B: Hello everybody, and welcome to another
Detail Diatribe, where today we are talking about One Villainous Scene, looking at the
battle of Dracula's castle from Netflix's Castlevania, a show that unambiguously…
RULES. R: Ahh. So good.
B: Uh, and this is part of a collaboration with our buddy Nando V Movies, uh, who is
running this One Villainous Scene collab. He's done One X-cellent Scene in the past,
which we, uh, contributed to, he's done One Marvel-lous Scene and many other such projects.
Uh, so he's got a playlist of a ton of other videos by other youtube contributors, uh,
who are making… cool things like this, so check it out if you want to see more. But,
with that established, Red, let's talk about Castlevania.
R: Ah. Let's. B: And how good of a villain Dracula is in
this show. R: Oh, my god. This show. This SHOW. It's
so good! B: So, the fundamental premise of the show,
uh, is it's based off of the - the old Konami video games, uh, of, you know, various people
trying to - trying to fight, uh, big ol' bad guy Dracula.
R: Yup. B: At the beginning of this show, Dracula's
wife, a woman named Lisa, who is a doctor -
R: Lisa of Lupu. B: - now Lisa Tepes, is killed for being a
witch. And Dracula swears revenge against all of humanity and wants to destroy them.
R: Yup. B: Um, an understandable reaction.
R: Uh- ye- a reaction so understandable that the show's hero explicitly sympathizes with
it - B: *laughs*
R: - when he's told what it is, h- he's like "why's dracula on the warpath" 'n they're
like "oh the church burned his wife as a witch" and he just says "…sh*t." Which is, like,
yeah, correct response, Trevor! B: Yeah. So, the main characters, uh, on the
human side - or not the human side, but on the, uh, protagonist side -
R: On the good guys side. B: - are Trevor Belmont, the last of a famous
line of vampire hunters, Sypha Belnades, a speaker magician, and Alucard, uh, Adrien
Tepes, uh, the son of Dracula and Lisa. So these three, they assemble the team, uh, in
season 1, and season 2 is them going to - to fight and kill Dracula to stop his war against
humanity. But… what is so interesting about this show is the way in which Dracula is characterized
over the course of season 1 and especially in season 2, leading up to the big confrontation
between our heroes and Dracula at the battle of Dracula's Castle at the very end of the
season. So, Red. Let's work our way through the season, uh, specifically season 2 -
R: Mm. B: - towards this big confrontational moment,
and explain just how well Dracula is characterized. R: Right. Okay. So - one thing that is important
to know about this show is that the very first scene is Dracula's introduction, basically.
Like, it-it's not pretending, like "oh, we're focusing on the heroes" or anything. We don't
start with any of our protagonists. We start with Lisa, marching up to Dracula's castle,
hammering on the door with the handle of her knife and basically asking him to teach her
about science because she wants to be a better doctor. And, uh, Dracula is just as baffled
by this as most of the audience probably is -
B: *laughs* R: Um, but, uh, and he keeps, y'know, he's
doing his Dracula thing, he's being intimidating, he's growling a little, he's saying "ohhh,
I do not get many visitors" and she's just like "Well I can see why, you're not a very
good host! Take my coat. Feed me tea." And he's like "Uh oh. I think I like this one."
Which is - B: *laughs*
R: - just so sweet! Like, y-you know my general thoughts on romantic subplots - this is a
really, really good one. It sells you on it immediately. You completely buy that these
two, uh, have really fun chemistry and that they're gonna have a really sweet relationship
- and then the next thing we see is Lisa being burned at the stake. *laughs* Which is…
kind of a mood-killer, I'm not gonna lie. B: Yeah. So… *laughs* you see just how - how
vile the people of the city of Targoviste are being to Dracula's wife, and when Dracula…
appears in the sky as a… giant flaming meteor face -
R: *laughs* B: - uh, you sympathize with him pretty strongly!
R: Yeah! B: So for the entirety of this first episode
and then leading into the first season, you see Dracula waging a war to essentially destroy
humanity… and you can't help but see where he's coming from, and… feel sad for the
guy? R: Yeah-
B: And feel a little bit of the grief and - wha - what his goal is here!
R: It's a very- B: It's - it's a very interesting space for
the audience. R: Yeah.
B: And it's a very interesting space to have your… villain… start off with a stock
protagonist motivation. *laughs* R: Oh yeah. Yeah, no, the framing of Dracula,
from the very beginning, is very interesting. Like, we know… he's DRACULA. He's the bad
guy. Like, his visual design doesn't pull any punches, he's like nine feet tall, big
black cape, red eyes, claws… evil goatee… he's… classic villain-looking. But - the
way they characterize him, and even the way he's acted, is like, there's- there's a softness
under there. There's a humanity. Uh, I have this - this thesis in my notes that Dracula's
only weakness is that he is not as big of a monster as he thinks he is. Everything else
- B: Yes.
