#cause Hector choosing Dracula over his own humanity is one thing...

[the-crow-binary]

My mind is forever tainted, for I seem incapable of imagining a "what if Hector stayed by Isaac's side and CoD was them against Trevor" scenario without including a "they hook up with Trevor together" scenario.

[beevean]

I just. The parallels in Hector and Isaac’s designs are so good.

I love the angel/devil motif they have going on. Hector is conventionally pretty, with a soft face, long wavy silver hair, baby blue eyes, and is dressed in blue (and black, to symbolize his dark past). Isaac has stronger features (which is a godsend among the plethora of “same faced long haired pretty boys” drawn by Kojima), slick red hair that covers half of his face, grey/yellow eyes, and is dressed in reddish black. He even wears red makeup and has black tattoos all over his body.

The angel/devil motif is blazoned in the Devil Forgemaster crest as well, as they’re not one thing or the other, but in between. Not angels nor devils, not fully human nor fully otherworldly, always on the edge: from there, they choose their own paths. And I adore when in fanart their positions are reversed compared to the placement of the wings on the crest <3

https://at.tumblr.com/whitecatarts/hector-and-isaac-castlevania-has-always-been-one/2clhzacnuoqj

Speaking of Isaac in particular, red hair and yellow eyes hint at some kind of demonic nature. In the franchise, only two other characters have flaming red hair: the vampire Walter, and the Succubus in SoTN (and Simon in Chronicles, but I don’t understand why). Red hair has been historically associated with witchcraft and vampirism, and Isaac descends from a formidable family of dark sorcerers and is the loyal servant of a vampire. As for the yellow eyes, the only other character in the series with the same color is Alucard, a half-vampire. There is enough evidence to theorize that Isaac could be a cambion, or a changeling. After all, he and his sister Julia look absolutely nothing alike... Too bad that it would ruin the overall theme of “humans who don’t belong to the human world” :\ it’d make for an interesting AU, I think.

And yet, and yet. They still have part of each other in their design. Hector has a red sash wrapped around his waist; Isaac’s armor includes a little blue crystal. They also carry the pain caused by the other: Rosaly’s black headband is wrapped around Hector’s sash, as her tragic fate was caused by Isaac and Hector’s past; Isaac’s outfit is what’s left of his Devil Forgemaster uniform after Hector slashed and broke it, much like Hector’s actions indirectly broke Isaac. They’re intertwined to the core.

Isaac having the Devil Forgemaster’s crest tattooed on his back says a lot about him. Unlike Hector, who could take off his vest and stop being recognizeable as a Forgemaster, Isaac chose to be branded for life. This might also be why he stayed away from human civilization during those three fateful years: he really couldn’t have shown his face, or better his body, anywhere. It speaks about his loyalty, running much deeper than Hector’s, but also of his insecurity, so eager he was to show his commitment to his Lord. Hector didn’t need to be tattooed: his proficiency was more than enough.

Even their own names are parallels of each other! Hector is Greek in origin (most famous example being General Hector of the Trojan War) and it means “to hold fast” or “restrain”, hinting at his strong will that allows him to break free from Dracula’s Curse. Isaac is Biblical in origin and refers to the son of Abraham, who was nearly sacrificed in the name of God to prove Abraham’s loyalty: Isaac, loyal to Dracula beyond reason, also get sacrificed to his “God”, but unlike his namesake, he was not saved in time. It also means “he will laugh”, which Isaac does... a lot... not for good reasons...

Honestly at this point my only problem is with the details of Hector’s design. I have no clue of what’s going on with his arms, or if he has holes in his pants and how he covers them. But otherwise I really appreciate how much thought was put into both of them. And this is not even getting into the parallels of their personalities.

[beevean]

Part two! Continues from here. Finally, we can talk about the real stars of this season, Hector and Isaac! Who

...

fuck I can’t do this.

