#netflixvania thoughts

[beevean]

A more fleshed out idea of how I would have ended the Lenector story in the most balanced way I can think of.

Lenore is Hector's prisoner, as per canon. He still treats her as nothing happened, like a good friend, but Lenore is sulking and angry and not even bothering to keep up the façade like Hector used to do in her position. It's unfair, after she treated him as her only confidant, and she couldn't care less, that's what the traitor gets. Hector thinks he should be happy, to have reversed the roles on her... but he isn't. Unlike Lenore, power over another person doesn't satisfy him. He can't help but see her as a depressed animal in a cage... much like he used to be.

He wanted to protect her, he really did, but only now he's seeing how much hurt he caused her. Much like she said she meant to do with the ring, although to this day he doesn't know if it was a lie or the truth. There is no joy in inflicting her the same fate she inflicted upon him, even if it comes from a place of well-meaning and not selfishness. He has seen what that kind of "eye for an eye" mentality brings to the world, and he wants none of it.

So, he finally takes a decision for himself, and repays the one debt he has with her. He helps her flee from the castle. He is, for the first time, showing empathy to a person and not an animal.

(I don't even think Isaac needs to be kept in the dark. Lenore on her own is harmless, nothing like Carmilla who became a danger to the world. Hector and Lenore are dangerous tools in the wrong hands, but they lack the ambition that makes them solid threats, as they are mostly concerned with feeling safe. If Isaac truly wants to do good to everyone, he has no reason to keep Lenore as a prisoner, not even to force her to work for him. Same for Hector, since the two might have "forgiven" each other, but they have no relationship whatsoever. Perhaps him heeding Hector's request could show more how compassionate he has truly grown.)

Lenore is confused as to why, and Hector more or less explains that he couldn't bear watching her drinking herself into a stupor. Lenore snaps, and yells at him that he has no right to feeling sorry for her after what he has done, after going behind her back, after ruining her life... and is promptly shot down by Hector flashing his mutilated hand. Every ounce of ire Lenore directs at Hector is actually directed at herself, and they both know it. She is deeply regretting everything she did for the sake of people that didn't even respect her, she is just too proud to apologize. And her pride, her insecurity, her need to be the one in control, was what prevented her from truly being the good person she wanted to be. The very reason Hector wasn't happy with her despite her best efforts, and destroyed her life.

She really thought something so paltry as a slave ring would tame the human spirit. She really thought humans, like vampires, would care more about safety than freedom. For a diplomat who set herself to bridge humankind and vampirekind, she let her basic instincts get the better of her.

"Why didn't you just kill me back then?" she yells, attacks, it feels so good to blame Hector rather than herself. "At least I wouldn't have known how little I matter to you!"

"I'm no longer that child," Hector responds. "I'm no longer the boy who believes to have the right to punish others. Besides, shouldn't you know the desire to spare someone's life no matter what?"

They had never breached that subject again, not after Lenore dismissed it in a fit of denial. It still weighs on her. He can no longer care.

"All this time," Hector says at last, "I expected an apology, but I think I don't need it anymore. As much as I don't need you anymore. I'm grateful for your efforts to protect me from your sisters' ire, so now I'll use them to live for myself. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

He holds no grudges anymore, and he has genuinely come to appreciate the real Lenore behind her masks and the way she took care of him during the previous six weeks, when the world would have chewed him and spit him out; but at the same time, he can't bear staying with her. She makes him too sad. It reminds him of how low he allowed himself to be brought for the sake of some scraps of love. She reminds him too much of a version of him he doesn't want to be. There are too many conflicting feelings in him. He can't help but think that, in another life, the two could have been genuine friends, if not more... but not this one. Too much baggage, too much shared misery. He is done with it. No more will he seek safety and love in other people, as if he wasn't strong enough. He deserves better.

Lenore doesn't know what to think anymore. She wants to die so badly, she is almost tempted to not hide herself from the sun: she can't concieve her existence as nothing more than a black hole, unworthy of living. She is nothing more than a disgusting monster doomed to spread misery to the world, she thinks, and she should die like one. She has nothing left, no allies, no home, and the one person she fell in love with is pulling away from her, and she can't bear being abandoned, and she completely understands why he's doing so. At the same time, however... Hector too has nothing left, and yet he wants to live. After everything he went through, after himself desiring death at Isaac's hand, he wants to experience real life, not survival like he has done since he was born. Lenore pretended to praise his strength when she was manipulating him, but now she has come to genuinely admire that trait. Can she, a vampire used to nothing but comfort, be as strong as a human being?

She wants to ask Hector if he thinks she's a good person. A glance at his mutilated hand answers her more than any word could. Lenore, all this time, had no idea what being "good" meant, she was only good at putting up a façade of gentleness, and she thought it was enough. All this time, she behaved like a vampire pretending to be human... so now, she will learn from the best human she has ever met. The best person. The only one who saw her as a person as well, behind her masks, behind her usefulness.

Even if Hector is now walking towards the dawn, with nothing but his resolution. For the first time, he will live for him, for himself.

They will never meet again, but in a twisted way, they gave each other what they needed to grow.

[beevean]

I find the return of the red sash very interesting!

I wrote a whole post where I said that, had NFCV put any sort of thought into its character designs beyond what looked cool, I could almost interpret the loss of Hector's red sash with his Styrian uniform as symbolic of him being stripped of any sort of "boldness" as Lenore's pet and more generally the council's slave.

From this perspective, it is a huge step forward that he chose to don it again in your fic. He clearly likes it, since he has been wearing it since he was a boy, so it's a way to regain his identity.

But in the same vein, it's also interesting that he kept the Styrian boots. Obviously those must be very nice boots so they lasted for three years, but for us they're a reminder of what he went through, and perhaps they represent how he emotionally is still not quite over Styria and Lenore.

(the glove will never make sense to me, though. I get that this design is meant to transition into the CoD design, but I always hated how N!Hector had that one singular white glove since S2 when it doesn't make sense for his profession)

Hector, as he appears in my fanfic: The Curse of Darkness.

[the-crow-binary]

Trans headcanons: when people ridicule the thing they think they support

So I'm tired. Let's have a talk.

