Clan Wars

The Clan Wars were a long-standing conflict and event that triggered the downfall of the Lumen Sages and Umbra Witches 500 years before the events of the first Bayonetta game. They would eventually lead to the disappearance and destruction of both clans from the face of the Earth.

Background
Approximately 500 years ago, a Sage named Balder and a Witch named Rosa conceived a child together, violating a long-upheld law of both clans. It stated that "The intersection of light and dark would bring calamity to this earth." Rosa was imprisoned for the rest of her life and Balder was exiled from the Sages while their daughter was raised amongst the Witches.

Despite their punishments, each clan blamed the other for allowing such a terrible transgression to occur and the incident quickly escalated into a series of conflicts between the Umbra and the Lumen which eventually dragged the entirety of Europe into a full-blown war. Both sides employed supernatural assistance — the Lumen Sages enlisted aid from the Angels of Paradiso and the Umbra Witches deployed the Infernal Demons of Inferno — and the fighting was long and vicious. Years after the balance was lost and despite the aid of the heavens themselves, the Lumen were outmatched in combat by the techniques of the Witches and they were all but exterminated. The Umbra had won.

However, their victory was short-lived.

Trivia

 * Though the Clan Wars are not actually explored in a great amount of detail in the two Bayonetta games, director of the first game Hideki Kamiya stated that he would enjoy exploring this period of history when interviewed for the Eyes Of Bayonetta artbook as art for such a scene was actually drawn.
 * According to the opening of the Bayonetta: Bloody Fate movie, the Lumen Sages might have been the ones to initiate the wars, as they desired to acquire the Left Eye to awaken Jubileus, while the Umbra Witches opposed this decision.