User:KristenDArgyle/Alucard draft

{{Cleanup|date=June 2006}} {{In-universe|subject = video game|category = video game|date = }}

Alucard
Castlevania series character
First game	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes (アドリアン・ファーレンハイツ・ツェペシュ, Adorian Fārenhaitsu Tepetsu), better known as Alucard (アルカード, Arukādo), is one of the recurring protagonists in the Castlevania video game series. Alucard is the son of the Castlevania series' main villain, Dracula, and Lisa Tepes, a human woman. As the offspring of a union between a human and a vampire, he has strengths beyond that of a normal human, yet lacks some of the key weaknesses of a vampire. He possesses inhuman strength and dark magical powers, and he is, for all intents and purposes, immortal -- living far beyond a normal human lifespan while retaining a youthful appearance. Along with the ability to cast several dark spells, Alucard can shapeshift into a bat, a wolf, and mist. Alucard's weapon of choice is the sword, and traditionally he wields a signature heirloom known simply as the "Alucard sword." His exact birth date is unknown, but it is estimated to be sometime in the late 1300s or early 1400s.

He is most notable for his appearance in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), and is considered a fan-favorite. He has appeared in several games, only playable in a few, and Symphony of the Night is the only game to date where he is the main focus. He first appeared in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1990). He was one of the first characters to be rendered by artist Ayami Kojima and to have spoken English dialog. In games other than Symphony of the Night he plays a secondary role as a mysterious ally to the protagonists.

Alucard is generally characterized as being "inhumanly attractive" but cold and detached. Some, notably Maria Renard, can tell there is something not quite human about him. However, despite this, many characters trust him and consider him a good guy. He is usually depicted wearing black, whether in a suit or cape, with white or black hair.

Alucard continually places himself as an opponent of Dracula. The reasons for this he usually keeps to himself, but it is generally accepted that it is due to his mother's influence. Prior to events in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Alucard's mother was mistakenly executed as a witch for preparing medicine for the sick. This is generally thought to have prompted his father to begin his war on humanity. Alucard was present at her death, and with her last words she told him, "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm -- for their's is already a hard lot."

Game appearances

note for me: mayhap we rearrange in release date order

The following list are the games which featured Alucard. He is a playable character only where noted. The games are listed in chronological order regarding the storyline of the Castlevania series.

• 1450 — Castlevania Legends (unplayable boss; this game has also been removed from the official Castlevania Timeline by IGA)
• 1476 — Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (boss; playable after defeated)
• 1797 — Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (main character)
• 2035 — Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (unplayable) - as "Genya Arikado", see below.
• 2036 — Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (playable in Julius mode)

The following games aren't confirmed appearances for Alucard, but the similarities are strong.

• ? — Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun (Nintendo Famicom; Japan only)
• ? — Kid Dracula (Game Boy)

Character history

Castlevania: Legends

Chronologically, the first game where Alucard would have appeared was Castlevania Legends (1998), yet not as a playable character. Put in the year 1450, Alucard met Sonia Belmont one night, and it can only be guessed they developed a relationship, since during their meeting in the game they appear to know each other fairly well. Sometime during their relationship, Alucard taught Sonia that one decides one's own fate -- something Sonia mentions in a dialog sequence with Alucard. The relationship is also suspected to be romantic in nature, due to Alucard calling Sonia "my beloved, my beautiful vampire hunter," and Sonia responding calling him "dear Alucard." Alucard's relationship with his father is portrayed as one of abandonment, where Dracula deserted Alucard.

Sonia meets Alucard, somewhat unexpectedly, in Dracula's castle, where he challenges her to ascertain her strength. Alucard plans on stopping his father, but he refuses to let Sonia put herself in danger. When she beats him, Alucard steps aside to let Sonia defeat his father, and leaves to put himself to sleep.

During an unlockable ending sequence, Sonia is shown with an infant in her arms. This infant is suspected to be Trevor Belmont, the hero of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and the love child of Sonia and Alucard. Considering the child is described as one who would "carry on the fate and tragedy of the Belmont family, and the bloodline of dark ways," it is not entirely out of the question.

However, Castlevania: Legends was removed from the timeline by director Koji Igarashi (otherwise known as IGA) for timeline inconsistency.

Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse

In 1476 when Trevor Belmont was on his own quest to destroy Dracula, Alucard would be waiting for him to come by in the catacombs in an area that appears like an underground chapel. Alucard acts like a boss at this point, testing the skills of the hero. When Trevor beats Alucard, Alucard asks to join Trevor in his quest. If the player accepts his offer, Alucard then becomes one of the four playable characters in the game.

After helping to destroy Dracula, and despite his good intentions, Alucard couldn't help but feel guilty for patricide. To ease his pain, he put himself to rest, submerging his powers.

