#styrian sisters

[ineedmoretrevorcardcontent]

[bornfreakdraws]

Styrian diplomacy

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[alpaca-clouds]

Styria sisters headcanons

After talking about this with @autumnmobile12 about this yesterday, I thought I might as well share some of my headcanons for the Styria sisters. Some of them are closely based in what we learn in the canon. Others is stuff that I just made up. After all we have very, very little canonical information about them.

Let's start with Carmilla. Who is probably the one, we do know the most about. We know she got turned by a vampire, who was a "cruel old man" and whom she killed. This makes it quite likely that she in fact does originate from Styria - something that obviously also fits with her novel counterpart.

Part of my headcanon for her as a human is, that even back then she was struggling with the expectations society put on women. Her mother died, when she was young, so first her father and when her father died her older brother put those expectations on her. She fled her first abusive marriage by becoming a nun, but when she was in the monastery her sire saw her and wanted her. At the beginning she came willingly, because she wanted the power he promised. But of course he was just another abuser.

After she killed him, his followers wanted to kill her. But it was Morana, who saved her life. And it was with the help of Morana and Striga that she took over the castle. At the time Morana had her fledgling with her - Laura. Who obviously became her romantic partner.

Oh, and I put Carmilla's birth date into the year 1029.

I wrote about my headcanon for Lenore before. A lot of my headcanon for her comes from this one bit of dialogue we get for her: (Paraphrasing) "I grew up in a castle just like this two hundred years ago. I was five years old when English soldiers came climbing up the toilet chutes with knives between their teeth."

Now, this tells us she is just around two hundred years old and the place she came from had a violent conflict with England at the time. Around two hundred years before the show, so in the late 13th century, England had two wars happening shortly after the other. First another war with France (I mean, it is England and France, what do you expect?) and then the first war of Scottish Independence.

Given her name (that was actually pretty popular in 13th century Scottland) and her red hair, it would make sense for her to be Scottish.

Now, based on her design, she was also fairly young when she got turned. Probably in her late teens. She clearly looks a lot younger from how her face is drawn compared to everyone else.

Something else that makes a lot of sense, as we know her parents got killed, is that she might well have been taken as a hostage, which was something the English did to Scottish gentry.

From this comes my headcanon: She was born in 1287, making her five years old, when war started. She got taken as a hostage by the English, living in luxury, but very much inside a golden cage. Also suffering quite a bit of abuse. She was made to marry at age 15, got pregnant at age 16, had complications and died during child birth age 17. But she was "lucky" that a vampire was nearby, who took pity on her and turned her. That vampire being Laura, aka Carmilla's girlfriend and Morana's fledgling. The two tried to return to Styria from there, but on the way back Laura got killed by English soldiers.

Lenore did somehow manage to make her way to Styria, though she arrived there as a ferral vamp.

We see in the series quite a bit of tension between Carmilla and Lenore. And this is my headcanon reason for it: Lenore came to Styria without Laura.

Morana is kinda in an odd position for me. Katie Silva, who designed her, said, she immagines Morana to be from Ancient Sumer. Buuuut... Ancient Sumer as a civilisation ended around 1500BC. Though it included, obviously, Ancient Babylon. And there is kinda my issue. I set Babylon as the origin of vampires. And if there were vampires left from the time, the knowledge about where vampires came from, would not have been lost.

So... I decided she was from Ancient Persia. Specifically from the North of the Ancient Persian empire, though she was living there at a time the empire was already expiring. Though at the same time, vampires were still part of normal society and ruled together with humans.

But of course Ancient Persia was another empire, that ended. So, in the end, her home was turned to dust. And when she became adrift, she was originally with some other vampires from her home. But bit by bit all of them died. Some of them got killed, others chose the sun. Leaving in the end only Morana. She drifted for a bit, but the Romans did not make Europe a hospital place to be at the time - especially as a vampire - so she drifted further east, spending almost five hundred years in Asia. Part of this she spent in Japan together with Cho. But when Cho went off the deep end, she left, returning to Europe in the end.

Something, that she learned over the time, was that cooperation with humans was not possible.

