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!'''WARNING:''' Dracula is a WalkingSpoiler due to his role as FinalBoss or/and GreaterScopeVillain. Thus, this is a Administrivia/SpoilersOff page that'll spoil each and every installment in the main continuity, starting with the character description right below. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
[[center: [- [[Characters/{{Castlevania}} Main Character Index]] > '''Dracula'''-]]]
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!!!'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Hiroya Ishimaru (''Rondo of Blood''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (most games starting with ''Symphony of the Night''), Nobuhiko Kazama (''Lament of Innocence''), Creator/HikaruMidorikawa (''Dawn of Sorrow''), Mahito Ōba (''Curse of Darkness''), Creator/JojiNakata (''Judgment'')
!!!'''Voiced by (English):''' Wornell Jones (Perfect Selection Dracula album, Beginning track), Michael Guinn (''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64''), Harald Gjerd (''Castlevania 64'' as Malus), Creator/CrispinFreeman (''Lament of Innocence''), Douglas Rye (''Curse of Darkness''), Tom Wyner (''Portrait of Ruin''), Creator/PatrickSeitz (''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The Dracula X Chronicles]]'' and onwards), Charles Glover (''Castlevania: The Arcade''), Ric Dorr (Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album, Vampire Killer track)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dracula_symphony_of_the_night.png]]
->''"Ha! Mankind. [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters A cesspit of hatred and lies]]. Fight for them, then, and die for their sins!"''
Good ol' {{Dracula}}, Lord of the Vampires you all know. While he originally started out as UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, a typo of his age in an instructional manual led to him being much older. Before he became Dracula, he was Mathias Cronqvist -- [[TheStrategist a genius war strategist]] from the Middle Ages. After his wife Elisabetha died while he was fighting in the crusades, he suffered a crisis of faith and decided that {{God}} was at fault for his wife's death. Mathias used his friend Leon Belmont to steal the soul of a powerful vampire named Walter Bernhard with the Crimson Stone, gaining the allegiance of Death. He reveals that he had forsaken {{God}}, who took away his wife, and will continue to curse Him for eternity. He retreats and changes his name to Vlad Tepes, while Leon swears that he and his family will dedicate themselves to his destruction.
He found a second chance at redemption after meeting a woman named Lisa. They bonded and Lisa gave birth to [[{{Dhampyr}} half-vampire]] Adrian F. Tepes aka {{Alucard}}. Unfortunately, Lisa ended up crucified for practicing medicine. Dracula snapped, declared that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and [[KillAllHumans decided to wage war against the world]], and [[RageAgainstTheHeavens God himself]]. Thankfully for humanity, Leon's oath lasted throughout the centuries, and the Belmont Clan (with assistance from the Morris and Belnades families on occasion) have thwarted his undead armies every time.
Dracula's reign as the lord of Castlevania finally came to an end in the year 1999, when an alliance of various world armies, aided by the Catholic Church and the Hakuba Shinto shrine, succeeded in sealing Dracula away from his castle (the source of his power), with Julius Belmont finishing him off. At the moment, this has not been actually depicted in any game, possibly due to being entirely too awesome to do justice to.\\\
In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he is reincarnated as Soma Cruz, who unsurprisingly doesn't want to fulfill his destiny. With the help of Alucard and others, his fate is successfully averted. [[NighInvulnerability Of course, that hasn't stopped him in the least.]] He '''''always''''' finds a way to [[BackFromTheDead come back]], [[WhyWontYouDie no matter]] [[JokerImmunity what]]. It's gotten to the point where people see him as a god, or something of a god, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by him in ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''.
[[SelfDemonstrating/{{DraculaVladTepes}} He also now has his own Self-Demonstrating page.]]
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* AdaptationalBadass: The original novel character that Dracula is based off of was a powerful supernatural threat to be sure, with control over animals and the weather, but he was still just a vampire whose armies consisted of Romani villagers, a small harem of vampire women and Renfield. ''Castlevania'''s Dracula on the other hand holds command over a massive army of demons and monsters that threaten the human race, has a carnival's collection of OneWingedAngel forms that he could take on, has access to both holy and unholy magic, and is said to resurrect every 100 years whenever he is killed.[[note]]That last part was deemed an inaccurate folktale in ''Anniversary Collection'', hence why the occasional early happens.[[/note]] Later games of the series would elaborate that he is the earthly envoy of TheAntiGod Chaos, making him the setting equivalent of TheAntiChrist and an [[AdaptationalAbomination otherworldly beast of unfathomable horror]] in his own right.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
* AdaptationalSympathy: The original Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel (or even the Universal adaptations that the games are inspired by) is a [[TheSociopath cold-blooded psychopath]] who actively enjoys the atrocities he commits and is given no deeper reason for his actions beyond his love of cruelty and power. This version of Dracula, by contrast, was DrivenToVillainy through a series of traumatic events, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves his family]], and is ultimately [[TragicVillain deeply unhappy with the life he's chosen]].
* AffablyEvil: He might be the lord of darkness, but he tends to be fairly formal with his enemies, if a bit smug, and he genuinely loves his son and late wives.
* AlasPoorVillain: Dracula's defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'' is unusually sympathetic, as he expresses genuine remorse, laments his lost love, and asks her to forgive him. Grimoire of Souls reveals that ''even though he doesn't really want to'', he is unable to truly rest in peace, as his DealWithTheDevil is permanent, and he is seemingly forever stuck as the embodiment of humanity's capacity for malice. Unless humanity is completely purified of it's darkness, which is technically impossible, Dracula ''will'' keep coming back, meaning he can never truly be together with Lisa.
* TheAntiChrist: This is what Dracula is, despite being described as God's opposite. Dracula serves as the focus for physical connection for all of the evil in the hearts of man. In actuality, it's the force of Chaos created by human evil and linked to Hell that makes him Dracula. It is implied that only he (or his reincarnation) can truly sit in the Dark Lord's throne, no matter what many {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s have to say.
* TheAntiGod: According to ''Aria'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he's the EvilCounterpart to {{God}} himself. Although in this case it's implied that he's a foil to God and necessary as the focus of earthly evil. He isn't God's equal so much as the other half of the important equation between Good and Evil.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of Evil. More importantly, he is more or less the incarnation of TheAntiGod Chaos, an EldritchAbomination born from every flaw of the universe, who fulfils a cosmic role but seems to lack sentience and needs him to manifest on the Earthly Planes
* ArchEnemy: To the Belmont Clan and Alucard, and to an extent, Sara Trantoul (aka the Vampire Killer).
* ArchnemesisDad: Starting from ''Symphony of the Night'', he's antagonistic towards Alucard, his hybrid son that he sired through his dead wife, Lisa.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: He loves to give this kind of speech after his defeats. He's right, too. Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Recites Matthew 16:26 after his defeat at the end of Symphony of the Night ([[{{Woolseyism}} in the original PS1 localization at least]]) despite essentially being TheAntiChrist in terms of motivation.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: In the 2D games, almost all of his non-OneWingedAngel forms can only be damaged by [[BoomHeadshot hitting his head]]. Possibly a reference to how [[FridgeBrilliance classic vampires must be decapitated before they can be properly killed.]]
%%* BackFromTheDead: To the point of JokerImmunity.
* BadassCape: Most games, he wears a stereotypical [[HighCollarOfDoom high-collared vampire cape]], though he has alternated with a BadassLongcoat.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Dracula is the Dark Lord, a mandatory position that serves as the balance to {{God}} on Earth.
* BigBad: He plays the part for the series as a whole. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
* BigBadFriend: ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' is one big BatmanGambit by [[TreacherousAdvisor Mathias]], [[TheChessmaster manipulating]] [[UnwittingPawn everyone]] from Leon to Sara to Rinaldo to Walter so that he can obtain the power he needs in his fanatical battle against a God [[GodIsEvil he believes to be wicked.]]
* BlasphemousBoast: He gives quite a nice one before the FinalBattle of ''The Arcade''. Made all the nicer in that he has the power to back it up.
-->'''Dracula:''' "You should bear that in mind. God is unable to help the souls of those terminated by my hand!"
* BondOneLiner: Can give a few if he wins the FinalBattle.
--> '''In ''Curse of Darkness''''': "You die by my hand. You should be honored."
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "[[PitifulWorms Insect]]. Did you forget who I am?"
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "Grovel in the dirt like the WORM you are!!"
* BoomerangBigot: He despises humans even though (or because) he used to be one and is guilty of everything he accuses his former fellow men of.
* BreakoutCharacter: He's the most consistent presence in the series and has gained the most dimension. In the "Lords of Shadow" continuity, they just dropped the pretense and straight-up made him the main character.
* CardCarryingVillain: When yet another Belmont or their ally shows up at his throne room yet again, Dracula tends to appear with wine glass in hand or with a classy reservation for what's to unfold, knowing he's evil and they're the hero so he banters about their causes before commencing the fight. He may be a GodOfEvil, but he's not going to be inelegant about it.
* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order of Ecclesia'', he offers her a chance to rule by his side for eternity. It's never worked. In all of his centuries on this earth, he's only ever managed to woo two women, and one's implied to be the previous woman reincarnated.
* TheChessmaster: You can always expect him to have plans set into motion, even when he's not at full power or not even around in the first place. Usually to plan his return or a way to expand his influence. This makes a lot more sense when he used to be an actual war strategist when he was human.
** His DyingCurse in ''Curse of Darkness'' ensures that Transylvania remains a CrapsackWorld with his influence intact, with or without him, and that it cannot be lifted even by killing him again. He plays the same gambit again in ''Simon's Quest'', but makes sure that his victorious opponent is targeted as well, hoping to get rid of the only line able to oppose him and to have a world ripe for taking over when he eventually returns.
** In ''Belmont's Revenge'', he fakes his death and waits for the son of his nemesis to come of age to capture and corrupt him, turning his foes into an asset, and uses four castles as a diversion.
** In ''Bloodlines'', he leaves his usual domain and takes profit of the chaos of World War One (orchestrated by his niece because being TheChessmaster runs in the family), to expand his influence all over Europe and establishes a bastion of evil in many countries.
** ''Castlevania 64'' offers one of his best plans to date, involving HiddenInPlainSight, MasterActor, a PuppetKing, and a hefty dose of XanatosSpeedChess on the side. He has a servant posing as him as a decoy, while he uses the aspect of the child he was reincarnated into to pose as a captive who gets corrupted. He plans to go back with the hero after their job is apparently done to backstab them when the time is right, or in the GoldenEnding crush them when his full power returns, and make it look like he was possessed at the last minute when they defeat him.
* ClassyCravat: Because he's WickedCultured.
* CreepyChild: As Malus in ''Castlevania [=N64=]''.
* CrusadingWidower: Whenever his wife or girlfriend is murdered or dies, and he believes that someone is responsible, he will FreakOut, turn evil, and start slaughtering people.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Looks different in almost every single game, which is perhaps justified if you consider his appearances to be "incarnations". Sometimes the ''same artist'' may design him in different ways; Ayami Kojima drew him differently in Chronicles, Symphony of the Night, and Dracula X Chronicles, even though those last two have have some overlapping story scenes (i.e. Richter's battle against Dracula). And don't even get us ''started'' on his transformations.
* DependingOnTheWriter: How evil and twisted Dracula is varies from game to game. In some cases, he's petty enough to kidnap people just to be a dick and other times cruel enough to slaughter the entire countryside for the hell of it, while in certain games he's AffablyEvil and potentially even a downright PunchClockVillain. While a few games do give him sympathetic points, however, he is still the lord of darkness through and through. Part of this seems to stem from just how spontaneous [[BackFromTheDead yet another revival]] may be, while other scenarios seem to genuinely be a case of MotiveDecay and basking in being a monster simply because he ''is''.
** One case of this is in the ''64'' titles, which are implied to be a fair bit of BroadStrokes on the continuity. There, he plays a more elaborate ruse than usual by hiding away as the young boy Malus and letting everyone pick each other off instead. Despite the main continuity having his two wives be much of the cause of Dracula's extreme vengeance, this version doesn't seem to think about that at all, considering the Bad Ending has him forcibly entrap Carrie into a future marriage, either for her soul or her Bernades lineage.
