Fanfic / Lord of the Castle

Lord of the Castle is a crossover Fan Fic between Castlevania and Justice League by Readmeplz, while also incorporating aspects of their bigger franchises.

After slaying Dracula at the end of Season 2, Alucard ends up becoming the new lord of Dracula's castle. Seeing that it's still a pool of evil magic, he decides to sink it into the ocean, where it will not be able to harm anyone. Several centuries pass, and when Aquaman and his son end up on his doorstep, Alucard finds himself waking up once again, and his aid to the King of Atlantis has him encountering the Justice League and becoming a part of their ranks.

Lord of the Castle provides examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: Dracula's castle is this compared the series, as it bears more of its Eldritch Location aspects from the games, constantly leaking out evil that can only be countered by the presence of salt in the ocean or else cause death to anything living nearby, and capable of changing its interior on a whim and teleporting to other planets. The castle itself is also sentient, and capable of separating minds and bodies, and has its own urges, such as revenge when its master gets threatened.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Death proves this. In canon, Death was a gluttonous mass murderer who fed on death, and wanted to bring back Dracula in a botched resurrection that would cause him to go insane and spread death on a scale unimagined. He's also much less polite, swearing like a sailor, and disrespecting anyone like gum on his shoe. By contrast, Death takes more after his game counterpart, and is a loyal ally to Dracula, genuinely wishing to bring him back to life and serve him. He's also far more polite and soft-spoken, and also has fond memories of raising Alucard as a child.
• All-Loving Hero: Flash proves this, as while other members of the Justice League are wary of Alucard due to him being part vampire, he proves friendly and accommodating to the dhampyr if a bit immature, and in time, Alucard comes to see him as a genuine friend.
• And I Must Scream: Dr. Destiny's punishment at the end of the "Only A Dream" arc is worsened beyond being trapped in a coma, and very fitting for this trope. Alucard and the Librarian bind a Nightmare, a being that feeds on positive emotions to trap the victim in horrible nightmares, to him, and then carves a spell that allows him to draw on the positive experiences of others, thus trapping him in an everlasting nightmare, with the villain being reduced to begging and apologizing.
• Bloodlust: Alucard succumbs to this after feeding on the blood of demons in a desperate attempt to save his allies, but this is explained as a side effect of what amounted to self-imposed starvation and could return should Alucard continue to starve himself because of his refusal to drink human blood. The Justice League then offers a loophole to avert this by having Superman, Hawkgirl, J'onn, or Wonder Woman offer their blood, since they aren't human.
• Death by Adaptation: When Alucard learns of the Styrian Council attempting to manipulate Batman into a Puppet King of Gotham, he goes in a murder spree, and Morana and Striga, both of whom were alive at the end of 'Castlevania'', die at Alucard's hands.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation: In canon, Lenore commits Suicide by Sunlight when she sees how far Carmilla has fallen, but in this fic, she dies via beheading at the hands of Alucard after she bites Batman, and then has her body reduced to ash.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: When the Justice Lords arc happens, there's a lot of it — Justice Lord!Trevor attempts to murder Alucard because his counterpart murdered Sypha in spite of Alucard being obviously horror-struck and appalled at the very prospect of raising a hand against her. Also, after gaining Justice Lord!Dracula's Soul Jar, the dhampyr and the Vampire Monarch swiftly start treating each other as father and son.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Alucard does suffer from this trope, but not to a serious extent. He is trained in medicine and science thanks to his parents' advancements, though simpler things like the culture and technology do elude him. Similarly, the spirit of Dracula from the Justice Lord universe has the same issues adapting to modern technology and terminology.
• Humanity Ensues: Downplayed but simultaneously deconstructed and Played for Drama. Alucard is already half-human due to being a Dhampyr with his father being Dracula, but an encounter with Mr. Mxyzptlk ends up turning him completely human. In doing so, Alucard loses his regenerative powers (which served as his immune system) and ability to sustain on blood (essentially leaving him starved), which leads to his organs failing and needing urgent medical attention; thankfully, he is saved when Superman is able to trick Mr. Mzyxptlk into banishing himself, undoing all the damage done to the world and turning Alucard back into a dhampyr. Simultaneously, though, him being human left Castlevania without a lord, leading to Carmilla, Cornell, Magnus, and Shaft escaping from Hell, and with the aid of Death (who takes after his game portrayal of Dracula's loyal servant instead of the animation's portrayal of him as the Greater-Scope Villain), intend to kill Alucard and bring Dracula back to life.