During the middle of the 11th century she ended up with this sick girl, that would not leave her side. Which is Laura. And who was very, very insistent on being turned. So, when Morana looked for a safe place for Laura to spend her fledgling years, she went for one of the vampire kingdoms - Styria. Arriving there just days after Carmilla killed her sire.

It is also, when she meets Striga.

Lastly we have Striga. My favorite sister. :D Love this wonderful big woman. (All I wanna do, is see you turn into, a giant woman xD)

Now, we do know very little about her, outside of her admittance of not being able to forget an implied to be bad past. She also has an Eastern European accent, though - again - langauge is another messy topic in Castlevania.

I looked into it and her voice actress is from Croatian heritage, so I decided that Striga is from that area. Which would make her of mixed Slavic origin, as before the slavs got to Croatia some Arabian people were living there. It might explain her hair, too.

I am meanwhile fully in agreement with @g-vlssz here, making Striga a trans woman. I just think her design really well fits this interpretation.

My backstory for her is, that she was a human mercenary to feed her family - that is her younger siblings - hunting bandits and monsters. But at some point she got sent after a group of vampires ravaging the country side. This was Lazarus and his men - a vampire stemming from Ancient Rome. When she fought him and managed to hold her own for a bit, leading him to turn her.

Now, just like Carmilla's sire, he was a cruel old man, being abusive towards the men (and the one woman, though Striga was not out at the time) following him. When he learned about Striga's human siblings, he went out of his way to kil them. Striga was with him a good while, until the troop made their way to Styria this one winter as well - just after Carmilla had killed her sire. And when Lazarus tried to take the place over, Striga managed to kill him.

I put Striga's birthday right at the beginning of that millenium. Into the year of 1004.

And, yeah... That is basically my headcanons for the four sisters.

I really adore those four and their sad, sad stories. :D

[ultravioletqueen]

CASTLEVANIA/ HECTOR X ODYSSEUS READER(PLATONIC)

Warnings:mentions of slavery, mentions of torture towards reader in the past, reader has a foul mouth towards the vampire sisters, reader is a loving parent and partner, comfort for hector(bc he needed it), found family, hector let the reader call him "son" bc they miss their family, homesick reader, reader take no shit from lenore, reader tries to unalive themselves at one point.

When Hector arrived at the dungeon of Carmila's castle he did not expect to have company, so he was surprised to see that in the next cell there was another person, said person looked even worse than him and that he was there longer due to familiarity. with which he insulted the guards.

At the time, Hector didn't pay any attention to you, he thought you were simply a prisoner who was there for speaking out of place or that you were one of Carmila's old toys that she got tired of as you got older.

They didn't talk for the first few days until the incident where Hector wanted to attack Lenore and ended up biting her on the butt afterwards.

For the first time Hector heard you say something other than insults towards the guards or the Styrian sisters.

"Are you okay boy?"

Hector didn't want to talk, he just wanted to be invisible at that moment as he remembered that there was another person in the room who saw the humiliation he had suffered.

Hector did not want to speak until he saw that you threw your piece of bread into his cell (which, unlike his, was in good condition and looked appetizing), Hector just looked at you in disbelief and you just shook your head at him, inciting him to eat the piece of bread.

"You must stay alive, you need it more than me"

After this they started talking, Hector introduced himself and asked your name, you introduced yourself (for some reason your name was familiar to him) and asked him why he was there.

Because there was no one else to talk to for the rest of the day until Lenore bothered him again, he began to tell you about him, his old teacher, his "alliance" with Carmila, and how much he regretted having been so stupid to believe his words.

Easily gaining your sympathy, you decided to share more of yourself to make things more balanced.

You told him that you were a ruler, that you had left your wife and son to do a mission in Styria, which was to get information from the vampire sisters and destroy them from within.

However, it didn't take them long to discover you and decided to lock you up, they stripped you of all your old clothes (except for your wedding ring that you managed to hide), they put you in beggar's clothes to humiliate you and locked you in their dungeon.

At first Hector was very skeptical, but when you started talking about military strategies, historical facts about your homeland, your bloodline and you showed that you had access to secrets of the royalty of your country, he realized that you were indeed the ruler you said you are.

