History YMMV / Castlevania2017

** Dracula inadvertently blows up what's left of Lisa's remains when he manifests as a giant flaming head right where her stake is. Then the first thing he says is to ask where his wife is.

** Isaac was largely the fan-favorite character of the series and he does not come out unscathed in the final season. [[spoiler: After the third season spent the entire time with him grappling over whether to become Alucard's DragonAscendant or not, apparently he made his resolution to fight for peace entirely off-screen. He kills Carmilla half-way through the season, opts to take over her castle to build a new kingdom, and is effectively written out for the remainder of the story. This is all despite him making peace that Dracula should not be resurrected and yet he learns that there is a plot of former followers trying to do so.]]

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: When it was announced that ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' would be adapted into an animated series, many fans were skeptical. Even discounting the [[VideoGameMoviesSuck already-dismal track record of game-to-movie adaptations]], the skepticism rose when it was announced that Creator/FrederatorStudios would be producing it, since the company is better known for comedies aimed towards children. Furthermore, Creator/{{Konami}} had just entered a DorkAge resulting from their exit from the console game business and their firing of Creator/HideoKojima, leaving people rather unenthused about Konami-related products in general. When the series premiered, it got rave reviews, and ensured that four seasons of the show would be produced, with all four receiving high marks. [[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/castlevania The entire series has a 94% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes]], with Seasons 2 and 4 in particular earning a 100% positive rating.

** Striga and Mornana, how deep were there loyalties towards Carmilla? Beyond (assumedly) turning them, allowing them to be together forever, they are awfully quick to [[spoiler:abandon Carmilla and Lenore to Isaacs attack. Early on in the 4th season they do have a moment when they realise Carmilla's plan is fruitless, with them realising that they would be locked in a ForeverWar with the people they are trying to subjagate. Did they genuinely believe trying to rescue Carmilla and Lenore was a LostCause, or was it simply a case of them finally having an excuse to strike out on their own?]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

** There's [[http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/castlevania/ a flash game]] where you play as a Belmont fighting a priest. Now, while the circumstances of that game were more comedic, one cannot help but think of the game when the CorruptChurch subplot kicks in.

* GeniusBonus: Striga's day armor, has a glass visor protecting her face that appears to be made out of gold. Astronaut's visors have gold in them to filter out infrared light so they don't get burned. Which could work well for a vampire trying to protect themselves from daylight.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* {{Glurge}}: [[spoiler: Dracula and Lisa suddenly being alive and well in the end comes completely out of nowhere and makes no sense. While Season 4's happier tone was well received, this was considered pushing it the point of absurdity and trying too hard to make up for Season 3's excessive darkness.]]
* GeniusBonus: Striga's day armor, has a glass visor protecting her face that appears to be made out of gold. Astronaut's visors have gold in them to filter out infrared light so they don't get burned. Which could work well for a vampire trying to protect themselves from daylight.
* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler: The infamous threesome scene, which has strong overtones of Alucard being sexually assaulted by Sumi and Taka as well as Lenore gaslighting Hector into becoming her SexSlave]] becomes this after [[https://twitter.com/audrawilliams/status/1272993904988770306?s=19 sexual harrassment]] [[https://twitter.com/Foxtongue/status/1272979428394414081?s=20 allegations against]] co-creator Creator/WarrenEllis were revealed in June 2020, three months after Season 3 debuted on Netflix.

* FanPreferredCouple: Instead of pairing them off individually, most fans have taken to pairing the protagonists, Alucard, Trevor, and Sypha, together as a OneTrueThreesome. Most fanfiction and fan art are of this OT3 and it even outranks the canon combination Trevor/Sopha on most sites.

