#spade rambles

Let's start with the biggest change that fucks up so much: complete bastardization and disregard of Dracula’s relationship with the Belmonts. Trevor meeting Dracula is 400 years of karma in the making, the culmination of Leon Belmont’s vow of Vengeance after Dracula orchestrated the death of his best friend’s wife to gain his immortality out of spite (The literal soul of the Vampire Killer whip btw, but we’ll fucking get to THAT) and the thing that Dracula has been living in dread of for 4 centuries.

But do we get any of that? If you guessed no, and that this gets completely sidelines in favor of Alucard, congratulations! You get a cookie. (srsly I love my boy but jfc the trade off hurts so much).

There's also how, while "shopping and chopping" for lore that Konami themselves provided Ellis, man came across a certain name. That name being none other than a certain Mathias Cronqvist. For those who don't know CV lore or may not recognize the name, this is essentially the name of the man who Dracula was before becoming Vlad Tepes/Dracula, back in the days when he was still best friends with Leon Belmont. But did Ellis bother to do anything with this lore related to Drac and the Belmonts? Nope. What does he do instead? Why try to give it to a certain over-used viking vampire oc of his who's obsessed with boats. That's right, he tried to give it to FUCKING GODBRAND.

Thankfully the reason this never happens is that Konami put their foot down and basically told Ellis "No, you cannot recycle important Dracula lore for your stupid drunk vampire viking oc, are you fucking stupid????" And when even Konami of all companies are putting their foot down on this shit, because apparently they were helping to oversee this from what I've heard, at least sending a rep or two to work with Ellis, you know you fucked up. Because for those who don't know, that says a lot when Konami, and the hellspawn company that they are, puts its foot down about changes. And my god, as someone who love Drac lore, i'm so glad that they did jfc.

As a note on that, though, Ellis would proceed to straight up attacked IGA, the ex-Konami producer of CV behind Symphony onwards, because he had concerns over his adaptations of Castlevania 3 script back when it was supposed to be a movie. Yeahhhh, as if the shit that got this asshole fired was enough to prove what a POS he is. Fuck Warren Ellis and his pretentious ass ego. (My money is on the shit that happened with season 3 with choosing to make him Bi but like specifically in the worst way possible with A VERY TERRIBLE EPISODE THAT MANY OF US UNFORTUNATELY KNOW BC WHAT IN THE FUCK)

Yeah Ellis was basically taking out his own fetishes on Hector and Alucard in season 3 more or less. You've heard of the Author's Thinly Disguised Fetish? Yeah, Ellis takes it to a worse level with how he needlessly shoves it into the story. He’s on record saying that the reason he abused Hector was because "he liked hearing the actor in pain" ffs. This man is a walking case of sexual harassment manifested, i swear--

(Now I love shit talking the church and pointing out its corruption as much as the next person, esp when it's well deserves. But this is the next chunk to unpack).

Ignoring the role of Christianity and Church in the canon to push a personal agenda. In the games, The church play a far more central role and a considerably less antagonistic one. Sypha is an agent of the church, having been taken in as a child, and lost her family when Carmilla orchestrated the witch hunts that ultimately killed Lisa.

Additionally, she was on a mission for the church when Dracula’s cyclops turned her to stone. In Netflix? She’s a “speaker” who hates the Church, and Christianity.

This goes TRIPLE, for Trevor, who not only was literally commissioned/begged by the church to kill Dracula after Dracula wipes out their army, but starts the beginning of Castlevania 3 praying at a cross. The first thing we see him do, to say nothing of the holy weapons that the gameplay utilizes, that Netflix goes out of other way to say aren’t Christian.

Remember when I mentioned characters being omitted? Yeah so we could have had a cool pirate character known as Grant Dynasty. But why was he omitted you may ask? Well apparently him being a road pirate wasn't "cool" enough for Ellis' tastes. And it's not like he's a minor character either, mind you. God forbid we have an "every man" type of character to help save the day jfc.

Definitely the fact that much like Vergil inexplicably serving Mundus, Death and Dracula’s covenant and relationship is completely bastardized. Death was a big player in how Dracula gained his immortality in the first chronological Castlevania (literally the final boss) and has been Dracula’s most loyal general and best friend in pretty much every game since. Netflix makes their relationship purely parasitic, and turns Death, one of the most eloquent characters in the series, into a foul mouthed “vampire” instead of a character.

