Episode 14: *Replay* Roast The Characters - Castlevania

Replay: Castlevania

Strong Characters... and a Very Short Hate List.

A replay from the original archive! This episode was lost when our early catalogue was removed, and we’re bringing it back for everyone who missed it. 

Same take, same chaos, just freshly reposted.

Transcript

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Welcome to another episode of the Binge Alert Podcast, a show where I talk about things I love, things I hate, and everything in between when binging on anime books, movies and TV shows. If you're not familiar with the format, the show will be split into five categories which are Binge's opinion, is the book better, movie vs TV, Originals vs Remake, and Roast the Characters. For today's episode, the category is Roast the Characters, where I'll be ranking some of the main characters from Netflix's original TV show, Castlevania. If you're not familiar with the show, Castlevania is an adult medieval fantasy animated series inspired by the popular video game of the same name. It follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hands of Vlad Dracula Tapes with the help of his misfit comrades. I love this show. It had me hooked from the first episode back in 2017. One of the things that I love about Castlevania is the character development. Almost every main character has a compelling and complex background. Normally in this segment, I'm ranking characters and roasting their actions. However, for this particular show, there's less than a handful of characters that I need to let my feelings out on negatively. So this time we'll start out positive. But before I continue, I just want to give a quick spoil alert. I will be talking about some of the plot points, so please don't be upset if you haven't watched it and I give too much away. But you have been warned. Kicking off with the best character development of the series, Isaac. The guy wasn't even on my radar in season two. As far as I was concerned, Isaac was a prop in the background. I don't even remember what his role in Dracula's plans was, if I'm being completely honest. I just know he was abused by humans, Dracula saved him, and he wanted all humans to die, and I wasn't checking for him. And yet, season three came round, I was rooting for him every single time he was on my screen. And I have no regrets. He deserved to be rooted for. The loss of Dracula really helped him grow. Mind you, he still wanted the whole race to burn, but his interactions with new characters, actually seeing decency from other humans, allowed him to question his focus, his purpose, his drive, and reflect to see that not everything is black and white, not all humans are horrible, and not all vampires are honest with their intentions, which I believe was his main argument for siding with Dracula. Correct me if I'm mistaken. So I found myself rooting for him to see the light, and when he finally did in season four, the true growth we saw when he didn't kill Hector, it was beautiful. Next, Trevor, Cypher, and Alucard. I put them together because I see them as a trio. I love the chemistry between them. They're great characters with great background stories to really shape their actions and emotions and drive. I love them individually with all their flaws and I love them together. With Trevor, the constant sacrificing he does to help people who are constantly showing that they are undeserving, regardless of the fact that they hate him and his family. To him, it's not even a question as to if he should step up to the plate, because that's all he's known and that's all he's been raised to do. With Cypher, started off as the overly sheltered one. Now she's strong in the sense that she's helping others in need, correcting the wrongs she sees, and she's powerful. Like the first fight sequence in season three destroyed them. But she is insane. She was sheltered for so long, so now she's out in the world. She literally wants to see everything, do everything, kill everything that's evil. She's an adrenaline junkie, but a fiercely loyal one. So it's okay. And then there's Ad Khan, the poor guy. How can you make me feel so bad for the guy to the point where I want to jump in the screen to comfort him? He went through it. Like he's strong though, because even after going through that traumatic event, he still had his morals as to not forsake humans to the vampires. Because he could have. No one had the time for him. The man was losing his mind and he almost died. Moving on to Dracula. Dracula had me siding with him at times. I'm not gonna lie. The humans who killed his wife deserved to die. I cannot dispute that. However, he did go too far once he decided to just end everyone else, too. So for season three and four, let him rest. He is with his wife now, happy as can be. He does not care about vampire agenda. It made him feel better to destroy things while he was grieving for his wife. And now he is with his wife in the afterlife. Listen to Isaac and let the man rest. Now that the positive is out of the way, the main three and Isaac, and maybe Dracula, were characters I could get behind because I knew their intentions. They're inherently good or inherently bad or in between. But everyone