#the general is another Carmilla character I feel really bad for

[fandomsarefamily1966]

What Carmilla lacks in found family, it has in parental figures

And what Dracula lacks in parental figures, it has in found family

... No, actually, I want to talk about this more

I finished Carmilla a couple months ago, and I just feel so bad for Laura. Nobody really seems to want to talk about her except in regards to her relationship with Carmilla, but by the end of the story, she's in the exact same place she was before, except now she's traumatized. And unlike Mina, she doesn't have a Jonathan or a loving group of friends to comfort her. Yes, she has her father and governesses, but that's not quite the same as having friends your own age. (Plus, how horrifying would it be to realize that the vampire terrorizing the countryside is none other than the first friend you've ever really had?)

[canmom]

finished Carmilla. what a wonderfully silly novel that was. I need to download an ebook to count how many times Le Fanu uses the word 'languid'.

that said, reading with modern eyes, I think it's a bit of a victim of many subsequent novels elaborating on vampires, and some of the conventions of Victorian literature - in particular, the rule that the narrator has to survive in order to recount the tale, and the evil must be overthrown and tied up neatly. worse, Laura ends up an entirely passive character, with the final resolution seeing Carmilla killed by a couple of side characters, one of whom hasn't even been mentioned up to that point.

the novel is at its best when Carmilla and Laura are interacting. I would have liked to see Laura return Carmilla's affections a bit more, rather than just being like 'well that was weird' every time Carmilla lezzes it up or says something hilariously morbid. but there is definitely humour in her being very literally the straight girl.

I've seen subsequent adaptations of Carmilla, notably my friend Maki @mxmy's Dr Carmilla character, who's - at least in what is released so far - a space vampire with a habit of picking up waifs and strays and turning them into immortal pirates, something which tends to end badly for everyone. the other is (if anyone still remembers) the 2014 Carmilla web series on youtube, which is set in a college dormitory in the States, and presents Carmilla in a more positive light. in the end, I was a little surprised to find both these works take little other than the premise of 'lesbian vampire called Carmilla' and her relationship with a girl called Laura or Lorelei. the web series pulls in a few other names from the novel but completely reframes the situation, adding a new male vampire who is exploiting Carmilla to act as a villain (it was 2010s pop-feminism, you know how it goes). Dr Carmilla currently only vaguely hints at the relationship between Carmilla and Lorelei in the released songs, but involves a new apocalyptic scenario (I think that's about all I can say) - but it does at least keep Carmilla as an itinerant traveller, and keeps the tragic air of the story.

it is not entirely made clear in the novel if the waking Carmilla is aware of her vampiric excursions. it's easy to suppose while reading it that she's just a good liar who's taking them all for a ride, and I think that's still the best supported interpretation, but I think there's equally a reading where she's unaware of the whole vampire thing, and genuinely likes this daft straight girl Laura and before her, the general's daughter. if she is aware, she's really bad at covering her tracks, particularly with her disappearing act. the whole anagram schtick is explicitly named as a rule she has to operate under, but there's plenty she does to tip off her victims and their families. perhaps the point is that she's just charismatic enough to get away with it.

the character of carmilla's mother is a thread that never quite seems to get resolved. the natural assumption is that she's another vampire, dropping her daughter off in a new feeding ground - but since the ending acts like Carmilla was the only surviving vampire, I wonder if perhaps she should be taken as an illusion conjured by Carmilla, perhaps the reason she has to be sent away on a mysterious carriage ride as soon as possible in each instance?

the vampire is traditionally taken to be in part a symbol of the feudal past of cruel aristos persisting and corrupting the rational present, something that makes plenty of sense for Dracula, but in Carmilla's case, nearly every character is a castle-dwelling aristocrat of some sort, and the peasants and servants are treated as mostly beneath notice by the narrative and characters (one scene that stands out has Carmilla, feeling insulted by a trinket seller, idly talk about how in her day she'd have called for his bloody execution - a comment that seems to bother Laura very little). the main characters are even related to Carmilla's family. perhaps just a case of early iterations of an idea, not yet fully formed.

one thing I do like about Carmilla is the amount of physical affection - Carmilla is constantly touching and kissing Laura, and while Le Fanu probably didn't mean this the way we would today, it provides for strong images of sickly Carmilla draping herself all over her new object of affections, like she's acquired a new favourite doll. I can see why this is widely understood as a lesbian novel even though it's very Victorian; it's kinda dark yuri, like Carmilla is coming into the lives of these lonely girls and kind of lovebombing them with expressions of affection and devotion, and whomst among us... it would take many more decades of horny writers to really get into the eroticism of vampiric blood drinking itself though, which here largely takes place in a deniable way, while Laura is sleeping.

despite the reputation for Victorian novels to be long and rambling, this was a rather brisk book. I honestly wish it was a bit longer - a very obvious addition would be a chance for Laura to talk to Carmilla once she's finally figured out the vampire thing, instead of rushing to the ending. it seemed Le Fanu was more interested in explaining vampires (fucked up amirite), which makes sense for the time, but nowadays we all know what the deal is with vampires and instead the core relationship is the interesting part. ah well! it's worth the time to read.

[alpaca-clouds]

Let me talk about Women in Refrigerators

You know what? This is a thing that is kinda annoying me in the Castlevania fandom. How everyone is screaming about Women in Refrigerators, while folks so clearly do not understand what the trope actually is about and why it is a bad trope.

Like, there is not a single death of a named woman in Castlevania, that not at least someone has called "fridged". Alright, maybe Drolta. But other than that... yeah, folks definitely have called Lenore and Carmilla fridged. And... No, people, you misunderstand the trope.

The name of the trope was coined based on Green Lantern vol. 3 #54 (from the 90s), in which Green Lantern finds his death girlfriend stuffed in a refrigerator - mostly for shock value in the reader. Mind you, this was the 90s, when superhero comics were really, really edgy and stuff. And in fact the kind of story happened a lot of times during this time. Female characters being killed, raped and tortured for pure shock value, with the story not featuring any idea of what this did to the female character, but rather focusing on what this does to the male characters. (And mind you: Yes, a woman can be considered fridged and still survive the ordeal. A lot of folks do consider Barbara in The Killing Joke fridged as well.)

So, what does "Fridging" in terms of the trope mean? Basically it means that a female character suffers a horrible fate just so that another (most probably male) character can be motivated to do something and react to this thing happening, setting in motion a character arc for the surviving character - or even setting into motion the plot.

In many examples it should also be noticed that at times the female characters mostly just exist to meet their horrible end. Supernatural as a show is really bad in this regard. Like, within the first episode of the show THREE FUCKING WOMEN get fridged, just so that the brothers can travel together and start the plot.

So, let's move back to Castlevania.

Lisa is fridged. There is no way around it. Yes, it does not feel like it, because they still managed to make her a character of sorts, but yeah, she definitely is fridged. She dies a horrible death and that death is what motivates the plot, as well as what motivates both Alucard and Dracula. That is very classical fridging no way around it.

Carmilla and Lenore, though? Yeah, they are not fridged. They are characters who just die. Their death is not used to motivate another character. Their death is also not random, like most fridging deaths. Especially Carmilla is basically asking for her death, of course. She is a villain and gets the same death as all other villains. And while it is a bit different with Lenore, she definitely is not fridged either, giving that she literally dies in the last episode with no plot or development happening because of her death.

In Nocturne it gets a bit more complicated. Is Julia fridged? In a way, I would argue, she is, mostly on the value that she exists as a character to die and for her death to be the basis for Richter's character arc, giving him the trauma he needs to overcome.

Esther meanwhile does not feel fridged to me. Because Annette's trauma is not deeply linked to her death, rather than the entire slavery experience in general.

Tera? Well, for Tera it is too early to tell. I still assume that her change into a vampire is going to be used to have the characters realize, that vampires are not inherently evil, and to give us a view into what vampire society looks like. At least that is what I assume.

By the way: The fridging of female characters is my big issue with the PS2 Castlevania games. Like, in Lament of Innocence both Sara and Elisabetha are getting fridged to motivate Leon and Mathias. And the same is true for Rosalie in Curse of Darkness, who as a character only exists to motivate Hector. I mean, she is so replacable as a character, that Hector fucking replaces her by the end of the game.

[beevean]

You know, it's really funny how execution can make or break a concept.

In the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker's Dracula and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Dracula had a wife before he became a vampire, and said wife's death drives him to villainy. Centuries later, he meets the reincarnation of his dead wife, who he has a doomed romance with.

Yet because Bram Stoker's Dracula derailed a lot of characters not named Dracula and tried to make him out to be a tragic hero while he was still doing terrible things, I disliked the film, while the Castlevania games never pulled such a thing. It used his tragic backstory as a reason why he is the way he is, without excusing his behavior. As a result, it adds dimension to Dracula's character without feeling out-of-character.

Oh yeah, IGA clearly liked the movie and introduced elements of it with his own spin, such as Dracula descending into villainy because he returned home after an expedition only to find his wife Elisabetha dead, or him having the chance to live again with a girl named Mina (although Dracula needs to be reincarnated into a good person first lol)

Something I like about CV is that it has tragic villains, but it has a good balance between showing them in a sympathetic light and still reminding you that they're bastards. Dracula is a grieving man stuck in a cycle of rebirth, but he's also a petty monster who wants to make everyone pay for the sins of a few. Isaac lost everything he held dear through no fault of his own and fell prey to his own master's curse which lead him to a pointless death, but he's also a cruel, bitter man who unfairly caused the death of an innocent woman out of jealousy spite. Brauner lost his dear daughters in the war, but he also took two daughters from another man to turn them into vampires, and he gets called on his delusion by Jonathan. The story never tells you "look at these sad meows meows 🥺 they're not so bad after all 🥺", but they're not generic baddies either, and you come to see at least where they're coming from.

The show takes the "sad meow meow" approach when it comes to Dracula, Isaac and Lenore, and that's why I'm less than impressed. Dracula is a poor man too bereft with grief to think logically and who deserves to live again with his wife. Isaac is actually a gentle man who deserves peace after killing innocents to grow an army because he wanted to continue Dracula's slaughter. Lenore is actually a good, pacifist vampire who only wanted to protect Hector after resorting to deceit, manipulation, gaslighting and rape. You can feel the narrative holding your hand to push you to think a certain way.

Carmilla is a weird case because you'd expect her to be meowified, but she's just a generic badass #girlboss who gets no sympathy for her offscreen trauma. Still, not an elegant approach.

[seramilla]

I’ve found a way to distinguish the asks of Clara/ Velvette without them ret-conning Clara/kiki.

In my opinion all the asks that deal with Clara/velvette take place in the past throughout velvette and Clara’s various breakups, however all of the asks with Clara/kiki take place in the present.

It’s easier so that the relationships don’t get ret-conned because Clara/Velvette’s relationship really helps Clara open her eyes to see that not all relationships are going to work and not all relationships are going to be easy work. And it also helps Clara grow as a person and realize that her feelings towards Velvette are ones of fear and resentment but she doesn’t want to let Velvette go because in Clara’s mind, Velvette is her first serious relationship so she’s afraid to let it go.

Kiki/clara’s relationship is based off of feelings of mutual respect and love for each other. There’s hardly any yelling or arguing because they work together in order to conquer the problem that is bothering them instead of fighting. It’s not Clara v.s Velvette and the rest of hell, it’s Clara and Kiki v.s what stands in their way.

Just because they’re fictional doesn’t mean we can’t add that growth and development as a character and in relationships. And toxic relationships no matter how people disagree are a huge point in development in a character’s growth in their mind and as a person. Because it affects the way they act around people and how they do things.

Speedy for rambling I wanted to get this off of my mind lmao

Bumping up this ask because it’s relevant.

No, this is all very insightful! You’re basically on the same page as me, anon. I am just kind of flying by the seat of my pants with the Clara relationship stuff. I’ve just been leaving it up to you guys to float ideas and then trying to incorporate that into a narrative. I had no idea how it would go. Kiki came out of left field and kind of put the impetus on Velvette to start to give a damn. But it’s been a fun challenge to balance out the Velvette favorable asks with the ones supporting Kiki.

You are so right about different types of relationships contributing to a character's growth, and how learning from toxic ones can lead to healthier ones down the road. I think that's the fun part about character analysis through shipping; everyone has different ideas, and you throw them together, and it plays out like a TV drama of sorts, haha! I don't think that's a bad thing, either!

