This idea some people haven of it being an ordinary pretty castle is just head canon.
As if it were impossible to prove that the castle's exterior looks pretty damn normal in general in almost every one of its incarnations. If the idea of it looking mostly ordinary is "headcanon", the same is so for it looking like a BDSM haven.
I'd not be so opposed to the castle looking nightmarish if the series weren't based on Castlevania III. I still hope this form is something the castle will become only after Dracula goes mad -- which would admitedly make it a pretty good concept, if a little bit too obvious. Like, it'd showcase that Dracula has now FULL INTENTION of burning the castle's horrifying visage on the minds of people.
but he was certainly not just a peaceful benevolent vampire king.
Perhaps not "benevolent" (though I DO remember it saying officially Dracula protected the people from an invading army. I'll get the source on that, just you wait), but "peaceful"... Well...
I understand "peaceful" as "not trying to wreck people's shit" or "not trying to scare the hell out of them".
"B-but that's previous to Curse of Darkness! IGA certainly changed his mind!"Oh, by all means:
Double Jump interview with IGA. On the same interview he mentions Curse of Darkness in the past, having done this interview years later. The excerpt I posted seems to make it obvious that IGA hasn't changed his "Dracula was living on relative discretion" mindset.
"Living quietly" I think means "not wanting to attract attention to yourself". This probably means not having an enormous castle screaming "THE DEVIL LIVES HERE" attracting all the attention to you.
And, finally, this:
暗黒時代のヨーロッパ。ドラキュラ伯爵の人類虐殺が始まる。伯爵がヴァンパイアであると確信を得た東方正教会は、討伐への軍を派遣するが失敗。正統ヴァンパイアハンターの末裔、“ラルフ・C・ベルモンド”へ討伐を依頼をすることとなる。ラルフは、戦いの中で出会う、“グラント・ダナナスティ”、“サイファ・ヴェルナンデス”、そして、ドラキュラ伯爵の息子、“アルカード”と共に、伯爵を滅ぼすことに成功する。その強力な力ゆえに、人々に忌み嫌われていたベルモンド一族は、英雄としての道を歩み始める。
This is the explanation for CVIII on the timeline. It says that once the Church was convinced Dracula was a vampire, then they dispatched a team of vampire hunters to deal with him. See, Dracula being a vampire was not something known at the time, and it wasn't until his war that someone did anything against him. Don't you think having a castle screaming "final boss lives here" from the onset wouldn't tip off the Church something is wrong? Collecting GODDAMN HERBS was enough to get Lisa killed under accusations of sorcery.
I think that settles it, and just an addendum because I absolutelly love to be told my ideas are "just headcanon" when I can show they are not: Some of you guys seem to be eager to wave Nagumo's, Dracula9's and my perspectives as the crazy ramblings of lunatics when we said
nothing of your perspectives, of which I, at least, do have some opinions on too, but don't express because honestly they would just work to offend people for no reason.
Make sure you do your research. I do mine most of the time before saying anything on any matter and my opinion is not based on "what looks prettier" or "give them a chance". My opinion comes from already knowing what these people think of the series (Ellis' blog is gone, but you can still find him saying that he has an "interest" on the series, as if he has no attachment to the work he's doing at all, or giving bullshit excuses about Grant) and my own knowledge and observations of the series. Comes from seeing Shankar use the exact same tricks Dave Cox used (buzzwords, be as misleading as possible), and not be challenged on them at all.
So, you think this castle is good? Good for you, and I'll let you have your opinion. So let me write my goddamn five paragraphs about it not being good in peace, and let me screenshot castle forms for frames of reference to give my point any substance beyond "3/10 looks like shit".