R: - he's terrifyingly powerful! He's ridiculously strong! He is, in all senses, the motherf*cking
Dracula that he should be. But… he has a heart. And that is… a problem. But, uh - the
show goes out of its way to start us off there. They don't start us off with, like, a villain
song and then show us a little bit of sympathy later. No, from the very beginning, his motivation
is heroic. Like, okay, they - they took his wife, they - they burned her at the stake
for doing NOTHING wrong, just trying to help people, and - uh - fun fact, as she is being
killed, she's trying- like, Dracula's not there, but she's kind of yelling into the
sky like he can hear her, and basically it's… "Dracula, spare them, they know not what they
do." *laughs* In case you were wondering - B: Yeah.
R: - the moral framing of Lisa, uh, she is probably the most unconditionally good person
in the entire show. And they kill her. And, uh, Dracula… f- uh… manifests a big flaming
face and basically is like "the f*ck did you do? Alright, you have one year to get your
affairs in order and then I'm killing all of you." And the people of Targoviste are
like "…He was probably joking." *laughs* And then one year later they celebrate the
one year anniversary of murdering his wife, and he, uh, punches down out of the sky as
a big flaming face and he rains, uh, an army of demons on Targoviste and kills… eh, I'd
say 95% of everyone? Um - B: Yeah.
R: But then, uh, he doesn't stop there. Initially - INITIALLY his revenge is a little bit…
more… I won't say understated, but his scope definitely expands. Uh, one thing -
B: It's proportional at first. R: It is!
B: Targoviste killed his wife so he kills Targoviste. But THEN, it… accelerates and
expands… wildly. R: Yeah. One thing that's, that- uh- is interesting
is we actually do get a glimpse of one of our protagonists at this point, because when
Dracula is getting his affairs in order, setting up his army of the dead, you know, for - for
the one year later thing, uh… a character who we later learn is Alucard basically tells
him "I'm not gonna let you do this, you can't do this, look, if you want revenge, we'll
just find the guy who did it and kill him." Which is a very *laughs* heroic thing to say!
B: *laughs* R: Ahh, Alucard. Uh, but basically he's like
"I'm not gonna let you do this," and Dracula, uh, injures him badly enough that he spends
a year recovering under a city, we'll find that out later. But - you know, basically
the point is, they - they both want revenge. They both… miss Lisa. But… Dracula has
concluded that all of humanity needs to pay. Because, SPECIFICALLY, Dracula's idea is that
there may have been innocents before, but now there are no innocents, because any one
of those people could've stood up and said "this is wrong and we're not going to do it
anymore." Uh, this is an interesting thesis, because it is mirrored by our protagonist
Trevor later! But we will get to that. Dracula's thesis is that all of humanity… is now culpable
because nobody… stopped… them - basically the worst of humanity won out and that means
they lost their right to live. So… his plan goes from "kill Targoviste" to "kill all of
Wallachia" to "kill the entire world." Uh, so - so Dracula, you know, he's in this weird
place. Like, we - we understand where he's coming from. The show goes out of its way
to… not get us on his side, but show us his perspective. To make sure, like - even
the people opposing him understand his perspective - Alucard is like "I get it, but ya gotta
stop." Trevor has pretty much the exact same worldview as Dracula for a while. Uh, we haven't
even met him yet. We'll get there. Hooo boy - um - and this… produces an odd framing,
because Dracula is one of the archetypical pure evil villains. And… in the games, he
is kind of the ultimate final boss. You know, he's the guy at the other end of an army of
minions sitting on a throne chuckin' wine glasses. He's that archetype. And it's interesting
that they frame him in such a sympathetic light to begin with. But then… we move on.
We take the camera off of Dracula for a while. For most of season 1, we are predominantly
following the heroes as the gang gets together. You know, we get their characters, uh, Trevor
starts off as a very beaten-down, like, he - he's… *sigh* he's very disillusioned.
His entire family was basically killed when he was, like, twelve, and his family is monster
hunters that try and protect people and help them, and they were killed for being heretics,
you may note this is exactly the same thing that happened to Lisa.
B: *laughs* Yeah. R: Trevor is pretty butthurt about this, he's
not very pleased, uh, he's very disgruntled, he - he's still, like, a badass, but he's
also, you know, he's depressed, he's drunk, uh - he's described by a, uh, an old wise
character who we are supposed to assume is right, uh, as "defeated" by holding the worldview
that humanity… doesn't really deserve to be helped or saved, which is, as we've noticed,
the worldview that Dracula has. And the fact that this worldview is being framed as…
"already defeated"… is interesting. And Trevor gets his act together, he decides "never
mind, you know what, I'm not afraid of death, I'm just afraid of not helping," so he gets
his act together, he… shucks off his cloak, and uh, kind of just illustrates that, while
Dracula's worldview may be sympathetic, Trevor's worldview is objectively correct. And this
sets up… some of the idealogical conflict that we're gonna be seeing for season 2.
B: So, speaking of "defeated," when we cut back to… Dracula, the very beginning of
season 2 starts off showing, again, in gruesome detail, the process of Lisa being… burned
for being a witch, uh, and then on her pyre, it cuts to Dracula's fireplace, and we see
him just staring… at the fire… completely depressed.
