Topic: About Vlad III's Existence on Castlevania

[theplottwist]

I was writting a post about this (another of my hypothesises), but before I can finish, I must ask the Dungeon:

Do you think Vlad III existed on the Castlevania universe? What do you think Mathias did: Simply took the name for himself or usurped the real Vlad III?

[AlexCalvo]

My head Canon is that the persona Vlad III is a church construct/conspiracy to hide the existence of Mathias/Dracula from the outside world.

[TatteredSeraph]

Oohhh, interesting one.  Seeing as some of the dates given in the revised timeline and SotN give his name as Vlad Tepes, it could be entirely feasible that Mathias took the name on via posisbly kiling the real Vlad and taking his name, around the time that Vlad III was incarcerated by King Mathias Corvinus of Hungary.

[theplottwist]

My head Canon is that the persona Vlad III is a church construct/conspiracy to hide the existence of Mathias/Dracula from the outside world.

Yep, right on the money of what I was going to post.

My hypohesis is that Vlad III never existed - only Dracula did. But I keep thinking about what would be the repercussions of this. The Church needs to be REALLY FRIKKIN POWERFUL to manipulate history in such a grand way,

I'll write better about this later here.

[AlexCalvo]

They are that powerful, if they weren't Catholicism would be seen as one of the great evils throughout world history.  I really liked the idea that the church would have to create a pretty dramatic lie to cover what was happening in Wallachia, and while the outside world would see bits of what was going on, only the people of the immediate area would have even close to the whole picture.  The manipulation would not be too difficult.

[Nagumo]

I would also say Vlad Tepes is a fabricated persona, but instead of the church, I think Dracula himself created it. I thought that would be good way to help make some sense out of his love story with Lisa as well.

In my head canon, going with IGA's comment about Mathias living peacefully between 1094 - 1476, in order to hide from the Belmonts, Mathias adopts the identity of a local count. His made-up personal name being Vlad. The logic being that if he would just loiter around a cemetery somewhere, stories about a vampire being present would inevitably spread, and would give away his location. Meanwhile, he continues his study into dark magic and grows more powerful. So basically, he would be familiar with the local population as a bit of an eccentric figure, there are all kinds of rumors, people could be afraid of him, and so on, but it's all just hearsay (for now). Isaac also mentioned he "protected the land" in the Curse of Darkness manga, so perhaps Dracula acted as a local authority? But I digress.

So given that Dracula now has a little connection to the human world, this makes his encounter with Lisa more believable, IMO. Later, when all the mysterious monsters show and start attacking people, there are rumors that this Count Dracula figure is behind it all, and he is attributed the nickname "Tepes". Hence, Mathias becomes known as Count Dracula Vlad Tepes.

[theplottwist]

I would also say Vlad Tepes is a fabricated persona, but instead of the church, I think Dracula himself created it. I thought that would be good way to help make some sense out of his love story with Lisa as well.

In my head canon, going with IGA's comment about Mathias living peacefully between 1094 - 1476, in order to hide from the Belmonts, Mathias adopts the identity of a local count. His made-up personal name being Vlad. The logic being that if he would just loiter around a cemetery somewhere, stories about a vampire being present would inevitably spread, and would give away his location. Meanwhile, he continues his study into dark magic and grows more powerful. So basically, he would be familiar with the local population as a bit of an eccentric figure, there are all kinds of rumors, people could be afraid of him, and so on, but it's all just hearsay (for now). Isaac also mentioned he "protected the land" in the Curse of Darkness manga, so perhaps Dracula acted as a local authority? But I digress.

So given that Dracula now has a little connection to the human world, this makes his encounter with Lisa more believable, IMO. Later, when all the mysterious monsters show and start attacking people, there are rumors that this Count Dracula figure is behind it all, and he is attributed the nickname "Tepes". Hence, Mathias becomes known as Count Dracula Vlad Tepes.

Yeah, there is a big problem here.

Mathias most likely adopted "Dracula Vlad Tepes" as his name, and not "Vlad III". Yes, even the "Tepes".

Alucard received the "Tepes" as his name even BEFORE Dracula began his assault against mankind, or the presence of monsters became obvious. This would be indication that Mathias wore the "Tepes" as his name since ever.

