Alucard (Castlevania)

"Dracula... in the name of my mother, I will defeat you again."

- Alucard, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Alucard, also known by his real name Adrian Farenheights Tepes, is a protagonist from Castlevania who is the son of the main antagonist, Dracula. As the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa, Adrian had special powers, preordained to be stronger than any human but not potentially as strong as his father especially in the dark arts. After Lisa was killed, mistaken for a witch, Adrian grew up under the influence of his father, whence he was taught in the dark arts and molded into a warrior who would one day fight for the side of evil.

Adrian's existence did not come without quirks, as the gentle, human side of his mother always seemed to cloud his "better judgment", as Dracula would have put it. Before his mother's death, Adrian was by her side. Even though he was enraged, she insisted that he not take that anger out on the humans as their lives are already full of hardship. With those thoughts forever implanted into his being, his mind always wandered as he questioned his father's intentions. After standing by for as long as he could, he broke away from his father's army and disappeared. Understanding that Dracula was going to implore his wrath on the people, Adrian would turn his efforts towards destroying his father's army, hopefully encouraging him to reconsider. Furthermore, he chose to go under the name "Alucard" — his father's branded name in reverse — to represent that he stood for beliefs opposite those of his father.

Alucard is an adept swordsman, and typically wields one-handed swords. Alucard's other attacks use dark magic. As a shape shifter, Alucard can change into a bat, a wolf, or even mist.

Appearance
Alucard always dresses in black, in his first appearances wearing the typical dress of a vampire at that time, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1797) used a more Romanized and elegant attire while in the installments of the Sorrow Saga (Beginning in 2035) he, in his second identity of Genya Arikado, dyes his hair black and wears a black tuxedo.

Alucard is known for having a "beautiful" appearance and superhuman strength as well as the gift of eternal youth, immortality, and anything else you would like in a mortal. Alucard is considered the quintessential vampire hybrid because it seems that he combines vampire's traits with his human side (given by his mother), as can be seen in Symphony of the Night. He has vampiric powers such as bloodlust and spells, and also possesses human attitudes such as eating, sleeping and, perhaps, being immune to the sunlight.

Personality
Alucard, at first glance, looks like a cool individual of few words and strong determination. However, he also endures great suffering because of his blood curse, a curse to roam the world forever fighting and having to endure the death of his friends and colleagues. Alucard is pessimistic, always has a plan for everything, leaves nothing to chance, and will do everything necessary to end Dracula regardless of the cost.

Alucard always seems to stay away from the people around him, given his vampiric condition. He decided to completely exile himself from the world under an eternal sleep. He did not awake from it until Symphony of the Night. It also seems that he forges camaraderie quickly in precarious situations, as seen in helping Sonia Belmont, and also the assistance provided as a minor character in Dracula's Curse.

In Symphony of the Night, Alucard feels completely responsible for dealing with Dracula, whatever the consequences. Speaking to Maria, he is indifferent about Richter being under evil control. Alucard bids a cold goodbye to Richter and Maria at the end of Symphony. Though forges little human attachment, it is notable in Symphony that when the Succubus posed as his mother Lisa, Alucard's emotions flared. Alucard also does not withhold his feelings to fight once more against his father, who at the end of the battle quotes some sentences spoken by his mother.

Dracula's Curse
In 1476 when Trevor Belmont was on his own quest to hunt out the Count Dracula who had controlled his son to become evil, Alucard would be waiting for Trevor Belmont to come by. Alucard acted like a boss (not a real boss) at this point, testing the skills of the hero. Alucard was surprised by Trevor's strength when he was defeated and asked if he could join Trevor on his quest.

If you accept his offer, he then becomes one of the four playable characters in the game.

After helping to destroy Dracula, and despite his good intentions, Alucard couldn't help but feel guilty for patricide. To ease his pain, he put himself to rest, submerging his powers.

Symphony of the Night
In 1797, due to an unexpected lack of a Belmont, Alucard had no choice but to awaken from his slumber to investigate the matter and infiltrate Castlevania. He was able to find out that Richter Belmont had been seduced by evil and was controlling the castle.

