because I’m not done with SMT5.

Headcanon: Bowser fucking hates King K Rool’s guts, and that’s why K. Rool doesn’t show up more often in the Mario Kart/Sports/Party games.

Like, because, while Bowser is an imperialistic dictator, we know from stuff like the RPGs that he actually cares a lot about his troops/subjects, and there’s a huge degree of respect between them.

King K. Rool, on the other hand, is shown to treat his subjects/troops like shit, to the point where his chief mechanic defected in DK64 and one of his goons takes bribes to let you in to the bonus areas in DKC2, his mad quest for vengance for the Kongs ended up with him inadvertently fucking sinking his people’s homeland, and at one point his troops fucking lead a coup to replace him with a robot after said sinking.

Granted, he was the puppetmaster of that robot, but they didn’t know that at the time!

And, getting into wild speculation territory, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts too that the reason Krocodile Isle was such an ecological trainwreck before it sunk was due to his policies, considering what the factories he installed as a breachead on DK Isle would look like.

Plus, there’s the fact that his basic tactic of “steal his enemy’s staple food supply so they starve to death” is a foul tactic that I’m pretty sure could be counted as a war crime of the level Bowser has never resorted to; even when he was trying to become God in Mario Galaxy.

So, seeing all of this, it’s easy to understand why Bowser would be fucking disgusted with the guy, and would probably be able to convince even the notoriously-lenient Mario (Who has even let the guy who tried to keep him as a permanent painting join from time-to-time) to not let him come after that one time.

Ironically, I think that K Rool would probably greatly admire Bowser, given the strength and greater efficiency of Bowser’s army, as well as how Bowser tends to bounce back from defeat much better than K. Rool’s army…

I HAVE COMPLEX FEELINGS ABOUT THE MARIO SETTING OKAY! JUST BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY THE LOOSEST OF CONTINUITY DOESN’T MEAN THERE ISN’T WORLDBUILDING POTENTIAL DAMMIT!

If Taranza isn’t in wave 3 this is gonna be really embarrassing

Have you ever thought about how Mario probably grew up in a loving but financially unstable home, and how he and Luigi likely struggled to eek out a decent life for themselves prior to whatever strange magic brought them to the Mushroom Kingdom? Have you thought about the months where they had to decide which they wanted more: food, or a roof over their heads?

And then have you stopped to think about Peach, a literal monarch with an endless supply of wealth, suddenly giving them a cottage big enough to house a whole family and free access to her castle and inviting them to share meals with her, for no other reason than 1.) she's quite fond of them and 2.) she just can? How she probably views these gestures as meager, the absolute least she can do for her friends, and how she likely has no idea that she's casually giving them a sense of security and belonging they've never had before? How much peace she brings into Mario's life, never having to wonder where his next paycheck or his next meal is coming from, seeing his beloved brother finally having the means to pursue his own hobbies and pastimes, and not even realizing it? Have you ever thought about that?

And have you ever thought about how lonely Peach's life must have been? Even if there were other children her age to play with (never mind that none of them were human like her), she couldn't have played anyway, because every aspect of her upbringing was tailored around making her an effective politician? And how even in adulthood, there's very few people who seek her company just for the sake of it; how she goes into most interactions knowing that she's wanted for her beauty, her power, her influence, and nothing else?

And then have you stopped to think about Mario, a guy with plenty of friends and lots of better things to do, just... seeking her out for no other reason than to talk? How he could have so much more from Peach if only he asked, she would happily gift him any treasure that money could buy, but for some reason she can't decipher, all he wants is her friendship? How he doesn't view her as untouchable or some great means to an end, nor does he just turn a blind eye to their differing social statuses; he acknowledges her position and her power yet expects nothing of her in spite of it, and is happiest simply when he can sit and chat with her about nothing for hours on end? Have you ever thought about that?

Because I think about that, like. A lot.

What’s Going On with the Ears in Hyrule?