* {{Determinator}}: No matter how many times Vampire Hunters, Witches, and even his own son blow through his castle and kill him, he just will not stay dead and will continue with his war on humanity every time without ever giving up on it.
* DimensionLord:
** His existence as a Dark Lord is what maintains the [[{{Hell}} Abyss]], a realm consisting of 6 separate hells filled with tortured souls he uses to create the monsters that populate his castle.
** The Chaotic Realm is the twisted, eldritch dimension made of pretty much every flaw of Creation, from which he comes from and where his essence returns when he is destroyed. It is the home of the Entity who annointed him/is incarnated in him, it is not very clear.
** His [[ChaosArchitecture castle itself]] can also qualify as its own dimension, as it's a symbol of not only Dracula's will, but the chaos within humanity itself.
* DirtyCoward: As Mathias, he was willing to let Walter kidnap Sara and direct his best friend Leon's failed rescue because he knew he couldn't take on the vampire lord himself. Even after becoming a vampire, he sicced Death on Leon rather than risk a fight with him. He seems to have grown out of this over the years, being willing to personally take on the heroes who wield the Vampire Killer.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind:
** When he was still mortal in ''Lament of Innocence'', he was only mentioned a handful of times and explicitly stated to be bedridden with grief following the death of his first wife. After Walter is defeated, he appears and reveals that he orchestrated the game's entire plot and played everyone like a harp, all so he could become a vampire as revenge against God for allowing her to die after devoting his life to serving Him.
-->'''Mathias''': If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!
** In ''Castlevania 64'', he masquerades as the boy the hero comes to see as a little brother.
* {{Dracula}}: You don't say!
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely loved both of his wives, and although Alucard has all but disowned him as a father, Dracula still holds a place in his hardened heart for his son. In fact, it is also implied that the death of his wives (the latter wife via [[BurnTheWitch witch-burning]]) was also [[FreudianExcuse the reason]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds why he even became evil]].
* EternalVillain: Dracula will '''always''' resurrect, and no hero can keep him away for too long. In ''Grimoire of Souls'' he is even brought back [[BeyondTheImpossible AFTER being killed for good and reincarnated, by infusing his essence into a materialized echo of him from the past.]]
* EvilIsBurningHot: He is generally associated with fire, especially his trademark triple fireball.
* EvilGenius: He was a genius scholar and tactician even before becoming a vampire, and he certainly did not lose it.
* EvilLaugh: Tends to do this a lot when he's fought in his first form.
* EvilOverlord: One of gaming's biggest examples. "Dark Lord" (alternatively "Lord of Darkness" or "King of the Night" among other variations) is his official title and occupation, even.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He's usually given a pretty deep voice. As Mathias, it was a low voice.
* EvilSoundsRaspy: As portrayed by Creator/NorioWakamoto in ''Symphony of the Night''.
* FaithHeelTurn: When Elisabetha died while Mathias was out fighting in the Crusades, the grief-stricken man didn't take this well. With the progression of time, his renouncement of God [[RageAgainstTheHeavens escalated to new heights]].
* FallenHero: Mathias was once a respected scientist and hero from the Crusades. Then his wife died and he started to RageAgainstTheHeavens...
* FamilialFoe: Hunting monsters is the Belmont family hat, and each game features a Belmont taking on Dracula with the help of various allies.
* FinalBoss: It would be easier to count how many games ''don't'' have him as this.
* FlamingMeteor: His Dark Inferno attack, where he sends out several small meteors from his cape.
* {{Foil}}: To the entire Belmont Clan. While each of its members is able to overcome the tragedies that befall them and their loved ones, Dracula threw a diabolical tantrum when his wife died and continues to besiege humanity because he just can't get over her (and Lisa's) death.
** He is also this to {{God}}, which he is explicitly stated in the series to be a counter to. God is the all-powerful creator of the universe who is the ultimate force for good and by nature loves all and brings life. Dracula, on the other hand, is essentially a DeityOfHumanOrigin who was once a mortal and flawed human being, willingly turned his back on the light, loves very few and hates most, and brings death and destruction while basically being nothing more than a pawn in the balance between good and evil empowered by the evil of humanity reinforced by the stygian powers of hell. It's even implied that for all of his hate and bitterness towards God, he is [[NecessarilyEvil still serving God]] by being an example of how far a man can fall and a warning as to what happens when you forsake everything for power and vengeance.
* FreudianExcuse: His first wife Elisabetha died of unknown circumstances while he was away fighting in the Crusades, stoking his rage against God for abandoning him. When he married Lisa, she was later apprehended and executed by witch hunters for practicing witchcraft, even though she was only making medicine to cure plague victims. Is it any wonder Dracula became such a monster?
* FurAndLoathing: In ''Lament of Innocence'', back when he was human, he wore a white/black fur mantle. He wasn't evil at first, but after his first wife died, the rest was history.
* AGlassOfChianti: Naturally the vampire-specific version, A Glass Of Blood. He'll often toss the glass and let it shatter on the floor just before he rises from his throne to whoop ass.
* GodOfEvil: Not literally, but he certainly functioned as this for a straight millennium. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' reveals that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil dictates that he is the ''evil opposite of God'', and that if Dracula is no longer the Dark Lord that exists to oppose God, someone will take his place.
* GoodHairEvilHair: When it is not slicked back, it's usually [[MessyHair not combed]].
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Freshly revived and not having a patience for a would-be opponent like Shanoa taking him on in ''Order of Ecclesia'', his second phase drops the familiar fireballs and teleports in favor of straight up unfurling his cloak, breaking into an UnflinchingWalk and ''beating the shit out of her with his bare hands.''
* GreaterScopeVillain: In many of the games, Dracula isn't an active threat until very late in the game, assuming he directly shows up at all. However, that doesn't mean people wanting to revive him won't step in for him.
* HannibalLecture: Gives one in the Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album.
* HeelRealization: After Alucard defeats him in ''Symphony of the Night'', he asked what Lisa's last words were, and Alucard told him while humans are flawed, don't seek vengeance against them. Hearing this makes him realized he acted against the wishes of his second wife, and apologizes to her before dying. [[ChronicVillainy Unfortunately, this doesn't stick after the events of SOTN]].
* {{Hellfire}}: His most iconic attack.
* HijackedByGanon: Happens fairly often. After all, it cannot really be a ''Castlevania'' without a mano a mano against him at the end. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' are some examples.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He's partially responsible for the creation of the Vampire Killer whip and because he failed to slay Leon at the very beginning of his feud with the Belmonts, it's the primary weapon that has felled him time and time again.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: His rationale for destroying humanity. He's not entirely wrong, since humans wrongfully condemned his second wife for practicing witchcraft when she was only trying to ''cure plague victims''.
-->'''Dracula''': "Your own kind called me forth with praise and tribute."
* HumanoidAbomination: In this series, he's really much more this than a standard vampire. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', it's confirmed that he's literally ''the opposite of {{God}}''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Perhaps Dracula's most defining flaw. He is very quick to call out humanity for being violent and petty, but is himself causing mass destruction and death purely out of hateful spite. A lot of characters in the franchise lampshade Dracula's hypocrisy, [[CallingTheOldManOut especially Alucard]].
* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite his HeelRealization in ''Symphony Of The Night'', he's unable to let go of his anger and would return again and again until he's finally put to rest in 1999. A bit of a ForegoneConclusion since ''Bloodlines'' was already released at this point and took place after ''Symphony'' timeline-wise.
* JiveTurkey: Courtesy of the ''Perfect Selection'' album, with his opening lines ending with a nice "Awwww Yeah!".
* JokerImmunity: No matter how often he's killed, he seems to always come back. The final battle in 1999? The one where he was killed so thoroughly he reincarnated? Grimoire of Souls shows that if all his energy and echoes of his past are gathered in one place, he can ''still be brought back from that''.
* KilledOffForReal: Dracula's soul was finally put to rest when an alliance of vampire hunters sealed away Castlevania in 1999, letting Julius Belmont permanently kill him. With Dracula's soul released from the evil that had empowered it, it reentered the wheel of reincarnation and was [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnated as Soma Cruz]].
* LargeHam: Just look at some of his quotes! The Japanese voice track in particular has him be voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, the king of hammy ''seiyuu''.
--> '''Dracula''': "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!"
** Mathias was EvilIsHammy, managing to be composed, even while cementing himself as a MagnificentBastard. All bets were off once he became Dracula.
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** He manipulated Walter into kidnapping Sara, the betrothed of his own friend Leon, in the hopes that the warrior would be able to defeat Walter for him. Leon succeeded when Sara sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer, the very weapon that would be the bane of Dracula's own existence.
** In a more twisted case, after sending Leon's beloved Sara to her doom, he tried to settle down with a new wife, Lisa. She was hunted down and killed, costing him the happy life he stole from Leon and Sara.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** "Dance of Illusions"/"Illusionary Dance" has become the iconic song for the battle with Dracula, having been used in ''Rondo of Blood'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX Dracula X]]'', ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64'', ''Legacy of Darkness'', ''Circle of the Moon'', ''Judgment'', and ''Harmony of Despair''. It even shows up in Julius Mode of ''Dawn of Sorrow'', when you have to face [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Soma as the new Dark Lord]] in a battle almost directly lifted from [[CallBack earlier battles with Drac]].
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', he'll use "Nothing to Lose" and "Black Night" for each respective phase during boss fights against him in the ''World of Light'', and in Classic Mode as Luigi, Simon, and Sephiroth. Richter's Classic Mode continues the use of "Dance of Illusions" as a CallBack to ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''. When fighting him as Pac-Man however, he uses the original Famicom Disk System arrangement of "Dwelling of Doom".
* LoadBearingBoss: Once he's defeated, the whole Castle comes down with him. Justified in that the Castle is linked to him and depends on his evil power to exist in the first place.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He was this as a human.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lost two wives; one to sickness, the other to witch hunters. [[UnstoppableRage He did not take this well]]. In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', [[HistoryRepeats It also might happen again]], depending on whether Soma outlives Mina, and Mina's apparent murder is the trigger for his bad ending in ''Dawn''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-Z]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He is said to manipulate those who want to KillAllHumans as much as he does. And he has a knack for exploiting the darkest side of his foes to manipulate and corrupt even those who can resist his evil influence.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He's the page image.
* MisanthropeSupreme: [[CynicismCatalyst Elisabetha's death]] drove him to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens hate God]]. [[CartwrightCurse Lisa's death]] drove him to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters hate man]] as well. No wonder the closest thing he has to a friend is [[TheGrimReaper Death]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Realizes he inadvertently denied Lisa her final wish by seeking revenge on mankind for her death when Alucard reveals that her final words had been to forgive humanity for their actions. Unfortunately, he isn't able to let go of his hate, and the next time he returns he's still the same old bastard.
* MotiveDecay: Some games have him seeking vengeance for his wives, and others will have him making elaborate plots just to undermine and eliminate the Belmont lineage. Other games will simply have him at the end because [[JokerImmunity he's not truly killable]] and he decides to pick a fight with whatever hero stumbled into stopping him this time. He still always wants to cause carnage and mayhem, but that's simply [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil in his nature]], and how much he decays tends to depend on how frequently he revives and/or how quickly he is confronted after his revival.
* NotMeThisTime: He doesn't appear in ''Harmony of Dissonance'', but his power does as "Dracula Wraith".
* NumberOfTheBeast: He tends to have 6,666 HP in Metroidvania games.
* OneToMillionToOne: Another depiction of his TeleportSpam, where he splits into several bats and reforms in a different location.
* OneWingedAngel: Most of the time since the first game. He drops it a few times here and there, notably in ''Order of Ecclesia'', but still hellishly tough. Some of said games, it just gets replaced with TurnsRed (''[=OoE=]'' included, though it's more of a Unfurls Cape and Gets Belmont-Trademarked Pimp Walk). It's gotten to such a ''ridiculous'' number that a full list of them can be found [[http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/morphs.htm here.]] Occasionally becomes BishonenLine.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Despite being the leader of of a massive demonic army, Dracula never ''ever'' fights on the frontlines, opting to stay in his castle until someone inevitably comes to challenge him. Given how long it typically takes to reach his throne room, one has to wonder what he does in his spare time.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: ''Really'' different, seeing as how he's more like {{Satan}} than anything else.
