#it's like it's built around the “important” quotes - in this case alucard's long speech

[beevean]

#I would argue fans often depicts game Alucard more altruistic (dunno how to describe it) about humans than he actually is#But N!Alucard sure is... a thing

I don't really see how the fandom in general writes Alucard, but it's true that he's not a knight in shiny armor. The man keeps sealing himself in his coffin, he speaks as if expects to be paid for every word :P and at the very worst you could assume that he only wants to fight his father to honor his mother, not out of genuine heroism (... this sounds a little too much like Shadow). And when he actually participates in the worldly affairs as Arikado, he's... well. A little shady :P our Alucard is a little broody and not the most sociable kind, but he means well.

It is interesting to imagine Alucard struggling with his grief, briefly succumbing to hating the mob who killed his mother and then panicking because he doesn't want to disappoint her, only making him spiral further into guilt and self-loathing. But the show, of course, doesn't really do that. This is the most N!Alucard expresses about his inner conflict:

Alucard, they called me. The opposite of you. Mother never liked that. Did you know that? She hated the idea that I might define myself by you. Even in opposition to you. She loved us both. Enough that she wanted us to be our own people. Living our own lives. Making our own choices. And so here I am. Choosing to honor my mother by killing my father. No longer Adrian Tepes. Choosing to be Alucard of Wallachia, the name of my mother's people. I'm sorry, Mother.

Again, we have interesting ideas that are never elaborated on. Why would Lisa dislike that Alucard might define himself by Dracula? This really rises unfortunate implications since Lisa behaves like an abused wife terrified of her abusive husband - did she fear that her dhampir son would become as violent as his vampire father? But even if we take it in a more positive way, as in she wanted her son to be his own person, we don't know anything about their relationship! Lisa's last words are for Dracula, not Alucard, and he tells the others the story of how his parents met, rather than anything "remarkable" she did with her son. I don't know how he actually felt about her, I don't know why he would honor her in this way.

(also reminder that in the show N!Alucard was called such by other people. Hey, Ellis, it doesn't make "Dracula spelled backwards" any less silly, you just deprived a character of his agency again)

And then this scene from S2E2:

Alucard seems more concerned about the fact that by killing Dracula, the world will lose his ancient knowledge. In retrospect, this sounds nearly identical to Isaac protecting Dracula before being yeeted in the desert ("To save your genius, your knowledge, and your will? Without question. I am just a Forgemaster. Yours is the wisdom of ages.").

To be fair, he does also accurately describe how horrifying it would be if Dracula won and the world was left without people... but again, while he displays a modicum of inner turmoil at the idea of killing his father because he's too mad to be saved, I don't really read any compassion for said people - except at best the line "[he'd] look out over a world without art or memory or laughter".

Then again, this makes sense for the guy who won't go one second insulting the entire Belmont clan and painting them as "mentally ill hoarders" for the crime of killing vampires 🙃 of course he wouldn't care that much about humans.

And then there's this quote which is very similar to the one in S1:

Imagine if he could have aimed all that knowledge at improving lives. If the religious inquisition hadn't proved true all of his worst instincts about humans.

So yes. N!Alucard expresses anger against the religious people who killed his mother. He blames them for driving his father mad and preventing him from being a potentially good person. Again, interesting idea, but it doesn't go anywhere and he seems fully convinced of the fact, so it really feels like yet another CHURCH BAD moment.

And then this angle is completely dropped after S2! Alucard does literally nothing worth talking about in S3, and by S4 he becomes a hero for a village at the snap of the fingers! Hurray! No wonder Lisa doesn't even want to bother visiting her son who kind of forgot about her (Rebis notwithstanding). #sciencefamily❤️

Yeah N!Alucard is mainly an asshole, and the most egregious part is that he seems more attached to his father and his vampiric heritage, up until the very end. What's with the show and reversing canon characters' personalities?

Re: this.

Wait, am I reading this right? Did Alucard in the show tell Dracula to go after the people who killed Lisa?

Even if the context was "only go for those who did the deed, and leave everyone else alone," that's a change of characterization I didn't expect! In the games, I don't think Alucard would have pushed for that! (Then again, the only game with Alucard that I played was Symphony of the Night.)

Sadly no one clipped the scene, but there you go, from the first episode:

Dracula: One year. One year! It will take me one year to summon an army from the guts of Hell itself! Alucard: No. Dracula: What do you mean, no? That woman was the only reason on earth for me to tolerate human life! Alucard: Then find the one who did the deed. If you loose an army of the night on Wallachia, you cannot undo it, and many thousands of people just as innocent as her will suffer and die. Dracula: There are no innocents! Not anymore! Any one of them could have stood up and said, "No, we won't behave like animals anymore." Alucard: I won't let you do it. I grieve with you, but I won't let you commit genocide.

After this scene, Dracula attacks Alucard, and it's why he sports that infamous scar on his chest.

The rest of the dialogue is pretty good. It's just that one line said by Alucard that is... off. This is something I imagine Hector would think: kill the ones who actively caused Lady Lisa's death, but don't go beyond. Alucard in the games never expresses a desire for any kind of payback, even a "just" one, as he wants to honor Lisa's wish to leave all humans alone, and only wants her soul to rest in peace.

Then again, as I wrote in this post that I keep updating, Lisa's death and last words in the show are very, very different from SoTN. (spoiler: she addresses her husband, not her son)

But yeah. Alucard in the show is just completely off. I don't even know how to describe him, aside from him being a giant dick to Trevor.