And then there's Castlevania; the literal castle itself. In the games, it’s basically a character in its own right, a physical manifestation of chaos that is bound to Dracula’s power. When he dies, it crumbles to rubble at the end of every game. Yet, much like DMC Netflix, they go out out of their way to try and overexplain things that are inherently rooted in mysticism with science. Seriously Netflix has the weirdest hate boner for magic and mysticism type shit for no reason (same goes for anything Gothic as we see with DMC). It's like being trapped in a room of sci-fi nerds that NEED everything to be overly explained for no reason and god does it hurt. LET US HAVE MAGIC AND WHIMSY JFC QUIT TRYING TO KILL THE VIBE. OTHERWISE JUST LEAVE THE DAMN IPS ALONE.

Okay so much as I love Lisa and Dracula, next comes the problem with her coming back with the finale. Or ya know, her being in hell at all. Because part of the tragedy there is that even when he dies, Dracula can never be with her, forever kept apart even in death as each is in a seperate afterlife (esp since Lisa was a murdered innocent and like the whole point is that the church is corrupt and full of shit right? so why the fuck is she in hell??? Do i need to bring back the famous speech in season 1 by Blue Fangs about god and the empty box to the bishop? Even in its own canon, do y'all see the glaring holes in the logic of the show?????)

Going back to changes made from the games that fucked up so much: Lisa being resurrected completely fucks the central core of the series.

As I mentioned earlier, the tragedy of Castlevania is that Dracula can never be with his wife through his own actions; and that he is resurrected time and time again by humanity’s evil, a never ending loop of suffering that only comes to a half after the Demon Castle War of 99. This is why he keeps menacing humanity game after game, aside from his hatred of the Belmont Clan--because he has nothing else now but his hate. And yet, this is thrown aside, essentially invalidating the stories of generations of Belmont stories from Trevor onward.

And then there's Alucard. Oh boy, where do I begin with my dear boy. Continuing with their fuckery of timelines and character arcs (much like we see in DMC with Dante, which I'll explain more on that later) Netflix tried to force elements of his character that would canonically only exist another 300 years distant from the events of Castlevania 3 and subsequently not making sense. In the games, while Trevor had help, it is made abundantly clear both by sequels and supporting material that Trevor was the one to kill Dracula. Why is this important? Because this act is the thing that redeems the Belmont’s reputation, and what drives Alucard to feel guilty enough to close himself in a tomb for the next few centuries, guilt he is forced to confront in Symphony of the Night. Killing Dracula basically on his own in a Netflix naturally is a disservice to both characters.

Let's start with the biggest change that fucks up so much: complete bastardization and disregard of Dracula’s relationship with the Belmonts. Trevor meeting Dracula is 400 years of karma in the making, the culmination of Leon Belmont’s vow of Vengeance after Dracula orchestrated the death of his best friend’s wife to gain his immortality out of spite (The literal soul of the Vampire Killer whip btw, but we’ll fucking get to THAT) and the thing that Dracula has been living in dread of for 4 centuries.

But do we get any of that? If you guessed no, and that this gets completely sidelines in favor of Alucard, congratulations! You get a cookie. (srsly I love my boy but jfc the trade off hurts so much).

(Now I love shit talking the church and pointing out its corruption as much as the next person, esp when it's well deserves. But this is the next chunk to unpack).

Ignoring the role of Christianity and Church in the canon to push a personal agenda. In the games, The church play a far more central role and a considerably less antagonistic one. Sypha is an agent of the church, having been taken in as a child, and lost her family when Carmilla orchestrated the witch hunts that ultimately killed Lisa.

Additionally, she was on a mission for the church when Dracula’s cyclops turned her to stone. In Netflix? She’s a “speaker” who hates the Church, and Christianity.

This goes TRIPLE, for Trevor, who not only was literally commissioned/begged by the church to kill Dracula after Dracula wipes out their army, but starts the beginning of Castlevania 3 praying at a cross. The first thing we see him do, to say nothing of the holy weapons that the game play utilizes, that Netflix goes out of other way to say aren’t Christian.

