#carmilla fan fiction

[enbylestat]

Vampride 2024

A violinist becomes hostage of a Lelio and Flaminia.

"Hope" is a thing with feathers.

Where did you get those eyes, mon cher?

Always on the margins.

To define is to limit.

Allons-y Chér(ie).

Full collection here.

[beevean]

the hallmark of Peak Fiction is shoehorning a very serious conversation about a very serious past conflict in an unrelated scene, in the form of snarky banter played for laughs, so that the writer can pretend they listen to audience feedback, while not needing to fully think of addressing the issue and fully sweeping it under the rug because it would be inconvenient to paint the involved characters as dumbasses/vile. Bonus points if it literally goes nowhere and it can be removed from the scene without affecting the flow of the dialogue.

And if it makes me want to eat my own bones because I feel the urge to beat the involved characters to death with a nailed bat, that's just a plus :)

[laurikarauchscat]

I am not "missing the point" of the character.

I know it's there. I acknowledged it ages ago. It's beautiful.

What I'm doing right now is shamelessly mutating it to suit my own needs.

Because I can.

[ragingphantom666]

Marvel Worlds’s The Amazing Spider-Man plot.

[tremordusk]

Love, Flesh and Bone Chapter 4

“The man’s foaming at the mouth, Mama.” Clara remains perched above the body of a dead man. His corpse already looted of necessities and thrown to the side in the squabble.

“Leave him, mija.” Carmilla slings her gun to her back. “We need to travel up north.”

“And go where?” Odette lifts her foot over another dead body, clutching the weapon tight to her chest.

“There’s nowhere left to go.”

“There is,” Carmilla responds. “We just have to keep looking for it.”

“MOM, LOOK OUT-“

Carmilla steps to the side just in time as the angel thrusts her spear at Carmilla’s chest. Carmilla finds herself spinning out of the angel’s vision for but a moment. Another angel plops down into the alley- Carmilla’s route for escape was growing narrower and narrower.

[majorshatterandhare]

[ID: two screencaps of tags from dark mode

First Image: tags from ×-caliber reading “#guys it's called UNRELIABLE NARRATING all caps: unreliable narrating] # shes NOT [all caps: not] evil #jonny just views her in a certain light" Second Image: tags from ceaseless-ramblerand x-caliber.

Tags from ceaseless-rambler read "#this is such a hard fucking poll because do you love her or hate her' the answer is YES [all caps: yes] #she's great but the fucking morality switch destroys me every time i think about it because. morality switch. what the fuck. #but also. gestures wildly in her direction. you understand? #doctor carmilla #the mechanisms."

Tags from x-caliber read '#prev has a great elaboration actually #bevause i answered thinking only about the unreliable narration that made people think she's evil #but i didn't actually think as far about her ACTIONS [all caps: actions] #now i do think that she had good intentions with the morality switch #that doesn't make it any less fucked up however"

End ID]

Okay in regards to this poll I'm going to do some Doc Carmilla analysis because I don't like having back and forth conversations in tags. This is long, I couldn't really find a way to cut it down

The biggest thing that fucks me up about her is Brian's morality switch. The concept of a morality switch at all is horrifying to me, taking that control away from someone. Brian's about page on the mechanisms website says the reasoning was because Doctor Carmilla found it "amusing" which. Makes me hate it even more. @x-ca1iber pointed out the fact that Jonny is an unreliable narrator, which is a good point. However, I doubt Jonny wrote everyone's bio and I don't think either morality mode would really let Brian lie about it, lying is wrong and I can't come up with ends that would justify it. Brian could be wrong about reasoning, of course, but I'm not sure why he would be. Because a lot of that second half is speculation, *please* let me know if there's anything to agree or disagree with any of it.

The two other things that make me not willing to chalk all of anti-Doctor Carmilla sentiment up to unreliable narration and character misinterpretation are the end of this video and near the end of Lashings. The first video shows Jonny cut the music and, sounding somewhat frantic, ask Carmilla what she's going to do about being thrown out the airlock. When she doesn't respond, he backs away and accuses her of planning something. This is something that isn't attributable to unreliable narration because the premise there isn't that it's a retelling but an actual event occurring. Also, the way Jonny is on edge, expecting her to do something but not knowing what/when and having to just kind of act like it's fine really makes me read it as a bad relationship for him. The end of the Lashings performance shows Nastya stressed about various other things and Doctor Carmilla coming up behind her and hugging her. Nastya visibly tenses and remains as such for the entire interaction. I've seen people argue that this was due to the aforementioned various other things, and it could very much be that! This is definitely my least compelling piece of evidence. But it's worth noting that Doctor Carmilla doesn't back off from the hug and remains sort of in Nastya's face until Nastya steps away. The situation is either Nastya being generally uncomfortable with physical contact at that moment (or in general) and Carmilla not caring, or Nastya being distrustful of her in general. Either way doesn't reflect well on their relationship.

None of this is to say that I think she's trying to cause them harm. She does see them as her kids, in her own way. The only other close relationship she had that I'm aware of is Lorelai (please let me know if you have any more information on this! I'm always open to corrections) and that wasn't exactly healthy. She could very well not know any other way to treat them, and I really do think she meant well. The problem with meaning well is that is doesn't change the ramifications of your actions. The best of intentions don't change the fact that you hurt people. This is, in my opinion, especially prominent in parental figures, which she is.

That is all about her as a person, though. As a character? She's fantastic. Trans lesbian vampire scientist with dubious ethics? Great!!! And all of the things I just talked about that make me dislike her as a person make me love her as a character. That disparity is what makes it really hard to answer the poll I linked at the beginning, because holy fuck morality switch but I love her as a character

Tags that inspired this under the cut

[sevikasslut4life]

I kinda have a fan fiction idea if u want to use it where it's carmilla x fem!reader and the reader is a powerful overlord who can use their singing abilities as their powers, and carmilla had never heard the reader sing, and eventually catches the reader singing while doing something (idk like washing dishes) and just simply watches in amazement as the reader has no idea until the end (also I love ur fanfics!!! 💖💖💖)

A/N: OMG OMG OMG I luv this request sm!!! I have a oc who has similar powers to this and it's so cool! It's giving The Dazzlings from Equestria Girls vibes! Okay, I'll stop yapping now 😭 Hope u enjoy! <333

Voice Of A Angel

After a long meeting with the Overlords, you had walked home, Carmilla went the other way since she had to talk to another Overlord. As you walked through Hell, some sinner grabbed you and pinned you against the wall aggressively. "Hey get off of me! " you tried to protest. "Hey, bitch! I know you have money, give me some or you-" The sinner said until you opened your mouth and started to sing a tune. "𝑶𝒐𝒉, 𝑶𝒐𝒐𝒉..." You softly hummed a tune with a slight smirk on your face as the sinner passed out and his eyes went completely blank. As you pushed him off of you, all you heard behind you was a soft voice, Carmillas voice. "Mi Vida..? What happened?" Carmilla said, lying about not seeing you use your powers. "Oh nothing! Just some sinner, let's head home now!" You say chuckling nervously as the two of you walk back home. After you two head home and get ready for bed. As you get in bed, Carmilla wraps her arms around you and you lay in her arms. "You have the most gorgeous voice, cariño" Carmilla whispers as your eyes widen in embarrassment. "W-What!?" You say nervously and shocked, did your wife know your powers now!? "Yes, I heard and saw it all.. I must say, you have the voice of a angel, Amor." Carmilla says with a soft laugh and smile. "Do you, think I'm a monster..?" You say nervously and quietly. "Of course not, you'll never be a monster to me." Carmilla says soothingly as she gently caresses your waist, making you fall asleep.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

aita for calling my roommate crazy?

