Topic: Thoughts on Dracula post SotN

[Archangel]

As of lately, I´ve been thinking about Dracula´s "actions" (if you want to call ´em that) after Symphony.

So, after fighting his son, he finally learned that Lisa wanted him not to hate humans for what they did to her. It seemed like he realized in the end that everything he did so far was a huge mistake, the opposite of what his beloved wife wished for him. Before vanishing, he asks Lisa to forgive him.

It really bugged me. Why would Dracula continue to wage war on humanity knowing this? Even if he´s resurrected by humans with dark intents, there would be the possbility to just go away, do something else with your life (but that would be boring, I know, I know... and out of character?)

And yeah, I think, every game that takes place after SotN seemed to portray a really evil Drac, personality-wise.... hm.. no, that´s not the right word.... but he seems to act different than before (see PoR, OoE, Legacy of Darkness for eample).

So what happenend? I believe after hearing Lisa´s final words, something died within Dracula. Maybe he realised there was no turning back now after all these centuries where he tried to get revenge for his lost wife. Long story short: Dracula went all evil. As in "the dark lord" or something.

I might add that this is just a theory. But I´m curious of what you think about it

[A-Yty]

I think it's part of his curse; he gained his powers for revenge, but instead got locked in a personal hell. Maybe after SotN the last remmnants of his personality were destroyed because of the shock of discovering he did everything against his wife's dying wish (however, I'd say that's at least partly Al's fault for not telling him sooner). Maybe his mind is reset as he is resurrected because the pain of knowing is too much and he'd rather be a mindless dark lord.

However, I do think that he was rather apologizing to Lisa for being what he is instead of agreeing with her, kind of like how Soma apologizes to Mina for not being able to honor her wish.

[Archangel]

I think it's part of his curse; he gained his powers for revenge, but instead got locked in a personal hell. Maybe after SotN the last remmnants of his personality were destroyed because of the shock of discovering he did everything against his wife's dying wish (however, I'd say that's at least partly Al's fault for not telling him sooner). Maybe his mind is reset as he is resurrected because the pain of knowing is too much and he'd rather be a mindless dark lord.

Yes! That´s the idea I had in mind.

However, I do think that he was rather apologizing to Lisa for being what he is instead of agreeing with her, kind of like how Soma apologizes to Mina for not being able to honor her wish.

I see.... that´s a very good point. And it´s kind of cool/sad that history would repeat itself during DoS´ bad ending... but I´m sure that wasn´t intentional.

[TheouAegis]

Maybe he just wants some rest for his soul but all these danderblasted humans keep reviving him. You'd be pissed off at humans too if they kept waking you up.

[Dracula9]

Maybe he just wants some rest for his soul but all these danderblasted humans keep reviving him. You'd be pissed off at humans too if they kept waking you up.

Sounds like Vincent from FFVII.

I'm going to agree with Archangel. From SotN on, he's been less "vengeance for your hypocrisy, murdering an innocent under the pretense of innocence" and more "enslave and slaughter all who oppose me." Methinks it may be a tad more complicated than him simply being devestated and drawn to incite utter chaos.

I'm going to expand a bit on what's already been suggested, and say that once he heard from Al Lisa's last wish, he underwent a total mental breakdown in between his SotN death and his next resurrection. Giving that he knew Lisa and her personality well, seeing as he was deeply in love with her, etc., I would imagine that he had some manner of festering thought that her final wishes were of the forgiving nature. Maybe he had always had some lingering feeling that he was doing everything for naught, but that thought made him realize that he was betraying Lisa and damning her loving nature as her murderers had. With such a horrible and definitely plausible notion in his head, I'd imagine it was either easier for him to continue his conquest against humanity, OR that he blamed them further, for not only killing Lisa in the first place, but also because of that leading him to the unpleasant mindset of his futility, and killed them under that pretense.

Or, since he and Castlevania take on a new appearance with each incarnation, certain memories linger and others fade. Obviously his anger is strong enough to carry on, but he makes no real mention of Al, Lisa, specific Belmonts, in future games. He makes, if I recall correctly, obscure references to them. He, in DXC, says "Belmont, son of Belmont," possibly indicating that he knows the aura of the bloodline, but cannot remember any past incarnations well enough to directly recall them. Or he can, and just chooses not to. In any case, the possibility I'm suggesting is that he retains and loses certain thoughts, memories, grievances, etc., with each death and revival he goes through.

This is a really interesting topic. Good call in putting it up, Archangel.

[A-Yty]

He doesn't seemed to remember things that have happened, like in HoD:



Guess the Abyss plays tricks on his memory.

As for his status as the bad guy, I'm inclined to think he is more like a representative of evil desires instead of being supremely evil himself. He is disgusted with humanity's cruelty and people like Shaft seem to just follow his ideology of the world being evil and in need of a purification.

I like this line from DX Chronicles (4:32):

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles Walkthrough (Stage 8 Good Ending)

Again (or before, since this was pre-SotN), he seems to realize the error of his ways (or is at least fascinated to see that there are innocent, good people like Maria). And then promptly dying, just to go wait in hell for the next time to be brought back. Talk about being cursed.

[Dracula9]

So, A-Yty, you're saying that he's merely victim to his own emotions, and truly vile people such as Shaft use their crippled ideologies as an excuse to abuse Dracula's power for what they consider the world's gain?