Let's start with the very concept of headcanons, before I get to the infuriating part: A headcanon is, by definition, an idea that has never been confirmed as being actual canon. It's people imagining things about the characters they like, taking advantage of the fact the media they're in never depicted certain things, certain moments of the characters' life, to fill the gaps. A headcanon that make sense, and isn't there to just make the character your OC, takes into account what the actual canon has already shown, such as the character's personnality or goals. (I'm taking characters as example here but headcanon can be about the media's universe as a whole, too)

For example: In Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and it's mangas, we never saw the life Hector and Isaac lead in the Castle between the moment Hector arrives (Isaac being already there) and the moment he runs away. It's a perfect opportunity to have fun and imagine what happened all those years! So, by taking into account what official products gave us, such as Isaac and Hector's personnalities (before and after the curse took ahold of them), how they interact together, and their common roles and duties under Dracula's reign, we can easily headcanon that they used to be friends and respected each other, before it slowly gets crushed by Isaac's obvious inferiority complex and jealousy in regards of Hector's power and relationship with Dracula.

That's a headcanon. A thing that can differ from one person to another, as interpretation can also vary, just like the plots we like to see. But let me tell you something absolutely crucial this headcanon does that make it a valid one: it doesn't contradict canon material.

That's a thing I feel like tends to be forgotten by many claiming their takes on characters as "headcanon". It stops being a "headcanon" and start being a "i'm twisting this character into my OC" when you start making shit up that not only does not fit the Character, but also contradicts directly what has been shown about said Character, just because you're a certain way or like certain things. That's not a headcanon. That's fanfiction. Not one that will interest those who actually like the canon and doesn't like when people change things about it instead of just adding to it, but if you're having fun, go for it! Just own up to the fact that you're deforming a pre-existent character, lol.

Now that... that is still pretty harmless. Sure it's annoying to see someone take your Blorbo and make it do things it would never do and call it a "headcanon", but it's just that. Annoying. But then...

Have you ever come across, in your favorite medias, male characters who look are act just a bit feminine? Or female characters who might be a little rough, angry, or muscular? And then you go look for content of them, and are met with "that character is trans" headcanons? Chances are, if you're very active in fandoms, you have. Maybe some of you cringe because there's something wrong going on there and you're not sure what, and you're afraid you're just being transphobic even though you support transfolks and maybe are one yourself... at least it was my case at first lol. But not to worry! There's a very good explanations to your cringiness! And it's that: Lots of those headcanons are straight up awful in their logic and an insult to every genders involved! :)

Let's take the Netflixvania version of Hector as an example. He's the perfect target for those kind of headcanons, because he's a pretty boy! He's (a bit) feminine! So of course, just from that, you'll have people claiming he MUST be a trans woman. An awful take to call "headcanon", because it's very surface-level, gleefully ignores that everyone everywhere have both feminine and masculine sides to them (and the fact Castlevania is originally a JAPANESE product, have you ever seen ACTUAL anime? Pretty boys and boys who look like girls be everywhere in this media), some men being more feminine while some women can be more masculine, and literally goes back to gender-conforming logic. Something the very concept of transgenderism actually fights against. I mean sure, you have trans women trying to be as feminine as they can, and trans men as masculine as they can, for reasons that might differ from one person to another. But there's also those who don't. Those who simply exist, feeling secure enough in their gender that they don't care how masculine or feminine others percieve them to be. And what about the very cis people who don't conform to what others say they should look like, according to their genitalia?

Headcanoning a character as trans because of the way they look only is great !... To perpetuate gender-conforming mindset and clichés, and be uncomfortably close to transphobic logic (the "we can always tell" crowd who'll think a cis woman is a man because her body, that she has never altered in any way and is only the result of her genetics, is a bit too masculine, for example :) ). So what else you can use to headcanon a character as trans without it leaving a sour taste in other people's mouths?

Their personnality? Well, yes... but also no. It all depends on how you turn it. And in case of N!Hector? Oh boy! ^^

Hector is kind and compassionate... mostly with animals lol, and the devils he creates. He is gentle, can be vulnerable. He doesn't want humanity gone, but he wants them to be kept under control, because on one hand, he doesn't like them because Trauma, and on the other, he's not a bad guy at heart. He is naive, dare I say, emotionally, physically and mentally weak, wich causes him to be compared to a child by actual characters in the show, and a dumbass by the fandom. ^^ And ALSO causes him to get tricked, beaten and abused by vampires (wich makes the fandom call him even MORE of a dumbass for, and side with his abusers because "haha hot women vampire go brr"). Overall, even if he's trying to be tough here and there, and opposes some (futile) resistance sometimes (never going as far as it should've because of Peak Writing), he quickly goes back to being, well, soft (wich is NOT a bad thing in itself btw).

Now there's nothing wrong when you look at his personnality alone, and ignore literally everything else such as the way he was treated by the narrative, the characters, and the fandom itself. But look at this... and tell me it feels trans woman-coded.

Headcanoning Hector as a trans woman boils down to say "i think women are soft, naive, stupid, weak, kind and compassionnate, and men cannot be". It's already a very vomit-inducing take insulting both genders, but then you take into accounts what actually happens to Hector: him being tricked, used, abused, beaten, dehumanized by every character he interacts with and never taken seriously, even by the man who hired him as one of his GENERAL. Oh, and treated like a literal pet, too! Called as such by Lenore herself! And it gets worse. Because the narrative itself sees nothing wrong with that (exactly because he's a man :)). Just... why would you see a man being treated like a pet, not human and not even an adult, and think "ah, yes. A woman." ?? I'm sorry but I can't, in good faith, approve of that. What kind of vision does it mean you have of women and trans women?

So not only headcanoning N!Hector as a trans woman is an insult to women and tells more about how YOU view them than anything else (consciously or not), but it also serves to completely rip Hector off of his masculinity and insult men as well. As if a man couldn't suffer the way he did. As if a man could not be kind or naive without being compared to a child. As if a man had to have short hair or beard or drink beer or whatever you think a man is supposed to be like and how a woman is supposed to be like.