Remember when I mentioned characters being omitted? Yeah so we could have had a cool pirate character known as Grant Dynasty. But why was he omitted you may ask? Well apparently him being a road pirate wasn't "cool" enough for Ellis' tastes. And it's not like he's a minor character either, mind you. God forbid we have an "every man" type of character to help save the day jfc.

Oh! But wait! He is there in season 4...kinda. This was one of the changes following fans complaining about Grant had been unfairly cut out. So here's here..But ya know...genderbent. Now recycled into a female character that is Greta. Yup, Greta Danesti. Yup, that Greta. Just....yup. That's sure a thing. Look I love strong woman, esp women with her design but like....man, not like this.

Definitely the fact that much like Vergil inexplicably serving Mundus, Death and Dracula’s covenant and relationship is completely bastardized.

Death was a big player in how Dracula gained his immortality in the first chronological Castlevania (literally the final boss) and has been Dracula’s most loyal general and best friend in pretty much every game since. Netflix makes their relationship purely parasitic, and turns Death, one of the most eloquent characters in the series, into a foul mouthed “vampire” instead of a character.

And then there's Castlevania; the literal castle itself. In the games, it’s basically a character in its own right, a physical manifestation of chaos that is bound to Dracula’s power. When he dies, it crumbles to rubble at the end of every game. Yet, much like DMC Netflix, they go out out of their way to try and overexplain things that are inherently rooted in mysticism with science. Seriously Netflix has the weirdest hate boner for magic and mysticism type shit for no reason (same goes for anything Gothic as we see with DMC). It's like being trapped in a room of sci-fi nerds that NEED everything to be overly explained for no reason and god does it hurt. LET US HAVE MAGIC AND WHIMSY JFC QUIT TRYING TO KILL THE VIBE. OTHERWISE JUST LEAVE THE DAMN IPS ALONE.

Okay so much as I love Lisa and Dracula, next comes the problem with her coming back with the finale. Or ya know, her being in hell at all. Because part of the tragedy there is that even when he dies, Dracula can never be with her, forever kept apart even in death as each is in a seperate afterlife (esp since Lisa was a murdered innocent and like the whole point is that the church is corrupt and full of shit right? so why the fuck is she in hell??? Do i need to bring back the famous speech in season 1 by Blue Fangs about god and the empty box to the bishop? Even in its own canon, do y'all see the glaring holes in the logic of the show?????)

Going back to changes made from the games that fucked up so much: Lisa being resurrected completely fucks the central core of the series. AND ITS NOT EVEN THE CHURCH THAT KILLED HER. THAT SHIT IS ACTUALLY WHERE FUCKING CARMILLA COMES IN WITH THE DAMN WITCH HUNTS.

As I mentioned earlier, the tragedy of Castlevania is that Dracula can never be with his wife through his own actions; and that he is resurrected time and time again by humanity’s evil, a never ending loop of suffering that only comes to a half after the Demon Castle War of 99. This is why he keeps menacing humanity game after game, aside from his hatred of the Belmont Clan--because he has nothing else now but his hate. And yet, this is thrown aside, essentially invalidating the stories of generations of Belmont stories from Trevor onward.

And then there's Alucard. Oh boy, where do I begin with my dear boy. Continuing with their fuckery of timelines and character arcs (much like we see in DMC with Dante, which I'll explain more on that later) Netflix tried to force elements of his character that would canonically only exist another 300 years distant from the events of Castlevania 3 and subsequently not making sense.

In the games, while Trevor had help, it is made abundantly clear both by sequels and supporting material that Trevor was the one to kill Dracula. Why is this important? Because this act is the thing that redeems the Belmont’s reputation, and what drives Alucard to feel guilty enough to close himself in a tomb for the next few centuries, guilt he is forced to confront in Symphony of the Night. Killing Dracula basically on his own in a Netflix naturally is a disservice to both characters.

And speaking of that…Trevor’s character. Much as I had fun with his stuff in the beginning, there's a lot to unpack here. He doesn’t have any speaking lines in Castlevania 3, a fact Warren Ellis used as a shield when fans complained about him shitting on his character, but he very much does in Curse of Darkness, the game of origin for Hector and Isaac, which is their whole own can of worms, and that goes into the aftermath of Castlevania 3.

