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krysanthii · 2 months

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Sis do you think we will going to get a more complex point of view about colonialism in later seasons?

I do hope so because on how the writers of the show has interwoven colonialism within the universe by having vampires from old houses develop a symbiotic relationship with the human dukes, kings, and nobles. And seeing in Annette's past of vampire nobles enslaving humans in plantations. I have a rather dark theory that vampires and human colonizers worked together in the Atlantic slave trade that benefited the two factions. The human colonizers get an economic boom and free labor out of it while vampires get more abundance of blood to drink from enslaved humans. I hope the show touches upon it more and explaining it to us how white settler colonialism and vampirism works just how they handle Annette's past. I did talk before how I praised how the writers shown Annette's childhood growing up in the plantations without it resulting into slavery torture porn.

I want to see of black resistance of the maroons because we don't see much of black resistance fighting against white settlers. From the many reviews on Youtube it wasn't well recieved with subjects of racism and colonialism and complaints of the show suddenly becoming "woke" because it delivered topics of slavery, racism, and colonialization. I do hope the show doesn't placate to the criticism and just sugar coat anything but keep pushing the narrative of colonialism. I am not voodoo, I don't know a lick about voodoo religion or practice but I heard from voodoo priests and practioners giving out negative criticism the portrayal is wrong. I do hope the writers fix that and hire voodoo practioners and how to portray the practice and religion accurately.

Hopefully the show will touch upon New World Vampires vs Old World vampires. We got a glimpse of it in the show where Drolta was gassing up Bathory to Olrox and he wasn't having it. It shows the difference that between the two. Just because they are vampires and rule over humans there is a fundlemental differences between the two. When Drolta was giving her story about her hey day being a temple priestess and creating a another world. Olrox cheekily says he heard all about it before because during Olrox's long life how many times have he'd heard about white settlers with inflated egos boosting about creating a new world and empire? Cortes? Pizaro? Columbus? Aguirre? George Washington? King George II? The countless of conquistadors and presidents? He has heard it all before of creating a new world that is build on the backs of the already indigenous population. *cough*Palestine *cough* My man is fatigued and which explains why he was so blase about it prior to meeting Bathory.

For his many centuries he lived he can smell white settler fuckery a mile away. With Drolta gassing up Bathory to Olrox, her mistake is that Olrox had already seen his entire culture eradicated in order to create a "new world," And he's obviously not so hyped about seeing another new world being created in the backs of oppressed groups. When Olrox arrives to the chateux he's visibly uncomfortable, it shows just because they are all vampires it doesn't change the fact that he is an indigenous man entering a white space.

Get Out 2017

From the show its been said that vampires originated from the Old World and were brought to the New World by exploration and colonization.

Olrox being a vampire he is a very young and not even 300 yet! So there is a difference in of longevity and experence between Olrox and the Old World vampires along with stagnation in their thinking. The Old World vampires wanting to return back into their glory days and for Olrox, their glory days were his dark ages. And the vampires want to return to a world were vampires are able to rule over humans and govern themselves by blocking the sun. And Olrox who's entire culture is worshiping the sun is horrified and this shows not only the difference between the Old and New World vampires but also culturally. Old World vampires see themselves above the humans the way they use and discard them and talk to them in the most condescending and dehumanizing way.

With Olrox's interactons with humans he doesn't speak to them with the same condescension or talked down to Mizrak as if he's a stupid animal. He's incredibly candid with Mizrak and speaking to him as equals. With Julia when he speaks about her he's never vile towards her even though she took the love of his life and he never mocks Richter for having an anxiety attack and running away from the crypt. Unlike Drolta who mocks Richter and calling him the "boy who ran away."

I pointed out that the difference and this scene blantanly shown when Olrox is forced to bow before Erzsebet and her cultist and guiding her to America. Which is wrong in so many levels. Take out the vampirism, you are forcing an indigenous man to take a white colonizer into his home and enslave everybody to bow down to a white settler colonizer and parade her as a God? And if they don't? She'll starve them and they'd be so hungry they'll have to eat their own vomit. By the look Olrox gave her, she sealed her death warrent.

This immediately brought to toughts of La Malinche.