I think your analysis is pretty accurate. Not every relationship in media is a healthy one, and often characters can have very complicated, complex relationships and that evolves over the course of the work. Especially by nature of these people being in Hell, it makes sense that not everything is sunshine and rainbows all the time.

This is kind of how I've mapped out the quote-unquote "canon" events around Clara in my head thus far:

Velvette is Clara's first real relationship. Velvette initially pursued her because she thought she'd be an easy route to Carmilla. She never really took the relationship seriously, treated Clara like another one of her assets, and just generally left Clara feeling confused with very off again/on again feelings. It's up for debate whether they were ever exclusive, since Velvette is also involved with Vox and Valentino to some extent.

Clara meets Kiki when Odette starts seeing Verosika. During a lull in Clara's relationship with Velvette, she and Kiki hit it off and start seeing each other. Again, not sure if they're exclusive at this point.

Velvette sees Clara with a new beau and starts making moves. She's determined to weasel her way back into Clara's life, and makes several poor, underhanded attempts, and blows up about it each time when it doesn't work.

Kiki defends Clara a lot in the beginning. As a Hellborn, she's not afraid of a Sinner, especially not Velvette. At some point, Clara gets brave enough to confront Velvette herself on her BS, and she has to do this a few times before Velvette gets the picture that it's over between them.

Velvette starts to catch real feelings. She doesn't realize what a good thing she had in Clara until it's gone. This leads to a lot of explosive, childish behavior from her. Whether or not she's willing to pursue Clara in a more genuine way, or whether it's truly over, is up for debate.

I have no real vision for what is, and isn't, endgame for these three, or if there even is one. Maybe Velvette or Kiki will reign supreme. Maybe both of them. Giving Velvette the boot? Eventual polycule? IDK! I'm just rolling with the punches!

Thanks for sharing!

[veilchenjaeger]

I found a non-canon f/f ship I really like and am a bit sad that there are either pwps or gen stories about them but 0 fic with porn AND plot :(

Is this a common thing in femslash fandom?

Short answer: Yes, I'm sorry you're going through that, we suffer together :(

Long answer: My brain caught on the term "femslash fandom", so I want to talk about that real quick - the existence of a somewhat unified "femslash fandom" is very intriguing to me, and also imo a bit of a symptom of fandom misogyny. There exists a somewhat migratory fandom that is less tied to one specific franchise or ship but to F/F as a "genre" and has, as far as I have observed, moved from Once Upon A Time to Carmilla to Agent Carter to Supergirl etc. This is a very simplified way of putting it, it's all way more complex than that, but this fandom is there. It's relatively big, but a lot of it is one fandom rather than separate fandoms for all those shows. Afaik, the fandoms/ships grouped under the general umbrella of "femslash fandom" have a lot more fics that approach the complexity and porn + plot 2xcombo goodness of a lot of M/M fic, but it's still not the same thing. (There are stats on this!) I believe that you at times get a lesser version of this fandom within fandoms for specific media - a sub-fandom that is not focused on a specific ship, the way many sub-fandoms are, but on F/F ships as a whole. There's this phenomenon that people who ship Mingling tend to also ship Liu Mingyan/Ning Yingying and Qin Wanyue/Little Palace Mistress and Liu Mingyan/Qi Qingqi and Ning Yingying/Qin Wanyue etc. etc. Most of the fanwork that comes out of that is - and I'm so sorry to say that bc these are my people and I love them - quite superficial, which is in part understandable bc Ning Yingying and Qin Wanyue haven't actually talked that much.

ANYWAYS. That was a complete tangent bc the term "femslash fandom" tickled my brain. Now onto the actual issue.

Yes, it is a truth universally acknowledged that an F/F ship that has not attracted the migratory lesbian fandom must be lacking in fics that are at the same time sexy and plotty. Disclaimer that this is my personal opinion, and my qualification is long-term observation of F/F ships in fandoms outside of the unified "femslash fandom", but I haven't done anything resembling the stats linked above.

I think that a lot of people in fandom have serious issues with depictions of women as attractive and porn about women. Not in a strictly bad way - porn about women is dominated by porn made for straight men, and depictions of women as attractive in our patriarchal society are dominated by objectification and the male gaze. It's not a coincidence that a lot of wlw report feeling predatory because of their attraction to women. If I write porn about a woman, am I objectifying her? Am I allowed to see women as sexy? Am I a traitor to feminism if I think boobs are hot and or want, excuse my French, to see Liu Mingyan get railed out of her mind by her hot girlfriend? This is a deep-seated issue for a lot of people, as far as I can tell. As a result, female characters and women rarely get thirsted over the same way male characters and men are. (And if they are, it's because they're tough #queens who can #step on me, which... is a related but different topic, let's not get into that now.)

Mix that with fandom's general inability to read and depict female characters with the same complexity it slaps onto every passing guy with two lines and three minutes of screentime, and the result is a lot of fanfic that is very... sterile. Both in that it doesn't get into the juicy parts of the characters or their relationship, be they sexual or otherwise interpersonal (the phenomenon of Soft Lesbians goes here, but also some of the PWPs), and in that it feels incredibly desexualised at times. I sometimes come across fics that really get into describing how the POV character finds another woman's body physically attractive, and it takes my breath away every time bc I'm not used to this. (Fanfic often has an incredibly personal, character-driven way of describing attraction that is afaik rare in other types of erotica/porn/sexy stuff, so getting to read about that kind of visceral attraction to women is a rarity outside of fandom as well.) In my experience, a lot of F/F fic depicts something of a cardboard cutout of a relationship, mostly one without much interpersonal conflict, seasoned with a tiny bit of IC or fanon characterisation, and any hints of sexuality are bland, impersonal, or just nonexistent.

On the other hand, you then get the typical PWP - often written by the same few people who dedicated themselves to writing F/F porn, thank y'all for your service - that is sexy, but doesn't get into character dynamics much bc. Uh. The porn is more important than the characterisation, you get that in M/M fic as well. But few people put in the thought and effort it takes to write a plotty fic at all, and if they do, it's rarely erotic. There are a lot of factors at play here, in fandom and in the source material, that imo lead to this phenomenon, but all of them are ultimately related to misogyny and it sucks.

(There's also the much-cited issue of women and AFAB people being uncomfortable with depicting bodies like their own in sexual situations, but I honestly don't really understand that one, so I haven't mentioned it. I guess it's also related to all this somehow. Bottom line is that fandom has a metric fuckton of internalised misogyny, what else is new.)

Anyways, godspeed, Anon. I feel you and I wish things were different.

[onceuponalegendbg]

Okay, so, yeah.

I liked the the first season of Hazbin Hotel.

However, man did it only being 8 episodes really hurt it’s pacing. Which, we’ve seen shows work with that limitations before. It really felt like they were racing to get all these character beats and reveals out of the way so they could move on to the stuff they really wanted to get to in Season 2. I think the script really could have used a few more run-throughs.

However, the music didn’t miss. Despite the first four songs being my least favorite, that doesn’t mean they were bad. Just not really to my taste. The performances were stellar though. Everyone sounded great.

Personal favorite voices were actually Lute and Carmilla. Favorite songs would probably be … You Didn’t Know, More Than Anything (Reprise), Poison, and Out For Love. But again, there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch.

I’m really glad we got more of Vaggie and Charlie, even if their relationship still feels very one sided. Vaggie is constantly supporting Charlie and I don’t think we ever see the roles switched.

Vaggie’s plot point in general really could have used more time to breathe. I feel like we hit a lot of those moments way too quick.

I’m also not a huge fan of how they framed Vaggie’s moment of mercy. It’s not that Lute gets away it’s just… how it’s framed. Like, idk, make it so they get interrupted and so Vaggie has to leave things unfinished or idk. It feels almost pointless when Lute literally just rips her arm off and is immediately a problem just so Lucifer has to be the one to save Charlie out of nowhere (where were you bro).

Lucifer is another weird one for me… I feel like his neglect is too easily resolved?

I had fun with this show but yeah another look over the script couldn’t have hurt.

[meta-enthusiasm]

You know what I am really fucking tired of seeing in popular media?

The "evil, hysterical woman in power" trope. The clichè that potrays women who are in a position of power as overzealous, unhinged, power hungry maniacs who are a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

Female leaders are shown as less resonable and down to earth as their male counterparts, and are often villainized by either the fandom or the narrative of the story itself. They are doomed to fail because of their womanliness and need to be taken down before they enact their evil plans, preferably by a man, or a woman who performs the 'right' kind of femininity.

This trope relies on the sexist misconception that women are more fragile than men, more emotionally unstable and unpredictable.

"Women aren't cut out to be leaders, they should be nurturing and supportive and tend to their families. Having higher aspirations is against their nature and will eventually break them and drive them crazy."

That type of bullshit that was designed to keep women out of leadership positions and keep oppressing us. To keep us quiet and submissive.

Here are a few examples to further explain this stereotype:

Daenerys Targaryen is one of the most well known characters to fall victim to this trope. She is an abuse and rape victim, seeking to change the current social and political systems of the world because she knows how many people suffer under its injustice. ("Crush the wheel.")

For all her compassion and charity she has shown over the series, the writers decided that it would be reasonable for her to go crazy at the end of the show and, despite promising she wouldn't inflict more damage than necessary, kill thousands of innocent people whose government had already surrendered to her.

And guess who had to kill her in the end? Yup, another man. Her love interest, who was "forced" to betray her.

Next, we have:

Morgana Pendragon, from "Merlin". To remind you, she is an abuse victim who had to endure her father's controlling behavior and bigoted attitude towards people with magic abilities which, suprise suprise, she turned out to have. She had to watch as her father murdered and oppressed people just like herself, and when she challenged that behavior, he would come down hard with punishment. (Going so far as to actually throwing her in the dungeons for a couple days.)

Eventually, she rebelled against the corrupt system and had her genocidal father killed. She led a rebellion against Camelot after Uther's son (Arthur) continued to oppress magicians under his reign, and sought to create a better future for herself and her people.

So far so good, right? Well, no. The problem here is that she is the antagonist of the story. She is portrayed as being in the wrong for not quietly taking the injustice and watching it happen.

Halfway through the show, she becomes obsessed with power and status and desperately chases after the throne of Camelot. She is extremly vindictive, manipulative and cruel to others to archieve her goals. She is a "hysterical woman" who is out of control, emotionally unstable, challenges the patriarchy, and therefore needs to be defeated.

Her death was portrayed as tragic, yet absolutely necessary.

(Of course it had to be a man who killed her.)

Azula is the epitome of this horrid, misogynistic trope. She is a fierce, ambitious leader and highly skilled fire bender, respected and feared among her people. She is highly driven and succeeds at almost everything she sets her mind to.

Ever since she came into this world, she was better at everything than Zuko. She was a better fighter than him, a better bender, better strategist, better child. And that is precisely the reason why she had to lose in the end.

Despite coming from the exact same circumstances as Zuko, the story and the fandom at large see Azula as way less redemable and likable than him. Even though she is an abuse victim whose own mother hated her and is a literal child soldier, she doesn't get any sympathy from the protagonists of the story. The otherwise so understanding and wise Iroh even calls her "crazy", (which is, if you've done some basic research into misogynistic expressions, really fucking problematic.) and tells Zuko that there is no saving her. Why? He doesn't tell, but it's obvious that the writers made him say this because of their own internalized sexist beliefs. She isn't offered a way out of her toxic environment like Zuko was. She didn't get the support from Iroh because he had already given up on her.

To top it off, she has a nervous breakdown near the end and loses her remaining sanity. Because, you know, "She's craaaazy!! And SO unstable!! Typical woman." (Not to mention how this further stigmatizes mental illness and portrays it as something only evil people get.)

She was supposed to become the next fire lord, a position that carries utmost power and influence. Of course, such authority could not be given to a woman. That's why Zuko, a man, gets to be the next fire lord, and we are left assuming Azula will be spending the rest of her days in prison.

The writers assume the audience detests Azula and wants her to suffer. She doesn't deserve a happy ending, or the love and support that Zuko got.

