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darkspellmaster · 5 years ago

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Castlevania Season 3: In Regard to the Alucard Situation, or How to make him go Darker and more emo as they drag him into Symphony of the Night

So for those that are going to be reading below the cut, there are spoilers for the new season, the game and the following CD Drama Nocturne of Recollection which follows events of Symphony and introduces past events for Alucard.

Before I go any farther, I’m putting the links up here and refrecing them by numbers in the peice so that it’s easier to find them.

1. Akumajo Dracula X: Tsuioku no Yasokyou or Nocturne Recollection (in English) -Link to the Castlevania Wiki on the subject of the Symphony of the Night Drama CD

2. Subed version of Noctune of Recollection -done by Shido T.

3. Shido T.’s Nocturne of Recollection -Translated Transcript of the drama CD by Shido T.

So after watching Season 3, and I’ll have a review up of the whole season when I get a chance, I realized why I was so disappointed in the events regarding Alucard. It wasn’t just the idea of Mr. Ellis using christian iconography (Judas Kiss, cross wrapped in thorns, they know not what they do, etc) as he did with Lisa (something he likes to do for certain characters even in his own works -hey Authority how you doing?), that was fine, I was expecting that. And it wasn’t just the idea of an assault (rape, could qualify for it as it was done to him using means that didn’t allow him to consent to something that was being told to him honestly) as a means of making him hate Humanity, that was something I was expecting, again based on Mr. Ellis’s other works, since it’s clear that he’s trying to push Alucard as far as possible from wanting to be awake so that when we get to the Symphony of the Night story it will make sense why he’s in the coffin again.

No what got to me was that these two bland and flat characters were created just for the purpose of, well, fridging them for Alucard to go dark. (For those that don’t know Fridging is a term used in Comic tropes where Character A is killed so that Character B has some trauma or dramatic growth in comics, and is typically a woman but can be other genders or living things -dog from John Wick for example.) Sumi, or Zumi, and Taka come off as basically put there to die characters. They are strategically created for the express purpose to betray Adrian and die. That is pretty much it. There to build him up so that when he falls he falls far, far farther than before, thus probably forcing Trevor and Sypha to seal him away so that he can repair his own issues or something.

This is something that keeps gnawing at me. Alucard is not dumb enough to let his guard down like this, ever. Even in the first two seasons, he was crafty about watching and observing Trevor and Sypha to see who and what they were about before trusting them. It’s clear that this season was not written with the same thought process as Season 1 and 2 which were cohesive and thoughtful in how each character and plot beat set up the events that leads to the end of the story of Dracula (and boy oh boy do I have thoughts about Lisa in Hell because...that makes no sense given who she’s probably connected to). He wouldn’t be letting them just into his life like this, he’d be cagey and cautious, given they are unknown factors, and wouldn’t be just randomly sleeping in his bed like this. He’d be locking their doors and locking his.

To be frank Adrian at this point in time would already have limited trust of humans because he’d have seen his mother die one year before. He uses his glamour to go down to the village and do thing. This has been shown in later games when he’s in his Genya Arikado form in Japan. The man is good at hiding out, and is way older than Trevor or Sypha, so trusting people would be on his low end already. He’s seen a lot of shit (especially if they go the ‘He’s Trevor’s daddy or grand-daddy route) and isn’t a character that is just trusting. Read his lines from Symphony and even Castlevania III, and you’ll see that he’s a man that can trust, but it’s hard to gain that trust. Same with Sonia Belmont in the non canonical game, it takes a long while for him to gain trust with her and eventually work with her to defeat his father.

Which brings us to the issue with Sumi(Zumi) and Taka. Both characters are supposed to be analogs of people that were harmed by the Vampires who want them to pay for their actions. Both are well voiced, but their characterizations are flat as all get out to me. Which shouldn’t be a surprise as the arc feels like Mr. Ellis was pulling from a dropped idea from his run on Authority. While, yes they are not twins, it’s clear that there had to be some assumption in making them look alike for added creepy factor in this. Which again, rings odd to me that Alucard would allow his room to be wide open at all with strangers, as they have only known him for a short time (remember how he was cautious around Trevor and his regard about killing Vampires).

Honestly, I would say take them out and replace them, because there is a better story to be had and it already has connections to the series and could bring about two very interesting characters from the Drama CD and expand on Alucard, Dracula, and Lisa all in one go.

So a quick Summary is needed here about Nocturne of Recollection. The basic parts that are important are that Alucard is dealing with another vampire who is attacking people, and seemingly attacking his new found friend (love of his life) Maria. This turns out to be a former friend/servant Lyudmil, who at one point had been tossed from his village for trying to help Lisa and ended up coming to work under Dracula and serving Adrian. The two became friends, until something happened in Lyudmil’s village and he became a vampire and Alucard went way dark for a while, leading to Dracula’s servant Magnus to come and manipulate Lyudmil into hating Humans more and eventually leading the two friends to fight, and Lyudmil to change sides and work with Alucard, only to end up dying from mortal wounds.

