Dracula: Difference between revisions

Although Dracula debuted in the original ''Castlevania'', his origins lie in ''Castlevania: Lament of Innocence'', where he was once a Crusader and partner to Leon Belmont named Mathias Cronqvist. However, upon the sudden passing of his wife Elisabetha, Cronqvist became filled with anger and hatred, declaring war on God. In 1094, Cronqvist takes control of the Crimson Stone by manipulating both Leon and an evil vampire lord named Walter Bernhard and becomes a vampire, eventually changing his name to Dracula Vlad Ţepeş. As this led to the death of Leon's betrothed, however, Leon vowed that the Belmont Clan would stand against him forever. Dracula later ended his war against God in 1455 when he met and eventually married, a human woman named Lisa. Together, they bore a son named Adrian. In 1475, Lisa was executed following accusations of witchcraft and Dracula declared war against humanity as a result. Adrian, who was present at the execution, was told to deliver Lisa's final words to his father. However, he finds himself unable to reason with him, even with the presentation of logic that it would be more fitting to go after the executioners rather than attack all of mankind. Adrian turned against his father and changed his name to [[Alucard]], representing that he was against Dracula. A year later, Dracula was defeated by Trevor Belmont, Alucard, and their companions Sypha Belnades and Grant Danasty. Dracula's death briefly placed a curse upon Wallachia, throwing it into chaos, though the curse was eventually broken by the combined efforts of Trevor, and a rogue Forgemaster named Hector.

A century passed since Trevor's defeat of Dracula. In that time, Trevor became the ancestor to Christopher Belmont, who took up the Vampire Killer whip that Trevor used in battle. However, a cult led by a man named Ivan Bartley resurrected the Count on a dark night, at the same time, resurrecting the castle that was destroyed after Trevor's battle. Thus started a cycle of resurrection occurring every 100 years. Christopher's blood called for him to challenge Dracula and seal his evil nemesis away for another one hundred years. Christopher eventually met and defeated Dracula in battle and afterward escaped the castle before it could crumble atop him. Watching the collapse from a distance, Christopher felt reassured that he had destroyed Dracula, not knowing that the Count had survived the battle by turning into a cloud of mist and reforming into a bat, laying in wait for his next attack.

Nearly one hundred years later, Dracula was resurrected in a black sabbath on April 15th, Easter Sunday of that year, by a demonic cult by crushing a freshly extracted human heart over his ashes, spilling its blood on them. He was defeated by Christopher's descendant, [[Simon Belmont]]. In his dying breath, Dracula set a curse on Simon that slowly killed him from the inside, which was undone by reviving Dracula and destroying him once more. 50 years later, Simon's descendant Juste Belmont underwent a similar trial, gathering Dracula's remains in order to save his friends Maxim Kischine (who had gone on a training journey only to inadvertantly awaken Dracula's castle and lose his memory) and Lydie Erlanger (who was kidnapped by a brainwashed Maxim as a sacrifice to the dark lord). A manifestation of Dracula's power emerges in a wraith-like form from Maxim's consciousness and the gathered remains, though Juste is able to vanquish this Dracula Wraith anew. 46 years later, Dracula is revived twice by the Dark Priest, Shaft, but is defeated first by [[Richter Belmont]], then by Alucard five years later. During his battle against Richter, he has Shaft kidnap various women from the town of Aljiba, including Richter's fiancée Annette Renard and her sister Maria, with the intent of using them as the next sacrifices for his next resurrection. He even offers Annette the chance to become a vampire herself and rule humanity alongside him. Just before his fight with Richter, he offers his manifesto: he is above humanity's concepts of morality, because power is the one true thing that rules the world. In his words, he describes mankind as "a cesspit of hatred and lies" (or "a miserable little pile of secrets"). After he is defeated by Alucard, his son tells him the last words of his wife: "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." Alucard then adds that his mother would love the count for all eternity. Dracula asks for Lisa's forgiveness as he fades away, bidding his son farewell.

Unknown to the outside world, Good had vanquished Dracula's evil once more, as all record of Ecclesia seemingly vanished into the mists of time, recorded only by a few grimoires that chronicled the legend of Dracula and his demonic castle. Many villains would attempt to seek Dracula's return such as the vampiress Carmilla or the mass murderer Elizabeth Bartley (who claimed to be Dracula's niece) and other swould seek to supplant him, such as Brauner. Other hunters, however would take the Order's place and stand against darkness, including Morris Baldwin, Nathan Graves and Morris' son Hugh, Reinhardt Schneider, and the Morris clan; Quincey, John, and Jonathan. Quincey himself did not use the Vampire Killer in his battle with the count; Instead, Quincey plunged his bowie knife into the vampire's heart just as the sun had set on November 6th, 1897, dying of his wounds minutes later in the arms of his companions, including his distant relative Abraham Van Helsing. After resurrections in both World Wars, the final battle against Dracula ensued in 1999, where he was permanently destroyed by Julius Belmont, Alucard, the US Military, and their allies. Following Dracula's ultimate demise, information regarding the legend of the Belmonts, Dracula, and his castle were leaked to the outside world, having previously been obscured by the Church and other parties involved. Portions of Dracula's power were passed down to those who were born on the day of his death and Dracula himself reincarnated as Soma Cruz in 2017. Soma learned of this when the castle manifested in a solar eclipse over Japan in 2035, but he resisted Dracula's influence, telling Julius to kill him should he become the evil count. One year later, Soma stopped a cult that sought to resurrect Dracula through those who had inherited portions of his power. An alternate, non-canon scenario depicts a corrupted Soma transforming into a reincarnation of Dracula, forcing Julius, Yoko Belnades, and Alucard to defeat him.