Alucard (Castlevania)

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Adrian Farenheits Tepes (Ţepeş), also known as , is the son of Dracula in the Castlevania video game series. As the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa, Adrian had special powers, preordained to be stronger than any human but not potentially as strong as his father. After Lisa was tried and killed, mistaken for a witch, Adrian grew up under the influence of his father, whence he was taught in the white arts and molded into a warrior who would one day fight for the side of evil.

Adrian's existence did not come without quirks, as the gentle, human side of his mother always seemed to cloud his "better judgment", as Dracula would have put it. Before his mother's death, Adrian was by her side. Even though he was enraged, she insisted that he not take that anger out on the humans. With those thoughts forever implanted into his being, his mind always wandered as he questioned his father's intentions. After standing by for as long as he could, he broke away from his father's army and disappeared. Understanding that Dracula was going to implore his wrath on the people, Adrian would turn his efforts towards destroying his father's army, hopefully encouraging him to reconsider. Furthermore, he chose to go under the name "Alucard" — his father's branded name in reverse — to represent that he stood for beliefs opposite those of his father.

Much is unknown about Alucard's past, particularly his age and when he was born, much less how his father came to have a relationship with Lisa. Chronologically, the events occur sometime before . Alucard is also absent for many of the games in the series. He does not appear after ' until '. At the end of , he announces his intention to go in to hiding, sparing the world from the cursed blood in his veins. However, he returns in and . What he does in these stretches of time, as well as his origins, may be explained in future games.

Alucard is an adept swordsman, and typically wields one-handed swords. Alucard's other attacks use dark magic. As a shape shifter, Alucard can change into a bat, or other animals.

Alucard was also featured as a secondary character in an episode of a video-game (NES) oriented cartoon, . This Alucard however has very little to do with the character featured in Konami's games as he was depicted as a rebellious teenager with a distinct modern (80s/90s) flare.

Game appearances

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; this game has also been removed from the official Castlevania Timeline by IGA)
• 1476 — (playable after unlocked)
• 1797 — (playable)
• 2035 — (unplayable) - as "Genya Arikado", see below.
• 2036 — (playable after unlocked in Julius mode)

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

• ? — (Nintendo Famicom; Japan only)
• ? — Kid Dracula (Game Boy)

Character history

Castlevania: Legends

Although was retroactively removed from the Japanese Castlevania timeline by current director Koji Igarashi, Konami USA has not reflected this, and it remained canon according to Konami USA in a Konami Timeline printed in Nintendo Power around the release of the Sorrow series. However, recently Konami USA left out Legends in their Xtreme Desktop Timeline, which indicates that Konami USA has changed their decision, and are taking the series closer to IGA's vision.

The first game where Alucard chronologically appeared was Castlevania Legends, yet not as a playable character. In the year 1450, Alucard met Sonia Belmont . Alucard then revealed his intentions to her: His father had to be stopped, and he was the one to do it.

Sonia revealed to Alucard that she intended to do the same. They had to part ways at this point, as Sonia would go on to battle her way through the castle of Dracula. During her adventure, Sonia would encounter Alucard one more time as he tested her skills in battle and found her to be more than worthy.

Feeling that he could be a danger to humankind afterwards, Alucard submerged his powers and put himself into a state of rest, much to the sadness of Sonia. He would rise again soon enough, however.

Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse

In 1476 when Trevor Belmont was on his own quest to hunt out the Count Dracula, Alucard would be waiting for Trevor Belmont to come by. Alucard acted like a boss at this point, testing the skills of the hero. Alucard was surprised by Trevor's strength when he was defeated by the young vampire hunter, and asked if he could join Trevor on his quest.

If you accept his offer, he 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: Symphony of the Night

In 1797, due to an unexpected lack of a Belmont, 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 evil 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. After releasing Richter from Shaft's control, Alucard entered an upside-down version of Castlevania, with more powerful enemies, and confronted 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. He then planned to put himself back at rest, but since Maria had fallen in love with him during their 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 (the game spells this name with Hiragana to distinguish between Arikado ありかど and Alucard　アルカード). and his close associate Yoko Belnades, a Catholic Church employee, began to frequently visit the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Mina, 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 prophesized 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, very heavily implied during various cut scenes, Arikado's true nature is never openly revealed within this game.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

The game is set in 2036.

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, 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, 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 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 Doppleganger that was posing as the "Mina" that Celia slew. That Doppleganger 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." This may be hint that, however unlikely, Alucard may take up his father's legacy.

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

Kid Dracula

Though speculative, it is quite possible that the character who starred in the game, Kid Dracula, was indeed Alucard early in his life. It has been noted that early in Alucard's life, he did indeed emulate his father and at one time, intended to completely follow in his footsteps. Kid Dracula could be documenting his life during this time.

However, since Kid Dracula takes on a hero's role, it is possible that Alucard has already renounced his evil father's ways and took on the path of a hero. The storyline of Kid Dracula states that Kid Dracula wakes from a long sleep, which seems very much like future "sleeps" that Alucard would put himself in. Also of note is that Galamoth, the main villain in Kid Dracula, returns as one of the most difficult bosses in Symphony of the Night, possibly indicating a history between the two characters.

Elric of Melniboné

There is some speculation that the appearance of the character Alucard is derived from the hero of a popular fiction series by Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melniboné, especially Elric artwork done in the late 1970's and early 1980's when Moorcock's series saw a resurgence in popularity.

\"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). Just like his real video game counterpart , he hates his father and become a good guy .

See also

• Dracula
• Vampire Hunter D, a Dhampir that probably inspired the creation of Alucard
• Hellsing's Alucard

 

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