(Or: A Needlessly Comprehensive Deep-Dive into the Myst-EAR-ious Duality of Round-Eared Humans and Long-Eared Hylians, a Very S-EAR-ious Write-Up)

As some of you may remember from a few months back, I made an off-hand comment about my ideas surrounding the disparities between the different types of ears we see in Hyrule’s human citizens, and my desire to further expand on that at a later date.  No, that was not a joke, and yes, I am finally Doing the Dang Thing.  So!  Let’s get started.

Long-time fans of the series will know that Hylians are a race of humans in the world of The Legend of Zelda with long, elf-like ears.  Hylians most always dominate the land of Hyrule in nearly every installment in the series, with round-eared humans only making their first appearance in Link’s Awakening, a game that - spoiler alert - was all a dream in the first place.  And though plain old humans again appear in the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna in the follow-up Oracle games, it is very in keeping with the theme of this blog that their most notable appearance happens to be in Twilight Princess.

Though it is never remarked upon in-game, Link is the only Hylian in a village filled with humans, such as Ilia and Rusl, leading the player to assume that he was not Ordon-born.  Other notable examples include Ashei, who hails from the mountains, and even the inhabitants of (New) Kakariko (though only three in number) are all mere humans.  The Hylians of this game seem to be centralized around Castle Town, with notable members including Telma, Shad, and Auru of the Resistance, and naturally, Zelda herself.  Yet as I’ve already stated, the fact that there are two different sets of ears among the humans is never even a topic of conversation; it makes you wonder why the developers bothered to make the distinction at all, and indeed, plenty of fans have never even noticed that such a disparity exists. I certainly didn’t notice when I was ten years old, playing through Twilight Princess for the very first time - but we’ve come a long way since then, and I am delighted to finally be able to tell everyone why I think this disparity exists, and how it has bled into other aspects of the series.  Let’s back away from Twilight Princess for a moment; all good theories have a beginning, and this one is no different.  To understand where this all began, we must look thousands of years into the past, to Skyward Sword.  More specifically, this all started…

…with this guy.

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RWBY Zombie Apocalypse AU : Ch 11 Previous| Read from the beginning   A/N : This comic will be on a hiatus for now. Working on it is not as exciting as before (unfortunately) and I feel it’s not going where I want it to be . So am gonna step back and organize my thoughts for it and hopefully it’ll be back better than before. thank you all for sticking with it so far.

Sharess was originally a good aspect of Shar *and* Lolth?

...and perhaps the fragment of remaining goodness from both evil goddesses, with all three being possibly originally the same entity? (At least in late 1st and early 2nd edition AD&D lore)

Depictions (from left to right) of Shar, Sharess and Lolth, from 2003's Faiths and Pantheons

It might be a bit obscure, but rather than Bast merging with/absorbing the goddesses Felidae and Zandilar the Dancer; Sharess was originally intended to be a Chaotic Good aspect of Shar, as seen in her very first description in the original 1987 "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting": "Sharess, a CG aspect of Shar worshipped in Calimshan, Waterdeep, and by idle rich or decadents all over the Realms. Sharess is a goddess of lust, free love, and sensual fulfillment, and is worshipped in prolonged fests with scented baths, music, good food, dancing, and other gratifications."

This when asking one of the writers/editors, Matt Sernett about this, he confirmed that Sharess was actually meant to be a benevolent aspect of Shar, and this not being a misdirection as presented later in lore.

This was basically repeated in 1988's "Empires of the Sands", as well as in the 1993 2nd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, though the latter further suggesting Sharess' benevolent nature might be an act, or that Sharess became a separate being from Shar by this point: "The true nature and identity of Sharess is unrevealed. She may he a direct part of the evil Shar, preparing her following for despair and loss. Or she may be a new thing entirely: a goddess of excess."