* FanPreferredCouple: Instead of pairing them off individually, many fans have taken to pairing the protagonists together as a OneTrueThreesome.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:"[[ManipulativeBastard Death]]" -- the true identity of the seemingly blowhard vampire [[Literature/VarneyTheVampire Varney]] -- is revealed to be the mastermind behind the fourth season's conflict, and a creature far worse than Dracula ever was at his cruelest. A gluttonous, sadistic AncientEvil who has been [[SoulEating feeding on souls]] since the birth of humanity, Death personally partook in Dracula's attempted genocide against humanity with the anticipation of a feast, only to be left disappointed and hungry upon Dracula's demise. Solely so he'd never be hungry again, Death concocts a plan to manipulate the Count St. Germain into evil as part of a complex scheme to pluck both Dracula and Lisa's souls from Hell, upon which Death fuses them both into the same body in a state of pure agony. [[OmnicidalManiac Death]] intends to drive Dracula so insane with his wife's screaming soul he'll slaughter the entire planet, a prospect Death is all too entertained and delighted by.]]

Dracula, she never factored actually having to fight him into her plans.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: When it was announced that ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' would be adapted into an animated series, many fans were skeptical. Even discounting the [[VideoGameMoviesSuck already dismal track record of game-to-movie adaptations]], the skepticism rose when it was announced that Creator/FrederatorStudios would be producing it since the company is better known for comedies aimed towards children. Furthermore, Creator/{{Konami}}, the original creators of the games, had just entered a major DorkAge resulting from their exit from the console game business and their firing of Creator/HideoKojima among other things, leaving people rather unenthused about Konami-related products in general. When the series premiered, however, it received rave reviews and developed a fairly massive following that ensured a second season.

%%* DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot:
** The entire population of Wallachia. Dracula had explicitly told them that he would come for them in one year after they burned Lisa at the stake. And what did they do? They ''held a celebration to commemorate her death''. Needless to say, the vampire was ''not'' amused. In the people's defense, the people of the capital weren't at the burning, they were going on what was likely a ''very'' biased report from the Bishop, and the Church explicitly upheld the position that believing any harm could come to them would spit in the face of God's absolute power. When Dracula shows up on the appointed day, he is appalled to see them celebrating the day of his wife's death ''[[TakeThat simply to spite him]]'', which only makes his revenge seem that much more justified.
** [[SmugSnake Carmilla]]. She's... not as smart as she thinks. Everything that she does in Season 2 made things much easier for the heroes (indirectly taking out a general, creating a holy river that wipes out most of the vampiric forces, sowing general dissent in Dracula's court) and she's ''lucky'' it all blew up in her face like it did, since despite being told she didn't stand a chance against Dracula, she never factored actually having to fight him into her plans.
** After Carmilla lied, imprisoned, beat, tortured, and basically treated him as less than vermin, Hector [[spoiler: not only slowly trusts Lenore over the course of Season 3, ''after'' she showed she was just as ruthless and abusive as her elder sister, but ultimately speaks out the exact words that would bind him as a slave to her (while having sex with her). He's supposed to be a powerful magician and a former right-hand man to Dracula. He really should have known better.]]
** Taka and Sumi ask Alucard to teach them to fight vampires, which he gladly agrees to in order to have some company. Everything seems nice and hopeful, but suddenly, [[spoiler: they decide Alucard isn't teaching them fast enough and is "keeping secrets" and ''attempt to kill him'', probably the most powerful vampire in the world at the moment. Thing is, Alucard was under no obligation to teach or tell them anything; he did so because he wanted to and was telling the truth when he said the castle's teleportation technology was broken, despite Taka's insistence that it wasn't. So their sudden attempt to seduce and kill him ends very predictably.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** The entire population of Wallachia. Dracula had explicitly told them that he would come for them in one year after they burned Lisa at the stake. And what did they do? They ''held a celebration to commemorate her death''. Needless to say, the vampire was ''not'' amused. In the people's defense, the people of the capital weren't at the burning, they were going on what was likely a ''very'' biased report from the Bishop, and the Church explicitly upheld the position that believing any harm could come to them would spit in the face of God's absolute power. When Dracula shows up on the appointed day, he is appalled to see them celebrating the day of his wife's death ''[[TakeThat simply to spite him]]'', which only makes his revenge seem that much more justified.
** [[SmugSnake Carmilla]]. She's... not as smart as she thinks. Everything that she does in Season 2 made things much easier for the heroes (indirectly taking out a general, creating a holy river that wipes out most of the vampiric forces, sowing general dissent in Dracula's court) and she's ''lucky'' it all blew up in her face like it did, since despite being told she didn't stand a chance against Dracula, she never factored actually having to fight him into her plans.
** After Carmilla lied, imprisoned, beat, tortured, and basically treated him as less than vermin, Hector [[spoiler: not only slowly trusts Lenore over the course of Season 3, ''after'' she showed she was just as ruthless and abusive as her elder sister, but ultimately speaks out the exact words that would bind him as a slave to her (while having sex with her). He's supposed to be a powerful magician and a former right-hand man to Dracula. He really should have known better.]]
** Taka and Sumi ask Alucard to teach them to fight vampires, which he gladly agrees to in order to have some company. Everything seems nice and hopeful, but suddenly, [[spoiler: they decide Alucard isn't teaching them fast enough and is "keeping secrets" and ''attempt to kill him'', probably the most powerful vampire in the world at the moment. Thing is, Alucard was under no obligation to teach or tell them anything; he did so because he wanted to and was telling the truth when he said the castle's teleportation technology was broken, despite Taka's insistence that it wasn't. So their sudden attempt to seduce and kill him ends very predictably.]]

