#i still have a crush on drolta

[imperiuswrecked]

Castlevania: Nocturne thoughts that keep me awake below the cut

1. I don't know why I've seen people act like Mizrak only just met Richter and Maria in S1, like it's pretty clear from their first interaction they know him and he knows them. Tera, Maria, Mizrak, The Abbot all lived in that town for years, probably their whole lives as far as we know for Maria, The Abbot, Mizrak. While Tera and Richter lived there for years. Which means that Mizrak knew Richter and Maria when they were kids. I bet Maria used to show up just to find someone to play with at the Abby, like the Chruch was a central point of focus for community in those days. Mizrak could have been like a older brother/cousin to her when she was little, and he was younger. He could have been patiently sharpening his sword, while she made a crown of flowers and placed them on his head. He probably would try to teach her Bible verses or encourage her and Tera to attend church, but gave up after a while. Mizrak pulling little Maria out of scrapes, or taking her home when she got into trouble. Then one day she shows up with her cousin and he has double the work of keeping them out of trouble and he's like a 20 something monk knight. So now he has like 2 kids trailing around him, asking him endless questions, making fun of his serious nature, he practices in the courtyard and Richter begins to copy his moves. So he ends up teaching him how to sword fight so he can protect Maria and Tera when Mizrak isnt around. Like why was there even monk knights to begin with in a small town. The Vampires. He and his brotherhood of knights were the towns protectors, the Vampires werenr many but it was enough for people to want there to be knights, to give money to the church to house and feed and cloth them so they could focus on their work. He'll, I bet Mizrak's heart nearly exploded when he first catches the cousins taking down a Vampire in the woods he was hunting. He then sometimes teamed up with them on the occasional hunt. Mizrak has no issues just falling into the group dynamic and he even takes up the role of provider, getting them safe shelter, clean water, and hunting food. Like that is a man who took on the older cousin/brother role to Richter and Maria years ago but no one really noticed because it felt so natural, and Mizrak is a quiet guy who doesn't talk much, or show his emotions, he tries to be an example to them through his morals and character and faith.

2. Just because The Abbot, Emmanuel, is a cowardly bitch in current times doesn't mean anything. Tera literally said how she was shown kindness when she got to the town. As a speaker witch who lost her whole family, her sister, being an outcast and hunted probably, a normal nice guy would have been catnip. They probably had a love affair but the Abbot was younger too, he probably was like "we can't have a child out of wedlock, etc" like it's very The Scarlet Letter vibes: Outcast woman lives on the edge of town with a baby girl, no one knows it's the priest whose the dad, the priest suffers internally for years and tries to repent but whatever they do it's not good enough to make up for the fact that they are a coward. The Abbot's moral failing didn't start now. It started years ago when he chose his priesthood over doing the right thing for his child, and the woman he loved. Maria killing him for being a deadbeat dad is all the excuse she needs, even without Emmanuel giving up Tera to Erzsebet. It's why Tera tried to appeal to him even till the end, because she spent years still in love with the young man who was kind to her once, a long time ago, and she thought she could still reach him, not knowing his moral decay and fervent belief that he was doing God's Will had crushed that once kind man.

3. The same theme runs true for Drolta. A priestess corrupted over time, until the end goal she was working towards for so long is so far removed from where she started, but she is so deep into her centuries long belief that what she is doing is right, and it's what her Goddess wills, that no matter what path she takes, what means she uses to reach her end, it's all worth it because she is her Goddess's most faithful servent. The confusion at the end when she's confronted by Sekhmet and reality comes to rip down her entire being blindsides Drolta. It's very tragic because Drolta did start out as a healer too, she wanted to help her people, to serve her Goddess, but life is not kind, and she chooses her dark path every step of the way, leaving more and more of that once good woman behind. The road to hell is paved with good intentions is something both Drolta and The Abbot shared once. Was Drolta aware at some point she had lost her path? Did she care? Did she grieve her former self? Or did she ignore and rip out all those soft emotions because she had spent centuries trying to bring her Goddess back and to admit it was all for nothing meant her corruption was for nothing? Like it got to the point she genuinely believed that she was the only person worthy of becoming Sekhmet, but only after she was sure she would not die like all the others who tried, only after Erzsebet's use was over, and Drolta was a powerful NightCreature did she dare to take that power. Cowardly in a way that she didn't want to give up her immortal vampire life to try and be Sekhmet's vessel.