I (28f) live with 2 other people, a former college roommate who I’m pretty close with (29f) and 2nd roommate (28nb) who we both met when we moved in together 2 years ago.

Let me start this out by saying, this isn’t a fandom aita, it’s going to sound a bit weird at first, but bear with me.

I have a medical condition (relevant later) which stopped most of my bones from maturing past puberty (growth plates closing, cartilage not hardening into bones, ect.), so my skeleton is basically stuck somewhere between 13-19, (I look about 17-19, but the last time I tried to buy hard cider, the cashier thought I was 14, so that’s how young I can look). I also have very pale skin (unrelated to my disorder, just a ginger), and (related to my disorder) lack some liver enzymes so I need eat meat or I get sick (the same reason why cats need to eat meat), I ended up in the ER when I lived with my vegan sister for a week and ate the same veggie diet as her.

Trouble is, Roommate 2 is really into conspiracy theories and other fringe stuff. Nothing alt-right or anything, just like, (for example) they fully bought into that Mermaids: the body found show, and wouldn’t be dissuaded, even when Roommate 1 googled it and showed them solid proof that it was fictional. Wholeheartedly believes the US government preformed 9/11, does alternative medicine (homeopathy, ect), wishes there were ‘all natural’ vaccines (still isn’t an anti-vaccer though, just needs to be persuaded that Bill Gates didn’t put microchips in them).

Anyway, Roommate 1 and I have a recurring joke that I’m a vampire because of the meat thing and the pale thing and the not aging thing. Roommate 2 overheard us and laughed, but weirdly. She kinda joked along with us, but she seemed...odd. About a week later, they start asking me stuff about being a vampire. But they seemed friendly and not nervous then and I was hoping they were just joking and I also sincerely thought they were just asking me about how vampires work on one of my shows (I’m a big fan of Carmilla and the Originals), so I tried to explain, but I cited each show when I’m explaining a thing. This continued for several weeks, but getting worse and more weird every time, eventually culminating about 2 and a half months later into them asking me more stuff about life as a vampire and I really realised that they were serious. Bear in mind, Roommate 1 and I were trying to be very clear that we don’t believe in vampires this whole time because we both know how Roommate 2 is about this. As a result, this was the first time I really registered that they seriously seemed to genuinely believe I was a vampire. I firmly told them that I am not a vampire and that vampires aren’t real, they’re fun to joke about, but they aren’t real. They implored me ‘to be straight with them about being a vampire,’ and that ‘I could trust them,’ and I’m ashamed to say, I kinda freaked out at this point, cuz I was afraid that they would be scared of me and maybe try to hurt me, since they seemed kinda unstable because of this.

This is where I think I was an asshole, I am usually very sensitive to mental health issues. I have some c-PTSD myself and there are a lot of mental health issues in my family (unfortunately, I think some history with my own mentally ill father may have made me react this way, since he has very similar issues to Roommate 2 (vaccines, alternate medicines, specifically involving me in his delusions) and I had a very bad experience in my early teens where he thought I was a demon and ‘sent to destroy him’). Anyway, I got very upset and I yelled at them, I told them they were completely crazy and needed to get mental help and said I thought Roommate 1 and I needed to move out because they might try to stake my heart or something. I feel really bad for calling them crazy, especially because Roommate 2 has some very mental health issues and words like crazy make light of and stigmatise that and I’m very big into not blaming people for their mental health problems, but this was very triggering and in this moment I was very distresssed.

So, aita, all things considered here? I’m still gonna feel like the asshole no matter what, since mental health problems aren’t to be taken lightly or blamed on the person, but I’m curious what the internet thinks.

What are these acronyms?

[tyrantisterror]

A Dozen Or So Great Vampire Ladies

Ok, so, on a mostly unrelated post the topic of good vampire ladies came up, and @bisexualdaikaiju suggested/challenged me to do a top 10 vampire women list. As a self-professed lover of vampire women, it felt like a challenge I couldn't back down from. But it is kind of challenging, for two kind of contradictory reasons.

First, while there are MANY female vampires in fiction, most of them feel like afterthoughts, getting far less characterization than their male counterparts, who more often than not are the star villains of the show. When these supporting lady vampires do get something to do, it's generally the same role: make their human lovers sad when they rise from the dead as a monster that has to be killed, an emotional beat that is often undercut by a lot of these vampire women not getting much characterization to endear them to us before they died. Everyone wants to have the Lucy Westerna plot beat from Dracula but they don't want to do the work that Bram did to make Lucy lovable. The lady vamps who get to step out of Lucy's shadow are rare - but that just makes them all the more wonderful.

The second problem is that, since this is an obsession of mine that few seem to share (there are lots of vampire fans, but man do the boy vamps get to hog the spotlight among them), I've done a lot of scattered thinking about it and I just know I'm bound to forget at least one excellent lady vampire character that should be here. And whittling it down to ten, and trying to rank them? That's too hard! My thoughts are too mercurial to do that reliably in a way I don't forget!

So instead here's a list of, like, a dozen or so lady vampires that I think are just fucking stellar, many of which I think break the mold of what pop culture makes us expect lady vampires to be. It is not ranked - I love all these characters more or less equally, and think it's a lot more interesting to see how they take their archetype in different directions than to figure out which one is "best" of the lot.

Carmilla Karnstein

I'm going to start with the most famous literary female vampire, Mircalla Karnstein from Carmilla. I think she might be the first vampire to have an unhealthy obsession with using anagrams of her real name as aliases, though I'm sure now that I've typed that someone will find an earlier example to school me. She's also the one who popularized the idea of lady vampires being extremely sapphic, with an arguably genuine romantic affection for her female victims. She's got well-deserved clout, basically, and like Dracula has been adapted countless times and reinterpreted in some excellent ways. My favorite screen Carmilla is Ingrid Pitt's take, which captures her fierceness, passion, and tragic nature so well.

2. Amy from Fright Night

Ok, we're having one Lucy Westerna knockoff on this list, but as Lucy knockoffs go, Amy is one of the best. It actually helps that she spends 90% of her movie as a human, because we get to know and love her so much before she turns monstrous. And once she does...

It is pants-shittingly terrifying. I will never stop raving about the vampire designs in this movie - they made their "game faces" so fucking monstrous and I feel like in a better world this would be the standard ever since, especially since they still gave the vampires pathos while making them so ghastly when they've got their feeding faces on.