After some discussions with @woodchipp​, I’ve decided to call them Caesar and Abraham respectively, because my brain cannot accept that I’m actually watching the same characters that starred in hit game Curse of Darkness, and my thoughts quickly devolve into gibberish. I choose Abraham to, well, keep the connection with Isaac, to emphasize how Isaac as a character was named after his own cruelly symbolic death (because he’s more than “that weird fetishy guy”, he’s a genuinely tragic villain and this is where I will perish i stg), and because in the Bible Abraham nearly killed Isaac and what am I if not a spiteful bitch? :^) Woodchipp chose Caesar because it means “thick head of hair” lmao - and it fits, because while Hector is both pretty and a badass, Caesar’s cute, soft looks are pretty much the one worthy thing about him.

*sigh* I’ll get there. I so will get there.

(this, btw, was decided before we discovered that Caesar’s little zombie pug was named, in fact, Cezar. The coincidence was too funny to drop. Caesar is also pretty much a shell of a dog, after all :^) )

Is this childish? Maybe! But you’ll understand. I’ll just slap the salt mine video on myself and go on.

Anyway, Caesar and Abraham. I have Words, as promised. As a final warning before proceeding, this post is somewhat image heavy.

I start with the mother of all nitpicks lol: Caesar and Abraham are not Devil Forgemasters, just Forgemasters! And I never realized how silly this sounds until I found a clip in Italian, because in my head, I kept adding “Devil” before it. Admittedly this is more of a translation trivia than criticism, but I wanted to get this out of my chest. In the Italian version of CoD, the term was Forgiatore Diabolico, which is a nearly perfect translation, although it could also sounds like the forgemasters themselves are devilish. Still, close enough, I can tell that this profession 1) deals with creating, and 2) is demonic in nature. But Forgemaster in the show is just Fabbro Mastro, which is the perfect translation of the word, and it’s just unfitting! It means Master Blacksmith, and how am I supposed to get from it, and from simply Forgemaster, that these two are glorified necromancers?

And yeah, that’s what they are. And I don’t have much of a problem about it, tbf. In the game, Hector and Isaac can... well, I have no idea, Hector can deadass nullify Dracula’s curse with his powers which is straight up OP and nothing like what was established before. Isaac also says in the first cutscene that they can create devils from “a wisp of conjured matter” (English)/”a bundle of magical power” (Japanese), whatever that means. As a game mechanic, Hector infuses life into stone statues embedded with gems, which is what makes the most sense to me. In the show, Caesar and Abraham use special tools to put a demonic soul into a corpse: the former uses a warhammer to really drive home the forging part, the latter uses a knife because it’s quick and efficient. I appreciate that they gave us a more definite visual image of their powers, and it still works the same purpose of building Dracula’s army, so okay.

(it does cause a small plot hole later on - how did Caesar learn as a boy that he can resurrect corpses by using a tool, by accident? We see him using two coins in a flashback. What kind of incident could have lead to that? In the manga, Hector doesn’t seem to have control over the animals he attracts, so it makes more sense that he accidentally discovered his talent)

Speaking of things that make sense, Caesar and Abraham’s introduction also gives an explanation as to why they’re still human, while defending them from Godbrand who doesn’t want to defer to two humans: were they vampires, they’d be “driven by thirst”, and probably act selfishly. Since they’re humans, it proves that they’re there because they’re 100% loyal to Dracula, so loyal that they’re willing to harm their own kind. Vampires see humans as livestock and don’t really understand them: Caesar and Abraham’s hatred is far more personal, and drives them better, just as much as Dracula’s own hatred. Well, in canon leaving Hector human was a big fuck up on Dracula’s part (in fact, has Dracula ever vampirized anyone in canon? I only know Annette if you don’t save her in Dracula X), but the logic is sound for now.

Aaand this is ruined by Caesar’s very first line being “Godbrand, you’ve never met anything that you didn’t immediately kill, fuck, or make a boat of”, because writing.mp4. And this is going to be the peak of his character :^)

Deep breaths. I think I need to talk about Abraham first, since he has far less issues. And he’s fine. When I forget who he’s supposed to be, he’s a decent character so far. He’s soft spoken, melancholic, so convinced that love doesn’t exist in this world, to the point that he basically thinks that love and humanity are inversely proportional. His mentality is a little hard to understand, but that’s okay, I will probably get to know him better in the future. I like how he hides a cold heart under his gentle personality, but it doesn’t come off as a façade. He’s also shown to be a force to be reckoned with, as he can kill Godbrand with fair ease (I’m not going to guess how strong Godbrand is, I hate powerscaling). I would say that he’s smart, but after his justification for going with Carmilla’s plan, no, not really.

