Castlevania: Belmont's Curse The Judge Clue and Scales of Justice

The Castlevania Belmont’s Curse Palace of Justice interactive map takes you straight to the tree.

Alexandru Popescu found the Tree of Justice while mapping the Palace for Map Master, and the Castlevania Belmont’s Curse completion guide links it to the Heart Fragments that make it solvable. This is a Clue you log early and finish late, so it pays to know what the scales want before you try them.

Where to Find The Judge Clue in Castlevania Belmont’s Curse

The Palace of Justice is a separate map behind the door on the upper level of the Court of Justice in Paris Streets. Head to its bottom-right corner and interact with the tree-shaped scales, and the Clue logs under The Judge in your Tarot menu straight away.

The Clue’s text says neither tyranny nor force can move the scales, only what is written on the heart and the spirit. Read it as a hint about Rose’s two bars: the heart is her Health and the spirit is her Mana, so no weapon or spell will tip them in your favor.

How to Solve The Judge Clue and Balance the Scales of Justice

A corrupted heart rests on the right pan of the scales. Jump onto the empty left pan and interact with it, and Rose’s Health and Mana are reported to flow into the heart until both sides balance. If her maximums are too low, the scales reportedly stay tipped and won’t settle.

Raise both maximums before you come back. Every four Brave Heart Fragments for more max health add to Rose’s Health, and each Wise Heart Fragment upgrade works the same way for her Mana. The scales are reported to need 16 of each, which works out to four upgrades on both bars.

The Judge Clue Rewards: Valmanway, Chains of Justice, and Saint Louis

Balancing the scales starts the Saint Louis sequence, and striking the golden orb at its end is reported to give you The Judge Arcana and Valmanway, a legendary one-handed sword. Valmanway is one of all 28 Belmont’s Curse weapons, and the Saint Louis encounter is one of the game’s special boss moments.

The Judge also matters for the true ending. Its spell, Chains of Justice, is reported to be one of four Arcana you need for Curse Lifted, alongside The Warrior, The Sage, and The Whisperer. The Chains of Justice spell joins your deck the moment the scales settle, while the guide to The Cursed and Rose’s endings covers the rest of that path.

When Should You Go Back for The Judge Clue?

Log the Clue on your first visit to the Palace, since it counts toward the Greatest Detective trophy as 1 of the 40 the moment you interact with the tree. The scales themselves can wait until your Heart Fragment count catches up, and the Palace is close to the Justice District Sewers dock, so the trip back is short.

Come back once both bars have had four upgrades each, ideally after a sweep of the Catacombs and the Library for fragments. If the scales still won’t balance, keep exploring and return later, since the true ending reportedly can’t be reached without The Judge.