Hector asked you how long you had been there, and you heavily responded that almost 20 years. The sisters wanted to get information from you at all costs about how to invade your land, but you were clever and always managed to make them lose interest or focus on something else, they didn't. They could afford to get rid of you even if you acted like a compulsive liar.

You made Hector laugh that afternoon by telling all the times you've tricked the sisters to get your way (especially Lenore).

The following days Hector started talking to you more, you turned out to be pleasant company.

Hector asked you more about yourself and your life as a ruler, you told him about the adventures you had with your companions on the high seas, the beasts you faced on your travels and your stories with your family.

Hector asked you about your family and saw how your eyes lit up but at the same time you looked sad, you told him that when you left your country your son had just been born and that you didn't want to leave him alone with your wife, but your colleagues They convinced you to go help them with the vampire sisters and you could go home when it was all over.

But obviously that didn't happen, you were captured and now you're in a cell until your captors decide they don't need you.

Hector felt pretty bad for making you remember what you lost, even if you looked happy talking about your family you looked sad remembering that you'll probably never see them again.

Hector saw how you began to look out for him, whether when the guards used too much force on him or when Lenore was around you were always on the defensive for his safety.

Hector began to see you more as a friend than as a partner in torment.

Which meant he also started watching over you.

You obviously appreciated the little grand gestures, but you advised him not to fall for Lenore's flattery, you didn't want him to get in trouble with her for your sake.

At some moment you asked to call him "son"(because he was as old as the son you left home) and he agreed bc 1)it maked you happy and 2) he started to see you as a father figure.

But even if their quality of life is improving that does not mean that the sisters' treatment of you will improve.

Especially lenore.

She seemed to have a strong fixation on you as you were one of the few people who could make her fall for tricks, which caused her to have a certain dislike and some admiration towards you.

This ends in a fight between you and Lenore, you tell her truths to her face and she responds by threatening you, she holds your neck and leaves you on the edge of the castle cliff.

Lenore makes it clear to you that if she wanted to she could kill you, but she doesn't decide to do it because she knows that sooner or later you will be useful, after all she has eternity to wait, but she knows that your family doesn't have that much time.

"How long has it been? 10 years? 20 years? How do you know they haven't replaced you? Are they even still alive? You're running out of time."

This makes you finally close your mouth, in fear and anguish.

Your paranoia makes your sanity compromise, Hector is busy making an army for Carmila and it seems that Strigga and Carmila are considering getting rid of you.

And you're not going to give them the pleasure.

Which led you to almost jump off the highest tower of the castle.

You almost did it.

But you stay still, your legs shake (and not because of the cold) and you can't get the sisters' voices out of your head.

You just want to close your eyes and think that you are somewhere else.

You want to be home.

But you don't.

Hector finds you and panics, it wasn't necessary to be a genius to know what you wanted to do.

Hector tries to dissuade you, convince you that this won't solve anything, that you can't give up now, he needs you

With a sob you move away from the edge, your whole body shakes, you were afraid, but you didn't want to die.

Hector cries on your shoulder, he tells you not to scare him like that again, you cry with him, you feel so relieved to have him here with you.

Hector didn't want to lose you, you were his closest ally and the only human he could trust.

After the tower incident, Hector was more attentive to you, he also began to talk to you about his plan against the sisters.

It was risky but they had to try or die trying.

For the first time in many years you felt hope, your home was within reach and they just had to get rid of the sisters.

Hector promised you that when this is all over he will help you return home, he meant it.

They managed to schedule your execution on the day the plan was carried out, you and Hector until then would act as if the sisters still had power over you.

When the day comes you find yourself fighting like you haven't in years.

Blood everywhere, constant fight to survive, adrenaline in your veins, everything happened so quickly until the moment when Lenore was under your and Hector's mercy while Carmila was distracted.

You never felt so much satisfaction, seeing Lenore's expression when she saw that she had fallen into Hector's trap was sublime.

You knew that they had won after the explosion caused by Carmila, she had decided to die and now everything was in ruins for the sisters, one dead, another captured and the other two without a trace.

The new human that appeared was a surprise to you, he literally appeared out of the thin air along with an army of what seemed to be demons but when you saw that he was an ally you quickly accepted him.