** How much did Dracula ''really'' respect Lisa's ideals? She was the only human he cared enough about to completely renounce his wicked nature for, but Dracula's accounts of what he'd been up to while traveling the world indicate that he really made no effort to understand her point of view. The only humans he ever put any notice into were the most horrible wastes of skin that he found, and the only ones he made friends with were misanthropes like himself. When he returns home and finds out that Lisa has been killed, the greatest leniency he gives anyone is to warn the woman mourning Lisa the chance to leave Wallachia--a kindness which ultimately will mean nothing given his plan to KillAllHumans everywhere anyway. While it's certainly true that Lisa was Dracula's MoralityChain that gave him hope in finding the goodness of humanity, Dracula apparently didn't try very hard when outside of her presence.
** Does [[spoiler: Lenore actually think she's doing Hector good?]] No interpretation comes close to them being anything but a heinous manipulator, but the way [[spoiler: she phrases giving Hector better living conditions makes it sounds like she genuinely believes in her own FairPlayVillain status. On the other hand, it's quite possible she just wants him to be better cared for so she can sexually abuse him.]] Their last words on the subject in Season 3 are also debatable, as she tells [[spoiler: Hector that she's just giving him "what he's always needed." Considering her fascination with him and pet-like perception of him, this could either be simple VictimBlaming or she could genuinely see him as inferior and believe this is what he needs. There's also Hector's own fascination with "pets" to consider: Isaac states that Hector sees the world in terms of owners and pets, considering his own Forged devils his pets, and that Dracula's campaign wouldn't erase humanity, just reduce them to vampire "pets." Does Lenore pick up on this, and think Hector ''needs'' to be a "pet" to fulfill his worth? Her actions in Season 4, for what it's worth, imply she genuinely cares about him in her own twisted way and she comes to reconsider her actions and treat him very kindly. The question then becomes not whether or not she cares about him, but ''when'' she came to do so-- did Lenore always care for him like this, or did she [[BecomingTheMask develop into it?]]]]
** Whether or not GodIsEvil in this setting, in particular the circumstances around Flyseyes' damnation. Did God actually condemn him to Hell for simply being non-Christian, or was it because he condemned other people to die by identifying them as Pagans in order to save his own skin? Throwing more confusion onto this is that in season one a demon explicitly states that the Bishop's religious zealotry disgusts God.

** The penultimate episode of Season 4--and the series as a whole--stands out for its astonishing animation.

** Among the Bishop's more noble deeds in the first three episodes, the viewer is treated to scapegoating, attempted bribery, terrorizing his own congregation, corruption, plotting to use the night hordes to accelerate his own rise to power, and, oh yeah, [[SinisterMinister basically defiling the sanctity of the Church at every turn]] while going totally unchecked. Come episode 4, when [[spoiler:a demon lieutenant stares the Bishop down, invoking BreakingSpeech, NotSoDifferentRemark, and YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame all at once before giving him a hellishly undignified death right at his pulpit]], any viewer would be forgiven for standing up and ''cheering''. It happens again in Season 2 [[spoiler:when his shredded and half-eaten corpse is given multiple lingering camera shots]].