La Malinche story needs to be taken with a grain of salt. She was sold to Cortez as a child and later became his interpreter and lover and betrayed her people. Its said with her help Cortex was able to conquer the Aztec empire. And this is exactly what Bathory needs Olrox. To guide her to America, to betray his people, and be her interpreter and advisor just how La Malinche was to Cortez.

This will be extremely touchy especially what happened to the Americas during colonialism and how it had effects people to this day. The show has already touched upon it just slightly on the Casta System.

Annette was literally running away from slave catchers and she met Edouard in the concert hall. She was dressed in rags while he was dressed in finary. They are both black but Edouard is mixed white european and many of the mulattos were part of the bourgeoisies. The Haitian mulattos were looked down upon by both the white upper class and the black enslaved class and they would be use to which faction suited them to push out whatever cause.

Historically Edouard and Annette wouldn't be friends because most of the mulattos idenitfied with the ruling French and their culture and also took part of the slave holding. That being said they took a part of the oppression of other black people and as a result they were slaughtered along with the white bourgeosies during the Haitian Revolution.

I am bringing the Casta System because it effected heavily on the Americas as well. Many Latinos have white european colonizers, Native American, and african ancestry. I don't know if the writers are going to focus on the Casta System and latinos and how the erasure of culture has effected them. Olrox talks about how his land had been stolen but it will dive deeper to that on how the next generation has suffered with the slow erosion of their languages, and culture and slowly converting over time to Christianity and Catholicism. Forgetting their tribes, their names, their ancestors. And to be put into these boxes like pedigree.

The violence wil be explored on what colonialism has caused and the result. As of right now with the current events of groups of people being displaced from their own land, erasure of culture, languages, and customs, not being able to practice their own religion. Ethnically cleansing a people and being forced to convert or die. Bringing up subjects of colonialzation has never been more prevelant until now.

#castlevania nocturne #castlevania meta #castlevania olrox #castlevania annette

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whereismywizardhat · 7 months

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I really think it's fascinating how Castlevania Nocturne goes out of it's way to show how much the hierarchies of power that seem as permanent as the earth beneath our feet are transient, impermanent things.

The Egyptian empires which worshipped Sekhmet have long since become dust and tombs. The Aztecs are gone, even if Olrox remains. The Sun-king has lost his head to the guillotine. Plantation owners that saw children born into bondage, grow up into adults bondage, then die in bondage have found themselves on the ashpile of history. Nothing created by people cannot be uncreated by people. Annette saying to a vampire and slaver that has been ranting about her place in the natural order that the true natural order is the sun rising and devouring the darkness, right as the morning sun rises and turns him to ashes. Her teacher telling her that humanity didn't come into this world with slaves and masters, that that came later.

It's so important to the story, so pointed, especially with how the season ended. The "divine" right of kings, bolstered by a priest who sold his soul to protect his own power and coming in the form of an immortal aristocrat. They would blot out the sun before admitting that their way of things was over.

Really makes you think about other structures built by humans that are allegedly too big to ever destroy. How true is that really?

#castlevania #castlevania nocturne #castlevania nocturne spoilers #spoilers #meta

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etherati · 9 months

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Belmont crest and colorrrrssss

I have a lot of thoughts and feels about the colors used in various versions of the Belmont crest in the netflix show, and how it fits into traditional heraldry. I have decided to make that everyone else's problem. So.

In Leon's portrait, we see him in a surcoat of white with the Belmont crest rendered in azure blue.

In traditional heraldry the "white" component of this would be synonymous with the metal silver/argent, as matte white was not a meaningful color choice and all colors had to be combined with a metal (silver or gold) rather than another color. Now, I know that in the Doylesian sense, this color choice was made because of Leon's original character design, which utilized different tradition imagery and had nothing to do with the Belmonts specifically:

But the text is what it is and the show gave us the first Belmont in an azure and argent version of the Belmon crest. Color meanings vary depending on your source, but azure typically referred to truth, loyalty, and unwavering morality. Morality is, of course, a construct--you can imagine that for the rebellious ex-church-knight Belmont it probably had some input from the bible but moreso was informed by his own oath--to "battle the night". Yeah, this gets made fun of--he's the dumbass who wants to fight an entire time of day--but we know what he means, ok. He's swearing to defend the daylight world against the things in the night that would harm it. He is defining his moral position going forward very specifically--he will uphold humanity and destroy that which would cause it harm. In a fic of mine he described it as representing the daylight sky, which given that he's a vampire in that fic carries even more poignancy, but even in the canon version it works, because that is the moral field he is aligning with.