R: Yea. B: He… it's been a year, he - all of the
anger has left him, he is just sad and, per the words of the character in season 1, he
is defeated when we pick back up with him again in season 2. And this is where he starts,
and continues, on his trajectory for most of the season. It is a HARD switch from where
we saw him last. But it is completely in keeping with the… the core of his motivation, that
without Lisa… now… all of - all of life - everything is - is just pointless. And the
only thing that he wants, the only thing that he needs… is for humanity to pay. So he
is still single-mindedly in his pursuit that all humans have to die… but the spark's
not there anymore. *laughs* R: Mm hm. It's - it's an obligation now. He,
uh, he describes it - B: It's a chore.
R: Yeah, he describes it at one point as a "necessity." Uh, one thing that's interesting
about the way Dracula is framed in season 2 is that he - he still has his gravitas.
You know, he - he's commanding an army of… creatures of the night, he's got all his vampire
lieutenants lined up, he's still… playing Dracula in public. But… you know… in all
his private moments he's just slumped in that chair, staring at the fireplace, uh… basically
having quiet conversations with the only person he considers a friend - Isaac, one of his,
um… human, uh, lieutenants, who basically helps make the creatures of the night that
he needs to use to kill everybody. What's interesting about that is that while - while
he considers Isaac a friend, Isaac… kind of… can't see Dracula as… a peer. He sees
him as, like, his - you know - on this pedestal, his master, his - this -
B: Yeah. R: - incredible… this - this ancient mind
with so much knowledge that humanity can't possibly match - and Dracula just wants to,
you know, hang out and chat and stuff. And… this just kind of contributes to Dracula's
feeling of isolation. Uh, there's only a couple points in… the beginning, er, in the first
I'd say two-thirds of season 2 - where Dracula seems to be a little bit roused from his,
uh, his torpor. And one of them is when, uh, Isaac mentions to the roomful of lieutenants
that, uh, a squad of protagonists appears to have assembled and is *laughs* starting
to cause trouble for them, and when he mentions that Alucard is there, Dracula visibly reacts,
and when he mentions that he's also got a Belmont with him, Dracula couldn't give less
of a f*ck but everybody else in the room freaks out. *laughs* Uh -
B: Yes. Exactly. R: - Which helps kind of inform us that…
Dracula is not worried about winning. Because the Belmonts are, like, monster hunters. Every
other vampire in the room knows and fears them. So does - Dracula knows them. He doesn't
fear them, Dracula fears nothing, but the point is, you know, if Dracula were worried
about the tactics of the situation, he might take steps to try and stop them, or prevent
them from getting all their crazy powerful magic weapons out of the Belmont hold and
stuff like that. Dracula doesn't do any of that. The only time that that happens is when
another one of the vampires, Carmilla, acts without his knowledge to - because she's ACTUALLY
concerned about the tactics of the situation. *laughs*
B: Yeah, the only reason that Dracula cares that Alucard is potentially on the scene is
because Alucard presents a thematic and philosophical counter to Dracula in a way that Trevor presents
a tactical and strategic counter to Dracula in the eyes of the rest of the court.
R: Yeah. B: And that's what Dracula's scared of. It's
not anything material, it's… the thought that someone is specifically… in a fundamental…
psychological and philosophical opposition to what he wants. And the only other time
that we really see Dracula get angry and get out of his… his kind of… his - his malaise
- is when the vampires in Dracula's own court… go around him, or… contradict him, or…
do anything to get in the way of - of what he wants. Those are the only moments that
he really perks up in the first - in this first portion of the season, is when he's
being specifically… opposed, in a way that Trevor and Sypha can't really do, cuz they're
just - they're just obstacles, but people who are disagreeing with him… strike a much
more… acute nerve. R: Yea. And narratively speaking, uh, there's
a couple reasons why Dracula would react exclusively to Alucard, which is, you know, that IS his
son. He did, like, maim him pretty badly, he probably feels bad about that on some level.
*laughs* Um, and, uh, you can just tell that he DOES not want to face Alucard. Uh, he doesn't
wanna deal with him. Um, it's not that he… he doesn't, like, HATE him, you know, if he
hated anyone it'd probably be the Belmonts. Uh, but he doesn't really react to that with
anything more than just, like, "all right, whatever, let's get on with the killing all
of humanity and we'll deal with that if and when it becomes an issue." Uh -
B: *laughs* Yeah. R: And other members of the court are… more
dismissive. Isaac, for instance, is completely dismissive of Alucard. He calls him a "spoiled
child." Which kind of shows that Isaac is really not on the same wavelength as Dracula.
*laughs* He doesn't really get how Dracula thinks and what he considers as important,
because Isaac is like "pssh, yeah, whatever, your… your… your half-human son is on
the way here? Whatever, he's - he's probably not even an issue" and Dracula's like "oh,
that's… SO not the problem." *laughs* Um -
B: *laughs* R: But, uh, as the season moves on, we see
a little bit more of this. But basically whenever we cut back to Dracula, he's either, you know…
in the chair, being sad, or he's talking to Isaac, or he's trying to, you know, control
his vampire lieutenants that are all starting to realize there's a fundamental problem with
Dracula's plan, which is - if they kill all of humanity, they are all going to starve
to death. And… Dracula doesn't seem… to want to talk about this. When - when I think
Godbrand brings it up, we get a little glimpse of the - the true Motherf*cking Dracula when
he stands up and fully menaces him, and it's awesome.