Castlevania III is the first game Alucard appeared in, although his primary weapon and appearance have changed since then. In Castlevania III, Alucard's primary weapon is the "Ball of Destruction" and his primary attack is flinging fireballs from his cape. While he is capable of a fireball attack in other games, it is not usually his main form of attack. In other Castlevania titles, Alucard is portrayed in bishounen-style, beautiful and effeminate, whereas he has two portrayals in Castlevania III -- one from the manual and one from Nintendo Power magazine -- both definitely non-bishounen.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

note for me: mention nightmare sequence, mayhap conversations with Maria

In 1797, four years after Dracula's defeat at the hands of Richter Belmont, Richter mysteriously vanished and Dracula's castle re-emerged. His sister-in-law, Maria Renard, went into the castle to find him. Meanwhile, Alucard awoke from what was supposed to be his eternal sleep and, aware of evil stirring, entered the castle as well. The game starts with Alucard running through the forest, jumping the drawbridge, and entering the castle.

During the course of the game, Alucard meets Maria several times, finding out about Richter's disappearance. He meets Richter in an underground arena, and he claims to be the master of the castle. Richter sends a werewolf and a minotaur at Alucard and disappears. eventually acquiring an item from her, the holy glasses, that allows Alucard to see the evil influence controlling Richter.

old version

In 1797, due to an unexpected lack of a Belmont and re-emergence of Dracula's castle, Alucard had no choice but to awaken from his slumber to investigate the matter and infiltrate Castlevania. He was able to find out that Richter Belmont had been seduced by an evil force and was controlling the castle.

With the help of Richter's sister-in-law, Maria Renard, they were able to find out the truth: The dark priest Shaft was controlling Richter and wanted to raise Dracula from his dark slumber. Richter's own excuse, while under Shaft's control, was that he wanted to resurrect Dracula so that the battle between the Belmonts and Dracula could go on forever. After releasing Richter from Shaft's control, Alucard entered an upside-down version of Castlevania in the clouds, above the original. The inverted castle contained more powerful enemies, and Alucard's final goal. He then proceeded to find and confront Shaft.

Having defeated Shaft, Alucard discovered that his efforts were in vain, as Shaft's plan had come to fruition regardless. He solely defeated his father in combat once more, and sent him back to the grave, though Dracula did show a spark of humanity after Alucard told him Lisa's last words: that mankind should be left in peace, and that she would always love him. Alucard then planned to put himself back at rest, but since Maria had fallen in love with him during their previous meetings, she tried to prevent him from doing so. Whether she managed to stop him in time is not known.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

In the year 2035, a man named Genya Arikado (有角幻也, Arikado Genya). and his close associate Yoko Belnades, a Catholic Church employee, began to frequently visit the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Mina Hakuba, the shrine caretaker's daughter, was not sure of what they were looking for, but she was always friendly to the duo. Genya, an extremely cold man with an inhumanly attractive face, was a member of a shadowy Japanese government organization somehow related to national security. He and Yoko knew well about the events where the castle was sealed away in the eclipse by a group of vampire hunters, and about the prophecy that says someone would come to the castle in 2035 to inherit Dracula's powers.

In their investigation, they found the link between the Hakuba Shrine and the dark side of the eclipse. They decided to enter the castle, where they planned to prevent the rebirth of Count Dracula.

In reality, Genya Arikado was Alucard himself, risen from his resting place due to the absence of a Belmont to deal with the situation. Julius Belmont was present, roaming the castle, but his amnesia and advanced age made it too risky for him to get involved in big conflicts.

Alucard knew that the power of the seal holding Dracula was wearing off. If someone with bad intentions (like Graham Jones) were to seize the opportunity and inherit that power, his father would return, reborn.

Alucard then came up with a plan. He would find the person truly prophesied to inherit the Dark Lord's powers and summon him to the castle on the day of the solar eclipse. That person turned out to be Soma Cruz. Alucard helped him to discover his natural absorbing abilities in hope that Soma would use that power to collect the enemies' souls and the castle's energy essence, becoming someone as powerful as Dracula. A self-aware absorber who would use that collected power to enter into where only Dracula could go: The Chaotic Realm where the seal remained broken, having the chance to fix it by destroying the source.

After killing Graham Jones, Soma realized that he himself was the rebirth of Dracula, so Alucard ordered him to find and cut the flow of Chaos and suppress Dracula's spirit before it could take over his body completely, resealing the castle within the eclipse, bringing his friends to safety, and ending the threat of Dracula's resurrection for the time being.

Although his true origin is very heavily implied during various cut scenes, Arikado's true nature is never openly revealed within this game. The only hint of it is Arikado's large knowledge of Castlevania and Yoko's first lines "Did you meet Aluca- I mean Genya Arikado". In the best ending of the game, when everyone congratulates Soma, Alucard makes a reference to his mother Lisa: "In my mother's name, I send thanks to you".