else? Thieves, liars, and murderers. Starting with Camilla, I honestly thought Camilla was gonna be my least favorite character. She has no morals, to my knowledge. She was a backstabbing witch of a vampire, and you couldn't trust her as far as you could throw her. It didn't matter that her logic made sense. I didn't care that she was right to think about saving food supply. She was right, but I didn't care. Because where is the loyalty? You are a general of Dracula. So be a general to Dracula. You can deal with the repercussions afterwards, you snake. However, her actions were overshadowed by two others. The runner-up, Zampir. The leader of survivors attacked by Dracula and his night creatures. Zamphir was in charge of protecting the surviving members of the royal family. The members of said family were guarded in an underground catacomb while she and some other guards would strip the survivors living above ground of any valuables they had, including food and water, under the pretense that they were for the members of the royal family. Come to find out, the members that she is sacrificing everyone else for are already dead. And yet she is convinced that they will come back to life someday. So the provisions are for when they do. They are skeletons sitting on thrones. And I mean that literally bones. This woman is delusional. She is guarding skeletons. And even if they were magicians as she says they were, how are they getting back? There is no body. Please tell me how these magicians are supposed to come back to bones. Talking about they're in their royal sleep. Bruh. She was in not even five episodes, and she made it as one of the worst characters to grace this beloved series. Before the revelation of the bones, I already didn't like this woman because how are you comfortable taking food out of people's mouths? But then only to be told that she's being this inconsiderate for bones. Let her disappear into the background or let her die. I can't take this buffoonery when we're in the middle of a war. Here is the crown to the worst character of the series, in my opinion. Hector. How do I even begin to explain why I was over this character before season three had begun? He has to be the most naive man child of the series. The fact that you could get fooled so many times in the space of what felt like a week. I have no sympathy for him. First off, why would you trust Camilla of all vampires? It got to the point where I didn't want to watch Hector's storyline anymore. It was just sad and not in a heartwarming kind of way, just pitiful sadness to be manipulated over and over and over again. Like at this point, what is not clicking? I was in a constant state of don't be an idiot, don't fall for it. It doesn't matter how kind she is, it doesn't matter how pretty she is, don't fall for it. Please. And yet, here we are. Again. And then this Lenore wants to turn around and give you chicken and a blanket. I don't want your chicken. I want you to let me go. Time and time again, they have shown their true nature. And yet, time and time again, Hector thinks they will treat him as more than food or tool to be used. How are you falling in love with the girl who beat you up and walked you around the castle like a dog on a leash? Who is sisters with the witch that tricked you into betraying Dracula? Like, how? And to add insult to injury, the pumping was so magical that you swore allegiance to her. Sister to Camilla. Camilla who had you beaten, starved, and walking 10,000 miles barefoot. Whether Hector lived or died in the final season was no longer a concern of mine. I did not care because clearly he didn't care either. Honorary mention has to be those two kids that tried to offer Alucard. Because how dare you? This man opened his home to you, fed you, helped you train, cared for you. Are you okay? You took his kindness, his generosity, his affection for weakness, seduced him, and then tried to kill him in the middle of seducing him. I couldn't believe the audacity. Like, I get it. Vampires have been nothing but horrible to you. I get it. But this man has shown you nothing to indicate deception, other than the fact that he didn't show you the engine room because it is broken. Which is the truth, by the way. This castle is going nowhere. It's stuck. You think he would be here in the middle of nowhere if it worked? So what do you do? Because you feel deceived and in the dark, you try to kill him. This is why I say I can't trust anyone in movies and TV shows. And the worst part, Alucard was still trying to reason with them as they were about to stab him. He's better than me because when I get out of these chains, I don't care if I said I'm going to protect humans for the rest of my life. You two are dead. You better run. Because when I catch you, I'm surprised Alucard still wanted to protect humans after that. Because what is this behavior? And that's all for today. Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed the show. Let me know what your ranking is of the characters of Castlevania. And as always, if you have any requests or suggestions on anything you'd like me to watch or read, please be sure to hit me up. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter at bingulatpod. I'm out and I'll catch you in a sec.