Meanwhile argent/silver generally refers to purity, sincerity, and faith, which yeah, this is definitely a character who has purity of purpose. This combination of colors suits a vision of the Belmonts that served humanity unerringly, who had faith even when the church itself seemed flawed, who defined their morality by the divide between daylight and night and executed it with sincerity and dedication.

Fast forward to Trevor's time. The family has risen and fallen. At its height it was considered a great noble family--a warrior dynasty, as Alucard put it. Trevor's tunic and his armor both bear the crest in gold; once we're in the hold, we see that it's set against a deep burgundy in the official banners and standards.

Why the change? What does it mean? Red is obvious--it's the warrior side of them, the military might, the weight of generations of fighters and all the blood they've spilt. It's the most common color in heraldry because conflict and war were themselves so common, but the Belmonts (to our knowledge) weren't besieging neighboring Lords' territories. They defined themselves by their fight against the creatures of the night, defined themselves to the point that they became The Fight. The warrior is the largest part of their identity. In the same fic I had Trevor say that the red represented family to him, like bloodlines, which is not the traditional meaning--but given that nothing defined his family or his relationship with them as much as The Fight, I still think he was onto something. Additionally, red can carry the meaning of sacrifice and martyrdom, which also fucking fits, unfortunately.

As for the gold, usually this refers to faithfulness, nobility, constancy, and glory. On its own, it's a statement of those qualities--particularly nobility and faithfulness. Combined with warrior's red, the glory piece of it starts to assert itself. A family of martyrs and warriors, noble and glorious--that's how they saw themselves, anyway. The family had gotten so far up its own ass that it cared more about perpetuating those ideals and standards than it necessarily did about the original purpose and duty of its existence! Eventually Trevor re-finds that purpose, when he drops the cloak in Gresit and re-dedicates himself to protecting the people--but it's worth noting that the crest he displays in that moment is gold alone, without a specific colored field. The version of the Belmonts that defined themselves by the amount of blood they'd shed are dead and buried, their flags tattered; the one who survived has taken their steadfastness, their faithfulness and constancy and nobility, and managed to reconnect it to what they always should have been.

Which brings us full circle, back to Leon's portrait--because there's another crest, there.

Azure and gold. All the steady dedication of a long standing nobility--much less fragile than one man's personal purity of purpose--applied to moral defense of humanity and the daylight world, rather than simply to fighting and glory for its own sake. There's a reason this is the color scheme I plan for Leon to end up in, in my fic-verse, and is the one that I think may have been in between the other two, chronologically. It conveys all the Belmonts are meant to be and do, without reducing them to simply violence. They fight, not for the fight's sake, but to protect the people they've sworn to protect.

Anyway. Yeah. Uh, colors!

#castlevania #castlevania netflix #belmont stuff #trevor belmont #leon belmont #CoLoR tHeOrY~~~#heraldry #meta #eth blathers and everyone else suffers

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sleepynegress · 7 months

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On Greta Danesti...

I'm just taking this time to correct a certain anti-Black, (and anti-Romani) sadly typical fandom troll's misogynoir fuckery in the tag and establishing who Greta Danesti is in canon Castlevania animation lore. This is Greta Danesti's official character sheet:

She's the village headwoman of Danesti a few miles away from Alucard's castle. This is what her voice actress, Marsha Thompson looks like:

It's pretty obvious her character design took cues from the actress, who is Afro-British. In show canon, however, her family escaped from the Roman city of Carthage, which today, is located in the African country Tunisia. Alucard correctly speculated where her people are from while conversing with her, here (s4 e5):

Greta then confirms that her people did escape the Romans, but she now fully embraces her "family" in her village who are "from all over" and the responsibility of taking care of them.

This same troll used the g-slur to insist that she is Romani.

She is not. This troll used an early character design here, to make her case.:

And though it does have similarities to Romani clothing... It also looks like it takes cues from Tunisian clothing and likely local and non-local European clothing of the era with "fantasy" elements sprinkled in, as well, which would match the fact of her village's people coming from all over:

There definitely should be more Romani rep in media as it is so often whitewashed, but Greta is not Romani.

