If you’re a fan of anime, you can’t afford to miss Castlevania! No, we’re not referring to the video game; rather, we’re referring to the Castlevania anime series on Netflix. True, this American anime-influenced adult animated dark fantasy action television series began as a loose adaptation of Konami’s Japanese video game series Castlevania, but fans who have watched it online will know that the series has successfully built a world of its own, backed by some riveting character dynamics and, of course, a remarkable work of animation. Warren Ellis’ Castlevania has been a commercial and critical success, spanning four seasons and 32 incredibly intense episodes.
One of the main reasons why the series has been so popular is because of the characters on show, and when we think of characters, we think of the villains depicted here. While the main nemesis of the series, Dracula, deserves full credit, Castlevania has a lot more to offer.
As a result, in today’s episode, we’ll take a closer look at 12 of the series’ darkest and most well-built villains.
Dracula
Of course, Dracula stands at the top of the list, since let’s get one thing straight: it all started with this renowned nemesis. Count Vlad Dracula Tepeș, also known as Dracula, appears in the first season as the all-encompassing villain, the primary villain in the second season, the posthumous imposing villain in the third season, and as the main character in the fourth and final season.
Mind you, his character in the anime series is a lot different than his original video game character. He is undeniably the toughest and the wittiest of all the vampires; the fact that he regarded himself as the most powerful being, one that was way superior than humans made him quite indifferent towards them.
The right way to describe this villain here would be by pointing towards the fact that he took immense pride in himself. The character of Dracula would hardly hesitate when it comes to crushing people, especially people who are against him. Besides slaughtering them in the most vicious manner, he would even go to the extent of just leaving their bodies impaled.
His story is terrible, to say the least. Lisa, his human wife, was executed — or, to be more accurate, burnt at the stake – after being falsely convicted of witchcraft. Fueled by a romantic rage, he deeply started resenting humanity and was further enraged post learning that the bishop who ordered the execution simply denied his existence.
This is precisely when Dracula declared that he would take everything from the people of Wallachia and leave no trace of their existence. Holding every human being accountable for the death of his wife, he went on a revenge quest and began his war of extermination against the human race, setting free an entire army of Hell. He had accepted his future eternity of endless hatred; in fact, his plans of genocide were particularly in order for him to join his wife in the afterlife.
Being the oldest immortal in history bestowed upon him extremely powerful abilities such as extraordinary strength. It is quite easy for him to smash solid stones with just his hands, and he finds killing humans and even vampires to be extremely simple. Even critically injuring his superhumanly strong dhampir son, Alucard, seemed like a piece of cake to him.
Next comes the fact that he is capable of moving at great speeds, very easily scale down walls, evade numerous arrows thrown at him from countless angles, dodge sword attacks and return back blows – all of this in spite of having quite the size.
Then comes his supernatural durability, resilience, stamina, his command over vampires and the night-horde and the fact that he is extremely well-versed with magic. His other abilities include teleportation, astral projection, levitation and elemental control such as pyrokinesis, aerokinesis, and electrokinesis. Let’s not forget his mastery in martial combat or possibly disregard his genius-level intellect.
Dracula is undeniably one of Castlevania’s most famous villains, and there are no doubts about that.
Death
Death is an ancient elemental entity, as the name implies, who has been since the beginning of time. His main objective is to feed on the demise of all living things. He was apparently quite disgruntled with the frequency of the usual death occurring in the world so it goes without saying that he was absolutely overjoyed when he learnt about Dracula’s plans of mass murder.
So much so that this sadistic Death God literally sought to revive Dracula just so he could continue devouring from his bloodbath. In fact, you will be surprised to know that he calculatingly tried to resurrect Dracula and his wife in a single body, being completely aware that the experience would literally drive them insane and turn them into his perfect killing machine.
Although he is based on the character from the video game, there are some differences between him and his anime counterpart. He is not the Grim Reaper, as in the video game, but rather an elemental spirit, as previously stated. Death gets to consume every single time a life ends and mind you, the more he devours, the more powerful he becomes. Since he has been feeding for literally ages now, he is supreme enough to control the gateway between two dimensions, the Infinite Corridor to be more specific.
If you’re curious what he looks like in real life, we’re here to help. He’s a gigantic, skeletal beast with a skull head covered in bony spikes pointing upward. This appears to be a crown.
He has muscles on his upper arms, torso and even hands and only dons minute pieces of clothing, some over his shoulders and some covering his lower half. He has always been one of the most dreaded deputies in the ranks of Dracula and when needed, he can grow into a gigantic size, one who is strong enough to create explosions simply by hitting his palm on the ground.