3. Drusilla

Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a bunch of vampire characters, and to its credit they did a decent job of making the ladies just as distinct as the gents. Harmony and Darla could both have made this list, but my favorite was always Drusilla, who was so traumatized before she became a vampire that it kind of overwhelms the demon spirit inside her. Like, bare minimum thing to make a lady vampire more interesting than 90% of other female vampires in fiction: give her at least one personality trait, preferably an interesting one, outside of being a vampire. Drusilla's fun, and she survives the entire series after dumping her boyfriend to be a single female vampire. Good for her.

4. Ruby from Scary Godmother

Ok look I am a fake Scary Godmother fan but kudos to the artist of the books for making a lady vampire who's very clearly of the nosferatu mold and is also explicitly benign and sweet. A+ vampire lady character design. I hope it doesn't awaken anything in me.

5. Nadja

What We Do in the Shadows is excellent at finding new takes on vampires in general - it even made me actually like Psychic Vampires as a concept, a feat I thought was impossible - but goddamn do I love Nadja specifically. She's got a distinct personality as vampire ladies go, being very confident and self-assured while also being a complete fucking goober (it is a comedy, after all). She's perfectly capable of being terrifying AND hilarious, often at the same time. A vampire girl failure, in the parlance of our site. I love her.

6. Lady Dimitrescu

I know that she's apparently only in a fourth of the game, but it's still pretty great that Resident Evil 8 decided its mascot villain - its equivalent of the Tyrant, G, Nemesis, etc. - would be the hottest woman I've ever seen a milf an 8 foot tall lady vampire. She's not dainty and willowy like most lady vamps in fiction - not an ambush hunter - but rather HUGE and capable of tossing a human around like a rag doll. She's a physical powerhouse and she looks fine feminine while doing it. Despite being an unabashed blood-sucking monster, she still has enough depth and complexity to have important relationships (like a genuine love for her "giant mass of hive mind flies" daughters), and also she gets to have an awesome transformation into a fungal vampire dragon, which is rad as hell. Also goddamn, her fashion sense is immaculate.

7. Hecate from Hellboy

"Hey, she's not a vampire! She's a goddess! That doesn't count!" Fuck you, my list, my rules. Hecate posits herself as the progenitor and mother of vampires, she drinks blood, and her main form in the comic is as a sicknasty lamia version of the iron maiden used by Elizabeth fucking Bathory, if she doesn't count as a vampire, nothing should. She is the concept of a vampire amped up to maximum capacity, a major mythological figure and an awesome villain.

...also I lowkey shipped her and Hellboy when I was a teenager. They could have made it work!

8 - 12. Carmilla and her girl squad from Castlevania

I suppose I could have counted Castlevania's Carmilla as an adaptation of Miss Karnstein - they're both basted out of Styria, both sapphic, and it's clear she's meant to be an adaptation of the former, just as the Dracula of this show is meant to be a take on Bram's famous vampire. But ultimately they're VERY different characters in the grand scheme of things - Castlevania's Carmilla has none of the tenderness and vulnerability of her literary counterpart, instead being full of barely restrained fury. She is an excellent villain, complex enough to be interesting but thoroughly despicable enough to make it VERY satisfying when she bites it.

I also love her girl posse... in concept, at least. They've all got great designs and the groundwork of interesting characters, but of the the three, only Lenore, the waifish redhead, gets to do much of note. The two on the edges kind of just show up for a few scenes and then bail before the plot catches up to them, doing very little of note - though at least the big hunky one gets one of the coolest fight scenes in the whole show.

Back to Lenore though - she gets a really nice character arc, and manages to become one of the few sympathetic vampires in the series (while still doing a lot of monstrous shit - she is not a defanged vampire by any stretch). I think her death scene is one of the most moving moments in the series finale.

13. Seras Victoria

A good female vampire has at least one non-vampire part of her personality, right? Ok, so, Seras is:

the muscle in almost every scene she is, which is to say, the one absolutely beating the shit out of people while her allies run for cover

the perky henchman/morality pet of one of history's greatest monsters

the sole ray of sunshine in cast of edgy, cigar-chomping grizzled mercnaries and antiheroes she's been pressganged into fighting alongside

the victim of some HIDEOUS trauma even before her vampirization

the protege of a wise master who gets a full hero's journey arc, taking up his mantle at the end of the series

Like, I love her. She's the secret protagonist of Hellsing. She's got layers like an onion. The scene where she killed Zora Blitz reminded me why I love anime.

(yeah it's the TFS version fuck you)

14. Youko Shiragami

My Monster Secret is not a horror manga. It is a romantic comedy about a bunch of idiots trying to keep painfully obvious secrets hidden and succeeding only because almost everyone around them is as dumb as they are, just in very different ways. It is a manga where an entire chapter can be summarized as "all the characters race to get the last McRib, using their various supernatural abilities to try and cheat their way to the front of the pack." It is one of the funniest and most heart-warming stories I have ever read, one of my favorite romances of all time, and an excellent piece of long form story-telling.

One of the two main characters is Youko Shiragami, a vampire girl who can't let anyone know she's a vampire or else her dad will pull her out of school. She desperately wants to have a normal life with friends and, like, school shenanigans, but her fear of people uncovering her secret and hating her is so immense that she's been isolating herself from everyone, accidentally torturing herself by being close to what she wants but unable to actually have it.

At least, until Kuromine, the other main character of the story, discovers her secret while trying to ask her out on a date. He ends up promising to keep her secret, and the two of them form a real friendship that blossoms into a very sweet romance, where Youko gets to display all her incongruous personality traits that go against what you'd expect of vampires - namely, that she's kind of a ditz, with an unrefined style of speech and a complete inability to be suave and seductive. She's a sweet, flaky goofball with a big heart, who just happens to drink blood and tan really quickly in the sunlight. There is no other vampire like her, and the world is richer for her being in it.

15. Marceline, the Vampire Queen

This list isn't ranked, but if it was, I'd put Marceline at the top. I think she is not only the most unique and deeply characterized lady vampire in fiction, but ranks right up there with Dracula in how she redefines the idea of what a vampire can be. Like, look at the forms she takes!

There are DOZENS of different monstrous shapes Marceline takes during Adventure Time's 9+ seasons of television, and any one of them would be a superb and memorable vampire on its own. And she's ALL of them. Just on a design standpoint, she is a standout. I think only Dracula himself could compete.

But she also explores what the concept of what a vampire is in ways no other vampire in fiction can, in part because of the unique nature of Adventure Time's setting. In a world where humans are an extreme minority and most people are weird monsters, a vampire isn't that odd, so we get to explore what being a vampire means divorced from the comparison to "normal" human beings. There's the expected tragedy to Marceline, of course - she's a 16 year old who has been stuck in that adolescent state for hundreds of years, and much of her character arc over the show (including the magnificent vampire-centric storyline, "Stakes") focuses on the horror of being stuck in that transitional state, not quite a child but not quite an adult. Marceline struggles to mature, to understand herself and others, and her vampirism both keeps her distant from reaching those goals but also gives her a lot of time to figure out how to approach them when the opportunity arirves. Marceline goes from one of the most immature and selfish characters in the show to perhaps the most emotionally intelligent, blossoming into a sensitive and thoughtful person she could never have been without first becoming a creature that seems so inherently opposed to ever having those traits.

