I've been getting back into Castlevania recently (not that I've ever really not been into it, but my primary interest ebb and flow. It's interesting, and I think it's on like a 7 year loop—something like: transformers, high fantasy, RPGs, Metal Gear, Castlevania. In a vague sort of order, I'm expecting the next one to be metal gear again. Anyways)
I rewatched (relistened?) to the truly awful audio drama (feat. what I can only assume is Maria's doppleänger, beaten with the bad writing stick and obsessed with cooking for Alucard). It's pretty much entirely awful, but it does feature Lyudmil, Alucard's former servant and now a vampire by your usual tragic attempt to save a life gone wrong.
It's... very poorly thought out and has plot holes so big you could cram Dracula's castle through them.
Some examples:
Timelines: how much time elapsed between Lisa dying and Trevor being sent after Dracula by the church? The details of Castlevania's timeline have never made much sense to me (when was Alucard born? Is Dracula supposed to be Vlad 3, like he is in the earlier games? If so, how did he find the time to summon a castle and become a vampire while he was fighting the ottomans? Does he teach time management classes, and how can I sign up for them?).
Hi welcome to parenthetical hell.
Anyways, the timeline for this game really doesn't add up, especially now that we know there was enough downtime between Lisa's death and Alucard taking a nap in his coffin for him to go and make flower crowns with his dear servant.
Powers and lack thereof: we know from sotn that Alucard is susceptible to hallucinations and vague mind alteration by succubi, but a huge plot point hinges on Magnus (slutty incubus in a crop top), influencing Alucard to be more... vampirey. I think it's implied that Magnus either goaded or controlled Alucard to bite Lyudmil (or it could have just been a vision it's very unclear), and then may or may not have then also controlled him to go and hunt a handful of village girls in a vampiric midlife crisis.
Or this could have simply been a case of him being possessive (like his father before him) and not wanting his only friend to die, then being unable to handle the consequences of his actions and going on a downward spiral resulting in murder, eventually culminating on him locking himself away to keep from becoming more evil.
This is how I choose to interpret it because I'm very good at ignoring parts of canon I don't like.
Maria: oof is she poorly written. It legitimately feels like this is a different person than calm and professional Maria from sotn, or even bubbly and determined Maria from rondo. You could grab any stereotypical sweet classmate from a shitty harem anime and swap their places and nothing would change. I've never read the relationship between Maria and Alucard as romantic (even playing the game as a child I assumed her going after him was because she wanted to be his friend), and currently choose to interpret it as a combination of deep friendship, and also... Okay, if you were a vampire hunter, you'd want to keep track of the vampires you'd met, even if you liked them. Obviously they're dear friends, but I also think there an undercurrent of "you'll kill me if I ever succumb to my darker side and become like my father".
Maria in the audio drama is a sighing housewife who just wants to please her dear husbando (they aren't married, just for clarification, nor are they in a relationship, he just lives at her house), and then gets depowered midway through and only shows up at the end of the drama to remind the audience that Konami does have the rights to the character and once she was absurdly powerful in a video game
Lyudmil: as I mentioned, this is Alucard's former devoted servant who died and is now an evil vampire. This could be a really complex and interesting character but that's a bit too much to expect from a Konami audio drama.
In a perfect world he be betrayed and lost. It's not clear if Alucard was overcome with bloodthirst, or if he just didn't want Lyudmil to die. Ah, this is another vague timeline part: So Lyudmil was banished from his village (presumably Lisa's village as well), because he tried to stop her execution. He failed, and then eventually offered to be Alucard's servant. Absolutely sick job BTW. Imagine going from being a Romanian dirt farmer to folding a prince's laundry in a castle full of delicious cakes.
Man is living the dream.
Anyway, at some point he returns to his home village (after offering to teach Alucard how to make flower crowns for the people you like) and injured to the point of death. It's unclear if he was lured there by Magnus or he just left. It's also unclear who injured him: the villagers (he was banished, remember), or Magnus himself, in a long con to turn Alucard into a blonde version of his father.
Alucard then bites him, with the aforementioned unclear motives.
Also, keep in mind that this might just be a hallucination and Magnus turned him into a vampire. This is not a good radio drama.
Ideally, Lyudmil would be a bit like Louis from Interview: resentful but still affectionate, willing to murder Alucard but also willing to, not forgive him, but make peace with what happened and move on from it. Lyudmil is very clearly affectionate towards Alucard, even romantic (although that may be the shipping goggles),but his feelings have been twisted by having been cursed with eternal life, bloodlust, vitamin D deficiency etc. Missed opportunity, but I also don't expect subtle writing from a Castlevania audio drama.
I really can't complain about the side characters. They're charming, I suppose, and I like the world building that being a vampire hunter is a profession and not some secret. Think (pardon the comparison), High Jackman vs Peter Cushing, in terms of Van Helsing.
Yeah, okay ramble is running out of steam. I wrote something, go read it:
archiveofourown.org/works/31895983![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