* PhysicalGod: Since he draws his power from Chaos itself, he can be considered one. He can transform into demonic forms with godly powers when he unleashes his full might.
* PlayingWithFire: His trademark form of attack, either with a flurry of smaller fireballs, pillars of flame, or a shorter series of larger fireballs.
* PointyEars: Most of the concept art depicts him with pointy ears.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Gives a few good ones, usually before going OneWingedAngel. Usually a variation of "playtime is over" or "behold my true form", but there are some more imaginative. His most famous by far is the Memetic "Enough talk, have at you!" from ''Symphony of the Night'', retranslated in the page quote above.
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': (after the FinalBoss says he comes from 10000 years in the future) "Of course! And your next stop, oblivion."
* PrettyInMink:
** As Mathias in ''Lament of Innocence. Unfortunately, [[FurAndLoathing he became evil]] later on.
** His reincarnation Soma rocks a fur coat in ''Aria'' too.
* PublicDomainCharacter: One of the oldest.
* PuppyLove: Exploits this in the bad ending of ''Castlevania 64'', where in the guise of the innocent child Malus, he pesters (actual child) Carrie Belnades to promise to marry him when grown up. When she vaguely accepts, he ominously states "Then we have a binding contract...".
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: His will to live forever is a big ol' TakeThat towards God's decree of limited human life... Though in the end even that is turned against him.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The {{Big Bad}} of the series, and he's usually garbed in this.
* ReincarnationRomance: It's heavily implied that Lisa is the reincarnation of Elisabetha. The implications even extend to Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba, who's suggested to be the next incarnation of these two women (similar to how Soma is Mathias/Dracula), much like Mina Harker ([[ShoutOutThemeNaming note the similar-sounding surnames]]) from ''Film/BramStokersDracula''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Dracula is resurrected in most of the games, the better for the player to have someone to fight. The exact methods vary.
* {{Retcon}}: All indications suggest that Castlevania's Dracula was originally intended to be Vlad Tepes Dracula, as ''Dracula's Curse'' is the first time Dracula is fought and the game takes place in 1476, which is when the real Tepes died. Alucard also laments over killing his father, something he probably wouldn't do if he knew his father was just going to come back in a hundred years. But then someone screwed up Dracula's age in the ''Symphony of the Night'' manual, IGA decided to just run with it, and ''Lament of Innocence'' was produced.
* SatanicArchetype: The games treat Dracula as a stand-in for the devil.
* SealedEvilInASixPack: In various games, old Vlad is resurrected when you assemble (some of) his body parts or possessions which contain pieces of his essence, which are usually held by various bosses and grant the holder various attributes (such as improved stats, immunity to poison or curses etc), namely his Eye, Rib, Bone, Nail, Tooth/Fang and/or his Ring.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Every time a Belmont encounters Dracula, he's usually slumped over his thrones as if he's gone bored.
* SympathyForTheDevil: In ''Symphony of the Night'', we learn Dracula's motivations for evil stem from his wife Lisa being burned at the stake for ''practicing medicine''. ''Lament of Innocence'' reveals his first wife Elisabetha also died, which also motivated him to evil.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: As Mathias. As Dracula, his appearance varies from game to game, going from a young man (as seen in Rondo of Blood), middle-aged with dark hair, to old and grey. While not the {{Bishonen}} Mathias is, Dracula is more often than not quite dashing. As of ''Symphony of the Night'', Dracula's standard appearance is usually that of an older, moustachioed Alucard.
* TeleportSpam: A staple of all of his fights, with his depictions from ''Super Castlevania IV'' onwards having him disappear in a beam of light.
* ThisCannotBe: Many times when he's defeated.
* ThroneRoomThrowdown: He's traditionally fought in the throne room at the top of his castle. A few exceptions exist, such as in ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Circle of the Moon'', and ''Harmony of Dissonance'', where you fight him in the center of the castle instead.
* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet: But enough talk, [[LargeHam HAVE AT YOU!]]
* TragicVillain: Dracula can be interpreted this way. The whole reason he became a villain in the first place was because he lost his wife, and then he loses his ''second'' wife, bringing him to a DespairEventHorizon.
* TheTrickster: As Mathias, he fooled Leon so he could get the Crimson Stone and become Dracula. Definitely a great example of a trickster.
* TrueFinalBoss: In several games, beginning with ''Symphony of the Night.''
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Despite his pretty much unbroken defeat streak to the forces of good, Dracula always seem to be confident in his supremacy, smugly [[OrcusOnHisThrone waiting at his throne]] while [[AGlassOfChianti sipping on some human juice]] as the hero-of-the-day (whom he never views as a WorthyOpponent) storms his castle and kills his henchmen one by one. There are some exceptions such as Rondo of Blood where he goes out of his way to attack Richter's village and sic Death on him on his way to the castle, but once that fails he still waits at his throne for Richter to inevitably come over and whip him back to the other world as many, many Belmonts before him did.
* UnholyHolySword: His strongest spell, the one hit kill [[FantasticNuke Demonic Megiddo]], is explicity stated to use ''holy flames.'' It still kills whoever he uses it on, be it Richter, Alucard, or Shanoa.
* UnknownRival: He became an earthbound demiurge to defy, spite, and hopefully defeat the deity he purports to be the antithesis of, but in a fitting twist of irony, God pays him little (if any) mind and Dracula is instead defeated and slain again and again by the descendants of the friends he betrayed to become a vampire.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Even as Dracula, he had a beautiful, loving wife (although it's very possible that [[FreakinessShame she saw the good in him]]). He also has a MadLove PsychoSupporter in the form of Carmilla, a fellow evil vampiress.
* VampireVords: Only in Portrait of Ruin, possibly as a way to pay homage to Bela Lugosi's original film portrayal of Dracula.
* VillainousBSOD: Implied to have suffered a massive one by his final defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'', when he learns Lisa's true last words.
* VillainTeleportation: And follows it right up with a triple fireball or a Dark Inferno.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Tempts Leon with the gift of immortality and the chance of serving as his right-hand man. Leon resists, Mathias sics Death on him. Also tries with his son Alucard, in the dialogue preceding the final boss battle Dracula states he will vanquish the human part within Alucard so his son can rule a world of darkness with his father, Dracula fails of course.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: In every game that portrays him with having white hair, he is this.
* WickedCultured: Dracula may be a bloodsucking monster, but he's always well-dressed, has exquisite taste in wine, and can quote the Bible verbatim off the top of his head.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: His main motivation for trying to ruin the world and go against God is because of his wife dying. Twice.
* YourSoulIsMine: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight He steals men's souls, and makes them his slaves!]]
[[/folder]]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{Castlevania}} Main Character Index]] > '''Dracula'''-]]]
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!!!'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Hiroya Ishimaru (''Rondo of Blood''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (most games starting with ''Symphony of the Night''), Nobuhiko Kazama (''Lament of Innocence''), Creator/HikaruMidorikawa (''Dawn of Sorrow''), Mahito Ōba (''Curse of Darkness''), Creator/JojiNakata (''Judgment'')
!!!'''Voiced by (English):''' Wornell Jones (Perfect Selection Dracula album, Beginning track), Michael Guinn (''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64''), Harald Gjerd (''Castlevania 64'' as Malus), Creator/CrispinFreeman (''Lament of Innocence''), Douglas Rye (''Curse of Darkness''), Tom Wyner (''Portrait of Ruin''), Creator/PatrickSeitz (''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The Dracula X Chronicles]]'' and onwards), Charles Glover (''Castlevania: The Arcade''), Ric Dorr (Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album, Vampire Killer track)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dracula_symphony_of_the_night.png]]
->''"Ha! Mankind. [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters A cesspit of hatred and lies]]. Fight for them, then, and die for their sins!"''
Good ol' {{Dracula}}, Lord of the Vampires you all know. While he originally started out as UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, a typo of his age in an instructional manual led to him being much older. Before he became Dracula, he was Mathias Cronqvist -- [[TheStrategist a genius war strategist]] from the Middle Ages. After his wife Elisabetha died while he was fighting in the crusades, he suffered a crisis of faith and decided that {{God}} was at fault for his wife's death. Mathias used his friend Leon Belmont to steal the soul of a powerful vampire named Walter Bernhard with the Crimson Stone, gaining the allegiance of Death. He reveals that he had forsaken {{God}}, who took away his wife, and will continue to curse Him for eternity. He retreats and changes his name to Vlad Tepes, while Leon swears that he and his family will dedicate themselves to his destruction.
He found a second chance at redemption after meeting a woman named Lisa. They bonded and Lisa gave birth to [[{{Dhampyr}} half-vampire]] Adrian F. Tepes aka {{Alucard}}. Unfortunately, Lisa ended up crucified for practicing medicine. Dracula snapped, declared that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and [[KillAllHumans decided to wage war against the world]], and [[RageAgainstTheHeavens God himself]]. Thankfully for humanity, Leon's oath lasted throughout the centuries, and the Belmont Clan (with assistance from the Morris and Belnades families on occasion) have thwarted his undead armies every time.
Dracula's reign as the lord of Castlevania finally came to an end in the year 1999, when an alliance of various world armies, aided by the Catholic Church and the Hakuba Shinto shrine, succeeded in sealing Dracula away from his castle (the source of his power), with Julius Belmont finishing him off. At the moment, this has not been actually depicted in any game, possibly due to being entirely too awesome to do justice to.\\\
In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he is reincarnated as Soma Cruz, who unsurprisingly doesn't want to fulfill his destiny. With the help of Alucard and others, his fate is successfully averted. [[NighInvulnerability Of course, that hasn't stopped him in the least.]] He '''''always''''' finds a way to [[BackFromTheDead come back]], [[WhyWontYouDie no matter]] [[JokerImmunity what]]. It's gotten to the point where people see him as a god, or something of a god, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by him in ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''.
[[SelfDemonstrating/{{DraculaVladTepes}} He also now has his own Self-Demonstrating page.]]
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[[folder:A-L]]
* AdaptationalBadass: The original novel character that Dracula is based off of was a powerful supernatural threat to be sure, with control over animals and the weather, but he was still just a vampire whose armies consisted of Romani villagers, a small harem of vampire women and Renfield. ''Castlevania'''s Dracula on the other hand holds command over a massive army of demons and monsters that threaten the human race, has a carnival's collection of OneWingedAngel forms that he could take on, has access to both holy and unholy magic, and is said to resurrect every 100 years whenever he is killed.[[note]]That last part was deemed an inaccurate folktale in ''Anniversary Collection'', hence why the occasional early happens.[[/note]] Later games of the series would elaborate that he is the earthly envoy of TheAntiGod Chaos, making him the setting equivalent of TheAntiChrist and an [[AdaptationalAbomination otherworldly beast of unfathomable horror]] in his own right.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
* AdaptationalSympathy: The original Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel (or even the Universal adaptations that the games are inspired by) is a [[TheSociopath cold-blooded psychopath]] who actively enjoys the atrocities he commits and is given no deeper reason for his actions beyond his love of cruelty and power. This version of Dracula, by contrast, was DrivenToVillainy through a series of traumatic events, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves his family]], and is ultimately [[TragicVillain deeply unhappy with the life he's chosen]].
* AffablyEvil: He might be the lord of darkness, but he tends to be fairly formal with his enemies, if a bit smug, and he genuinely loves his son and late wives.
* AlasPoorVillain: Dracula's defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'' is unusually sympathetic, as he expresses genuine remorse, laments his lost love, and asks her to forgive him. Grimoire of Souls reveals that ''even though he doesn't really want to'', he is unable to truly rest in peace, as his DealWithTheDevil is permanent, and he is seemingly forever stuck as the embodiment of humanity's capacity for malice. Unless humanity is completely purified of it's darkness, which is technically impossible, Dracula ''will'' keep coming back, meaning he can never truly be together with Lisa.
* TheAntiChrist: This is what Dracula is, despite being described as God's opposite. Dracula serves as the focus for physical connection for all of the evil in the hearts of man. In actuality, it's the force of Chaos created by human evil and linked to Hell that makes him Dracula. It is implied that only he (or his reincarnation) can truly sit in the Dark Lord's throne, no matter what many {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s have to say.
