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Darkstalkopedia

Jon Talbain, known as Gallon in Japan, first appeared in Capcom's Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, also known as Vampire: The Night Warriors in Japan. He has appeared in every game with the exception of Vampire Savior 2, from which he was omitted along with Rikuo and Sasquatch. He is notable in Darkstalkers 3 for having to face the unique character called Dark Talbain, a sinister version of himself.

Outside of the Darkstalkers series, Jon has made cameos in Pocket Fighter and Capcom Fighting Evolution. He appeared in the American Darkstalkers television series, and has made several appearances in UDON's Darkstalkers series of comic books, in which he had his own standalone side story, "Talbain's Bane."

Background

Jon was born to a human mother and werewolf father. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and Jon had no contact with his father. Although he was alone, he had lived a peaceful life as a human. Then, one full-moon night, the beast within him awoke and he turned into a werewolf. The transformation caused him to be shunned from human society. Though shocked by discovering he was a Darkstalker, Talbain harbored no animosity towards his parents, whom had never been a part of his life. Talbain cursed his fate, but was determined not to let the his primal instincts consume him. Following his inner voice, he devoted himself to fighting and pushing himself past his limits, believing that if he retained his inner humanity, he might regain his physical humanity as well.

After Pyron was defeated, Talbain's curse was lifted and regained his human form. Despite this, the adults of society still rejected him, and he found acceptance only amongst children. Although he sustained his human form for many years, he often felt that the beast still dwelled within him. One day, he heard a voice in the back of his mind and he turned into a werewolf once again. It was then that Talbain discovered it would be impossible for him to be rid of his curse.

During the battles in Majigen, Talbain came face to face with his internal darkness in the form of an evil version of himself, Dark Talbain. After defeating his malevolent doppelganger, Jon was finally able to accept his "curse" and resolved to live his life as a wolf. Regardless of this, he retained his humanity, and showed great compassion for children, even caring for two orphans (as seen in his Darkstalkers 3 ending).

In issue three of the UDON comics series, Jon meets Felicia during his travels, and the two debate as to whether or not humans will ever be able to accept the existence of Darkstalkers, with Jon arguing that it was an impossibility. Felicia rebutted that humans not liking them was just a "bumps in the road," and that one day humans and Darkstalkers would live in harmony. Felicia then convinced Talbain to join her so that she could prove to him that humans were not all bad, and together they traveled to the orphanage where she grew up.

Talbain's bloodline

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The Kreutz family is one of the seven noble families of Makai. Though its title is a noble, it would be more suitable to call it an army of warriors and fighters. The current master Xell stands at a height of 5 meters and is a war dragon. He has the most unique appearance out of all the noble classes. And those who are of his family also have appearances that are far from a human form. But there is no vulgarity and roughness within the family. Unlike their savage forms, they are all first class fighters who are highly trained. They are an organized group who follow orders under strict discipline. They are very loyal to their master. Failing to complete an order or betrayal is paid off with death. Though their numbers are few, they possess powerful one hit attacks and are feared as the "Bullet of Makai".

Baraba Kreutz. Titled as the "Wolf Lord", is the leader of the royal guardsmen of the Kreutz family. His eye's were the eye's of those who survived countless life-or-death situations. Twenty years ago, he had wandered into the human world. But he had forgotten most his memories of his time in the human world. Though he vaguely remembers about the woman who cared for him when he was injured in the human world.

When he came back to Makai, he played an active role as a fighter of the Kreutz family. Demitri had even said, "He is my best rival in my life". Demitri felt a certain kind of beauty in Baraba's fighting. A kind not found in the lower darkstalkers. But roughly ten years after he returned to Makai, he suddenly disappeared. Master Xell had searched for him for many years, but he could not be found. Some say that he had returned to the human world to reunite with the woman again. But no one knows the truth of the events.

About werewolves

In popular folklore, a man who is transformed, or who transforms himself, into a wolf in nature and appearance under the influence of a full moon. The Werewolf is only active at night and during that period he devours infants and corpses. According to legend, Werewolves can be killed by silver objects such as silver arrows and silver bullets. When a Werewolf dies he is returned to his human form.

The origin of the word is a contraction of the old-Saxon word "wer", which means "man", and wolf to arrive at werwolf or manwolf. A Lycanthrope, a term often used to describe Werewolves, however, is someone who suffers from a mental disease and only thinks he has changed into a wolf.

The concept of Werewolves, or lycanthropes, is possibly based on the myth of Lycaon. He was the king of Arcadia, and in the time of the ancient Greeks notorious for his cruelty. He tried to buy the favor of Zeus by offering him the flesh of a young child. Zeus punished him for this crime and turned him into a wolf. The legends of Werewolves have been told since the ancient Greeks and are known all over the world. In areas where the wolf is not so common, the belief in Werewolves is replaced by folklore where men can change themselves in tigers, lions, bears and other fierce animals.

