Castlevania fans have been eating well the past few years with some fresh blood to sink their teeth into. With the Netflix Castlevania series just two years removed from us after a great fourth season conclusion and a crossover DLC with indie roguelite Dead Cells that feels like a new Castlevania game in its own right, this almost 40-year-old franchise has felt prime for some fresh meat. And like Dracula’s eventual return, we’re seeing just that in the newly announced Castlevania: Nocturne coming to Netflix this September.
Castlevania: Nocturne continues the storyline set from the original Netflix series with Richter Belmont, a descendant of Trevor Belmont fighting vampires during the French Revolution in the late 1700s, 300 years after the original series.
Richter Belmont is arguably the most tragic Belmont
The story of Richter Belmont, as we know it currently, comes from 1993’s Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (released internationally, though significantly altered, as Castlevania: Dracula X in 1995), and its 1997 sequel Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. In Rondo, Richter is just 19 years old when a newly-resurrected Dracula lays waste to Richter’s village, prompting him to claim his destiny as a vampire hunter and journey to the eponymous Castlevania to destroy Dracula.
As if this wasn’t enough, Richter’s girlfriend Anette and a few other villagers (notably Maria Renard, who appears and is playable in both Rondo and Symphony) are also taken hostage in the village attack. This creates a mad dash both narratively and in the game itself for Richter to save everyone in time along with fighting to survive against Dracula’s assorted minions.
“You steal men’s souls, and make them your slaves!”
What’s worse still is that, if Castlevania: Nocturne is planning to follow the established story of Richter Belmont, we know that Richter’s victory against Dracula in Rondo of Blood is short-lived. As we learn in Symphony of the Night, the dark priest Shaft (can you dig it?), responsible for Dracula’s resurrection in Rondo survives and manipulates Richter into becoming the new lord of Castlevania itself! And just four years after his defeat by Richter’s hands, it’s Richter, controlled by Shaft, who then resurrects Dracula again. Possibly made vulnerable by his own perceived inadequacy, Richter is an extremely sympathetic character despite his brief appearance as a villain.
Dracula rises once a century. One chance for each Belmont to shine, and then we’re finished, forgotten. If I bring him back now, the battle can last for eternity!
Symphony of the Night, vs. Richter
What is Richter’s story in Castlevania: Nocturne?
While we know the new series centers around Richter and Maria Renard, we don’t know for sure how much the new Castlevania: Nocturne will be pulling from the source material for Richter. Unlike the traditional cycle of Dracula’s resurrection in most Castlevania games, the end of the original Castlevania Netflix series presents a life for Dracula and Lisa of quiet solitude. It’s possible that in the 300 years separating Trevor and Richter’s stories that something changes to prompt Dracula’s return (there’s also a bunch of other Belmonts in between there), but we also don’t see Dracula at all in this first trailer so it’s hard to say.
One thing’s for certain: if Richter’s story plays out as we know it, then Richter’s eventual villain arc is going to bring everyone’s favorite half-vampire Alucard out of his eternal slumber to save a Belmont for a change. And that is something I would definitely pay tribute to.
(featured image: Netflix)