* TheAntiGod: According to ''Aria'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he's the EvilCounterpart to {{God}} himself. Although in this case it's implied that he's a foil to God and necessary as the focus of earthly evil. He isn't God's equal so much as the other half of the important equation between Good and Evil.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of Evil. More importantly, he is more or less the incarnation of TheAntiGod Chaos, an EldritchAbomination born from every flaw of the universe, who fulfils a cosmic role but seems to lack sentience and needs him to manifest on the Earthly Planes
* ArchEnemy: To the Belmont Clan and Alucard, and to an extent, Sara Trantoul (aka the Vampire Killer).
* ArchnemesisDad: Starting from ''Symphony of the Night'', he's antagonistic towards Alucard, his hybrid son that he sired through his dead wife, Lisa.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: He loves to give this kind of speech after his defeats. He's right, too. Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Recites Matthew 16:26 after his defeat at the end of Symphony of the Night ([[{{Woolseyism}} in the original PS1 localization at least]]) despite essentially being TheAntiChrist in terms of motivation.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: In the 2D games, almost all of his non-OneWingedAngel forms can only be damaged by [[BoomHeadshot hitting his head]]. Possibly a reference to how [[FridgeBrilliance classic vampires must be decapitated before they can be properly killed.]]
%%* BackFromTheDead: To the point of JokerImmunity.
* BadassCape: Most games, he wears a stereotypical [[HighCollarOfDoom high-collared vampire cape]], though he has alternated with a BadassLongcoat.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Dracula is the Dark Lord, a mandatory position that serves as the balance to {{God}} on Earth.
* BigBad: He plays the part for the series as a whole. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
* BigBadFriend: ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' is one big BatmanGambit by [[TreacherousAdvisor Mathias]], [[TheChessmaster manipulating]] [[UnwittingPawn everyone]] from Leon to Sara to Rinaldo to Walter so that he can obtain the power he needs in his fanatical battle against a God [[GodIsEvil he believes to be wicked.]]
* BlasphemousBoast: He gives quite a nice one before the FinalBattle of ''The Arcade''. Made all the nicer in that he has the power to back it up.
-->'''Dracula:''' "You should bear that in mind. God is unable to help the souls of those terminated by my hand!"
* BondOneLiner: Can give a few if he wins the FinalBattle.
--> '''In ''Curse of Darkness''''': "You die by my hand. You should be honored."
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "[[PitifulWorms Insect]]. Did you forget who I am?"
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "Grovel in the dirt like the WORM you are!!"
* BoomerangBigot: He despises humans even though (or because) he used to be one and is guilty of everything he accuses his former fellow men of.
* BreakoutCharacter: He's the most consistent presence in the series and has gained the most dimension. In the "Lords of Shadow" continuity, they just dropped the pretense and straight-up made him the main character.
* CardCarryingVillain: When yet another Belmont or their ally shows up at his throne room yet again, Dracula tends to appear with wine glass in hand or with a classy reservation for what's to unfold, knowing he's evil and they're the hero so he banters about their causes before commencing the fight. He may be a GodOfEvil, but he's not going to be inelegant about it.
* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order of Ecclesia'', he offers her a chance to rule by his side for eternity. It's never worked. In all of his centuries on this earth, he's only ever managed to woo two women, and one's implied to be the previous woman reincarnated.
* TheChessmaster: You can always expect him to have plans set into motion, even when he's not at full power or not even around in the first place. Usually to plan his return or a way to expand his influence. This makes a lot more sense when he used to be an actual war strategist when he was human.
** His DyingCurse in ''Curse of Darkness'' ensures that Transylvania remains a CrapsackWorld with his influence intact, with or without him, and that it cannot be lifted even by killing him again. He plays the same gambit again in ''Simon's Quest'', but makes sure that his victorious opponent is targeted as well, hoping to get rid of the only line able to oppose him and to have a world ripe for taking over when he eventually returns.
** In ''Belmont's Revenge'', he fakes his death and waits for the son of his nemesis to come of age to capture and corrupt him, turning his foes into an asset, and uses four castles as a diversion.
** In ''Bloodlines'', he leaves his usual domain and takes profit of the chaos of World War One (orchestrated by his niece because being TheChessmaster runs in the family), to expand his influence all over Europe and establishes a bastion of evil in many countries.
** ''Castlevania 64'' offers one of his best plans to date, involving HiddenInPlainSight, MasterActor, a PuppetKing, and a hefty dose of XanatosSpeedChess on the side. He has a servant posing as him as a decoy, while he uses the aspect of the child he was reincarnated into to pose as a captive who gets corrupted. He plans to go back with the hero after their job is apparently done to backstab them when the time is right, or in the GoldenEnding crush them when his full power returns, and make it look like he was possessed at the last minute when they defeat him.
* ClassyCravat: Because he's WickedCultured.
* CreepyChild: As Malus in ''Castlevania [=N64=]''.
* CrusadingWidower: Whenever his wife or girlfriend is murdered or dies, and he believes that someone is responsible, he will FreakOut, turn evil, and start slaughtering people.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Looks different in almost every single game, which is perhaps justified if you consider his appearances to be "incarnations". Sometimes the ''same artist'' may design him in different ways; Ayami Kojima drew him differently in Chronicles, Symphony of the Night, and Dracula X Chronicles, even though those last two have have some overlapping story scenes (i.e. Richter's battle against Dracula). And don't even get us ''started'' on his transformations.
* DependingOnTheWriter: How evil and twisted Dracula is varies from game to game. In some cases, he's petty enough to kidnap people just to be a dick and other times cruel enough to slaughter the entire countryside for the hell of it, while in certain games he's AffablyEvil and potentially even a downright PunchClockVillain. While a few games do give him sympathetic points, however, he is still the lord of darkness through and through. Part of this seems to stem from just how spontaneous [[BackFromTheDead yet another revival]] may be, while other scenarios seem to genuinely be a case of MotiveDecay and basking in being a monster simply because he ''is''.
** One case of this is in the ''64'' titles, which are implied to be a fair bit of BroadStrokes on the continuity. There, he plays a more elaborate ruse than usual by hiding away as the young boy Malus and letting everyone pick each other off instead. Despite the main continuity having his two wives be much of the cause of Dracula's extreme vengeance, this version doesn't seem to think about that at all, considering the Bad Ending has him forcibly entrap Carrie into a future marriage, either for her soul or her Bernades lineage.
* {{Determinator}}: No matter how many times Vampire Hunters, Witches, and even his own son blow through his castle and kill him, he just will not stay dead and will continue with his war on humanity every time without ever giving up on it.
* DimensionLord:
** His existence as a Dark Lord is what maintains the [[{{Hell}} Abyss]], a realm consisting of 6 separate hells filled with tortured souls he uses to create the monsters that populate his castle.
** The Chaotic Realm is the twisted, eldritch dimension made of pretty much every flaw of Creation, from which he comes from and where his essence returns when he is destroyed. It is the home of the Entity who annointed him/is incarnated in him, it is not very clear.
** His [[ChaosArchitecture castle itself]] can also qualify as its own dimension, as it's a symbol of not only Dracula's will, but the chaos within humanity itself.
* DirtyCoward: As Mathias, he was willing to let Walter kidnap Sara and direct his best friend Leon's failed rescue because he knew he couldn't take on the vampire lord himself. Even after becoming a vampire, he sicced Death on Leon rather than risk a fight with him. He seems to have grown out of this over the years, being willing to personally take on the heroes who wield the Vampire Killer.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind:
** When he was still mortal in ''Lament of Innocence'', he was only mentioned a handful of times and explicitly stated to be bedridden with grief following the death of his first wife. After Walter is defeated, he appears and reveals that he orchestrated the game's entire plot and played everyone like a harp, all so he could become a vampire as revenge against God for allowing her to die after devoting his life to serving Him.
-->'''Mathias''': If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!
** In ''Castlevania 64'', he masquerades as the boy the hero comes to see as a little brother.
* {{Dracula}}: You don't say!
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely loved both of his wives, and although Alucard has all but disowned him as a father, Dracula still holds a place in his hardened heart for his son. In fact, it is also implied that the death of his wives (the latter wife via [[BurnTheWitch witch-burning]]) was also [[FreudianExcuse the reason]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds why he even became evil]].
* EternalVillain: Dracula will '''always''' resurrect, and no hero can keep him away for too long. In ''Grimoire of Souls'' he is even brought back [[BeyondTheImpossible AFTER being killed for good and reincarnated, by infusing his essence into a materialized echo of him from the past.]]
* EvilIsBurningHot: He is generally associated with fire, especially his trademark triple fireball.
* EvilGenius: He was a genius scholar and tactician even before becoming a vampire, and he certainly did not lose it.
* EvilLaugh: Tends to do this a lot when he's fought in his first form.
* EvilOverlord: One of gaming's biggest examples. "Dark Lord" (alternatively "Lord of Darkness" or "King of the Night" among other variations) is his official title and occupation, even.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He's usually given a pretty deep voice. As Mathias, it was a low voice.
* EvilSoundsRaspy: As portrayed by Creator/NorioWakamoto in ''Symphony of the Night''.
* FaithHeelTurn: When Elisabetha died while Mathias was out fighting in the Crusades, the grief-stricken man didn't take this well. With the progression of time, his renouncement of God [[RageAgainstTheHeavens escalated to new heights]].
* FallenHero: Mathias was once a respected scientist and hero from the Crusades. Then his wife died and he started to RageAgainstTheHeavens...
* FamilialFoe: Hunting monsters is the Belmont family hat, and each game features a Belmont taking on Dracula with the help of various allies.
* FinalBoss: It would be easier to count how many games ''don't'' have him as this.
* FlamingMeteor: His Dark Inferno attack, where he sends out several small meteors from his cape.
* {{Foil}}: To the entire Belmont Clan. While each of its members is able to overcome the tragedies that befall them and their loved ones, Dracula threw a diabolical tantrum when his wife died and continues to besiege humanity because he just can't get over her (and Lisa's) death.
** He is also this to {{God}}, which he is explicitly stated in the series to be a counter to. God is the all-powerful creator of the universe who is the ultimate force for good and by nature loves all and brings life. Dracula, on the other hand, is essentially a DeityOfHumanOrigin who was once a mortal and flawed human being, willingly turned his back on the light, loves very few and hates most, and brings death and destruction while basically being nothing more than a pawn in the balance between good and evil empowered by the evil of humanity reinforced by the stygian powers of hell. It's even implied that for all of his hate and bitterness towards God, he is [[NecessarilyEvil still serving God]] by being an example of how far a man can fall and a warning as to what happens when you forsake everything for power and vengeance.
* FreudianExcuse: His first wife Elisabetha died of unknown circumstances while he was away fighting in the Crusades, stoking his rage against God for abandoning him. When he married Lisa, she was later apprehended and executed by witch hunters for practicing witchcraft, even though she was only making medicine to cure plague victims. Is it any wonder Dracula became such a monster?
* FurAndLoathing: In ''Lament of Innocence'', back when he was human, he wore a white/black fur mantle. He wasn't evil at first, but after his first wife died, the rest was history.
* AGlassOfChianti: Naturally the vampire-specific version, A Glass Of Blood. He'll often toss the glass and let it shatter on the floor just before he rises from his throne to whoop ass.
* GodOfEvil: Not literally, but he certainly functioned as this for a straight millennium. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' reveals that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil dictates that he is the ''evil opposite of God'', and that if Dracula is no longer the Dark Lord that exists to oppose God, someone will take his place.
* GoodHairEvilHair: When it is not slicked back, it's usually [[MessyHair not combed]].
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Freshly revived and not having a patience for a would-be opponent like Shanoa taking him on in ''Order of Ecclesia'', his second phase drops the familiar fireballs and teleports in favor of straight up unfurling his cloak, breaking into an UnflinchingWalk and ''beating the shit out of her with his bare hands.''
* GreaterScopeVillain: In many of the games, Dracula isn't an active threat until very late in the game, assuming he directly shows up at all. However, that doesn't mean people wanting to revive him won't step in for him.
* HannibalLecture: Gives one in the Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album.
* HeelRealization: After Alucard defeats him in ''Symphony of the Night'', he asked what Lisa's last words were, and Alucard told him while humans are flawed, don't seek vengeance against them. Hearing this makes him realized he acted against the wishes of his second wife, and apologizes to her before dying. [[ChronicVillainy Unfortunately, this doesn't stick after the events of SOTN]].
