Iron Maiden

This page contains information pertaining to the original Soul Sacrifice. Click here for the Soul Sacrifice Delta version.

Notice

Iron Maiden
Element(s)	None
Ailment(s)	None
Weaknesses	Heat
Breakable Part(s)	Both Legs, Axe
Break Reward(s)	Maiden's Hairpin (S), Maiden's Hairpin (M)

The Iron Maiden is an Archfiend that once was a plain woman who longed for a popularly handsome knight. In the NA and PAL versions the name has been changed to "Iron Virgin."

The DLC which includes the Iron Maiden was released in Japan on July 4th, 2013. The NA and PAL versions were released two months later on the 3rd and 4th of September of the same year, respectively.

Iron Maiden is a re-skin of the archfiend Dullahan.

Lore

Spoiler warning! This section may contain heavy spoilers due to content. - - - - Show/Hide Spoilers - - - -

There once was a fine city, and within it a young knight.
 He was handsome and strong both; the perfect man. And the ladies of the city took notice.


In this fine city there also lived a plain girl.
 She, too, was among the women who harbored feelings for the young knight.
But she knew he was far beyond her grasp, and locked her feelings away deep within her heart.


The young knight marched off to battle, and returned with grievous wounds.
 His bedside saw and endless parade of well-wishing women eager to tend to his needs.

Their aim was less to mend the young knight's body than to steal away his heart.
 They bickered and shoved, desperate to claw their way ahead in line to see him.

The plain girl was struck with anxiety.
 By no means wealthy, she lacked the means to procure even a suitable get-well gift for the ailing knight.

Perhaps some flowers, thought she. And so she went afield to pick some.
 She crawled on hand and knee to find the fairest blooms, her garments caked in mud in the process.


With bouquet in hand, she set off for the young knight's home.
 
But the sight there froze her in her footsteps.
 A flock of women wreathed him, eagerly nursing him to health, each one prettier than the finest flower she had found.

She crushed the flowers she had toiled to gather underfoot.

Anger and exasperation took her in waves.
  At her plainness.
    At her indecision.
      At her cowardice.

She began to curse everything about herself.

Then, just as suddenly, she faced a second spellbinding sight.
 A strange chalice of white perched on thin air before her.

  It spoke.
   "If you would cure your weak and homely flesh, offer it to me."

 She did as she was bade.


Who can say what thoughts drove her in that moment.
 She opened her veins and spilled her lifeblood upon the earth.

Where her blood pooled, soon did the soil begin to writhe horribly only for flowers of brilliant gold to spring forth.

She attempted it again and watched the results.
  The woman quickly grasped the power she had attained.
  Her spilled blood granted life to all it touched.
That was how she was able to call up proud blossoms from but a patch of barren dirt.

At first, the woman did not understand why she'd been granted this power. Surely some other power would be more appropriate to win the man's affections, she thought.

The woman plucked a colorful aurora of flowers.
  She thought to bring those to the young knight...
  But then thought better of it.
She had a far more splendid gift to offer.

 This mysterious power she'd acquired must have manifested in order to grant her heart's deepest desire. Once she'd thought about it carefully, the woman realized that it was, in fact, quite an appropriate power indeed.

He was injured.
  The gift of her blood would make a finer medicine than any apothecary could dream.


But the grim course of action that pure affection spurred was unimaginable.

The woman used an array of torture tools to extract the blood from her body.
  She drained enough to fill a barrel, then another, and another again.


Preparations complete, she set out to see the object of her affections.
 Not wishing him to see her blood-smeared face, she wore a mask of iron.
Yet in her frenzy she had not realized the full extent of how the torture had ruined her:
 her head dangled precariously from her body by a scrap of flesh, ready to fall off.

Carrying her bloody barrels in tow, she came before the young knight.


The first greeting he offered the woman was a scream of abject terror.

The shock at witnessing her broken, bloodied form was greater than the ailing knight's heart could withstand.
 Its beating stopped, and the young man left this world forever.

The woman had failed to win his heart.
  Failed even to share one fleeting conversation.

She cried and wailed, losing what sanity remained to her amid her lamentations. This heartbreak was the last straw for her broken body, and the few remnants of flesh holding her head to her neck tore, coming apart completely.


Like as not, she pursues the ghost of her beloved still, wandering the land with tears of blood streaking from her eyes.

Encounters

Forgotten Pacts - Hour of Silver - Iron Lady in the Sanctuary (Original form; possible ally - Elani)

Forgotten Pacts - Hour of Silver - Iron Lady on a Mountainside (Doppelganger; possible ally - Amia)

Forgotten Pacts - Hour of Silver - Headless Women in the Woods (Gemini pair with Dullahan; possible ally - Avicia)

Trivia

The original name in the Japanese release, "Iron Maiden," is also the name of a torture device dating back to the 17th century, perhaps even earlier. The torture device consisted of a coffin (presumably iron) lined with thick spikes which would be closed upon a living victim, causing severe injury, pain, and most often death via exsanguination.

• Modern "reconstructions" of the device have sometimes been shaped in the likeness of the Virgin Mary (of the Judeo-Christian religions), thus also giving the device the less-common name of the "Iron Virgin."

Gameplay Videos

Iron Maiden in her human form

Iron Maiden promotional trailer for Japan