During the following days and after many reconstructions, Hector got to work to fulfill his promise to take you home.

The ship in which you had arrived in Styria had been confiscated by the sisters years ago, but with enough help and some magic the ship was able to be as good as new to set sail for your kingdom.

Your kingdom had merciless storms, so an ordinary ship could not withstand it, so Hector was in charge of not only repairing your ship but also making it strong enough for your trip.

At the time of departure, Hector wished you luck on your trip. He knew that this moment was going to come but he really hoped that this would not be the last time he saw you.

You gave him a hug (which he slowly reciprocated) and told him that if one day he goes to your kingdom he will be received as a hero, because for you he is.

A few days after your departure Hector was surprised with an owl at his window, the animal had a note in its claw.

Hector opened the note and realized that it was a letter from you.

"Dear friend, my heart is overflowing with joy, my beloved queen and wife has recognized me, my son has become a good-hearted man and I swear that none of this would have been achieved without you, that is why we will have a party at the palace of the royal family, I want you to go as my guest of honor and meet my family who are eager to meet you and thank you for bringing back their king..."

Hector saw that the back of the letter had what appeared to be a map to your distant island, underneath the map was one last note that made him smile like never before as he went out to look for a boat.

"I send you my best wishes, we will be waiting for your welcome arrival son"

[autumnmobile12]

This was the only time in the show where one of the main trio interacted with one of the forge master duo.

And, I gotta admit, this was one of the things that disappointed me in the show.  As much as I love this series, I do wish these two storylines had converged in the end.

Like I really thought there would come a point when the vampire sisters invaded Wallachia and Sypha and Trevor would encounter Hector and realize he was an unwilling participant.  Similar to the scene we got with Isaac, Hector would say he couldn’t help them because of the blood ring restraining him.  And with all the fighting they’d been through and Trevor just being straight up done with everyone and their mother, I think he would have just handed Hector a knife and said, “You have two options.  You’re either our ally or our enemy.  Cut that ring off and help us or I’ll kill you.  What’ll it be?”  Harsh perhaps, but a big part of Trevor’s character is ‘do what’s necessary’ no matter the personal cost, so I don’t imagine he would have had much patience for Hector.  And that’s a difference between Trevor and Hector’s characters that I really need to go into in a separate character analysis.

This was my outlook when Season 3 ended though.  We did leave off with the return of Trevor’s dark view of the world in spite of the positive influence Sypha brought, and Hector realizing the consequences of trusting Lenore.  The series played Season 4 off pretty well in that Hector did have initiative was actively conspiring behind the scenes in order to give Isaac the opening he needed to take out Carmilla.  So I’m glad they didn’t write Hector off as ‘the helpless one.’

On another couple of notes, I kinda thought/hoped Sypha’s grandfather would make a reappearance in the final season and he would be the one to finish what the Ship Captain started in guiding Isaac along his journey of letting go of his anger and just living well, but that’s just me.

Back in Season 2, Isaac refers to Alucard as a spoiled child, and I really want to know what that was all about.  In the battle against the Generals and the Styrian soldiers, Isaac and Alucard seem to recognize each other, but did they have any interaction with each other before Lisa died?  Maybe I’m wrong and Isaac just thought, ‘There’s only one person that could be.’  I’ve talked about my theory that Alucard was a sheltered child and hadn’t seen much hardship in his life before his mother was killed, so I can see him and Isaac resenting each other out of emotional immaturity.  It would have been interesting to see that development in their characters.

But I get it.  The show only had a limited number of episodes and didn’t have time for all the tiny nuanced story arcs, and that’s fine.  An important element of writing is being aware of which parts are the essential and which are ones you need to cut.  If it were a longer running series like Avatar: The Last Airbender, then I would expect some more attention and care put into the subplots and side characters.  It’s a little touch and go with Striga and Morana’s relationship, Zamfir’s backstory wasn’t as developed as it could have been, and there are other elements that felt rushed.

Even so, I truly think the end result was fantastic.

