#Dracula’s manipulation tactics are completely human

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Watching the 1931 Dracula, it’s very easy to go “what traumatizing thing did Dracula do that broke Renfield the way it did?” Then you remember that in that version, Jonathan and Renfield got combined. So it would make sense that this particular Renfield went through what book!Jonathan went through. And I’ve never wanted to hug Renfield more

[beevean]

i really have to lament that the standards for female characters in media are still so abysmal that people are happy to eat up #girlboss'd maria and annette in nocturne

when their character bios dropped these past few days, my mind immediately went to this iconic kate beaton comic panel:

and this was a parody of how mainstream media "solved" sexism by invariably making every female character a badass, take no prisoners Action Girl™ (aka the proto-#girlboss) from over a decade ago

Absolutely incredible :^)

What grinds my gears is that the adaptation is deliberately flattening characters who were distinct in the original games and could have been fleshed out in a proper story.

Annette doesn't do much in RoB, true. Her one significant scene is the one where she threatens to slit her own throat rather than join Dracula. Sure, why not expand on that? An average woman without powers or training, but armed with nothing bur bravery in the face of corruption: she may not be able to strike enemies physically, but she won't fall for their mind games, and she might also be rewritten to be intelligent and tactic-- nope she's a metalbender now!!!! she's also a swordswoman!!!!! and she will be politically motivated!!!!!!

Maria is a plucky 12 yo girl without much experience of the world, but who grows to care about Richter and wants to help her. She doesn't understand, nor care, about Dracula's speech about the evil of mankind, while the adult Richter falters: she is pure innocence. Still, her unique powers give her an edge when it comes to demon slaying, all without losing her upbeat attit-- nope she's a political leader now!!!! she's also a swordswoman!!!!!! and she's always serious!!!!!! and she will be politically motivated!!!!!!!

In the original NFCV, Sypha was the only one spared because her personality admittedly was a little more upbeat and warmer, even though she also fell in the trap of being the One Braincell Of The Group. But Greta and the woman St. Germain simped for picked up the slack for her, as they were both the exact shade of competent, no-nonsense tough lady fighter, complete with "good thing I'm here to run your life now" in the former's case.

And the female villains? Striga was the only original one, being the obvious muscle of the group, but she might as well have been a henchwoman. Carmilla? A self-proclaimed queen whose personality begins and ends at #girlboss, all sexy and seductive and manipulative and with a dash of radfem. Lenore? Not quite as girlbossish, but still meant to be seen as cool and sexy (and fucking how) and a great manipulator. Erszbet? So far she looks like Carmilla 2.0. Drolta is the one we know the least about so far, but it's interesting how she was turned from an old human witch to a young sexy vampire.

You see the pattern here?

Annette and Maria are also the latest examples of characters who have been changed for no good reason in an attempt to "fix" them. NFCV hates normal people, they all have to be heroes and magic users and proficient weapon users. Instead of keeping Annette with her role of "Richter's girlfriend and a normal girl", but giving her a more substantial personality, she was completely reworked to be something that she simply isn't, and that rewriting is being praised as being So Much Better Than The Games. As if her original role is so undefensible that she needs to be reworked from scratch.

It's lazy. There is a sore lack of variety in the female cast of these shows. And it pretends to be "progressive" about it. As if women are only worth being celebrated if they're physically active and have a tough attitude.

Meanwhile, I will forever be impressed by how Ayami Kojima and Kou Sasakura took Rosaly, a literal non-entity in CoD whose only narrative purpose was to be the fridged woman, and gave her enough personality, without straying far from the archetype of the kind normal girl, that I seriously grew attached to her, something I would have never expected at first.

[sepublic]

There’s something simultaneously horrifying and hilarious about Dracula’s more direct methodology today. He’s always been someone who prefers to take things the long way, enjoy the scenic route; Dragging things out, using subtlety and manipulation and subterfuge. There’s a human grace if you will, with how Dracula never says to Jonathan’s face outright that he’s trapped, never directly locks him down; But makes it clear to Jonathan that he’s trapped nonetheless. And of course Dracula’s more discreet bat methods with Lucy up until now...

So to have him just bust through the window, make full use of that power after the teasing terror of him being able to but never actually doing so; It’s like that Dog window jumpscare from the first Resident Evil game. You’re so accustomed to and expecting creeping, building dread that you can keep track of from this dude, so to have him suddenly flip a switch truly catches you completely off guard, and I have to wonder if this is how it feels to Van Helsing and his research on how to prepare for a Vampire.

The uncharacteristic-ness of it all goes to show that you can only plan so much against the supernatural, how helpless you are; So much hinged on knowing and exploiting the rules of the game and he just tossed them out the window. A game of calculated chess has suddenly become a free-for-all. Dracula likely knew exactly of this surprise he was creating by going for brute force; And all the while, you get the sense that he just snapped out of impatience, because yeah playing with his food is nice.