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:"[[ManipulativeBastard Death]]"--the true identity of the seemingly blowhard vampire [[Literature/VarneyTheVampire Varney]]--is revealed to be the mastermind behind the fourth season's conflict, and a creature far worse than Dracula ever was at his cruelest. A gluttonous, sadistic AncientEvil who has been [[SoulEating feeding on souls]] since the birth of humanity, Death personally partook in Dracula's attempted genocide against humanity with the anticipation of a feast, only to be left disappointed and hungry upon Dracula's demise. Solely so he'd never be hungry again, Death concocts a plan to manipulate the Count St. Germain into evil as part of a complex scheme to pluck both Dracula and Lisa's souls from Hell, upon which Death fuses them both into the same body in a state of pure agony. [[OmnicidalManiac Death]] intends to drive Dracula so insane with his wife's screaming soul he'll slaughter the entire planet, a prospect Death is all too entertained and delighted by.]]

** The nameless priest in episode 4, who's a genuinely LawfulGood man of the cloth who, despite being terrified, was an essential support unit in Trevor's plan to retake Wallachia.

** Out of all his undead pets, Hector's pug Cezar who accompanies him receives a lot of love from the fanbase for being UglyCute - it also helps that he was based on one of the writers' pets who [[InMemoriam passed away before production]]. [[spoiler:Considering what happens to Hector at the end of Season 2, some are hopeful of his return and that Alucard adopts him, with many fans lamenting its lack of appearance in later seasons]].

** Before season 3, many believed that Sumi and Taka would have some sort of connection to the Hakuba family, who aided Julius Belmont in the battle of 1999 by sealing Castlevania in an eclipse, allowing for Dracula to truely die. [[spoiler: This, however, was not the case, as they betrayed Alucard and were killed by the end of the season.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler: The infamous threesome scene, which has strong overtones of Alucard being sexually assaulted by Sumi and Taka as well as Lenore gaslighting Hector into becoming her SexSlave]] becomes this after [[https://twitter.com/audrawilliams/status/1272993904988770306?s=19 sexual harrassment]] [[https://twitter.com/Foxtongue/status/1272979428394414081?s=20 allegations against]] co-creator Creator/WarrenEllis were revealed in June 2020, three months after season three debuted on Netflix.

** In episode 4, there's a scene after their fight where Alucard pins Trevor down and has his face lean in rather close to him. The fact that Alucard is, of course, still shirtless and straddles Trevor's thigh (which the camera angle draws attention to) doesn't exactly detract from this either. According to a [[https://twitter.com/SMcCreaRainosek/status/1236379753088761857 tweet]] by a character artist, the scene was deliberately designed to be sexy. Interestingly enough, Season 3 actually shows that Alucard isn't straight, which retroactively adds to this.

** It becomes way worse in Season 3 where Alucard becomes close to two individuals who come to him in order to know how to combat and protect themselves after they were kept prisoner with others under the control of one of Dracula's generals. While all seemed good, they [[spoiler: become dissolutioned with Alucard due to his refusal to show them how Dracula's castle moves (despite the system being broken) or even any magic, prompting them to trick him into having sex with them (as a way to "repay him" for being alone for so long) before tying him up and nearly killing him over apparently "keeping secrets" from them, prompting him to kill them in self defense]]. By the end of it all, [[spoiler: Alucard is left more broken and bitter at what happened, before skewering their bodies in front of Dracula's castle in pikes. [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like his father.]]]]
* ItsShortSoItSucks: A common complaint among viewers, even among those who liked it, was that Season 1 was too short, being only 4-episodes long with 20 minutes each (not counting intro and credits). This stems from the project's origin as an animated film trilogy, each part running 80 minutes.

** Lord Dracula himself is a TragicMonster much as he is in the games: a roaming, misanthropic monster who found a chance at happiness when he met the healer Lisa, only to witness Lisa cruelly taken and burned at the stake for supposed heresy. Left so broken and despondent he even turns against his own son Adrian--or Alucard--Dracula pledges to [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery take humanity to the grave with him]], reduced to depressed lethargy as he waits for an end long denied to him. Dracula's tragedy shines forth most prominently in the final battle where he completely ''breaks'' when his battle with Alucard takes him into his son's childhood bedroom: "I'm killing our boy."