B: Yeah. R: And Godbrand literally runs out of the
room. B: "Little Godbrand." *laughs*
R: Yeah, "Little Godbrand." And the fact is… he's… not incorrect. And Dracula's only
holding this together through sheer force of charisma. And like - he is so diminished
at this point and he can still terrify all these vampire lords into submission. Because
he's Motherf*cking Dracula. But we haven't had a chance to see him that way. We get a
flashback at one point! When he's, uh… I think he's talking to Isaac about it. Uh -
B: He's talking to Isaac. R: Yeah!
B: He's talking about how he used to relish the details and… really the drama of being
Dracula. R: Yeah. Yeah. But now he's so depressed that,
uh, that the tactics don't interest him, he just needs everybody dead.
B: The - the subject and the - the task at hand is so impossibly large that it's impossible
to - to keep all of the details organized, and the - the specificity that he was able
to - to act on before when, you know, forty merchants in this town wronged him so he killed
all forty of them. Uh, and, you know, stuck their heads on pikes, classic Dracula sh*t.
R: Mm hm. B: That - that's all gone because the thought
of exterminating the entire human race is so… incomprehensibly big that there's - there's
no room for charisma, there's no room for show in that. It's - it's only a task.
R: Yeah. And it's a task that he's getting pretty tired of. It's not like he'll be like
"ahhh, you know what, we can kill humanity later -" no, he does - he's still motivated
by the death of Lisa, but now it's just, like, this - this burning, just white-hot nugget
that's just hurting him. Th- that's just like burning him up to keep itself going, which
is… very sad. He's described by, uh… I think Hector as "embers of his former self."
Like, they're all talking about how Dracula, oh man, he used to be… so… SO cool…
he used to be so Dracula, but now it's just, like, we're seeing the wreck of a former…
former incredible thing. And, uh- B: Yeah.
R: So that's what we're seeing from Dracula. And it's interesting that we are constantly
cutting back to Dracula, because for most of the season we are following Trevor, Sypha
and Alucard on their way to the castle - B: Yes.
R: - and to - to get powered up so that they can… ground the castle and, uh, kill Dracula.
Like, they're, they're preppin' for the fight. They're the heroes! We probably should be
following them! But we are constantly aware of what Dracula is doing, feeling and thinking,
which essentially produces this dramatic irony, where we have more information than any of
the individual characters in the series. And, uh, as we build up to… the final confrontation,
the tone gets… fairly… morose. Which is… good. That's a good tone for this.
B: *laughs* R: But - it's unexpected. It's our heroes
going to kill Dracula. How is that not the most heroic, triumphant thing? But… one
thing they don't shy away from is that Dracula is Alucard's father. He was a good father.
He raised him well with Lisa. Alucard doesn't like that he has to kill him!
B: Yeah. He - he outright says, when - when Trevor asks "are you ready?" Alucard says
"No, but, you know, let's get it over with." R: Yeah.
B: Uh, it's - Alucard is clearly extremely conflicted by this, uh, and… he - he obviously
gets a - a great many traits from, uh, from his father, and… clinical depression is
apparently one of them. R: *laughs* Well, one thing that I think we
can't overlook is that Alucard is at MOST, like, 19 in this show. He looks like a grown
adult because he matures very quickly, but like, if you look at the numbers, he can't
be… anywhere near emotionally mature enough to handle having to kill his own father to
save the world. B: Yeah, exactly.
R: And like, the thing is, this whole thing - this whole operation is his idea. Like,
Trevor is content to just kind of keep helping individual people, uh… Sypha is just kind
of generally heroic. Alucard is the one who's like "if we want this to stop we have to go
murder my father. I don't like it. I'm not a fan of this plan. We have to do it anyway.
Ohh man he's a genius, he's been around for centuries, we're gonna be losing knowledge
that humanity could've benefited from, but unfortunately we have to kill him." And it's
like, I get it, you're conflicted, but you are correct, we do have to kill him! *laughs*
And, uh, so that's kind of a throughline, and it sort of… slides into the center of
the focus as they… ground Dracula's castle, very slowly ride up an ice elevator into the
red moonlight to get there, and, uh, prepare to kick some ass. And… again, the - the
dissonance that we've been seeing all through the show, between Dracula as, you know, the
villain at the other end of the massive army and Dracula as this sad guy alone in his house
because his wife is dead and his son is, you know, well, that's fine - uh - it -
B: Yeah. R: It kind of comes through here, because
our heroes kick ass, and it's heroic and cool, and they're playing, like, an orchestral remix
of Bloody Tears, the iconic Castlevania theme, and like, everyone watching it is like "YEAH!"
And then when they get through all the minions and they go to fight Dracula it's like "Oh
wait, this is sad again!" But then - B: Yeah.
R: Then we get Dracula. Well, there's a visual hint that Dracula is maybe once again the
Motherf*cking Dracula we've heard so much about, uh, in that his eyes fully go blood-red.
*laughs* And so does the moon. B: Yes.
R: Not sure how he did that, but it was really cool.