FYI, these women actors actually *are* of Romani descent: Fairuza Balk of The Craft, Oona Chaplin who played Robb Stark's wife in GOT (she's also Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter[!]), and Noomi Rapace from the Swedish movie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo says her father may have been of Romani descent, as well.

And because I can predict it, as people like to find ways of discounting blackness in every way...

Yes, there are plenty of non-Black indigenous POC in North Africa, including within Tunisia. Another fun fact... Africa has more indigenous human genetic variation among its peoples than every other people on the planet has with everyone else on the planet[!]. All this to say non-white POC AND Black people are indigenous to Tunisia.

I feel I have to say that because there is a lot of anti-Black anthropological fetishization of North Africa. Egypt is a major example of that (see: Rami Malek, an indigenous Coptic Egyptian who self-identifies as African man of color and has likely had to clarify that *often* because people keep wanting to mislabel him as an Arab, but I digress...) And sadly, there is a decidedly anti-black movement to totally disconnect certain North African countries' identities from a continental African one, and to largely see it as mainly a part of the MENA world (it is both kiddies, BOTH). Here is an informative article (linked in the image) about that struggle:

So, this got heavy...but between the post insisting that Greta is NOT Black and the one saying she's not bisexual because that same troll is purposefully and maliciously being obtuse about how words go together... I figured clearing some things up and educating folks might be helpful. BTW, the fact of those issues in the article makes her blackness all the more resonant as rep in pop culture. And hey, poly folks have disagreements, just like the het folks do... -Still bi. I'm gonna end here with two images from the linked article of anti-racist Tunisian protesters (MENA and Black):

P.S. I also side-eye those keen to make her muscular... I mean yeah she wields a big-ass hammer and shortsword/dagger, but the tendency to masculinize black woman characters deserves a hardy eye-squint. Especially, given that the show has *no problem* making muscular women look like that and they DIDN'T for Miss Greta.

See: Zamfir and the Berserk-style sword-carrying Vampire warrior, Striga. Both of whom had that flex going on.

#tumblr gonna tumblr #misogynoir #greta danesti #greta x alucard #castlevania #I hate when wrong-ass trolling info is spread in the tumblr fandom tags about black women characters #and sadly it happens A LOT purposefully #if you don't like black women just stick to the characters you like instead...you really gotta put in effort to actively HATE as a hobby #same ole same ole #meta #one kinda hate ALWAYS comes with another #which is why solidarity makes sense #troll is anti-black & biphobic #so this is becoming a thing?#doing my best to make sure the black girl character tags have GOOD info about the characters #first uhura and now greta #sunday wip procrastination blah #block that “gretasworld” troll #btw the producers say she's not a spin-off Grant Dynasty so...that's why he's not mentioned

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beevean · 5 months

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Thinking about how Isaac named his favorite Devil "Abel", as in the man who was killed by his jealous brother, when by all means he's the Cain of the two Devil Forgemasters

why didn't he call him Cain? how come didn't he see himself as what he was, the elder sibling rejected by his God, eaten alive with resentment?

did he really see himself in the one who was eventually killed? was that what he feared, that he would be murdered by his own "brother"?

He did, after all, predict his own future.

#castlevania #akumajou dracula #isaac laforeze #i don't even know if isaac knew anything about the bible lol #but abel is not exactly a common name so #meta-wise i'm still insane over how isaac and abel's name foreshadow isaac's fate #my man was fated to be nothing by a sacrifice i'm just. that's so cruel man

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demigoddessqueens · 7 months

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Just spitballin here about themes…

Thinking of Dracula being alone all that time and then he met Lisa, who encouraged him to travel and see the best of people, the same Dracula who tore down the Church for her, and Alucard being a manifestation of the love they had for each other

Meanwhile, Tera lost all who she knew and probably saw the lowest of low for humanity, met Emmanuel who was part of the Church who believed his own hypocrisy, and kept his love for Tera and Maria secret

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mryador · 7 months

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What a horrible knight to have a curse...

Castlevania's box art was so good I had to do it for this little trend I've been on. It might honestly be my favorite box art from any game ever.

I got to pull some nice references to line up for each of the key parts of this picture as well. I hope you like it!

#meta knight #kirby #nightmare #castlevania #nintendo #hal laboratory #konami

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alpaca-clouds · 9 months

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Isaac and Religion

Please Note: No, I am not a Muslim myself. But I talked quite a bit about this with a friend who is a Muslim scholar.