Oh, and special shoutout to that one tumblr user I will not name that literally said "how can you not headcanon Hector as a trans girl. She's literally a doggirl ok"! It's is the most awful take I have EVER seen and I want to throw up all over your blog! Literally, how dumb does one have to be to see a gentle, pretty man being treated like a dog for kinky points and go "not only is this a girl, that's also a doggo! Woof woof!" I swear to God.

Sigh... so, yeah. This far, I have yet to see anyone headcanoning Hector as a trans woman and not making me want to throw up in my mouth, considering how the character is. But there's one more thing! The narrative.

The narrative can also be used for headcanons, and often is. "What is this character and their story about?" "How is the [media] portraying them?". "How are we supposedd to feel about the character/story/actions?" In N!Hector's case, despite him having potential... the narrative is just humiliating him through and through. He gets tricked by everyone, mocked for his harmless personnality, his mistreatment happens out of pure sadism and to elevate the Girlbosses, and he gets used for horny points. He is just a victim durîg the whole show, and when you THINK he's FINALLY going to do something... nope! He vaguely help bring back the Big Bad Guy (wich ends up being useless i swear to god N!Hector's life is joke lmao killme) while falling for his abuser! Getting back at her by protecting her, I guess! ^^

So what was his character and story about? A misunderstood man... who exist only to be used and tossed around and never get justice nor is allowed to fight back. You can't even say he's a plot device because the plot itself mocks him and could have worked well, if not better without him. (Isaac going after Carmilla directly instead of going after Hector and choosing last minute to kill Carmilla while he's at it would have made a little more sense, though he still would have went after the wrong people, but that's another story) Definitely the kind of character I love to see having his masculinity revoked and called a woman! Not insulting at all!

See, it is very difficult to headcanon a character as trans... especially when you don't think about it through. Wich people like that one user calling Hector a "doggirl" did (that was a whole other level of victim blaming holy shit. Shows once again how men's and males' trauma and suffering are not taken seriously enough). What is happening to Hector here happens to many other characters in other medias, and to stay in Netflixvania, it is happening with Alucard as well. Because people are cowards and won't headcanon the big grumpy hairy guy as a trans woman, they have to headcanon the gender-nonconforming character and, by doing so, actually gender-conform him ❤️ (i mean it as a half-joke. you do you, but I think this is a clear proof of how the gender norms have a big place in your mind)

I think I would have less problems with lots of these if they weren't called "headcanons". Let's be honest, many will think of a character as trans because THEY'RE trans and it's their blorbo, and MAYBE think of justifying it further afterward. That's not how HCs work, you're just projecting. And you know what? It's fine! It's not a bad thing in itself! Make a pre-existent character trans if it's fun for you! If it makes you feel better! I mean I'm worried of N!Hector is the one you relate to the most. But it doesn't matter if others don't like it, because it's a content made for you, by you! But don't call it a "headcanon" (or claim it as canon directly, wut) and try to justify it when there's nothing in canon even slightly hinting at it being potentially true, or working, or making sense for the character. Don't call it "headcanon" when you're literally genderbending a character. Please. Think things through.

Also, remember when I talked about a proper headcanon does not contradict actual canon? Well. The male character you call a trans woman going by "he/him" the whole time kinda contradicts your idea. It's as if you "headcanoned" a character who has been seen only being attracted to the opposite gender and in love with someone of the opposite gender as being gay. Sure, you can say that's a closeted trans character... but then you better have solid reasoning for thinking that, once again. Or, you know, you could assume that you genderbend the character for fun (and i don't mean "turn it into a cis character of the opposite gender", i mean keep them trans, but don't pretend to base your vision mostly on canon). Would be less insulting than saying "this weak pretty man is actually a woman because he's weak and pretty, canon told me". I prefer someone who owns up to the fact they don't care about canon and just want to have fun rather than someone who implies they care about canon by using "headcanon" and then give poor and insulting arguments.

I get that lots of people with these headcanons don't have bad intentions and don't realize how fucked up their reasoning (or the simple fact of calling N!Hector a damn DOGGIRL- sorry i'll never recover from that) is, but still. As much as I respect everyone's right to do whatever they want with characters in their own little corner, caring about nothing but having fun, I've been needing to vent about this issue for a while now. Being an ally or a trans person yourself doesn't prevent you from spreading stereotypes, I'm afraid.

This problem of "i'm using poor and stereotyped arguments that is more insulting than anything to justify my idea" could apply to autism headcanons too, btw. And probably other things as well. Just. Please. Think about what you're writing. Think before you talk.

[mewkwota]

A poorly-hidden surprise (And Richter)

I got myself reminiscing over that 08/08/18 Smash Direct again, a.k.a.: "My Direct That Was Made Just For Me :)". While I caught wind of Simon's potential reveal through forums, I still didn't know when he'd appear (and how), so that was still a shock for me.

And then I got a bonus little(?) sweetie on the side.

If only you knew how hard I screamed during the whole thing. [x]

[castlephantom]

As someone that watched games intro show adaptations, I could say that in most cases it goes wrong for some reasons.

Castlevania might had chance to have a great adaptation if I was made in Japan. Instead, Netfix ruined it (even an anime to live action adaptation did the worst: for example One Piece.)

And when I said that they ruined it, I mean what I said: disrespect Belmonts, turn Alucard intro a dickhead, Dracula intro meow meow, Hector intro a puppy slave, Maria intro a revolutionizer in the wrong way possible etc.

But with otome games and having many characters with some reverse harrem shit stuff. In games are pretty ok (since are many routes), but an anime adaptation are the worst. For example: Brothers Conflict, Diabolik Lovers.

But there are also anime with great adaptations. For example: Cryberpunk: Edgerunners (I recommended to watch), Devil May Cry (realised in 2007).

[beevean]

Mh. Isn't this precisely what they wanted to avoid?

The main reason they realized Carmilla's plan was idiotic was that they realized that fighting humans was a pointless endeavor.

Morana: It's not war. There are no two sides to this. It's a rolling invasion and entrapment of hundreds of thousands of humans. Humans who are, sadly, cleverer than pigs and will fight and suffer and fear and run. [...] This is going to be a horrifying mess that we will be dealing with till the end of our days, and it will cause more suffering than history has yet seen!