He lacks charisma, though: he’s way too subdued, serious and quirkless, and most of his dialogue is “muh loyalty, muh love, muh purity” without much that makes him entertaining - I’m not asking for him to approach Isaac’s level of fun, that’s too tall of an order :P just something to make him stand out. Considering how popular he is, though, and what little I spoiled myself with, I have the faintest of hopes for Season 3 and 4.

I think one of the reasons he lacks charisma is the utter lack of any relationship with Caesar. The two are strictly coworkers. Abraham looks down on Caesar, and Caesar barely acknowledges his existence until he’s asked to manipulate him. Abraham even acknowledges that he thinks that becoming friends with Caesar, a human, would be counterproductive in a war against humanity, which... why? I am with Caesar, the two are Devil Forgemasters before being humans, and being allies would actually make them stronger and, y’know, less prone to manipulation, wink wink nudge nudge? I can guess that the two will become friends by Season 4, but it feels like missed potential.

Of all the things I expected him to have in common with Isaac, a connection to pain was low on my list. Abraham self-flagellates as a result of the abuse he suffered as a child and to “discipline” himself, which I took as a mild connection to Isaac’s masochistic outfit (we only see Isaac harm himself once in Prelude to Revenge and probably as a result of his growing insanity, but him being tattooed from head to toe and the random piercings on his abs and bicep suggest that he might like pain a little too much - the subtext became text in the show, basically). Considering his concept art with the vaguely BDSM outfit, I wonder how similar he was supposed to be, and what lead his character to be changed to this point.

Like Isaac, Abraham’s main trait is his unquestioning loyalty to Dracula, but completely opposite to game canon, instead of being seen as the “spare” one, Dracula actually seems to care more about Abraham than Caesar! They’re best buds, they talk as equals, Dracula is 100% honest with him! Dracula saved his life and that’s why Abraham is so attached to him! ... soooo he’s basically human Death. Well, now we know where he ended up!

(don’t know where to put it, but I don’t know how to feel about Dracula seeking Caesar and Abraham out. There is technically little wrong with it, and I see how they tried to make Dracula more sympathetic and Abraham’s devotion more reasonable, but I have two issues. One, we don’t see how Dracula actually met them, and dialogue implies that he already knew about Caesar’s powers somehow, which is odd. Two, one of my favorite parts of Hector and Isaac’s backstories is how they fled on their own and sought refuge in Castlevania as children. Don’t you think it also somewhat humanizes Dracula as well, that he took those poor boys under his wing, even if at the end it was mainly for their powers? Plus, no wonder the two have no relationship if they knew each other as adults, instead of growing up together. Ahhh the missed potential :( )

His backstory... apparently generated some controversies? I’m not sure, and I’m genuinely asking anyone who’s reading this to inform me lol, because the controversies I see, much like with Caesar in Season 3, are not the controversies I’ve seen breaking the fandom. So, he was a slave of a priest (muh church bad), which sure is a way to justify a black Muslim person in 15th century Wallachia, and he went through a lot of abuse. His convinction that love doesn’t exist in this world comes from the brutal way his master rejected his confession. And yes, it was romantic love, in Japanese it was translated to aishiteru. But now I have to be petty: if Isaac is (... ehhh understandably) considered “bad gay representation” because he kisses Trevor while he’s impaling him, why isn’t Abraham being in love with his torturer as a young boy just as bad? Did he really need to love his master romantically? Aren’t you equating homosexual love with abuse and power imbalance? C’mon, be consistent.