Something that I have spent maybe too much time thinking about, is Isaac's relation to religion (and in general religion within the castlevania series - though that might be a discussion for another day).

We know that Isaac is Sufi. To those who have never heard about Sufism: It is Islam, but with Mysticism mixed into it. And during the high medieval period it was for a time the most widely spread version of Islam, especially in Northern Africa and the Ottoman Empire. Though at the time the series takes place it was already in decline.

Sufism did originate with Sunni Islam. Though I do have to wonder how much difference it makes to Isaac, as one of the core parts of the entire struggle is about who gets to interpret the Qur'an - and it really does not seem to matter much for Isaac given that he seems to be mostly on his own with his religion, hence having to do the interpreting himself.

But it brings with it quite a few interesting observations about how his relation to his religion is. He is clearly religious, yes. But he does obviously do quite a lot of sinning.

The self-flagellation is something that Islam as a whole frowns upon, because technically self-harm is explicitly forbidden by the Qur'an. But... still there are fractions of Islam that to this day practice self-flagellation, partly as a religious practice, partly as an act of mourning.

Sufism usually does involve meditative practices, which might at times also involve forms of self-flagellation. Which makes me think it is linked to that. Especially based on the dialogue with the captain. Though than again it does contradict his dialogue with Godbrand, where he reasons it has to do with purging his body of sickness (= sin). Ironically this makes me wonder, if he actually has gotten that stuff from the templars/monks, because that reasoning for self-flagellation is a very catholic one. And given he was a kid when he was taken, there is a good chance he might have picked up some catholic dogma as well, maybe even unconsciously. Especially given he uses the same belt for the beating, he had taken from his former owner.

And, of course, there is the practice of sorcery, especially necromacy. Something that again is very much a sin and forbidden in Islam. While Sufi practice some mysticism and maybe even magic, those are usually linked to learning the names of God and are quite different from what Isaac is doing.

Of course, Isaac does have a reasoning behind it and behind his killing of so many. Because Muslim endtime prophecies do in fact involve the souls of the dead being lifted out of hell and reunited with their dead bodies, so that they may be judged by God. (He even quotes from this when talking to the shopkeepere.)

So, in Isaac's mind he is basically just what Christians would call a rider of the apocalypse. He brings upon the endtimes, so that people may be judged again and the wicked might go to hell, while the good people might go to paradise.

As I said, there is obviously the fact that he probably has learned a lot about Islam by himself. He was taken by templars as a child. So while he might have been educated in the faith as a child before that, he was not after it. And given that he was keeping to himself after it, after experiencing a lot of violence, I do not assume he ever went into a mosque to pray or have many talks with scholars. So there is a good chance that a lot of his knowledge on Islam has come from he himself reading the Qur'an and maybe the Hadith and interpreting them himself.

Something that kinda irks me in some fics, is when I read about him drinking alcohol (something he canonically does not do) or eating pork or other haram foods. It is just one of those things with fanfics, where I do wonder how hard it is to be a bit more thoughtful when writing about characters from other religions.

A thing that I personally have thought about a lot is his relation to sexuality. I read him as gay for so many little reasons in canon (though obviously interpretations might vary). Now, medieval Islam had a different view on the topic of homosexuality than modern Islam. Homoromanticism was usually permitted. Homosexuality at least somewhat accepted. Usually Sufi were a bit more accepting in that regard, because of their unique understanding of gender.

But... The Qur'an and especially the Hadith have a strong and clear opinion on one thing, that the bible does not have any opinion about: Anal sex. While the bible refers to homosexual acts in very vague terms, the Qur'an explicitly talks about anal sex and it says: "No go. Not even with women."

Which actually gives me an interesting hook for conflict when I write his relationship with Hector. And it is something that I find kinda sad for it being barely brought up in fics. Just a thought.

#castlevania #castlevania netflix #castlevania headcanon #castlevania isaac #isaac laforeze #religion #meta commentary

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missmacfire · 7 months

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So much new media so little time 🥲

#I know ofmd 2 is not out yet but soon!#ofmd #castlevania nocturne #wwdits #harley quinn cartoon #baulders gate 3 #wheel of time #there is so much meta on Tumblr I wanna read but Im behind on everything

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sepublic · 2 years

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All the Lucy and Jonathan parallels are driving me mad because I LOVE a good dynamic that revolves around parallels and/or foils. Between them being objects of Mina’s affection and you can see where her tastes lie, plus the idea of them tenderly understanding each other’s trauma and feeling seen by someone who also gets it... And I’m imagining not just Jonathan/Lucy, but just the whole Jonathan/Lucy/Mina polycule! And I guess if we throw in the suitors...

