#netflixvania thoughts

[beevean]

Seeing as how the nocturne s2 trailer just dropped I figured I’d ask something I’m a bit curious about

If season 3+4 of the original show ended up following the plot of curse of darkness do you think it could have done that story justice or turned out much better than what we got? With the characterization of Hector and Isaac in season 2 of the show it would have diverged anyways, but it’s interesting to think about.

I just know a lot of critics of the show point out that there was already a story to tell after the events of cv3, but if they’d gone that route would it really have been what Curse fans wanted anyways?

I think this question should be asked to the fans who were following the development of the show in real time lol, because poor things clearly had hope until S4 😂 I remember reading posts of people who were absolutely certain that Hector's story would have ended with him going on a rampage, killing Carmilla and Lenore, running away and meeting Rosaly for his happy ending.

I don't think their characterizations back then would have been an issue. Yes, show Isaac is far calmer and more introspective, but his only personality in S2 is "Dracula simp who thinks Hector is shit under his shoe", which tracks although he's less fun about it. Yes, show Hector is more mellow and trusting, but he was still perfect material for a character arc revolving around him learning empathy for his fellow humans, and learning to think for himself and deciding what he truly wants to do in life, which is more or less his arc in the prequels.

See, the issue is that S2's finale already diverged from CoD's set up. Isaac being yeeted away while stewing in anger? Yes, that could have lead to his descent into madness: I suspect the writers reversed this arc when they realized how... unfortunate it'd look, with their new shiny Isaac. But were they less cowards, sure, I can see Isaac losing his self-important veneer and becoming increasingly unhinged. Maybe his red hair would grow to symbolize it!

But Hector ends S2 tricked, humiliated, beaten and dragged away as a prisoner. A sheer contrast to how, in canon, he ran away after claiming agency. Carmilla's very existence throws a wrench into CoD's story, because the prequels were all about Hector understanding that working for Dracula is wrong, while S2 was all about Carmilla being the only braincell in the castle and dragging Hector along like a dog to cause Dracula's downfall. Had Hector freed himself from her clutches in S3, we could have still had an interesting story maybe (I'm fond of the Hectorcard plot of him running back to the castle and bonding with Alucard over their grief lol), but I'm not sure how this Hector, a Hector who is wracked with guilt over contributing to Dracula's death, one that is so insecure and hasn't spoken with a human being in years (Isaac doesn't count), would fare with a woman who is meant to be a stand-in for Rosaly (because no way they'd write her as the Rosaly we know: we all know how much the show loves its sassy mean women). Plus, the story would be poorer because Carmilla would be just. lost. which is technically what happens in S3 already lmao Lenore snatches her place - you know what I mean

Therefore, the rewrite has to start even before S3. @chumpovodir once had a great idea about how she'd keep Hector and Isaac as the villains of the story and how the plotbeats of CoD could be shoehorned into the show. Another wonderful alternative comes from @notebookofthedead, that also tries to meet the show halfway through, and even includes a fusion of Rosaly and Julia as Hector's new ally and the spark for his character development lol.

[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.

[akumahoshojo]

💗 protect her smile 💗

[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]

[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

[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).

[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 )

[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.

[cabe0512]

Sorry y'all for my lack of progress on Sarabande of Healing.

My Christmas break is still due next week and now we're wrapping up all our major assignments for this month. I'm also writing a short story just in time for the holidays, to add to my busy schedule. But to make up for my silence, I've been redrawing certain CV characters to make up for it (I intend to recreate them digitally in the future).

I also took the time to streamline my overarching outline for The Curse of Darkness's story. So far, I'm done polishing Sarabande of Healing and I'm so excited to write them down. The first part overall would make use of five locations from the game; we already got the Abandoned Castle and the Bahljet Mountains.

As for now, I'm redrawing my version of Julia Laforeze (still needs a bit more detail and coloring) and also currently dead-set on writing Chapter 5.

PS: Regarding my thoughts on the new Season 2 trailer. A bit of an improvement from Season 1 based on what we're shown, but it still doesn't redeem the show for me nor did it get me hyped in the same vein as Arcane's second season. In any case, it just fuels my hatred for the show as well as my desire to write Sarabande of Healing more and more.

[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.

[beevean]

Yeah, she was done dirty. She could have been such a great villain, a selfish manipulator only concerned with her own comfort, hiding behind a veneer of condescending kindness that hid a deep desire to have power over others (desire spurned by the awareness that no one likes her so she has to force people to like and respect her), a monster wearing the mask of a human even if it hurt her (clipping her claws, dousing herself in perfume to hide the stench of blood) because she resents her own cursed condition to the point of not even wanting to bite people but only to not feel "guilty" about it, eventually regretting the awful way she treated the only man who showed her kindness but too prideful and childish to apologize. The elements for a good character were all there, she's fun to think about!

