History Characters / Castlevania2017StyrianCouncil

* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. She didn't turn against her original master or [[spoiler:Dracula]] until she was convinced that they were insane and without regard for their vampire underlings...which was a completely correct observation. Of course, given how manipulative she is, it's unknown whether she simply wants freedom from bad governance and eventually decides 'if you want something done right, do it yourself' or if this is just the lie she tells others to get them on her side. [[spoiler:Come Season 4, though, she's making plans of expanding Styria's borders to encompass other vampire territories where the rulers had fallen, and in a conversation with Lenore, Carmilla states that she wouldn't be satisfied with less than the world in the palm of her hand.]]

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: After Isaac and his troops storm Carmilla's castle and Isaac directly confronts and defeats her, she opts to stab herself with her scimitar in a [[TakingYouWithMe suicide attack.]]]]

* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Though she comes off as more resourceful and cunning than the Bishop from Season 1 and genuinely wants to take Dracula's position as BigBad, her plans are ruined by the heroes' unexpected intervention as Sypha's spell leaves Dracula's castle out of her reach and even worse, her army was completely destroyed, leaving her unable to take control herself. With that said, Dracula's destruction plays to her advantage and she aims to fix her army shortage with Hector as her slave. During Season 3, she is trying to figure out of way to get Hector to create an army for her... Only for her companion Lenore to solve the problem completely by herself to Carmila's befuddlement. Season 4 all but spells out that Carmilla is pretty much useless as a schemer when she doesn't have her sisters with her. Without [[BrainsAndBrawn Morana and Striga]], Carmilla is defeated by Isaac (with Hector's sabatoge and assistance) when he invades Styria. She never even meets Trevor's group, let alone fights them]].

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Discussed, invoked, and partly subverted. While the Styrian Council all attempt to make themselves into smarter, wiser, more forward-thinking vampire lords than the self-centered and destructive men they shun, they also fall into some of the same trappings due to their own desires for conquest. However, each of them demonstrate a marked improvement to other vampires.

* ShoutOut: In her day armor, with her almost comically out of place BFS, she looks quite similar to [[{{Anime/Berserk}} Guts with his Dragonslayer in his Berserk armor]], and even more like [[VideoGame/DarkSouls Artorias]], another {{Expy}} of Guts.

** [[spoiler:Despite all her blustering rants about "evil old men" taking things away from vampiresses like her, and them becoming too mad to rule what she believes to belong to the vampire race, Carmilla proves herself to be far more crazy and evil than all of her male counterparts. Wanting to enslave all mankind and take the whole world for herself. Which is made even worse when she brags about the sisterhood of her council compared to the rest of vampire society; until said council realizes that her plans of world domination and suppression of humanity is impossible to maintain, with their attempts to do so rendering one redundant (and alienated from her) and the others unavailable when Carmilla is in dire need of them, resulting in her death.]]
** [[spoiler: Her plan to defeat Dracula and claim his territory was to subvert some of his generals due to his treatment of them, use unconventional tactics and Hector's forgemaster powers to reduce his army, and then swarm him with numbers to whittle him down until the power difference didn't matter. Come Season 4 and the attack on her lands, Lenore rushes to protect Hector instead of her due to her actions, Hector has laid a magic trap that reduces her army while isolating her, and Isaac whittles her down with his knife and his monsters, negating the power difference between them.]]

* MaskOfSanity: Carmilla puts on a good show of being calm and collected, but [[spoiler:when she begins beating Hector into submission, this slips noticeably, revealing a wild, sadistic monster under that ice. By the fourth season, the mask is off entirely with even Lenore openly terrified of her, and Striga and Morana losing faith in her untenable schemes.]]