* {{Hellfire}}: His most iconic attack.
* HijackedByGanon: Happens fairly often. After all, it cannot really be a ''Castlevania'' without a mano a mano against him at the end. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' are some examples.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He's partially responsible for the creation of the Vampire Killer whip and because he failed to slay Leon at the very beginning of his feud with the Belmonts, it's the primary weapon that has felled him time and time again.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: His rationale for destroying humanity. He's not entirely wrong, since humans wrongfully condemned his second wife for practicing witchcraft when she was only trying to ''cure plague victims''.
-->'''Dracula''': "Your own kind called me forth with praise and tribute."
* HumanoidAbomination: In this series, he's really much more this than a standard vampire. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', it's confirmed that he's literally ''the opposite of {{God}}''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Perhaps Dracula's most defining flaw. He is very quick to call out humanity for being violent and petty, but is himself causing mass destruction and death purely out of hateful spite. A lot of characters in the franchise lampshade Dracula's hypocrisy, [[CallingTheOldManOut especially Alucard]].
* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite his HeelRealization in ''Symphony Of The Night'', he's unable to let go of his anger and would return again and again until he's finally put to rest in 1999. A bit of a ForegoneConclusion since ''Bloodlines'' was already released at this point and took place after ''Symphony'' timeline-wise.
* JiveTurkey: Courtesy of the ''Perfect Selection'' album, with his opening lines ending with a nice "Awwww Yeah!".
* JokerImmunity: No matter how often he's killed, he seems to always come back. The final battle in 1999? The one where he was killed so thoroughly he reincarnated? Grimoire of Souls shows that if all his energy and echoes of his past are gathered in one place, he can ''still be brought back from that''.
* KilledOffForReal: Dracula's soul was finally put to rest when an alliance of vampire hunters sealed away Castlevania in 1999, letting Julius Belmont permanently kill him. With Dracula's soul released from the evil that had empowered it, it reentered the wheel of reincarnation and was [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnated as Soma Cruz]].
* LargeHam: Just look at some of his quotes! The Japanese voice track in particular has him be voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, the king of hammy ''seiyuu''.
--> '''Dracula''': "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!"
** Mathias was EvilIsHammy, managing to be composed, even while cementing himself as a MagnificentBastard. All bets were off once he became Dracula.
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** He manipulated Walter into kidnapping Sara, the betrothed of his own friend Leon, in the hopes that the warrior would be able to defeat Walter for him. Leon succeeded when Sara sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer, the very weapon that would be the bane of Dracula's own existence.
** In a more twisted case, after sending Leon's beloved Sara to her doom, he tried to settle down with a new wife, Lisa. She was hunted down and killed, costing him the happy life he stole from Leon and Sara.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** "Dance of Illusions"/"Illusionary Dance" has become the iconic song for the battle with Dracula, having been used in ''Rondo of Blood'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX Dracula X]]'', ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64'', ''Legacy of Darkness'', ''Circle of the Moon'', ''Judgment'', and ''Harmony of Despair''. It even shows up in Julius Mode of ''Dawn of Sorrow'', when you have to face [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Soma as the new Dark Lord]] in a battle almost directly lifted from [[CallBack earlier battles with Drac]].
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', he'll use "Nothing to Lose" and "Black Night" for each respective phase during boss fights against him in the ''World of Light'', and in Classic Mode as Luigi, Simon, and Sephiroth. Richter's Classic Mode continues the use of "Dance of Illusions" as a CallBack to ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''. When fighting him as Pac-Man however, he uses the original Famicom Disk System arrangement of "Dwelling of Doom".
* LoadBearingBoss: Once he's defeated, the whole Castle comes down with him. Justified in that the Castle is linked to him and depends on his evil power to exist in the first place.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He was this as a human.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lost two wives; one to sickness, the other to witch hunters. [[UnstoppableRage He did not take this well]]. In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', [[HistoryRepeats It also might happen again]], depending on whether Soma outlives Mina, and Mina's apparent murder is the trigger for his bad ending in ''Dawn''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-Z]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He is said to manipulate those who want to KillAllHumans as much as he does. And he has a knack for exploiting the darkest side of his foes to manipulate and corrupt even those who can resist his evil influence.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He's the page image.
* MisanthropeSupreme: [[CynicismCatalyst Elisabetha's death]] drove him to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens hate God]]. [[CartwrightCurse Lisa's death]] drove him to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters hate man]] as well. No wonder the closest thing he has to a friend is [[TheGrimReaper Death]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Realizes he inadvertently denied Lisa her final wish by seeking revenge on mankind for her death when Alucard reveals that her final words had been to forgive humanity for their actions. Unfortunately, he isn't able to let go of his hate, and the next time he returns he's still the same old bastard.
* MotiveDecay: Some games have him seeking vengeance for his wives, and others will have him making elaborate plots just to undermine and eliminate the Belmont lineage. Other games will simply have him at the end because [[JokerImmunity he's not truly killable]] and he decides to pick a fight with whatever hero stumbled into stopping him this time. He still always wants to cause carnage and mayhem, but that's simply [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil in his nature]], and how much he decays tends to depend on how frequently he revives and/or how quickly he is confronted after his revival.
* NotMeThisTime: He doesn't appear in ''Harmony of Dissonance'', but his power does as "Dracula Wraith".
* NumberOfTheBeast: He tends to have 6,666 HP in Metroidvania games.
* OneToMillionToOne: Another depiction of his TeleportSpam, where he splits into several bats and reforms in a different location.
* OneWingedAngel: Most of the time since the first game. He drops it a few times here and there, notably in ''Order of Ecclesia'', but still hellishly tough. Some of said games, it just gets replaced with TurnsRed (''[=OoE=]'' included, though it's more of a Unfurls Cape and Gets Belmont-Trademarked Pimp Walk). It's gotten to such a ''ridiculous'' number that a full list of them can be found [[http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/morphs.htm here.]] Occasionally becomes BishonenLine.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Despite being the leader of of a massive demonic army, Dracula never ''ever'' fights on the frontlines, opting to stay in his castle until someone inevitably comes to challenge him. Given how long it typically takes to reach his throne room, one has to wonder what he does in his spare time.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: ''Really'' different, seeing as how he's more like {{Satan}} than anything else.
* PhysicalGod: Since he draws his power from Chaos itself, he can be considered one. He can transform into demonic forms with godly powers when he unleashes his full might.
* PlayingWithFire: His trademark form of attack, either with a flurry of smaller fireballs, pillars of flame, or a shorter series of larger fireballs.
* PointyEars: Most of the concept art depicts him with pointy ears.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Gives a few good ones, usually before going OneWingedAngel. Usually a variation of "playtime is over" or "behold my true form", but there are some more imaginative. His most famous by far is the Memetic "Enough talk, have at you!" from ''Symphony of the Night'', retranslated in the page quote above.
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': (after the FinalBoss says he comes from 10000 years in the future) "Of course! And your next stop, oblivion."
* PrettyInMink:
** As Mathias in ''Lament of Innocence. Unfortunately, [[FurAndLoathing he became evil]] later on.
** His reincarnation Soma rocks a fur coat in ''Aria'' too.
* PublicDomainCharacter: One of the oldest.
* PuppyLove: Exploits this in the bad ending of ''Castlevania 64'', where in the guise of the innocent child Malus, he pesters (actual child) Carrie Belnades to promise to marry him when grown up. When she vaguely accepts, he ominously states "Then we have a binding contract...".
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: His will to live forever is a big ol' TakeThat towards God's decree of limited human life... Though in the end even that is turned against him.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The {{Big Bad}} of the series, and he's usually garbed in this.
* ReincarnationRomance: It's heavily implied that Lisa is the reincarnation of Elisabetha. The implications even extend to Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba, who's suggested to be the next incarnation of these two women (similar to how Soma is Mathias/Dracula), much like Mina Harker ([[ShoutOutThemeNaming note the similar-sounding surnames]]) from ''Film/BramStokersDracula''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Dracula is resurrected in most of the games, the better for the player to have someone to fight. The exact methods vary.
* {{Retcon}}: All indications suggest that Castlevania's Dracula was originally intended to be Vlad Tepes Dracula, as ''Dracula's Curse'' is the first time Dracula is fought and the game takes place in 1476, which is when the real Tepes died. Alucard also laments over killing his father, something he probably wouldn't do if he knew his father was just going to come back in a hundred years. But then someone screwed up Dracula's age in the ''Symphony of the Night'' manual, IGA decided to just run with it, and ''Lament of Innocence'' was produced.
* SatanicArchetype: The games treat Dracula as a stand-in for the devil.
* SealedEvilInASixPack: In various games, old Vlad is resurrected when you assemble (some of) his body parts or possessions which contain pieces of his essence, which are usually held by various bosses and grant the holder various attributes (such as improved stats, immunity to poison or curses etc), namely his Eye, Rib, Bone, Nail, Tooth/Fang and/or his Ring.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Every time a Belmont encounters Dracula, he's usually slumped over his thrones as if he's gone bored.
* SympathyForTheDevil: In ''Symphony of the Night'', we learn Dracula's motivations for evil stem from his wife Lisa being burned at the stake for ''practicing medicine''. ''Lament of Innocence'' reveals his first wife Elisabetha also died, which also motivated him to evil.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: As Mathias. As Dracula, his appearance varies from game to game, going from a young man (as seen in Rondo of Blood), middle-aged with dark hair, to old and grey. While not the {{Bishonen}} Mathias is, Dracula is more often than not quite dashing. As of ''Symphony of the Night'', Dracula's standard appearance is usually that of an older, moustachioed Alucard.
* TeleportSpam: A staple of all of his fights, with his depictions from ''Super Castlevania IV'' onwards having him disappear in a beam of light.
* ThisCannotBe: Many times when he's defeated.
* ThroneRoomThrowdown: He's traditionally fought in the throne room at the top of his castle. A few exceptions exist, such as in ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Circle of the Moon'', and ''Harmony of Dissonance'', where you fight him in the center of the castle instead.
* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet: But enough talk, [[LargeHam HAVE AT YOU!]]
* TragicVillain: Dracula can be interpreted this way. The whole reason he became a villain in the first place was because he lost his wife, and then he loses his ''second'' wife, bringing him to a DespairEventHorizon.
* TheTrickster: As Mathias, he fooled Leon so he could get the Crimson Stone and become Dracula. Definitely a great example of a trickster.
* TrueFinalBoss: In several games, beginning with ''Symphony of the Night.''
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Despite his pretty much unbroken defeat streak to the forces of good, Dracula always seem to be confident in his supremacy, smugly [[OrcusOnHisThrone waiting at his throne]] while [[AGlassOfChianti sipping on some human juice]] as the hero-of-the-day (whom he never views as a WorthyOpponent) storms his castle and kills his henchmen one by one. There are some exceptions such as Rondo of Blood where he goes out of his way to attack Richter's village and sic Death on him on his way to the castle, but once that fails he still waits at his throne for Richter to inevitably come over and whip him back to the other world as many, many Belmonts before him did.
* UnholyHolySword: His strongest spell, the one hit kill [[FantasticNuke Demonic Megiddo]], is explicity stated to use ''holy flames.'' It still kills whoever he uses it on, be it Richter, Alucard, or Shanoa.
* UnknownRival: He became an earthbound demiurge to defy, spite, and hopefully defeat the deity he purports to be the antithesis of, but in a fitting twist of irony, God pays him little (if any) mind and Dracula is instead defeated and slain again and again by the descendants of the friends he betrayed to become a vampire.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Even as Dracula, he had a beautiful, loving wife (although it's very possible that [[FreakinessShame she saw the good in him]]). He also has a MadLove PsychoSupporter in the form of Carmilla, a fellow evil vampiress.
* VampireVords: Only in Portrait of Ruin, possibly as a way to pay homage to Bela Lugosi's original film portrayal of Dracula.
* VillainousBSOD: Implied to have suffered a massive one by his final defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'', when he learns Lisa's true last words.
* VillainTeleportation: And follows it right up with a triple fireball or a Dark Inferno.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Tempts Leon with the gift of immortality and the chance of serving as his right-hand man. Leon resists, Mathias sics Death on him. Also tries with his son Alucard, in the dialogue preceding the final boss battle Dracula states he will vanquish the human part within Alucard so his son can rule a world of darkness with his father, Dracula fails of course.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: In every game that portrays him with having white hair, he is this.