Just for the record:

This is Lyudmil

And this is Magnus:

Where unlike in Season 3 a made up couple of people can come in and wreck him, I think a far better story would be to use the two characters from Nocturne and build that into Season 4 in regard to Alucard’s story.

If...and I say this again, If, I were to advise about how these two characters could work better in setting up Alucards fall I would say that they play a larger idea into the savior turned sinner narrative that could really screw up Alucard’s mind for a while.

So, how would I go about telling this tale of tragedy that could bring Alucard down with out having to resort to a full on sex scene that wasn’t needed to show how intimacy can be corrupted and how people can be betrayed by their own human fallacies...

The arc would start with Lyudmil coming from the town near the castle and Magnus starting out his plans. We start with Adrian doing as he does in the opening sequences and learn that he’s being observed by someone as the night comes into play. This would be Magnus who we learn has been watching the castle for the past week or two. He was a servant of Dracula, and, unlike the other vampires, didn’t make it to the feast. Of course he wants to know what’s up with Alucard and, like the other vampires, has been trying to carve out his own safe place, but with Dracula dead, and him being weaker, it has become very hard for him to survive. So he wants to have the castle for himself as a place to be safe (maybe bring back Dracula).

Meanwhile you have Lyudmil whom we learn lives at the edge of the town where Lisa once tended the sick. Lyudmil’s mother was the midwife that helped Lisa give birth to Adrian. (For the sake of everything we can say that Lyudmil is the same age or a year younger than Adrian, and his sister is like a year younger than him so. Adrian is 20, Lyudmil is 20 to 19, and his sister, Liliya is 19 to 18.) Because when the Bishop came to arrest her Lyudmil and his sister defended Lisa they were thrown from the city for trying to help her. Since they’re on their own, they’ve been living off the land and with the Night creatures causing trouble, and illness coming because of them, Lily, Lyudmil’s younger sister, is very sick.

Lyudmil hears word from the few people that will interact with him, that Dracula is dead, and because he can’t think of any other way to help his sister, he decides to take her to the castle and see if any of Lisa’s books are there. Lyudmil takes his sister and heads off with her to reach the castle and find a cure. After a month of travel, since the Castle is now over the Belmont Keep, Lyudmil finds the castle and Adrian senses him, and attacks. Lyudmil is not a fighter so he runs and ends up asking Alucard to not kill him as he just wants to find Lisa’s books to save his sister. Adrian is curious about this, and Lyudmil show’s he’s not lying by bringing Adrian to Liliya who is clearly sick with an illness. He’s not sure if he can help, but he figures that his mother’s books may have something, so he welcomes the duo into the castle.

Alucard uses his mother’s books to cure Liliya. The two are asked to stay in the castle for Lily to recover. While this is happening Magnus realizes that Adrian was one of the ones that Killed Dracula, thanks to a magic item that lets him see what happened to Dracula in his last minutes. Angry that the son of Dracula would allow Humans into his master’s home and that the boy is living there after he killed his own father, Magnus decides he wants to screw over Adrian for his own personal reasons.

Magnus sets about making the town near where the Belmont keep is turn on the two young people. He has been showing up at a field near the castle dressed as a merchant who is selling items and collecting flowers to dress up said items. Alucard is wary of him but gives into his human side and figures that the merchant is not that bad. Though all the time that he talks to Adrian, we get these moments of him twisting words to make Alucard question and doubt himself and his reasons of allowing the duo to stay.

At the same time we learn that Liliya wants to learn to heal, since someone needs to take up Lisa’s job in the village when they go back, and Lyudmil wants to learn from Adrian how to fight so he can eventually become a city protector. The trio start to form a deep bond, and viewers learn that both Liliya and Lyudmil have feelings for Alucard. We spend time getting to know the trio, and use them for the lighter moments in the show, compared to say, Hectors story. We learn about their family and the connection to Lisa, also we learn how their mother died giving birth to Liliya and how their father was killed by some night creature just before Liliya was born. Lyudmil doesn’t like people, but he also doesn’t want kids to be like him. Near the end of the season, Magnus rouses the towns suspicions enough with the castle and the two siblings that when Liliya goes out to get followers a group of men come and capture her and drag her to the village for trial of being in league with the Night creatures.

Here they basically beat or harm her, trying to make her confess to connections, (this act is unknown to most of the village). Magnus banks on her crying out for help, which she does, and uses that to unleash his minions on the town. Lyudmil goes looking for her when she’s late. leaving Alucard in the meadow where the trio eat together. Magnus, as the Merchant, tells Lyudmil where to find his sister. When he gets into town it’s a wreck and he fights his way into the building where he finds her tied up and the men are scared. Angry, Lyudmil kills them all and rescues his sister, dragging her out to the forest area and leaving her to rest, so he can go and find the monster that is controlling all of this and basically stop them from harming any kids there, as he sees them as innocent in all this.