And she did it all in a children's show where she was rarely if ever allowed to actually drink blood - a problem the writers got around by having her suck the red color out of things, which is right up there with the Joker Venom from BTAS in terms of genius ideas spawned by children's show censorship.

Marceline is the GOAT.

[hekateinhell]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. A lot of people see a vampire biting (without consent) a metaphor for rape. Like when Lestat is turned and the ball scene. Armand was seemingly attempting a hook-up. He's maybe using mind control because Lestat is somewhat incoherent. He's terrified because it reminds him of Magus. He calls it an unforgivable lie. Where do you think this metaphor ends? Do they (metaphorically) rape mortals when they kill them or is that different? Thanks！

Hi! 🖤

So I think it's going to be a two-part response here because it's an interesting question and I want to do it justice. Now, this is what Lestat says in TVL:

I wanted him [Armand] to beg. I wanted him to give me that powerful voice full of lies and cunning, the voice that had made me believe for one pure and dazzling instant that I was alive and free and in the state of grace again. Damnable, unforgivable lie. Lie I'd never forget for as long as I walked the earth.

This is the unforgivable lie! The illusion Armand created that let Lestat believe with his whole heart and soul "I [Lestat] could get away this time. I had another chance. The wheel had turned full round", but of course it wasn't real, and that's what hurt Lestat the most.

That being said, let's address the metaphor because it comes often enough in VC. Usually between two vampires — the most explicit examples would be Armand saying he wants to rape David in TVA, and Lestat ruminating over the violence of his creation (which mirrors David's) in Blood Canticle:

[...] immortals who think they want the Dark Blood perish infinitely more easily than those of us who never asked for it. Perhaps the anger of the rape carries us through for centuries.

Your question was: "Do vampires metaphorically rape mortals when they kill them?" and I would have to say, yes, they do!

Because when we're thinking about metaphors, allegories, and the different ways that language is used, it's so important to put it into context or we're going to lose the nuance completely. I discussed this with my friend @somevagrantchild, who's not just an obsessive Anne Rice fan but also someone who's been studying vampire media for a very long time, and they made some excellent points in response to your question that I'm going to directly quote below!*

They are violating and taking from the mortals without consent; it’s a general vampire allegory for all vampires since the beginning of time. Anything not consensual = rape. If a vampire hypnotizes a human to drink from them so that the human enjoys it, it’s still rape.

No human ever consents to be killed. Even like the suicidal people Armand draws to him still aren’t consenting. They don’t have enough knowledge to consent, killing a suicidal person doesn’t make it consensual. The only way would be if the human was like, “I understand you are a vampire, please kill me sir.” The consenting to death would be seeking out the vampire themselves and making the conscious choice; suicide means deciding when you die. If they’re suicidal but haven’t killed themselves yet, then killing them before they make that choice is still violating them.

Rape especially applies to vampires (more than other types of non consensual murder) because of the intimacy of it, the way they’re violating that person's inner self by drawing out their memories and private feelings, also the bodily fluids going from one body into another (as opposed to stabbing someone and their blood just spilling on the floor).

Examples in literature: At the very beginning of vampire fiction with Lord Ruthven seducing innocent maidens; Dracula just snuck in their room and attacked while they were asleep in bed but Ruthven was seducing them personally, and all adaptations of Dracula have him being much more seductive. Carmilla, too, sneaking into Laura’s bed and feeding on her breasts in the middle of the night. The whole penetrative aspect makes the rape metaphor more applicable than it is to other types of murder/violence.

*touched up for grammar and continuity from Discord.

Hope that answers your question and thank you so much @somevagrantchild for lending me your brain for this one! I want to devour it. ♥️

[kamenstranger]

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 Review

You know, it's funny. At the end of my Nocturne Season 1 review I mentioned that I felt the series was in good hands, that the trepidation of starting from scratch with a new creative team on a whole new entry had been calmed. And yet, going into season 2 it almost felt like I had to be won back over again. Why was that?

For me, the trouble started in mid September when the first trailer dropped and I realized I had not thought about Nocturne since the original review. We had an entire Castlevania DS collection come out and I never even thought "Oh yeah, there should be another Castlevania season on Netflix soon." That's probably not a great sign, is it? It's not even that I forgot about the show entirely, I still remember it. But it completely skipped my mind upon seeing the Dominus collection. The association simply wasn't there.

And looking back it's kinda easy to see why it skipped my brain pan. I still maintain Nocturne was a solid season with a lot of bold ideas, but frankly so much of it is "Maybe they'll get to explore this more next season" with Richter being the only one with an actual character arc. The lack of a strong villain also hurt the show. That last part was so bad that I forgot the villain's goddamn name. I forgot that the main antagonist of Nocturne was the second most popular name and historical figure used in vampire fiction. I called her "That lion-faced countess" when conversing about it to my girlfriend. And why not? Sure, they say her name constantly in whispers throughout that first season, trying to build her up as this great menacing force of nature. But we never see Bathory until very late in the show and she… has no personality. Her character in Nocturne in busting down a door and being strong. That's it.

She didn't have a fun presence like Doltra with her snarky innuendos and style, or the slithering unnatural calm of Olrox and his incredible homoeroticism, and she certainly wasn't tragic like Dracula. Hell, she wasn't even Carmilla. Bathory works in the moment and as a cliffhanger for the next season as something to be contented with-- but it also doesn't lay a foundation for a personality. A lot of season 2 was going to have to make good not only having a satisfactory vendetta story with Maria, but also making Bathory into an actual character we enjoy seeing on screen since, let's face it, Emmanuel wasn't gonna stick around and Drolta was dead. Well, until the second trailer hit, which did look considerably better. Still, the fact Nocturne was missing an October release for the media dumping ground that is January did not provide me with optimism.

Compounding this is during the year long gap from Season 1 we've had a number of other animated shows that have been shockingly good. I don't even mean major game chargers, but simply well made art that were above mediocrity and pleasant surprises. X-men '97 is the obvious example, which I have thought more about than Nocturne despite how big of a Castlevania fan I am. But maybe it's not fair to make a comparison to something that has the advantage of using stories with decades of hindsight. All the same, '97 did more with its cast, had better balance of interpersonal character stories with a broader narrative, and had more biting commentary with fictional stand-ins for marginalization than Nocturne did drawing from very real examples of French imperialism and slavery. That's just a tad embarrassing. (Although maybe not as embarrassing as Disney's animation being a fraction of what Powerhouse 51 was pulling off, so take that for what it's worth.)

Just to be clear, I'm completely for taking the appropriate amount of time to write and animate something of quality. I find most of the turn around in the modern landscape incredibly egregious, and having other things to watch in-between shows is an objectively good thing. Regardless, as time wore on, season 2 was going to have to contend with making good on a follow up in a crowded streaming landscape. But, I digress. I'm ignoring the main meat in this castle wall, so let's get to it. Spoilers ahead.