But by the end of the day, it’s all a facade to the hungry, brutish monster that he is at the core, and all of his slow-paced schemes fall apart in favor of a hit-and-run tactic when he’s hungry. You know how it’s always the scariest when one who is so calm suddenly reveals their anger and goes for that first and foremost? That was Dracula tonight. No more games, no more playing around, we get a clear look of his awesome powers in direct action against his victims.

He’s pulling off the mask and the fact that he feels comfortable to reveal so much means that the victim has no chance of relaying that to others and he knows it. Good god. There’s something truly terrifying about seeing this monster just force its way in and knowing that all of your cleverness and knowledge is only so effective against a thing that just doesn’t care and wants your death that badly; Desperately squirming and wriggling its way in as you’re trapped by the very fortification you set up, with a clear and agonizingly long, open view as you and the beast meet eyes and make your feelings clear. Seeing Dracula toss the game aside and go right for the kill makes it dawn on you how helpless you always were, how futile the efforts you were afforded by his supposed complacency were; He was complacent and right to be so. You were dead as soon as he chose you, you never had a chance.

The slow build-up of Dracula’s terror, his indirectness and caution even, retreating at the sight of Mina; It was all worth it just for this. It’s only more perfect with the few days of suspiciously peaceful hiatus after our characters seemingly fixed things, making the shock hit that much harder.

[beevean]

Having thoughts again about N!Hector and the pathetic excluse of a plotline he was stuck in during S3.

One of the many, many ways it could be fixed is one of the simplest one: Lenore is actually believable in his quest to manipulate Hector.

In short, she'd pretend to be the Rosaly of the show.

I read many times that N!Hector isn't stupid for falling for Lenore, because poor little thing is a manchild starved for love. I say that yes, he is stupid, because Lenore doesn't do anything different from what Carmilla did one month prior. One month! That he spent being dragged through the snow! He had plenty of time to realize his mistake. Why would he trust Lenore, when she employs her same tactics of being a condescending bitch to him and also insult Dracula in the meantime - even worse, at least Carmilla waited until the end to beat the shit out of Hector; Lenore did that first thing to flex!

(this show's writing is so, so very unsubtle, and it goes past the lack of show don't tell)

So. Instead of Lenore being a smug piece of shit and spending most of her screentime in S3 treating Hector like a dog. How about actually pretending to be falling in love with him?

Actual compliments. Actual appreciation. Actual sympathy. Unconditional sympathy.

Hector being love-starved is canon. The game version and the show version went through the same thing: first, being rejected by their own parents, to the point that their own mother regretted giving birth to them; then, working for Dracula and with Isaac, which is where the two versions differ, because in the mangas Dracula appreciated Hector for his work and Isaac respected him but was also jealous of him, while in the show both of them shat on him and made clear they don't respect him one bit.

Were things more similar to the mangas, I like to think that Hector hoped that Dracula cared about him a little bit but it became obvious that he only saw him as a useful servant, while Isaac (who totally had a crush on Hector and yes I believe it's canon) always put his Lord above him.

In short, their appreciation was conditional. Be a good boy for us, Hector dear. What's that? You want to regain your agency? Well, then you'll have to die, you understand.

Then comes Rosaly who loved Hector unconditionally. She didn't care about his past or his sins: she only saw a good-hearted man and accepted him in her home despite everything. No wonder Hector declared undying loyalty to her, no wonder he cried when she said something remotely kind to him.

Imagine if Lenore did the same, but only to betray him in the end. He'd be gutted. And it would be believable! Because all the circumstances would be there for him to desperatley grasp to the one person who seems to actually respect him! I wouldn't think he's a complete dumbass for sticking his dick inside someone who said in the span of one minute "I can't betray my sisters by letting you go" and "we can run away together"!

Now, here we can go through two routes.

One, the sex scene happens and it's the same as in canon: Lenore simply uses the opportunity to slip the ring on his finger, her plan from the start. Hector is crushed. Lenore calls him her pet, and we actually see consequences of this (not necessarily other rape scenes because no thank you, but even simply the ring hurting him). During S4, Lenore starts to genuinely like Hector, but he never forgives her, betrays her in the end (you decide whether she suns herself for the guilt or he destroys her face with the hammer <3 but eh tbh in this scenario she doesn't even need to die, she can live alone in shame for all I care), and then... I don't know, I think he'd become very jaded at this point, but he could regain some hope from N!Isaac, if he doesn't act like a total patronizing dick in his final scene.

Two, the sex scene doesn't happen. Lenore actually falls for Hector, and she's torn between her loyalty to her sisters and her fondness for this poor human who maybe can understand her more than she thought. Maybe at first she chooses her sisters (she puts the ring on him but in other circumstances?), which hurts Hector, but then she changes her mind and pulls away from Carmilla's insanity - basically think of Zuko betraying the Gaang in Book 2 and regretting it in Book 3. Lenector actually looks like a viable ship and a much more organic "enemies to lovers" situation (for lack of a better word), instead of looking like rape apologism.

tl;dr: stop jerking off to vampire mommy and pay respect to the characters