Why? Because she poses a threat to the status quo, the patriarchy. She challenged the belief that men had to be the best and most efficient at everything they do, that women could indeed be better leaders and be happy with having a career and not be nurturing, motherly figures to the men in their lives. And for that transgression, for breaking gender stereotypes, Azula was punished.

(It's also why Katara, someone who performs the "right" kind of femininity by being nurturing, motherly, supportive, healing, doting, and is the care taker of the group, ends up taking Azula, the evil and perverted form of femininity, down. I believe @batboyblog has made a similar post about this.)

This is Carmilla from the popular Netflix show "Castlevania", and if you've payed attention to my previous points, it should be pretty obvious what her character represents and how her story ends.

Note that she is also an abuse and rape survivor who is represented as evil and cruel for being angry at what was done to her.

To top it off, she is also an example of the man hating woman stereotype, whose anger at the misogyny and sexism of the world is portrayed as an "overreaction" and as "too much".

At the end of the story, she had to be taken down by another man (Isaac) so that the status quo could be preserved, and the reign of a crazy bitch like her could be stopped. Horay, the day is saved from yet another unstable, selfish woman who would have brought suffering and pain over her country if allowed to rule. Hysterical women with their demand for equality.

Conclusion:

In all these examples, we can see female abuse victims thriving for power and status, for respect, being represented as something negative and something to avoid. Trying to fundamentally change a system that is rigged against women/female representing people is a fruitless endevour that will eventually fail and drive us crazy, because our minds aren't strong enough to handle this type of responsibility and status.

Holding on to anger and bitterness over what was done to us is the sign of a bad person, and the only morally acceptable path is to forgive/ignore our abusers and let the injustice continue to happen.

Strangely enough though, that same gaslighting, victim blaming mentality gets almost never applied to male characters. Men who seek vengeance are never portrayed as weak or crazy for giving in to the wish of changing a corrupt system/killing bad people. (Batman, the Punisher, Hawkeye, John Wick, Jason Todd, Erin, Scar from FMAB, Iron Man, and so on)

The reason why these stereotypes almost never apply to men but almost always to women is sexism. There is no other explanation for this. These tropes were specifically designed to make society believe that women aren't cut out for leadership positions and are happiest with domestic, easy tasks like watching after our children and taking care of the household.

Women who are angry, women who are dominant are to be feared and distrusted. They are represented as a danger to the general public and need to be taken down before they enact their evil plans.

Feel free to add further examples.

[demonfox38]

Okay. Made it through the last season of Netflix's "Castlevania" interpretation. Thoughts are below the cut.

I've often thought of this series as the exploitation version of "Castlevania," and hiring Malcom McDowell confirms that.

Although, I find it hilarious that both Malcolm McDowell and Patrick Stewart have ended up voicing the same character. I'm sure there's a "Star Trek Generations" joke to be made in there, but I'm not Mike Stoklasa.

Also, I was cracking up a bit when Varney's plot twist happened. Mostly, because it came off a bit Skeletor-esque in vocal performance.

Also, also—laughing that the final boss went the "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence" route despite barely touching on that game's plot.

Animation had its ups and downs with this season. It seemed like there were some frame issues (not enough inbetweening.) I do appreciate how they incorporated more of Alucard's SOTN animations into his fights, however.

Additionally, some of the fight scenes' pacing seemed to have issues, particularly regarding weapon recovery.

The whole bit with St. Germain was off. Like, he's a weird asshole in "Castlevania: Curse of Darkness", but he's more of a weird asshole there in the same way that casually encountering "Doctor Who"'s Doctor would also be strange. Not a straight up villainous boob. Kinda makes sense thematically to have another character who is willing to do horrible shit for their lost loved one, but the series honestly did not do a good job establishing her. Like, did she even have a voice actor? Or a name? All I'm saying is it was much easier for outsiders to get the Lisa revenge thing Dracula had going.

Also, how dare you joke about not being deaf and then have a villainous monologue, TV show.

Greta's a good girl. Well, outside of being an occasional homewrecker. Point is, she's competent and trying her best to save people in a bad situation, and anyone having issues with her is not to be trusted in the same way that you don't trust people who don't like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2."

Look at me. Do not trust people who do not like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2." Yes, her writing could have been better, but she's still a viable character. Let people Thunder Child their ships on the rocks of your better self. Got me?

Also, y'all really need to embrace more polyamory. Or understand the fact that Alucard's not going to love just one person in his life. Dude lives to be at least 600 in the game's timeline. For a dude who loves humans, constricting him to just one who may live to be 100 at best is cruel.

There are some interesting philosophical dialogues going on here, but I can see where some people may lose their patience for them. Considering one of Castlevania's most popular memes is a philosophy debate, you're just gonna have to suck that up. My personal favorites included the topic of acting versus reacting, as well as having agency in one's story.

Striga's battle theme was cool, but otherwise, the music was forgettable. Yes, that is a sin. Punishable by Death? In this series, maybe!

The gore's still over the top. Which, okay, fine. There's a bit of that in game. It's just generally a bit more reserved with it or uses it in crucial boss fights.

RIP doggie.

The Targoviste plot's a bit of a wash, but it doesn't feel as useless as Trevor and Sypha's previous plot predicament. It's just nothing of a surprise, considering how many times the writing has played the "authority figures are useless" and "dark secret surprise" tropes in this series. Like, Greta being reliable is actually more surprising than anything with this plot.

I cannot emphasize enough how boring I found Carmilla's interpretation and plot arc. You guys could have had a giant, naked lesbian riding a skull and spewing magic at people while her cat-eared girlfriend jumped them for extra damage. But no. Vanilla lady with a scarlet sword for you. So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Good night.  

Gotta say, as much of a deviation from his source character as he is, Isaac really turned out well in this series. He's definitely evidence that you don't always need to stick to source material.

His Abel is fucking sick, dude. Way to go, king.

Also, I was expecting more violence from Hector this season. Oh, well. At least he got a teeny bit of a spine.

Look. I'm not an alchemist by any means. I'm just a bit baffled by this season's emphasis of obtaining a Rebis. Like, any time the game series has talked about the Magnum Opus of Alchemy, it's more been in pursuit of making a Philosopher's Stone (or at the very least, a Crimson Stone, as seen in "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.") Pulling a Rebis out of the aether is…well. Could have been more interesting than it was. I mean, it was a bit nightmarish, but it really didn't do much.

Sypha's really never getting back to her family, is she?

Love the idea that the cross subweapon is basically a fancy chakram.

GERGOTH. BUDDY. FRIENDO.

Really appreciating the monster variety in these last two seasons. I mean, that's a big selling point of the "Castlevania" games. Not so much vampires standing around and bickering in dick-waving contests.

Breaking out of the bullet points to hit on the big subject of this season—that is, the ending being surprisingly happy.

There's been a lot of shit that's happened over the last few years. Obviously, a pandemic. Konami's run by pricks. Then, there's the situation with the allegations of sexual coercion with Warren Ellis. Additionally, the terrible ending of "Game of Thrones" likely impacted how this season was developed, considering it seemed to be chasing its progression in construction. (I mean, look at Carmilla and Daenerys.) I don't know how many people were happy with the last season of "Castlevania," but from my POV, it double-tapped itself in the foot with the way it pushed simultaneous sex and violence in its last two episodes. My point is, there was little taste for additional darkness, considering everything that has been happening. Society is drained.

A happy ending was what people really wanted. And man, did this pull through, in that regard. But, there's a conversation to be had in if this swerved too far or if it violates some artistic integrity to give people what they want. So, let's have it.

Look. Man. Have you seen a "Castlevania" ending? When you do it right, it's crumbled castles and rainbow-colored skies. If you do it really right, it results in a pretty girl holding the main character's hand. There is happiness in these games. Hope. Forgiveness and redemption. If this is supposed to be any bit an accurate interpretation of these games, it absolutely should end in such a joyful fashion. (Okay, maybe giving Dracula and Lisa a second honeymoon at the end was a bit much, but I get where people would want that.)

Did some items need to be addressed more? Absolutely. Alucard staking people and Hector getting sexually coerced into servitude are some pretty big topics to just wave away. (Oh, shit. That second part is even worse now with what Ellis was allegedly doing, isn't it?) I suppose I'm just glad the series didn't go full Sephiroth with Alucard. And at least Hector finally took some stand in his situation, even if it wasn't the bombastic, hateful revenge I'm used to seeing from this character in other stories.

I think the creators of this series were trying to save this show from the fate of "Game of Thrones." (To some extent, perhaps the "Voltron" re-interpretation as well.) There's so much media out there anymore that if a production team doesn't nail the ending, their creation gets wiped out of the collective consciousness. To that extent, I think the creators were successful in saving their series. Did it do damage to itself in yanking out of its construction and themes? A bit. But, in doing so, it pivoted back to being more like a proper "Castlevania" product. (And of course, by proper, I mean anything ignoring "Lords of Shadows." God, people need to stop chasing other products when developing "Castlevania" stuff and just let the series be as it is.)

I am very curious as to how much of this season was part of an original draft and how much was revised in backlash to everything that has happened. It doesn't seem like Trevor was intended to survive, but to some extent, Sypha had to. (I mean, until she has a kid, anyway. See "Lords of Shadows" series for dickery regarding that.) I'm also wondering if there was more intended for the Carmilla subplot, as much as the series was banging on about her invading locations. I'm not even sure St. Germain was intended to be a villain all along. Getting into a bitchfight with Death? Sure. Doing what he did here? That's a weird arc, dude.

If you come away from my POV with anything, it should be this: GO PLAY THE GAMES.

Do it. Do it, you ghouls. Go to the Steam store and download the "Castlevania Anniversary Collection." Boot up your PS3 or 4 or 18 or whatever and get "Symphony of the Night." Throttle Nintendo's stores until "Aria of Sorrow" or "Dawn of Sorrow" or "Harmony of Dissonance" or whatever rattles out of their moldy pockets. Find a ROM. Find an ISO. Just play a game. Especially, one of the ones made before 2010.

"Castlevania" as a game series isn't about hordes of vampires dick-waving at each other or edgy swearing or being grim and dark. Some of that stuff's there, sure. But, at its core, it's what game developers created when they looked at Universal Monster Movie creations and went "That's cool. Let's fight that!" It's a series about pushing technology in MMC chips to make rich, vibrant music. It's about flourishing artwork and layers of sprites dripping particles and gore onto players. It's sober and goofy and very pro curry.

The thing is, "Castlevania" players have their own unique connection to the series. We're the weirdos you see clapping their hands when a mutilated dinosaur shows up on screen. It's not because the monster alone is cool. It's that we've fought and struggled and bodied that thing through several floors like a goddamn "X-Men: Children of the Atom" stage. It's kicked our asses. We've kicked its ass. We've got a connection to it that you just don't get from passively watching it barf lasers through a computer monitor or TV screen. Like, you know how people go, "Well, the movie wasn't as good as the book?" It's obnoxious, sure. But, those who read the source materials have to go to the effort of constructing their own sets and people to understand what's happening. In a similar fashion, game players build up their own skill set to reach that next rung.

Maybe you don't always get a payout when you invest your resources into something. But, there is a sense of accomplishment, seeing what you can do.

There's a reason this series got an adaptation. I mean, outside of Konami's head executives wanting easy money. "Castlevania" is a fantastic video game series. Has it got a few problems? Oh yeah. Especially after outsourcing and pachislot machines became all the rage. But, there's a reason Simon and Richter Belmont are playable in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate." There's a reason I spent a significant amount of time playing these games and writing or drawing fanworks for it. These games are wonderful. Beautiful. Difficult, but inspiring. Reasons I will still bang on about them decades years down the road.

When I get exasperated by layers of angst and edge lord content this Netflix series generated, I want you to know why. The roots of this show are good games held captive under poor management. Some people on staff know this. I wish they had more scenario and writing control. But mostly, I don't want to shit on them or their work. (Well, other than perhaps the obvious target.) I just want you to see what I love in these games.

And also to watch Crashervania. Because that's legit.

[biofreak659]

U know what? On that note: why I didn't like Netflix Castlevania and how it could have been better (with the caveat that I gave up 2 episodes into season 3 because everyone was obnoxious lol)

The biggest problem Netflixvania suffers from as a story is it's poor pacing. It takes an entire season for our main characters to even meet, and then another entire season for them to finally face Dracula. This could have easily been a single season series, but of course how could the show have survived without long rambling jokes about having sex with sheep, or our main trio bickering like high schoolers (I'll never forgive marvel for making annoying 'witty' dialogue the standard for comedy).