* WickedCultured: Dracula may be a bloodsucking monster, but he's always well-dressed, has exquisite taste in wine, and can quote the Bible verbatim off the top of his head.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: His main motivation for trying to ruin the world and go against God is because of his wife dying. Twice.
* YourSoulIsMine: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight He steals men's souls, and makes them his slaves!]]
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to:
[[center: [- [[Characters/{{Castlevania}} Main Character Index]] > '''Dracula'''-]]]
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!!!'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Hiroya Ishimaru (''Rondo of Blood''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (most games starting with ''Symphony of the Night''), Nobuhiko Kazama (''Lament of Innocence''), Creator/HikaruMidorikawa (''Dawn of Sorrow''), Mahito Ōba (''Curse of Darkness''), Creator/JojiNakata (''Judgment'')
!!!'''Voiced by (English):''' Wornell Jones (Perfect Selection Dracula album, Beginning track), Michael Guinn (''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64''), Harald Gjerd (''Castlevania 64'' as Malus), Creator/CrispinFreeman (''Lament of Innocence''), Douglas Rye (''Curse of Darkness''), Tom Wyner (''Portrait of Ruin''), Creator/PatrickSeitz (''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The Dracula X Chronicles]]'' and onwards), Charles Glover (''Castlevania: The Arcade''), Ric Dorr (Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album, Vampire Killer track)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dracula_symphony_of_the_night.png]]
->''"Ha! Mankind. [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters A cesspit of hatred and lies]]. Fight for them, then, and die for their sins!"''
Good ol' {{Dracula}}, Lord of the Vampires you all know. While he originally started out as UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, a typo of his age in an instructional manual led to him being much older. Before he became Dracula, he was Mathias Cronqvist -- [[TheStrategist a genius war strategist]] from the Middle Ages. After his wife Elisabetha died while he was fighting in the crusades, he suffered a crisis of faith and decided that {{God}} was at fault for his wife's death. Mathias used his friend Leon Belmont to steal the soul of a powerful vampire named Walter Bernhard with the Crimson Stone, gaining the allegiance of Death. He reveals that he had forsaken {{God}}, who took away his wife, and will continue to curse Him for eternity. He retreats and changes his name to Vlad Tepes, while Leon swears that he and his family will dedicate themselves to his destruction.
He found a second chance at redemption after meeting a woman named Lisa. They bonded and Lisa gave birth to [[{{Dhampyr}} half-vampire]] Adrian F. Tepes aka {{Alucard}}. Unfortunately, Lisa ended up crucified for practicing medicine. Dracula snapped, declared that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and [[KillAllHumans decided to wage war against the world]], and [[RageAgainstTheHeavens God himself]]. Thankfully for humanity, Leon's oath lasted throughout the centuries, and the Belmont Clan (with assistance from the Morris and Belnades families on occasion) have thwarted his undead armies every time.
Dracula's reign as the lord of Castlevania finally came to an end in the year 1999, when an alliance of various world armies, aided by the Catholic Church and the Hakuba Shinto shrine, succeeded in sealing Dracula away from his castle (the source of his power), with Julius Belmont finishing him off. At the moment, this has not been actually depicted in any game, possibly due to being entirely too awesome to do justice to.\\\
In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he is reincarnated as Soma Cruz, who unsurprisingly doesn't want to fulfill his destiny. With the help of Alucard and others, his fate is successfully averted. [[NighInvulnerability Of course, that hasn't stopped him in the least.]] He '''''always''''' finds a way to [[BackFromTheDead come back]], [[WhyWontYouDie no matter]] [[JokerImmunity what]]. It's gotten to the point where people see him as a god, or something of a god, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by him in ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''.
[[SelfDemonstrating/{{DraculaVladTepes}} He also now has his own Self-Demonstrating page.]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-L]]
* AdaptationalBadass: The original novel character that Dracula is based off of was a powerful supernatural threat to be sure, with control over animals and the weather, but he was still just a vampire whose armies consisted of Romani villagers, a small harem of vampire women and Renfield. ''Castlevania'''s Dracula on the other hand holds command over a massive army of demons and monsters that threaten the human race, has a carnival's collection of OneWingedAngel forms that he could take on, has access to both holy and unholy magic, and is said to resurrect every 100 years whenever he is killed.[[note]]That last part was deemed an inaccurate folktale in ''Anniversary Collection'', hence why the occasional early happens.[[/note]] Later games of the series would elaborate that he is the earthly envoy of TheAntiGod Chaos, making him the setting equivalent of TheAntiChrist and an [[AdaptationalAbomination otherworldly beast of unfathomable horror]] in his own right.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
* AdaptationalSympathy: The original Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel (or even the Universal adaptations that the games are inspired by) is a [[TheSociopath cold-blooded psychopath]] who actively enjoys the atrocities he commits and is given no deeper reason for his actions beyond his love of cruelty and power. This version of Dracula, by contrast, was DrivenToVillainy through a series of traumatic events, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves his family]], and is ultimately [[TragicVillain deeply unhappy with the life he's chosen]].
* AffablyEvil: He might be the lord of darkness, but he tends to be fairly formal with his enemies, if a bit smug, and he genuinely loves his son and late wives.
* AlasPoorVillain: Dracula's defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'' is unusually sympathetic, as he expresses genuine remorse, laments his lost love, and asks her to forgive him. Grimoire of Souls reveals that ''even though he doesn't really want to'', he is unable to truly rest in peace, as his DealWithTheDevil is permanent, and he is seemingly forever stuck as the embodiment of humanity's capacity for malice. Unless humanity is completely purified of it's darkness, which is technically impossible, Dracula ''will'' keep coming back, meaning he can never truly be together with Lisa.
* TheAntiChrist: This is what Dracula is, despite being described as God's opposite. Dracula serves as the focus for physical connection for all of the evil in the hearts of man. In actuality, it's the force of Chaos created by human evil and linked to Hell that makes him Dracula. It is implied that only he (or his reincarnation) can truly sit in the Dark Lord's throne, no matter what many {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s have to say.
* TheAntiGod: According to ''Aria'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', he's the EvilCounterpart to {{God}} himself. Although in this case it's implied that he's a foil to God and necessary as the focus of earthly evil. He isn't God's equal so much as the other half of the important equation between Good and Evil.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of Evil. More importantly, he is more or less the incarnation of TheAntiGod Chaos, an EldritchAbomination born from every flaw of the universe, who fulfils a cosmic role but seems to lack sentience and needs him to manifest on the Earthly Planes
* ArchEnemy: To the Belmont Clan and Alucard, and to an extent, Sara Trantoul (aka the Vampire Killer).
* ArchnemesisDad: Starting from ''Symphony of the Night'', he's antagonistic towards Alucard, his hybrid son that he sired through his dead wife, Lisa.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: He loves to give this kind of speech after his defeats. He's right, too. Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Recites Matthew 16:26 after his defeat at the end of Symphony of the Night ([[{{Woolseyism}} in the original PS1 localization at least]]) despite essentially being TheAntiChrist in terms of motivation.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: In the 2D games, almost all of his non-OneWingedAngel forms can only be damaged by [[BoomHeadshot hitting his head]]. Possibly a reference to how [[FridgeBrilliance classic vampires must be decapitated before they can be properly killed.]]
%%* BackFromTheDead: To the point of JokerImmunity.
* BadassCape: Most games, he wears a stereotypical [[HighCollarOfDoom high-collared vampire cape]], though he has alternated with a BadassLongcoat.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Dracula is the Dark Lord, a mandatory position that serves as the balance to {{God}} on Earth.
* BigBad: He plays the part for the series as a whole. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
* BigBadFriend: ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' is one big BatmanGambit by [[TreacherousAdvisor Mathias]], [[TheChessmaster manipulating]] [[UnwittingPawn everyone]] from Leon to Sara to Rinaldo to Walter so that he can obtain the power he needs in his fanatical battle against a God [[GodIsEvil he believes to be wicked.]]
* BlasphemousBoast: He gives quite a nice one before the FinalBattle of ''The Arcade''. Made all the nicer in that he has the power to back it up.
-->'''Dracula:''' "You should bear that in mind. God is unable to help the souls of those terminated by my hand!"
* BondOneLiner: Can give a few if he wins the FinalBattle.
--> '''In ''Curse of Darkness''''': "You die by my hand. You should be honored."
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "[[PitifulWorms Insect]]. Did you forget who I am?"
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': "Grovel in the dirt like the WORM you are!!"
* BoomerangBigot: He despises humans even though (or because) he used to be one and is guilty of everything he accuses his former fellow men of.
* BreakoutCharacter: He's the most consistent presence in the series and has gained the most dimension. In the "Lords of Shadow" continuity, they just dropped the pretense and straight-up made him the main character.
* CardCarryingVillain: When yet another Belmont or their ally shows up at his throne room yet again, Dracula tends to appear with wine glass in hand or with a classy reservation for what's to unfold, knowing he's evil and they're the hero so he banters about their causes before commencing the fight. He may be a GodOfEvil, but he's not going to be inelegant about it.
* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order of Ecclesia'', he offers her a chance to rule by his side for eternity. It's never worked. In all of his centuries on this earth, he's only ever managed to woo two women, and one's implied to be the previous woman reincarnated.
* TheChessmaster: You can always expect him to have plans set into motion, even when he's not at full power or not even around in the first place. Usually to plan his return or a way to expand his influence. This makes a lot more sense when he used to be an actual war strategist when he was human.
** His DyingCurse in ''Curse of Darkness'' ensures that Transylvania remains a CrapsackWorld with his influence intact, with or without him, and that it cannot be lifted even by killing him again. He plays the same gambit again in ''Simon's Quest'', but makes sure that his victorious opponent is targeted as well, hoping to get rid of the only line able to oppose him and to have a world ripe for taking over when he eventually returns.
** In ''Belmont's Revenge'', he fakes his death and waits for the son of his nemesis to come of age to capture and corrupt him, turning his foes into an asset, and uses four castles as a diversion.
** In ''Bloodlines'', he leaves his usual domain and takes profit of the chaos of World War One (orchestrated by his niece because being TheChessmaster runs in the family), to expand his influence all over Europe and establishes a bastion of evil in many countries.
** ''Castlevania 64'' offers one of his best plans to date, involving HiddenInPlainSight, MasterActor, a PuppetKing, and a hefty dose of XanatosSpeedChess on the side. He has a servant posing as him as a decoy, while he uses the aspect of the child he was reincarnated into to pose as a captive who gets corrupted. He plans to go back with the hero after their job is apparently done to backstab them when the time is right, or in the GoldenEnding crush them when his full power returns, and make it look like he was possessed at the last minute when they defeat him.
* ClassyCravat: Because he's WickedCultured.
* CreepyChild: As Malus in ''Castlevania [=N64=]''.
* CrusadingWidower: Whenever his wife or girlfriend is murdered or dies, and he believes that someone is responsible, he will FreakOut, turn evil, and start slaughtering people.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Looks different in almost every single game, which is perhaps justified if you consider his appearances to be "incarnations". Sometimes the ''same artist'' may design him in different ways; Ayami Kojima drew him differently in Chronicles, Symphony of the Night, and Dracula X Chronicles, even though those last two have have some overlapping story scenes (i.e. Richter's battle against Dracula). And don't even get us ''started'' on his transformations.
* DependingOnTheWriter: How evil and twisted Dracula is varies from game to game. In some cases, he's petty enough to kidnap people just to be a dick and other times cruel enough to slaughter the entire countryside for the hell of it, while in certain games he's AffablyEvil and potentially even a downright PunchClockVillain. While a few games do give him sympathetic points, however, he is still the lord of darkness through and through. Part of this seems to stem from just how spontaneous [[BackFromTheDead yet another revival]] may be, while other scenarios seem to genuinely be a case of MotiveDecay and basking in being a monster simply because he ''is''.
** One case of this is in the ''64'' titles, which are implied to be a fair bit of BroadStrokes on the continuity. There, he plays a more elaborate ruse than usual by hiding away as the young boy Malus and letting everyone pick each other off instead. Despite the main continuity having his two wives be much of the cause of Dracula's extreme vengeance, this version doesn't seem to think about that at all, considering the Bad Ending has him forcibly entrap Carrie into a future marriage, either for her soul or her Bernades lineage.