I'm going to be approaching this a little bit differently from the previous Nocturne review. Instead of going an episode by episode basis, I'm going to focus on the different story threads until they intersect, similar to how I did with the last seasons of the first Castlevania series.

That said, we pick up where last season left off, everyone is surprised when the Eclipse comes to an end. Despite the intention of an endless night, it seems Bathory's ability to make it last is not as strong as was believed. However, that doesn't make her weak. Alucard informs the four that the Egyptians believed the soul resided in two places; the blood, which Elizabeth has already consumed, and the heart contained within the Mummy. Having been to Egypt, the tomb was empty. Sekhmet's mummified remains have been moved and Alucard has been tracking it across the globe for three years, with the presumed location being Paris, hence the convergence there.

This is where the story starts to split off, with Alucard, Richter and Annette heading to Paris, while Maria and Mizrak stay behind. Maria is no condition to fight after losing her mother and she blames Richter for running away like he always does.

Suffice to say, we're not getting that family bond between her, Richter, and Annette-- they actually do something more clever. As such, I'll be taking a look at Maria's story first. One thing to get out of the way is the deal with her mother, Tera. She isn't a warped vampiric thrall. She retains her will and is almost killed by Bathory because of this. The loss of Drolta certainly exacerbating matters-- Tera clearly not even a fraction of Drolta's power. And Tera is… just sorta forgotten by Bathory after being sent on a suicide mission in broad daylight. She survives and goes off on her on from there.

Eventually, Maria heads back home to gather supplies, Mizrak in tow. Here, she encounters her mother, which has all the trepidation you might expect. But they also avoid anything hokey, or cliche. In fact, throughout all of Tera and Maria's scenes there's a tendency to be put at ease. Tera shows no signs of malevolence, to the point it's easy to forget or even fall into believing that she might not be vampiric at all. Very little is presented to indicate such, aside from the obvious visual cues and the fact Tera is always cast is shadow, while Maria is in the faintest of light. No sly smirks, no dramatic music, no entendre. And yet, from the audience perspective, we've seen Tera kill to feed early on in the first episode, she can give into Vampiric tendencies. Being privy to something Maria isn't aware of, you can't help but question what exactly it is Tera is after. Is it as simple as spending time with her daughter? Will she maintain her will?

Hell, Tera isn't even all the violent when Mizrak notices her and attacks. She's going out of her way to not be monstrous. It's that which ultimately makes Maria part with Mizrak and go with her mother.

By nightfall, the two return to where Maria first learned to summon her animal buddies, although they are currently twisted and all together different when she's angered. Tera begins encouraging Maria to summon the darker creatures that are conjured, to harness their rage and control it. Even this doesn't feel wrong, despite how much it should.

Her practice however is interrupted by Juste, who was requested by Richter to also look after Maria, and, yeah, a Belmont crossing paths with a vampire goes about as well as you'd expect. Tera's skirmish with Juste is the closest hint Maria sees to her mother losing control and going berserk. All the same, Tera refuses to harm him. Neither get a chance to reflect on this before an additional interruption occurs; the stirring sounds of a night creature platoon in the distance. The revolutionary national guard sent to fend off the vampiric threat has been slaughtered and transformed. This becomes the tipping point for the already mentally unstable Maria, whose anger reaches a fever pitch. She flies off to kill Emmanuel. As dawn is breaking, Juste is the only one capable of stopping her now. But that's easier said than done. Maria is on a completely different level now and is going completely mad with that power, finally summoning the dragon Seiryuu.

They're a lot bigger than the ROB version.

I'm not gonna lie, this confrontation with her father is incredibly cathartic. Maria berating him for the monster that he is, a man willing to sell out both a former lover and the child has with them, a betrayer of his own beliefs. Juste pleads with Maria to stop, that she doesn't have to go through with it…

Welp.

That motherfucker burns. And it is glorious. But it's not lost on me- or the show, that this is kinda fucked up. Even if the bastard deserved it, it didn't need to be by her hand. Maria just committed patricide by burning a man alive.

But there is a problem, two problems, actually. One is that a strange indecipherable shadow figure emerges from the cathedral walls and whisks Emmanuel's extra crispy body away. The other more immediate problem is that the Dragon doesn't want to go back, nor is is listening to an exhausted and clearly traumatized Maria. It's rather pissed off at the very notion and instead chooses to turn against its master. Conveniently, Juste's powers return, just as Richter's did when he needed them most, shielding her from the flame. A follow up with an ice spike to the mouth is enough to force the dragon back to whatever plain it emerged from.

Much later, Tera approaches the former location of the Abbot's body and smirks. Don't think too much about it, Tera has but one more appearance and a small cameo in the finale. In a wise decision, Nocturne seems to have taken a page from fellow streaming series Arcane and focus on an arc for the here and now, with smaller incremental hooks to build next season rather than big cliffhangers. All that matters for now is after a very tense scene, Tera removes herself from Maria's life, realizing her presence is only making things worse-- Maria even tempted to become a vampire to live with her mother forever. Tera needs to find her place as much as Maria does, and it's simply not something they can do together. It's a gut wrenching scene.

Tera exiting the picture means we can switch focus to Juste and Maria's dynamic, a very fascinating direction given Juste's track record with raising kids. Now he's paired with a girl who's extremely troubled and sick of oldmen pretending to know what they're doing. That's a great concept. One that, if I'm being perfectly honest, I do wish got more time in the spotlight. But what's presented is still pretty good.

After the incident, Maria's powers are in someway tainted and her animals stuck in their darker form, some even more twisted and almost cosmic in their horror, and all are out of control. This season never delves into what or where Maria's Animals originate, but Juste expresses concern over that very notion. Fact is they're something very different from any magic they're familiar with. Although answering that question is not as pertinent as Juste trying to make good on his past failures by helping Maria overcome her grief and anger. The story knows what's important and focuses on that, which I applaud… Even if Juste's advice amounts to little more than "Think happy thoughts."

Before I tackle the other big story half, I do want to mention the smaller ones interspersed throughout, such as the Night Creatures. The Night Creatures are downplayed considerably compared to the previous season. We still get Edouard's lovely arias and we even get another night creature who retains their memories; a captain of the revolutionary army, who is turned into a Frozen Shade.

There's still tinges of the themes present regarding free will and the parallels with the hypocrisy of France's political climate. But other than leading a rather isolated revolt against the more obedient creatures near the end of the series, they don't do much.

The most noteworthy occurrence that's tangentially related is with Drolta. Bathory realizes that she could be revived by the forge and retain her sense of self, and it works. Drolta comes back, albeit mutated, stronger and capable of walking in broad daylight. And you know what? Drolta was one of the best parts of Season 1 and this was as good excuse as any. Speaking of, we get multiple flashbacks of Drolta before she was turned vampiric- something which ultimately was her own choice after killing and drinking the blood of a vampire that slaughtered her entire temple. We witness the centuries following as she searched for the perfect vessel to reincarnate Sekhet before landing upon Bathory.