With the help of Richter's sister-in-law, Maria Renard, they were able to find out the truth: The dark priest Shaft was controlling Richter and wanted to raise Dracula from his dark slumber. After releasing Richter from Shaft's control, Alucard entered an upside-down version of Castlevania, with more powerful enemies, and confronted Shaft.

Having defeated Shaft, Alucard discovered that his efforts were in vain, as Shaft's plan had come to fruition regardless. He solely defeated his father in combat once more, and sent him back to the grave, though Dracula did show a spark of humanity after Alucard told him Lisa's last words: that mankind should be left in peace, and that she would always love him. He then planned to put himself back at rest but Maria, who had developed a strong attraction to him, eventually set out to convince him to stay.

Nocturne of Recollection
One year after defeating his father, Alucard is accused of being evil by an incubus named Magnus. He aids Maria, Richter, Cyril, and Alexis in their fight against Magnus and his old vampire servant Lyudmil.

Magnus reveals to Maria Alucard's history of consuming human blood. When being asked about it, he did not deny it. He even turned his former servant, Lyudmil into a vampire.

Judgment
In the age of no Belmonts, Alucard witnesses Dracula rising and falling many times. He begins to seek a way in which he could permanently destroy his father. When the Vampire Killer whip is passed down to the Morris Clan, he creates the Alucard Spear with the intention of it supporting the Vampire Killer whip, and he bequeaths it to the Lecarde Clan (some speculate these are his descendants).

One day, many years later, he enters the time rift. In it he faces the minions of Dracula, Camilla and Death. He then defeats his father, proving that he had the power to defeat him even when he was at his full power.

When he returns to his normal place in time, he continues his quest to ultimately defeat Dracula. He later hears about Nostradamus's prophecy that stated that Dracula would rise in the year 1999. Alucard makes preparations for the ultimate defeat of Dracula. He enlists the services of the priest of the Hakuba Shrine and they perform a ritual that seals Dracula's Castle inside of a solar eclipse, which separates him from the source of his power, thus breaking his cycle of resurrection. Julius Belmont, the Belmont who returned, defeats Dracula one final time and he is finished.

Alucard believed that his task was finally completed. However, some time after that, he learns of another prophecy which tells of the return of a reborn Dracula to the castle in the year 2035. He then goes to work to prepare to counter this new threat and infiltrates a secret Japanese government agency and started to use the alias of Genya Arikado.

Aria of Sorrow
In the year 2035, a man named Genya Arikado and his close associate Yoko Belnades, a Catholic Church employee, began to frequently visit the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Mina, the shrine caretaker's daughter, was not sure of what they were looking for, but she was always friendly to the duo. Genya, an extremely cold man with an inhumanly attractive face, was a member of a shadowy organization somehow related to national security. He and Yoko knew well about the events where the castle was sealed away in the eclipse by a group of vampire hunters, and about the prophecy that says someone would come to the castle in 2035 to inherit Dracula's powers.

In reality, Genya Arikado is Alucard himself. Julius Belmont was present, roaming the castle, but his amnesia and advanced age made it too risky for him to get involved in big conflicts.

Alucard knew that the power of the seal holding Dracula was wearing off. If someone with bad intentions, like Graham Jones, were to seize the opportunity and inherit that power, his father would return, reborn.

Alucard then came up with a plan. He would find the person truly prophesized to inherit the Dark Lord's powers and summon him to the castle on the day of the solar eclipse. That person turned out to be Soma Cruz. Alucard helped him to discover his natural absorbing abilities in hope that Soma would use that power to collect the enemies' souls and the castle's energy essence, becoming someone as powerful as Dracula. A self-aware absorber who would use that collected power to enter into where only Dracula could go: The Chaotic Realm where the seal remained broken, having the chance to fix it by destroying the source.