Damn, that’s one aspect of the source material that Castlevania seemed to understand; A polycule teaming up against Dracula!

#dracula #dracula daily #jonathan harker #lucy westenra #mina murray #Mina harker #castlevania #parallels #foils #meta

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joshthemaker913 · 6 months

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Kirbyvania: Dededracula's Castle

This spooky day calls for a spooky crossover! And in this case, we give Kirby a little Castlevania flare with various with a Belmont inspired Whip Kirby and several Kirby bosses as the iconic original Castlevania bosses.

Bosses in order of the original Castlevania bosses:

Wild Batafire (Batafire + Giant Bat)

Drawdusa (Drawcia + Medusa)

Mummy Dooter (Mr. Dooter + Mummy)

Waddlestein's Lobster (Heavy Lobster and Bandana Waddle Dee + Frankenstein's Monster/The Creature and Igor)

Death Knight (Meta Knight + Death)

Count Dededracula (King Dedede + Dracula)

#artsofjd #art #digital art #crossover #kirby #kirby fanart #castlevania #batafire #drawcia #mr dooter #heavy lobster #bandana waddle dee #meta knight #king dedede

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vg-mom-throwdown · 1 year

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Round Two Part Two

#meta knight #lisa tepes #kirby series #castlevania #vgmomthrowdown

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shadowvalkyrie · 7 days

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I think not enough people acknowledge that "I'm the sane one and I can fix him :)" is entirely Greta's self-assessment and there's absolutely nothing in canon that backs it up.

If anything, she is the more unhinged of the two of them.

Alucard? Has depression, and it's not even surprising, considering all the shit that recently happened to him (war, patricide, rape, having to kill people he cared about to stop them from murdering him, and the whole "unhappily in love with two people, one of whom just died" situation).

Greta? Looks at a man with corpses staked in his front yard and does not even for a moment consider this a red flag. Creepy vampire castle? Everyone she knows and loves should move there stat to brighten the place up. This is totally safe. New love interest's previous relationship ended in blood? Oh well, who hasn't had a relationship end badly. Totally normal!

I don't remember if canon gives us the exact wording of Alucard telling her about Taka and Sumi (the conversation happens off-screen for the most part iirc, and we only cut in to her reaction), but it's pretty telling about, well, both of them actually, that her conclusion after hearing him tell her about the people who lied their way into his trust, then raped him and tried to kill him is to refer to them as his "girlfriend and boyfriend".

Either Alucard's description of them was a lot fonder than it had any right to be after all that (which... sadly also possible), or our girl Greta has an incredibly warped idea of what normal relationships are like. The fact that she goes on to state that "at least none of the people I dated ever tried to murder me" (low bar there, how did that go for you?), only to immediately revise that with something along the lines of "wait, no, there was this one time, actually" makes me think that it is definitely the latter.

Also because one of the people she was dating was apparently married to someone outside her polycule and she was either fine with that pre-murder attempt, or didn't know about it? Either way, not exactly what healthy polyamory looks like.

Tl;dr: Greta and Alucard are both poly bi disasters, but only one of them is self-aware and it's not her.

#castlevania #I adore her and she's obviously a badass but this woman is not well #spoilers #more people should write OT4 fic from her POV is what I'm saying #meta

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nitefyre443 · 7 months

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Song of the Moon and Sun

Nitefyre 443

I'm a huge Castlvania fan, I can’t tell you how much I love this game and franchise. I fell in love with the whip wielding vampire slaying Belmont's, Dracula, Alucard, all of it. I have not played every Castlevania game because there are a lot of them. My first Castlevania game was Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night being one of my all time favorite games. Also as many Castlavania fans I’m heartbroken at the state of this important and beloved franchise. This is why the Deat’s Brother’s and Powerhouse’s Castlevania Animated Series excite me so much. They seem to be the only people who give a damn about this world, its story and its character because Konami could care less. So when Castlevania Nocturne the follow up to Castlevainia was announced, I was ready and Powerhouse Animation did not disappoint.