At times, from being an equivalent to Dracula to appearing even stronger in the final showdown, his character is easily categorized as the main villain of the fourth and final season. Also, Death unlike his character in the video game, holds no loyalty towards Dracula and only considers him as a tool to gain benefits out of his plans of genocide.
He is cold, apathetic, self-centered, imposing, and has no respect for anyone when it comes to his personality. He has the ability to be extremely convincing while also intimidating people into surrender. He’s also clever and crafty, so he wouldn’t just reveal his genuine personality like that.
All he gives a damn about is arranging as many deaths as possible because that is what makes him break free from all things that confine him and makes him become the one and only. For him, the concept of one is either to be killed for nourishment or deployed for the fulfillment of his end.
Carmilla
Carmilla, if there is such a thing as a definition of a boss-lady, is the one that prefers to drink human blood out of a wine glass while thrashing her minions left, right, and centre. This power-hungry vampire can be polished, poised, and royal, as well as distrustful and a total misandrist to the point of obsession, as the secondary antagonist of the second and fourth seasons and the principal villain of the third season.
She’s also egotistical, opportunistic, arrogant, lustful, bossy, and cowardly. Mind you, she is very wily, very ambitious, has this twisted dark sense of humor with a penchant for violence, and often overestimates herself to the extent that she thinks she can never go wrong. Oh, she is utterly vicious, sadistic, loves to fight with rage and simply revels in beating up targets that are helpless. Imagine someone who considers human beings as a source of food and desires vampires to take over the world. That’s not even all; she wants the throne of Dracula and finds him incapable of ruling.
The fact that she was able to twist the affairs of Dracula’s council, plant doubts amongst them, turn many allies of Dracula against him and also put up a show of her being absolutely loyal to him at the same time shows how politically skilled she actually is. She simply loathed the fact that Dracula actually loved his wife and did not use her as a pet or say a sex-slave like she would have.
Carmilla’s fixation with the concept of conquest transforms her into the new definition of evil. She is swift, agile, and strong, and she rides a colossal demonic skull. She possesses a blood-red scimitar and that’s not even the best part. The highlight happens to be her blending herself with flows of lightning to enhance her speed and might.
How cool is that, right? Talking about her appearance, her character boasts icy blue eyes, crimson red and long, straight, white mane. She is mostly seen donning a black and crimson red ombre dress that features golden shoulder plates along with heels hinting to the fact that she is uber chic.
If you’re curious about her past, she doesn’t reveal much more than what she says about it. She claims she was one of her sire’s wives, and that he eventually became’mad and vicious,’ to the point of abusing her as a sex slave.
Of course, Carmilla ended up killing him. It was after this that she took over the Austrian domain of Styria providing a sense of purpose as well as goal to her Council of Sisters and in due course, becoming their leader.
Isaac
Say hello to Dracula’s closest companion, a misanthropic Devil Forgemaster who is supporting his master in his attempted mass slaughter of humanity. He is so enraged that he forms his own army to avenge Dracula’s death. Contrary to his exaggerated video game version, Isaac in the animated series appears as a tall, bald black male.
He has two scars on the side of his head and unlike his video game counterpart, he does not have any tattoos. His character here is shown as someone who is exceedingly faithful to Dracula; he is reserved, calm and at the same time disturbingly ruthless.
Now comes the time where his character would send shivers down your spine. Isaac is a misanthropic necromancer who, thanks to the black blade he wields, can employ his Forgemaster abilities. He is quite capable of turning corpses into the undead and numerous creatures of all sizes, supremacies and sentience. Just a single fatal stab will do the trick.
He is malefic in nature, boasting exceptional fighting skills and an unrivalled level of pain tolerance. He has an army of horrors at his command so know this that it is not an easy task to stop him especially with one crossing paths with him.
You’ll be startled to learn that he is a Sufi Muslim, someone who believes in God but is crazy enough to believe that cleansing Hell is His Will. Isaac believes that Dracula will purify the world, and as a result, he frequently beats himself as an act of atonement.
For those who are wondering why he is so devoted to Dracula, well, it was Dracula who treated him with compassion and valued him as a person. So, one can imagine the extent he would go to take down those accountable for the death of Dracula. This also includes him picking up his master’s task of genocide.
But then again, it’s also these prosecutions that eventually made him reassess his beliefs and search for a whole new path. In due course, he is finally able to find peace.
Hector
Hector is a key anti-villain and one of Dracula’s two Devil Forgemasters, alongside Isaac, and is voiced by English actor Theo James. So, in addition to having the ability to effortlessly resurrect corpses, create night creatures, and summon demons, this former commander in Dracula’s army helped him by constructing him an army and assisting him in his war against humanity.
But Hector’s susceptible, gullible nature has been the main reason for his downfall, it is precisely what the cunning and scheming Carmilla took an advantage of and had him go against his very master. Post the very death of Dracula, Carmilla deceived Hector and took him as a prisoner in her castle in Styria.