[prettyboykatsuki]

omg pls share ur beef with lenore bc I have beef with her too but I’m wondering if it’s different from yours lol

look.... shfbsaks

trigger warnings for discussion of abuse, rape by deception, and enslavement / forced subjugation. also lots of spoilers for castlevania s3 and s4.

like. from a completely outside perspective i really Really wanted to enjoy the dynamic between lenore and hector. on paper, it has the makings of a dynamic i would like. a beautiful, toxic femdom and a man whose forced into wearing a collar for her. im a freak so im into that

i say that to say that my gripes with lenore weren't really with the actions themselves (as in im not someone who will hate on a dynamic simply for being fucked up) but that i though the direction they went with their relationship was fucking stupid KJDHFSJ

in general, i also think lenore is a massive hypocrite several times in the show which makes me not like her lol

but most of what frustrated me about it was lenore and the shows attempt to make her appear ??? sympathetic??

lenore is character whose trying to substantiate power by lording over hector by any means necessary - mostly through abuse and manipualtion. and it's clear that she felt a sense of powerlessness as the weakest of the styrian sister and that making hector her pet was a way to regain her sense of control.

(side note: i often hear people rightfully speak about alucards sexual abuse but i rarely hear anyone talk about the fact hector went through something very similar i.e. rape by means of deception. )

i think the tactics she used to exert control over hector made sense. and i think it made some sense for hector ( a character who was distrusting of humans, starved for affection, incredibly lonely, and emotionally immature ) to feel compelled to comply with her for one reason or another.

( i say some because honestly, i rarely felt genuinely convinced of hectors submission towards lenore. hector is emotionally immature in a way that makes him desperate sure but after everything with carmilla i felt doubtful he would give in that willingly - even starving, naked and cold.

i felt like the show should've made hector either more naive or more outwardly vulnerable if they were looking to convince the audience about him trusting lenore that easily. but i digress.)

anyways, up until before lenore assaulted hector her tactic was essentially trying to convince hector that she was on his side about wanting to run away or escape which worked.

and then she enslaved him in the middle of sex and that was that.

this is where most of my problem comes with their relationship and with lenore. she becomes very annoying to me after this because she is so blase about all of it and all of her kindness towards hector is hollow as shit - so any affection they attempted to portray felt incredibly meaningless.

almost immediately after lenore forcefully enslaves hector - she speaks of hector like a pet. which has been her intention pretty much from the beginning. and honestly, i think if the show had continued to write her acting like that (i.e. dehumanizing him, speaking down to him while still being gentle to him / affectionate) the writing would've still made way more sense because hector would've had a reason to latch on or feel loyalty

she cares about hectors material conditions but it ends there.

and i must reiterate - i do not take issue with this in and of itself.

what i do take issue with is the trivialization of this behavior in the immediate aftermath of the timeskip in which we are somehow meant to see their relationship as genuinely .... sweet(?) in anyway at all. this, to me, is the failure of the shows writing when trying to portray this relationship.

in general i dont think lenore ever feels genuine love for hector. like ever. but i also dont think hector genuinely loves lenore - nor do i think it makes any sense for the show to try and convince us of that.

and honestly, they don't need to love each other equally or compassionately at all to have their relationship be emotionally compelling but their dynamic lacks practical common sense.

there is seemingly no consequence nor weight to any of lenores behavior in terms of how hector perceives her. we are, for whatever reason, meant to believe that hector feels some kind of genuine love for her after that massive betrayal when lenore has done nothing to earn that from hector in any way.

housing, clothing, food, a castle - all of these are about material conditions and easy for lenore request and get for him. but lenore never really goes to bat for hector, never makes a move that goes against her sisters for his sake, never does anything worthy of earning any genuine affection OR loyalty even in a fucked up way lmao

she doesn't even do this through like. repeated abuse or fear or threat which is fine for the relationship the show wanted to write. but even that writing choice and her doing a total 180 would've felt way more compelling. it'd be a different character direction though. the point is, we don't get to see her reinforce her relationship with hector in a way that would force him into feeling anything.

put plainly - she just does a bunch of horrible shit to him, gives him a house and a bed, and we're meant to be convinced that hector is any way genuinely loves or feels affection for her???????????????? WHAT??????

