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The age old writers conundrum of

Chapter 5 is kind of a milestone, should I write more found family/your parents are a vampire hunter and a half vampire fluff or should I fill it with more character related angst

Either way kid Richter is finding his way into somewhere he shouldn't be

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Okay so I started this fic a bit ago (shameless self plug) which is about Alucard saving Julia from Olrox (and taking her and Richter to Romania)

And I was proud of it as my first big(?) ao3 think, basically taking the plunge into getting some of my writing out there (which just happens to be about my current hyper fixation) and the AUTHOR of the story that inspired it, "soldier and prince", which in my opinion is the single best Nocturne story right now in terms of the concept of Richter being raised by Alucard (or at least quality multi chapter endeavors) and I'm crying I feel so honored that they even noticed?? I'm sure my fic publishing honeymoon phase will end eventually but right now I feel like the writing I've been beating myself up for not being "that good" my entire life (I enjoy it, yes but never thought it was good) might actually be okay

Also "soldier and prince" link here (am I allowed to link this?) because if you somehow haven't read it, GO READ IT

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Okay but compare Dracula's absolute murder stare at Carmilla and subsequent threat for asking why he never turned Lisa to "I wanted him to be with him forever" from Olrox

Both are flawed characters (and Olrox only killed the woman who took his lover instead of like. Killing the entire world) and also fantastic characters, but

Normalize vampirism as a fate worse than death, vampirism is ugly and painful and by its nature dehumanizing; power that twists you and changes you and strips you away from your God or your afterlife; even Lisa's love for Dracula as a human seems to have had her sent to hell (which is fucked up.... Why did you have to hurt dear Lisa like this... But I digress). Dracula didn't turn her because he loved her and probably knew that wasn't what she wanted

Meanwhile Olrox turned one lover (though we don't know the circumstances but it sounded against his will) and then Mizrak, forcibly ripping a devout man away from any chance of a heaven he was convinced he didn't deserve anyway. The fact that he "only does this to the people he loves" aside ... Which is certainly an interesting development that I dearly hope gets handled with extreme care in a potential season 3 because ohhh boy

My point here? Vampirism doesn't make the monster but it does make you more likely to become one, if you lose everything and then lose yourself (Tera I am looking at you Tera please don't go crazy your daughter needs you)

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oh yay another castlevania blog! oh they gatekeep playing the games if you found out about the games through the show. oh yay another castlevania blog! oh they think show fans are horrible people who dont deserve to call themselves fans of the franchise even if they do like the games as well or watched the show bc of the games. oh yay another castlevania blog! oh theyre mad because annette is Black in the show or Alucard is queer in the show and hide their racism and homophobia behind "I don't like that its not game accurate." oh yay another castlevania blog! oh they think game-only blogs arent valid fans if they watched the show at any point. oh yay another castlevania blog! oh they just yap nonstop about how alucard is Straight and Only Likes Women and not bisexual as he is in the show canon. oh yay another castlevania bl-

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Happy lesbian family🤗

Why does no one notice that they are wives with children??? HEAR ME OUT

I wish they are canon so bad 😭 But too late, I guess.... Maybe in flashbacks

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All right, it's been almost year since Nocturne aired and I think my lack of enthusiasm really showed in that my Nocturne posts are pretty nonexistent compared to Castlevania. I've gone over my points in the few posts regarding my issues with the series. Most of them are personal preferences and not so much a writing problem. Richter and Marira are the types of character I don't like, so that automatically makes me less inclined to enjoy Nocturne right out of the gate. Again, personal preference and I'm hoping it's just part of their development and they'll be more likable as the series progresses. As I've said in previous posts, I'll continue Nocturne when Season 2 drops, but I'm more invested in Annette and Olrox's characters.

...

Julia's death, though, is still something that really bothers me.

Setting aside the obvious refrigeration here, she really got screwed over.  On the surface, dying in battle protecting her son is a good death, but here’s what ruined it:

Her last words to Richter are,  “I’m so sorry.”

