Richter Belmont

For fighter info, see Richter (SSBU).

Richter Belmont
Official artwork of Richter from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
Universe	Castlevania
Debut	Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Castlevania Requiem (2018)
Console/platform of origin	PC Engine (Super CD-ROM²)
Species	Human
Gender	Male
English voice actor	David Vincent
Japanese voice actor	Kiyoyuki Yanada

Richter Belmont (リヒター・ベルモンド, Richter Belmondo) is a main character in several Castlevania games. He first appeared in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood as the main protagonist along with his blood relative Maria Renard (whom is an unlockable playable character and the first girl he rescues as well as the adoptive younger sister of his fiancée, Annette). He has gone on to become an unlockable playable character in later Castlevania titles.

Character description

File:RichterDX.png

Richter's official art for the European and Japanese release of Castlevania: Dracula X.

Richter's story begins as he is away training and studying a map of Dracula's Castle, before seeing smoke rising in the direction of his hometown, Aljiba. Rushing there on horseback and briefly encountering Death, Richter finds his hometown in flames and his fiancée, Annette Renard kidnapped by the newly resurrected Dracula and his army of monsters. Entering the castle halls and avoiding a grotesque monster known as the Behemoth, Richter rescues Annette's younger sister, Maria and the two team up to stop Dracula and save Annette, rescuing Iris, the daughter of a doctor, and Tera, the village nun.

Richter then makes his way to the Castle Keep for a final showdown against Dracula, with both combatants offering differing views on humanity. With Dracula defeated, the castle begins to collapse, as Richter, Maria, Annette, and the other women watch as the sun rises over the rubble. Five years later, Richter is possessed by the Dark Priest Shaft, not long after he entered the newly resurrected castle to investigate. Maria entered the castle herself to investigate his disappearance, which in turn forces Alucard to awaken from his slumber, due to the unexpected lack of a Belmont to handle what is going on. The possessed Richter does battle with Alucard in the Castle Keep, where Alucard is able to see the enchantments controlling Richter.

Because of the prophecy originally stated by Nostradamus about the end of the world and the return of Dracula in 1999, Richter gave up the whip to other descendants of the Belmont clan, including Reinhardt Schneider and the Morris clan. The Morris clan was given official guardianshop over the Vampire Killer sometime before 1897, holding onto it until the time came for the Belmonts to reclaim it. However, a caveat came with those who were not a direct descendant of the Belmonts: the whip would slowly drain the life away from its wielder, a fact discovered by John Morris and his friend Eric Lecarde in the aftermath of their encounter with Dracula; John was wounded during the battle against the Count and his neice, Elisabeth Bathory, and the wounds were not healing. John died sometime after his son, Jonathan, inherited the whip, never telling him of its secrets and how it can unlock its true strength, with the wounds ultimately claiming his life.

Jonathan and his friend Charlotte Aulin undertook the test of unlocking the whip's full power during their mission to destroy Dracula, where the power of the whip manifested as a memory of Richter. Upon defeating the Whip's Memory, Jonathan is given a few words of encouragement from Richter's spirit: "I'm counting on you..."

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Richter's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

As a playable character

Richter is an Echo Fighter for Simon in Ultimate, though it is noted that Simon himself takes inspiration from Richter as well, making them both derivatives of each other. He has significant aesthetic differences, having animations referencing Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, and is fairly similar to Simon, albeit with unspecified gameplay differences.

Trivia

• Richter and Joker are the only playable third-party characters to have never appeared in a fighting game outside of Smash. Richter was however going to appear in Konami's 1998 fighter Battle Tryst alongside Simon, but was cut from the final game.
• Richter and Roy are the only clones to debut in the same game as their base characters. Richter is also the first third party character to be a clone.
• Richter is the sixth character to originate from a real world location, succeding Snake, Little Mac, R.O.B., Ryu, and Simon, and preceding Ken.
• Although Richter's name is the same between Japanese and English, the announcer pronounces it differently between regions: the English version pronounces it as "Rick-ter", while the Japanese version pronounces it "Rih-ta". This trait is shared with Lucina and King K. Rool.

External Link

• Article on the Castlevania Wiki.