This starts to become even more interesting with 1991's "Drow of the Underdark", in the section with the short dictionary of Drow language. There "valsharess" is explained as meaning "Queen", and "Quarvalsharess" "(the) Goddess" in Drow language, specifically and only meaning Lolth (other goddesses are are written as quar'valsharess, and not starting with a capital letter).

The same sourcebook, details the syncretic She-Spider cult - who seemingly consider Lolth and Shar to be the same goddess. The cult was opposed by both goddesses, which is curious, seeing Shar's eagerness to subsume other deities. Though Lolth did latter possibly send her priestess (Malabeth Tr'rudena) to infiltrate the cult.

A card from TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Trading Cards, depicting Malabeth.

This is a proof (along with the mention Shar worship is relatively popular among Drow), of such syncretic cults between the two goddesses existing, as well as one of the hints Shar and Lolth are or were to a degree aspects of each other. Similarly how Sehanine Moonbow in both 2nd edition and 4th edition, was stated to be aspect of Shar's sister, Selûne, most notably first in the above mentioned 2nd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: "Sehanine: Sehanine is an intermediate power among the elves of the Realms, for they refer to her as an elven version of Selûne, the mortal goddess of the moon."

Indeed, Sharess herself might had been a hint at the connection between Lolth and Shar.

There appeared more hints overtime, like similar antagonism between the 2 pairs, Shar and Lolth becoming both connected to the New Moon, and even more in late 3.5 edition and 4th edition/Nerath lore. For example, it was stated at the very end of 3.5th edition that the god Mask is Shar's son, mirroring Vhaeraun being the son of Lolth. The two gods are very similar, both being gods of thievery connected to shadows, as well as Vhaeraun being called the "Masked Lord", "Masked Mage", "Masked God of the Night". Furthermore, both gods share near identical titles - Vhaeraun being called the "Lord of Shadow" and "Shadow Lord"; Mask being known as the "Lord of Shadows" and "Shadowlord". Both having a similar to near identical symbols. With there being theories, and hints before this reveal, Mask and Vhaeraun might be connected, maybe even aspects of each other, Mask even kinda hinting in one novel (1998's "Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad" by Troy Denning) he is the same as Vhaeraun.

Symbols of Vhaeraun (left, from 1998's "Demihuman Deities") and Mask (right, from 1996's "Faiths and Avatars")

Pictures of Vhaeraun battling his son, Selvetarm (left, from 2004's "Player's Guide to Faerun"), and of Mask (right, from 2003's "Faiths and Pantheons") On Nerath, in turn Lolth and Sehanine are described as sisters, like Shar and Selûne are. So the (at least initial) opposition to the She-Spider cult from both, being possibly from not wanting for their connection to be revealed; or alternately be merged back by the power of belief.

Though to be clear, this could work either way if Shar and Lolth are or were aspects of each other, or not. As Sharess, in her original lore, possibly sprung into existence from the worship of the syncreticism of Shar and Lolth, that arose among drow, and then spread to other races/species, possibly originally named "Quarvalsharess"; before the name became shortened/corrupted among non-drow into just "Sharess". Or even started out named already Sharess among even drow, shortening from Quarvalsharess, to emphasize the "Shar" part.

It's probable Shar at least had more control over the Sharess aspect than Lolth (seeing Sharess was directly stated to be connected to her), and possibly the new goddess, in part absorbing or mirroring whatever benevolent aspects the two goddesses had, became an independent being. This quite probably being at least in part also caused by "Time of Troubles", when gods were forced into singular avatars, this event would have cut-off Sharess from both Shar and Lolth. Especially seeing the possibility of Sharess being an independent entity, was first mentioned not long after the Time of Troubles (ie when 2nd edition Forgotten Realms setting was set).

Depiction of Sharess, from 1995's Polyhedron #109

Soon though, Sharess was given a different origin (first in 1995's “Forgotten Deities: Sharess” in Polyhedron #109, then further developed with some changes in 1997's "Powers and Pantheons" and 1998's "Demihuman Deities") , if still being connected to Shar, and (more indirectly) to drow, and being an amalgamation of aspects of multiple goddesses (but different ones); it's still though an interesting possibility/alternate origin for home campaigns.