B: You can tell… this boi is angry now. *laughs*
R: Oh, he's an angry boi. When Dracula recognizes, "okay, I've been betrayed, I can't - ugh,
you can't even get good staff to help you kill humanity these days, whatever-"
B: *laughs* R: He goes full Dracula, basically. With one
caveat - uh, he saves Isaac first. Isaac is like "I am prepared to lay down my life for
you" and Dracula's like "mmmm we're not doing that" and he chucks him through a transmission
mirror to save him. So Isaac basically ends up in the middle of the Sahara - so, you know,
"saved" is relative - Dracula prepares to… fight. And… basically the minute the heroes
arrive, he is… Dracula. He's like PROPER Dracula. Uh, Alucard walks in, and I believe
he says - I think their first words to each other are Alucard says "Father." and Dracula
says "Son." and then they have a, uh, an idealogical argument over whether or not this is what
Lisa would've wanted. *laughs* B: Alucard says "this stops in the name of
my mother" and Dracula says "it ENDURES in the name of your mother." So the fundamental
disconnect, uh, between how both of them perceive it is manifested, uh, in the fact that Alucard
is HERE and he's really the only person who can philosophically show, just by his existence,
why Dracula is wrong in this, and THAT thought is infuriating to him.
R: Mm hm. Yeah. And it's important to note that we are seeing emotions from Dracula in
this fight that we haven't seen since he destroyed Targoviste. Like, he's - he's, like, smirking
and snarling and - y- it's all of the classic pure evil disney villain stuff. It's - it's
what we WANT from Dracula, you know? He's - he's angry, he's frustrated, he's, y'know,
confident and - and smirking and dismissive of the heroes, like, all that good villain
stuff. And, of course, the heroes… you know, come in, prepare to fight, uh… and it…
goes very badly for them! *laughing* Um - because -
B: Yes. *laughs* R: Even though there's three of them, even
though one of them is a powerful mage, even though one of them is an incredibly well-trained
vampire hunter, even though one of them is F*cking Alucard, who we have at this point
never seen even slightly ruffled in a fight - like, we - we've seen how competent these
guys are. We've seen them fight together. Like - Dracula is the first thing we've seen
that they have had to, like, break a sweat against. And THAT -
B: Yeah. R: - is indicative all on its own. But - Dracula's
attitude is just so perfect in this scene. Like, we know his motivation. We realize what's
going on here - but we also know why the nuances and the sympathies of his motivation don't
matter right now. This is just the knock-down drag-out fight that everything's been building
towards of basically "are we going to kill all of humanity in the name of my mother or
are we going to save humanity in the name of my mother?" And that is… ugh. So that
- that lets Dracula drop the sympathetic stuff, that lets us not focus on "oh, you know, he
cares, he's got friends, he's sad, he's depressed" - that just lets him be like "all right, let's
put all that on the shelf, right now we are killin' some people." And he's really in his
element. And, uh, this fight has a lot of really good… Dracula moments, but again,
it's made more powerful because we KNOW Dracula as a person now! He's been humanized for us
since basically the very beginning of the show! Like, we - we sympathize with him. We
know he's bad, and that killing all of humanity is bad, but… we recognize what he's going
through, we - B: Yeah.
R: We see the person behind Motherf*cking Dracula.
B: And we've also seen how… even relatively minor displays of power earlier in the season
have absolutely exhausted him. Like when we were talking about how Dracula stands up to
Godbrand, after that scene he collapses into his chair, completely wiped. Yet here, at,
you know, 1% of his theoretical power level -
R: *laughs* B: He is basically wiping the floor with the
protagonists. So it is TERRIFYING how powerful this character is, when… the presence of
his son makes him so furious that every single emotion he was holding onto earlier is just,
you know, right out the back of his head and the only thing that's on his mind is being
Dracula and just… being a machine of death. R: And what's interesting is that, uh, Dracula
and Alucard, of course - their dynamic is very loaded and complicated. When they're
having that little idealogical argument, like, you can feel the emotions boiling just under
the surface.Trevor and Sypha - th- Dracula's in his element. It's just, "oh, a couple,
uh, couple monster-killers come to try and take out ol' Dracula? All right, let's do
this!" *laughs* And like, he, you know - he knows about… Belmonts. He acknowledges them.
He doesn't think they can kill him all that much. *laughs* Um. But -
B: *laughs* R: There's a great scene, just a - ugh. The
PERFECT part of this scene. Uh, cuz when, of course, when the fight starts, uh, Alucard
attacks. Alucard is very fast, Alucard hits first. Dracula catches his sword and starts
pushing him back with three fingers, and we're like, "Uh oh. We might be in trouble." *laughs*
Um - B: Yup.
R: Cuz, like, Alucard is by - he's stronger, faster, tougher, he's got all these magic
powers - everyone else in the team is basically just a regular human with some unusual skills.
So it's like, "Uh oh. Uh oh, they got Worf! What are we gonna do?" Um -
B: *laughs* R: And, uh - I think the - th- so that's the
first sign that, uh oh, this might be bad. I believe the second sign is that Sypha chucks
somet- I think it's a fireball or something at him, and Dracula closes the distance between
them and, like, actually injures her for the first time in the show, so that's another
sign where it's like "oh no, things might be bad." Trevor takes this as his sign to
try - *laughs* B: *laughs*
R: And he runs up and punches Dracula in the face! *laughing* And this doesn't do a- like,
Dracula doesn't even MOVE. He just slowly turns and he says -
Dracula: You must be the Belmont. R: To Trevor's credit, he tries punching him
ONE more time before Dracula punches him. B: *laughing* He tries to get another in!