After killing Graham Jones, Soma realised that he himself was the rebirth of Dracula, so Alucard ordered him to find and cut the flow of Chaos and suppress Dracula's spirit before it could take over his body completely, resealing the castle within the eclipse, bringing his friends to safety, and ending the threat of Dracula's resurrection for the time being.

Dawn of Sorrow
Alucard first makes his appearance as Genya Arikado to Soma Cruz in 2036 upon their encounter, as he attempts to protect him from Celia, the leader of the cult devoted to recreating the Dark Lord. After Soma defeats the monsters that Celia summoned using the Knife that Arikado throws to him and absorbs their souls, he wonders why his "power of dominance" has returned. Arikado reveals that he has always had that power, it was just that he never had a need for it after he left Dracula's castle. After their discussion, Arikado tells Soma that he and his associates will handle Celia and asks him not to get involved.

Their next meeting is in the Demon Guest House, where Arikado angrily berates Soma for involving himself in this affair. However, he agrees to Soma's continued participation because he has already entered the castle. He asks Soma about what he has encountered so far and Soma reveals Celia's plan to slay him and replace him using the Dark Lord's candidates, Dmitrii Blinov and Dario Bossi. Arikado reveals his intention to look into the matter further and also gives Soma a letter from Mina, which contains a talisman that will protect Soma from evil energy. He then departs, in search of Celia.

When Soma first enters the Cursed Clock Tower, he runs in along with Julius Belmont to find Celia waiting for them. Celia reveals that she has fused a flame demon to Dario's soul that has drastically increased his powers. Afterwards, Celia teleports away and Arikado tells Julius to pursue Dario while he will hunt for Celia.

At one of the game's critical junctions, Arikado runs into the Garden of Madness to stop Soma from transforming into the Dark Lord after Celia killed "Mina". Due to the fact that Soma was wearing Mina's Talisman, he was able to break the transformation, much to Celia's chagrin. However, a black soul flew from Soma into the Doppelganger that was posing as the "Mina" that Celia slew. That Doppelganger became Dmitrii, who had been believed to been slain by Soma earlier in the game. Arikado realizes that Dmitrii has copied Soma's power of dominance, and it is the key to becoming the Dark Lord. As Arikado moves forward to confront Dmitrii, however, Dmitrii reveals that he knows Arikado's true identity as Alucard, son of Dracula (although he does not explicitly reveal this fact), and that he will kill Soma if Arikado comes forward. Dmitrii and Celia teleport away and Arikado reveals to Soma that there is a gateway to the origin of the dark energy the castle has been accessing The Abyss underneath the castle and this is where Dmitrii and Celia have fled.

However, in order to gain access to The Abyss, Arikado is forced to enlist the talents of Julius Belmont, who shatters the barrier dividing that area from the rest of the castle. Julius is reluctant to do so because it will drain his power and leave him unable to fight but Arikado says his power is the only way the barrier can be broken. As the barrier is broken, Arikado falls into the passageway and renews his pursuit of Dmitrii and Celia.

Arikado is standing with Dmitrii in the final, massive room of The Abyss, apparently drained. He reveals to Soma that Dmitrii's sacrifice of Celia created a reversal of his powers and canceled his attempts to assault Dmitrii. As Dmitrii prepares for the showdown of his power of dominance against Soma's, he becomes engulfed in dark energy, and Arikado realizes that since Dmitrii's soul is weaker than Soma's, he cannot retain full dominance of the souls of the monsters he gained dominance over. In his anger, Dmitrii blasts Arikado away with a spell before the creatures escape his body and converge to form the gargantuan Menace, who is Soma's final opponent.

Near the end, as numerous characters went to embrace Soma after his victory, Alucard stood alone, thinking that "If the world needs a Dark Lord, one will emerge, even if it's not Soma."

Legends
In the year 1450, Alucard met Sonia Belmont. Alucard then revealed his intentions to her — His father had to be stopped, and he was the one to do it.

Sonia revealed to Alucard that she intended to do the same. They had to part ways at this point, as Sonia would go on to battle her way through the castle of Dracula. During her adventure, Sonia would encounter Alucard one more time as he tested her skills in battle and found her to be more than worthy.