Too bad she was conceptualized by a sexual abuser and it shows, from how her consistent physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse of Hector in S3 is portrayed as masturbation fodder because haha hot girl puts a leash on a submissive peggable idiot, and in S4 she gets out on nowhere painted as a poow widdle girl who did nothing wrong 🥺 and the man she raped into slavery shows zero conflict about how this woman who pretends to be nice to him also broke his heart in the most visceral of ways.

You could have had a heartbreaking story about how Hector's constant abuse broke him, and the way he crawls back to a woman who only showed him the bare minimum of decency shows how he would do anything to feel that someone out there cares about him, even when it's not true. You could have had an intelligent, nuanced story about the intricacies of abuse and toxic relationships, how people can like you and care about you and want the best for you and still hurt you in irreparable ways, because their selfish desires and need for control is stronger than what you need to thrive. Instead, I got this:

Yay, "it's not rape if you enjoyed it" turned into sassy banter! Just what I like from the characters I'm supposed to root for and empathize with :)

I'm sure the genuinely well-meaning, gentle Lenore who fell in real love with Hector that exists in fans' headcanons is a lovely character. I would love to meet her, I also have a Lenore in my head who is a very complex villain. But what I saw on screen from day one was a poor excuse of jerkbait with three different personalities and the source of appalling abuse apologism, because it's fine, she's hot, he deserved it for being stupid, she raped him for his own good, actually it wasn't even rape because when someone lies to another person for the express purpose of having sex which leads to being trapped in an unwanted relationship is just a little dirty trick, a small lie, no biggie, of course the person who was lied to will eventually understand and forgive and want to kiss the person who betrayed them!

Pictured: a poor woman pressured by her peers who was very torn over having to resort to rape by deception to enslave the man she kept molesting for no practical reason other than her amusement. Sure, she could have just offered Hector the position of pet the moment she told him that Carmilla no longer had use for him, and he would have accepted because Hector's only objective in life is feeling cared for, but hey, why not truly humiliate him to feel more powerful? :)

anyway Lenore was never a good person. She had fun toying with the heart of a man for the sake of turning him into a tool to use to enslave people: she did little harm compared to Dracula, sure, but it's more personal, and motivated by even pettier reasons than "wife died", because everything about her screams "I want to feel in control and powerful". And much like Dracula, I would have been perfectly fine with her being a vile piece of shit (well, the writing in S3 still sucks because she's bullying a shell of a man and there's no meaningful conflict, but eh, I could go on a rant on how Hector was done dirty) were it not for the fact that the writing insisted that I should feel sorry for a whiny abusive ineffectual cowardly brat who only thinks about her own pleasure and can't even see the man she trapped as his own person, whose main source of angst is "besties don't like me and Carmilla's plan would be inconvenient to me and my feelings 🥺"

(I linked to too many posts here. I have sources for everything I said. Look at how much proof I collected that Lenore never loved Hector or saw him as a person! It's honestly impossible to read her from any other angle.)

So in short, she's cruel, she's petty, she's disgusting, she's incompetent (using her pussy to unnecessarily trick a man who is painted as so stupid he's on the verge of being called the R-slur doesn't speak highly of her manipulative skills), she's whiny, she's a hypocrite, she doesn't even do anything concrete in the plot (I love me some cringefail villains who still have some gravitas to them, like OG Isaac and Dahlia Hawthorne), she does like one (1) good thing and it didn't even matter, and her grand finale is ragequitting from life like a kid who lost too many times at a videogame, abandoning like he was a mere afterthought the man who cut his own finger to get rid of the slave ring she put on his hand and still chose her. peak. she's lucky that her design was artificially engineered to be as cute as possible, because that's deadass the only reason fans tear their hair to justify her and defend her.

S4 was bad and she was particularly pathetic there (seriously that ring was fucking pointless), but that didn't make her a good character in S3 either. So yes, she deserved to be written by someone who understands the gravity of abuse and doesn't think some people are so stupid that they deserve to be harmed.

lenore is a very well-written character that is written very well

[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.

[castlephantom]

So N!Castlevania turns Alucars intro (sort off) a babysitter to Richter and Maira, Drolta is a fucking Night Creature, no Dracula in the story, Juste went for a depressed to hero in short time.

I would rather watch Nosferatu movie then Netflixvania.