Dagon is a boss in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. It is a creature of the swamp resembling a frog fought in the Forest of Doom.
Origins
The name Dagon comes from an ancient middle-Eastern god, mostly attributed to the Philistines. He is mentioned prominently in the Old Testament of the Bible as a Philistine god, specifically in Samuel I. Idols of Dagon have been discovered, and the god was depicted as half-fish half-man deity. The word itself is related to the Hebrew term for "fish".
Dagon is often associated with H. P. Lovecraft's lore in pop culture. Lovecraft's depiction of Dagon in The Shadow over Innsmouth as a horrific, fish-like monstrosity is likely the inspiration for the Castlevania monster.
Strategy
The battle against Dagon takes place in a deep, one square wide pond room filled with water, therefore allowing for a much greater vertical movement. Dagon's only weak spot is the upper, frog-like head, which can be reached by swimming toward it.
It uses the following attacks:
- A water cannon attack that consists of two steps:
- First, Dagon will suck in all water from the pond. This will cause any lingering tadpoles (mentioned below) to fall down.
- After bloating up from all the water, Dagon will start spewing out a jet stream of it. It starts by firing toward the ground and then will slowly start turning its head upward while still shooting it. As the attack continues, water will start filling up the pool again. To avoid this attack, stay in the opposite corner to Dagon until some water has filled the pool again, then jump right in front of Dagon and keep swimming (jumping) inside the little space left between the rising stream of water and the monster. Other alternatives to avoid this attack include Charlotte's spells Clear Skies and Dark Rift, which can fully neutralize the water stream.
- Dagon releases small tadpoles that float up and remain on the surface. Making contact with them results in considerable damage to the player. They will come down again when the water is drained. The best way to handle them is to take them out while the water is still high, although they are a bit resilient.
- The entire monster performs a slow arching jump from the right to the left side of the screen or vice versa. Simply run or slide to the opposite direction of the jump to avoid this attack.
Enemy Data
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Gallery
Trivia
- Dagon's design appears to be inspired by Bogun, a monster from the 1990 Australian produced TV series, Ultraman: Towards the Future.
- Dagon's boss room is the only room in the entirety of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin to have water physics. Therefore, the player does not need to have a relic that allows them to move underwater, unlike other games with water.
- In-game files refer to Dagon as "forne", which is likely shorthand for Forneus.