Feeling that he could be a danger to humankind afterwards, Alucard submerged his powers and put himself into a state of rest, much to the sadness of Sonia. He would rise again soon enough, however.

Lords of Shadow
See also: Alucard (Lords of Shadows)

Dracula's Curse
Alucard will join Trevor's party if you can defeat him in his giant bat form. He is a tall character and his primary weapon is 1, 2, or 3 Balls of Destruction, depending on how charged up he is. Alucard can take the form of a bat (consuming hearts with time), allowing him to fly over hazardous areas and reach normally inaccessible areas.

Symphony of the Night
Alucard is the main playable character in this game, which is the first time a non-Belmont has taken the lead as well as the first time the lead does not utilize a whip. His primary weapon is now a sword, although he can find and equip many different types of weapons. He still has his Balls of Destruction (now called "Hellfire"), but instead of being his primary attack method, they are one of the many spells that he is able to cast at any time that use magic, provided the player knows the button combination needed to cast them. He gains many abilities and equipment throughout the game, a trait that all subsequent 2D lead role characters would share.

Legends
Alucard does not appear as a playable character, but instead as a boss to test the lead Sonia Belmont. He uses his traditional sword as his primary attack.

Aria of Sorrow
Alucard does not appear as a playable character in this game. He has used a secret identity and is called Arikado in the game. He tells the lead character Soma Cruz that he must go to the Castle Keep.

Although his true origin is heavily implied during various cut scenes, Arikado's identity is never openly revealed within this game, such as Yoko almost saying his real name before correcting herself.

An early hint is that during the beginning of Aria of Sorrow, he uses Soul Steal. This makes it easier for anyone who played Symphony of the Night to recognize him for who, and for what, he is, that and Yoko almost refers to him as "Aluc-" before correcting herself. Other hint is the fact that, at the true ending, Arikado thanks Soma in his mother's memory. Only Alucard's mother is related to Dracula. However, it is its sequel that his identity is fully established to be Alucard, when (in Julius Mode) showing up in the Demon Guest House in his real form, as well as additional info in the Library menu.

Dawn of Sorrow
In a nod to Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Alucard appears as one of two characters that can join the party of Julius Belmont in Julius Mode. He uses his Symphony of the Night sprite and attacks using his Alucard Sword. He also has his main abilities from Dracula's Curse as subweapons. He can change into a bat or use Hellfire (Hellfire does not cause him to teleport like in Symphony of the Night).

Judgment
Alucard is a playable character in the 3D fighting game Castlevania: Judgment for the Nintendo Wii. He wields a sword which can be controlled by motions of the Wii Remote. This represents the first time Alucard has appeared in 3D. He is able to use the traditional subweapons (which he was able to use in Symphony of the Night), namely, the Axe, Dagger, Holy Water, Cross, and Stopwatch. His theme in the game is "Dracula's Castle" from SotN.

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night
Alucard is the protagonist of Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, which is a puzzle game that retells the events of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. He is the only character who can be played in Story Mode and can also be played as or against in Arcade Mode.

Harmony of Despair
Alucard appears in the co-op game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair much as he does in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. He is able to collect most of his swords, clubs, and shields. He is able to use his spells, but unable to use sub-weapons. Unlike other series Alucard cannot turn into a bat; only mist and wolf form.