As an interesting note, at the beginning of the game when Soma and Mina are transported into the castle, Alucard protects them from a horde of monster by using some type of attack. The attack makes the screen flash briefly causing the enemies to explode while their souls fly into Alucard. This attack is very similar, if not identical to Alucard's Soul Steal spell from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Alucard first makes his appearance in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow as Genya Arikado to Soma Cruz at the beginning of the game, as he enters during the game's opening scenes, attempting to protect him from Celia Fortner, the leader of the cult devoted to recreating the Dark Lord. After Soma defeats the monsters that Celia summoned using the knife that Arikado throws to him and absorbs their souls, he wonders why his "power of dominance" has returned. Arikado reveals that he has always had that power, it was just that he never had a need for it after he left Dracula's castle. After their discussion, Arikado tells Soma that he and his associates will handle Celia and asks him not to get involved.

Their next meeting is in the Demon Guest House, where Arikado angrily berates Soma for involving himself in this affair. However, he agrees to Soma's continued participation because he has already entered the castle. He asks Soma about what he has encountered so far and Soma reveals Celia's plan to slay him and replace him using the Dark Lord's candidates, Dmitrii Blinov and Dario Bossi (although Dmitrii is "killed" at this point). Arikado reveals his intention to look into the matter further and also gives Soma a letter from Mina Hakuba, which contains a talisman that will protect Soma from evil energy. He then departs, in search of Celia.

When Soma first enters the Cursed Clock Tower, he runs in along with Julius Belmont and Arikado to find Celia waiting for them. Celia reveals that she has fused a flame demon to Dario's soul that has drastically increased his powers. Afterwards, Celia teleports away and Arikado tells Julius to pursue Dario while he will hunt for Celia.

At one of the game's critical junctions, Arikado runs into the Garden of Madness to stop Soma from transforming into the Dark Lord after Celia killed "Mina". Due to the fact that Soma was wearing Mina's Talisman, he was able to break the transformation, much to Celia's chagrin. However, a black soul flew from Soma into the Doppelganger that was posing as the "Mina" that Celia slew. That Doppelganger became Dmitrii, who had been believed to been slain by Soma earlier in the game. Arikado realizes that Dmitrii has copied Soma's power of dominance, and it is the key to becoming the Dark Lord. As Arikado moves forward to confront Dmitrii, however, Dmitrii reveals that he knows Arikado's true identity as Alucard, son of Dracula (although he does not explicitly reveal this fact), and that he will kill Soma if Arikado comes forward. Dmitrii and Celia teleport away and Arikado reveals to Soma that there is a gateway to the origin of the dark energy the castle has been accessing underneath the castle (the Abyss) and this is where Dmitrii and Celia have fled.

However, in order to gain access to the Abyss, Arikado is forced to enlist the talents of Julius Belmont, who shatters the barrier dividing that area from the rest of the castle. Julius is reluctant to do so because it will drain his power and leave him unable to fight but Arikado says his power is the only way the barrier can be broken. As the barrier is broken, Arikado falls into the passageway and renews his pursuit of Dmitrii and Celia.

At the game's final stages, Arikado is standing with Dmitrii in the final, massive room of the Abyss, apparently drained. He reveals to Soma that Dmitrii's sacrifice of Celia created a reversal of his powers and canceled his attempts to assault Dmitrii. As Dmitrii prepares for the showdown of his power of dominance against Soma's, he becomes engulfed in dark energy, and Arikado realizes that since Dmitrii's soul is weaker than Soma's, he cannot retain full dominance of the souls of the monsters he gained dominance over. In his anger, Dmitrii blasts Arikado away with a spell before the creatures escape his body and converge to form the gargantuan Menace, who is Soma's final opponent.

Near the end, as numerous characters went to embrace Soma after his victory, Alucard stood alone, thinking that "If the world needs a Dark Lord, one will emerge, even if it's not Soma."

Alucard can be unlocked as a playable character in Julius Mode, complete in his Symphony of the Night attire. He has changed, as he lost most of his spells and the ability to switch weapons. He can still backdash, double jump and super jump, transform into a Bat, and cast the Hellfire spell. He also has his heirloom Alucard Sword equipped with the Teleport Double-Slash attack at his disposal. To put it simply, in Dawn of Sorrow, he works more as a utility/reconnaissance unit (compared to Julius for the offense and Yoko for the sniping/support), though his teleport-slash still makes him good for battle.

Miscellaneous

Action Figure

An action figure of Alucard as well as other Castlevania characters Simon Belmont, Dracula, and a Succubus will be made by NECA and should be available around Halloween, 2007.

Kid Dracula

It is unclear if the protagonist of Kid Dracula, also Dracula's son, is also Alucard. The game's canonity is disputed.

"Captain N"

Simon Belmont and Dracula appeared in the video game cartoon Captain N: The Game Master. At least one episode featured Alucard. However, Alucard was depicted as a rebellious music-loving teenager with sunglasses and blond hair, shirking his appearance in Castlevania III (which was not unusual, as nearly every game character in the cartoon was heavily modified from their game appearance). In this episode, Alucard pretends to join Simon and Captain N, but instead leads them into a trap and rejoins his father.

See also

• Castlevania
• Dracula
• Castlevania characters