The interesting stuff (ie the castle part of the castlevania) is condensed into a ten minute fight scene, while our mains waste so much time on complete nonsense. But don't worry! Because the show also wastes time on complete nonsense! We definitely needed to see Dracula's whole backstory.

Anyways, now to ramble about how I think it would be better. My opinion is 💯 correct so if you disagree you are wrong and stupid.

Instead of going ahead and laying out all of the story cards, Netflixvania should have at least tried to be a bit more subtle, and more careful with what they chose to share with the viewer.

The existence of Lisa and Alucard really should have been kept secret until Alucard was encountered in the Castle.

Anyways, story. It begins with Trevor saving some hapless villagers or somesuch. They thank him, until they realize he's a Belmont, and then they flee, cursing him because he's been excommunicated and is evil now, yadda yadda. Like it or not, Trevor is our main character, not Dracula or Alucard, and thus the story really should be his. I felt a big problem in Netflixvania is that he really doesn't have any motivation to kill Dracula, beyond Sypha making him feel bad about it.

Give the man some internal motivation! It doesn't matter if it's a sense of duty, or the desire to regain his family's honor, or even if Drac kicked his dog—give Trevor a reason beyond 'because the plot needed me to'.

Anyways, I did like Dracula's generals. I thought they were very interesting, but I think Godbrand should not have been included. He's a dumb marvel archetype for comic relief, and he doesn't do anything for the story beyond being obnoxious. I would have preferred it if, like Carmilla, they were all monsters that appeared in the games (Orlox, Abbadon, The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, etc), but regular vampire generals are cool too. I really like Carmilla as a schemer, and moreover, I liked that her scheme failed, largely due to the trio smashing through that plot and killing everyone.

I'm... iffy about the inclusion of the Forgemasters. I don't think Hector or Isaac really added anything to the plot that needed to be added (they make monsters! Uh okay, why do the monsters have to be made?), apart from being sucked into the aforementioned scheming.

I'm losing the thread. Anyways! Trevor goes into the castle, does some fighting and exploring, etc. Basically the stuff from early season one, but with no obnoxious quipping. Along the way, he runs into Sypha, as a statue, Grant, as a gremlin man, and eventually Alucard.

I'm torn about including Sypha's disguise as a man. On one hand, it's very funny, on the other, it really doesn't serve a purpose.

I suppose now I ought to mention Netflivania's decision to poc-ify it's white characters.

This, like a lot of netflix's other IPs feels very, hmm, performative. Take the generals for example. There's the japanese lady, and the turkish guy, the indian lady, etc. In the third season, the japanese lady even serves as a sort of tertiary antagonist, as the two vampire hunters were once her slaves. She's got a cool design, too. You know what would make her cooler? A line of dialogue, perhaps, or even, a Name.

I had to look the generals up, and only then did I realize that they actually had names. Netflixvania has a very diverse cast, except the only characters that actually do anything are white.

Except for Isaac, but for some reason Netflixvania decided they had to justify his being black with a slavery backstory, that did not exist in Curse of Darkness.

Anyways, back to the problems with the story.

Dracula and Lisa

In SOTN, we don't even know what happened to Lisa until the Succubus boss battle. In Netflixvania, it's the first thing we see. I feel the decision to humanize Dracula from the getgo, rather than cast him as a complete monster, then make both us and the characters realize the error in thinking of him as an emotionless monster once the existence of Alucard and Lisa are revealed, makes the story seem flatter. It's very predictable in that sense.

'oh Drac wants revenge cause they killed his dead wife but he's gone too far and needs to be put down' is way more interesting if it's

'oh drac needs to be put down but wait he's doing it because he wants revenge cause they killed his dead wife'

It's a fairly predictable story either way, because it's, y'know based on a video game with 3 gig of storage, but at least we have some mystery in why he wants to kill everyone.

And, you could add a but if foreshadowing and drama with the vampire generals, who know why drac is out for revenge, but aren't allowed to ever bring it up.

Characters

All of the characters in Netflixvania are obnoxious and seem to hate each other, except for Sypha who inexplicably falls in love with Trevor, possibly because the future told her she had to.

Seriously, the trio doesn't seem like they can stand each other, and Alucard and Trevor especially. This would be fine, except the series also likes to pretend that they're just doing some friendly witty bickering. This would be fine, if Netflixvania decided to show us that they were actually friends.

Just leave them as enemies, it's fine.

Grant Danasty

Okay this one is more petty and personal, but I like Grant mostly because my sister mained him in that awful castlevania fighting game (I was always Eric)

Where are you looking!

Anyways, they totally could have included Grant, but there were more important scenes, such as: Godbrand doesn't bathe, and

Yeah okay I'm giving up for now. This dumb show incenses me

I will write more later unless I forget

[novadreii]

my thoughts on castlevania s4 SPOILERS obviously

wow, i was actually impressed with hector for once. he collected the last wit about him to turn his situation around and take his balls out of lenore’s hands back into his pants. i thought he would go sicko mode on her and feared it getting a little revenge misogynistic, but i was pleasantly surprised at how civilized it was between them up until the end.

lenore was a little useless, wasn’t she? i half expected her to go, “you know what? fuck diplomacy�� and just go mach 1 on everyone. eh.

isaac, oh. isaac. my favorite secondary character. wanders the desert conquesting, killing and raising the dead which made him realize things. he realized so much he marched right into carmilla’s castle while her beserker and army were away and owned her ass. good for him.

carmilla. oh, carmilla. tied with isaac for my favorite. so determined and single-minded that she sent away all her forces while she schemed in her fortress. she depended too hard on her partners doing all the work for her, and as a result she wasn’t much of a thinker, just a bloody, murdery doer. for example, she didn’t think that there were other formidable forces in the world that may want to impede her whole world domination plan? did she forget about isaac, out in the world rogue forgemastering? that was a threat she should have checked on before going global. she got too greedy, too quickly, and she paid the ultimate price for it. she went out like a fucking boss though, and i was pleased with her arc overall. as far as villains go, her raison d’etre was relatable and hard to argue with. 

the dialogue style is both one of my favorite parts of the show but also at times a pain point for me. when it’s good, it’s relaxed, comfortable and realistic and the characters play off each other really well with it (like quipping back and forth during battle which i normally hate but works well here). when it’s bad, it’s a little cringe. some dialogue scenes went on wayyyyy too long while the characters repeated things they’d literally just said verbatim, which is awkward af in screenwriting. i.e. Isaac telling Hector twice in the space of 30 seconds “Dracula earned his rest.” which is odd because impactful phrases like this usually are not repeated so as not to, yknow, dilute their impact. Also Carmilla waxing spiteful about “evil old men” and repeating some variation of the phrase 15 times in one scene. lastly, the liberal sprinkling of the word “fuck” in every other line is also like, mostly welcome but once or twice just sounded silly given the context of the scene. i’m nitpicking, here.

saint-germain. Idk much about his woman, but she definitely seemed worth slaughtering a village and raising dracula from the dead for. violent and hot as fuck, she never uttered a single word which i want to think is indicative of something but what? did we ever figure out why she kept eluding him via dimension-jumping? imagine she was trying to get away from him all this time lol. yikes.

the smartest people in this whole show are the vampire lesbians who peace tf out immediately when they see their castle is under siege and figure out carmilla is dead. LOL at them assuming useless lenore is dead too (bc, she’s useless) and just leaving her there. they packed their shit up, moved out west, presumably to build a lover’s stronghold where they could just be in vampire love forever. GOOD FOR THEM.

trevor: continued to drunkenly yell Fuck while being masterfully proficient immediately at any weapon he picks up, though eventually always ending up using his fists like the brawler he is.

sypha: if she met the avatar, she'd be like “lmao, you can ‘bend’ the elements, huh? i can use them in ways that would make your skin crawl and your head explode to even think about. sit the fuck down.”

alucard: adorable himbo with a heart of gold, needs a tough as nails gf to jerk him out of his moods and organize his kitchen for him. another round of good for him. i was a little scared they would kill off his gf but that would have been unimaginably cruel considering what he went through in s3. alucard had imo the best/most stylish fight sequences of the season. and they know what we’re about, since he was shirtless or at least in a very deep V cut most of the time. thank you.

i had 2 major predictions for this season going into it: trevor would die (permanently), and sypha would have a kid/get pregnant. i was 75% on the money.

i liked the ending message of why humans win these wars against vampires despite being slow meatbags compared to them. the vampires’ fatal flaw is resistance to change, provoked by their immortality, arrogance, and insatiable desire for power in order to provide themselves long term stability in the world. whereas humanity’s best trait is the polar opposite: adaptability. throughout history, the ability to adapt has been proven to be the determining factor in a species’ survival. vampires, for all their god-like strengths, prove to be no exception to this rule. alucard, with his human heart, is the only one with vampire blood who has proven he can make major changes and overcome personal prejudices to live a better life.

And my final thoughts on the ending are: everyone major got a satisfying end to their arc. BUT. it was just too happy. either trevor should have stayed dead, OR dracula and lisa should have gone back to hell. but not both. having everyone come back to life and go on to skip in fields just seems contrary to the tone and messaging of the whole show, which is pretty high up on the edginess scale.

i love a bittersweet ending in general, so i’m biased. imo, the joy of a mostly good ending is rendered all that much sweeter by reflecting on what was lost to obtain it. imagine:

alternate ending 1: trevor comes back, the gang lives happily ever after at Belmont Village or wtvr they name it, BUT. we see alucard lost in thought thinking about his parents, how he saw a flash of their souls during the penultimate battle. there’s regret there, the regret of shit left unsaid and shitty family dynamics unsolved. we cut immediately back to hell, with lisa and dracula embracing, maybe whispering a few lines of doomed lovers dialogue and something about their son. they’re in hell, but ultimately, they’re together. cut back to alucard, yanked out of his sad thoughts by his pretty gf who won’t let him get too deep in the weeds. shot pans out of them together with the gang. the end.

alternate ending 2: trevor is DEAD dead. sypha stays with alucard and the gang at belmont farms and raises her kid. maybe we get a 2 year timeskip and we see the little shit have some of his dad in him/her. sypha is sad about trevor but doesn’t mope about it. she runs that town like it’s a business. alucard is the best uncle to that kid & the orphans they could ask for. everyone gets trained in ass-kicking next door at the belmont hold. lisa and dracula are miraculously alive through whatever convoluted bs makes it work, and contemplate one day moving back to see their son. dracula has a moment to realize that his family is mostly human, and what he loves in them he can learn to tolerate from all of humanity.

don’t those feel happy but just. TINGED. with just enough sadness to be more memorable? idk i may just be a masochist.

i haven’t mentioned the technical aspects such as animation and direction because they were amazing. really, really incredible animation that is going to be hard to follow up (and netflix is going to make copycats of this formula, you bet your ass they will). where cgi was used, it was excellent and barely detectable, really well integrated with 2d. so engaging to watch.

overall: 9/10

[aurorapillar]

Title: choke back your pain

Fandom: The Mechanisms

Characters: Jonny d’Ville, Doctor Carmilla

Summary:  Technically he was only the first mate, but he had to protect the crew; after all, it wasn’t like their ‘Captain’ would. It was better for him to be the one she found, he’d had many more years of dealing with what would come of it, it wouldn’t affect him as much as it would them. That was what he always told himself at least, after all, he was already broken.

TW for mentions of suicide and non consensual surgery

A hoarse cry was all that escaped Jonny's throat as Doctor Carmilla dug deeper into his chest, he'd long since screamed his throat raw over the previous several hours of her ministrations, leaving him without the ability to make much of a sound.

He was probably going to have to kill himself to get it healed up in time for their next concert, he absently thought; it wasn’t the most appropriate thought to be having at the current moment, but he was desperately clinging to anything that might distract him from the agonizing pain he was in.  

He supposed it really was his own fault that he was suffering currently; he’d noticed that the doctor was on the prowl for someone to experiment on, and he could have easily found a place to hide from her, but he hadn’t. Except for Nastya, who might have been warned by Aurora, he knew none of the rest of the crew were aware that she was on the lookout for a 'volunteer’, that much was clear from the way he could tell they were carrying on with their daily activities.