Or perhaps even theorizing some part of Shar or even Lolth did get into the divine merger that was Sharess. ("Was", as in 5th edition lore, Sharess was basically split back into Bast and Zandilar).

RWBY Zombie Apocalypse Part 5 : A glimpse of the past

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | part 5 | Part 6

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I have holy water.

replacing my mental illness with vampirism

Pazuzu in Castlevania...

Arguably the most mysterious character in the series.

Pazuzu is an oldie, first appearing in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse...as the final boss:

Pazuzu in Dracula's Curse, his design taking inspiration from 1st edition Advanced Dungeons of Dragons depiction of Pazuzu from 1983's Monster Manual II, most visible with both having beaks, as opposed to other depictions of the Mesopotamian demon king.

This either Dracula taking his form, Dracula merging his spirit with Pazuzu's petrified form, or Pazuzu taking over as the final boss after Dracula's defeat. The lore, even Japanese one is unclear, and this is from were we even get notion of Pazuzu being a separate character.

To be more specific, Pazuzu was meant to be "the Devil", also referred as "Evil God/God of Evil" (邪神／邪心 Jyashin) Dracula sold his soul to in old lore for his powers, vampirism and army, as well as selling Alucard's soul. This was overtime retconned, with Alucard being born a dhampire being established in Symphony of the Night, Alchemy and Chaos, as well to a degree Death (seemingly) taking Pazuzu's place in the lore. Only thing is...Pazuzu still reappeared, even in games after these retcons.

He first re-appears in Harmony of Dissonance, first there being shown as a damaged version of his petrified form/statue/idol,

and then as one of the bosses near the end of the game...coming out of what seems like a sealed portal, being in place usually were Dracula's throne is.

While many think Pazuzu here mostly (beyond his name)references the Demon/Leviathan boss from also Dracula's Curse and Baphomet, I think it's more than that. It's just in this depiction, design wise he is based on the unearthed more recently statue of Pazuzu (from Tell Sheikh Hamed, Syria), which make it clear he has horns on his head (the horns from earlier statues are misinterpreted as ridges on his head):

Pazuzu's attack patterns, are also meant to reference Dracula's classic Demon Final Form.

And that takes to Pazuzu's next appearance...in Curse of Darkness as Dracula's final form, even more similar to the statue I brought up, having now 4 feathered wings like it:

He also takes here cues from Ultimate Dracula forms from Legacy of Darkness and Circle of the Moon, but the similarity to Pazuzu is obvious, along the fact Curse of Darkness is a direct sequel to Curse of Dracula, probably referencing the final boss fight in it, if with new twists.

As in Harmony of Dissonance, Hector also encounters in Curse of Darkness the statue of Dracula's Curse Pazuzu:

Indeed, the statue's presence in games seems to be be a foreshadowing Pazuzu will appear in some form in the game.

Even more curiously, in the official Curse of Darkness manga (supervised by IGA/Koji Igarashi himself) Pazuzu is referenced (as 邪神／邪心 Jyashin/Jashin, as he was called in the Japanese version of Dracula's Curse, mistranslated as Evil Lords in the official English version):

What is his role after the retcons, or is he just a reference to retconned lore?

It doesn't seem he is just a reference, seeing the mention in the manga by IGA/Igarashi himself. Pazuzu exact role in current canon though, is left up to pure speculation. He might be mighty demon Dracula struck a bargain with, before he became (fully?) the Dark Lord/Demon King. He might a previous Dark Lord/Demon King/avatar of Chaos. He might be some manifestation of Chaos that Dracula merged with to become the Dark Lord. We can only speculate, as possibly we will never know, seeing Koji Igarashi left Konami.

And why chose Pazuzu over many other demons, including some like Satan who would fit? Well, I will discuss that...in a next post, (hopefully) tomorrow.