Striga: We'd never stop, would we? Victory condition is just fighting and holding the whole insane structure of her empire together until I die of old age. [...] Morana: But we'd be doing it forever. You'd be out here fighting forever. I'd be back at Styria trying to keep supply lines intact forever. Striga: And we'd never see each other again. [...] Morana: The humans are going to fight for their place in the world. Constantly. Striga: In the cold light of day, I have to ask myself this. Do I want this? Do we want this… when we can do so much else together?

Striga: And after that? What's the plan? Morana: What if there isn't a plan? What if it's just you and I? Striga: I think… I think I might be all right with that. Carmilla had plans. Vampires always have plans, don't we? Maybe it's just in our nature to overreach, grasp at too much at once, try to drink everything. Maybe that's why, in the end, we win all the battles but always lose the war. Morana: Striga… you and I? It's not like we ever really needed anything else.

Them wanting to avenge Carmilla makes sense, because despite their protests, they seemed to care about her (I don't know if they gave a shit about Lenore though, they were like "yeah I'm sure Lenore died first, rip" and then moved on, they never liked her and they made it clear). I'm just questioning if they would accept to fight for a position of power, when it's precisely what led Carmilla to her downfall and they were the first ones questioning it. Much like Lenore, they give me the impression of people who don't care much about power and mostly wanted to live a secure life, they just had different ways of keeping it (Lenore wants to avoid violence and prefers cushy comfort, Striga is perfectly fine with using violence, I have no clue what Morana does). Their arc ends with "welp we don't need a plan, we don't need to overreach, and we don't need anything that isn't each other".

... actually I'm not even sure how they could go from here to "bastard Hector needs to die". Maybe they heard what happened to Styria (and assuming Hector got an important role at some point, maybe the new diplomat because we did see him commercing with vampires) and got pissed because turns out Hector did help King Isaac in destroying everything they had? Maybe it turns out they're highly uncomfortable with their new life as peasants after centuries of being queens and so they blame Hector? Or maybe they're outraged that a singular human outsmarted them all?

I'm sure you thought about it more than I could, I just struggle to imagine the jump between "we don't need to fight for power in a small region because we'd rather enjoy life together" to them ending up fighting for power in a small region.

I would have loved striga and morana in any other story and with any other writer

I felt the same about Carlisle Cullen when I read twilight

[noodlevania]

Hmm a bit of hot takes/random thoughts of Castlevania Nocturne as a mainly games only fan:

I did like it, but mostly because Richter and Maria were my favorite characters beforehand, so of course just seeing them animated made me happy,

I don't think it's as well written as some people make it out to be, I feel like the arcs and personalities of the characters fall a bit flat.

I love Annette's design she looks awesome! I think her and Edouard were really cute. I probably accidentally shipped them more than Richette actually whoops

I see so many people love it or hate it, I guess it's very neutral for me. I definitely prefer the games, but the series is alright. I like it much better than the original netflix series already. (That is a whole nother can of worms)

Olrox' design is also awesome! I didn't think I'd like him as much as I did

Oh and how can I forget Alucard- he looks so much better now than the old Netflix series and I will die on this hill

[viovio]

cassavania midturne thoughts (watched eps 1-2):

Who's that. that's not maria. what the hell happened to her, I can't articulate it well but she always feels like she's at a boiling point, of course she would be pissed at being stifled bc she's 12 but it doesn't feel like her ok..... I think their template for angry little girls is all the same but if she could go "my parents died ^__^" and tell dracula to shut his evil shit up silly style and you KNOW she's mourning, you could've done that with one of her parents alive. idk idkkkkk and richter oh my god

I don't like how quickly everyone seems to go along with stuff it's weird as well, you're getting rid of cvs campiness and for what. you got rid of their whimsy. it's got great handles on grief and you speedran it it's weirdddd

[ariaofsorrows]

we have a very complicated relationship

ok so i went through a period where i straight up just didn’t like alucard, but now i realize my hate is misdirected. i don’t hate him, i just hate how “marketable”, how over saturated he’s become. i understand he IS the castlevania mascot now so he kinda has to be but it really sucks that he’s the centre of most if not all modern castlevania content and there is very little conversation surrounding any other character

but replaying SotN and drawing him really rekindled my love for him as an overall character. i really love expanding the idea that he doesn’t feel worthy of connection because of his heritage. i love exploring the idea that loving him is an act of perseverance, but is ultimately rewarding because of how loyal he becomes. i love exploring the gradual process of opening up to others and raising his self-worth. yeah he’s dracula’s son, yeah he’s a monster, but there are people who love him in spite of that (well in richter’s monsterfucking case, for it)

so i guess i could say i hate alucard for the fact that he’s been reduced to a pretty-faced sadboi and really nothing more. or in many games-centred areas, the fact that he’s cooler and stronger and that makes him the better character.

(this is a very very very long winded way of me asking for more people to talk about castlevania characters T^T )

[arikad0]

I think the one thing I can be thankful for when it comes to the Netflixvania drama on Twitter is that the directors confirmed Maria and Richter will not be romantically involved

[beevean]

Thinking again of this post, because I read a Fridge moment on TvTropes that made me think:

Well, to me it was rather obvious that Lenore put on makeup, and took time to brush her hair in that complicated hairdo, and chose the prettiest dresses: she clearly cares about being beautiful. Of course, being just "beautiful" is not the point: it's being humanly beautiful. Carmilla is also an attractive woman if you're into #girlbosses, but she has chalk-white skin, hair that matches, and long claws, so she's very clearly inhuman.

And this all feeds in Lenore imitating humanity. While with this logic it's a bit odd that she doesn't hide her red eyes and pointy ears, otherwise she puts a lot of effort in her appearance, and most importantly to look human and vulnerable. She cuts her claws and puts blush on her cheeks to look more human, less creepy. She says she enjoys eating human food to "live well".

Another underrated line is this:

Lenore: You didn't hear me enter. Hector: No. You have a scent. Like… jasmine and wine.