R: Yeah. A- and then Dracula punches HIM hard enough to drop him instantly, and we're like,
okay, so basically Trevor and Sypha are on "let's try and survive," because like, the
minute Trevor's down, Dracula's not like "I'll deal with you later" - no, he goes to immediately
kill him! The only reason Trevor survives is that Alucard and Sypha both work very hard
to keep Dracula back until Trevor can get up.
B: When he sees Belmont and says "you must be the Belmont" he realizes that, oh, now
he just gets to play with his food a little bit here.
R: Mm hm! B: He's just having a blast. And you can HEAR
him perk up over the course of the line when he realizes "oh, now I'm in for a treat today!"
R: Uh huh! B: Where, you know, the - the anger from before
that shot him into this - to this big, dramatic, you know, energy in this fight, that - again,
that even goes on the shelf a little bit where now he's just excited. That he's so single-minded
now, whether it's being sad, being angry or in this case, you know, the joy of the drama
- that he's just *snaps* all about it and he's - he's a little caught off-guard when
he remembers, like, "oh, Alucard's here too -"
R: Yup. Yeah. B: "- sh*t -" that he - he completely forgets
that, "oh, what's this that's going through both of my arms? Oh, that's - that's my son's
sword, heck. Okay." R: "Auuh, I forgot he was here." *laughing*
B: So - once he sees Trevor, he - just flips another switch and is like "Oh-kay, let's
GO." R: There's - yeah.
B: And that is what's - what's the core of this scene, that - that makes it so fun that
was - that was the - the catalyst for this entire detail diatribe! *laughing*
R: Yeah. B: Is just that delivery of that one line!
R: When we were discussing, like, wh-what villain to do, I was like "Hear me out. You
must be the Belmont." And you were like "Awww, yeah, okay, all right! We're good!" *laughing*
B: Yup. There we go. R: Um, but it's - it's just solid gold. It's
so fun. And, you know - there's nothing a PROPER villain likes more than a PROPER hero,
you know? B: Yeah.
R: Like, not because they're like "oh, maybe you'll be able to defeat me," but more like
"oh, THIS is gonna be fun! I'll be able to do all KINDS of great monologues at this one!"
So - so when he's dealing with Trevor and Sypha, he - he's in his element. It's like
"ah, couple upstart humans with wacky powers and cool artifacts? All right, let's do this!"
B: Yeah. R: It's just Alucard that keeps throwing him
off balance. And Alucard is the only one who can go toe-to-toe with him! So -
B: Yeah. It - it's also that a Belmont does not philosophically oppose Dracula in the
same way. He's just… a guy who wants to fight him.
R: Mm hm. B: When - when he sees Alucard he knows, like,
"okay, my son stands for something philosophically completely the opposite of what I want, using
the name of my wife to make that happen" whereas Trevor is just… he's just a Belmont!
R: I would say that, uh, there's - there's one… idealogical difference here that's
quite interesting because… uh, Trevor, as mentioned, has a very similar perspective
to the world on Dracula. Like, you know, he's gotten a little more optimistic, but he's
still kinda like "I totally get why he's doing it, we just need to stop him." Alucard is
the one who's like "his reason for doing it is fundamentally flawed."
B: Yeah. R: So like - Trevor is not the kind of character
to be like "is this what your wife would've wa-?" He's not gonna do that! He's just gonna
try and kill him! He's- B: Yup.
R: He knows how this works! B: *laughs*
R: But, uh - but Alucard is the one who's trying to talk him down because he's like
"your fundamental premise is flawed, Lisa wouldn't want this so you should stop." Uh,
and Alu- er, Dracula does not like hearing that, but Trevor… doesn't ideologically
oppose Dracula in the same way. He's like "I get it, I really do, but this is my job,
so all right let's do this." Um. B: Yeah. That's what makes Trevor EASY for
Dracula and… fun. R: Mm hm. Yeah! Easy and fun, it's like a
lil workout! It's Alucard that keeps making things spicy!
B: Yeah. R: And as the fight progresses, it becomes
pretty clear that Trevor and Sypha - the minute they start closing with Dracula, it's just
like, all right, will they be able to survive for like three seconds -
B: *laughs* R: - for long enough for Alucard to intercept
and save them? Because - B: Yeah.
R: They're VERY squishy and Dracula's not pulling any punches with them. Uh, so after
basically the first phase of the fight finishes, after they chew through Dracula's first healthbar,
um, it basically turns into just Dracula versus Alucard. Uh, and they - it kind of turns into
a bit of a DBZ punchfight. They start going through some walls, some ceilings, and of
course Sypha and Trevor are not that fast so they're essentially running to catch up.
And this is the part where the fight gets… sad again!
B: Yup. R: Alucard is - is, like, fast and tough enough
to… not be immediately KO'd by dealing with Dracula, but he is not stronger than Dracula,
and, uh - B: No.
