Alucard

Alucard (, Alucard), full name Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş, is the half human half vampire son of Dracula and recurring character in the series. He first appeared in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse as a supporting playable character alongside Trevor Belmont, with the purpose of defeating his father. After defeating his father, he goes into an eternal slumber. However, he is suddenly reawakened over 300 years later in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night due to the disappearance of Richter Belmont.

Origin
Born as Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş in 1459, he is the son of Dracula and the human woman Lisa, making him a dhampir by nature. He is able to utilize many of the same abilities as his father, such as transforming into a bat, turning to mist, and summoning fireballs. Adrian was present at his mother's execution in the 1470s, after she was tried for witchcraft and burned at the stake. Dracula's grief over the death of his wife led him to wage war on humanity as revenge, as he began to ravage Europe with his army of monsters. Adrian assumed the name "Alucard" ("Dracula" written backwards) as a way to symbolize his opposition to Dracula.

In his debut in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, he can be recruited as one of Trevor Belmont's allies. Trevor encounters Alucard in the Catacombs below the Mad Forest's marshlands; after engaging in a battle to test his skill, he joins Trevor as an ally. Together with Sypha Belnades and Grant Danasty, this group becomes the first in history to directly confront and defeat the dark lord in his own lair.

Following his father's demise, Alucard was besieged by the guilt of patricide, despite the threat his father posed to the world, and thus returned to his own coffin to rest. However, Alucard was suddenly awoken after nearly 300 years of slumber due to the reappearance of his father's castle, and with Richter Belmont nowhere to be found. In Symphony of the Night, Alucard traverses through the castle, faces various monsters, and collaborates with Maria Renard to solve the mystery of the castle's return and Richter's disappearance. As Alucard soon discovers with Maria's aid, Richter had been possessed by the Dark Priest, Shaft, in an attempt to resurrect Dracula once again. After Alucard defeats Shaft, it is revealed that Dracula has been successfully resurrected. In the final confrontation against his father, Alucard passes on his mother's final words: "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." With the knowledge that Lisa would love him for all eternity, Dracula begs for her forgiveness as he fades away, and Alucard's guilt returns once again.

Alucard did not reappear, even in an instance where a Belmont was not present to fight Dracula, for nearly two centuries, though it is known that he forged the Alucard Spear, a companion weapon to the Vampire Killer that he hands down to the Lecarde family in Bloodlines. In the year 1999, Alucard fought alongside Richter's descendant, Julius, as well as members of the United States military, a Belnades clan member, and a priest from the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Together, they sealed Dracula's Castle away in a solar eclipse, cutting off his father's source of power and destroying him once and for all.

At some point in the early 21st century, Alucard became active once again as a member of a top-secret Japanese government agency, under the name "Genya Arikado".

In Aria of Sorrow, set in 2035, Arikado arrives in Japan to check the seal on the castle during another solar eclipse. Though Dracula's most recent defeat at the turn of the century was final, his powers were inherited by humans who were born at the time of his demise; these followers have attempted to carry on his legacy, starting with the reappearance of his castle. The Belmont clan is still alive, but only 18-year-old Soma Cruz—the true reincarnation of Dracula, now free from his vengeance—is able to truly prevent Dracula's influence from returning. Soma vows to absolve himself of his past and start anew, and Arikado stays by his side to watch over him.

In one possible ending of Dawn of Sorrow, Soma succumbs to the darkness within him, turning him into the dark lord once again. Arikado, now resurfacing as Alucard, teams up with Julius and Yoko Belnades to fight the reborn Dracula. Together, they defeat Soma, much like what Alucard and Trevor did nearly 600 years ago, now lamenting over the loss of their friend.

Alucard has made appearances in other Castlevania games, separate from the official timeline. Castlevania Legends features Alucard fighting alongside Sonia Belmont, who has vowed to defeat Dracula after the death of her grandfather. In the Lords of Shadows timeline, Alucard is the name given to Trevor Belmont after he was turned into a vampire by his father Gabriel, now known as Dracula. Alucard appears in the crossover 3D fighting game Castlevania Judgment, having been displaced by a rift in time. He is also featured as a playable character in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair and Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls.