** "Lies? In your house of God?" [[labelnote:Explanation]]In the season 1 finale, Blue Fangs says this to the Bishop of Gresit when the latter spews excuses as to why he killed Lisa. The same phrase can be used for someone who is obviously lying, especially when they're acting high and mighty. It's also used to create hilarious [[https://ifunny.co/picture/lies-in-your-house-of-god-it-s-more-likely-PPSZlAHy4 fake ads like this one here.]][[/labelnote]]

** "[[GoMadFromTheIsolation ...oh my God. I'm losing my mind.]]" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Alucard's realization in season 3 that his sanity is being taxed by living in self-imposed exile. Especially poignant after the Coronavirus pandemic forced many people to self-isolate to stem the virus's spread.[[/labelnote]]

** It's revealed at the tail end of season 3 that [[spoiler:the Judge]] is a serial killer who keeps the shoes of his victims in a hidden shrine in his home. And they're all children.

** The swearing works a lot better when used in scenes meant to be humorous. For example, the bar scene in episode 1 and 2, since everyone is drunk at that point.

* OneTrueThreesome: Seeing Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard become FireForgedFriends through season 2 has lead people to declaring they belong together more intimately. [[spoiler:Their reunion in Season 4, and the fact that at one point Sypha brings the boys into a sort of group hug in order to cover them with her ice shield, has reignited calls for their coupling (tripling?)]]

** Alucard mentioning that his pee is coming out as scabs and wax in the first episode of season 4.

** This can also apply to Godbrand himself, as the only other vampire general next to Carmilla to actually speak and have personality, but he is killed by Isaac only 4 episodes in and doesn't get to fight or even ''see'' the heroes.

** Alucard's storyline in season 3 is rather disjointed from the rest and ends up as a ShaggyDogStory. [[spoiler: Alucard befriends two young people who then turn on him causing the vampire to kill them in defense]].

* VideoGameMoviesSuck: Not a movie, and there have been decent animated series adaptations of video games in the past (mostly {{Anime}}), but Adi Shankar flat out declared his intention to "end the streak of bad video game adaptations" with this series. He seems to have succeeded with the first season, which got fairly good reviews, to the point where Rotten Tomatoes themselves congratulated the series for being the first ever Video Game adaptation to have a Fresh rating on their site [[note]] 79% fresh [[/note]]. Praise came for the character of Trevor Belmont being delightful as a snarky asshole, for making Dracula sympathetic, and the action scenes being very intense, with high praise going to the demons descending and Trevor versus Alucard in episode 4. The second season managed to climb up to 100 percent thanks to it's vastly expanded cast, new and interesting characters, more great action sequences, and a heaping helping of game-faithful elements. Season 3 would become the most divisive season, but still received positive reviews, and Season 4 is widely regarded as an improvement and excellent closer.

** [[SmugSnake Carmilla]]. She's... not as smart as she thinks. Everything that she does in season 2 made things much easier for the heroes (indirectly taking out a general, creating a holy river that wipes out most of the vampiric forces, sowing general dissent in Dracula's court) and she's ''lucky'' it all blew up in her face like it did, since despite being told she didn't stand a chance against Dracula, she never factored actually having to fight him into her plans.

* TheWoobie: Lisa Tepes, a woman that just wanted to help people with science. The Church manages to catch her while she's alone at home, destroy her equipment, and burn her at the stake without even a trial. She can only scream in her last moments to beg Dracula to not avenge her death, because her executioners are ignorant. Dracula doesn't hear her, due to being away from home, and he avenges her a hundred times over.