With the manipulative femme fatale Lenore, who was also one of the three vampires who ruled Styria alongside Carmilla as the Council of Sisters, feigning an interest or, in other words, duping and seducing the imprisoned Hector, the latter was exploited once more, but this time to a much greater extent than before.
He was made her slave, and not just any slave, but one who could never betray or defy her. There is no denying that the Council of Sisters had him assigned to put together an army for them, one that they could use to defeat and rule the world.
Morana and Striga
They were not only immortal lovers who ruled over Styria, but they were also two of the four vampire ladies who founded the Council of Sisters. Striga was a fearsome warrior who relished the opportunity to wage battle against Styrian adversaries.
She was also in charge of managing her kingdom’s army, much like a commander. Morana, on the other hand, was more inclined towards being the strategist and serving a much more intellectual role. They were more than often made to participate in the conniving plots of Carmilla, their vampire sister, who wished to take over the world and simultaneously alter the status quo in the process.
It should come as no surprise to you that their main purpose was to build a large feeding ground out of Wallachia, and with skills like immortality, swordsmanship mastery, superhuman speed, and strength, you can imagine the kind of influence these lovers would have.
There is little doubt that after Dracula’s death, Carmilla returned to her castle with a slew of new plans for dominance, but it is up to Striga and Morana to carry them out to the best of their abilities.
There’s every reason to keep an eye out for these Castlevania supporting villains and not take them lightly!
Lenore
When it comes to characterising this big adversary, there’s a good likelihood that words will fall short. While most people thought of her as the ‘softest’ of the vampire queen quartet, they were mistaken. Please don’t go by her appearance – it is true that she was a beauty to look at, especially with those tinted cheeks of her and that long ginger-red hair but her true vampiric nature had her red eyes glowing with nothing but spite, her ears oddly pointed and let’s not even talk about the sharp fangs.
While on the surface, she did appear well-mannered, thoughtful and understanding, Lenore was equally wicked, crafty and persuasive underneath to the whole extent of making others do the Council’s bidding. For instance, the unabridged act of bringing the imprisoned Hector food and clothes was nothing but a part of her master strategy.
The manipulative femme fatale was more than successful in getting what she wanted out of him. That includes seducing him to have sex and most importantly, binding him with a control ring that ensured Hector’s as well as his night creatures’ allegiance and have them obey every command of her. So basically, the vampire queen quartet had a Devil Forgemaster literally at their disposal and not just any but one who just can’t say no to them.
But, when we learn more about Lenore’s character, she didn’t realise that her actions of manipulation were causing misery to others. Hector was her ‘unwilling’ pet, but since she saw him as one, she proceeded to treat him as such, taking him for walks at night and protecting him from her vehement Council colleagues. Of course, it took her some time to comprehend why Hector was so upset by the fact that she actually tied him with a control ring.
With her elongated teeth that made it simpler for her to puncture through human skin and those sharp nails that could very smoothly shred through flesh, the character of Lenore was more like an apex predator, one who could dominate people in the blink of an eye.
She had immortality, incredible strength, and the ability to shapeshift, allowing her to turn into a variety of little flying bats as well as this misty body structure. But like all vampires, she was a creature of darkness – sadly no daylight ring for her!
Saint Germain
The role of Count Saint Germain, played by the famed English actor Bill Nighy, first appeared as a supporting character in the third season, but this mysterious and powerful mage quickly rose to become the major villain in the fourth season. The character of Saint Germain, who claimed to have the gift of immortality, travelled all over the world, giving guidance to a variety of monarchs and tyrants he met along the route.
He eventually crossed paths with a woman with whom he fell madly in love. However, in their search for additional information, he lost her in the realms of Infinite Corridor, the portal between the two universes. Of course, Germain did everything he could to look for a way to get reunited with his lover and it is precisely his search that unavoidably sent him down a very dark path and for that, the ancient elemental spirit Death along with his manipulations is to be blamed.
Germain was influenced by Death, who told him that the only way he could see his lover again was if he could help resuscitate the incredibly powerful Dracula. It’s another thing entirely if Death intended to resurrect Dracula for his own selfish reasons. And, although Saint Germain was tricked into aiding and abetting, his character died without getting what was apparently promised to him. He never got to reunite with his lover!
The Bishop
Those who have seen Castlevania know that Count Dracula and the Bishop will always tie for first place in the villain category. Let’s put a stop to everyone who thinks the villains in this dark mediaeval fantasy series had to be supernatural in order to make the list. This abhorrently disgusting individual is the one who started it all in the first place.