Why is this a problem? Take this scene from the perspective lens of Julia, not the audience or the plot.  There is a dangerous vampire on the offensive in front of her.  He challenged her, not the other way around.  She knew his name and what he was capable of, and she did not hesitate to try to take him down to defend herself and her child. In this circumstance, she was a defender, not a hunter.  As a Belmont, killing Olrox is the objective.

But Julia doesn’t know Olrox is going to spare Richter!

Olrox is a vampire and he’s pissed; from Julia’s point of view, kiddo is next on the hit list.  She has no reason to believe Olrox won’t kill her son.  So she’s pinned and losing the fight, has limited options, is losing her strength, and at the point she realizes she can’t do this and that she’s going to die here, she turns to Richter and says she’s sorry.

Yeah, sorry she’s going to die and the Belmont line is going extinct tonight apparently.  Again, she has no reason to believe Olrox won’t kill Richter.

For this scene to have worked the way the writers intended, her last words, at the very least, should have been, “Run, get away!”  Or something like that.  Or they could have given her a true death in battle by letting her have that classic anime surge of energy and motivation that only the most dogged of characters have, you know——“Over my dead body are you killing my boy!”——and dying that way.

She didn’t die protecting her son.

She gave up and died. She, a Belmont, gave up and died.

She did her ancestors dirty, and therefore, the writers did her dirty.  If you’re going to kill off a character for the plot of the protagonist, especially a woman (because this happens way more often to a female character than a male,) at least do them the dignity a good death.  Make it worthy.

But getting back to the refrigeration issue, I have mixed feelings about that.  On the one hand, if they really wanted the ‘dead parent trauma’ trope, I guess I appreciate that it was Richter’s mother and not his father and therefore just another run-of-mill male hunter.  But still, we did need something a little more original than this. Even though Lisa was part of the original games and her only lore was the 'dead mother trope,' Castlevania Netflix gave her more than that: She was a doctor, she was intelligent, she was kind and always tried to do right by others. It's not a lot, but with the short amount of time Lisa is onscreen, she was given something fans could remember her for aside from 'the woman who died.' Castlevania honored the content of the original plot while expanding on it and giving it more substance.

Julia is not from the original video games, and in spite of endless possibilities they had, Nocturne still went with the 'woman whose tragic death drives the protagonist.'

The body count of dead women in Nocturne is so uncomfortable that when Edouard was killed, my immediate reaction was not the emotional response the writers probably wanted.  It was, “Oh, thank goodness, a dude finally died.  Between the two dead moms and the dead sister, we were running out of room in the fridge.”  At least Edouard and Jacques still have the benefit of still being active characters instead of plot devices and, yeah, of course I was sad to see Edouard go, but I am still irritated about what they did to Julia.

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And yes I AM the weirdo on Ao3 responsible for the influx of Julia content. However writing the Julia/Tera fic opened a black hold in my brain and now that's my main ship (Richter and Maria have two moms!) So, if you liked that nonsense, I'll probably be posting Julia/Tera with their family content here, among probably other short fics and crosspost to ao3. Because no one's reading either way haha, but might as well put it out there

Latest fic:

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My problem with shows is I will absolutely become fixated on side characters. This sometimes includes characters who are little more than plot devices.

I love all the characters in Nocturne; Olrox and Mizrak, Richter and Maria's sibling relationship, Richter and Anette (Anette is my absolute favorite of the main cast!), and Tera ofc. (And it goes without saying that the original is a masterpiece)

But I relate alot to Julia for some reason. Maybe this is because she's a badass vampire killer with magic and a coat that happens to be my favorite color, a female Belmont, or maybe it's the ambiguity of the character I'm drawn to... We only see Julia through Richter's eyes, an echo or a memory, which leaves a lot of room for pre-canon or alt-canon writing. I have no doubt what she did to Olrox was unjustified, but if anything that makes her more interesting

Also, she's an older character I can relate to more and do a lot with. Wouldn't go so far as to call myself an apologist or to come off that way lol. But this is, regardless, my Julia Belmont sideblog and if anyone's as interested in exploring her character as I am... Uhh read my bad writing or message me, or something!

This is all I can offer the fandom 😅