In the dark Middle Ages, the Church stigmatized the wolf as the personification of evil and a servant of Satan himself. The Church courts managed to put so much pressure on schizophrenics, epileptics and the mentally disabled, that they testified to be Werewolves and admitted to receive their orders directly from Satan. After 1270 it was even considered heretical not to believe in the existence of Werewolves.

The charge of being a Werewolf disappeared from European courts around the 17th century, but only for the lack of evidence. The belief in Werewolves, however, did not completely disappear. In Europe after 1600, it was generally believed that if there were no Werewolves, then at least the wolf was a creature of evil. This resulted in an unjustified and negative image of the wolf; an image that most people still have today.

The Wolf Man

1941's The Wolf Man introduced silver, wolfsbane, and the pentagram into Werewolf mythology and heavily influenced related folklore for decades to come. In the film, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is bitten by a Werewolf (Bela Lugosi) while visiting a gypsy camp. He turns into a Werewolf and wreaks havoc until he is killed by his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains) using a silver wolf's head cane. Jon Talbain's date of birth (c. 1940) is presumably an homage to the production of the film. 

Appearances

Capcom Fighting Evolution Ryu Ending

Jon Talbain as seen in Ryu's Capcom Fighting Evolution ending

Cameos in other Games

  • Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Jon appears alongside various other Darkstalkers in their Pharaohs Judgement form across various stages.
  • Pocket Fighters, Jon appears on the Dhalsim's Toy Shop stage next to B.B.Hood as well as the Chinatown Restaurant stage ontop of a large piece of food near Gen and Guy. He is most likely also the shadowed wolf howling in the background of the Moonlight Dark Castle stage.
  • Capcom Fighting Evolution, Jon appears in Ryu's ending as well as the Underworld stage
  • Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Jon appears as a DLC costume for Amaterasu.

Cameos in other media

Trivia

MvC3 Ammy Jon Talbain costume

Amaterasu's MvC alternate costume

  • Amaterasu from Capcom's Okami series received an alternate costume in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 based on Jon.
  • It is possible that Jon Talbain was also inspired by real-life martial artist Bruce Lee. The resemblance can be seen through his use of nunchuku, his taunts and poses, some of his attacks such as the "flying kick", and possibly even the way he howls during attacks. Talbain's human form is also lean and relatively slight, comparable to that of Bruce Lee. Furthermore, he dresses in a traditional Chinese Kung Fu outfit and fights shirtless, although this is perhaps attributable to martial artist stereotypes in general.
  • Cornell, a character from the Castlevania series, resembles Talbain; both of them are werewolves and are highly skilled in martial arts and have platinum hair colors
  • In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, a DLC Character, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, has an attack similar to Talbain's aerial dashes. Coincidentally enough, Valkenhayn has a wolf form as well, also being a werewolf himself.
  • In prevailing folklores, a werewolf would be the mortal enemy of a vampire, often battling to the death. Oddly enough, there is no major feud so far between him and the resident vampire of the series, Demitri.
  • Jon Talbain's Moment Slice can dismember an enemy from head to toe, whose effects are more obvious in more recent versions of the game.

Sprite

Sf-talbain

Dark Jon Talbain

Darkstalkers
series
Darkstalkers series Dark Talbain

SVC CCF card Talbain SVC CCF2 Jon Talbain SVC CCF DS Jon Talbain

SVC CCF DS action Jon Talbain

Card Fighters' Clash
Card Fighters 2
Card Fighters DS
Card Fighters DS

Gallery

Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge Jon Talbain 01 Jon Concept 07 Jon Talbain Darkstalkers 3 Darkstalkers 3 Jon Talbain Versus Port Udon Comics B B Hood Mercenary
The full image gallery for Jon Talbain may be viewed here.

Videos

Navigation

Darkstalkers cast
Main cast
AnitaAnakarisBaby Bonnie HoodBishamonDeeDemitri MaximoffDonovan BaineFeliciaHsien-KoHuitzil
Jedah Dohma Jon TalbainLilithLord RaptorMorrigan AenslandPyronQ-BeeRikuoSasquatch
Victor von Gerdenheim
Secondary cast
Belial AenslandDark TalbainLe MaltaMei-LingOboro BishamonOzom
Other cast
Harry GrimoireJohn StatelyMajorette/ThomasMarionetteShadowJack


External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Capcom, (2008). Darkstalkers Graphic File. Udon Entertainment Corp, pg. 34. ISBN 1897-37604-9
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