• Language of Magic: Alucard, when casting spells, speaks in Romanian, though more iconic spells like Tetra Spirit, Hellfire, Dark Metamorphosis, and Soul Steal are spoken in English.
• Magic Knight: Alucard is this as in canon, being skilled in both swordplay and various magics, including inheriting his father's iconic Hellfire spell, and becomes the Justice League's main magic user and expert on the subject.
• Mythology Gag:
  • A couple for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night:
    • When Etrigan sees Alucard, he declares "DIE MONSTER!", much like Richter did to Dracula in the beginning of the game.
    • Dr. Destiny using Alucard's memory of his mother's burning and his fate of being trapped in a nightmare is similar to the Succubus.
  • Alongside the Philosopher's Stone, Alucard and Etrigan discuss the possibility that Morgan Le Fay may be after the Ebony and Crimson Stones.
• Offing the Offspring: A tragic, heroic version of this occurs. In the main universe, Dracula was consumed by grief and lashed out against humanity to unleash Hell on Earth after his wife Lisa's death, while his son Alucard chose to listen to his mother's wishes not to lash out and protect them, forcing him to kill his father with the help of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades. In the Justice Lords' universe, the roles of Dracula and Alucard are swapped. Dracula was ultimately still able to heed his wife's last wishes even despite his heartbreak (he still killed the members of the Corrupt Church responsible for Lisa's death, but they were Asshole Victims in the canon universe as well), but Alucard was consumed by grief and, unable to forgive humanity for killing his mother, lashed out and unleashed Hell's armies. As such, Dracula worked alongside his universe's version of Trevor and Sypha to protect humanity and was ultimately made to kill his son.
• Patchwork Fic: While the series is primarily about Alucard being a member of the Justice League, aspects of the two bigger franchises are present throughout the fic.
  • Characters who weren't a part of Justice League, such as John Constantine and Mister Terrific, appear as allies in the series
  • During the events of "The Savage Time", Alucard has his own adventure working alongside Johnathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin to stop Brauner.
  • Kilowog also mentions working alongside Hal Jordan and Razor when preparing to leave for Kalanor to help John Stewart.
• Point of Divergence: Because Seasons 3 and 4 did not air at the beginning of this fic, some aspects of the series are very different.
  • Alucard does not suffer Sumi and Taka's betrayal, and is more open to his new allies.
  • Carmilla and the Styrian Council are still united and alive, and have their own plans.
• Salt Solution: As per Castlevania, salt works as an effective deterrent to evil magic, and Alucard sinks Dracula's castle into the ocean because the large amount of salt there would prevent the evil magic from killing any nearby life.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Carmilla, Lenore, and Death are all dead by the end of the final season of Castlevania, but since Seasons 3 and 4 did not air prior to the start of this fanfic, all three are antagonists still at large. That being said, Lenore does eventually die later, but it's several centuries after her canonical death in the series.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Dr. Destiny, a Nightmare Weaver who sought to kill the Justice League by torturing them in their dreams, is ultimately trapped in a nightmare as a result of Alucard and the Librarian.
• Undying Loyalty: As in the games, Death is loyal first and foremost to Dracula, and while he serves Alucard faithfully, his true loyalties lie with his father, and plans alongside Carmilla, Cornell, Shaft, and Magnus to bring back Dracula.
• "What Do They Fear?" Episode: The fic adapts "Only A Dream", and Alucard, Wonder Woman, and Jonn's worst nightmares are exposed alongside the canon examples.
  • For Alucard, it's watching his mother burn at the stake again and when he tries to explain that the real Lisa would never want him to take revenge on humanity, she starts beating and abusing him as the rest of the Justice League turns on him.
  • For Wonder Woman, it's Themyscira being set on fire while her mother is made into an unwilling servant of Hades, who has also killed the entire Justice League because Wonder Woman, desperate to save her mother, sold out their weaknesses to him, and he plans on killing and reviving the Justice League over and over again.
  • For J'onn, it's the Imperium threatening and killing his family and the Justice League, lambasting him for poisoning them and making it clear they will raze Earth as well.