4. Olrox's time in S2 really felt like the writers didn't want to let him go, but they didn't know what to do with him, especially compared to how much his character was a force that pushes Tera, Richter, Annette, and Maria to confront the Abbot and his main character arc (other than not romancing but really romancing Mkzrak) since stepping off the ship in France has been to see what the fuck is really going on. He's too old to fall in line and worship the latest power hungry Vampire lord/lady wannabe but he needs to see what sorta threat is he up against. The instant he's off the ship, he tells them he'll be along, and goes off on recon. He knows Mizrak's name the next day and abiut the Night Creatures, which mean he probably spent that first night toying on the Abbot and the Monk Knights. He was intrigued by Mizrak and thinks to use him as his source for more information but didn't expect to fall in love with him, but does as time goes by. However you do see he still has his own thing going on, he lurks around the dungeons, he finds Edouard, he finds the book, the machine, he is playing a dangerous game with Dolta and Erzsabet. His character arc is tied to The Machine which was not destroyed in S1, and the main characters even forgot about in S2 because they are young or prehaps they think without The Abbot it can't be used, but Olrox is a very focused Vampore and he doesn't forget, he destroyed the book, but The Machine is still there and he has no means of destroying it or sending it back to Hell. Olrox being a shadow that dances around the main plot and trying to get people to focus on the real issue in S1 vs how little he does in S2 is a glaring difference, but if there is a S3, Olrox and The Machine needs be addressed otherwise it's a waste of perfectly good character and plot build up. I do hope we also see more of Olrox's history in S3 because he is such a great character. Even if we just get him talking more about his past, I'll be happy. I seriously think with how long he's lived, what a morally grey character he is, that creators could do an entire spin off show based on his past. And can we PLEASE get a name for his past lost love?

5. Erzsabet is like the perfect main villainess for the show, she is everything the revolution is fighting against. She's a noble born lady who used her power to prey on theninnocrnt while she was a human and then later continues to do so as a powerful vampire. The fact that most of the Vampires are, the Aristocracy who are the "blood sucking leeches in charge" males so much sense in terms of the setting of the show. They are draining the kices out of the oppressed working/peasant class. Erzsebet is not smart or cunning like Drolta. In fact she is quite lazy as a character, expecting everything to be done for her because she was born and raised in that life of privilege, she expects and craves worship and adoration as her due, and believes Drolta every step of the way because Drolta does know how to manage her. Erzsebet doesn't even try to control the Nughr Creatures instead waits for Drolta to come back to deal with it. This doesn't mean that Drolta groomed or tricked Erzsebet, no, Erzsebet was already this way when Drolta met her, and in fact it's because Erzsebet is a stupid, lazy, power hungry nonle woman with no care for who she hurts to satisfy her own wants, that makes her the perfect tool for Drolta's own goals. Erzsebet never sees Drolta's betrayal coming because she truly believes herself to be worthy of being Sekhmet. It's why she breaks in the final battle because she can't comprehend the fact that she is just another rich woman who doesn't get what she wants, and reality smacks her down and shows her that all that power and strength means nothing. Honestly??? It's really refreshing to have a villain character who doesn't know everything, I think I'm so used to villains always having a plan, always know what the heroes will do next or being smart enough to counteract them, and especially villainess's have to be twice and smart etc to prove what a threat they are, but Erzsebet is like "I should have everything I want because I deserve it, but I will let my servants do all the work because what do you mean I have to work to achieve my goals? It's enough that I've proven myself by not dying." Like zero awareness, just a beautiful dumb villainess who thinks 'might makes right". It really is refreshing to have someone like Erzsebet because she is still a major threat.