R: Basically through the fight it becomes very clear that he's being worn down. After
a certain point, the only way he can get any hits on Dracula is by doing his, like, super-fast
teleport-around bouncy thing. Uh, and that doesn't even work for very long! *laughs*
B: No it doesn't. *laughs* R: Dracula catches him in the middle of his
teleport BY THE FACE! *laughs* It's like "All right-!"
B: Yup. R: "Okay! He's f*cking Dracula! I get it!"
But it's - the thing is, like, y- when fighting Trevor and Sypha, that's toying with them.
Fighting Alucard - Dracula's not having… fun. And there's a degree to which it's like,
all right, we are basically watching a father… fight his son. Full out. In their house. That's…
deeply uncomfortable. And it just gets… more and more, just, sad and uncomfortable
as it goes on. Um, Dracula at one point kind of mockingly asks Alucard if he's going to
stake him, and Alucard says "You want me to." And, uh -
B: Yeah. R: Basically Alucard puts forward his thesis
on what's going on: that because Dracula didn't kill him before and almost certainly won't
kill him now, he wants this to end as much as Alucard does, and describes the whole thing
as "nothing but history's longest suicide note." Because, as we know, Dracula does know
that killing all of humanity will lead to all the vampires dying! Like, he doesn't care!
B: Yes. And he says earlier that that's good, and it will "bring silence," which is what
he wants. R: Mm hm. But Alucard is correct! Dracula
does want this to end! He just wants it to end with the extinction of humanity. And…
Dracula does not like hearing this. Uh, I think from this point forward the fight doesn't
really have music in it? B: It does not. It specifically does not.
It cuts out. R: Right. It's just the sounds of these two…
well, I'd say these two fighting, but really it's just the sounds of Dracula basically
beating him up. Which is… again, just really sad and uncomfortable.
B: And there's no dialogue anymore! All you really hear is Dracula grunting in exertion
as he continues to beat up Alucard. R: Which is, you know… uncomfortable again!
*laughs!* B: Yup!
R: And the turning point comes when they have another little DBZ punchfight and go through
another wall, and end up… in a room… that Dracula recognizes. As Alucard's childhood
bedroom. And it's like, all right, I think maybe he's starting to gain some perspective
on what, exactly, he's doing here. Like, fighting - fighting Trevor and Sypha? That's like a
day at the spa for Dracula! *laughs* But, um, killing his own son in the childhood bedroom
he built for him with his beloved wife? That's, uh, that's a bridge too far. And again -
B: Yeah. R: The - the humanity, the sympathy, it all
comes slamming back. Like, this is what they've been building up. In- in the whole two seasons
that we've seen Dracula, where we understand his motivation, we - we understand that he's
not only capable of love, but like… basically being killed by it, by how much he FEELS it
- what I actually really like about this is that it is not just because he loved Lisa.
It is also because he loves Alucard! Part of what's absolutely breaking his heart is
the awareness that this is his SON. Alucard. He loves him! Y'know, he RAISED him! He made
him all these toys, he painted this bedroom for him! He loves him and he's killing him!
And it's not just because "oh you remind me of your mother who I actually love" - no,
th- and I - I'm glad that they did this, because there's a lot of… series where a character
will care about another character only because they remind them of the character they REALLY
care about. B: Mm hm.
R: And that's generally a bad message, but in this case it's like, no, no, the problem…
that Dracula has is that he does… love his wife and his son, and he cannot POSSIBLY bring
himself… to kill him. And when - the fact that he's even CONSIDERING it makes him kind
of look up very hollowly and say "I must already be dead."
B: Yeah. R: And from that point forward… he is FULLY
onboard with dying. Like - *laughs* B: Yup.
R: And it - it's so - it's hard to watch at this point! Because like, he's not fighting
back, Alucard breaks off one of his BEDPOSTS to use as a stake, and it's like "ahhhh, the
symbolism! ohhh, the trauma!" B: Mm hm.
R: And when he goes to stake Dracula, like, Dracula… helps him along the way. And then
as he's sort of, you know, burning and dissolving and, like, the flesh is sloughing off - he's
like, reaching out to Alucard with his, like, horrifying rotting claw-hands like he's trying
to hug him. And of course that's when Trevor and Sypha show up and they're like "oh no!
Dracula's menacing our friend! D:" and they cut off his head and burn him and it's like,
hooo *nervous laughter* Alucard will be talking about this in therapy when it's invented in
four hundred years. B: *laughs* Yeah. Yeah. No, it's - i-it's
a really hard scene, and I think the… the combination of- of realizing that Dracula…
not only lost his wife, but is now driving away his son by way of fighting, that he is
- he is pushed off BOTH of them - uh - is- is the double-whammy that- that really does
it. And of course obviously the - *laughs* the visual juxtaposition of - of the - the
broken room serving as the representation of the broken family.
R: Yup. B: Uh, it all just - it - it all hits all
at once and Dracula realizes that, uh, despite, y'know, all of his various efforts to - to
reach out and make bridges with - with people like Isaac, he has… absolutely nothing left.
R: Yeah. B: Uh, and - and Alucard makes that abundantly
clear when he explains to Trevor and Sypha that Dracula died a long time ago.