What I’m going to talk about today is the music video for this song “I’m Free” by Sydney James Harcourt and Lindsey Stirling. What a beautiful song that serves as the character theme for not only Annette but Richter and Marie as well. Watch the video here and let it play along while readying because damn Sydney James Harcourt and Lindsey Stirling did the thing with this one.

youtube

So the song and video starts with clips of Annette's childhood, with beautiful gentle and sorrowful lyrics

See them stand ready to die For whose sake Was life fair?

The way one could look at the start of the song is Edouard as an observer, a freed man himself seeing his people in chains, literally worked and beaten to death for the sake of those that enslaved them, that is blatant and in your face. However there is a lovely duality to this song when applied to the Belmont's in the context of Castlevania itself. Yes both meanings are valid and true to both Annette and Richter. I will go further into what this song means for Richter, his story and his legacy within the Castlevania franchise but let's say making his love interest and romantic partner, formerly enslaved Black woman, is absolutely brilliant on the writer's part. Especially for Richter post the events of Symphony of the Night. So we move to the next part of the verse

Pleasure pleased and power gained Slay I deal death, enough they seek to slay

This part is one that I love and I’m all over the place about it. It feels very much from a vampire's perspective, this could be seen as applicable to Olrox in some way even though he is not shown in the video. The way the video presents it, makes it look like Annette's struggling as a child realizing she is going to have to kill to survive. There are no ways around it. I’m going to need to stew on this more.

Sick at heart Wicked betrayal Another life escaping sight The realm of flesh were all things change That life is mine and I am there x2

Annette is now a “runaway” slave which is horrific in its own rights, a girl running for her very life in a place where people saw her as nothing more than livestock to be sold, worked, bred and traded. There was no one who she could trust, absolutely no one. She is terrified and alone at this point with no place to go on an island with a slave master's dogs at her heels Until she fatefully runs into the opera house where Edouard is performing. This is the point where the song takes a dramatic shift from a lonely melody to this amazing warmth, life and full of color when the chorus kicks in.

I’m free x2 unbound by fear that’s holding me Holding, holding, holding, holding, Holding me

Now we move into the second verse and we see clips of when Annette first met Edouard, the first person that gave her refuge and trust when she was alone. Also this first time where Lindsey Stirling violin far more clearly, it was in the background earlier much subdued. This is important because each character is tied to an instrument. For Richter it’s the violin which can express sorrow and grief but also freedom and boldness. Maria’s the French Horn, why the French horn because Maria is a lot like that horn. She is loud and you will hear what she has to say on freedom whether you like it or not. The French horn has a very distinct sound and often heroic sound, we know it when we hear it and it’s declaration, so it just fits. Annette is the drums and percussion which by the start to come on strong in this second verse.

Death am I, immortal life Touch the sky again and repent The dark alive inside of me Loving made But makes no sense

The drums being Annette's instrument is so perfect, her being the descendant of Ogun the Yoruba god of War and Iron on her fathers side, war and drums are like peanut butter and jelly. This goes even deeper because drums are some of the first musical instruments we as humans created, anything can be a drum they are as old as you can get for instruments or than our singing voices. Hold up, who is the first person she meets oh it’s Edouard an opera singer, well look at that. This is the part of the song where percussion kicks in strong as we cover Annette and Edouard time fighting in Saint-Domingue during the slave rebellion that kicked the French's sorry asses off the island that would become Haiti. This verse also has Annette realizing her rage not anger but rage. Anger is not a strong enough word. What I love about Castlevania:Nocturne is that it does not chastise Annette for her rage, it is justified and the weapon she wields, but it is not the source of her strength. “You wield rage but it is not the source of your strength” This is where “Loving made but made no sense” applies that rage is born from being subjected to brutality and injustice beyond what anyone should live through. From witnessing so many you love taken away by such senseless cruelty. The source of her strength is love and the rage born of when that love is wronged by injustice and cruelty. Where it can’t stand to witness the sight of such brutality and action must be taken. Remember love and war are often bedfellows.

The potency of evil kings None can parish trust in me None can perish trust in me

This is where we hear Richter’s violin in the background and a little of Maria’s French horn. This little section covers the first night the trio meets and its the first time you here all three of the respective instruments together in the song. Annette's drums and percussion, Richter's violin and Maria's French horn but they are not unified yet, they are all still on separate paths but not one unified song.