Magnus, as the merchant, goes to see Alucard, who has seen the smoke and was already headed for the woods, and tells him what happened. He then leads him to Liliya who is dying from her wounds from earlier. She asks Alucard to save her brother, and then dies. Alucard rushes to the town, fights a bunch of creatures who scatter, as it’s part of the plan and finds a mortally wounded Lyudmil. Conflicted on what to do Magnus comes by as himself and, since he’s an Incubus, starts putting temptations into Alucard’s ear.

Lyudmil for his part thanks Alucard for all the kindness he offered him and says that he’s glad they had their short time together and that he’s sorry to leave him. Magnus keeps reminding Alucard of how alone he was before the two came, that Liliya asked him to save Lyudmil, that as Dracula’s son he could change Lyudmil to keep him alive, etc. Alucard in a moment of weakness and desperate not to be alone, as Lyudmil has his eyes closed and is ready to die, bites and turns him into a vampire.

Last episode of the season ends with Lyudmil waking up and finding out he’s a vampire. He’s not exactly thrilled about it, but realizes that he can stay and learn from Alucard how to uses these powers to protect others and hunt down the one that turned him and probably caused his sister’s death. Alucard lies to him when pressed about who turned him, he says it was a vampire, and Lyudmil thinks it was the guy that seemed to control the monsters.

We now have a set up for Season 4 that makes sense for a fall for Alucard and a far deeper betrayal. Alucard has betrayed his own beliefs, his own word. He’s take a life and twisted it, like his father, and then lied for his own desprate need to make sure that Lyudmil doesn’t leave him because he feels alone. This guilt and grief over the loss of Liliya and his own cover up to Lyudmil, slowly eats away at him and makes him push Lyudmil away through season 4, until Magnus blows everything to hell when he gets Lyudmil to find out that Alucard was the one to turn him. which in turn causes a fight, and Lyudmil to question everything that Alucard had done for him and his sister and leads him in the season eventually to change sides to Magnus and betray Alucard, by litterally stabbing him in the back, and leaving him to die. Where in you have Trevor and Sypha come and find their friend in bad shape wanting to know what happened, only for him to say he fucked up, and begs them to put him in his coffin to sleep after Sypha heals his wounds.

This would lead to a wide open castle for Isaac for season 5, and a set up for a later season of the Rondo of blood/Symphony of the Night arc.

Having Alucard betray his own beliefs makes him more like his father than killing Taka and Sumi. When Mathias lost his wife Elisabetha, he used his best friend to get what he wanted, which was immortality. He went against his own beliefs about their friendship and focused on his own desires to make his own wish come true, which in this case was to screw over God and Humans for taking his beloved Elisabetha away. Yet, he still wanted that close association with Leon Belmont, whom he’d known since they were kids, and when Leon rejected him in the end it broke everything that Mathias was clinging on to in the hopes of some sense of not being a full on monster.

For Alucard, who didn’t want to be like his dad, who could walk in the light, who cared for people and had told Trevor and Sypha he would be okay, this action would have been a tipping point. How could he be so damn selfish to turn someone because of his own needs. How could he corrupt Liliya’s dying request to save her brother into some personal wish to not be alone and corrupted it in his mind so that he didn’t have to feel guilty over it. What makes it all the worse then is that he no longer believes he had the right to stand up against his father since they are alike and he did a horrible thing to a friend, just as Mathias had to Leon. Loyalty can also play a part in it, as well as truth and trust, since Alucard is all of 20 at this point.

You can have a hell of a philosophical situation there about desires, requests, and how far to go to save someone. Are they alike, or is it all in the lies from Magnus. Magnus would also be someone that Alucard could conflict with as it would allow for the two different views of Dracula to show off how they both feel about things. Magnus wanting to be a son to Dracula, to be praised and loved by him as a child or a servant to a master. Someone who cares for the darker side of the man yet feels compassion and empathy for him. Where as Alucard, feels love for his father, he also knows that the man is capable of great evil and needs to be stopped and wants him to be in the light. Magnus could easily be the opposite of Carmilla, someone who is grieving the loss of Dracula as much, or possibly more so, than Isaac as he was probably with Dracula longer. Where as she is glad he’s dead and is free to do as she pleases.

It just feels like there could have been a better story arc for him in here instead of what we got. There’s so much rich lore in Castlevania and the connections between characters that it feels kind of wrong that the story of Alucard, Lyudmil and Magnus was left on the way side, and in stead we have a pair of characters that are okay over all but ultimately a waste.

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