(the weird Benedictine monks kiss joke that apparently wasn’t a joke also doesn’t count, I’d almost say that it’s OOC for Abraham)

The ending of the season sets his character arc up. He decides that he will become a more independent villain, although still loyal to the deceased Dracula. Admittedly, I more or less already know where he’s going to end, and it’s a good direction for a character previously defined by nothing but unthinking loyalty... although I could only laugh at the band of over the top assholes who are supposed to make me think “see, isn’t Abraham right to hate all humans?”. writing.mp4 :V

And finally, I very much do not like his design. He’s literally just a guy who stumbled on set and donned himself a Devil Forgemaster outfit - a drab one too, it should have been red, fight me. He looks like Pucci without anything that makes Pucci visually distinct (and from what little I know about him, they’re also similar personality wise). Are the dots on his skin supposed to give him character? Not enough. I don’t know how to feel about the red eyes: at least he still has some red in him, but if they’re meant to represent his magical nature, I prefer Isaac’s vaguely yellowish eyes for being a (I can’t believe I’m saying this) subtler clue that there’s something wrong with him. In short, I’m not going to remember Abraham any time soon. I wish they kept his glorious red dreadlocks :’)

And now, it’s time for Caesar.

Where do I begin with him?

How about the fact that he’s a dog in human form. I thought Guts’ canid motif was obvious, but Caesar beats him by a mile. His personality can be summed up as “puppy”, as Carmilla lovingly does it for us. While he does have a bit of a strategic mind, even disagreeing with Abraham on the best course of action, he’s mainly placid, submissive, loyal, and childish, described by Abraham himself as “a little boy” and a “simple creature”, and by Dracula as a “child in a man’s body” (what do you mean that they didn’t need to tell us? This show loves its pointless exposition! peak writing :V). He’s such an animal lover that he rationalizes Dracula’s plan as the equivalent of culling and controlling an animal species, not senselessly hurting them but not allowing them to harming others - the concept of an animal-loving misanthrope is nothing new, but I actually appreciate how soft Caesar is in this regard. In fact, his worldview is so warped that at one point he seriously compares vampires to cats... to explain how in his mind they’re just as pure as animals. It’s so out of this world that even I wanted to pity him at that point.

He’s even has his own zombie pug, which is funny to me because Hector apparently loved cats in his childhood. They really did everything to make them one the opposite of the other.

By the way, Caesar’s childhood is taken straight from the manga! Alchemist father who only cares about money and power, mother who resents his very birth, him being abused for bringing “cursed” pets at home, a burned down house that forced him to flee (I do like, however, how it was Caesar who killed his own parents, it shows how desperate he was and how there’s some real dark side in him). So I can’t even say “read the manga”. Ellis just made his own OCs and thought they were so much better than canon. Fuck you too <3

The way his backstory is presented in the first episode is so rushed, too, unlike Abraham’s who got a full flashback. We hear his parents’ voices saying the usual cruel stuff, and we hear them burning to death, all while we see adult Caesar in front of the fire with little to no animation. This is all to explain to us very quickly why Caesar is a huge misanthrope, and weirdly enough, we do get a fuller flashback in episode 3 of him resurrecting a dog. But hadn’t I read the manga, where we see in much more detail how hated he was by everyone in his village and his soured views on God, I would have felt nothing for him. This show is praised for its writing.

Caesar’s design is... almost perfect! Nearly 1:1 to Hector’s, obviously simplified for animation purposes (rip holes in his pants lmao). The one thing that bothers me, and I know that it’s going to sound weird, is his hair - I don’t like how neatly cut his curls are, and I get that it’s probably for animation purposes again, but they don’t frame his head well and make him look even more childish.

and what the hell have you done to my baby boy. what is that haircut.

As for the color of his skin, I approve! It contrasts with his hair and it makes him look Mediterranean :) I like to headcanon that Hector is Greek in origin, and what do you know, Caesar apparently hid in Greece! I feel validated :D

(of course, his being nearly identical to Hector means that it’s much harder to pretend he’s a different person. But I won’t give up. For Hector’s sake.)