** [[UndyingLoyalty Isaac]] is a Devil Forgemaster who begins as Dracula's last friend and [[HypercompetentSidekick ruthlessly competent lieutenant]]. An abused servant until he killed his master, Isaac believes the world will only know love once all humanity is purged. To this end, Isaac revives corpses as monsters for Dracula's army while effortlessly deposing of would-be threats to Dracula like Godbrand, with such efficiency even Dracula is never aware of the threat in the first place. After Dracula's death, Isaac continues his war on humanity, expanding his army through a path of slaughter that he ends by defeating a magician who's enslaved an entire town. Isaac's repeated experiences with the better side of humanity led to him questioning and eventually [[HeelFaceTurn abandoning his mission]], putting Dracula's memory to peace and deciding to embrace a brighter future, all while he simultaneously mounts a successful invasion of Styria that ends with the demise of the wicked, treacherous Carmilla and Styria conquered by his own hand.
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Hector]] is a [[MakerOfMonsters Devil Forgemaster]] who came into [[Characters/Castlevania2017DraculasArmy Dracula's service]] due to his desire to cull humanity's worst elements. Though initially easily deceived by Carmilla in a plot that leads to Dracula's death and enslaved by Carmilla's sister Lenore, Hector abandons his naive nature and begins plotting against the [[Characters/Castlevania2017AntagonistsStyrianCouncil Styrian Council]]. Hector proceeds in planning the bulk of Dracula's resurrection, stalling the Styrians' plans, and preparing traps and escape routes in the event of emergency, even noticing that something's off about a well-disguised Death. Upon the arrival of Dracula's vengeful ally Isaac, Hector traps Lenore in a magical cage and freely offers his life to Isaac before making peace with him when he realizes Isaac is not here to kill him. Hector then improvises his escape route into a path straight for Carmilla's death to save the world from her and cuts off his own finger to aid Isaac along that path, all while keeping a calm demeanor. After a lifetime of torment and abuse, Hector [[EarnYourHappyEnding creates his own happiness]], vowing to write a book to keep others from making his mistakes.

* UnfortunateImplications: Alucard is confirmed by WordOfGod to be bisexual, however the only scene that really shows this is [[spoiler: a deeply traumatising sex scene which many fans have described as rape at worst and QuestionableConsent at best. He never has any romantic or sexual intimacy with another man before or after, and the show ends with him settling down with a woman, which in combination creates the impression that he either wasn't really into men and was just being taken advantage of, or that same-sex relationships are dangerous and he should only stick to opposite-sex ones to find happiness.]]

** Trevor manages to not only pacify the AngryMob but also turns it against the priests in just a few short sentences without providing any evidence. [[TheDogBitesBack Though given how selfish and cruel the priests had been shown to be to random people, it probably wouldn't be hard to convince a bunch of abused villagers of their guilt.]] This is made worse by the fact that said mob immediately kills the priest in a violent way. Earlier in the episode, that exact attitude was pointed out as why people ''didn't'' deserve Trevor's help, making it a case of ProtagonistCenteredMorality.

* IdiotPlot: Season one leverages this as TropesAreTools. Multiple characters, Dracula included, note that the Church is made up of bigoted idiots that would rather destroy knowledge and revel in their egos as opposed to saving their lives. Despite the fact that he showed up as a raging fireball to tell them they have a year to make peace with their God before he slaughters them all, the Pope uses the anniversary to celebrate that they aren't dead yet. Viewers are most certainly ''cheering'' when Dracula makes good on his promise, raining blood on the Pope before slaughtering him. Despite this gruesome display, the Bishop thinks that he's safe from Dracula's wrath, and didn't consider that the demon army would peg him as Lisa's killer, hunting him down personally when they come to Gresit. He also wants to wipe out the Speakers, who traveled to Gresit specifically to save everyone and have the knowledge to minimize the bloodbath. That's equivalent to a drowning man refusing help from rescue boats because he thinks God will save him. Trevor has to talk sense into the townspeople about using salt and holy water as a defense so they can survive the night, as well as point out that the Speakers are innocent scapegoats. The season 2 flashback to Lisa's arrest shows that she has physical evidence in books and science that her medicine works, but the Bishop tried her as a witch anyway and burned down her home in an act of spite. You can't exactly fault Dracula for rewarding the idiocy with the revelation that none of his threats are idle; in fact, Trevor and Alucard lament more the fact that Dracula's death will mean the death of the knowledge and good that he could do for the world.

** Isaac's devotion to Dracula has large AmbiguouslyGay overtones with Dracula, that he could probably give [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Pucci]] a run for his money.