#anyways uhhh enjoy the hc post. i swear it sounded better on chat but i hope the idea translates well enough

[kachimera]

Ok i was talking abt this yesterday w @viralvava on discord but i still can't get over how bafflingly stupid LoI's ending in terms of Mathias actions bc man he rlly just shot himself in the foot. He went ahead and told his whole plan to Leon, told him how he used him, and still expected him to go w him flawlessly.

And not only that, we're talking about a warrior w the skill to murder vampire lords and carrying the only weapon that can truly kill Mathias! And yea you can say he took care of the possibility of Leon rejecting him by having Death take care, but that still reads more as a crude solution instead of a proper backup plan, specially w the priority to neutralize the VK.

And this is made worse when comparing him to Death (who in CoD had a plan b w Isaac (and possibly Trevor?) in case Hector didnt fell to the curse) or Arikado (who in AoS, if Soma failed and turned into the dark lord, had Julius (and himself if needed) to take him down)

And this would be more or less fine on it's own, alright Mathias/Dracula is a crude planner. Except it is already stablished he is a gifted strategist! This man has lead wars undefeated for years! He played Walter like a toy piano! Everything went perfectly until he opened his mouth!

I have two main explanations/headcanons rn:

Mathias full plan included a coherent speech filled with half truths to convince Leon he was helping him and then in the long run convince him of joining him in vampirism. However, the mix of being turned and the raw chaos power of the crimson stone made him lose hold of himself and have an episode (compare to the possesions and curses caused by Drac's magic/Drac's remains/Dominus). This included him pretty much admitting his full plan in an impulse of honesty. And instead of trying a plan b after Leon's rejection he just angrily dumped Death on him. Basically stomped all over his own planning erratically. (This one half relies on magic but i enjoy how it mirrors the corruption that the dark powers have on even Dracula himself)

Mathias has had his strategies work flawlessly for so many years that he has stopped making b plans in case stuff goes wrong. He literally walked into Walter's castle so confident of himself and on Leon's, Sara's and Rinaldo's actions knowing full well that if anything went a little south he'd be a vampire's lunch. And then he had a honest yet nasty fluke with Leon that he had no way to recover from. (This one is like, dumb in a funny way bc good god Mathias, but i also like how this, his one failed plan, mirror's Leon's one defeat here)

Needless to say that in both cases his mental health and emotional state is an utter disaster ofc. We're talking abt a grief drowned man with emotions too strong for him to handle, who's desperately trying to drag the one person he has left with him into an eternity of spite and revenge (and he succeeded in the worst way for him). And in any case one can mismatch from both scenarios. (Anyways, if anyone has cool ideas regarding this i'd love to hear them 👁)