Alucard

Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş
File:Alucard - Castlevania.png Official artwork of Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Universe	Castlevania
Debut	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Castlevania Requiem (2018)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom Disk System)
Species	Dhampir
Gender	Male
English voice actor	Yuri Lowenthal
Japanese voice actor	Ryōtarō Okiayu
Article on Wikipedia	Alucard (Castlevania)

Alucard (アルカード, Alucard), full name Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş, is the human/vampire hybrid son of Dracula, and recurring character in the Castlevania series. He first appeared as 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, it wouldn't be until Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where he would be awakened due to the disappearance of a Belmont.

Origin

Born as Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş in 1459, he is the son of Dracula and the human Lisa Fahrenheit, making him a dhampir by nature and using the abilities of a vampire without many of the setbacks of vampirism. Adrian was present at his mother's execution in 1475, after she was tried for witchcraft and burned at the stake. Hearing her final words and being told to pass them onto his father, Adrian attempts to dissuade his father from turning his anger against humanity, telling him that it would be more suitable to punish the ones responsible for the execution rather than everyone present for her burning. Dracula declares that there are no innocents for this crime, wounding his son, and beginning his war against humanity one year later by attacking the very same town where she was burned. Adrian then takes up the name "Alucard" 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 several of Trevor Belmont's allies. Trevor encounters Alucard in the Catacombs below the Mad Forest's marshlands, and upon defeat, takes him as an ally. Together with him, Sypha Belnades, and Grant Danasty, they would be 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 he posed to the world and thus returned to his own coffin to rest. Trevor's bloodline would continue to live on as a Belmont would arise to confront his father over the centuries, his descendants Simon and Richter following in his footsteps. Alucard would be suddenly awoken after nearly 300 years of slumber due to the absence of the forces of good along with the reappearance of his father's castle. Alucard traverses through the castle, facing various monsters and collaborating with Maria Renard about the mystery of the castle's return and the dissappearance of Richter. As Alucard soon discovers with Maria's aid, Richter had been posessed by the Dark Priest Shaft in an attempt to resurrect Dracula once again, summoning an inverted castle above the original. Alucard traverses through this second castle, kills Shaft once and for all, and defeats his father once again, this time passing onto him the last words of his mother: "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 final parting words that Lisa would love him for all eternity, Dracula fades away, with Alucard once again feeling the guilt that he killed his own father once again.

Alucard would not appear again for a very long time, even in an instance where a Belmont was not present to fight Dracula until nearly two hundred later in the year 1999. Here, he is said to have fought alongside Richter's descendant, Julius, as well as members of the US Military, a Belnades clan member, and a priest from the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Together, they seal Dracula's Castle away in a solar eclipse, cutting his father off from his source of power, and destroying him once and for all. Despite this, Alucard remained active as a member of a top-secret Japanese government agency, under the name "Genya Arikado". Though Dracula's most recent defeat at the turn of the century was final, dark followers who had inherited his powers at birth simultaneous with his demise have attempted to carry on his legacy, starting with the resurgence of his castle. Though a Belmont is present to fight Dracula, only Soma (later revealed to be a reincarnation of Dracula free of his hate and vengeance) has the best chance of stopping them and hopes to do so to absolve himself of his past and start anew, with Arikado deciding to stick close in order to keep an eye on him.

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.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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...?	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Alucard as he appears in Ultimate.

Alucard's primary weapon as an Assist Trophy 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 also appears as a special guest character during Pit's conversations with Palutena in Palutena's Temple if Richter 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.

Finally, he is a Legend class Primary Spirit located in the Dracula’s Castle segment of the Dark Realm of World of Light. His Spirit Battle has the player fighting Simon while Alucard drops in to attack the player. Only Simon must be defeated to win. His Spirit can also be claimed from the Spirit Board or from the shop located in “Vault”.

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.

Spirit

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slot	Ability	Series
1,055	File:Alucard Spirit 1.png	Alucard	Shield	★★★★	3	Sword Attack ↑	Castlevania Series

Gallery

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  Alucard as an Assist Trophy in Ultimate.

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  Alucard as he appears in Ultimate.

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  Alucard attacking Meta Knight in Ultimate.

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  Alucard attacking Bowser Jr. in Ultimate.

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  Alucard's portrait in Palutena's Guidance, Ultimate.

Trivia

• 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 Son of Dracula 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 Stanely, learns almost at 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's other known fighting game appearance was in Castlevania: Judgement where he appeared as a playable character.
• 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.

External Link

• Article on the Castlevania Wiki.