6. Annette really carried all of S2 and it's perfect, it's beautiful, her getting a lot more spotlight felt only natural and I loved seeing her journey, I'd do wish they hadn't kept her and Edouard away all seasons that's like my main issue because they were friends and we didn't get to see that again until the end and the same holds true for Edouard in that zi feel they didn't know what to do with him this season like Olrox, they couldn't let Edouard fade into the background because he is important to Annette, but they could have had Edouard turn the Night Creatures against Erzsebet and Drolta imo. Still Annette's arc was the strongest of all the characters and very well done. I'm only sad because I wish we had more episodes to explore her journey.

7. I really hope we get to see more of Tera in S3, I do think she wasn't utilized well in S2 when we had the promise of he becoming Erzsebet's faithful servant at the end of S1 which would have set it up nicely for some heart breaking moments between Tera and the others. And while I know Richter is the main character, I don't really have any thoughts for him because he's not a character type I particularly enjoy or find interesting wnough. He's ok to me.

8. I hope Alucard and Juste get to stick around and raise Maria, even if there's a time skip and S3 has Maria an adult, it's fun to think about. Her arc was really good in S2 as well!

[hopeymchope]

Castlevania Nocturne S2 continues Nocturne being amazing

I wrote this love letter to season 1 of Castlevania Nocturne recently, and here I am today to sing the praises of season 2.

The conventional wisdom online seems to be that season 2 is leagues above season 1.

I do not agree; I think season 1 (which I loved all over in this post) is the better of the two. But admittedly, season 2 still is pretty great.

Minor Gripes

Why do I think season 2 is the lesser of the two? Well, I'll offer some minor criticisms. (Let me reiterate: These are minor issues.)

Season 2 is ultimately afraid to play the ball where it lies. We ended with Bathory becoming all-powerful and blocking out the sun in a magical eclipse; as the new season begins, this is promptly undone and we're told she wasn't yet strong enough to maintain that, actually. She's suddenly weakened a lot. The fear of eternal night and an ultra-powerful "messiah" is quickly washed back with "eh, it's not really that bad."

Season 2 feels compelled to plainly spell out things that were already plenty obvious to me through facial expressions and hints of dialogue in the first season. I geatly prefer "blatant undertones and implications" over "telling me to my face." So I don't need Orlox to give me a speech explaining how he feels about gods and messiahs! His stated heritage, his facial expressions when listening to dialogue about those things, and his couple of lines dismissing them in season 1 were PLENTY clear to me. But season 2 feels the need to lay everything out for people who can't be bothered to pay attention. I suppose that's... fine, but god DAMN is it less interesting. But based on how people reacted to Season 1—i.e. totally not getting all the blatant character depth—I guess we needed this, sadly. And from what we're hearing, this is exactly the kind of dumbing-down we should expect from Netflix going forward.

One of my favorite things in season 1 is Ricther and Maria's familial relationship. So naturally, having that take a deep back seat in season 2 is going to make it a little less satisfying. The pair have an early falling-out, and they only reconcile in time to split up again at the very end (although that separation is going to presumably be mostly off-screen, so whatever). It makes sense for the story in that it gives us more time to develop Richter and Annett's love story (which is adorable and MUCh better-handled here than the inexplicable crushes they had in season 1) while also giving Juste more time to shine as he steps into the main supporting role in Maria's stead. But selfishly, I still wanted to watch those kids together again.

Being a fan of the source material means that I have to simultaneously be excited the more references they pack in, and also question the deviations. As I said in my review of Chapter 1, I don't know how they could do this story WITHOUT deviations. But I do think, sadly, that making DROLTA be the final boss battle was a step too far. Drolta, in her point of origin - Castlevania: Bloodlines - is a pretty generic servant of Erzebet/Elizabeth. A witch who never even appears in the game itself; only in the instruction manual's story! But now she's a vampire (sure, fine) and also...the final battle of the whole fucking thing, usurping Bartlet/Bathory's position?????? For what? What does that get us, really? Other than one second of a surprise twist, it doesn't serve any real purpose at all. We gain nothing good out of this.