I’m Free x 2 Unbound by fear that’s holding me Holding, Holding me

Just like in the series when the trio meets there is tension and bumping up against each other. You have a set of wounded people fighting to survive in cruel times learning to trust each other. This moves into the second chorus where Annette's percussion becomes much more clearer, defined and vibrant, she knows who she is and like a good drummer she is setting rhythm, she is the cadence it which the trio marches. Maria French horn settles in nicely as she is already very clear on what she believes.

I’m Free x 2 My love, My light Will shine on thee Will shine on, shine on, shine on, shine

Richter’s violin is here but still very distant in the background. Just like in the series he’s not quite there yet. It’s not until he see’s Annette during her speech that he realizes, “Oh shit, she is the one” The shown in lovely fashion with a clip Richter awe struck during her speech. Also notice the lyrics changed. No longer is it just “unbound by fear”, its “My love, my light will shine on thee” Annette offering the same hand to Richter that Edouard offered her. See what they did there. Now we jump into a damn amazing part of the things and build up this just chefs kiss

My heart set on truth That no fire can contain Burnin the body lay life in the flame I scoured the good And I thrusted the Evil Back Sacrificed everything Watched as it burned to ash No more self pity No more will I wait I’m breaking a path That will take me away From this place

Remember when I said this was also Richter's song, well here it is because this part is all him and the Belmont's, this furious build up all this emotion the pain, fear, love, hate, having the generations fighting the shadows in the night. Him being the last descent of the family of Vampire slayers, being so terrified when faced with his own trauma and nightmare he did the only thing he remembered to do, the last words his mother said to him “Richter, run” Remember everyone starts out running. Now, though he is running no more, because he is not alone in this fight anymore, the Belmont's, who are never really alone, he has his friends, his family, his love, his deadbeat grandfather Juste, and a pain in the ass recluse mentor Alucard. This is where Lindsey Stirling comes in with the violin and his melody as clear, bright, bold and triumphant as it must be for Richter Belmont, where we see him tie his famous white bandana around his head and become the Richter we know that kicked the monster of the night asses. Even giving us a clip of him using the greatest magical technique the Belmont's used, The Grand Cross. Yes that was the burst of flame ya’ll saw when he faced off against the Hunters on the lake.

Now I’m Free Now I’m Free Unbound by fear that holding me Holding me Now I’m free Now I’m free My Love, My light Will Shine on the

The song is their song finally coming together clear, and bold. Richter violin, Annette's percussion Edouard voice, Maria French Horn, and even a choir saying cheering them on saying “Shine on” which we can say is Julia, Juste, Annette mother, Tera, and those that came before urging them forward. Also the lyrics change again, to "Now, I’m Free." It’s just no longer saying they are free, it’s now a declaration, not just a wish but a statement of fact. They are free and no longer afraid to face the denizens of the night.

What a journey this song was in the 4 minutes and 27 seconds we were with it but what a perfect song for Castlevania: Nocturne. A song that is Annette’s song but very much it’s Richter's song by the end because he is a Belmont he is the clear unifying melody where everything just comes together. Richter is so important for not just his martial prowess, but because he was one the last Belmont's to solely by himself wield the Vampire Killer. After the events of Castlevania:Symphony of the Night, realizing that it could not just be the Belmont's who wield these powers to fight the monsters of the night. He trained others and he placed an enchantment on the Vampire Killer that if one wished to wield it they would fight his shadow, if they won they would be allowed to wield it, if not, the Vampire Killer killed them. He made it so more than just the Belmont's duty to fight the night, it was not just one family's legacy anymore, The family legacy itself being a very old world concept, any and everyone could take up arms. This theme runs through the period of history in which Castlevania: Nocturne takes place the fights for independence and revolution. Richter reforms lead to the creation of the Order of Ecclesia. The theme of an animated series featuring Richter Belmont being titled “I’m Free” has so much meaning not just in the narrative of this story set within the Castlevainia world but for the franchise itself. Some Ster Werms shade Richter is everything Luke should have been and what Ben Solo could have been for Star Wars.

Now if we could just get Castlevania free from Konami and get some new games.

#castlevania #castelvania: nocturne #Meta analysis #Youtube

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