it doesn't make any ounce of sense. like. sdjkkjsddn

i would've been fine if lenore either 1. kept hector on a tight leash with repeated abuse and threats to earn his loyalty through fear or gaslighting or something. i dont wish that on him of course like thats pookie but DSJKDKJDS

i agree though that this wouldn't make sense for the nature of the relationship, it would've made sense from a writing standpoint to have that and turn the whole thing horrible and damaged and give hector negative and tragic character development

or if 2. lenore had done literally anything at all to genuinely prove her fondness for hector in some kind of meaningful way after literally enslaving him which she does not do!!!!!!

at what point are we meant to be convinced of their relationship being mutual or legitimate? it doesn't make a lick of sense of paper. there's no consistency or evidence after the major betrayal of the assault that would solidfy their dynamic. like sure, there's merit in the idea hector has nowhere else to turn ???

but that still wouldn't be reason to act affectionately with her as if they're friends the way they do like im so?????????? lenore does all of that shit and then they make dick jokes to each other like are you insane. being obedient for survival is an entirely different ball game to being obedient out actual submission.

in general, there's nothing tethering them to each other except lenore wanting to keep hector like a therapy dog.

i think another direction the show could've gone in was a a more mutually codependent and deeply toxic dynamic because it could've included the weird powerplay stuff and the canon relationship had all the makings for it. a lot in the canon would have to change for this to be accomplished but if not for my second choice i think this would've been good for them.

but the show seemed insistent on the femdom stuff so alright.

and like. a relationship dynamic built on subjugation can have any number of reasons to make it compelling and interesting.

and the dynamic that castlevania WANTED to take clear is that despite the abuse they loved or felt for each other in some way - or at least hector did enough to stay with lenore after everything.

but in order to write that kind of relationship - there has to be reason for the subjugated party to remain loyal AND contented to their masters side. whether that reason is negative self worth, or a sense of stockholm, or fear. or whether that be memories of the good times, a sense of fondness and genuine affection etc. it has to have reason.

and in the instance you want the audience to feel sympathy for the dominant party, it has to be because they are at least fond or genuinely regard whoever they subjugate, some how some way. there has to be at least one meaningful instance for the non-dominant party to latch onto. some connection that is strong enough or at least swaying enough to make the audience understand why they would want to be together even after everything.

in my opinion, lenore and hector do not have that. i never once felt convinced by their relationship on either side. i never thought hector would kill lenore, but to spend time with her or desire to run away with her also made no sense.

hector didnt experience a negative character growth. him hating himself enough to stay with her would've made sense. him killing her last minute as a means of survival and feeling complicated about it would've made sense. many other endings im sure would've made sense.

but them falling in love and playing house after everything goes down??????????? be serious????????

and then all top of all of that beef i already had with the writing LENORE HAD THE FUCKING AUDACITY ? TO KILL HERSELF AFTER BEING LOCKED AWAY????? LIKE SHE DID TO HECTOR WITH NO REMORSE AND IM SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HER??????? KICK ROCKS WHAT??????????????????

i just. i did not fucking like the writing for them. it was bad beyond what is redeemable which is upsetting to me because again, on paper - i should've loved it !!!!!!!!!!!! BUT I DID NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[beevean]

The more I think about S4 and how much of a rushjob the Styria plotline was, the more amazed I am at the utter failure that the ring is. When you really, really think in detail about how it works, it's so easy to see the gaps in logic in it.

What were the issues of using Hector to create an army for the Styrian council?

He would be able to create an army for himself that he could sic against the sisters. The ring allows them to assume control of the Night Creatures. We only see this as a short flash when Hector forges a creature, but he has to cut his own finger to force his army to stop attacking Isaac, so the ring solved this. One point!

Striga wants to strike the iron while it's hot and take advantage of the chaos in the region, and Lenore is taking too much time in "domesticating" him with good ol' fashioned gaslighting and manipulation. The ring brutally speeds things up: this could have been a nice plot point to show how prideful and eager to prove herself Lenore is, but in S4's quest to woobiefy her, it goes nowhere. Still, it can be seen as an answer to Striga's issue, so two points.

