#because she is absurdly strong and can wipe out his enemies

[embrace-your-illithid]

heere she is..… my illithid tav creature....… my sunshine goth pink sparkle princess paladin.… naive -2 int will drop a divine smite a-bomb on whoever threatens her lynchpin bf…... loyal lapdog to the very end, won't break her oath so she is the most cringefail starving mindflayer in toril.... Qurrn ✨🦑☀️

[bemused-writer]

Game!Hector VS Show!Hector + Some Story Predictions

Originally, this post was going to be about my thoughts on the Castlevania series more generally, but then I had too many thoughts about several characters, so this post just turned into a look at Hector, who I personally find pretty interesting.

His character also demonstrates some of the more obvious changes the show has made and I can attest that people have Opinions about Hector in particular, so I kind of want to talk about the character for a bit.

First, a visual comparison:

Visually speaking, not much has changed. He has gray/silver hair and his outfit is much the same, though some of the more dramatic bits from the game are toned down (most notably the shoes, though you can't make that out here). His skin tone is a little darker in the show, possibly to make his Greek heritage a bit more obvious.

His backstory is... kind of changed. To be honest, the game did not care about backstory. XD I know they had a tie-in manga for the game, but I'm not going to be bringing that into this because I've never read it. This is going to strictly compare what we know from the game compared to what we know in the show, mostly to keep things simple for myself.

So, Hector's background in the game is very simple: he betrayed Dracula after he started killing humans (unclear if the killing of humans was the actual problem or just how he was going about it), left him, renounced his devil forging as evil, married a woman named Rosaly, and then set out to avenge her death after she was burned at the stake for being a witch.

His backstory in the show is quite a bit more detailed, but tonally quite different. He was often isolated as a child for being considered a freak for his ability to raise dead animals (his devil forging), which he kept as pets. His own parents despised him, and at some point he burned his house down with them inside. In other words, he murdered his parents. At some point he met Dracula and the strike up a bond and later joins him to "cull" the humans who have always mistreated him. He very specifically wants it to be a cull and not a genocide; he thinks with a manageable population, people will be ... better? I guess? Anyway, Dracula lies, says sure that's what we'll do, and he joins him. He does not have a wife (this is before he would have met her anyway), and therefore vengeance isn't a plot point.

Part of the problem in comparing this is that these two Hectors are set in different points of time. Game!Hector has already betrayed Dracula and moved on with his life. Show!Hector has just joined him on his crusade.

His personality is where we can see the bulk of the rewrite, however. Game!Hector was a no nonsense, take charge kind of guy that alternated righteous fury and outright bullheadedness with aristocratic manners and gentlemanly behavior. It was simply fantastic. He knew what his goal was (avenge his wife), pursued it (killed Dracula) and then called it a day. Perfect. Maybe not a ton of nuance (but when has there ever been in this franchise?), but definitely satisfying to witness. The man has mastered pretty much every weapon you could possibly hope for, can summon innocent devils through forging, and is basically an all around powerhouse.

Show!Hector is ... not like that. At all. He has a much softer personality and a lot more quiet sorrow about him. Game!Hector was not soft and he definitely wasn't quiet or especially sorrowful despite having just lost his wife. Game!Hector was also a lot more abrasive when angry and almost stiffly cordial when he wasn't. Show!Hector actually has a sense of humor, is quieter, and actively dislikes debate.

As for fighting, show!Hector hasn't displayed his martial skill of yet, so I can't say whether he's any good at it. He uses a hammer for forging night creatures, which could be dangerous, but mostly feels practical. Basically, game!Hector feels like a warrior that cross-classed with a summoner while show!Hector feels like a full-fledged necromancer.

But probably the biggest change in personality, and the one that I think has caused the biggest rift in whether people like show!Hector or not, is that game!Hector had an absurdly strong will and was never placed in a position that made him look weak. Show!Hector has beliefs, but he's hardly flinging himself into the fray to defend them. He has been constantly manipulated and, as of season three, psychologically tortured, has developed Stockholm syndrome, and is basically going to have a lot more to work through than game!Hector ever did in terms of plot.

To put it succinctly: game!Hector was allowed way more agency while show!Hector has yet to break free of the very literal chains that bind him. Game!Hector purposefully joined Dracula, purposefully betrayed him, and purposefully chose everything else in his life. Show!Hector was manipulated by Dracula into joining his crusade under false pretenses, was manipulated by Carmilla into betraying Dracula, was kidnapped, imprisoned, manipulated by Lenore into trusting her, and is now her slave to boot thanks to a magic ring slipped on his finger during an intimate moment.