It's easy to chalk up this as a way to make Lenore even more appealing, in an outstandishly Mary Sue-ish way for a grown professional writer lol. But why would a vampire smell like flowers? What if vampires naturally carried the reek of the dead, but Lenore cannot afford to be anything less than perfectly attractive, so she doused herself in perfume to the point that Hector was able to smell her out as he was engrossed in his book? It's all calculated to the detail.

Everything is, of course, in function of her role as a diplomat. One, she needs to be approachable, and put the other person at ease: basically, she wants to avoid falling into the uncanny valley vampires naturally reside in. Two... well.

Lenore, thematically, goes against Dracula's thesis.

Did you hear Godbrand down there? "Livestock," he said. So many of my kindred are the same. They can no longer conceive of humans as thinking beings. Just livestock. It's the privilege of our condition, I suppose. You can't hate livestock. They are simply what they are. Grazing animals to be slaughtered. But you two are different. You are human. You are not looking at the scouring of humanity from the earth as an opportunity to get the livestock under control and to fill stables, and abattoirs, and pantries. You hate your species. You hate humans. You have a focus and clarity that the others lack. You understand that humans think, and scheme, and betray. You understand why they all must die.

The reason Dracula trusts Hector and Isaac more than his fellow vampires is that, according to him, vampires have essentially blue and orange morality regarding humans, and don't see them as sapient beings. They kill because they feed on them, and that's it, they don't spare much thought about them. The Forgemasters, as humans hurt by humans, understand how they think, and as such empathize with Dracula's plight.

Dracula was right when it came to the other vampires. Carmilla waltzes in and the first thing she asks is why is Dracula mobilitating all vampire forces for what she sees as a pet: in fact, this is more or less the whole reasons she schemes against him. When Hector is dragged to Styria, Striga refers to him as an "it", like a stinking dog. Carmilla herself has to be told that maybe beating a Forgemaster and then expecting him to work for her is not exactly a galaxy brain moment, because well, said Forgemaster may have feelings. You have vampires on one side, and humans on the other side, and they see each other as nothing but beasts for different reasons.

Lenore is, in theory, the exception to the rule.

Yes, at first she also saw Hector as an animal, as some sort of stray dog to domesticate. But unlike the others, she understands how humans think. She knows which buttons to push. She's better than Carmilla at pretending to care about Hector, who only limited herself to some shallow praises and to spin her plan as "it's going to save your life"; no, Lenore asks what Hector wants, she's physically affectionate, she compliments not just his skills but him as a person, she even asks him if she can come visit him again pretending Hector has a choice in the matter, with the purpose of making him feel wanted.

She knows how to talk to a human, like a human, looking human.

And this is what makes her much more terrifying than Dracula or Carmilla, who at the end of the day are only monsters with human feelings.

You're not likely to encounter a genocidial madman who plans to kill all people in the world because wife died, or an insane radfem who wants to conquer the world because men stupid.

You are, however, very much at danger of falling into the trap of a charming sociopath who knows very well how to pretend to love you, and tricks you into loving them, only for them to imprison you in a terrible, humiliating, stifling, toxic relationship - and then they have the balls to pretend they're only acting for your own good, mocking you all the while.

This is how Lenore blurs the line between vampires and humans. This is what made her, despite all the other writing flaws of S3, an interesting character. This is how humanizing a character can be a bad thing. And incidentally, this is how you incarnate the themes of a mask (that really should have gone to Carmilla): Lenore puts on makeup and perfume and acts sweet to hide the monster inside her. (yes i know that actually she sounds smug and condescending af, but i'm going with the intent)

Lenore might not want to target all of Europe which makes her less of a threat than Dracula or Carmilla, but she's the incarnation of human hunger for power, as she clearly enjoys mentally subjugating other people (her "diplomacy" is, after all, nothing but a bunch of lies and gaslighting), and she perfectly looks the part, and it's actually very clever.

She also acts as the perfect foil to Hector, who is a human who doesn't think like a human, doesn't empathize with other humans, and can suggest to enslave other humans without a hint of malice in him - much like vampires feed on humans not out of cruelty, but because it's part of their nature.

And this is one of the infinite reasons the Lenore of S4 offends me. Now her beauty is a sign of her inner goodness. Now her proximity to humanity is used to make her sympathetic, because poor thing she's appalled at Carmilla's insanity, as she wasn't an enthusiastic participant when it was convenient to her. In a frantic quest from the writing to give her "humanity" in the sense of "a good side that makes her deep", she becomes duller, flatter. In her way, S4 Lenore still has potential as an interesting character, as it becomes more obvious that she's the unfavorite of her sisters much like Hector was considered an idiot by Dracula and Isaac, and that could have been used to explain why she seems so famished for control over the one creature weaker than she is. But after the heels of S3, it comes off as whitewashing her for the sake of a ship pandering to the fans who found her hot and nothing more in S3, and it's at the very minimum dishonest. She was much more interesting as a double-faced amoral villain made of nothing but masks.

[beevean]

It's frustrating :(

I like N!Hector in S2. I think he's a good interpretation of Hector pre-betrayal, with some traits being given more emphasis over others. But by S3 he stops being a compelling character, right as N!Isaac steals the spotlight :\

The fandom seems to be split into game fans who love Hector only because he's cool and shit on N!Hector for being a dumb "simp" (which he's not, he's a victim of abuse, coercion and rape), and show fans who think N!Hector is deep and Hector is just a shallow edgelord.

I love Hector and I think he's much more nuanced than people give him credit for. If you like N!Hector for his history of abuse, love for animals (kind of) and his deep need to be loved to the point that he latches onto the wrong people, Hector is the same, I promise, it's just more subtle and isn't used to demean the character. And it's a big shame that the character got lost into a... let's call it problematic narrative to say the least, because he actually had some interesting character traits like his cavalier "I can fix it" attitude towards death.

I wholeheartedly suggest to not only watch a playthrough of CoD (or play it yourself, but admittedly the game is very flawed unless you like the grind), but to retrieve the two prequel mangas. They flesh out Hector, Isaac and Rosaly so much - and let me tell you, I definitely don't see N!Isaac as an improvement over Isaac after reading them... and Lenore as a replacement for Rosaly makes me unspeakably furious :)

anyway. wish CoD wasn't so obscure and unpopular :(

People only talking about Netflix Castlevania's Hector makes me kind of sad.