However, in the same scene, Striga also points out the paradox of relying on dead bodies to make an army when they need living humans to feed. This is straight up an issue with Hector himself, not the way he would be made to work. While we see mercenaries in the castle when Isaac assaults it, this problem never comes up again, and Hector is delivered as many bodies as he needs.

He doesn't want to be there. The ring binds him to the castle. However, considering Hector's plan apparently involved creating an escape channel that would connect his forge to Carmilla's quarters at the top, which he apparently planned to use to run away ("I had to assume I might be running from the top of the castle one day"), it seems that his own magic would have been strong enough to break the spell.

He doesn't want to work for people who hurt him. Lenore was actually doing a good job at convincing him to work for them with solid reasons, such as the fact that they shared the same plan and Lenore was willing to improve his life conditions and, by the time the idea of mercenaries comes up, she liked him enough that she was his only chance of being kept alive... then she raped him to put the ring on him, and as the beginning of S4 shows, Hector can stall for time as much as he wants. He still doesn't want to work, as we see later he's actually doing things behind everyone's backs, and nothing forces him to obey any orders. Lenore, his own mistress, has to plead to get him to move on!

That's two out of five, by the way, and one point only lead to bad consequences.

Lenore really did the exact same thing Carmilla was chastized for, breaking Hector's trust before securing his cooperation, and the story... is odd from now on. If you lay down the events, it seems that the ring's failure was an intentional plot beat: of course Hector would refuse to work for the woman who betrayed him. It looks like an honest mistake on Lenore's part, much like Carmilla beating him and then expecting him to do her bidding. But Hector actually doesn't display any anger like he did for Carmilla, and the two are on good terms... even though he planned to run away and bring back Dracula... even though he also waited for Isaac to kill him... even though he spares Lenore's life because she doesn't deserve to be hurt... even though he completely destroyed her life by causing Carmilla's death...? I honestly don't understand if it's a writing failure or not... which makes it inherently a writing failure lol. At least Carmilla got thoroughly called out for her idiocy.

The more I think about it, the more this mess seems to be caused by two ideas badly meshed together: it's possible that in the first draft, Hector was meant to betray Lenore and the others (remember the foreshadowing with the fireplace), which would explain his plotting behind the scenes, his little "thanks again for that", and the way he caused Styria's downfall... but then someone in the team decided to ship Hector and Lenore together, so the ring got completely nullified to remove as many reminders of her past cruelty as possible and he displays zero emotions other than vague fondness for her. With this in mind, it becomes effectively impossible to determine if the ring's ineffectualness was planned to facilitate Hector's revenge or was a result of rushed writing to facilitate Lenector.

A very, very simple solution to this entire mess would have been revealing that Lenore... never wanted Hector to work in the first place. She didn't like Carmilla's plan, but she wanted to save his life because she found him cute and wanted a sex slave pet, and she knew that the others were waiting for a good reason to get rid of him. So it was for her sake, and in her mind Hector's, but not for the council, who was planning to do something she didn't approve of and doesn't respect her anyway. That would have been nice, fit Lenore's established moral code (to be fair, she does look a little miffed at the idea of keeping humans in pens, and while she tells Hector that it's their plan, it's obvious she's only trying to manipulate him and has no feelings on the matter), and very selfish personality. Who cares about the livestock? She wants this new puppy! And she'll save it from mean Carmilla, because despite all the gaslighting and sexual coercion and trickery, she is a good person and likes feeling good! And if she can stick it to Striga who underestimated her, even better!

In short: no, the ring wasn't meant to work, only keep Hector docile!

I like this idea of Lenore having her own agenda and being with the council only out of mutual convenience: they don't like her but use her, and same goes for her. As long as they live nicely without causing issues, she cooperates, but Carmilla's plan is idiotic, so she snatches the pet for herself: from there, it's easier to have an arc where she grows to care for Hector as a person, without the pressure of the council who she doesn't care for in the first place, being fully aware of being nothing more than a tool to them (hint hint). And Hector can be as torn as he is supposed to be, but ultimately choosing to make Styria fall and only keep Lenore alive, but in a way that crushes her heart.