His hearing was much better than a normal human’s, a side effect of some of the experiments Carmila had done when she mechanized him, and he could generally hear anything that was going on within one or two rooms away from him. Sometimes the amount of sound he could hear got overwhelming, but it was generally pretty helpful in keeping track of the others. He hadn't been able to tell where Brian or Nastya had been, and he hadn't really cared about the Toy Soldier's location; but he'd known Ashes was in the kitchen causing trouble, Ivy was in her library, and their newest member Tim was in his room still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was now immortal.  

(Jonny still felt bad about that; he’d tried to stop Carmilla from mechanizing Tim, he wouldn’t wish that on his worse enemy let alone someone he’d come to consider a friend, but she’d just shot him in the head and by the time he’d revived it was too late)

None of them had had the slightest clue as to the danger that had been stalking the halls, it would have been so easy for him to let them deal with Carmilla or to simply warn them and then leave them to their own devices; but the little bit of conscience he had left had decided to rear its ugly head.

Technically he was only the first mate, but he had to protect the crew; after all, it wasn’t like their ‘Captain’ would. It was better for him to be the one she found, he’d had many more years of dealing with what would come of it, it wouldn’t affect him as much as it would them. That was what he always told himself at least, after all, he was already broken.

(He did his best to ignore the small voice in the back of his head that said he also deserved and wanted the pain, that it was his punishment for failing to keep the others out of Carmilla's grasp in the first place, that it was karma for all the blood that stained his hands.)

It was a simple matter to ask the Aurora to shut and lock certain doors so the doctor would have to follow a path that lead straight to him; he might not be able to understand the ship in the same way that Nastya could, didn’t hear the actual words she was saying, but they communicated well enough. He’d known her longer than any of them, including Carmilla, even if it was only by an hour or so. She could understand him just fine and over the years he’d learned to read the flickering of her lights and the creaks and groans she made. Not that that meant she’d always listen to him, Aurora could be rather picky, but if it was for the safety of the crew she’d generally cooperate.

Of course, just because he’d planned it all out and knew what was coming, didn’t mean that he hadn’t felt a surge of fear when Carmilla had walked into the room and smiled at the sight of him. He’d really wanted to shoot her, to kill her and wipe that joy off her face, but that would have been hard to do. It wasn’t that she died any less easily than a normal person, a bullet in the head would kill her just as quickly as it would any of the other crew members, but actually going through with shooting her was difficult.

Jonny didn't know if it was something she'd managed to program into them or if it was some weird vampire power, but there was almost a compulsion not to hurt her. They could hurt her accidentally, or even accidentally on purpose if they worked hard to set things up right, but an outright open attack took a lot of effort to do and generally resulted in some kind of backlash. It was easier to just try and avoid her.

That hadn't been an option for Jonny though, and so he'd reluctantly followed Camilla back to her lab, hoping that whatever she wanted to do would be quick. Sometimes she merely wanted somebody to drink some weird concoction or touch some object, and while inevitably painful and ofttimes fatal, it would be over quickly. Once he'd entered the lab and caught sight of the medical tools and the straps on the table though, he'd known that would not be the case that time.

Carmilla had looked at him expectantly and he'd shaken his head.

"No. Absolutely not." He'd told her, taking a step backward towards the door, he'd known he couldn't actually escape but he wasn't just going to willingly submit to the torture. The doctor had just sighed, looking as if she had expected such a response and yet was still disappointed in him for it, and then she had shot him in the head. When he'd revived he'd already been strapped to the table.

A sudden spasm of pain shot through him, pulling him out of the flashback that he'd been distracting himself with, and he unconsciously flinched in an attempt to get away from it. Carmilla clicked her tongue in annoyance at his movement and pressed down on his shoulder with her elbow, to keep him in place while she fiddled with something in his heart. His jaw clenched as the weight pulled at one side of his chest, forcing the gaping wound in it open further, and allowing the cold air of the room to brush over his exposed organs. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was yet another unpleasant sensation to add the long list of ones he was already feeling. He’d asked her once, not long after he’d been first mechanized, why it was necessary to cut him open for maintenance when his heart was accessible without doing so? She’d explained that she couldn’t access everything from just the front, which he supposed made sense, but it didn’t make it any more pleasant.

“It’s truly amazing how shoddy my work used to be, there are so many flaws” The doctor commented as she dug deeper into his chest, though Jonny wasn’t really sure whether she was talking to him or herself. She had a tendency to do both, and would ofttimes get upset if you didn’t respond in the appropriate manner. “I suppose I’ll have to get around to doing some upgrades, maybe try out some new things, I have so many ideas.”

Jonny couldn’t help the whimper that escaped his throat at that pronouncement; it wasn’t unusual for Carmilla to do ‘routine maintenance’ like she currently was (which while technically maintenance, wasn’t actually routine, given she just grabbed the first crew member she saw after deciding to cut someone open) and it always hurt terribly, but it was so much worse when she decided to make alterations.

In response to the noise, Carmilla took one of her hands out of Jonny’s chest and gently carded her fingers through his hair, like a mother would to console a child. Any comfort that such an action would bring should have been negated by the fact that her hand was sticky with his own blood, and yet he couldn’t help but lean into the touch, desperate for that little bit of gentleness among all the pain.

“Shh, it’s for the good of all of you.” Carmilla’s voice was soft and he hated it. He hated her twisted sense of what was good for them, hated the way she’d switch back and forth between hurting him and see to care, hated the way she treated him like a misbehaving child anytime he tried to stand up to her; and most of all he hated himself for craving the affection of the only mother figure he’d ever known, despite what a monster she was. “You’re the oldest,” She told him, as she returned to messing with his mechanism. “It’s important for you to make sure things are safe for your siblings.”

Jonny’s blood ran as cold as the mercury that flowed through Nastya’s veins at the implications of that sentence, at the not even subtle admission that she was treating him as a guinea pig and that whatever she did to him, she planned to do to the others as well. If Carmilla had gotten it in her head that there were things she wanted to do to all of them, then there was nothing he could to protect them, not as long as she was around.

Before he could follow that train of thought too far, the door to the lab slid open and someone walked in. From his spot strapped to the table, Jonny couldn’t see who had entered, but the heavy footsteps were evidence enough to let him know it was Brian.

“What is it?” Carmilla’s voice wasn’t quite rude, but it was quite clear she was annoyed with the interruption

“We'll be arriving…” Brian’s voice faltered and Jonny knew he’d spotted him and realized what Carmilla had been working on; he was very grateful at that moment that he couldn’t see Brian’s expression, the man was far too soft and Jonny would rather not know what kind of expression he was wearing.Though to the Drumbot’s credit, he did seem to quickly recover enough to continue speaking, “We’ll be arriving at the planet you wanted to visit in about an hour.”

“Ah,  very good” The annoyance in the doctor’s tone had lightened upon hearing Brian’s announcement and Jonny could see the hint of a smile on her face. “Let me know when we actually land, until then I’ll be busy.” She told him, before waving a bloodstained hand in his direction dismissively. Based on the speed at which Brian’s footsteps left the room, Jonny would say he was all too eager to obey that dismissal; under different circumstances he likely would have made fun of him for running like a coward, but currently he would very much like to flee from Carmilla as well if given a chance.

He wasn’t going to get one though, that was very clear from the small smile on the doctor's face as she turned her full attention back to him.

“Well, shall we continue?”

“Let’s not and just say we did.” Jonny rasped out, his throat still sore from his earlier screaming, and Carmilla laughed like she’d just heard the funniest joke ever.

“You and your sense of humor.” She commented, before her hands were thrust back into his chest to continue her work. Sometimes he found himself wondering if it would lessen the suffering somewhat if he actually understood what exactly Carmilla was doing; if he had the same medical and engineering knowledge that she did, would he see the value in her actions? Or would it just confirm that everything she did was just for her own pleasure?

Maybe he didn’t want to know after all.

A harsh breath escaped him as something Carmilla did caused one of his ribs, which had been broken by her earlier in order to allow easier access to his heart, to stab into his lung.

“Hmm.” Carmilla let out a frustrated sigh as she noticed the new injury and pulled her hands out of Jonny’s chest, using one of them to brush some hair out of her face and leaving a streak of blood across her forehead. “That’s going to mess with the pressure on the heart, I’ll have to start over once it's fixed.”

If it wasn’t that his heart was made of metal he was sure it would have racing in fear, he did not want to spend another several hours under her care; perhaps there was some entity in charge of good fortune out there who took pity on him though, because rather than killing him so he could heal and she could start again, she began putting away her tools.

“We’ll continue this later.” She told him, as she undid the straps holding him to the table, which effectively killed a lot of his relief; still having a break was better than nothing, and given her interest in testing things out on him, it might even be possible for him to hide for a couple days without her going after the others.

Sitting up carefully, as to not agitate the still open wound in his chest, he caught the shirt that Carmilla tossed at him and pulled it on. Thankfully, she had taken it off him before operating rather than just cutting it open, he didn’t want to be walking around the ship with a hole in his chest and shirt.

Of course the former could easily be solved by killing himself and reviving, it would heal everything up nicely, but he didn’t particularly want to do that in the doc’s lab. Hopping down off the operating, he briskly walked towards the door, intending to hide in his room to regenerate.

“Don’t wander too far, okay?” Carmilla called after him, sounding to all the world like a concerned parent. “After I get done on the planet we’ll continue.”

Jonny didn’t dignify her with a response and simply sped up.

As he walked through the ship's hallways, he could feel blood soaking through his shirt but ignored it, he just needed to get to his room and then everything would be fine.

“Aurora.” Jonny glanced up at the ceiling as he softly spoke, “Can you warn me if anyone is coming, I don’t want…” He didn’t want any of them to see him like this, over the years he and the others had seen each other beaten and bloody and even dead plenty of times, but there was just something that felt too vulnerable about letting people see him how he was now. It was bad enough Brian had already seen him while Carmilla was working, no one else needed to.

The lights flickered in a manner he had come to know meant agreement and so he continued on his way. Save for one occasion when the lights had suddenly brightened in warning and he'd barely had time to duck into a nearby room before Ashes turned the corner, he managed to make it to his room without incident, where he sunk down to the floor as soon as the door shut. For a moment he just sat there, his head in his hands as he took several deep breaths.

Then he shot himself in the head.

[darkspellmaster]

Castlevania Season 3 Trailer and Poster Theories Part 1: Characters and Posters

So if you’re just joining us, hi and welcome. 

With the release of the Season 3 trailer for Castlevania, I figured I might as well break this down to see what’s in store for the characters and how this may connect to the future of the series. (Spoilers abound for a number of Castlevania games, so you have been warned.)

Realized this was really long so you have a warning that if you are reading this on mobile it may be better to read on the computer. 

So this is probably during the fight between Alucard and the Japanese warrior we see in the trailer. Two things about this moment: One I’m a bit worried that Alucard is going to push himself too much. He absolutely needs to rest as if he’s still awake for years to come then the whole situation with Symphony of the Night has less weight to it. Two is the fact that he’s enjoying himself, meaning that this is a positive for him and what’s going to happen in the future in regard to people becoming friends with him and him having a life. 

I’m assuming this is where Alucard is talking to the Japanese warrior that we meet in the forest. He’s explaining to them what happened to Dracula and what is up with the castle. However, this whole “Dracula is dead by my hand,” and Sypha and Trevor’s...is important. They are missing a key factor in ending him for good, that being the stone that Dracula has on him. As long as the Crimson Stone exists, he can keep coming back, again and again, and that means Death will have to be coming into play soon enough. 

Again, he’s activating his powers, which, if he overuses them this could be a bad thing. I’m wondering if they’re going to put him to sleep after this one, or if he’s going to be around with Simon...Please don’t be awake with Simon. Please. It’s sort of cool seeing them in motion though, more so than with Season 2. 

Okay, so a lot of speculation right now is that this is Zead, aka the man that teaches Hector about the Innocent Devil’s in Curse of Darkness that you use in-game. Zead is actually another important character in Curse of Darkness as he’s Death in disguise. His goal was to use Hector to beat Isaac, and then have Hector consumed by the curse to bring back Dracula. 