But... look, season 2 of Nocturne still left me with a huge, goofy smile on my face for almost its entire run.

Alucard is a saltier, angrier person than we were previously privy to. He was formerly a tragic and sad figure, but now he's spent another few hundred years hunting demons and vampires, befriending various Belmonts, and he's embittered. Yet not SO embittered that he doesn't still have friends and hasn't fallen in love "countless times," and I love that for him. I love that they didn't do the tired old "I've refused to love" trope for him. And it certainly opens up the hope of us getting Maria/Alucard once we advance another decade or so...

The way they tied together concurrent historical events like the Haitian Slave Revolt and the French Revolution and how the latter led to the founding of the Louvre? It was all pretty fucking genius and beautiful. (Still wish Bathory's origin was more historically accurate, though.)

The action is beyond reproach. But ultimately, when you have someone like this version of Annett who can wield earth materials and metal, you have someone who's probably too OP — especially in an urban setting where stone and metal are EVERYWHERE. So it makes sense that we had to kick her out of the main battle and make her unavailable, honestly. We have to make this fight actually be a challenge, y'know? They did a good job putting her at risk and raising the stakes while also preventing her from being this OP killing machine during the climax.

What's Next?

Perhaps the best thing I can say about this season is that, if they never make a third "Noturne" season? I think that'd be fine. We have a satisfying arc here, and it might even be better leaving it right where it is. Just move on . What we have here still contains some dangling hints of future arcs, but nothing too terribly compelling or mandatory to explore.

But the obvious place to go is to some kind of warped translation of Symphony of the Night. Where we see Maria and Richter signifcantly older and we get some Maria/Alucard romance development now that she's an adult. And yet... what would that even look like? What could it look like, in this totally different universe? I don't know if there's any way they could make it and still have it seem similar or satisfying. The only way this would ever work is if they finally undo the mega-happy ending of the original series' Season 4 and accept that ultimately, Dracula has to be the recurring big bad because this is fucking Castlevania. But alternatively, maybe something more like the first series' third and fourth seasons (a.k.a. "shit made up out of whole cloth") could work.

The most obvious nugget they have sitting out there for a possible continuation is the whole Old Man Coyote/Mephistopheles chestnut. I feel like, at the start of the Nocturne series, in the wake of how Season 4 of the first show ended, someone looked at the final bosses/main villains in the game series who AREN'T Dracula, and was like "Elizabeth Bathory!" And now that she's dead, someone looked at the same collection of remaining options who were big bads in games and was like "Uhhhhh... Satan??" Which is a HELL OF A LEAP from what we've been dealing with thus far.

However, could Old Man Coyote a.k.a. "Teh Devil" be the connecting point we need to getting Dracula back to evil and back to Big Bad status? Could he be tempted by Mephistopheles into seeking vengeance on humanity for new/recurrent reasons? I think there might be something there... at least I hope there is.

[chibishortdeath]

Heyyyy, remember Billy Danasty, well I got around to drawing another OC. Her name is Gloria Tzuentes. She’s not a descendant of Drolta, but she is distantly related to her through other extended family members. All her life she’s been outcast and bullied because of some of her family members’ poor history with the law. She has a lot of trouble trusting people. When they first meet, she and Billy do not get along, she initially thinks he’s a coward and a jerk. Billy thinks she’s a huge hypocrite and careless. As the story progresses tho, they both realize they’ve been putting up fronts for similar reasons and have a lot more in common than they thought.

Her sprite is supposed to be a similar color palette as Sypha, just with that darker bluish to stand in for black. It was really difficult trying to get her blazer right, and I still kinda think the sprite makes it look like a hoodie, but yeah d(TwT ). The color looks really crushed and messed up cause for some reason instagram did that to it lol.

Also! Billy Danasty with his hair down! :3 Yeah anyway, she’s cool, I gotta think more about other characters and plot points and stuff for this cause it’s been fun making Castlevania OCs tbh.