Not because Netflixvania Hector was so broken and tragic, but because OG Hector (who also went through some tragic stuff off screen and before the game officially begins) would have been 100% done with everyone's(Mainly Isaac's) shit and had 0 chill. And the main character of his own fucking video game!

I'm talking HAM levels of anger and tearing everyone up with his bare fists (that's an option btw). He fought Trevor, Saint Germain, and Death and triggered a time paradox!

I don't think it's saying too much that I'm not very impressed with how they handled his character in the Animated Series. Or anything after Season 2... (Except Isaac... I guess...)

[the-crow-binary]

not going to address the first half of your response to the q about the French revolution because it isn't as alarming, but holy shit the stuff you said about slavery and the supposed "black people are oppressed" and "anti white" narrative of nocturne and the facts you give to support this are blatantly incorrect. Think about it; slavery being opposed within France and its population in the 18th century but not in the colonies is not proof of anti-racism, it's proof of it. Whether they wanted to speak on it or take action or not, the French did very much benefit from the labor and produce of their slaves in the Americas- the wealthy more than the average citizen, but the benefits were felt by all to some extent. Of course the French revolution made Haiti's moves to indepence stronger, that's what happens when a colonizing country is going through upheaval- people are more able to act against it. The fact that there were black authors and participants in the French revolution does not change the fact that it was fundamentally about the wellbeing of the people of France, and that all tangible commitments to releasing its colonies and the people they held there were given up quite quickly. Also that society of friends of the blacks? Had less than 200 people. Not a great indicator of France not being racist!

Also, like, sometimes fictional characters are upset about things. That's not necessarily a political statement.

Here's something about the society of friends of the blacks: Yes there was less than 200 people in it. But in the people that were there, there was very important figures, such as La Fayette, Mirabeau, abbott Henri Grégoire, and others. Enough to make a difference and be heard (they sometimes received help from people outside of their association). And you did not need to be part of it to fight against slavery/for black people's rights. (even if we had to wait until 1848 before the definitive abolition of slavery, its thanks to the society of friends of black people, for example, that the free black people were given civil rights in 1792). Even with not much people in it, it was still a pretty big deal.

Yes the French Revolution "was fundamentally about the wellbeing of the people of France" (and I'm not saying racism didn't exist at all outside of the colonies, but that it was way more prominent there), but it's still a fact that slavery was also fought against during it (even before and after), and that rights were given to black people thanks to it (because one thing led to another, then another, then another... slavery was not the main focus for most people, but the Revolution affected way more than what was intended and inspired many) As you said, the wealthy is the one who benefited from slavery most, compared to the rest even if "to some extent" it affected everyone (1 out of 8 french people benefited from it, to give you an idea). Doesn't make the french any less against it or any more racist. Not every french person actively fought against it, yes. But, just like if you use (so "benefit from") Amazon and don't go protest against it, it doesn't mean you are totally on board with exploiting employees (and the logic can apply to many companies and even countries to this day). So one can only speculate on how far racism went in XVIII France among the people, but imo, it's pretty telling that we gave black people rights and abolished slavery so close to the French Revolution (not that some people weren't already fighting for it before that).

So worst I did was say "only" the colonies were pro-slavery in my previous post and not give lots of details in order to make the post shorter. (i am actually fact-checking myself regularly using multiple sources, because I don't want to misinform anyone, but there's always a risk I might be wrong. i really don't like politics. also the show just angers me for lots of reasons that are not necessarily connected to The French).

But in the end, its all the same: Nocturne messed up.

Nocturne CHOSE to tackle slavery and racism. It CHOSE to make things happen during the French Revolution. It CHOSE to be political. None of it came from the games, it could have never been there if they just did not take those decisions. That's why, for this particular show, I have to highly disagree with your "sometimes fictional characters are upset about things. It doesn't make it a political statement" because Nocturne literally is all about politics.

The choice of making every noble a vampire, to make Annette a black ex-slave that freed herself, to make Maria a revolutionary leader, to throw "liberty equality fraternity/brotherhood" around from time to time (Maria literally shouted "vive la revolution!" in episode ONE), every single choice they made, every single thing they added or changed from the games is rooted in politics. Annette's teacher,is very politically involved, and her views are presented as the truth and never questioned. I don't have a problem with a character being so casually racist towards white people/anti-french, especially considering said character's background. But I do have a problem when that character doesn't get called out for it or shown being in the wrong. I'm sorry, but when you make a character who isn't a villain, say shit, and don't follow up with something that indicates that it's shit, or give her consequences for saying shit, yes, I will assume you think this shit is valid. (at this point I would've taken just Annette doing a grimace as a sign that she disapproves, but no, she seems okay with insulting the french. waw, okay, why were you ready to lead them then? Connasse.) Annette literally calls Maria and Richter "children" and act like an ass because she thinks she is so superior because she suffered MORE so she knows MORE and the show portray it as her being right (everyone is so nice to her all the time and don't even say anything when she is mean to them). It doesn't even bother to pretend she only said the things she said or acted the way she acted because of trauma and anger, no, its just the way she is, because its the truth, because white people can't suffer, because they don't know shit (she fought her own revolution then went to France to fight THEIR revolution while the French don't do shit, she is that superior)

I don't criticize showing that black people were indeed oppressed and literal slaves at the time. I criticize the form. I criticize that they can't elevate Annette or the black people without bringing others down. And thats a problem, EVEN without taking real events into account. It's just a shitty way to write a character (from a minority or not) in every single media. It's hard for me to explain it, but there's a difference between writing a character being a "victim", and writing a character being a "poor little victim". One gives way more dignity to the character and is way more respectful to the people it represents than the other. Annette is on the "poor little victim" side even with this #girlboss façade of hers.

There is something called "the death of the author" (it's a french essay, hehe). To put it simply, it's the idea that the author write something, and the reader create the meaning. What the author intended to tell does not matter more than what the reader understands/interpret, and the author's own life should not be use to judge of it's creation's meaning(s). It's the thing with art, you know? Different people can have different interpretations. For Nocturne, it doesn't matter if it wasn't their intention to talk about politics (how could it not have been when it's literally so obvious, I have no idea). Because I, as a viewer, noticed a pattern, noticed elements, and understood messages that are indeed, very political. It doesn't make me any more right than one who does not and just enjoy the show for it's story and characters without thinking much deeper than that, but it doesn't make me any more wrong either. It's not like I don't have any reason either, I can clearly explain why I think the way I do, the elements are right there, I didn't create them.