Trevor in CoD is admittedly brash, but he’s noble and eloquent. This was the paladin of a man who personally lead an army against the Dark Lord in the CoD tie in manga, and who Hector, who as I already discussed, was no pushover was shit scared of in their initial confrontation in the games. Even among his own descendants, he’s referred to as a Legendary Belmont, one that all vampire hunters aspire to.

Even the goddamn non-canon mobile games like Grimoire of Souls pay the first Belmont to slay Dracula more respect than Netflix.

As for Dracula's hatred of the church? That more so has to do with his hatred for God, who he blamed for the death of his wife and even made himself immortal on top to spite him. But as we actually see in the Nightmare fight in Symphony, it was the people, ultimately an ignorant mob, who crucified Lisa.

As such, it makes more sense for why Dracula feels the need to wipe out all of humanity for the murder of Lisa. Especially since, when not too long ago, he was perfectly fine opening his home to other humans who had renounced God as he had, like Isaac for example. This significance just gets muddled with how Ellis chooses to shift that blame to just the church and how it manipulates people to carry out their will. Sure, I can see why Ellis saw the appeal in that move (esp based on real life history, but it just doesn't work as well with the canon).

And now...there's Vampire Killer. To give some comparison, the Vampire Killer whip is to Castlevania what the Force Edge and Sparda is to the DMC franchise. It's a big fucking deal.

Which I'm still mad that they just tossed Forced Edge into the fucking Vatican in the human world of all things like jfc mfers aint even trying to follow basic plot points of the franchise for a so-called "faithful adaptation but thats a rant for another day).

Long story short, it was given its powers to slay creatures if darkness by the willing sacrifice of fiancée of Leon Belmont, who had been turned into a vampire against her will, in the hoe that no other would suffer her fate. She’s been withe every member of her beloved’s descendants, helping and protecting them ever since.

An equally tragic love story to Dracula and his wives one that he caused in his crashout against God, that holds incredible significance to the lore of the series, as Dracula, in his form of Mathias most likely knew this woman personally, since she was engaged of his best friend and all. Their relationship is essentially Link and Ganon in a way.

Two people who hate each other trapped in a constant cycle of reincarnations and resurrections. Yet the whip doesn’t even show up in the series, and aside from 1 painting of Leon, none of that history isn’t even mentioned.

On other notes, there's the complete fuckery of Isaac and Hector's characters, too. Much as I enjoyed the ones we see in the show, especially Isaac's arc, I'm not gonna sugar coat how much fuckery their characters went through too (some def for better and some definitely for...not? It's complicated, though I def don't miss game Isaac's bdsm armor thats for sure lol).

For example, there's the absence of Julia Laforeze, Isaac’s sister and Hector’s love interest in CoD. I'm guessing, as far as Ellis probably saw it, she just wasn't good enough for some reason and evidently she would get in the way of Lenore and the shit Hector deals with while enslaved by Carmilla in 3 and 4 so that speaks for itself there.

For Hector, there's a lot to cover. His game counterpart was implied to have actually been raised by Dracula, was equal in power to freaking Death and how he was a general who physically lead Dracula’s armies against until he defected after having an attack of conscience. However, in the show, he's more or less practically reduced to a borderline pacifist simping for a vampire and then getting beaten up by people he’d have torn apart in the canon, and having his entire reason for defection spat on.

Hector’s personality was radically different more than even his sheer power and combat abilities. The source of his conflict comes from both his guilt of what he did during the war and a hatred of his devil forging powers, a gift he was born with and one that he was run out of society as a child for.

Hector was never some meek and directionless child being led around by the nose as it were. Man was the type to know what he was doing, and was fine with it, until he finally wasn’t (and then it was his turn to grow a conscience ffs). The instant that Netflix Carmilla would have tried to pull even half of the shit that she did with Game Hector, he’d have cut her from cranium to pelvis, and he would've thought nothing of it.

Next there's the shit with Isaac. To give some backstory for the canon, Isaac was taken in by Dracula as a teenage in the manga while escaping persecution, presumably along with his sister that I mentioned earlier, Julia Laforeze. Under Drac's care, Isaac trained in magic and the dark arts for several years until Hector eventually arrived and became Dracula’s new favorite. For this, Isaac kinda hated him, also respecting him too mind you, but he was still very much jealous of the attention from Dracula. This is very much important to their relationship.