R: Yeah. B: So it - this - this whole thing that we
were going towards, uh - you know, in the end, we share Alucard's perspective that's
very somber about this. Like, there's no - there's no joy in this. Uh, it's - it's not like we…
feel like Dracula and it's like "haha! we have bested you!"
R: Mm hm. B: It's like, no, this is… this is sad.
R: And uh, even Trevor and Sypha, for whom Dracula was just The Big Scary Bad Guy On
The Other End Of The Army Of Minions - they GET it.
B: Mm hm. R: Like, they - they see that this is tragic
and sad. Admittedly Trevor is kinda like "heyyy you saved all of humanity and he was gonna
kill everyone, don't get all weepy about killing your own dad" and meanwhile Sypha's like "BUT
it's totally okay to mourn the man he was as WELL as be like 'all right we had to do
it and we saved the world and all that' because, you know, that's how GRIEF works, TREVOR".
Um, which is good! Y'know, like, even at the end they are… really kind of leaning into…
this was a- this was an emotionally complicated endeavor! Like, yeah, it was "we're fighting
Dracula, the ideal pure evil villain", but also, that's his dad… and this didn't HAVE
to happen… B: Yeah.
R: And this is a TRAGEDY. It's - it's - it's these people where things could've worked
out well for them if Lisa hadn't been killed, everything would've be- probably been fine!
Uh, she was, like, working on turning Dracula into a better person! Teaching him how humanity
worked so he could, like, walk among them and… and not be so distant and - and dismissive
of them! And if she had- B: And she'd clearly… made a lot of progress
with that! R: She had, yeah! No, she had! Uh, and that…
*sigh* that just makes the whole thing really sad, because… this didn't HAVE to happen,
but circumstances made it so… that it DID have to happen, and all that we're left with
in the end is a big empty castle, and Alucard, and his two dead parents. And it's like…
B: Yup. R: Hoo boy. And then there's two more seasons
of the show!! *laughs* So like- B: Yeah.
R: They don't shy away from dealing with the emotional consequences of that, either. Um.
B: No. The - the nice thing, though, cutting way ahead to the very end of, uh, of season
four - R: Ahh yes. (hehehe, so good)
B: Through - through mystical shenanigans, uh, we - we get the ending that… Dracula
and Lisa kind of just appear, uh, and are like "how did that happen? I don't know. Uhhhhh
you wanna go way the hell north to the farthest reaches of Scotland and camp out there and
be the inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel in two hundred years?"
R: *laughs* B: Uh, i- it's… it's good because you see
that the man who loved Lisa… is still there, even after having gone through everything,
and that - all the times that we see Dracula and Lisa in hell, in - uh - in seasons three
and four - all they're doing is just sitting there embracing each other.
R: Yup. B: And it's - it's so sad that even the implication
of, like, you know, like, weeks and months and - and years afterwards, they're just…
they're just having this embrace feeling so sorry for - for each other and for everything
that happened. It really is a tragedy on *laughing* every single level!
R: Yeah. B: And it's - it's why this scene is - is
so good, that you have this character who is… clearly SUCH a villain, such a - a bad
person on the surface, that develops such a capacity for love and compassion that seeing
these - these levers get pulled and this - this rollercoaster go so far up and down is just…
so exhausting! R: Mmm hm.
B: Uh, it's - it's so well done on the part of the creators and the - the characterization.
Um, it's - it's really what - what makes this show so special.
R: Yeah. B: Uh, and not just why this is such a - a
villainous scene, but- R: *laughs*
B: - such a villainous show! Because Castlevania is very much defined by the role the villains
play. Even, you know, aside from Dracula, even after Dracula, what the villains are
up to is just as important as what the protagonists are up to.
R: Mm hm. B: And in many cases, the line between villains
and protagonists gets a little bit weird! R: YUP.
B: And the show does a very good job of often putting you in a position of sympathy for…
characters who are outright villainous, uh, at almost every turn! It's SO impressive.
R: Yeah! One thing I really like about this show is that every character is… a character.
You know? Like, they've got their own stuff goin' on, their own motivations, you always
sort of GET it. It's not that you think they're right, it's that you get why they're like
that. They don't shy away from showing the humanity of a character just because they
are an inhuman creature of the night, etcetera etcetera.
B: So that, uh, all of that to say that, uh, this - this one villainous scene with the
battle of Dracula's castle, and all of the other ones, uh, are what make Castlevania
so special and what makes it a wonderful addition to, uh, this little - little collaboration
that we got goin' on here! So- R: Yeah!
B: Thank you to, uh, to our buddy Nando for organizing this. Uh, if you liked this video,
please check out the rest of the videos in the playlist, and if you wanna give this a
spin for yourself, make a video on One Villainous Scene and shoot Nando an email and he'll throw
it in the playlist! R: Yeah!
B: So… I dunno, Red, uh, anything else we've, uh, any other bases we missed? *laughs*
R: I mean, unless you want my fifty-minute rant about why Dracula and Trevor's foil relationship
is really interesting, uhhh… I think that's all I got for today! So, uh… BYE!
Red keeps saying things like "unless you want me to something everyone very much wants and I keep waiting for her to make those videos.
Hopefully on the podcast for this one, we get the Trevor/Dracula are foils rant.