As an Assist Trophy
Alucard will attack nearby opponents with a flurry of slashes. As the son of Dracula, he can also turn into a bat and charge at opponents further away. By the way, when you read "DRACULA" backwards, you get...? As an Assist Trophy, Alucard's primary weapon is the Crissaegrim (sometimes referred to as Valmanway), an extremely rare and powerful blade in Symphony of the Night. Similarly, only the sword slashes are visible when attacking rather than the sword itself being visible in motion, similar to the original games. He is also capable of using the Power of Mist, a transformation that lets him travel through certain walls and avoid attacks completely, Soul of Bat, a bat transformation that leads into the hard-hitting Wing Smash tackle, and both his jump kick and back dash techniques, which have become standard abilities for all Castlevania main characters since their introduction. He is one of the many Assist Trophy characters that can be KO'd. When summoned, he will say "Out of my way!" or "Suffer me!".

As a background character
Alucard also appears as a special guest character during Pit's conversations with Palutena in Palutena's Temple if is present. Palutena formally introduces Pit to Alucard, with the latter recalling the events of Symphony of the Night afterwards before ultimately telling Pit not to underestimate Richter. He is the only Assist Trophy to have this role, and he even acknowledges his status as an Assist Trophy after Palutena inquires about his participation.

As a color scheme
's 7th resembles Alucard's color scheme.

Spirit
Alucard also appears as a Legend-class primary spirit.

In Adventure Mode: World of Light, Alucard is presumably one of the countless spirits captured by Galeem during his takeover of the universe. After Galeem's defeat, Dharkon takes control of Galeem's spirits, including Alucard. Alucard's spirit is located in the sub-dungeon of The Dark Realm as the penultimate battle before Dracula.

Alucard uses a puppet fighter representing Trevor C. Belmont and is fought on the Dracula's Castle stage. During the battle, Alucard appears as a hostile Assist Trophy when Simon reaches high damage.

Trivia

 * In a Famitsu interview, Masahiro Sakurai stated that Alucard was briefly considered as a playable character, due to a lot of fans probably being most familiar with him. However, he instead chose Simon and Richter, feeling that players would probably prefer one of the Belmonts, resulting in his Assist Trophy and cameo roles.
 * The blog for Alucard references that his name spelled backwards is "Dracula".
 * Much like many of the bosses found on the Dracula's Castle stage, the name "Alucard" was taken from one of the many classic horror films that inspired the series. The name originated from the 1943 Universal film , starring Lon Chaney, Jr. in the title role. Chaney's character takes the name "Count Alucard" posing as a count from Hungary moving to an antebellum mansion in Louisiana. As the film's protagonist, Frank Stanley, learns near the beginning of the film, Count Alucard is indeed Count Dracula.
 * Alucard is the second third-party character to directly converse with a first-party character in a Smash Taunt, the first being Snake when he converses with Slippy Toad.
 * By extension, Alucard is the only third-party special guest character to converse in Palutena's Guidance.
 * In this appearance, the reverb effect applied to his voice is the same as in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
 * Alucard has previously appeared as a playable character in another fighting game, Castlevania Judgment.
 * Alucard cannot be summoned in Wii Fit Studio. It was stated during a tournament hosted by Nintendo Spain that he doesn't appear because the stage has a giant mirror, referencing how vampires do not have a reflection in mirrors. However, if the game is hacked to spawn him in the stage, it can be seen that he does indeed have a reflection.
 * While Alucard can be summoned on Fountain of Dreams and has a reflection in its water, this is consistent with the given reasoning. The reason why vampires do not have reflections in mirrors is because of their weakness to silver, which is used in mirrors (albeit less so in modern mirrors, which mostly use aluminum), but not found in water. This also has ties to the superstition of mirrors displaying the viewer's soul; thus a vampire's lack of reflection means that they have no soul. Despite this, due to Alucard being a dhampir—half vampire, half human—he has no weakness to silver, and can wear silver armaments in both Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Despair.
 * Alucard is one of the two new Assist Trophy characters in Ultimate to use newly recorded voice clips, instead of recycled voice clips; the other is . They also both share a Japanese voice actor.

External Link

 * Article on the Castlevania Wiki.

Alucard