[mewkwota]

A Lunch Break in the Space Time Continuum

Castlevania has so many little instances of anachronism, but I can't help but enjoy them because it'll give me funny thoughts like these.

This isn't even a big one, I just like the topic of food. O'course. I told you I want my video game vampire hunters to be well-fed.

[batcastlesociety]

poorly constructed netflixvania rant under the cut,,, and yes i will be using capital letters for once! don't question it.

small warning because my rant is all over the place and by no means professional. i'm still relatively new to castlevania and may or may not get a few things wrong,,, sorry, if i do! 🙇🏻‍♂️ i plan on adding more to this later to make it seem less like alphabet soup, if you will.

Obviously, I'm aware that I'm a tad late to the whole "netflixvania ranting" thing, but honestly, I really don't care if I'm late or if this gains traction somehow or not. I just want to put this out there and get this OUT.

Now, I'd say that I'm awfully new to the Castlevania community itself. I'm a minor, so it's not like I grew up playing the games when they came out. 💀 Hell, I actually found out about Castlevania through watching its Netflix adaptation. But honestly, when I got Smash Bros Ultimate and found out about Richter and Simon, then doing further research and finding out about the games themselves, I'd say I abandoned the show immediately after that. Like, immediately. The games just interested me MUCH more!

Netflixvania is just... boring. It feels uncanny. Not canon, of course, just.. uncanny. Weird. Honestly, I feel horrible considering the large amount of people that actually LIKE Netflixvania compared to the games and say it's better, or even not have heard of the games in the first place! It's so stupid, when you compare the games and show.

Honestly, comparing the show to the games is... wild. I've seen people say that "oh, yeah netflixvania SUCKS, buuuut the first season is still badass!!!" Like... no, buddy... no... Netflixvania refuses to adapt Castlevania from the very start. The get-go, if you will. The very first season of this wretched show starts off completely off the rails. Not even the first season is above "sub-par".

The games have an immersive, charming, compelling storyline with a bunch of really well-constructed lore, at least in my opinion. I absolutely LOVE the whole plot of a massive feud going on between mortals who have to start a bloodline to fight this immortal Big Bad, and their reactions, their bad reputation with the Transylvanian townspeople despite the fact that the Belmont clan is pretty much the only thing keeping the former alive, and much more.

Anyway, back to this godawful adaptation.

First off, the goddamn showrunner of Netflixvania, Warren Ellis, literally CUT OUT A CHARACTER from the VERY VIDEO GAME THAT HE WAS ADAPTING INTO A SHOW, just because he thought that the character's name "sounded stupid", and that having a "pirate" character apparently wouldn't make sense, because ooh romania is a landlocked country!!! YOU IMBECILE. GRANT DANASTY IS NOT EVEN A PIRATE.💀💀💀 That was a mistranslation, for crying out loud! Isn't Grant a thief??? Not a pirate??? Also, who gives a shit if he even was a pirate?! This is the same adaptation that turned Trevor 'FUCKING' Belmont into a stumbling drunkard and Alucard into a horse-faced sex object. Everyone else is out-of-character enough by themselves! Who CARES if there's one single """pirate""" character??? This is the same show that has mages and Devil Forgemasters and, oh, let's not forget; FUCKING VAMPIRES??? This is a fantasy setting!! Why would you deny a canon character his chance in the spotlight for the sake of historical accuracy in a fictional world like this??

Besides, as aforementioned, Grant wasn't even a pirate in the first place! Ergo, it wouldn't matter if the story took place in a landlocked country or not!

Anyway, next point. Still about the characters, though. Mostly how they talk. Almost very single word these characters say is emphasized with a few "fuck"s and/or "shit"s, "bloody hell"s, etc., ESPECIALLY with Trevor. It's as if they're using curse words to sound more witty or mature, which is literally one of the first (and frankly, most obvious) of Red Flags for Horrendous Adult Media. In my opinion, at least. I just don't understand the reason why. I don't recall any of the Castlevania games having a single curse word in them (correct me if I'm wrong on that bit), but the games were still marketed for more mature audiences, too! You don't need profane language and a few splashes of vomit to make a compelling story for adults. Really, truly.

Back on that bit, it feels as if the writers REALLY wanted to make Trevor really witty. A bit of a whimsical jokester. Which, by the by, also if I recall correctly, isn't what his personality is really like at all. At least, not for the most part. In Curse of Darkness, Trevor was definitely a bit witty and cunning, but he also had a pretty damn big ego. He was confident, blunt and hotheaded. He's an arrogant bastard. CoD Trevor is intimidating as well. However, he's also honorable and likeable. Just a neat little guy.

Netflixvania Trevor, on the other end, is... odd. He's aloof, cynical, still having a bit of arrogance, but I don't know. It didn't feel like Trevor. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe I'll come up with something better someday else.

Well, now that I'm mostly rambling about Trevor now, I think I should talk about his actual outward design as well. Truly, none of the members of the Netflixvania cast have retained any of their ingame designs, at least for the most part. Except for Alucard, of course, but I'll mention that a bit more later. I'll only talk about the main trio (RIP Grant Danasty, you were never nasty and will be here in spirit...) and their designs right now.

Starting off with Treffy himself. His design is... a bit odd. Now, I feel as if it's his eye that irks me the most. Let me just pull up some visual aids for this one:

THIS is Netflixvania Trevor. I apologize in advance for the low-quality PNG I've just slapped here.

Anyway, look at his eye. It has a scar on it. Keep that in mind.

THIS is Trevor's actual, ingame design for the game that was supposed to be adapted correctly, and there's no sign of any eye injury here.

And in Trevor's CoD design, he ALSO has a scar... but this isn't all that similar to his DC design, either.

Personally, I feel as if Netflixvania Trevor looks more like Judgement Trevor, than anything...