And since it's common to whitewash Lenore in S3 and assume she was a better person than what she actually was, no, I don't believe this was the intention:

Lenore wouldn't have pitched her deal to Carmilla, which was "he'll work for us in exchange for the castle". She wouldn't have even set up the expectations, because then no shit Carmilla would get "very cross". She could have kept it for herself and agreed with Striga's suggestion to hire mercenaries.

In fact, the very first perk of the ring she mentions is that now Hector's Night Creatures would obey the council as well, eliminating the danger of him using them to attack them. This is literally the only function of the ring that is shown in S4. Lenore expected Hector to work for them and was happy to reassure the sisters that he was no longer a threat.

In the dick jokes scene, Lenore sounds worried that she can't keep Carmilla at bay, but her solution is pleading pretty please for Hector to work, in a tone that implies that it's what she expects from him as well. The complete lack of apology for any morally questionable action she has taken doesn't help assuage the impression - as I have stated multiple times, the show is not subtle, and if Lenore meant to go behind Carmilla's back and was deliberately being twofaced, she would have admitted it.

Related to what above, Lenore keeps insisting that she's loyal to the sisters, and her whole angst is that she feels out of place among them in a way that implies that it's not just about her pride, but because she genuinely cares. Sure, she still comes off as a selfish brat who ragequits life because she lost all her power, but it's safe to say that we weren't meant to interpret her like that lol.

So yes, Lenore really expected Hector to work for her after breaking his heart, and pulled the mother of all shockedpikachufaces.jpg when he didn't. Although he still fell in love with her. Although he still planned to betray all of them. Although he still cared to save her life letting everyone else die.

It's just amazing to me. The more I try to meet the writing from different angles, the more issues I find. true peak.

I guess I can chalk this up to yet another way I could fix the plotline: have Lenore be a wild card in the council, and have her using everyone around her, to the point that no one can trust her, and she's only a Queen because someone like her is best to have as an ally and not as an enemy. Only after Hector betrays her, she starts to regret her actions: because for the first time in her existence, she had grown to care about someone other than herself, but by then, the damage was irreparable.

[styrian-rhapsody]

~ She pats his head. ~

Whatever floats your boat.

Hawkins got Winston back at beach day!!! If you go you can maybeeee help ensure it’s safety!!

Thank fucking god.. I’m proud of that kid.

He’s more competent then I am..

[twig-gy]

hey guess when i first realized the innuendo in wilhelmina waltz. it was when i had finally gotten my sister to listen to one of chonny jash’s songs bc i was hyperfocusing on a styrian rhapsody. and i had finally convinced her past the 20 min time mark and was watching her reaction. and i had never paid enough attention to the actual lyrics i guess bc i realized and had to sit there embarrased in a corner with all my Jashification hopes drained away. my darkest hour ngl

[forbiddentaako]

The castlevania girlbosses as a little painting experiment 

[ineedmoretrevorcardcontent]

*cutely gets blocked by male followers/viewers*

[styrian-rhapsody]

It’s okay, it’s not stupid at all. Thank you for telling me. Weird dreams can happen when we’re out of it, and especially since you were experiencing so much blood loss from the bullet wound, it’s no wonder you had such a terrifying dream.

~ She hands him a tissue for his tears. ~

You’re safe now, no one is gonna hurt you.

~ She rushes into the room, not bothering to knock like she usually does. ~

Hawkins?? Are you alright? What happened, did they hurt you?

- @styrian-rhapsody

Nono- I'm okay... I think.

*[He's unsure of his own safety now.]*

[bornfreakdraws]

AHA made you look! (If you want to see more (the full lesbian vampire 0rgy) you're gonna have look me up @ BornFreak on p4tre0n)

[alpaca-clouds]

Caged [Noctober Day 22 - Striga-centric]

Today's story for Noctober is based on the pre-canon story for the Styrian sisters. Specifically Striga. (So I will also tag @g-vlssz. :D)

Caged

Fandom: Castlevania (Netflix) Character: Striga Genre: Whump

1318. As each of the four sisters suffers in her own way, Striga realizes, she is trapped once again.

[antisoucials]

lando is glowing ✨

[autumnmobile12]

Much Beloved

If there was going to be a fifth sister to the Styrian quartet, I'm nominating Seras.