However, another option may be a possible flashback to Leon’s story and this is just a priest that is traveling with the Crusaders. Though the outfits make me think that this is a later time period. If it’s not Zead, then he could be a character that comes into play as an introduction to the issues with Carmilla or ties into the village that was attacked by Legion minions. 

So we officially have a title for him. The Judge, it seems, and he’s voiced by Jason Isaacs. Important to note that the name Judge is used as part of Judgement, which is another term for Death. Though I do have to wonder if he and Morana are one and the same. Or if he’s a red herring to her being actually Death. It wouldn’t be the first time that that happened. 

Right, so I’m going to focus more on the two other Vampires on the left and the right rather than the center two at this moment. 

So the Lady on the left is giving me a few options to work with here based on her looks. 

Her name is apparently Morana and she’s voiced by Yasmine Al Massri.  Morana is the Slavic goddess of Death and Rebirth. She is a winter goddess as well and can be depicted as an older crone character. What’s odd here is that they’re not going based on that idea.  Her name means death so clearly, we have a case here of a character that may be more powerful than we first think. 

So as for whom she may be based on the three following women are my best bets. 

Actrise is personally one of my best guesses given the design of the character. 

Actrise is a witch that turned people into Vampires. While not in-game technically a vampire herself, she is a vile piece of work, killing 100 children to get Dracula to make her immortal. In the game Legacy of Darkness, she plays one of the major antagonists for the lead Cornell and later for Carrie Fernandez, who is trying to get back her sister Camilla who was turned into a vampire by Actrise. I can easily see them not adapting Legacy of Darkness, so turning Actrise into a helper for Camilla would make sense. 

Of course, there is the option of the second-best well known female vampire...

Elizabeth Bathory

I would have picked her as my main pick, however, Elizabeth is just as well known as Carmilla is in regard to being a solo female Villian that I can’t see them putting her as a lower-ranked assistant to Carmilla. So while this could be a possibility for our lovely lady vampire in blue and yellow, I just don’t see it as an option. But you never know. And Bathory’s name is just as well known, so that’s an added bonus. 

The Countess was going to be a baddie in a Castlevania game that got canceled so she would be the easiest to adapt, and our lady Vampire has a lot of her looks. (High cheekbones, narrow nose, even the curved ears as an option and the high arched eyebrows.)

A character that was designed to be a main bad in a N64 Castlevania game. Not much is known about this woman, other than she was called the Female Dracula and that she was Dracula’s lover for a while. She can create a portal to resurrect him. 

Next, we have Striga, who I thought was a guy, but is apparently a woman. She is voiced by Ivana Milicevic. 

Now a Striga is a different sort of vampire and more a demon. But I do find it odd that we have two characters here named on two Slavic myths connected to death. What’s interesting about Striga is that I thought she may have been a guy that was connected to Alucard, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. 

Striga’s are born with two hearts and two souls and have two sets of teeth. They are bird-like and change into bird-like creatures that hunt humans for their blood. 

My main guess is that Striga probably is based more on the Lady Bats, Lillith or more likely Draculina from Order of Ecclesia. 

They are female vampires that are loyal to Dracula, although in this case, Striga may be more connected to Lilith as she seems to be seen and shown with Lenore more than with Morana. This makes me think that Striga is the lesser of the two in power and that Carmilla and Morana may be more the heads of this operation. 

So the last character and the one that everyone wants to know about is this redhead. Her name is Lenore and she’s voiced by Jessica Brown Findlay.

The name Lenore is taken from the name Elenore and was commonly used in the middle ages due to several queens having that name (Elenore of Aquitaine, Elenore of Provance, and Elenore of Castile) and comes from the name Aenor, which is a Latinized form of a Germanic name we don’t know the meaning of. 

Lenore is most well known for being the lead character in the Raven that Poe’s poet pines for. His Lost Lenore and I have a feeling that she is going to be a bit like that and a bit like Lucy from the Coppola version of Dracula. 

Some have speculated that this is a version Rosaly, Hector’s future wife from Curse of Darkness. However she doesn’t match at all, not personality, nor looks. I have a feeling they purposely made her too seem like Rosaly since there are some similarities, but very generic. 

As you can see, long hair, very cheery-looking and innocent. Yet the hair and eyes don’t match at all. And even with the drastic changes they have done to the characters, see Isaac, Rosaly would need to have a certain look because of Julia later on. 

As you can see there’s an innocence to her, and while the woman’s dress is similar to nun wear, it’s clearly not the woman that later saves Hector. So who is she? 

Well, there's the option of the Succubus character from a number of games. 

the attitude and the look on the face, along with the hair and fangs would at least connect to that overall innocent look that the character is going for. 

However I think this may be Laura, Carmilla’s lover Laura, or she may be going by the name Lenore. 

So in the lore of Castlevania, Laura is Carmilla’s servant, and in the book, Laura was her food source. In the games, Carmilla attaches herself to the player and drains them of their hearts to help her mistress. She acts like an innocent victim but in truth, she’s just trying to lure the player into a false sense of security. Defeating Carmilla leads to her transforming into a fighter (in the first game she had cat ears as a nod to the Konami lady and a nod to the book where Carmilla fed off her in the form of a large cat),

Who then proceeds to attack the player for defeating her mistress. 

Given what she’s doing to Hector in the poster and what we see her doing in the trailer I don’t doubt that she’s playing with Hector to make him easier to feed on for Carmilla and screwing with him for her mistress as a plaything. They stand close together and it’s clear by the fact that she’s on the same side as Carmilla that she’s there to be a creature that is going to cause issues going forward. 

More than likely, given her outfit, she was probably once a nun in the same church as Rosely and may feature in getting backstory for what happened to the church that Rosely was a part of. 

Alright, this is gonna be a doozy. So there’s a lot of speculation on who this woman is. Everything from Baba Yaga to a whole new character. So I have three major options here for who she could be. 

Voiced by Barbra Steele, this is Miranda, a strange woman that Isaac meets. The thing is I think he’s in possibly the city near the Baljihet Mountains where the Garibaldi Temple is, that leads to the Tower of Evermore, where they may have put Legion. So why am I bringing this up? Well, there are various locations in Castlevania that get re-explored in other games, and one of those places is Aljiba, a coastal city that houses two characters that could play parts in this series. The Crystal Trader, who could be Sala, (more on that down lower) and the Old Crone, who is right below. 

Option One is the Old Crone from Vampire Killer the sequel game in Japan to Castlevania. 

Old Crone is a merchant in the castle where Dracula is. By whipping them you get items and discounts and the like. (Yes it’s weird.) She also will give you hints of where Simon in the game can get a piece of Dracula, in this case, his eyes. It wouldn’t be too odd if Miranda could be used as this hint giver to Isaac going forward on his journey to resurrect Dracula. Physically the character appears to be this sort of person. However, the marking on the neck and the robes have me speculating otherwise. 

Option two is the more likely character and one that has direct ties to Dracula himself and could explain the marking on the neck. 

Drolta Tzuentes is a character from Castlevania Bloodlines and is an assistant of Elizabeth Bathory. 

There’s a lot of speculation around this character as she is very mysterious and was the one that revived Dracula’s niece Elizabeth in the game. She’s said to be very powerful and her looks seem to mirror that of the woman we see talking to Isaac. However, another big clue that this could be the character is that she may have been an alternative form to Death. (In the game she’s from it’s hinted heavily that she is.)

We know now that a character named “Judge” will be appearing, as played by Jason Isaacs. Why this is important is that this could be an allusion name to Death, and having both actors play different forms of the character makes sense. 

IF this is the case this is a big deal due to what’s on the woman’s neck. 

So if you don’t know Death is one of the main characters in Castlevania and he’s there to usually help revive Dracula as the two have a very interesting deal. When Mathias became Dracula he partnered with Death to take down the Vampire Walter whom Death was no longer interested in working with. Now Walter Bernhard, who was the Dracula before Dracula, and the man who took away Sara from Leon Belmont. 

So why am I mentioning this? Well, Walter had on him one of two stones that are very important to the Lore of Castlevania. The Crimson Stone, which is the most important stone in the games history and what makes a person into Dracula (we will be getting back to that., and the Ebony stone which is a stone that allows the user to envelop its surroundings in eternal night and it was believed to control Death (it can’t). 

It’s really hard to see but in the center of the old woman’s neck, there’s a star with a round circular object. At the end of the game Lament of Innocence either Dracula or Death had the Ebony stone.

If this is the stone, it would make sense then that this old woman would be Death in disguise, and explain her desires for killing them all, since the use of the dead would allow for Death to bring back Dracula using Isaac or Hector’s or even Trevor’s body to do so. 

The other important thing to note is that the Belmonts have had a situation where Dracula has possessed them. So this is not beyond the scope for them to try this with Trevor. 

On top of this, the image of Miranda that is used for the cast revel shows Miranda powering up, or using some sort of energy. This energy is a pinkish purple. 

Why is this important? Well, that color has connections directly to two characters in Castlevania Lore. 

The first is Walter Bernhard, the Vampire that came before Dracula and lead directly to the reason why the Belmonts hunt vampires, and why Dracula exists. During the game Lament of Innocence Walter dies and that color engulfs him as he’s dying (and probably being sucked into the Crimson stone). 

Same colors, making me think this maybe some form of activation of her using the stone or giving something to Isaac. 

The other option is Death again, where we see him using his powers, which again match the colors that we see Miranda using at this moment. 

In both cases, this is when Death is activating his power, and as I said Death can show up in any form. Including an old woman. 

Ignoring the water, I want to point out the glass shards. It seems like they’re trying to harm Hector or punish him in some way. The glass shards make me think they shattered glass on the bars, and the water might be from a pitcher or something like that over a bucket. It’s clear that they’re treating Hector as nothing but an abused pet for them to play with, and I hope we get to see a stronger Hector break free of that. What has me concerned though is the fact that he’s naked, namely because I wonder if there are some implications of assault going on. 

So I’m not sure if Hector has a collar on when he’s getting hit by the water. However, we can see that he’s dressed when interacting with Lenore (I’m using the name because it makes sense that this would be her). His hand is out to her probably as she’s tempting him or offering him something and then she pulls him to her and does the “Good Boy” moment. 

It has me thinking that she’s going to add to the issues of distrust that Hector has and that Rosely is going to have to work through during the next season if she’s not in this one. I strongly suspect that this character is going to try to push Hector into helping her out stopping the others or promising to help him only to betray him in the end. 

So we know this is part of Isaac watching something, and probably has a connection to the green tower that we’re seeing. The reason this is significant is that Isaac ended up using some very strong powers to fight against Hector, and if he’s able to hold back Legion with his army, even subject it to his will, well then this could be an interesting fight if they go deeper into the lore of the Curse of Darkness game. 

Isaac’s army. So it seems that they’re having Isaac and his army of monsters coming after Legion who is cooped up with that tower. This is known as the Tower of Evermore it’s a sort of Battle arena in the game. So this is probably where Isaac ends up doing a lot of his dirty work in forging devils for his army that he intends to use on the trio and possibly Hector. 

The moon has always played an important part in Castlevania as a symbol of the mysteries of the night. The fact that we have Isaac on a black horse, cloaked in white (very much all things that could be associated with Death and the supernatural), gives rise to me suspecting that his journey into darkness is going to be happening a lot more significantly going forward. This is probably the same scene as him looking down and him with his monster army facing the tower. 

I strongly suspect that these are servants or citizens in Japan that were captured by the female Japanese vampire (I think her name was Cho), and they are being saved by the two vampire hunters we see later. It’s clear from this shot that they seemed resigned to their fate as food for her and her minions. This is also more than likely a flashback episode to give backstory to our female vampire hunter that is fighting Alucard. 

So here we have the duo that is probably Taka (Toru Uchikado) and Sumi (Rila Fukushima).  So I don’t know what their crests means; I’ve been trying to look that up, and have yet to find a family crest that matches, but more than likely these two are siblings under the same family as Mina Hakuba. Mina, for those that don’t know, Mina is the childhood friend of Soma Cruz, the reincarnation of Dracula. During the time of Aria of Sorrow, Soma came to visit Mina in Japan, as the two seemed to be developing feelings for one another. Mina is the main shrine Maiden of the Hakuba clan, and they helped in the saving of the world and have tied to Alucard. 