* {{Determinator}}: No matter how many times Vampire Hunters, Witches, and even his own son blow through his castle and kill him, he just will not stay dead and will continue with his war on humanity every time without ever giving up on it.
* DimensionLord:
** His existence as a Dark Lord is what maintains the [[{{Hell}} Abyss]], a realm consisting of 6 separate hells filled with tortured souls he uses to create the monsters that populate his castle.
** The Chaotic Realm is the twisted, eldritch dimension made of pretty much every flaw of Creation, from which he comes from and where his essence returns when he is destroyed. It is the home of the Entity who annointed him/is incarnated in him, it is not very clear.
** His [[ChaosArchitecture castle itself]] can also qualify as its own dimension, as it's a symbol of not only Dracula's will, but the chaos within humanity itself.
* DirtyCoward: As Mathias, he was willing to let Walter kidnap Sara and direct his best friend Leon's failed rescue because he knew he couldn't take on the vampire lord himself. Even after becoming a vampire, he sicced Death on Leon rather than risk a fight with him. He seems to have grown out of this over the years, being willing to personally take on the heroes who wield the Vampire Killer.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind:
** When he was still mortal in ''Lament of Innocence'', he was only mentioned a handful of times and explicitly stated to be bedridden with grief following the death of his first wife. After Walter is defeated, he appears and reveals that he orchestrated the game's entire plot and played everyone like a harp, all so he could become a vampire as revenge against God for allowing her to die after devoting his life to serving Him.
-->'''Mathias''': If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!
** In ''Castlevania 64'', he masquerades as the boy the hero comes to see as a little brother.
* {{Dracula}}: You don't say!
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely loved both of his wives, and although Alucard has all but disowned him as a father, Dracula still holds a place in his hardened heart for his son. In fact, it is also implied that the death of his wives (the latter wife via [[BurnTheWitch witch-burning]]) was also [[FreudianExcuse the reason]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds why he even became evil]].
* EternalVillain: Dracula will '''always''' resurrect, and no hero can keep him away for too long. In ''Grimoire of Souls'' he is even brought back [[BeyondTheImpossible AFTER being killed for good and reincarnated, by infusing his essence into a materialized echo of him from the past.]]
* EvilIsBurningHot: He is generally associated with fire, especially his trademark triple fireball.
* EvilGenius: He was a genius scholar and tactician even before becoming a vampire, and he certainly did not lose it.
* EvilLaugh: Tends to do this a lot when he's fought in his first form.
* EvilOverlord: One of gaming's biggest examples. "Dark Lord" (alternatively "Lord of Darkness" or "King of the Night" among other variations) is his official title and occupation, even.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He's usually given a pretty deep voice. As Mathias, it was a low voice.
* EvilSoundsRaspy: As portrayed by Creator/NorioWakamoto in ''Symphony of the Night''.
* FaithHeelTurn: When Elisabetha died while Mathias was out fighting in the Crusades, the grief-stricken man didn't take this well. With the progression of time, his renouncement of God [[RageAgainstTheHeavens escalated to new heights]].
* FallenHero: Mathias was once a respected scientist and hero from the Crusades. Then his wife died and he started to RageAgainstTheHeavens...
* FamilialFoe: Hunting monsters is the Belmont family hat, and each game features a Belmont taking on Dracula with the help of various allies.
* FinalBoss: It would be easier to count how many games ''don't'' have him as this.
* FlamingMeteor: His Dark Inferno attack, where he sends out several small meteors from his cape.
* {{Foil}}: To the entire Belmont Clan. While each of its members is able to overcome the tragedies that befall them and their loved ones, Dracula threw a diabolical tantrum when his wife died and continues to besiege humanity because he just can't get over her (and Lisa's) death.
** He is also this to {{God}}, which he is explicitly stated in the series to be a counter to. God is the all-powerful creator of the universe who is the ultimate force for good and by nature loves all and brings life. Dracula, on the other hand, is essentially a DeityOfHumanOrigin who was once a mortal and flawed human being, willingly turned his back on the light, loves very few and hates most, and brings death and destruction while basically being nothing more than a pawn in the balance between good and evil empowered by the evil of humanity reinforced by the stygian powers of hell. It's even implied that for all of his hate and bitterness towards God, he is [[NecessarilyEvil still serving God]] by being an example of how far a man can fall and a warning as to what happens when you forsake everything for power and vengeance.
* FreudianExcuse: His first wife Elisabetha died of unknown circumstances while he was away fighting in the Crusades, stoking his rage against God for abandoning him. When he married Lisa, she was later apprehended and executed by witch hunters for practicing witchcraft, even though she was only making medicine to cure plague victims. Is it any wonder Dracula became such a monster?
* FurAndLoathing: In ''Lament of Innocence'', back when he was human, he wore a white/black fur mantle. He wasn't evil at first, but after his first wife died, the rest was history.
* AGlassOfChianti: Naturally the vampire-specific version, A Glass Of Blood. He'll often toss the glass and let it shatter on the floor just before he rises from his throne to whoop ass.
* GodOfEvil: Not literally, but he certainly functioned as this for a straight millennium. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' reveals that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil dictates that he is the ''evil opposite of God'', and that if Dracula is no longer the Dark Lord that exists to oppose God, someone will take his place.
* GoodHairEvilHair: When it is not slicked back, it's usually [[MessyHair not combed]].
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Freshly revived and not having a patience for a would-be opponent like Shanoa taking him on in ''Order of Ecclesia'', his second phase drops the familiar fireballs and teleports in favor of straight up unfurling his cloak, breaking into an UnflinchingWalk and ''beating the shit out of her with his bare hands.''
* GreaterScopeVillain: In many of the games, Dracula isn't an active threat until very late in the game, assuming he directly shows up at all. However, that doesn't mean people wanting to revive him won't step in for him.
* HannibalLecture: Gives one in the Castlevania Tribute Vol.1 album.
* HeelRealization: After Alucard defeats him in ''Symphony of the Night'', he asked what Lisa's last words were, and Alucard told him while humans are flawed, don't seek vengeance against them. Hearing this makes him realized he acted against the wishes of his second wife, and apologizes to her before dying. [[ChronicVillainy Unfortunately, this doesn't stick after the events of SOTN]].
* {{Hellfire}}: His most iconic attack.
* HijackedByGanon: Happens fairly often. After all, it cannot really be a ''Castlevania'' without a mano a mano against him at the end. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' are some examples.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He's partially responsible for the creation of the Vampire Killer whip and because he failed to slay Leon at the very beginning of his feud with the Belmonts, it's the primary weapon that has felled him time and time again.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: His rationale for destroying humanity. He's not entirely wrong, since humans wrongfully condemned his second wife for practicing witchcraft when she was only trying to ''cure plague victims''.
-->'''Dracula''': "Your own kind called me forth with praise and tribute."
* HumanoidAbomination: In this series, he's really much more this than a standard vampire. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', it's confirmed that he's literally ''the opposite of {{God}}''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Perhaps Dracula's most defining flaw. He is very quick to call out humanity for being violent and petty, but is himself causing mass destruction and death purely out of hateful spite. A lot of characters in the franchise lampshade Dracula's hypocrisy, [[CallingTheOldManOut especially Alucard]].
* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite his HeelRealization in ''Symphony Of The Night'', he's unable to let go of his anger and would return again and again until he's finally put to rest in 1999. A bit of a ForegoneConclusion since ''Bloodlines'' was already released at this point and took place after ''Symphony'' timeline-wise.
* JiveTurkey: Courtesy of the ''Perfect Selection'' album, with his opening lines ending with a nice "Awwww Yeah!".
* JokerImmunity: No matter how often he's killed, he seems to always come back. The final battle in 1999? The one where he was killed so thoroughly he reincarnated? Grimoire of Souls shows that if all his energy and echoes of his past are gathered in one place, he can ''still be brought back from that''.
* KilledOffForReal: Dracula's soul was finally put to rest when an alliance of vampire hunters sealed away Castlevania in 1999, letting Julius Belmont permanently kill him. With Dracula's soul released from the evil that had empowered it, it reentered the wheel of reincarnation and was [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnated as Soma Cruz]].
* LargeHam: Just look at some of his quotes! The Japanese voice track in particular has him be voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, the king of hammy ''seiyuu''.
--> '''Dracula''': "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!"
** Mathias was EvilIsHammy, managing to be composed, even while cementing himself as a MagnificentBastard. All bets were off once he became Dracula.
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** He manipulated Walter into kidnapping Sara, the betrothed of his own friend Leon, in the hopes that the warrior would be able to defeat Walter for him. Leon succeeded when Sara sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer, the very weapon that would be the bane of Dracula's own existence.
** In a more twisted case, after sending Leon's beloved Sara to her doom, he tried to settle down with a new wife, Lisa. She was hunted down and killed, costing him the happy life he stole from Leon and Sara.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** "Dance of Illusions"/"Illusionary Dance" has become the iconic song for the battle with Dracula, having been used in ''Rondo of Blood'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX Dracula X]]'', ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Castlevania 64'', ''Legacy of Darkness'', ''Circle of the Moon'', ''Judgment'', and ''Harmony of Despair''. It even shows up in Julius Mode of ''Dawn of Sorrow'', when you have to face [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Soma as the new Dark Lord]] in a battle almost directly lifted from [[CallBack earlier battles with Drac]].
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', he'll use "Nothing to Lose" and "Black Night" for each respective phase during boss fights against him in the ''World of Light'', and in Classic Mode as Luigi, Simon, and Sephiroth. Richter's Classic Mode continues the use of "Dance of Illusions" as a CallBack to ''Rondo of Blood'' and ''Symphony of the Night''. When fighting him as Pac-Man however, he uses the original Famicom Disk System arrangement of "Dwelling of Doom".
* LoadBearingBoss: Once he's defeated, the whole Castle comes down with him. Justified in that the Castle is linked to him and depends on his evil power to exist in the first place.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He was this as a human.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lost two wives; one to sickness, the other to witch hunters. [[UnstoppableRage He did not take this well]]. In ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'', [[HistoryRepeats It also might happen again]], depending on whether Soma outlives Mina, and Mina's apparent murder is the trigger for his bad ending in ''Dawn''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-Z]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He is said to manipulate those who want to KillAllHumans as much as he does. And he has a knack for exploiting the darkest side of his foes to manipulate and corrupt even those who can resist his evil influence.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He's the page image.
* MisanthropeSupreme: [[CynicismCatalyst Elisabetha's death]] drove him to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens hate God]]. [[CartwrightCurse Lisa's death]] drove him to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters hate man]] as well. No wonder the closest thing he has to a friend is [[TheGrimReaper Death]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Realizes he inadvertently denied Lisa her final wish by seeking revenge on mankind for her death when Alucard reveals that her final words had been to forgive humanity for their actions. Unfortunately, he isn't able to let go of his hate, and the next time he returns he's still the same old bastard.
* MotiveDecay: Some games have him seeking vengeance for his wives, and others will have him making elaborate plots just to undermine and eliminate the Belmont lineage. Other games will simply have him at the end because [[JokerImmunity he's not truly killable]] and he decides to pick a fight with whatever hero stumbled into stopping him this time. He still always wants to cause carnage and mayhem, but that's simply [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil in his nature]], and how much he decays tends to depend on how frequently he revives and/or how quickly he is confronted after his revival.
* NotMeThisTime: He doesn't appear in ''Harmony of Dissonance'', but his power does as "Dracula Wraith".
* NumberOfTheBeast: He tends to have 6,666 HP in Metroidvania games.
* OneToMillionToOne: Another depiction of his TeleportSpam, where he splits into several bats and reforms in a different location.
* OneWingedAngel: Most of the time since the first game. He drops it a few times here and there, notably in ''Order of Ecclesia'', but still hellishly tough. Some of said games, it just gets replaced with TurnsRed (''[=OoE=]'' included, though it's more of a Unfurls Cape and Gets Belmont-Trademarked Pimp Walk). It's gotten to such a ''ridiculous'' number that a full list of them can be found [[http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/morphs.htm here.]] Occasionally becomes BishonenLine.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Despite being the leader of of a massive demonic army, Dracula never ''ever'' fights on the frontlines, opting to stay in his castle until someone inevitably comes to challenge him. Given how long it typically takes to reach his throne room, one has to wonder what he does in his spare time.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: ''Really'' different, seeing as how he's more like {{Satan}} than anything else.
