The Perfect Castlevania Timeline is a web video series created by GamerThumbTV. As suggested by the title, the series is a chronology, divided into eight chapters, of all of the main timeline Castlevania games, as told through Broad Strokes.
The series can be found on GamerThumbTV's channel here
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The Perfect Castlevania Timeline contains examples of:
- The Ace: Simon Belmont is presented this way, mostly due to all of his adventuresnote being treated as canon. This means that he ends up killing Dracula four times within the span of 13 years.
- A Day in the Limelight: Chapter IV: The Legendary Simon Belmont centers on the exploits and battles against Dracula of, you guessed it, Simon Belmont.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Soma Cruz ends up succumbing to Dracula's dark influence and becoming the Dark Lord incarnate.
- Arc Villain: Dracula serves as the Greater-Scope Villain and the main antagonist throughout the entire series, but every part has a significant Big Bad Ensemble and/or Big Bad Duumvirate. In order:
- Chapter I: Hunting the Night: Walter Bernhard and Galamoth.
- Chapter II: The War on Humanity: The Bishop and Isaac.
- Chapter III: The Order of Shadows: Ivan Bartley and Rohan Krause.
- Chapter IV: The Legendary Simon Belmont: Death and Carmilla.
- Chapter V: Tainting the Bloodline: Death on his own, Maxim Kischine and Shaft.
- Chapter VI: A World Without Belmonts: Barlowe, Hugh Baldwin, Gilles de Rais and Actrise.
- Chapter VII: The Heroic Morris Clan: Elizabeth Bartley and Brauner.
- Chapter VIII: The Dark Lord Returns: Galamoth again, Graham Jones, Celia Fortner, and Soma Cruz.
- Artifact of Doom: Being around the dark power of Dominus for far more than what is healthy eventually sends Barlowe over the edge.
- Back for the Finale: A section of Chapter VIII: The Dark Lord Returns focuses on the events of Castlevania: Judgment, thus allowing one last hurrah from long-since passed away characters such as Simon Belmont, Maria Renard, Eric Lecarde, and Shanoa.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Dario Bossi and Dmitrii Blinov. Sure, both of them do put up a good effort when trying to out-perform Soma Cruz as a Dark Lord candidate. But neither of them prove to hold a candle to the true threat: Soma himself.
- Broad Strokes: Per GamerThumbTV's introduction to the series, all original timeline games are to be treated as canon, with several aspects from Castlevania (2017) and the Lords of Shadow series being added to the mix.
- Canon Welding: Through an off-hand mention of Kokoro in Chapter VIII: The Dark Lord Returns and an acknowledgement that she is indeed Julius's younger sister, the events of Otomedius are welded into the Castlevania franchise.
- Composite Character:
- Most of the cast of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness are composited with their versions from the 2017 animated series.
- Zoe Belmont from Castlevania: Order of Shadows is combined with the Lords of Shadow version of Sypha.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Richter Belmont is introduced as focusing more on chasing after girls than being a serious vampire hunter. Nevertheless, when push comes to shove he quickly proves himself to be worthy of being a Belmont.
- Death by Adaptation: Through the lack of mention that it was actually a doppelganger, this fate implicitly falls upon Mina Hakuba.
- Decapitated Army: Averted at one point, with fatal consequences. Dracula's defeat in Castlevania: Order of Shadows doesn't stop him from influencing a pack of werewolves into attacking Desmond right after the game's events. This ends up costing Desmond, Dolores, and Zoe their lives.
- Downer Ending: Hoo boy, it ends on one. Mina Hakuba is shot dead, Soma Cruz completely and utterly snaps, and Julius Belmont is forced to put him out of his misery, thus rendering all of the sacrifices of 1999 pointless.
- Enemy Mine: Every single country in the world bands together to stop Dracula during the Demon Castle War of 1999.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Chapter VII: The Heroic Morris Clan ends with Jonathan Morris visiting the tombstone of his Disappeared Dad John.
- The Greatest Story Never Told:
- Alucard's involvement in the events of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is kept secret, with Trevor, Sypha, and Grant receiving all of the credit.
- As per canon, the events of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Shanoa's heroism become this. Shanoa doesn't really care.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Sonia Belmont sacrifices her life protecting her son Trevor and the Vampire Killer from a lynch mob.
- Likewise, Zoe Belmont is killed helping her nephew Simon flee from the monsters that attacked them after Dracula's defeat in Order of Shadows.
- Hero of Another Story:
- Grant DaNasty. While he quickly splits off from Trevor and Sypha, he is mentioned as helping the villagers drive off the forces of Dracula and using his fortune to help rebuild the cities ravaged by those same forces, and eventually gets credit as one of the "Three Legendary Warriors".
- Maria Renard. After being saved by Richter, she helps him out by gathering intel on the other missing women — thus allowing Richter to successfully find them before it's too late.
- Victor Belmont. Although he has no interest in fighting Dracula like his ancestors, he does manage to make a name for himself as a mercenary. In addition, he is the one to provide Alucard with the Vampire Killer.
