This article has not yet been Rebrushed
If gameplay differences exist compared to the original game, you can help by editing this article. Once the article content has been verified, this notice can be removed. See the Initiative Hub for more info.
This article is about Dark Beauty Castle in Epic Mickey. For Dark Beauty Castle in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, see Dark Beauty Castle (Epic Mickey 2).
| “ | Mickey gazed all around. What might have once been an impressive castle was now a ruin. The massive granite boulders that made the walls were scorched and crumbling, leaving gaping holes, allowing in the chilly night air. The stone stairwell was lined with flickering candles casting spooky shadows. Stained-glass windows had been shattered, and shards of colored glass lay strewn about. | ” |
Dark Beauty Castle was once the home of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his family. In Epic Mickey, it serves as the Mad Doctor's lair, the tutorial area, and the final area of the game (before Inside the Blot).
History[]
Dark Beauty Castle has a tragedy filled history in the Wasteland. It was from here that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ruled the Wasteland as a benevolent king. His colored glass window mosaic can be seen as the main visual point in the lab. The state of the castle throughout the series could be seen as symbolic of the Wasteland itself, such as the Blot's arrival turning it into a run-down and twisted version, or when his defeat restored it to its former glory.
Areas[]
The castle has specific areas that only appear in the game for exploration, such as the throne room and the corridors. Of course, there's probably several unseen areas, such as a nursing home, a dining hall, or bedrooms.
The Mad Doctor's Laboratory[]
The Mad Doctor's Dark Beauty Castle laboratory is in a room with an exposed roof, featuring various stained glass windows depicting Maleficent, Scar and Captain Hook, with a massive King Oswald window at the back of the room by the controls for a mechanical arm the Mad Doctor uses in his deadly surgeries. There are two levels—a lower level and a balcony. On the lower level below the balcony is a series of statues taken from Beast's castle, including one of the Beast himself, holding Lumiere. On the balcony is an entrance to a Utilidor that leads to the castle gates.
Mickey visits this room twice, as it provides the first room he visits in Wasteland and later ends up crashing there with Oswald and Gremlin Gus in the Moonliner Rocket towards the end of the game.
Castle Entrance[]
At the gates of the castle are two staircases that go up to the gear controls of the castle door. The gap is blocked, but there is a projector screen located there that leads to the Utilidors of Gremlin Village. There is also a massive catapult in the courtyard where Gremlin Calvin lies trapped.
The Throne Room[]
Oswald's throne room is a gallery of paintings depicting Wasteland before and after the Thinner Disaster, with the most prominent of them being a large stained glass window depicting Oswald, Ortensia and some of their Bunny Children. When all the paintings are filled in, light emitting gargoyles (in the forms of Victor, Hugo and Laverne from The Hunchback of Notre Dame) can be used to activate other gargoyles on the upper levels and open up an entrance to a hidden projector screen to the fireworks control tower. Another projector can be activated if switches in the walls are activated to bring the chandelier down, though this will be at the cost of being unable to restore the paintings.
The Fireworks Control Tower[]
From the fireworks control tower, Oswald would put on elaborate fireworks shows for his fellow Wastelanders. It is also where Oswald placed the stony remains of Ortensia, after she was petrified by The Blot during the Blot Wars. Hallways and projector screens connect it to the three castle towers the fireworks are mounted on.
Sorrow Tower[]
The lowest of the three fireworks towers, Sorrow Tower is connected to the fireworks control tower by a Utilidor. A climb up crumbling staircases leads to a fireworks activation crystal surrounded by four gargoyles (from the Beast's Castle in Beauty and the Beast). The tower has two pointed roofs—a blue one and a crumbling red one over the projector screen to Grief Tower.
Grief Tower[]
The journey up Grief Tower goes along one continuous and gradually crumbling ramp where the Blot tries to slow Mickey down by breaking the walls. When Mickey encounters the Blot at the activation crystal, he sends in various Blotlings to attack Mickey. The roofs are similar to that of Sorrow Tower's.
Loss Tower[]
Loss Tower is the last of the three fireworks towers. Instead of climbing on the inside, Mickey climbs mostly on the outside, battling Blotlings inside three arenas before arriving at the activation crystal at the top. The Blot allows Mickey to fill in the gargoyles before attacking him and bringing the tower down, leaving Mickey to take a Utilidor back to the fireworks control tower after plummeting to the lower levels.
Loss Tower is distinctive from the other towers for numerous dragon Maleficent motifs, including various banners inside and a ring of statues upon the roof. There are also two statues of the Grim Reaper on the bridge leading to the tower.
In Epic Mickey[]
Dark Beauty Castle is where the game starts and finishes. The first place Mickey encounters is the Mad Doctor's lab where he uses the mechanical arm to try to extract Mickey's Heart, but fails in the attempt. When Mickey tries to fight the Mad Doctor, the Blot tries to attack Mickey but fails when the brave mouse picks up the brush and scares him away. When the Mad Doctor realizes the Blot's disappearance, he uses a lever on his machine to escape. Mickey suddenly discovers Oswald behind a machine, nervous of this, Oswald tries to escape the way the Mad Doctor did. Instead he accidentally breaks the lever, which causes the mechanical arm's eye to turn red and go berserk. When Oswald escapes through a door while avoiding the arm's attacks, it sees Mickey and decides to destroy him. Gremlin Gus appears and distracts the arm shortly by teleporting to various spots. While in the lab, Gus teaches Mickey to jump and to use his spin move to destroy the machines that power the Mechanical Arm. While traveling through the castle, they encounter two Seers and Gus teaches Mickey to fight with his brush. Finally they escape to Gremlin Village to try to find a way for Mickey to escape Wasteland.
