Joachim Armster - Clear Blue Riverside

Joachim Armster is a minor enemy within Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for the PS2. Prior to the game, he took the role of the vampire former lieutenant of Walter Berhnard, one of the central antagonists. Seeking freedom and more power, he tried to usurp Walter and claim the castle for himself. In retaliation for Joachim's attempt to depose him, Walter locked him in the castle dungeon, surrounded by running water and given nothig to feed upon.

Within the game, Leon Belmont finds Joachim mad with hunger and the desire for revenge. Fueled by this resentment and hunger, he attacks Leon Belmont, only to be killed by the power of the whip. It is an end to his misery, but not the satisfying revenge story one would hope for, alluding to the unresolved revenge story that is felt throughout all of the Castlevania series. Joachim dies, but not before telling Leon some useful lore about the later antagonist of the game, and the ebony stone. His death is one of the many tragedies throughout the game's franchise, and yet his speaks to me on a deeper level than others.

Why Do I Like Him?

Although Joachim is a minor enemy who appears only briefly within Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, the tragedy of his character is something that fascinates me as a microcosm of the abuse that characters face within the series. Joachim's abuse at the hands of Walter is direct and explicit: Joachim fought to usurp Walter, and Walter relegated him to that of a plaything. He's trapped in an underground prison of water and food is withheld from him regularly. The fact that this abuse and trauma is so explicit does not take away from him as a reflection upon the traumas of the series, but rather a representation of it pushed to an extreme.

He's a character who can best be described as a caged guard dog--something that yearns for freedom, but too willing to snap at the hand that feeds it to ever be set free. His desire for revenge and freedom is something Walter uses against him, something I think many other characters throughout the series can relate to. Joachim is, ultimately, a characcter who parallels others incredibly well. Not only from his own game, but from the others of the series as well. He is one of the many characters trapped in the cycle of abuse, and one of the many who cannot escape that cycle. His death is a warning to Leon Belmont, but one that is not realized until it is much too late.

All of these things lead to him being a very compelling character to me. I always find myself drawn to characters who cannot escape their traumas, and who die bitter and angry and still seeking revenge. He's a character primed for this reading, and even in the brief amount of time we get to see him, Joachim speaks to me as a character.

Cool Joachim Facts

The name Joachim means established or raised by God in Hebrew. I like to think this alludes to how he was raised to his status as vampire leuitenant by Walter, only to have been stripped of this title in favor of being a plaything to the man who 'created' him.

You can hear part of his boss theme, Melancholy Joachim in the ending credits song in the game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. I'm not really sure why this is, but I do think it's neat! While likely unintentional to some degree, I like to think that it is because Shanoa and Joachim have similar stories, but she was able to free herself from the cycle of trauma she found herself in.

His English VA also has voiced Amuro Ray of the Gundam series!

Joachim's swords in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence look very similar to the Spectral Sword in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Whether this was an afterthought of design, a happy coincidence, or me reading too much into what a bunch of pixels look like, I think it's pretty neat regardless!