So, what with all these changes, will show!Hector ever display the backbone we're more adjusted to seeing from game!Hector? First of all, I think it's a little unfair to say he hasn't shown any. No, it hasn't been that overt, take charge attitude from the game, but show!Hector has not meekly bowed to the horrors inflicted upon him. He has survived everything that's been tossed at him.

But, if we really are just talking about when we're going to see a Hector that wipes out his enemies without a single doubt and has the resources to pull it off, well, my guess is not until season 5 at the earliest. His story arc has been pretty whumptastic as you can see. To be honest, I do feel like Hector's plot has probably had too much whump. He's basically being psychologically tortured nonstop as of season 3 and, yeah, it's probably good to point out he's not exactly a "good guy." Lest we forget, he was perfectly all right with wiping out a significant portion of mankind, but his current circumstances are just degrading and certainly aren't designed to deliver justice.

But why do I think we might see him regain his agency in season 5 as opposed to the upcoming season 4? Well, he's been made a slave of Lenore, very literally through magic, so it's unlikely he can do anything to break that of his own free will. Most likely, Isaac will storm the castle and break him out, not out of the kindness of his heart, but because he wants to kill him. However, this isn't the version of Hector he'll want to fight. A battered, broken man? There's no honor in such a fight. And that right there gives us a portion of the game's plot: Isaac wants Hector to regain all of his strength so they can have an epic battle.

Still, things are much changed. Isaac was once a slave himself in this version, and I can't help but wonder if Hector's circumstances might ring more with him in the show than they ever did in the game. I doubt they would become "friends" exactly, but perhaps a new level of understanding could be gained.

There's also the Lenore angle to consider. As I mentioned before, this version of Hector isn't married, but could his attachment to Lenore remain despite her abuse? Could Lenore end up loving him as well? And if Isaac is the one that kills her, could this be what spurs on that craving for revenge that Hector had in the game?

If so, I have mixed feelings on it. I don't believe Lenore can love Hector after what she's done to him. It would be the height of hypocrisy, but, well, she's not a good person, so that probably won't factor into things. For Hector's sake, I hope he doesn't continue to harbor any goodwill towards her. Continuing to genuinely care about her would be catastrophic. But, pretending to be under her sway? After she's already convinced he can't do a thing against her? That could be interesting because it would reverse their roles. Some possibilities there.

Regarding Hector's potential romances, it's interesting (in, you know, a disturbing way) that Hector's intimate scene with Lenore is set side-by-side with Alucard's scene with Taka and Sumi. Both of these scenes ended phenomenally badly. What is initially seen as an attempt at comfort by both Hector and Alucard turns into an incredible betrayal: Lenore turns Hector into a slave while Sumi and Taka attempt to kill Alucard for "withholding" information.

It also shows that, oddly enough, these two are in similar predicaments despite having never met. They both long for intimacy (not necessarily sexual) and for understanding, acceptance, but they never receive it. The fact that these mutual traumas are portrayed at the same time makes me wonder if these two might eventually meet and find comfort in each other, either platonic or romantic. It would certainly be dramatic; they both had ties to Dracula, were on opposite sides of the war, yet harbor basic similarities. Hector seems to long for some peace and quiet; Alucard's abode definitely has that. Alucard probably also wouldn't mind a bunch of undead pets, so... shrug

One thing I am convinced of, though, is that at some point Hector is going to have his comeuppance, one way or another. It would be incredibly disappointing if he goes through all of this and still loses in the end. That would quite the disservice to the character and, in my opinion, uninteresting. It seems much more likely we will see more of his suffering, but also how he will slowly turn it around until he has an advantage of some kind.

Also, with this comparison of the character, I suppose it would make sense to finish off with how I feel about the character. I already noted that I like game!Hector, but in truth I actually really like show!Hector as well. Yes, he's much changed, but he also has a level of depth the game didn't permit. He's sympathetic despite being on the side of evil (which is how I feel about Isaac as well, though for very different reasons). I wish his story hadn't involved so much humiliation, but that doesn't prevent me from liking the character, In fact, I think he's handled his circumstances with a remarkable amount of poise and grace all things considered. It's interesting, and I absolutely must know how he's developed further.