** Ultimately, all her machinations help the main trio more than they help her. In particular, her [[spoiler:river of holy water all but wipes out the vampire {{mooks}} (including her own) letting the trio storm the castle relatively unopposed, not to mention her scheming keeps two of Dracula's generals out of the final fight, as her scheming led to Godbrand's death and Hector being sidelined]]. Also, after [[spoiler:Dracula's death]], her betrayal prompts Isaac [[spoiler:to go after her instead of the heroes. The journey Isaac takes in the process results in his decision to abandon Dracula's cause of KillAllHumans and persuading Hector to do the same so the main trio never ends up having to deal with powerful forgemasters.]]

* OneWomanArmy: Carmilla is a powerful vampiress who can hold her own in a fight. In Season 4, she takes on a massive amount of Night Creatures and slew dozens, however her strength has its limits and she becomes more drained from the ordeal of cutting down even more that attack her. [[spoiler:Even while holding her own against Isaac, Carmilla realizes she can't win, so she takes her own life out of spite.]]

* PsychopathicWomanchild: At her core, Carmilla is an AlphaBitch who wants the World as her late master promised her. Even her sisters see Carmilla as a nuisance they must put up with in exchange for a source of good idea to enact which stabilize their land.

* PsychopathicWomanchild: At her core, Carmilla is an AlphaBitch who wants the World as her late master promised her. Even her sisters see Carmilla as a nuisance they must put up with in exchange for a source of good idea to enact which stabilize their land. Not to mention, her VillainousBreakdown is one massive, deranged temper tantrum she throws once her plans fall apart, [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide culminating with her gruesome suicide]]]] that is one epic RageQuit.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Considers herself a brilliant schemer. [[spoiler: Even though it's made clear her ideas only work because Striga, Morana, and Lenore make them work, and even then she insists on claiming credit for them.]]

** Furthermore, she's not as clever as she thinks she is, as Isaac and Dracula had her figured out from the outset, and the only reason Dracula didn't stop her was because he ''could not care less.''
** [[spoiler:As said above, her idea of creating a vampire fiefdom with humans as livestock is feasible due to the power vacuum left behind by Dracula, but that's all it is: an idea. It takes the combined efforts of Striga, Morana, and Lenore to work through the monumental logistics to make an actual plan to get there and find a way to make Hector loyal. Altogether, Carmilla is ambitious but utterly incompetent when it comes to the real workings behind it with almost all of the work being done by someone other than her. Even then her plans would have been feasible if she were willing to take her time and be content with just a limited expansion along her borders, but she wants EVERYTHING even beyond the governless regions as fast as possible.]]

* StupidEvil: While Carmilla's sisters praise her ideas and will try to make them work, they're all quick to call her out for serious oversights. For example, they realize that ''forcing'' Hector into being their forge master (especially when he was already cooperating with her) AND beating him to a pulp isn't going to make him work for them. And ''they'' consider humans to be nothing more than cattle just like she does.

* VillainousBreakdown: Has a '''''TRULY''''' epic one [[spoiler:in episode 6 of season 4 as her Night Creature army falters due to planning by Hector, and it ends with her graphically committing suicide]].
-->'''Carmilla:''' [[spoiler:What the ''fuck'' is going on? [[OutGambitted What is this?]] Are these ''[[TheDogBitesBack Hector]]'s'' night creatures? … [[ThisCannotBe No.]]]]

** For all her arrogance, she does make legitimate points: if Dracula had turned Lisa or even provided her with some basic protection, then the church would have been unable to kill her; Dracula doesn't actually have a plan for his war council; no one can stand up to him because he can invoke BecauseISaidSo; and he is an "old man" ravaged by grief who is engaged in pointless destruction.
** Her betrayal and murder of the vampire who sired her is a straight example, as she alludes to him being abusive. The series also takes place before the industrial revolution, when physical abuse in many regards was not out of the ordinary. So, we had an authority figure who basically answered to no one, is specifically described as being cruel in an era when abuse was practically the norm, and on top of that he's an immortal vampire living in a secluded place where none of his subjects could seek outside help. In short, he probably had it coming.