Powers & Abilities

 * Dark Magic: Although Alucard can more than hold his own physically, it is magically where he is truly dangerous. Like his father, Alucard can use many types of dark magic, it can be said that his powers is at least 1/2 of what Dracula's is, since Dracula trained him personally. Alucard mastered most of Dracula's own attacks such as Hellfire, Dark Metamorphosis, Tetra Spirit, and Soul Steal.
 * Shapeshifting: Alucard can shapeshift into a wolf, bat, and mist to get to certain areas. With the aid of some relics, Alucard can enhance his shapeshifting, his Wolf form can ran faster than a bullet, his Form of Mist can become a Poison Cloud, and his Bat form can fire fireballs and a destructive sonar. It is speculated that Alucard, like Dracula, has a 'final form' that he can transform into, but he refuses to use it as he does not want to be like Dracula in any way; this is supported by the fact that at random, Alucard will turn into a massive gargoyle statue when petrified, which is impervious to damage; this may be his "final form." However, if this is true, there is no way to use the form in-game.
 * Speed: He can run faster than a bullet both in his human and wolf form.
 * Summoning: Alucard can summon many creatures via Relic Cards, such as an assisting fairy, an elemental spear-wielding demon, a fireball-shooting bat, a soul-stealing ghost or a powerful sword.
 * Swordsman skills: Alucard mastered a variety of weapons, but none as he mastered his mother's sword. Seeing as the sword is a family heirloom, Lisa could have come from a lineage of swordsmasters or knights. He also inherited the Alucard Shield that improves defense against all attacks, the Alucard Armor that improves Fire, Ice and Thunder elemental defense, and the Dragon Helmet that scares enemies and lowers their defenses. The Twilight Cloak, from his father, Alucard increases defense and reduces flinching.

Trivia

 * Alucard is "Dracula" spelled backwards, which makes sense as he is Dracula's son. The name Alucard, as well as his being Dracula's son, comes from the 1943 Universal Horror movie Son of Dracula.
 * Alucard has become one of the series most acclaimed characters, and is considered a fan favorite by most.
 * "有角", literally means "Having Horns", possibly clues in to Alucard's dark heritage. "幻", which may refers to "Mirage" or "Illusion", could mean that this identity is just a facade. Also, "Arikado" is a pun that sounds like Alucard through Japanese pronunciation (Arukādo).
 * Much is unknown about Alucard's past, particularly his age and when he was born, much less how his father came to have a relationship with Lisa. Chronologically, the events occur sometime before Castlevania III. Alucard is also absent for many of the games in the series. He does not appear after Castlevania III until Symphony of the Night. At the end of Symphony of the Night, he announces his intention to go in to hiding, sparing the world from the cursed blood in his veins. However, he returns in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. What he does in these stretches of time, as well as his origins, may be explained in future games.
 * The first game where Alucard chronologically appeared was the 1997 Nintendo Game Boy Castlevania Legends as a boss character instead of a playable one.
 * Castlevania: Legends was retroactively removed from the Castlevania timeline by current director Koji Igarashi; for some time, there was debate among fans that Konami USA had set up an alternate series canon which included it, focused on a timeline printed in Nintendo Power around the release of the Sorrow series. More recently, Konami USA left out Legends in their Xtreme Desktop Timeline, indicating there is only one version of the timeline currently.
 * It has been suggested by some fans that Alucard was the father of Sonia's child seen at the true end of the game. If the child was indeed Trevor (as it seems most likely), this would mean that Trevor was the grandson of Dracula. However, such speculation is made difficult by Castlevania: Legends retconning.

Tokyo Game Show 2008
A short trailer was shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 that hinted at a new Castlevania in development. The trailer shows Alucard with glowing red eyes. The Japanese text reads "He wears with him a jet black darkness and a cursed bloodline. He betrayed his kind and destroyed his father. And with him is a blood stained fate." which could be hinting at Alucard being the main character of the game. He was also shown to use his blood to spawn a blood red rapier-type weapon, similar to the Rapier weapon that Shanoa is seen holding on the cover of the Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia boxart. However, with the announcement of Lords of Shadow as the next installment in the series and no further information on this trailer, the future of the project is unknown.

Animated Castlevania
Alucard, along with the other Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse characters, is featured in concept art for an animated Castlevania series by Project 51 Productions. He is confirmed to appear in the first Dracula's Curse Animated Movie.

Captain N: The Game Master
Alucard appears in the the video game cartoon Captain N: The Game Master season 3 (1991) episode "Return to Castlevania" along with other Castlevania characters, such as Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, and Dracula.

In this cartoon, Alucard is depicted as a rebellious music-loving teenager with sunglasses and blond hair. His voice was provided by Ian James Corlett.