(also, something that bothers me is that Abraham and Caesar have different symbols on their vest: Caesar has a wind rose which is a simplified version of the Devil Forgemaster crest, Abraham has... a mask? Some kind of rune? This doesn’t make sense. It’s a Devil Forgemaster uniform. They should have the same symbol, that’s how uniforms work! The connection between the two, man!)

Now, he is seen to have some reservations about Dracula’s plans unlike Abraham, which is shockingly canon. While Caesar has no qualms in killing people, he doesn’t want to cause mindless bloodshed, or “gleefully paddling in the blood of children”. As I mentioned, he sees Dracula’s genocide through the lens of an animal lover, and he doesn’t approve of senseless suffering. I would be happy about this, as this could have genuinely been the beginning of Hector’s rebellion in the game/manga that could then spiral into “I don’t want to be a pawn” and “not all humans deserve to die” and “I am human too whether they want it or not”...

(this moment goes to all the geniuses who reduce Hector to a flat “badass”. Will you look at that, he can have more vulnerable moments while still keeping his personality! :D)

Also, unpopular opinion: it’s not impossible that Hector used to be similarly naive back then. Living half of your life in Castlevania cannot be healthy for your development, and he did faithfully serve Dracula until Lisa’s death, so he had been conditioned to obey somewhat. I can imagine a younger, more submissive Hector, especially if he had to live with Isaac and his much stronger personality ovewhelming him lmao.

It was there! The setup is all there! Look at that, how easily you could have flowed from “Hector the innocent animal lover” to “Hector the self-affirming traitor”. Maybe not in Season 2, but as a series-spanning general arc. Man, I so would have loved to see more of General Hector and what exactly turned into the anti-hero we know.

But.

The conflict presented in Season 2 is not about Caesar growing a spine. This is about him becoming Carmilla’s puppet.

Yep. We’re here, folks.

Let’s talk about the ukeification, and I do not use this term lightly, of what is supposed to be Hector.

Caesar falls for the most basic of manipulations, to the point that even Silver in ‘06 would tell him that he should activate his braincells. On one hand, sometimes Carmilla makes sense: searching for the Belmont household to prevent any of their weapons to harm Dracula is a good idea. Or, if Dracula wants to kill all humans, what’s to say that he wouldn’t turn against Caesar and Abraham eventually? This would have been even more poignant had Caesar known that he was lied to by Dracula himself. But other times, the manipulation doesn’t amount to anything more than “oh you’re so smart and talented :) you will do as I say because I say so :)”. Also the way she torments Caesar by following him as he’s walking away clearly uncomfortable... sweetie, that is the worst possible way to make yourself look trustworthy.

But of course, Caesar totally believes a vampire lord who in one breath calls Lisa a pet on virtue of being a human, and in the other acts so concerned about Caesar’s safety as a human. Dracula must be truly desperate, to enlist this fucking idiot as a strategist.

“The castle must land at Braila!”

“And why is that?”

“Because I wish it!”

what a superb chessmaster, no wonder one of Dracula’s best generals had no chance against her :V

I didn’t know beforehand that even Dracula manipulated Caesar to enlist him! With Abraham he’s honest and respectful, but with Caesar, he has to play along with his more benign point of view, “uhhh sure it’s a... it’s a culling, sure why not, whatever makes you happy”. Later on, Dracula says that Caesar’s “a child in a man’s body, and that makes it easy for him to be lied to”. Goddamnit, forget “puppy”, Caesar’s personality is basically “pawn”.

“There's betrayal abroad in the court, but Hector is a simpler creature than that.”

I want to bite someone to shreds.

*sigh* They really took everything Hector stood for and flipped on its head, didn’t they.

Now that’s the stuff <3 hector really said “lol you like being a pawn? rip to you but i’m built different uwu” get his ass you utter savage <3 look at that condescending smirk too <3

isaac here being #relatable. for later.

Okay, back to Caesar. He’s a sweet lil boy who is pushed to betray Dracula, so much for being a general and a strategist. By episode 5, Carmilla can say stuff like “I am in control”, call him “puppy” and #girlboss all over him, she gets to yank and push him around and berate him, and Caesar can’t do shit about it, because he’s “implicated”. Because Carmilla is such a badass, and she’s a badass by shitting on Caesar :^) love how he even admits at the end that he wasn’t even thinking of stabbing her, like he holds no grudge over being tricked, insulted and literally pushed around. So fun.