It goes without saying that he had his own warped up version of the natural order of the world and everything else was regarded as a threat to his beliefs. Calling him fanatical would be an understatement; he had this unwavering smugness and exceeding misconceptions of grandeur. He always believed himself to be right no matter what the situation is and it would not even take him seconds to put the guilt on somebody else.
If we follow the real definition of a bishop, the title is usually given to someone who has been ordained or appointed to a position of power and control in a religious institution. However, this is not the case with the Bishop in Castlevania. He is duplicitous, murderous, he is someone who was more than ready to militarize his church and have thieves, murderers and thugs into his ranks as priests.
According to him, Dracula’s wife Lisa Tepes went against his twisted sense of ‘natural order’ so he had her burnt at the stake while falsely accusing her of witchcraft. In short, he just wanted to cleanse the whole world of viewpoints that contradicted his own.
He literally went to extreme ends such as regularly manipulating the people of Gresit into murdering or banishing anyone for that matter who dared not to follow his beliefs. He even rallied fierce mobs against them!
When Bishop was ultimately challenged with Dracula, he declared him to be a Satanic apparition. He did this on purpose, since he intended Dracula’s attacks on Wallachia to gather more clout and influence. With Dracula summoning his army of demons, the Bishop put the blame on the people telling them that this happened solely because they did not obey him or his beliefs.
Bishop at the same time thought that he was above blame and that god would protect him. No points for guessing that even God was utterly repulsed by his actions and ended up not protecting him. It was the demon Blue Fangs, who eventually ripped the Bishop into shreds.
Prior Sala
Prior Sala, who had been a thoughtful clergyman who dedicated himself to his parish and the welfare of the residents, had a serious spiritual crisis that left him absolutely damaged. He, like many other clergy members, was shocked to find that Dracula’s genocidal campaign was sparked by Bishop’s fanaticism. Next, comes the arrival of a powerful night creature called The Visitor, and it leads to his faith getting further hampered to an extent that there was just no coming back from there.
Sala’s character has something to it, whether it’s his foreboding presence, frightening eyes, unsettlingly calm and poised demeanor, or the fact that he always speaks in an unnerving monotone. He frequently maintains a front of normalcy, acting as if everything is alright even when it is not.
But let’s not forget that he gets alarmingly ecstatic even by the slightest references of Hell. Just the simple fact that he became completely indifferent towards human matters and letting his priory crumble right in front of him shows how dark he can actually be.
While he still believes in God and worships him, you cannot disregard that he was corrupted to an extent that he viewed Dracula as a savior. That’s not where it ends – he thinks Dracula as the innocent that was wronged. In fact, he is more than determined to see how Dracula’s global act of mass murder would send all the humans to Hell. Well, no-one in their sane minds would!
Prior Sala wasn’t a true wizard, but he and the monks of his priory could use magic runes that they learned from the dark grimoires, or spell books that they read. This perverted cleric had not only access to demonic powers but also knowledge of evil sorcery and leadership over his Priory, all with the objective of resurrecting Dracula.
Blue Fangs
This specific villain is obviously recognised for his words, as he is voiced by American voice actor Fred Tatasciore. Let us give you an example: Blue Fangs made an appearance in Monument, the fourth and final episode of the first season.
Despite his terrifying appearance, this formidable demon had a large vocabulary and a good understanding of morality. He embraces his nefarious side and despises hypocrisy. He was extraordinarily brilliant, as evidenced by his ability to see right through the Bishop’s selfish, repulsive activities — everything that was done in the name of God – unlike the other Night Creatures.
He knew exactly well that God hated the Bishop for his actions and that is why he entered the church where he knew the despicable Bishop would eventually take matters in his own hands. There is more evidence that points towards his intelligence as well as his understanding of human emotions.
With the Bishop covering up his actions and stating them as God’s work, the character of Blue Fangs is shown to take great pleasure in breaking the Bishop’s false sense of self-righteousness right before devouring him of course. Blue Fangs even gave credits to him because it was due to the actions of the horrifying Bishop that he and his night horde were summoned in the first place.
Blue Fangs, the ultimate vicious butcher, should be avoided at all costs, especially during combat. He gets a lot of joy from tearing people apart with his sharp teeth and piercing claws.
Gaibon and Slogra
The team added amazing touches to the terrifying terrarium of demons, as well as creatures from the Castlevania video games, which were brought directly to the Netflix version. Gaibon appears in the form of a fire-breathing flying gargoyle.
Slogra, on the other hand, was a demonic knight that looked more like a skeletal pterosaur, in possession of a spear. The duo was always seen together and since Slogra was bound to the ground, he was more than often picked up by Gaibon as a means to attack the enemies.
Both demons died at the hands of Trevor B. Gaibon. They were pierced in the head with his whip, while Slogra was murdered by his own spear. Fans of the Castlevania video game series can only hope for more screen time in the future!