But the rest makes sense. IGA has already comented that Mathias lived peacefully amongst humans as Dracula for some time, before going nuts. I can see him protecting the land from invaders and (why not?) even monsters to earn the trust of the people so he could conduct his dark arts without suspicion being cast upon him.

[TatteredSeraph]

To me, one of the biggest issues here is that the real Vlad III was the son of Vlad II Dracul.  It's really easy to see why in LoS they ended up playing with this by having Gabriel address himself as Dracul, but to everyone else he was Dracula - the Dragon, or Son of the Dragon/Devil.  In a way, it's Alucard who's actually 'Dracula'.

[zangetsu468]

What if Vlad III was a real figure, but when he died, Mathias hid his remains and just assumed his throne?
The issue would be his appearance, but is it far-fetched to assume Dracula can alter his appearance slightly..

[Shiroi Koumori]

The real Vlad 3 was assassinated and Matthias just claimed the title. (bringing together my AC-CV head canon) Matthias could have adopted the Tepes surname by being aware that there is a Tepes clan. It would have been easy to assimilate as one of the clan members when you have the money. Matthias could have laid low at that point up until the real Vlad 3 died.
Either way, the Catholic Church had a huge role in the cover up. The Church knows everything. hahaha.

[zangetsu468]

Vlad III's death could have happened in secret/ without his enemies knowing with Mathias sliding into his throne which would explain his "erratic" behaviour and all the blood antics surrounding the "Tepes" myth. Presumably by the time of Vlad III, Dracula would have become very powerful given Iga's timeline states that during the 300 odd years between LOI>CVIII "Every slain Vampire adds to the power of Count Dracula". It would seem quite easy for a vampire who has amassed such power to have lived among the people and one day waltz into the take the throne, however this happens.

[Nagumo]

Yeah, there is a big problem here.

Mathias most likely adopted "Dracula Vlad Tepes" as his name, and not "Vlad III". Yes, even the "Tepes".

Alucard received the "Tepes" as his name even BEFORE Dracula began his assault against mankind, or the presence of monsters became obvious. This would be indication that Mathias wore the "Tepes" as his name since ever.

Really, twist-kun? I don't remember that being apperent anywhere. Was it in the radio drama?

I think the idea of Tepes being a surname is a very silly idea for obvious reasons. I actually thought about why Alucard would be called "Tepes" and it worked perfectly in my mind. Since "Tepes" is basic calling someone "[insert name here] the Butcher" (I know it actually means "The Impaler"), and Alucard being Dracula's son, it's possible that he was given this nickname as well just because of his association with his father. That would after Lisa's death, but before meeting Trevor and friends, so 1475 - 1476. 

[zangetsu468]

Really, twist-kun? I don't remember that being apperent anywhere. Was it in the radio drama?

I think the idea of Tepes being a surname is a very silly idea for obvious reasons. I actually thought about why Alucard would be called "Tepes" and it worked perfectly in my mind. Since "Tepes" is basic calling someone "[insert name here] the Butcher" (I know it actually means "The Impaler"), and Alucard being Dracula's son, it's possible that he was given this nickname as well just because of his association with his father. That would after Lisa's death, but before meeting Trevor and friends, so 1475 - 1476.

I'm assuming it's in reference to the Sotn Manual, both Dracula and Alucard have the last name "Tepes".

Iga's timeline starts calling Mathias by "Dracula" in the 300 year lapse between LOI>CVIII but I don't believe that Tepes is mentioned there.
doesn't say

[TatteredSeraph]

Technically, the family name if you will for Vlad III is 'Draculesti' (like my theory is that Grant's name, DaNasty, is a corruption of 'Danesti'), a branch of the House of Basarab (which the Danesti were also a branch of). 

Another idea could also be that Matthias takes the name of Dracul, during his missing years, and then once it seemed unfeasible for hi to continue calling himself Vlad II Dracul, he makes himself Vlad III Dracula?  He could also perhaps have been Vlad I, doing the whole pretending to be his own descendants thing.

This might be something to 'Ask Iga', perhaps? 

[VladCT]

This might be something to 'Ask Iga', perhaps?

I don't think he'll be able to answer that due to legal reasons.