(oh, and nice rapey vibes from her. “You’re mine now, you have nothing left but me”. In case you didn’t find her heinous enough. I love how this ended up being a red herring in hindsight lmao)

Look, the thing is. Even if I accept that I’m not dealing with Hector, protagonist of hit game Curse of Darkness, the same dude who trekked through half of Wallachia to tear Isaac, Death and Dracula to shreds, first person in history who kicked Dracula’s ass without assistance (which is why I’m calling his Caesar, see I’m not just being a brat)... I really don’t like the treatment of his character. I’m fine with a character being naive to an uncomfortable degree, but not only I keep questioning how in the hell he managed to get such an important position in Dracula’s army, it’s not fun to watch other people shit on him and look down on him. First of all, I get it, stop beating me over the head. Second, character bashing is just not pleasant. I’m supposed to care for him because he gets no respect in canon, and that’s not good writing.

And what comes next sure isn’t pleasant.

There it is. Ellis’ weird fetish for torturing Caesar.

Well, there was the rapey line I mentioned earlier, but now it’s time to unleash my ire against this:

Very rarely does bad writing make me feel almost physically nauseous. I documented on my blog how much I loathed the scene in Other M where Adam shoots at Samus in the back, because it was stupid, humiliating, and way too happy to show a beloved character in severe pain, in all its gruesome voyeuistic detail. Guess what happens to Caesar here?

Look at Isaac’s face that I posted above. That was roughly my expression during this sequence.

I will give this scene one point - we’re not meant to ever sympathize with Carmilla, thank god. But this scene comes out of nowhere, and it’s nothing more than a long Kick the Dog moment for Carmilla, with too much attention on how scared and little and weak poor Caesar is. Look at the focus on him trembling on the floor, curled in a fetal position, like an abused dog (and fuck you so much for making me think that, you even put him on a leash because GET IT HE IS A DOG IN HUMAN FORM I FUCKING GET IT). Look at how Caesar doesn’t try to do anything, not to run away, not to defend himself, even his anger towards the woman who manipulated him to cause Dracula’s death comes off as underwhelming - “go to hell”, that’s your best? Look at the lovingly detailed cruelty. And I know I’m supposed to be horrified and feel sorry for little Caesar, but I’m not. I’m fucking pissed, and not at Carmilla herself.

I know this is a post dedicated to the Forgemasters, but I need to talk about Carmilla now.

Why is she doing this? As a character. What is the purpose of this scene? Shock value, of course; making you hate Carmilla even more, I hope (I hope because she has her fans, apparently, and I really don’t understand y’all). And then? She felt like beating Caesar up, because she could. What does it tell about her? That’s she’s evil? No fucking shit, I’ve been watching her strut around like an evil #girlboss turning everyone into a dumbass since episode 2.

I watched plenty of clips about her. The most common comments (when they aren’t joking about Hector - who is the sick fuck who called the scene of him being brutally beaten “animal abuse”) are all about how ironic it is that Carmilla became what she despised the most. She always rants about “crazy old men”, and she herself is a crazy old woman. So, the appeal is that Carmilla is a huge hypocrite, which I suppose it’s meant to flesh her out. Look at her, pretending to be chessmaster, when she’s not above beating the shit of a weak human like a brute. Ohh, so evil, so twisted.

I didn’t quite understand why I didn’t care for it, until I compared it to a scene in the CoD manga. Yup, you guessed it, it’s time for yet another episode of “Beevean won’t shut the fuck up about Isaac Laforeze”! :D because fuck you i deserve my comfort.

(I could have waited until Season 3, or even 4, where I’m sure we’ll get even more of Carmilla’s oh so unique “hypocrisy”. But screw it. It’s not like her character will get any more interesting from now on. Carmilla is fucking boring and flat as a board, and I know that her character development will simply be “goes insane”. Besides, I’ll have other matters to discuss then. I’m coming for you, Ms. Mommy Fetish, just you wait.)