Outside that, we still have Olrox up to his usual routine of slinking around. He's likewise downplayed, having a handful of scenes with Mizrak and a few other characters. Brief, but frequent and impactful. Curiously, he encounters the shadowy being that took the Abbot's body, and Olrox recognizes it. Calling him a tempter of many names, Mephistopheles, Old Man Coyote. Which-- I have several questions about using the name of the Crow Deity as being synonymous with a devil, but we don't have time to unpack that. There's also a line that reveals Olrox and Alucard are familiar with each other, and Olrox has even gotten Alucard out of a bind more than one. They don't elaborate on that, just something to possibly explore later.

This brings me to the main narrative through-line with Alucard, Richter and Annette. How would these character play off each other without retreading familiar territory? Richter and Alucard's dynamic is thankfully quite a bit different than with Trevor. Whereas with Trevor it always felt like two immature shits taking the piss out of one another, this Alucard is much more mellow, wiser, and worldly. This offers a fun contrast to Richter being a well to do kid with a chip on his shoulder. That's further emphasized by Richter's willingness to follow his moral compass over practicality, albeit with the added baggage of still being arrogant, much to Alucard's understandable chagrin. Annette defends Richter from the admittedly warranted beration, perhaps even a bit too much. But it does serve as an extension of the two's growing relationship, which is pretty adorable this season.

On the more down to earth side, the two continue bonding over their shared trauma of losing their mothers, their struggle to live up to their family legacy, the very obvious chemistry between them etc. The season gives the two a lot of scenes together discussing their experiences and getting flustered to really drive home that connection.

And that brings to me Annette herself. Along with Maria, my biggest interest was what they were going to do with Annette's story and I'm happy to say that they expanded upon it considerably. I've always found the wider cultural implications of Castlevania's world fascinating. From a game perspective is has very little impact on the admittedly bereft narrative. It's simply to add an exotic flare to the bestiary containing a deluge of global folklore so we're not stuck with the stereotypical European monsters of yore. Which, hey not for nothing, I also love. But the animated series? Now that's a spot to dive into more than just designs. I was disappointed that last season they barely scratched the surface with Annette's cultural roots. That's rectified quickly here.

From the first episode Annette is seeing ghostly visages. First, sporadically and only vaguely humanoid in shape. Over the course of the season and their journey to Paris, they become more numerous and better defined, even overwhelming. By the time they do reach Paris, just in time for Louis the whatever (XVI) to be beheaded, Annette sees his spirit rise from the body and taken in by a three faced demon not dissimilar to Dante's depiction of Lucifer.

It's never clear if this is just a manifestation of Annette's fears and uncertainty regarding the spirit world, but I think we can presume this to be "Old Man Coyote" given his province in appearing around death throughout the season.

Eventually the trio make it to the Louvre, the spirits helping Guide Annette to the precise location of the mummy. Unfortunately, it doesn't help much because the trio are set upon by two night creatures and Drolta, who is far more of a challenge than previous encounters.

Which I might as well take the opportunity at this point to discuss how goddamn amazing the animation is, because this is a standout moment. I'm legit surprised how well the quality has been maintained. There are still some classic animation tricks here and there-- like panning across still images rather than animating an entire crowd for 5 seconds of screen time. But even stuff like that is far and few compared to some other shows. Part of that is no doubt the shorter episode to budget ratio not requiring it, but the other is simply being very clever about what's shown without it feeling as painfully obvious as other productions. All this is to say that it looks good to begin with and when the show goes hog out for its fight scenes, it's going hard. Even now, Castlevania is still delivering on both fluid animation and impeccable storyboarding.

Take Richter binding this night creature and icing the floor, only to lightning skid across to meet the monster's spine with his foot. That is awesome. It takes what otherwise could've been a standard fight and makes me point out all the little fun and clever things they do. Such as a three headed lizard monster which gets its middle head stuck in a plank of wood and the other heads start biting the wood off. (Although I will note, the wood comes back later, so that's either an error or that head is very unlucky) I laughed either way. This entire sequence is wonderful and it comes at only the halfway point.

In the end, Drolta makes off with the Mummy, Alucard gives chase but ultimately fails. At wits end, they have little choice but to do all they can for the inevitable turn. Alucard heads to the National Convention to meet with freaking Robespierre to prepare for the coming assault from Bathory's forces, while Richter and Annette take care of any vampire stragglers before the sunsets. All the while the ghosts haunting Annette refuse to leave. But, that gives her an idea; what if there's a third Soul, what if Sekhmet herself is in that spirit world?

Indeed if you know about Egyptian mythology, this is called the Duat. So as the Revolutionary army prepares for the coming battle, Alucard and Richter stand watch over Annette as she enters a trance and begins her spirit journey.

Without going too overboard with the details, as we spend quite a bit of time here (almost an episode and a half) it delivers more of what I wanted without bogging down the story with heaps of lore. She has a heartwarming reunion with her mother and she meets with Ogun directly, who gifts her a shield and sends her off to Sekhmet's Realm.

Interspersed with this journey are cutaways to little character moments between Richter and Alucard, the latter encouraging Richter not to wait around on telling Annette his feelings. We also get a rather telling and sweet moment when the topic of Alucard's lineage comes up and if he would change it. But as Alucard puts it, you can't remove one name without removing others. And for as long as he's been around, aren't the Belmonts just as much of a family? Of course, Richter falls asleep before hearing this. Cliche but cute.

Meanwhile Annette's trip is a treacherous one beset by powerful monsters. But she manages to make it to Sekhmet all the same, the goddess in tears over the desecration and abuse she has suffered.

A nice visual detail being the scales of Maat out of balance.

However, Annette's presence is unwelcome, if not by Sekhmet specially, then the very realm itself, as Ammit attacks Annette. Seeing Annette put up a good fight, Sekhmet takes advantage of Annette's soulless body, possessing her as a vessel, while Annette continues an endless battle in the spirit world.

The transformation is taxing on Annette's body, the longer Sekhmet stays and uses her powers, the more likely Annette's body will just burn away. But it's the best shot they have against Bathory, who, having consumed the heart, is even more grotesque and powerful. Another eclipse is called fourth, signaling the final battle.

Sooooo, let's talk about Bathory, shall we?

We're at the penultimate episode and the reality is that she's simply a boring villain. Sure, the narrative goes to great lengths to make her a powerful threat, but even now she's little more than a boss, an obstacle. On one hand it's sort of hard to complain when so many other angles of the season work; Maria, Tera, Juste; Annette's spirit Journey and the relationship with Richter, even the handful of Olrox and Mizrak interactions, and, of course, Drolta and the backstory with the goddess Sekhmet. Make a note of the last bit.