Dracula sends of Hector with and army to kill Trevor before he makes it to the castle, but Hector grows a conscience, kills his own army and then defects. Dracula then send Isaac after him to figure out wtf happened, and that’s why neither of them are there when Dracula is killed, a fact Isaac blames Hector for.

And now this is where a lot of the big stuff changes; Dracula, being a petty bitch, uses his last breath to inflict a curse on Wallachia, basically bringing out the darkest impulses of humanity to ths surface. Witch hunts, murders, pillaging, etc. Isaac, being outside the castle at the time is affected by this, slowly starts to lose his fucking mind in pursuit of his revenge against Hector.

So you know, basically the complete utter fucking opposite of what Netflix did with him. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good healing arc of finding power through inner peace as we see in the show (ya know, while on his way to rip Carmilla a new one with his giant ass monster army, as one does). And I like seeing Isaac get a well deserved happy ending, but man I think its important to acknowledge the huge change here.

Anyway, Isaac finds out Hector is alive, and whips up a witch hunt to kill the woman’s Hector had fallen in love with Rosaly in order to lure him into a plot to resurrect Dracula. From there, it literally just the plot of Curse of Darkness, but the important part is, Isaac was the Cain to Hector’s Abel, driven tragically insane by his loyalty to the man he thought of almost like a father. All the while, Dracula and Death saw him as nothing but disposable. RIP Isaac that's rough buddy.

Now, while some of this is true for Netflix, I don't feel like it accurately portrays the relationship between Isaac and Hector. What we got had some potential, but it just doesn't really ever go in the direction that's in the franchise's canon. Which, I mean could be better or worse depending on how you see it. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing more of that Cain and Abel dynamic just because I think there could be some interesting nuance there to really chew on and play with. But alas, as we know, Netflix writers are allergic to naunce, or at least any that they deem isn't good enough to have their own egotistical seal of approval. And boy did Warren Ellis have a gross ass ego.

Though a thing that almost makes me laugh when talking about Isaac and Hector and their changes....they basically gave Netflix Isaac the character arc for game/franchise Hector. Which, for some reason, is kinda funny to me. Like damn pop off king but damn at what cost lol.

Oh, a fun fact about the Isaac Bdsm armor that I mentioned before? The whole thing around that is that it's supposed to show/symbolize how badly the curse has completely fucked and scrambled his brain. Once just regular armor, he’s been wearing it for so long that the pieces started to come off and it’s literally started to graft into his skin (where's that bit of hardcore flavor Netflix damn--) (Pegging insane/brain scrambled CV game Isaac may not fix him but damn it will be a great last will and testament before i go out. He'll be a perfect addition to the lowkey hear me out cake, god knows when he last showered...)

Ah and I almost forgot about St. Germain. Seriously I swear I have so much of s3 and 4 blacked out of my mind, but esp. season 3 jfc.

Man's character got messed up so much it's on par with the shit show that happened to Lady's writing in DMC's show. It's rough.

St. Germain and Death are basically mortal nemeses with how much these two hate each other. Granted, Death is doing most of the straight up hating whereas Germain, understandably, likes to be a total troll to him. (honestly I probably would too if i was the cheeky cunt of an immortal that St. Germain is). Also, the guy's a time traveler, that explicitly DOES NOT want Dracula to wipe out humanity. Very big deal here. Not some sex obsessed dumbass that throws in with the extinction of humanity to get his dick wet. I doubt I need to explain why this change of all things is so mind-numbingly stupid.

Phew. This should just about cover the looooong ass list that is the main show. I'm sure there's probably some details here and there I might have missed, but this should about cover the bigger parts and then some.

But yeah, when you look at the real extent of how much shit was butchered, recycled, haphazardly repurposed and even just completely chucked out, it explains a lot why OG CV franchise fans were NOT happy. And now that its DMC's turn to deal with this hell for its IP and basically being forced into some edgy troll's personal 9/11 and Bush Era fanfic, I can def say I more than understand the sentiment.

Hope this all very thoroughly answered your question and then some, Anon! And you can find the games on on Steam and Epic with the games collections if you ever wanna give them a try, especially since they released another not too long ago last i checked. I highly recommend them, or at the very least the lore vids on YT on Castlevania's franchise.