* VillainousValor: Carmilla, befitting her arrogant nature, carries bravery in spades when challenged at her own castle. [[spoiler:She kills countless night creatures, fights Isaac despite being tired and wounded, and finally destroys herself to try and take him out with her.]]
* VisionaryVillain: What she brings to the table among the four vampiresses. The other, three for all their competency, lack the vision to start something new. Carmilla keeps initiating new ideas and plans for the group. That said, Carmilla is flighty and weak on details so the others have to come up with ways to make her plans a reality.

* DirtyCoward: It's [[DownplayedTrope subtle]] but present. While she is arrogant and smug, she never engages in direct combat or gets physical unless she knows she has a huge advantage. She manipulates and schemes, but is cautious and never tries to confront people out in the open. This is further emphasized when she finds out a Belmont still exists and she immediately loses her cool and borderline demands that they find the Belmont and any weapons or relics the Belmonts have collected so they cannot be used against the vampire army. While it also highlights her pragmatism and [[OnlySaneWoman common sense]] compared [[SurroundedByIdiots to some of the other vampires]], it's also telling that she never seems to make plans for the possibility of her foes confronting her or if she is forced into the open, suggesting that she will do anything she can to keep that from ever happening. Noticeably, she doesn't attack [[spoiler:Hector]] until the sun is down and has him chained and surrounded by her troops. That said, Carmilla plays with the trope [[spoiler: in Season 4, where she challenges Isaac's entire legion alone, holds her own for quite some time, and goes out defiantly. It's played with because she was forced into that position and had no way out, so it wasn't really a choice.]]

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The sole humanizing trait of her personality preventing her from being completely monstrous, she truly cares for her council who she calls sisters, Lenore, Striga and Morana.

** Even more subtle, but Carmilla is actually this to Lisa, as well. Both are blue-eyed, red garbed, ambitious, determined, strong willed and persuasive women. Both Lisa and Carmilla also willingly traveled to a vampire’s castle to seek betterment and knowledge, but while Lisa impressed Dracula making him fall in love and marry her, Carmilla however... got turned into a vampiress. Unlike Lisa, Carmilla is embittered, conniving and cruel, along with a lust for power due being enslaved for so long. It's telling that Carmilla writes off Dracula loving Lisa off as him "keeping a pet" and [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Carmilla can't understand why]] Dracula didn't just turn her into vampiress (like her) if he wanted to keep Lisa safe.

* FemaleMisogynist: Although claiming to hate men and only want the best for her "sisters", she patronisingly mocks the gentle feminine traits of Lenore, apparently has a harem of slave men that she sleeps with and views Dracula’s loving marriage with his human wife Lisa as him “keeping a pet”, saying to Hector if Dracula really loved her, he would’ve turned her into a vampire. She eventually shows that she has no patience for anyone who isn't a female vampire who is actively aiding her ForeverWar against humans and/or men. Ultimately even her own vampire sisters become horrified by Carmilla’s schemes and antics, and, when Styria falls, choose their respective lovers over saving her.

* ForTheEvulz: This turns out to be her ultimate reason for trying to take over the world.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Among the Styrian council, feelings about her are... mixed at best. Her sisters are loyal to her and appreciate what she built but they constantly criticize her actions and decisions behind her back, and sometimes to her face -- especially in regards to how she has grand plans that she doesn't think through and leave her sisters to fix.

* HorrifyingTheHorror: [[TerrorHero A]] heroic [[TheDreaded example]] with the Belmont clan towards her. Carmilla is smug and arrogant throughout her entire time at castle Dracula and doesn't even mind getting under Dracula's skin. The instant she hears that a Belmont still exists, she immediately loses the smug attitude, becomes tense, and suggests that they send people out to find any weapons or knowledge the Belmonts had used to hunt down vampires. [[spoiler:Given that she becomes TheStarscream and has her own agenda to take over, this fear is justified. She can manipulate or back-stab her fellow vampires, but the Belmonts are hunters and will not stop until their target is dead. Given that the clan has been doing this for centuries and that it's almost certain that the night creatures have tried and been unsuccessful in their destruction, [[BadassFamily this fear is justified.]]]]