That being said. This powered up Bathory is a great excuse to give one of the best fight sequences in the entire series. With Sekhmet able to weaken the other two souls, Bathory is finally vulnerable. Not that she's a push over by any means. It still takes the arrival of Juste and Maria (Who has a cute moment reuniting with Richter) to actually do some damage. But boy do they go for it. I could spend multiple paragraphs simply describing the shit that goes down in a matter of seconds. Bathory's left arm being chomped on by Maria's Dragon, Richter lassoing her other arm and ripping her out, only to freeze his own arm and clothesline Bathory's neck.

What's impressive about all this isn't just the fight itself, but how impeccable the pacing is. This easily could've devolved into a mess of noise and indecipherable editing. In fact, that pacing is a benefit of the entire season. Every episode we're hopping across multiple different stories, but it never feels exhausting or frivolous. It's the same in this final battle with just enough quick character moments sprinkled throughout to break up the action.

Speaking of, we have multiple other battles going on at the same time, Mizrak dealing with various vampires, Alucard and Drolta fighting. Even Olrox decides to get in on the fight against Bathory's forces and helps Alucard out with Drolta. And don't forget, Annette's soul is still in battle elsewhere. We're bouncing all over. Amongst all the hard fighting, Mizrak is gravely injured, distracting Olrox enough to let Drolta escape. Once again, Old Man Coyote is lingering near by.

Bathory meanwhile is at the end of her rope. She's putting up a fight still, but her arm is gone, and she's having to face the reality that the real Sekhmet is in front of her. She is not a reincarnation, just someone in possession of something that was never hers to begin with. Sekhmet offers a chance to make things right and forgo the two other souls. But Drolta has other plans, taking off with with the badly weakened Bathory.

But the lioness clearly isn't what she was, and maybe never was. Pondering for a moment, Drolta makes a decision she felt she should've made centuries ago-- simply become Sekhmet instead, as she drains Bathory and mutates into an abomination that no doubt has even more teeth in every orifice.

I have to just laugh at this development. It's like they realized Drolta was the far more interesting personality and instead of trying to make Bathory work they just built more upon Drolta at the last minute with a good enough excuse. Like, Drolta isn't deep, don't misunderstand. At best she's sort of a dark reflection of Richter, Annette, and Maria. Someone that had survivors guilt and took a dark path. Though that's kind of a stretch. Regardless she was clearly more fun and a fan favorite, so pulling this off is sort of amazing.

If you can believe it, get another goddamn amazing fight scene with plenty of moments that pop off.

Although Drolta's new found power doesn't last long, Sekhmet forcibly adsorbs the two souls, almost killing Annette in the process. But it works, just leaving an incredibly pissed off and still very powerful Drolta to contend with.

And Richter, oh they make up for Richter being over shadowed by Alucard last season. I thought he was going to go Hokuto no Ken on Drolta at one point with how many punches he was tossing out. Hell, he even manages to break through an attack that sends Alucard flying. They're very much giving Richter his due here, even if, of all people, Olrox comes to assist. No Grand Cross or Hydro Storm, but they do something interesting. Richter gets tossed Alucard's sword and kinda creates the Dark Moon greatsword from Elden, splitting both Drolta and part of a building in two.

Fuckin' A. And they don't ruin it with with a forced one-liner or subversion of such! Amazing. All the happens afterwards is Richter turns to Olrox saying he'll kill him, just not today.

In the aftermath, Olrox saves Misrak by turning him; Richter and Annette confess to eachother, departing to Saint-Domingue along with Edouard. Juste comes out of retirement, Alucard decides he's tired of traveling and will stay in France for the time, and Maria is a little all too keen on the continuing beheadings-- as she's watched by Tera, the shadowy hand of Old Man Coyote on her shoulder.

And That's Castlevania Nocture Season 2. It's freaking good.

It's a legitimately well written story that does just about everything I wanted with these versions of the characters, with even a few surprises thrown in. Is it better than season 1… That's a hard call. I think Nocturne Season 1 was more ambitious in some ways, with stuff like how Edouard and night creatures were handled, Richter's PSTD, and actually giving Annette a character. Very intriguing and different stuff. On the other hand, I think season 2 is better paced and does more for most of those characters. Not ending on a huge cliffhanger is also a boon in me eyes. The creative team simply seems a lot more comfortable having both season 1 under their belt and established characters to work with.

If I did have a notable criticism of this season, Bathory having spies follow Alucard to find out that Sekhmet's mummy was located in the "place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts" is probably the goofiest plot detail. I understand the Louvre wasn't firmly established as a museum yet, but that still seems like the place you should check first.

Also the music kinda just washed over me. I've always tried to give the series some leeway when it comes to music, even if I do find it very annoying you only get one game track per season, if that. But man, even as far as atmospheric stuff goes, I couldn't recount much. A very "yeah the music there that fits the mood at any given time." And that's rather backhanded, isn't it? I feel bad saying it, but I just don't remember much. We get Divine Bloodlines again, but it's the same version as last season so hearing it is a little less special, if albeit used appropriately in the finale battles.

Other than that I don't have a lot of criticisms with season 2.

As for the next season? Well, I'm certainly intrigued by the implications left hanging for this one. But I'm not sure if I'll bother reviewing it when it comes. I've thus far kept up with reviewing all the Castlevania seasons, but this is also the first time a season has dropped where I haven't had Netflix. This very well might just be a one off simply because I don't think Netflix is worth it year round and it's troublesome just for one show.

Other than that obvious caveat, absolutely check out Season 2 of Nocturne. Next time I'll be getting back to Tokusatsu with a review of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.

B. Sky

Ko-fi

[steampunkishfoxes]

Clara Carmine headcanons

Note: I'm new to the fan content scene on Tumblr, still figuring things out! I’m going to be making headcanons based on different fictional characters I adore, from different franchises/fandoms!

Clara Carmine is the daughter of Carmilla Carmine, one of the overlords in the series Hazbin Hotel on Amazon Prime. She’s one of my favourite characters and I wanted to dedicate my first headcanon post to her! Clara only has about 10-15 seconds of screen time, and one spoken line, but I adore her!

NSFW/SFW, Mature themes: discussion of death, discussion of cartels, discussions of weapons and violence, discussion of murder and a planned attack on a family, family themes, sexuality, pronouns, discussions of blood.

PERSONALITY HEADCANONS.

The following headcanons discuss what I think she would’ve been like on earth and what she’s like in hell.

-Clara is the younger of the two sisters, about 18 years of age physically, her soul is around 25 years old.

-She identifies as a demigirl, with she/they pronouns.

-She used to struggle a lot with her sexuality, she never really saw the fun in boys, but never paid attention to girls either. With help from her sister she found out she was lesbian around the age of 16 on earth.

-She looks a lot like her father, but her personality is more like her mother.

-Fluent in English, Spanish and French, though she’s attempted to learn Portuguese too.

-She’s fiercely protective over Odette, when the two were in school on earth Clara was always the one who stood up for her older sister when she was bullied.

-She hasn’t lost her confidence after finding herself in hell. She isn’t afraid to fight any demon that hurts her sister or mother, but doesn’t often get the chance to fight because of Carmilla’s protective and motherly nature.