* PhysicalGod: Since he draws his power from Chaos itself, he can be considered one. He can transform into demonic forms with godly powers when he unleashes his full might.
* PlayingWithFire: His trademark form of attack, either with a flurry of smaller fireballs, pillars of flame, or a shorter series of larger fireballs.
* PointyEars: Most of the concept art depicts him with pointy ears.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Gives a few good ones, usually before going OneWingedAngel. Usually a variation of "playtime is over" or "behold my true form", but there are some more imaginative. His most famous by far is the Memetic "Enough talk, have at you!" from ''Symphony of the Night'', retranslated in the page quote above.
--> '''In ''Judgment''''': (after the FinalBoss says he comes from 10000 years in the future) "Of course! And your next stop, oblivion."
* PrettyInMink:
** As Mathias in ''Lament of Innocence. Unfortunately, [[FurAndLoathing he became evil]] later on.
** His reincarnation Soma rocks a fur coat in ''Aria'' too.
* PublicDomainCharacter: One of the oldest.
* PuppyLove: Exploits this in the bad ending of ''Castlevania 64'', where in the guise of the innocent child Malus, he pesters (actual child) Carrie Belnades to promise to marry him when grown up. When she vaguely accepts, he ominously states "Then we have a binding contract...".
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: His will to live forever is a big ol' TakeThat towards God's decree of limited human life... Though in the end even that is turned against him.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The {{Big Bad}} of the series, and he's usually garbed in this.
* ReincarnationRomance: It's heavily implied that Lisa is the reincarnation of Elisabetha. The implications even extend to Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba, who's suggested to be the next incarnation of these two women (similar to how Soma is Mathias/Dracula), much like Mina Harker ([[ShoutOutThemeNaming note the similar-sounding surnames]]) from ''Film/BramStokersDracula''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Dracula is resurrected in most of the games, the better for the player to have someone to fight. The exact methods vary.
* {{Retcon}}: All indications suggest that Castlevania's Dracula was originally intended to be Vlad Tepes Dracula, as ''Dracula's Curse'' is the first time Dracula is fought and the game takes place in 1476, which is when the real Tepes died. Alucard also laments over killing his father, something he probably wouldn't do if he knew his father was just going to come back in a hundred years. But then someone screwed up Dracula's age in the ''Symphony of the Night'' manual, IGA decided to just run with it, and ''Lament of Innocence'' was produced.
* SatanicArchetype: The games treat Dracula as a stand-in for the devil.
* SealedEvilInASixPack: In various games, old Vlad is resurrected when you assemble (some of) his body parts or possessions which contain pieces of his essence, which are usually held by various bosses and grant the holder various attributes (such as improved stats, immunity to poison or curses etc), namely his Eye, Rib, Bone, Nail, Tooth/Fang and/or his Ring.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Every time a Belmont encounters Dracula, he's usually slumped over his thrones as if he's gone bored.
* SympathyForTheDevil: In ''Symphony of the Night'', we learn Dracula's motivations for evil stem from his wife Lisa being burned at the stake for ''practicing medicine''. ''Lament of Innocence'' reveals his first wife Elisabetha also died, which also motivated him to evil.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: As Mathias. As Dracula, his appearance varies from game to game, going from a young man (as seen in Rondo of Blood), middle-aged with dark hair, to old and grey. While not the {{Bishonen}} Mathias is, Dracula is more often than not quite dashing. As of ''Symphony of the Night'', Dracula's standard appearance is usually that of an older, moustachioed Alucard.
* TeleportSpam: A staple of all of his fights, with his depictions from ''Super Castlevania IV'' onwards having him disappear in a beam of light.
* ThisCannotBe: Many times when he's defeated.
* ThroneRoomThrowdown: He's traditionally fought in the throne room at the top of his castle. A few exceptions exist, such as in ''Symphony of the Night'', ''Circle of the Moon'', and ''Harmony of Dissonance'', where you fight him in the center of the castle instead.
* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet: But enough talk, [[LargeHam HAVE AT YOU!]]
* TragicVillain: Dracula can be interpreted this way. The whole reason he became a villain in the first place was because he lost his wife, and then he loses his ''second'' wife, bringing him to a DespairEventHorizon.
* TheTrickster: As Mathias, he fooled Leon so he could get the Crimson Stone and become Dracula. Definitely a great example of a trickster.
* TrueFinalBoss: In several games, beginning with ''Symphony of the Night.''
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Despite his pretty much unbroken defeat streak to the forces of good, Dracula always seem to be confident in his supremacy, smugly [[OrcusOnHisThrone waiting at his throne]] while [[AGlassOfChianti sipping on some human juice]] as the hero-of-the-day (whom he never views as a WorthyOpponent) storms his castle and kills his henchmen one by one. There are some exceptions such as Rondo of Blood where he goes out of his way to attack Richter's village and sic Death on him on his way to the castle, but once that fails he still waits at his throne for Richter to inevitably come over and whip him back to the other world as many, many Belmonts before him did.
* UnholyHolySword: His strongest spell, the one hit kill [[FantasticNuke Demonic Megiddo]], is explicity stated to use ''holy flames.'' It still kills whoever he uses it on, be it Richter, Alucard, or Shanoa.
* UnknownRival: He became an earthbound demiurge to defy, spite, and hopefully defeat the deity he purports to be the antithesis of, but in a fitting twist of irony, God pays him little (if any) mind and Dracula is instead defeated and slain again and again by the descendants of the friends he betrayed to become a vampire.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Even as Dracula, he had a beautiful, loving wife (although it's very possible that [[FreakinessShame she saw the good in him]]). He also has a MadLove PsychoSupporter in the form of Carmilla, a fellow evil vampiress.
* VampireVords: Only in Portrait of Ruin, possibly as a way to pay homage to Bela Lugosi's original film portrayal of Dracula.
* VillainousBSOD: Implied to have suffered a massive one by his final defeat in ''Symphony of the Night'', when he learns Lisa's true last words.
* VillainTeleportation: And follows it right up with a triple fireball or a Dark Inferno.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Tempts Leon with the gift of immortality and the chance of serving as his right-hand man. Leon resists, Mathias sics Death on him. Also tries with his son Alucard, in the dialogue preceding the final boss battle Dracula states he will vanquish the human part within Alucard so his son can rule a world of darkness with his father, Dracula fails of course.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: In every game that portrays him with having white hair, he is this.
* WickedCultured: Dracula may be a bloodsucking monster, but he's always well-dressed, has exquisite taste in wine, and can quote the Bible verbatim off the top of his head.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: His main motivation for trying to ruin the world and go against God is because of his wife dying. Twice.
* YourSoulIsMine: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight He steals men's souls, and makes them his slaves!]]
[[/folder]]
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* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order of Eclesia'', he offers her a chance to rule by his side for eternity. It's never worked. In all of his centuries on this earth, he's only ever managed to woo two women, and one's implied to be the previous woman reincarnated.
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* CardCarryingVillain: When yet another Belmont or their ally shows up at his throne room yet again, Dracula tends to appear with wine glass in hand or with a classy reservation for what's to unfold, knowing he's evil and they're the hero so he banters about their causes before commencing the fight. He may be a GodOfEvil, but he's not going to be inelegant about it.
* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order ofEclesia'', Ecclesia'', he offers her a chance to rule by his side for eternity. It's never worked. In all of his centuries on this earth, he's only ever managed to woo two women, and one's implied to be the previous woman reincarnated.
* CasanovaWannabe: Every time a lovely woman winds up in his domain, such as with Richter's girlfriend and Shanoa in ''Order of
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* GoodOldFisticuffs: Freshly revived and not having a patience for a would-be opponent like Shanoa taking him on in ''Order of Ecclesia'', his second phase drops the familiar fireballs and teleports in favor of straight up unfurling his cloak, breaking into an UnflinchingWalk and ''beating the shit out of her with his bare hands.''
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* MotiveDecay: Some games have him seeking vengeance for his wives, and others will have him making elaborate plots just to undermine and eliminate the Belmont lineage. Other games will simply have him at the end because [[JokerImmunity he's not truly killable]] and he decides to pick a fight with whatever hero stumbled into stopping him this time. He still always wants to cause carnage and mayhem, but that's simply [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil in his nature]], and how much he decays tends to depend on how frequently he revives and/or how quickly he is confronted after his revival.
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--->'''Dracula''': "I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
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* LaserGuidedKarma:
** He manipulated Walter into kidnapping Sara, the betrothed of his own friend Leon, in the hopes that the warrior would be able to defeat Walter for him. Leon succeeded when Sara sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer, the very weapon that would be the bane of Dracula's own existence.
** In a more twisted case, after sending Leon's beloved Sara to her doom, he tried to settle down with a new wife, Lisa. She was hunted down and killed, costing him the happy life he stole from Leon and Sara.
** He manipulated Walter into kidnapping Sara, the betrothed of his own friend Leon, in the hopes that the warrior would be able to defeat Walter for him. Leon succeeded when Sara sacrificed herself to create the Vampire Killer, the very weapon that would be the bane of Dracula's own existence.
** In a more twisted case, after sending Leon's beloved Sara to her doom, he tried to settle down with a new wife, Lisa. She was hunted down and killed, costing him the happy life he stole from Leon and Sara.
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* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: He loves to give this kind of speech after his defeats. He's right, too.
-->'''Dracula''': "It was not by my own hand that I am once again given flesh."
** Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': "I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
-->'''Dracula''': "It was not by my own hand that I am once again given flesh."
** Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': "I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
to:
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: He loves to give this kind of speech after his defeats. He's right, too.
-->'''Dracula''': "It was not by my own hand that I am once again given flesh."
**too. Grimoire of Souls suggests that not even he really gets a say in the matter. After he's defeated again, Alucard says he wants to believe that [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa's last words]] got through to him and implores him to just rest in peace already. Dracula pauses for a moment before explaining that he doesn't decide when he gets revived, in terms that suggest he isn't particularly fond of the arrangement.
-->'''Dracula''': --->'''Dracula''': "I cannot revive myself on my own. It's the greed of humankind that revives me. When the times demand my presence again, I'm sure I'll be there to satisfy the world's desire for an never-ending night. But until then... I'll enjoy a little peace.
-->'''Dracula''': "It was not by my own hand that I am once again given flesh."
**
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* BackFromTheDead: To the point of JokerImmunity.
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* BigBad: He plays the part for the series as a whole.
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
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* BigBad: He plays the part for the series as a whole.
**whole. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', he is more of a GreaterScopeVillain.
**
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* WickedCultured: Dracula may be a bloodsucking monster, but he's always well-dressed, has exquisite taste in wine, and can quote the Bible verbatim off the top of his head.
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* YourSoulIsMine: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight He steals men's souls, and makes them his slaves!]]
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* AdaptaionalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
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* AdaptaionalNiceGuy: AdaptationalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
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* AdaptaionalNiceGuy: Downplayed, as he's still a manipulative, blood-sucking vampire who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but unlike Bram Stoker's version, the ''Castlevania'' Dracula is genuinely [[AffablyEvil polite and respectful]] to his enemies and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a few people that he cares about]].
* AdaptationalSympathy: The original Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel (or even the Universal adaptations that the games are inspired by) is a [[TheSociopath cold-blooded psychopath]] who actively enjoys the atrocities he commits and is given no deeper reason for his actions beyond his love of cruelty and power. This version of Dracula, by contrast, was DrivenToVillainy through a series of traumatic events, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves his family]], and is ultimately [[TragicVillain deeply unhappy with the life he's chosen]].
* AdaptationalSympathy: The original Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel (or even the Universal adaptations that the games are inspired by) is a [[TheSociopath cold-blooded psychopath]] who actively enjoys the atrocities he commits and is given no deeper reason for his actions beyond his love of cruelty and power. This version of Dracula, by contrast, was DrivenToVillainy through a series of traumatic events, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves his family]], and is ultimately [[TragicVillain deeply unhappy with the life he's chosen]].