Near the end of the game, Dark Beauty Castle is the second-last place to play in (with the last one being Inside the Blot). Originally the heroes' plan was to use the Moonliner Rocket to fly to the Blot and when near Mickey's heart, activate the self-destruct function. Unfortunately the plan fails because of the Blot's bloticles absorbing the paint from the rocket, making them crash in the Mad Doctor's lab. When Mickey wakes up (from landing faint), the whole place is covered by Thinner. As Mickey drains the Thinner out of the lab, the door to the throne room is briefly opened as a Slobber guarding the key closes it. Mickey must then either befriend the Slobber for him to give the key by his will, or erase it and get the key while it's melting. When entering the throne room, you have two choices to advance to the fireworks control center: painting in all the murals in the room (four happy, four sad) and then activating the gargoyles or swinging the chandelier by thinning out the chain holders hidden in the room and leaving the room in ruins. Oswald will explain Mickey and Gus that they have to activate the three batteries that will prepare the fireworks to launch at the Blot. There, Mickey will climb 3 towers: Sorrow, Grief, and Loss. When finishing and trying to activate the remote control the Blot grabs Oswald, Gus, and Ortensia (converted into an inert statue), forcing Mickey to jump into the Blot.
After Oswald inserts Mickey's heart, he uses his remote to launch the fireworks that obliterated the Blot. Afterwards, rain of paint fell on Wasteland that restored the castle to its former splendor and glory.
Collectibles[]
Pins[]
Bronze Pins
- Mad Doctor's Lab (1st visit)- In chest in the room opened by defeating the Mechanical Arm.
- Mad Doctor's Lab (2nd visit)- In hidden room behind thinnable Oswald statue.
Silver Pins
- Utilidor 4- In the hidden side hallway. (2nd visit)
- Utilidor 7- In the part where you have to go outside and paint in the gears, ride the chandelier all the way up to get the pin. (2nd visit)
Gold Pins
- Courtyard- Given by Gremlin Calvin if you free him (do not hit the chest on the pressure plate as this will fire him). (1st visit)
- Throne Room- In the air above the entrance projector. Either drop down from the upper level, or bounce off the Slobber's head.
- Grief Tower- In thinned-out chest to the right of the entrance.
- Loss Tower- Below the entrance to the third arena.
- Utilidor 7- In chest in upper floor of the second hallway. Use a watch sketch to run across the collapsing floor or make a timed jump from the first chandelier (This is where the second chandelier falls, leaving only a chain).
Special Pins
- Dark Beauty Castle Pin- Courtyard- In a treasure chest when you thin out the toon red door near the catapult. (1st visit)
- Oswald Pin- Fireworks Control Center- Given by Oswald if you restored his throne room. (2nd visit)
- Skydiver Pin- In chest found at the bottom of Loss Tower (After the massive fall). (2nd visit)
Extra Content[]
- The Mad Doctor's Lab II: Found in the hidden room of the Mad Doctor's lab after Mickey defeats the mechanical arm.
- Dark Beauty Castle I: Found in the courtyard under the thinnable base of the left ramp.
- Sleeping Ortensia: Behind the control panel in the fireworks control tower. (2nd visit)
- Horning Blot: In one of the towers with the real Blot. (2nd visit)
Hints[]
- When you are climbing the towers be careful where you step as the Blot will be knocking down the walls and floors around you, take refuge on toon platforms as he can't destroy most of those.
- Paint in ornaments to distract the Bloticles so you can get past.
- Hitting Suits of armor will usually spawn a health or paintbrush refill.
Dynamic Music[]
Neutral: It sounds mysterious and dark as it should be. A haunting, music box-esque rendition of Once Upon a Dream can be heard at various points in the music.
Light: Continued use of Paint creates a lighter, yet more mysterious atmosphere. It takes the music box feel touched upon in the Neutral form and runs with it, being much quieter and gentler than other versions. Soft bell and flute-esque sounds recur through the song, climaxing in a louder ending portion announced by gong, composed of violin and woodwind sounds.
Dark: Continued use of Thinner creates an extremely dark atmosphere, fitting for the villain Maleficent. Sousaphones carry the main tune of this version, complimented by big death bells and shrill metallic strings.
Gallery[]
Dark Beauty Castle Gallery
A collection of images relating to Dark Beauty Castle
Trivia[]
- The swinging chandeliers from the later parts can be seen in the Ye Olden Days level, which is the likely source of them.
- In both games, there are suits of armor across the castle in similar shapes to Donald Duck and Goofy.
- The original concept arts all had the castle leaning on the right, an effect that was eventually scrapped.
- Despite having such a big role in the first game, there are only 3 enemies to fight on your first visit, 2 Seers and the mechanical arm.
- The first level at the beginning is the only level without Paint or Thinner. It can only be used after the mechanical arm is defeated.
- The "My Other House is a Castle" pin found in Ortensia's house in Epic Mickey 2 seems to suggest that Oswald and Ortensia used the castle as a second home.
- While Dark Beauty Castle as a whole is inspired by the castles seen in the Disney parks, it is directly modeled after the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Paris. Which quite fitting since it is the least popular of the main parks.
- Early on, the exploration music was completely different, feeling more happy rather than sad like the final version.
- Originally the Mad Doctor's Laboratory had original music rather than using the Dark Beauty Castle music.
- In Visit 2 if you look long enough into the vortex in the sky you can see The Blot as the sky flashes.
| ||