Isaac’s most prominent character trait after being a horny slut is, of course, his devotion to Dracula. He’s a huge Dracula simp, perhaps the biggest simp after Death. He’s more than proud to serve him, it’s his whole identity, hell he wears a collar to show it! The biggest contrast with Hector is how loyal he is to the point of sealing his fate because of it, while Hector grew a spine and defected.

In the manga, Dracula orders Isaac to find out what happened to Hector and, if alive, to bring him back, so that Dracula can punish him as he sees fit. Very clear cut: Isaac is to find Hector, and that’s it. It’s Dracula who will torture and/or kill him. Hell, Isaac even dared to have one legitimate question, and he got glared into submission:

You do not fuck with Lord Dracula.

(btw, compare this with Dracula in the show who can’t even make himself be respected by his own council. Yeah.)

So of course, when he gets confirmation that Hector is alive and well, Isaac will be a good boy (hehe) and do as told, right?

Yeah. Isaac is a callous, remorseless, sadistic, petty, hypocritical piece of shit, but he has flaws too 💖

Seriously, though, think about it. His hatred for Hector is so strong at this point, that he’d rather slaughter his own underlings using Abel (who apparently can shoot lasers from his eyes here, geez, poor dude got exploded), so that he can kill Hector unopposed, and then go lie to Lord Dracula’s face about it.

You know. The dude who reduced Isaac to a shivering wreck after one question, and who vowed to make Hector drink sewage for the rest of his life? Isaac got into his head that he'd rather lie to him than obey his command to the letter.

His petty desire to take revenge on Hector with his own hands (for having betrayed Dracula? For daring to be better than him? Who knows) is more important than respecting his master.

And he still has the gall to think of himself as loyal!

This is hypocrisy done right. This shows that Isaac is not as pure as he thinks, he’s also willing to do as he wants if Dracula’s wishes no longer align with his own, just as much as the same Hector he so despises. He has the same tiny spark of rebellion as Hector, but he’s deep in denial about it, and while Hector eventually grew to be more and more noble, Isaac’s desires are extremely selfish and childish (huh, almost as if Isaac ran away from his village as a child and therefore his growth was somewhat stunted 🤔 but nahh no depth at all in this character). These are not the hidden depths that make you think “oh they’re not so bad after all”, no this paints Isaac as a wholly awful person, but there is something intriguing in this contraddiction that makes him, well, more human. As much as he might be disgusted by the idea :P

(this whole rant, btw, is entirely dedicated to the very funny people who think that the best way to praise Abraham is to shit on Isaac and call him “fan disservice” and “problematic”, am I right TvTropes guys? :^) )

... well, as much as I would love to keep talking about my darling BDSM disaster, I sadly went on a tangent because I needed to finish my thoughts about the residential #girlboss here. Yay 🙄

So my question is: what does Carmilla’s hypocrisy accomplish? How does it flesh her out? Because what I see is nothing more than sadism for the sake of sadism. And she’s just as stupid as the Stupid Old Man she keeps making fun of. Beating Caesar up was stupid, she already had him, Caesar wasn’t even mad at her anymore. He has no fighting spirit whatsoever, he proved it to her by admitting that he didn’t even think of killing her! She didn’t need to do that at all, there was no logical reason for her to do that, not even an emotional one other than “yay I get to beat up a man!”. Is that it? It’s that her motivation, that she’s a radfem - scratch that, a parody of a radfem? It was a senseless scene. Carmilla is not deeper because of it. Fuck this stupid villain. The whole purpose of that scene is beating us over the head how pretty Caesar is when he’s in pain and scared.

Same energy as Adam shooting at Samus for no reason other than to have a long sequence of our protagonist humiliated, except that here, it genuinely comes off as a fetish.

Now you understand why it makes me sick? This is on the same level of the lowest rape fanfics on FF.net!

And this is still nothing. Oh, I’m so not done with Caesar being turned into a fetish, ma porca di quella puttana schifosa

... Season 3 is going to break me.

I hate everything.