You can see the scar on his eye (IGNORING the outfit...), but even then, JuD Trevor still has an eyepatch. Netflixvania Treffy does NOT have an eyepatch. These are just differences in design, mind you, i know absolutely nothing about Judgement itself.

Anyway, Treffy (i'll just be calling him that from now on) looks like a weird mix between JuD Trevor, because of the hair and body structure, and CoD Trevor, due to the visible scar, I guess.

...Which is even worse, because it just goes to show how much the creators of Netflixvania really deviated from the source material. Maybe I'm just fucking blind over here, but really I see no similarities between Treffy and actual DC Trevor. Except, maybe, like, the boots, but really?

Now, on to the rest of the party: (except for my boy Grant, who got fucking excluded...)

Sypha actually looks like this in DC:

She looks pretty different! Luckily, not the most different compared to what happened to my rotten soldier, my good time boy Trevor, but still quite different. Firstly, Sypha's face is covered, and her robes are quite big on her, and this was actually intentional!

For the record, if you haven't played DC, the whole reason why Sypha looks more boyish is because she was hiding her gender for the whole game in order to travel safely. Her true gender is only revealed at the end of the game. (Truly an iconic Samus Metroid moment you conjured up there, Konami.)

Anyway, this is Sypha's Netflix version.

Again, sorry for the weird pixel outline on the image. I didn't even edit these.

Anyway, luckily, this one isn't all that different, except the obvious fact that Sypha isn't hiding her gender in this one. Although, I still do definitely believe she was done dirty. I mean, look at that hair! Christ. I'm not sure why they didn't make Sypha hide her gender until the end like in the original game, but then again, a pretty concerning amount of canon events from DC and Castlevania as a whole I guess didn't make the cut, so I doubt it'd be wise to set the bar any higher than the floor.

Next up, oh no. Alucart. I'll be referring to his horse-faced counterpart as this, because although his design is still game-accurate... It was for the wrong game.

This is his Netflix design:

See, it's okay. It's a biiiit inaccurate to his SoTN version... (for SoTN swag, see here) but! This isn't a SoTN adaptation!!! THIS, chaps, chapesses, and chapsticks is supposed to be for Dracula's Curse! and this is Alucard's DC design:

See? Now, this is just completely different! In this version, Alucard definitely gives off traditional, pop culture vampire vibes, definitely taking after his father in this one. But Alucart... Poor Alucart... he's just an odd mix of SoTN and.. not SoTN. It's literally just his SoTN self, but in a more revealing outfit with random ass belts. It's as if they simply went on a quick Google adventure and looked no further for Alucart's to-be design. But seriously, why exactly are they showing his bare chest here? Why is he muscular? Huh?????

... These redesigns are... something else, that's for sure! Of course, I know that with every adaptation, there's bound to be some changes, but with Netflixvania, there are a LOT of changes, and absolutely none of them are necessary.

For one, characters like Godbrand and Lenore were never in the games! The writers just slapped in some random OCs and scrapped an actual, canon character for petty reasons. They also nerfed Hector because of a behind-the-scenes argument between writers. They let their own pettiness ruin a show. Hell, Warren Ellis himself didn't even know anything about Castlevania. He just took everything from secondhand sources! It's not professional or sane.

I honestly didn't even watch the full show myself. I probably should, so maybe I can edit this rant a bit. Anyway, I only watched S1 and a bit of S2. Honestly, I have no idea why they didn't just stop the show when Dracula got pounded into the ground for the umpteenth time. There wasn't any real need to continue the show for even more seasons. Just... I don't know. It's really weird??? The show just seems... boring. Like, seriously. What's even the point, at that point? Our favorite three stooges Johnny Test'ed Drac into oblivion, just as they needed to do, so why continue? It just seems as if they're milking it.

...Yeah i don't know how to continue this. In summary, play the games instead. Watch let's-plays, if you can. As I mentioned earlier, this rant may not be too professional or well-written, and I apologize if I mixed anything up. I plan on adding more to this later, but right now, my hands are getting numb q(╥﹏╥)p

[beevean]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone say that she didn't know any better

That she's misunderstood, yes :)

Because the general opinion is that she meant well and she wasn't evil and look she really cared about Hector and wellllll why do you stan Dracula and Isaac but not her? Sexist much? (I hate them too dw lol)

Bonus if they straight up say that Hector deserved to be raped into slavery because something something poetic cinema :) <- i am going to beat people to death with a cactus

(or even better when the reject that what Lenore did to him was rape, because "he consented". you are the kind of person who would insist that marital rape doesn't exist)

I can't stop thinking about the potential of the setup they had by S4. Something about selfish kindness is so interesting to me. Living in a gilded cage, being forced to be grateful for having the basic crumbs of decency, trading your dignity for your safety... yes, the show could have had a serious discussion about the morality, or lack of, of Lenore, who only helped Hector because she saw a cute puppy (and a dildo) in him. Sure, she doesn't seem to be interested in mass slaughter like Dracula, or outright mass slavery like Carmilla, but her evil is so viscerally personal, and realistic in a way. It could have been used to talk about the intricacies of abuse, how they're not 100% monsters but that 1% of kindness only fucks you over because now you can't hate them completely but it has to get to a point where you accept that you deserve better than 1%.

nah. that would have taken time away from the dick jokes ig :V

I really, really hate how unaffected Hector is in S4. He's just there to be #sassy and suddenly wanting to "protect" Lenore without knowing why. His voice betrays no emotions in any scene, from him casually talking about the ring that ties him to Lenore and was put there with such cruelty, to him only wanting to stay with her in life. And since we're not privy to his mental process (assuming he still has one by this point), the only conclusion I can draw is that Hector genuinely thinks Lenore did him good and cares about him, despite her gloating that he's a good fuck to her sisters some weeks prior.

anyway. wasted potential. like everything in NFCV. they should have been parallels and Hector should have seen through her that his mentality was warped and wrong. but eh.

also dracula is a more interesting "kind abuser" to Hector and Isaac to me and i love that no one justifies him because he's very obviously a bastard :)

Every time someone says/implies that Lenore was just misunderstood or that she didn’t know any better my soul gets kicked like a puppy in the rain