We can assume that the fight between Sumi and Alucard happen after their fight with Cho (Japanese Vampire) and that Sumi may have been the one to make it out alive, or that she’s trying to find a way to convert her brother back to normal, ala the whole Order of Ecclesia situation. 

We know by the image of this scene that she’s outmatched so Alucard, it stands to reason, is going to try to protect her from probably making some bad mistakes and help her find a way to help her brother out, or free him from possibly Carmilla. This very much could be like the Fernandez cousins in Legacy of Darkness. 

In that game, Carrie Fernandez was seeking out a way to save her elder sister Carmilla who had become a Vampire thanks to Actrisa, and is used as an obstacle to get to Dracula for Carrie’s Quest. In this case Sumi takes on the role of Carrie and Taka becomes Carmilla, who was turned and is right now a servant to the Vampires. 

If these two are set up in that way, then it makes sense why Sumi would be paired with Alucard in this manner. Both are resolved in trying to fix a mistake they made a long time ago, and Sumi probably could become a strong Ally for the team, and more than likely will be returning to Japan after this story concludes. If they are of the clan that Mina’s connected to it means that this could show exactly how Alucard became connected with the Hakuba clan in Japan if Sumi came to destroy Dracula.

 It’s also clear that Taka is probably the one fighting with the vampires in the scene below, and given we only see Sumi later, he’s likely to die or be cursed as a vampire. Which could tie into the idea of why she would travel that far to kill Cho or Dracula himself. 

Japanese Vampire’s underlings are facing Taka. Interesting design for them as they are more like the zombies from Japanese myths than the traditional vampires which is what Cho is.

There’s also this fight with a samurai vs Cho and given his armor is not like that of what we see in Taka fighting, this means he’s someone else. He also looks a bit on the white side, so I have to wonder if he’s actually connected to Samurai William who worked for the Emperor at one point. William was an Englishman who became a Samurai in the Emperor's court for a long while, he wrote a book about it. It could be that he’s trying to take her down so that she doesn’t harm the royal family, or he self-styled himself as a vampire killer. 

Either way, this has to be a flashback and connected to the whole situation with Taka and Sumi. 

So this Ugly looking thing is a piece of Legion. Legion is a rather large monster that is hard to deal with and seconds later we see it crashing down into a church, and cutting to The Judge who seems to be sent at some point to deal with them. 

So as you can see there, that’s Legion. It’s a huge fleshy body made of many corpse of those that were sacrificed to it. It seems here that rather than just having it crush it’s enemy it’s dropping parts of it as part of the attack. 

This is in line with its attacks in Curse of Darkness, and how it causes issues for others, with Zombies that explode. On top of this, it’s center is a human-looking being that has a Nuculais in the center. 

This is probably what Isaac is after, and Germain may be manipulating him to get it for use regarding Dracula. 

So this poster has a LOT going on. 

First let’s take care of the Stain Germain at the top. He’s being played by Bill Nighy. 

So who is Saint Germain? Well, he’s part of the Time Watcher’s group, whose goal is still mysterious as get out. He’s known to talk and interact with Trevor in the Pachinko versions of Castlevania III, and according to history, he was an alchemist of sorts. 

During the Curse of Darkness game, he’s trying to stop Hector from stopping Isaac, though he’s not saying why. He is not an enemy and seems to have a hate relationship with Zead (Death), though why that is we don’t know. He’s referenced by Aeon, the time traveler, and he himself mentions events farther in the future, such as the battle with Dracula in 1999. 

What’s interesting here is that they have him holding what possibly is either a philosophers stone or the Crimson Stone. Now this is interesting because that stone is part of Dracula and given to him by Death himself. It holds the Soul of Walter Bernhard, Dracula’s enemy, and is known for being the treasure of the Vampires. Dracula needs this to come back. 

Why he has it, I can only guess it’s to stop whatever the heck Death has planned. 

Other interesting factors. Hector on the left in Chains mirroring Trevor wrapped up in the Vampire Killer. A lot of Germain’s point is Destiny and both Hector and Trevor want to be free of them. Both are tightly bound, but Trevor is clearly pulling at his, trying to get it to stay away from causing his death. We also see both Sypha and Alucard both looking on in a way that seems to indicate connections to the heroes. 

Then you have Isaac, who is slowly being wrapped up by thorns, but isn’t there yet. So that means his full plunge into the dark isn’t complete. He’s still fighting against it, and it may connect him to the heroes at this point. 

Carmilla is clearly the opposing force here to the good Alucard. And we see that Hector is naked and trapped, though he’s being held lightly by Lenore, who seems to be acting gentle, but something about her look and set up seems to be hiding things. This is not someone that is truly being gentle to him, and, given that she’s probably a succubus, and working for Carmilla, she’s more than likely going to end up breaking his heart in some way. 

So the Captain as played by Lance Reddick. Not much is known of this guy, but if I have to hazard a guess, he may be connected to Isaac’s story and probably is based around the Captain from Rondo of blood, who pilots a ghost ship and is a later enemy in the game. 

Another option in regard to this is that the Captain may be the one that brings Isaac back from where he’s at for the moment. He seems to be a bit scared but maybe Isaac sees a kindred spirit in him and intends to use his services fairly as a means of traveling around to get to the location that he needs to. 

Or he’s one of the men that Isaac ends up hating for whatever reason.

Or he’s actually the one that brings Sumi to where Alucard is. It’s a bit hard to judge based on the name the Captain as it doesn’t seem like he’s going to be playing a huge role, but maybe he’s just a nod to the games in this case. Though why hire a well-known actor to play a part without a name if he’s just going to be cannon fodder? 

There’s also the chance that he’s actually the Ferryman, a character who actually goes and transports the heroes in the game. He seems to know Alucard. In the game the Ferryman is neutral, choosing to just help those that need to move around and such. So in that sense, he’s a lot like the ferryman of the river Stix in hades in Greek myth. 

Though the likelihood is that he’s going to come back as some servant to Isaac. 

Sala, has an interesting name meaning, in Arabic it means Order. And Sala here is voiced by Navid Negahban.

Now, who Sala is is a mystery but given we have an old crone like figure in Miranda, Sala maybe like the Crystal Trader in Aljiba who exchanges crystals in Simon’s Quest. 

I can only assume for the most part he’s going to be an original character that could have links to maybe the Lords of Shadow versions of Castlevania, but since a lot of this has connections to the original games, and given his appearance, I’m going to guess he’s going to be linked with Isaac and his journey. Namely warning him of going down a dark path, or offering him help and assistance if he can destroy the Legion monster that is plaguing his town. 

Given that he looks rather upset here just a bit, I think he’s in an argument. Now he also could be the leader of the town that Trevor is in, with Sypha, and owns the house that burns down. It’s hard really to say because there’s no other character in the games that quite match him, save the Crystal Traders maybe. 

Sypha’s change of an outfit is interesting. It’s far more dramatic in nature and more built for a fighter and a bit of a ninja-style, what with the wrap in the middle and the leggings and free-flowing arms. This is really the first we’ve seen Sypha do this with her magic, indicating that she’s getting stronger with her elemental control. 

So one other interesting thing is the Ice steps in the air. She apparently can create those now. This is probably during the werewolf fight that Trevor has since it’s in the forest. This is probably a deal with the town leaders to get rid of some monsters that are plaguing them. 

So there’s speculation on who this could be, but it looks like he’s going to just be a cult member, possibly a relation to Orlock or Shaft, both of whom are villains from other games in the franchise. Though he’s clearly human so I’m guessing he probably will be an Original Character for the show.  He’s probably part of a cult that is going to be trying to resurrect Dracula under the Judge. and more than likely will be just a side character to be used as cannon fodder.

Remember that house that’s on fire with the windows? Well, that’s it in the background. So it seems like the Cult staged something to burn down the town after Trevor beat the hell out of their leader. Or enforcer, or whoever he may be. 

So recall way above about the Leviathan Cross? And how the two dudes were dressed before Trevor socked them? Well right now we can see that they are clearly part of a cult, and the Levithan Cross is their symbol. But how does that connect to the room? It could very well be that this is the group that Carmilla was referencing earlier along with Isaac. This group could be working for the Judge to bring back Dracula, or they could be working on their own to do so. Either way that room may be connected to this group given the alchemy symbol. 

However, I’m betting anything that that room may very well be connected to Carmilla’s castle and Hector was the one that drew that. Or one of the other members of the club. 

Okay, this one is something that keeps bugging me. There is no hint of Grant at all so far in this series. Yet, here we have a werewolf that has the wrappings that he wears in Judgement, minus the spikes, and of all things Grant’s red pants. 

So a few things about Grant DaNasty. As a noble thief, he was assigned as part of a group to go deal with Dracula and he ended up being transformed into a monster to act as a guard. During Castlevania III he’s freed by Trevor and pledges to help them out and later stays to help rebuild his home. 

Grant was just seen as a demon in the game, but making him a werewolf would tie into the whole Legacy of Darkness, and Circle of the Moon that came later. Also, the spikes on the arms could be used to help climb walls and the like, since Grant is the stealthy one of the group. 

Furthermore, the reason I bring up the red pants is that every human design of Grant has him looking like this. 

As you can see, bright red pants, much like the werewolf, and wraps on his arm. Now you can easily move the story of Grant from Dracula to Carmilla and have him be her guard. It would make sense too to have Grant be the one to inform Trevor and Sypha of the Cult or Carmilla’s doings. As a thief, he can get in and out faster and get information. Furthermore, it seems the best option when bringing him in as Grant is just as important to the team as Alucard, and maybe more so given he’s the one that stays to clean the messes up. Having his assistance could lead to some interesting moments and also leads later to the Belmont and DaNasty family connections for the future. 

You see this group again, a Belmont, a DaNasty, a Beldanas and Alucard, all teamed up to fight Dracula one last time in 1999, and before then the Belmonts and DaNastys have had a close friendship teaming up at different points in history to fight Dracula and his minions. So not having Grant would be bad. 

So I think, this werewolf will be Grant. Or at least I hope it will be Grant. 

So New Look for Trevor Belmont it seems...

He’s ditched his original look and now proudly it seems wears the Belmont crest right over his heart, probably indicating that he’s embraced his destiny in helping those in need. there seems to be a bit there connected to the 2008 comic series as well in the upper part of the look. 

It’s a little more connected to his Curse of Darkness look. 

And there’s some going on with the look from the Pachinko games as well...

So it seems more and more they are leaning into Curse of Darkness for this story. What’s also interesting in this case is that Trevor’s personality has drastically changed. While he’s still rough and tumble we see that he’s more willing to help out, he’s not drinking and he’s asking for help with things rather than just running off and not facing down consequences. 

He’s become a more mature fighter and feels belief again in what he’s doing. What’s going to be fun in watching is how his older self (if he’s at all going to show up in Simon’s story) will behave as a father figure. Simon is the golden boy and in a lot of ways is like his father in that he’s brash and somewhat willing to spoil for a fight. But he has his mother’s gentle nature and is willing to go out of his way to protect those in need. 

So seeing Trevor here, dealing with something that may be way bigger than just Dracula is going to be fun and probably lead him to a better understanding of the cost of Leon Belmont and why he did what he did. 

So The newest piece of art and again some interesting things. 

Let’s look at the characters. We have our main trio, and oddly Alucard is at the forefront here. He’s not looking sad, but more like he’s looking when talking to Sumi about the situations. Unlike the earlier poster where it’s clear that he regrets killing his father. 

Carmilla and Leigon are flanking him on the two sides, making me think he’s grappling with his actions leading to both these monsters rising because of it. I have to wonder if there’s going to be a moment where Carmilla tries to tempt Alucard, and which of these two are going to be the final boss for this season: Carmilla or Legion. 

 Then there’s Trevor, and he’s using the Vampire killer and wrapping everyone up in its chains, effectively indicating that they’re all wrapped up in this whole destiny thing. Sypha is beside him, but looking ahead, as with Trevor and Alucard, showing that she’s trying to look forward to the future. 

The whip is glowing, as with her magic ball, indicating that there’s going to be more to the magic and history behind the Vampire killer. The fact that Trevor’s using it shows that he’s embraced that destiny for himself and Sypha is beside him. 