** Like Ratko and Dragan, Striga is a skilled and steadfast soldier, but has a sense of honor and restraint that the vast majority of vampires lack.

* BadassBoast: [[spoiler:Towards Isaac as she's about to die. She tells him she'll be waiting for him down in hell to see if he can actually be killed twice. It ultimately falls flat, as she fails to inflict so much as a scratch on Isaac during their fight.]]

* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Though she comes off as more resourceful and cunning than the Bishop from Season 1 and genuinely wants to take Dracula's position as BigBad, her plans are ruined by the heroes' unexpected intervention as Sypha's spell leaves Dracula's castle out of her reach and even worse, her army was completely destroyed, leaving her unable to take control herself. With that said, Dracula's destruction plays to her advantage and she aims to fix her army shortage with Hector as her slave. During Season 3, she is trying to figure out of way to get Hector to create an army for her... Only for her companion Lenore to solve the problem completely by herself to Carmila's befudlement. Season 4 all but spells out that Carmilla is pretty much useless as a schemer when she doesn't have her sisters with her. Without [[BrainsAndBrawn Morana and Striga]], Carmilla is soundly defeated by Isaac when he invades Styria. She never even meets Trevor's group, let alone fights them]].

* DefiantToTheEnd: At no point does Carmilla ever bow, keeping her ambition and evil nature to the end rather than surrender or cower. [[spoiler: Ultimately, even when she faces off against Isaac, she gets the last word -- namely, a last sentence as she destroys herself in a last attempt at [[TakingYouWithMe killing Isaac too.]]]]

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Discussed, invoked and partly subverted. While the Styrian Council all attempt to make themselves into smarter, wiser, more forward-thinking vampire lords than the self-destructive men they shun, all of them have their own failings. Carmilla is power-hungry and spiteful. Lenore is [[WideEyedIdealist optimistic but naive]]. Striga is mostly a blunt instrument that chooses the direct solution, and Morana is a pragmatist to a fault. Their main redeeming quality is their loyalty to each other and that as a council, they negate each others weaknesses, but even ''that'' begins to fail when they are seperated too long by Carmilla's overreaching plans of conquest. All of them would perform horrific actions without batting an eye under the justifaction that it was for their own protection or security, and it becomes a weakness when [[spoiler:none of them rein in Carmilla over reaching plans until it's too late.]]

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Morana and Striga go through a minor one. While they don't fully repent their ways, they are genuinally unnerved by humanity's willingness to sacrifice themselves to defend their lands. Morana also expresses some displeasure at how many lives the invasion will cost. This causes them to doubt Carmilla's plan can actually work. When Carmilla is killed, they realize that vampires' endless scheming is doomed to ruin their lives, when all they want to do is spend time together, opting to leave Styria to burn rather than end up getting themselves and their remaining forces killed trying to avenge her.]]

* ItIsDehumanizing: Carmilla's sisters shares her knack for referring to Hector as "It." The only exception is Lenore, who is seemingly the most rational of the four. [[spoiler: Though just the same, she peppers all her compliments to him by saying "Good Boy" and by the seasons end views him as a pet and slave, though her feelings turn out to be genuine. Hector also has a thing about seeing all power relationships in terms of pets that several characters commented on, so she might have just been playing into it]].
* KarmaHoudini: Only half of them get their comeuppance for killing scores of innocent humans throughout the show's last two seasons but even then they have lost the kingdom they fought for literal ages to get and maintain, along with the stability it granted them, which they always craved.

** They are hellbent on dominating mankind, much like Dracula. Unlike Dracula, they have no intention of wiping them out and want to keep them as food.