[A-Yty]

Maybe he is a victim of his emotions, I don't know. Either way, I think the evil of men is the actual villain of the story. Out of all his followers, I think Shaft is the only one who actually seemed to understood what Drac/Mathias wants, instead of trying to gain something from resurrecting him. Or maybe that's what all his human resurrecters are thinking, but Shaft's the only one who actually said so.

Drac is kind of like mix of Darth Vader and a bit of Paradise Lost Satan. Getting tricked by his own emotions, damning himself, but unable to break free of the habit that is making his existence miserable.

[Archangel]

I´m glad this theory sparked some interest 

He doesn't seemed to remember things that have happened, like in HoD:



Guess the Abyss plays tricks on his memory.

I believe it was stated somewhere that the guy you encounter in HoD isn´t the real Dracula. It´s the evil spirit born from Maxim plus Drac´s remains, that formed some sort of pseudo-dracula. That would explain why he wouldn´t know about a Belmont´s strength. But I´m not entirely sure.

[A-Yty]

If that's true (source would be nice), it might not be Mathias/Drac everytime a "dark lord" is resurrected.

[Archangel]

Finally found it.... I guess. Read it on the Castlevania Wiki back then:

The Dracula Wraith is a being born of Dracula Remains and the evil soul that was created inside of Maxim Kischine after he came in contact with the remains. He is the final hidden boss of the game Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. He is not actually Dracula himself (he indicates that he has never felt the power of a Belmont before).

http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Dracula_Wraith

[A-Yty]

But that's just an open wiki, isn't it? It's not that I don't agree with that, but apparently it isn't from an official source.

[Koutei]

IGA explained it with the Japanese video game magazine Dengeki PlayStation.

開発者がひもとく「ドラキュラ」の秘密３ 改心後も復活してしまう訳:
PS「月下の夜想曲」で、ドラキュラは改心して滅びていくんですが、そのあとの時代でもなぜか復活しています。
これは魔界に封印された者は、その邪悪な部分だけが増幅されるため、
邪教の信者などが時期を見て復活の儀式を行えば、ドラキュラ本人の意思を伴わずに、邪悪な意思だけが復活するためと思われます。
ただ、いつかはドラキュラにも完全な安息を与えたいと思っています。

http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv-chron/game-media.htm

The Dracula Wraith is a being born of Dracula Remains and the evil soul that was created inside of Maxim Kischine after he came in contact with the remains. He is the final hidden boss of the game Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. He is not actually Dracula himself (he indicates that he has never felt the power of a Belmont before).

It is explained by the dialog of the game.
http://www.oocities.org/nec43xkq3/hod/index.html

[Sumac]

Dracula went all evil. As in "the dark lord" or something.

Its hard to talk about Dracula's actions without taking into account quality of the games he was in after SOTN.
Any attempt to dissect his character will be mostly futile since in the first games he didn't have any character and after that only few games portray him as something different rather than scarecrow of the final boss (sometimes careless shoehorned into the plot without neccessity).

I personally think that Dracula becoming more straightforward in his actions have more to do with declining plot quality rather than any conscious attempt to "develop / change" his character. After SOTN he was decently presented only in LOI (where he was not Dracula yet) and...that's it. In other games he appeared just to give some small speech about Evil, mock "Dracula-would-be-killer-of-the-day", and promptly die. Not much for a character development I think.

[Danial]

Most of the inconsistencies in Dracula's personality are because of the different teams and their interpretations of the character.  It doesn't help that Iga added his own Draculas into the mix.  But if we're going to try and rationalize them down into a canonical reason, I think that Dracula's personality and actions are dictated by the particular circumstance of each game.

Almost every instance Dracula is resurrected, it is done by a person or group for selfish reasons.  Then, as Dracula proceeds to carry out his duties,  a warrior or group of warriors appear to kill him.  He may recognize the Belmont bloodline, but I'm guessing the identities of individual Belmonts is as meaningless to him as a group of ants from the same colony would be to us.  I'm guessing most of the non-Belmont characters are even more meaningless.  The only character he'd have a true connection with is Alucard.  I doubt that Trevor, Grant, and Sypha called a time out for Al and Drac to have a heart to heart in CV3.  So when Drac and Al meet in SotN, it's their first chance to actually discuss Lisa's death and Dracula's war on humanity.

The most consistent character trait Dracula has portrayed throughout all the games is his inability to forgive those who wrong him.  I think the kinder aspects of his personality could be brought out by Elizabetha/Lisa/Mina, but those traits are buried under his hatred and need for revenge with her deaths.  I think he understood Lisa's last wish, but it's no longer within his abilities to fulfill it without her.

We also have to remember that Dracula is also the "Dark Lord", essentially the opposite of God and a representative of Chaos on Earth.  When he's summoned or resurrected naturally every century, it's his job to basically usher in the end of the world.  If you look at the beginning of these cycles, he was much more resolute in his campaign.  Especially compared to the resurrections near the end of his reign, which seemed more about fulfilling his job requirements than actually pushing for the apocalypse.  We also know that Dracula is actively preventing Galamoth from becoming the Dark Lord, which would probably be a much worse fate for humanity.  Ultimately Mathias is damning his own soul to spare the world a worse fate.

Story-wise, all these points would easily converge in the 1999 battle.  Dracula's soul is given the chance of redemption by being reincarnated with Lisa.  Castlevania and the direct flow of chaos into the world would be sealed away in the eclipse with the Vampire Killer, this way another creature couldn't take the position of Dark Lord since the seat of his power would be gone.  This plan could have easily been conceived and brought together by Alucard over centuries as a way to end the cycle and give his parents' souls the peace they deserve.