Anderson: Time the fuck out. If we're doing this — and we are doing this — I'm not gonna come swinging at Dracula. I'm killing Alucard!
Dracula: ... you do know that it's just my name spelled backward—
Anderson: Of course I do! Shut up and bring him out!
Dracula: ... you do know that it's just my name spelled backward—
Anderson: Of course I do! Shut up and bring him out!
A Sdrawkcab Name commonly used by vampires that is definitely a Name to Run Away from Really Fast. It is also something of a Shout-Out to arguably the most famous vampire of all time.
When Alucard is Dracula, this is a subtrope of Sdrawkcab Alias. Otherwise, this is a subtrope of Sdrawkcab Name. Commonly, the Alucard turns out to be Dracula's son, though it's just as likely that Alucard and Dracula are not relatives.
Compare and contrast Louis Cypher where other dark creatures use similarly witty aliases and Hugh Mann where the creature posing as human also has a Paper-Thin Disguise. Related to Most Definitely Not a Villain and, on the other side, tropes like Steven Ulysses Perhero.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Hellsing's protagonist. He's the Dracula. Him taking the name of Alucard is said to be a name given to him by a former Hellsing leader, specifically Arthur Hellsing, Integra's father.
- The hero of Master Of Mosquiton is Alucard Von Mosquiton.
- In Mugen Shinshi, Alucard is the name of the title character's old butler. Unsurprisingly, it's revealed he comes from Transylvania and has some vampiric blood. Given that Hellsing author Kota Hirano is a fan of this work, it is likely it inspired his own Alucard.
- There is an Alucard present in Rosario + Vampire, though he is a massive, tentacled monstrosity that used to be a vampire before his immense power and hatred turned him into what he is now. His intelligent side was cloned into Miyabi Fujisaki, a.k.a. The Masked King.
Card Games
- The Yu-Gi-Oh! card game has Ghostrick Alucard,
who's a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire.
Comic Books
- In a sixties Gold Key Comics Daffy Duck comic, "Daffy Duck Meets Duckula" (no connection to the later Count Duckula beyond the obvious), the vampire duck initially introduces himself as "Count Alukcud".
- The bizarre Dell Comics superhero version of Dracula uses "Aloyisius Ulysses Card" as his secret identity.
- A story with Mickey Mouse as a Hard Boiled Detective has him encounter a mysterious couple calling themselves "Alucard". They turn out to be the descendants of the real Count Dracula, who, unlike the real real "Dracula", was a perfectly nice and ordinary guy who got a bad reputation for convoluted reasons involving an illness that caused vulnerability to sunlight and his efforts to cure it.
- Issue #25 (Gold Key) of Scooby-Doo dealt with a mayoral candidate being haunted by the ghost of Dracula. He's trying to scare the candidate out of the race under the supposition that he is kin to the Dracula bloodline as his name is "Ladacur," an anagram for the name.
Fan Works
- In Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, there's a slight distinction between Dracula and Alucard, even though they are the same person. Dracula is polite, friendly, erudite, and incredibly, monstrously cruel, while Alucard is a cheerful, petty, sex-crazed Troll who delights in screwing with people. It's a plot point that almost none of their enemies worked this out until the climax, and the ones who did are mildly embarrassed it took them so long to figure it out.
- According to The Parselmouth of Gryffindor, Dracula was one of Hogwarts's many evil Defence Professors a few years before the story begins. He went by Professor Vladimir Alucard (and chalked up his sunlight-intolerance to a "rare skin condition").
Film — Animation
- In the animated Batman movie The Batman vs. Dracula, Dracula uses the false identity of "Dr. Alucard, anthropologist". It doesn't take that long for Bruce Wayne to see through this not-too-subtle disguise. Bruce reveals the truth to Alfred (and the audience) by writing "ALUCARD" with backwards letters on a serving tray and holding it up to a mirror, the only reason the disguise worked as long as it did was simply because up to this point Bruce simply didn't know he was dealing with Dracula at the time.
Film — Live-Action
- In the Mexican film Alucarda, which combines Satanism with vampirism and homosexuality, the protagonist is an orphan of the same name, however she has no relationship with Dracula and in fact the whole plot is more similar to that of the novel Carmilla.
- The prologue depicts Alucarda's birth to Lucy Westenra, suggesting that she is Dracula's daughter. Later in the film she finds and opens Lucy's casket.
- In the Hammer Horror film Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), Dracula's minion is called Johnny Alucard. Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) notices the anagram only by writing it and drawing lines.
- In The Monster Squad, a kid sees Alucard's name on a post-it note on his parents' refrigerator and plays with the letters until he gets Dracula.
- In Santo en El Tesoro de Drácula, the count's reputation precedes him even in 19th century Mexico, so he introduces himself as "El Conde Alucard."