-In the Carmine weapons business she takes the role of delivery girl alongside her sister Odette.

-In her free time she plays music, she has a customised guitar she uses to write and record her own song covers- this girl can SING!

-She’s very active on Sinstagram, posting music covers for any listening ear.

-Clara owns one soul, a lackey from the cartel she worked for on earth, who came to the Carmines for protection.

ROOM HEADCANONS.

Because every demon needs a safe place to call home, these are the headcanons I have for Clara’s room in the Carmine Mansion, down in hell!

-Clara’s room has slate blue walls and is covered with posters and pictures, most of them depicting her family. She has a large family picture of her, her mother and sister in front of their business on her ceiling above her bed, so she can look up at it every night.

-She has a queen sized bed with matte royal blue covers and a lot of pillows.

-She has a wolf plushie, affectionately named Wolfie, which she’s had since she was 2 years old. Wolfie has a top hat and bowtie.

!!MATURE THEMES AHEAD!!: discussion of death, discussion of cartels, discussions of weapons and violence, discussion of murder and a planned attack on a family.

The following headcanons discuss the surroundings of Clara’s death.

Family headcanon: Carmilla’s ex husband left her shortly after Clara’s birth, leaving her with two young daughters in a broken city in Mexico. Carmilla entered the weapons business, working for a well known and dangerous cartel. She started out delivering weapons but learned how to make them for a bigger payout. As her daughters grew up, she took bigger, more risky jobs to be able to protect them. One night a rival gang broke into their house and killed the family in cold blood.

-Clara was the first of Carmilla’s daughters to find out about her mother’s secret job, finding her making weapons in the garage when she was about 12 years old. Carmilla asked her to stay silent, but Clara told her older sister immediately.

-She was also the first to enter the family business, stealing a package Carmilla was supposed to deliver to the cartel. Clara delivered it instead and used the money she earned to buy her mother a birthday present. Carmilla told her not to do that, but reluctantly let Clara help with simple, risk free deliveries. Clara was 15.

-Clara befriended one of the cartel members, a bodyguard.

-Clara was the first one to die in the attack. When she was 19, her mother and sister were asleep after watching a movie. Clara was dozing off when she was startled wide awake by pounding on the door.

-Before she could even open it, the door was kicked open, hitting her in the head. She fell, her and her family were quickly grabbed and restrained.

-Clara was dizzy from the hit and confused, she vaguely heard shouting and crying.

-The last thing she saw as a human was her family, her mother’s and sister's faces as she was shot in the chest, the first death in the Carmine home invasion. Clara was 18 when she died.

-Clara’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, and a fatal shot to the heart.

-She hides the shot mark under her shirt, ashamed of the moment she let her guard down.

LIKES/DISLIKES HEADCANONS.

Foods, colours, animals, and everything in between!

-Food: Anything spicy is a big hit! She hates bland and boring food and will often add peppers or some kind of hot sauce for that perfect kick with every meal! Except for breakfast, she’ll never try cereal with hot sauce again.

-Colours: Black, dark shades of green and blue. She’s not a fan of red, reminding her of the blood she saw on her hands when she died.

-Animals: Wolves, wolves, WOLVES! She loves any canine but mostly wolves! They remind her of how fiercely protective she is over her family! She doesn’t like birds, they creep her out.

-Music: Besides her own music, she loves music from her heritage! Flamenco, salsa, she’ll listen and sing along to it all! Classical music is a BORE though, it always makes her so sleepy.

-Movies: She was never huge on movies, but when she was little, she always watched the movie Balto, dreaming of snow. She hates movies with blood, it reminds her of her own weakness.

-A weird collection she has: Heart shaped stuff! If she’s out in the city and she sees a cool rock shaped vaguely like a heart, she’ll pocket it and show it to her family at home, some of her hearts are questionable, but she loves it all!

-A guilty pleasure: Watching the sunset from her balcony. It’s quiet and simple, she’s loved it since she was a kid.

-Her biggest fear: Being unable to try and protect her family, like when she died. She can’t handle the weak, pathetic feeling, she may have panic attacks when thinking about it.

CHARACTER HEADCANONS

How does Clara fall into the ensemble of hell? Who would she bond with, and who would she hate?

-Who from the entire cast would she hate the most?

The Vees, mainly Velvette, because of how she treats her mother.

-If she met the Hazbin Hotel staff and inhabitants, who would she bond with?

Vaggie, both are strong souls with a tragic past!

-Who would she most likely have a song with? About what?

With her mother and sister, a song about protecting each other no matter what, almost like an “Out for love” reprise

Thank you for reading all the way through!! I’m planning on making way more headcanons in the future! Feel free to ask for specific characters/headcanons in the comments!

A list of future projects:

-Odette Carmine

-Carmilla Carmine

-Zestial Morde

-Lute

-Adam

[vickyvicarious]

For the Dracula daily ask game:

🩸BLOOD What is your favourite Dracula adaptation?

🧛‍♀️VAMPIRE Which book do you think Dracula fans should read next?

✍️WRITING HAND If you could change one thing about Dracula, what would it be?

🩸- I've actually seen very few. I'm not a big movie person, and most of what I've heard hasn't motivated me to hunt those down. I did have a blast watching The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (or The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires), which is emphatically not any kind of direct adaptation but is still really fun. It's a martial arts movie from the 70s involving lots of kung fu, Chinese vampires, Dracula vs Van Helsing, some evil body swapping if I recall correctly... Anyways, it's not really a relevant answer here. I've heard very good things about the Michael Pink ballet and intend to watch it soon. I've also read and enjoyed The Route of Ice and Salt which is a book about the Captain of the Demeter.

🧛‍♀️- There's a lot of classic vampire or gothic novels that I think readers would enjoy if they haven't read them already! Carmilla, The Vampyre, The Family of the Vourdalak, Wake Not the Dead, and The Horla are some old vampire(esque in the last one) tales I would definitely recommend. I would also suggest branching out to other types of classic monsters or detective fiction.

✍️- I would like to not have the one group of Evil People Who Help Dracula racism. Just removing the slurs wouldn't solve that, and I'm not sure how to keep all plot elements the same while still avoiding villainizing them - the most minor change would be keeping the plot largely the same but making it clear somehow that they are being coerced/threatened into aiding him much like various other characters are at the start. All the other infuriating moments at least tie in to the themes of the work a lot better, but in addition to being racist, this also just contradicts the general theme of all the people we see wanting, at core, to help one another or just do their jobs.

[spookycathymorshaw]

If you're looking for me, I'm hiding from blood-starved Gothic literature fans.

[ragingphantom666]

Scorpion (Carmilla Black)

Carmilla, originally clone SM-163, is a mentally-unstable clone of Spider-Man created by Alchemax. After she is put in SHIELD custody, she is given the name “Carmilla Black.”

She is set to appear in The Amazing Spider-Man.

[hershelchocolate]

Okay oddly specific question but @ the mechs fans out there is there. Any canonical information on Carmilla? Asking for a friend (the friend is me I do not have the time to go through all the fiction please help)