* TrueCompanions: Occasional bickering aside, the four sisters are loyal to one another and work as a unit to see their goals achieved. [[spoiler: Subverted in Season 4, where the other sisters come to realize Carmilla's greed is going to doom them all, and Striga and Morana opt to leave Styria to fall rather than die avenging her. This can be attributed to Carmilla's actions having completely destabilized their working dynamic, which once enhanced each other strengths while negating each others flaws.]]

* WomenAreWiser: ZigZaggingTrope. The Styrian Council are made up of groups of women who've all been victimized or marginalized in some way by men -- both human and vampire. This gave each a perspective that something was wrong with the world at large, and each chose to make their own haven to get away from it all. This has also put them under constant attack and contempt from men (again, both human and vampire) who want to see them fail or get destroyed simply because they're women. Due to their wisdom and relationship dynamic where each's strengths are enhanced together and their personality flaws erased, they manage to build one of the most prosperous and stable vampire kingdoms around for ages. [[spoiler:It gets deconstructed hard when Carmilla starts going off the deep end, destablizing what they have to chase after control and power over everything, the entire world, as fast as possible. The rest of the sisters realize that her ambitions are going to cause the destruction of their paradise, with two of them [[KnowWhenToFoldEm escaping to live their lives somewhere else]] and the last [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] rather than live caged ever again]].

* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. She didn't turn against her original master or [[spoiler:Dracula]] until she was convinced that they were insane and without regard for their vampire underlings. Of course, given how manipulative she is, it's unknown whether she simply wants freedom from bad governance and eventually decides 'if you want something done right, do it yourself' or if this is just the lie she tells others to get them on her side. [[spoiler:Come Season 4, though, she's making plans of expanding Styria's borders to encompass other vampire territories where the rulers had fallen, and in a conversation with Lenore, Carmilla states that she wouldn't be satisfied with less than the world in the palm of her hand.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: All of the other three sisters become horrified at what Carmilla is planning, albeit for different reasons. In addition to realizing that Carmilla outright lied about the scope of her plans for conquest. Lenore becomes horrified by the scope of the violence that Carmilla wants, realizing that it will result in nothing but suffering and destruction for humans and vampires alike. Morana has an existential crisis over the fact that victory would mean a ForeverWar, where the quartet would be seperated from each other by being forced into horrible, endless battle for all time. Striga realizes that Morana is right, and although she normally would feel at home in war, she witnesses common farmers rise up to desperately fight her army in vain (fearing not having done anything to save their world and families more than dieing to vampires), teaching that it would never stop would mean that she and Morana would be forever seperated trying to hold the empire together. This is even without realizing that Carmilla has decided that she wants to rule the entire world, not just all the lands around.

* FantasticRacism: Like Carmilla, the rest of the council only views humans as no more than live stock. Lenore is the one outlier, as she is willing to negotiate with humans who prove to be valuable to their ambitions but even then [[spoiler: like with Hector, she only views them as a pet that can double as a sex slave, at best.]]
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Discussed, invoked and ultimately subverted. While the Styrian Council all attempt to make themselves into smarter, wiser, more forward-thinking vampire lords than the self-destructive men they shun, all of them have their own failings. Carmilla is power-hungry and spiteful. Lenore is [[WideEyedIdealist optimistic but naive]]. Striga is simply a blunt instrument that choses the direct solution, and Morana is a pragmatist to a fault. Their main redeeming quality is their loyalty to each other and that as a council, they negate each others weaknesses, but even ''that'' begins to fail when they are seperated too long by Carmilla's over reaching hasty plans of conquest. All of them would perform horrific actions without batting an eye under the justifaction that it was for their own protection or security, and it becomes a weakness when [[spoiler:none of them rein in Carmilla over reaching plans until it's too late.]]

* SuperSmoke: Shapeshifts into a mist cloud to leave Hector's cell after beating him up.

* TheVamp: Both [[FemmeFatale figuratively]] and [[VampiresAreSexGods literally]]. [[spoiler:She seduces Hector, tricking him into falling in love/lust with her so that she can enslave him]].