- History Repeats: Ultimately, it becomes apparent that there is absolutely no way to banish evil from the world for good. The last words of Chapter VIII: The Dark Lord Returns, however, do indicate that even though darkness is eternal, so are the heroes fighting against it:
- But there is a lesson to be learned: history is destined to repeat itself, darkness will always be present, but heroes will always rise up to meet it.
- Holy Burns Evil: The Vampire Killer is shown to inflict burns on those tainted by Dracula's dark presence. Like Richter Belmont after Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
- Kill the Cutie: The Sudden Downer Ending of the series is heralded by Mina Hakuba getting murdered. And unlike in Dawn of Sorrow, it's implied that she's been Killed Off for Real.
- Lancer vs. Dragon: The section focusing on Castlevania: Bloodlines has Eric Lecarde fight Elizabeth Bartley, while John Morris takes it upon himself to deal with Dracula.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Despite everybody around him warning him to stay away and let them deal with Celia's cult, Soma Cruz decides repeatedly to ignore their warnings and investigate for himself. It costs him both his sanity and his life.
- Meaningful Rename: After the events of Castlevania 64, Reinhardt accepts his heritage as a Belmont, and thus renames himself Schneider Belmont.
- Mercy Kill Arrangement: Per the events of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Soma Cruz ends up making one with Julius Belmont, for the latter to kill him if he becomes Dracula. Julius ends up having to fulfil his end of the deal.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Approximately a quarter of Chapter I: Hunting the Night is dedicated to Alucard's childhood adventures, as depicted through Kid Dracula.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: As a child, Simon Belmont is quickly separated from both his father and his aunts, and ends up raised by a barbarian tribe.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: It is the ghost of Sara Trantoul who appears to Simon Belmont to remind him that there is a way to stop the curse that Dracula inflicted upon him, thus beginning Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
- Nuke 'em: Dracula's castle is hit with a nuclear strike during the Demon Castle War in 1999, as indicated in Chapter VIII: The Dark Lord Returns. It doesn't work.
- Passing the Torch: Nathan Graves does so to Reinhardt Schneider, and likewise Jonathan Morris does so to Julius Belmont. Both instances are accompanied by mini-comics depicting the predecessor handing over the Vampire Killer to their successor.
- Power Degeneration: Dracula ends up suffering from this in his repeated attempts to kill Simon Belmont. By the time of Haunted Castle, it has gotten so bad that he can't even summon Death anymore, and Simon ends up feeling pity for him.
- Race Lift: Implicitly done to Julius Belmont, who in canon has never been indicated as anything other than full-blooded European. Due to Kokoro being mentioned as his little sister, Julius here is at the very least of Asian-European descent.
- Refusal of the Call: Victor Belmont (of the ill-fated Castlevania: Resurrection) quickly runs away from home in favor of becoming a mercenary-for-hire. He does, however, manage to give Alucard the Vampire Killer.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- Desmond Belmont is established here to be the father of none other than Simon Belmont.
- Shanoa is said to be a distant descendant of both Hector and Julia.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The Demon Castle War of 1999 ultimately amounts to nothing. Julius, Alucard, and humanity as a whole go through great hardship to try and bring a permanent end to Dracula... and then he manages to come back in 2036, resulting in the death of the teenage boy he used as a vessel and the Vicious Cycle beginning all over again.
- Sketchy Successor: Dracula's human reincarnations display this: Soma doesn't really manage to accomplish anything out of his reign of terror, whereas Malus manages to raze an village and kidnap numerous children.
- Stealing the Credit: Despite doing far more to ensure Dracula's defeat personally, Alucard declines to be acknowledged as one of the "Three Legendary Warriors" and allows Grant DaNasty to earn the accolades in his stead.
- Taught by Experience: Throughout his four confrontations with Dracula, Simon Belmont goes from a brash and hot-blooded Leeroy Jenkins to an Older and Wiser warrior who plays it noticeably more safe.
- Time-Passage Beard: Both Nathan Graves and Jonathan Morris sport such beards long after their adventures have come to a close and they are naming their successor.
- That Man Is Dead: Invoked in the finale; once Soma falls to the dark side and becomes Dracula, the narrator stops calling him "Soma" and instead refers to him as "Dracula". It is even spelled out:
- Soma was dead, and Dracula had returned.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Commented as a possible reason as to Soma Cruz's Face–Heel Turn:
- If the humans wanted a Dark Lord, they would have him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Death is perfectly willing (if a bit of a Servile Snarker) to act as Alucard's Parental Substitute during Kid Dracula. Flash forward to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, occurring long after Alucard decides to stand opposed to his father's path in life, and the two are trying to kill each other.
- Where I Was Born and Razed: Malus burns down his village and kills his parents on his 8th birthday. That's what happens when you're Dracula reborn.
- You Can't Fight Fate: When it's spelt out to him that he's Dracula's reincarnation, Soma Cruz tries to resist the calling and remain on the side of good. A pity Celia Fortner forces his hand...