- The original use of "Alucard" as a vampire's alias was in the 1943 film Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. It hits Unbuilt Trope territory in that every character in the movie figures out the obvious nature of the alias immediately.
- In Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Count Mardulak's name sounds fairly similar to Dracula, and he is indeed the original Dracula with an alias but he's actually the Big Good of the movie.
Literature
- The title character in the Anno Dracula novel Johnny Alucard, who by the end of the book has become the new Dracula.
- In Dracula, Go Home by Kin Platt, the villain uses several aliases that are turn out to be anagrams of Dracula, including Alucard.
- The Last Vampire by Willis Hall has a Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire descendant of Dracula who goes by "Count Alucard".
- In The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker, there's a vampiric, bat-like demon named Alucard. He's said to be the inspiration for the Dracula legend.
- Alluded to in Thud!—Vimes intercepts secret messages by someone named "Aicalas," just after caving into pressure to allow a vampire named Salacia onto the Watch. He wonders why vampires always think that they can get away with that trope.
Live-Action TV
- In the Dracula The Series TV series, Dracula went by the name of Alexander Lucard.
- A vampire named "Alucard" also shows up on Wizards of Waverly Place.
Music
- Gentle Giant recorded a song entitled "Alucard", with cryptic lyrics that presumably refer to Dracula.
- Tech N9ne has a track called "Alucard" on his Seepage EP. The track is a Boastful Rap detailing exactly why Tech has managed to outlast other rappers, likening his staying power as an artist to a vampire's immortality. The rap ends with Tech shouting "A-L-U-C-A-R-D/Read it backwards!"
Video Games
- Castlevania
- The protagonist of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, who first appeared in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. His real name is Adrian Fahrenheits Tepes, and "Alucard" is an alias he took up to show that he stood opposed to his father.
- In the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow canon, Alucard is actually Trevor Belmont. The name "Alucard" is a pseudonym that Dracula gives to him after he dies by his hand. Dracula (who in this continuity is Gabriel Belmont, Trevor's father) chose it as Trevor had stated that they were "opposites", and he never actually learned Trevor's name before he died.
- There's a vampire named "Alucard" in the top-down shooter Gunbird II...
- There is a text adventure game for the ZX Spectrum called Merlock the Mede: The Ashes of Alucard.
- BlazBlue brings us Rachel Alucard, a vampiric Elegant Gothic Lolita who has only ever bitten one person.
- Played with in the Fan Remake of King's Quest II, where a vampiric count is called Caldaur.
- Downplayed with Alucard from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. He is not a vampire or related to one, however, he is a Demon Hunter that most likely hunted down vampire creatures and his skills has life steal built in to emulate vampires. Additionally, he gets inhuman power from his corrupted right hand. He does have an alternate skin to evoke Count Dracula though.
Webcomics
- Occurs in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja with the real Dracula. Doc thinks that Ben Franklin's a moron to fall for that name, complete with Head Desk reaction. He later notes that Dracula's use of his most obvious pseudonym was most likely to ensure they went looking for him.
- In the webcomic Eerie Cuties, teen vampire Layla Delacroix has the middle name Alucardia.
Web Original
- In Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, no real explanation is given for why Alucard uses the name, unlike the original manga and OVAs. However, it is shown that they are almost entirely different personae. And according to The Major and The Doctor, no one is even able to put two and two together that Alucard is Dracula without serious effort.
The Major: It's kind of hilarious in a mundane vay, isn't it?Maxwell: NO NO NO NO NO!The Doctor: What is, Herr Major?Maxwell: NO NO NO NO NO!The Major: That none of zese vhaffle-munchers ever put it together that "Alucard" backwards is—Maxwell: DRACULAAAAAAAAA!The Doctor: To be fair, how long did it take for us to figure that out?The Major: A fair point, but we were very busy planning World War Threeeeee~!
- Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do in an RPG
Western Animation
- Castlevania (2017) naturally features Alucard as a major character. His alias seems to have been given to him by the people of Wallachia, and Alucard notes that his mother Lisa never liked it.
Alucard: Alucard they called me. The opposite of you. Mother never liked that, did you know that? She hated the idea that I might define my self by you, even in opposition to you. She loved us both, enough that she wanted us to be our own people, living our own lives, making our own choices. And so here I am. Choosing to honor my mother by killing my father. No longer Adrian Tepes, choosing to be Alucard of Wallachia. The name of my mother's people. I'm sorry, mother.
- Van-Pires: In "A Car Is Born", Tracula (the leader of the titular fuel-suckers) decides to create himself an heir from spare car parts. Said heir ends up being named Alucart, which is not only a car-themed pun on "Alucard" but an actual reversal of Tracula's name.