Then there are the roses. Typically this indicates love, which is something that has a deep connection to the Castlevania lore. All four characters that are not some evil amalgams monster have some form of love in their lives. Alucard had a familial love for his late mother and father and is dealing with the guilt of loving and losing them. Carmilla has a love of power and life and possibly Lenore, whom she may be doing a lot of mistakes in order to protect. Trevor and Sypha love each other romantically. 

Now another love that happens is tragic love and that could be seen as the love between Leon Belmont and Sara Trantoul, his late fiance who sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer (in here the upgraded Morning Star Whip) after she was slowly becoming a vampire when Walter Bernhard captured her and bit her for his own amusement. This same Tragic love was visited twice on Dracula. Once for Elisabetha when he was human as Mathias and she died of illness when he was away during the crusades, causing him to reject god and take up plans to become a vampire. And again when her reincarnation of Lisa came about and died due to her being seen as a witch. 

So Roses can be love, and roses are also connected to Rosaly, Hector’s future wife who was a former nun and a healer for the church. So the images of Roses could be significant in that sense too. 

Then there are the butterflies that we see in the picture. Butterflies don’t normally have any tie to symbols in Castlevania. However, the color might have some connections to Sara Trantoul. 

Sara always wears blue in Lament of Innocence and is shown to be a kind and gentle soul who became twisted up in a fight between a man that lost the love of his life, and the man that wanted nothing more than the destruction and pain of love for his own amusement. So her being symbolized as a delicate butterfly would make perfect sense, along with the connection to Roses and thorns as we’ve seen with several pictures so far. 

So that’s it for part one. Part 2 is going to cover more about the scenes in the trailer and hopefully showcase more about the plot moving forward. 

[beevean]

"So Maria Renard is a young and feisty vampire hunter who can communicate with animals and have them help her fight evil! She's really esager to prove her worth! In SOTN she's a young adult who's matured a lot yet she still remains cheerful and optimistic, unwilling to give up on Richter's soul!"

NFCV: ...so she's a strong leader for the French Revolution, got it. It's girl boss time!

Oh you want me to talk about the new preview of Nocturne?

Because boy do I have. Words about it! :D

First of all, the obvious: where is RoB's story? Where is Dracula kidnapping young maidens? What is Erzsebet Báthory doing here, she's the one who in the games causes WWI! Are they going to explain how Dracula has a niece, or is it just a name for the sake of a name?

But yeah, this has nothing to do with either RoB or SoTN. This is just... political commentary for the sake of political commentary. Because we all loved the insistent "CHURCH BAD" from NFCV, right? Seems like kicking out Ellis changed jack shit :D

"the atmospheric backdrop of the French Revolution" ah yes, bloodshed and guillotines, so mystique~

"Richter, the tough young hero who’s continuing the family tradition of vampire hunting" what tradition? Trevor barely killed a vampire in the original show :'D

"Maria, a natural leader who’s fighting inequality in her country, and also a magic user battling the vampire elite" bro. bro she's 12. Why do I fear that she's going to become an expy of Diane from Bojack.

"Annette, who used her power and wits to escape vampire-enforced enslavement in the Caribbean, and now wields magic to stop the impending apocalyptic threat" ohhhhh boy. So first of all, yes, this confirms that the black girl seen in the leaks is indeed Annette. Seems we have another Isaac case on our hands! Now they're free to write her as shittily as they want her to, and fans will immediately jump to accuse you of being anti-blackwashing :'D

Aso, what's with black characters and being former slaves? (or non-white characters in general, if we count the Japanese not-twins) You really can't think of anything else for a black character? They have to be slaves. Okay.

But that's not the issue. The issue is that they gave her magic powers too. Why? Maria already fills that role. Is she going to be Sypha 2.0? Are we already girlbossifying all the women? Why can't she be a normal yet brave woman?

Edouard and Tera prove that we're going to get plenty of OCs from the start.

"Olrox, who killed Richter’s mother years ago and now must decide whether he can stomach teaming up with his sworn enemy in order to stop vampiric world domination" what the fuck. what is this.

"Erzsebet Báthory, aka the one foretold. She’s the queen of vampires, and, if all goes as planned, of the entire world." carmilla. she's carmilla. i swear if a single radfem speech comes out of her mouth...

"In the thick of the French Revolution, members of the so-called lower classes are rising up to fight inequality: “It’s the natural order for them to milk us dry with impossible rents and unpayable taxes,” Maria (Davies), a young leader, laments." yep! So faithful to the spirit of Castlevania! I love that part in RoB where you have to fight Louis XVI <3

"Richter joins forces with Maria and an unlikely crew of characters whose toughened exteriors bely their various tragic backstories." hopefully they'll be treated with more respect than Trevor's :)

"Their last-ditch battle to save humanity becomes fraught with existential questions as each vampire hunter is forced to confront their own troubled (and deeply human) traumatic past." not to be all "play the games", but Richter feeling crushed by his family legacy is way more gripping than a generic "mom died :(". We gonna mention that, Nocturne? Surely, Richter's appeal as a character is why you immediately jumped to RoB/SoTN, right?

"Is Castlevania: Nocturne based on a video game?

Yes, and then some"

YOU FUCKING LIAR.

anyway this already sounds absolutely awful, it has nothing to do with the games, it's going to be so pretentious, maria you deserved better my girl.

Oh, as a bonus...

"As the peasant class rises up against the aristocracy, an even darker threat emerges: a cabal of powerful vampires intent on taking over the world and blotting out the sun forever."

"vampire-enforced enslavement"

So, a vampire cabal is behind a slave trade...

This is what happens when NFCV is falsely accused of being woke without anyone pointing out how deeply offensive it actually is.

[cerastes]

BTW what is your opinion about S3 of Castillos Vania? I'm very interested in your thoughts

ALRIGHT, SO, LET’S ADDRESS THE DULLAHAN IN THE ROOM. It goes without saying this post contains Castlevania Season 3 spoilers.

So, Season 3. The weakest, really. By far. I still overall and barely enjoyed watching it, but it is easily the weakest. Now, in the greater scheme of things, maybe this was just a bold move, maybe when Season 4 comes out, we’ll only look back at it for what it is: A transitory set of episodes leading somewhere. Right now, in the present? We can be far less generous.

It felt, quite simple, very weird and aimless. I think the only thing worthy of note here, in the present, is, hilariously enough, Isaac’s arc. Isaac, of all people. Now, I love Netflix!Isaac, and I love what we’re exploring with him. But, I think we should’ve been able to see more with the protagonists simultaneously, you see? It’s not like we had any shortage of screen time, but… What everyone else did felt pretty aimless and meaningless.

Now, as I said, Isaac’s arc is really good. I love how it’s progressing, I love his experiences, I love him. I’d say he’s a really good change in every way from his PS2 incarnation.

Trevor and Sypha’s arc felt… Disjointed. It felt very slow for what could’ve ended in two-three episodes. It just feels a bit unnatural, if you ask me, to have Mister and Miss Beatdown patiently scope out actual satanists instead of just barging in and absolutely beating the shit out of them. I’m glad we saw Saint Germain! Probably the highlight of that arc. I just think that otherwise it was a very drawn out nothing otherwise. You can present to the viewer that the land is still fucked up without spending the entire season slowburning like that, especially when it feels out of character.

Hector’s arc, ooph, ok, I have thoughts here, so bear with me: I’m hopeful it will turn into something great down the road. I WANT to believe this is all groundwork for when eventually Hector has his big “I’ve Had ENOUGH” scene and just absolutely fucking wilds out. Unlike “Kickboxing God And Walking Arsenal” PS2 Hector, however, Twink Hector is a weak baby who doesn’t know how to fight directly… But he still has the signature Hector willpower. He’s a weak baby by himself, but he still tried to attack and threaten Lenore. Sure, all it got him was yet another brutal asswhooping, but that’s who Hector is: The One That Gets In Fistfights With Supernatural Creatures (ever think about how Hector wields a sword in exactly one cutscene in Curse of Darkness, and in the rest of the game’s cutscenes, he’s not only wielding no weapon, but also shown to be using hand to hand combat techniques? Including when he beats Isaac? Implying his canon weapon is deadass fist weapons? I think about this a lot). I want to be hopeful that this is all groundwork for the moment in which Hector finally sees Lady Luck’s smile and aaaaaabsolutely 70 Million Power Muscle Sparks Carmilla, Lenore, maybe Isaac, and all who dare stand in his demon-fueled path of anger and revenge. Probably by summoning some really badass demon army who does all that for him, but still. I want to be hopeful, and so, I will wait to see what happens with his arc in the future. I am an optimist, after all… But not a hopeless one: If I see that the future seasons fail to deliver any sort of satisfactory development or conclusion to Hector’s tale, I will be the first to denounce it and dunk on Netflixvania, mark my words.

Aaaaaaaand…

sigh

And… Alucard’s arc.

What the fuck was that.

Aimless. Pointless. Went quite literally nowhere. I was super on board with it right until they put the bracelet on him. It felt so forced, suddenly, these two have deep seated complexes about betrayal? That never once came up before? Not even a hint? Ok, the closest thing to a hint was Taka being like “He’s hiding stuff from us, I KNOW it”, but… In the context of the scene? It could’ve meant a number of other things as well. And, I mean, it’s not like Alucard was not teaching them ANYTHING. Yes, he was taking his time, but we are even shown he’s teaching them really valuable things like “use and master a long weapon, because being close to a vampire is exactly where you don’t wanna be” and, you know, access to the Entire Wikipedia Of Monster Killing AKA Leon Belmont’s Wet And Wild Repository. Where the fuck did that come from, then? Suddenly they hate Alucard? And then we get the obligatory shot suggesting Alucard will become Bad Vlad 2: Revenge Of The Impaler? Look, I’m fine with creative liberties even when I disagree with them (such as cutting out Grant Danasty entirely), because sometimes they bring good stuff to the table (such as this version of Hector), but you cannot possibly begin to tell me they are going to really, really miss the point of Alucard as a whole this hard. If they go down this route for real, yeah, I lose all respect. Alucard is not exactly a complicated character to understand, and again, creative liberties are good, but also, you do have a responsibility to properly understand what makes the character, the character.

And those would be my thoughts. Isaac arc good. TrevorSypha arc weird. Hector arc hopefully groundwork to something good. Alucard arc horrible. End Ted Talk.

[riotkissed]

for each muse, is there a character you wish had a blog so you could interact with them?

ASKS FOR MUNS OF MULTIMUSES    (   ACCEPTING   )

FOR MY ARCHIE HORROR MUSES:    fp jones in the hungerverse.   or jb.   or even an archie.   or a reggie.   or a vampronica.   literally anyone from archie horror i beg.   also i really want a veronica and a jug and an archie to write against toni pls. 

FOR FAITH:    i’d really love a buffy to write and develop a modern day buffy verse together with.   or an angel or a giles.   or the mayor.    from go ask malice,  would love to write with a tommy or killian. 

FOR CARMILLA MUSES:    honestly the obvious answer is a laura,  but i’d rather just find another carmilla to write against oops.   or kirsch.   but in general i’d be feral for a group verse or people who want to write in the carmilla universe because i think silas is so fun.   also danny needs summers to write agains. 

FOR CHARMED MUSES:    hello @cravesfreedom pls finish catching up and make ellie write macy i am waiting.    mel needs her sister and abigael needs to be gay and not fixated on henry this is my villain origin story. 

FOR GOSSIP GIRL MUSES:    okay so i took eric off my muse list but i love him and want people to write with my older eric pls. 

FOR LEGACIES MUSES:    i want to test josie out so bad so anyone!   but also can someone write kaleb and mg with me.   also like write the dynamic we almost got with landon and raf.   or just acknowledge the complex feelings of the boy who still has a lot of good to do with me. 

FOR KADY ORLOFF DIAZ:    i am spoiled and write with two of the best julias in the world.   and steph writes an amazing penny and anna writes a bomb marina.   but it could be cool to write her with hedge witches she helps in the future.   also can like.....    a faith lehane please write against her because i would literally......   w h e w 

FOR EMMA DUVAL:    a jake or a (very platonic) eli.   i love survivor’s guilt. 

FOR BRIDGET VREELAND:    LITERALLY ANY OF THE OTHER SEPTEMBERS LITERALLY ITS ALL I WANT FUCK U FUCK YOU also can any quinn fabray write against bridget literally i am begin or like.... lowkey dramatic gg secret twin au with serena like that would be wild.