Alucard

Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş
File:Alucard Spirit 1.png Official artwork of Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Universe	Castlevania
Debut	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls (2019)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom)
Species	Dhampir
Gender	Male
English voice actor	Yuri Lowenthal
Japanese voice actor	Ryōtarō Okiayu
Article on Wikipedia	Alucard (Castlevania)

Alucard (アルカード, Alucard), full name Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş, is the human/vampire hybrid son of Dracula, and recurring character in the Castlevania series. He first appeared as in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse as a supporting playable character alongside Trevor Belmont, with the purpose of defeating his father. After defeating his father, he goes into an eternal slumber. However, he is reawakened over 300 years later in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night due to the disappearance of a Belmont.

Origin

Born as Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş in 1459, he is the son of Dracula and the human woman Lisa, making him a dhampir by nature. He is able to utilize the abilities of a vampire without many of the setbacks of vampirism. Adrian was present at his mother's execution in 1475, after she was tried for witchcraft and burned at the stake. Hearing her final words and her request to deliver them to his father, Adrian attempted to dissuade his father from turning his anger against humanity, telling him that it would be more suitable to punish the ones responsible for the execution rather than everyone present for her burning. Dracula declared that there were no innocents for this crime, wounded his son, and began his war against humanity one year later, attacking the very same town where she was burned. Adrian assumed the name "Alucard" as a way to symbolize his opposition to Dracula. In his debut in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, he can be recruited as one of Trevor Belmont's allies. Trevor encounters Alucard in the Catacombs below the Mad Forest's marshlands; after engaging in a battle to test his skill, he joins Trevor as an ally. Together with Sypha Belnades and Grant Danasty, this group becomes the first in history to directly confront and defeat the dark lord in his own lair.

Following his father's demise, Alucard was besieged by the guilt of patricide, despite the threat his father posed to the world, and thus returned to his own coffin to rest. Trevor's bloodline continued to live on, as his descendants Simon and Richter both followed in his footsteps to confront Dracula's return. However, Alucard was suddenly awoken after nearly 300 years of slumber due to the reappearance of his father's castle, and the absence of a Belmont to stop him. In Symphony of the Night, Alucard traverses through the castle, faces various monsters, and collaborates with Maria Renard to solve the mystery of the castle's return and Richter's disappearance. As Alucard soon discovers with Maria's aid, Richter was possessed by the Dark Priest, Shaft, in an attempt to resurrect Dracula once again; with this power, Shaft summons an inverted castle above the original. Alucard navigates this second castle, kills Shaft once and for all, and defeats his father once again, this time passing on his mother's final words: "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." With the knowledge that Lisa would love him for all eternity, Dracula begs for her forgiveness as he fades away, and Alucard's guilt returns once again.

Alucard did not reappear, even in an instance where a Belmont was not present to fight Dracula, for nearly two centuries. In the year 1999, Alucard fought alongside Richter's descendant, Julius, as well as members of the United States military, a Belnades clan member, and a priest from the Hakuba Shrine in Japan. Together, they sealed Dracula's Castle away in a solar eclipse, cutting off his father's source of power and destroying him once and for all.

At some point in the early 21st century, Alucard became active once again as a member of a top-secret Japanese government agency, under the name "Genya Arikado". Arikado receives an alarming letter telling him that Dracula would be resurrected through the use of a mystical tome known as the Grimoire. Teaming up with the Elgos Order, a facility dedicated to studying the Grimoire and how it can affect time and space, Arikado ventures through the pages of the book alongside summoned versions of other warriors who had ventured through the castle in their own times, be they past or present or future.

In Aria of Sorrow, Arikado arrives in Japan to check the seal on the castle during the eclipse. Though Dracula's most recent defeat at the turn of the century was final, his powers were inherited by humans who were born at the time of his demise; these followers have attempted to carry on his legacy, starting with the reappearance of his castle. Most notably, his successors include a priest named Graham Jones, who inherited Dracula's ability to attract followers as well as his power over monsters; Dario Bossi, who inherited Dracula's manipulation of fire and strengthened it through a pact with the fire god Aguni; and Dmitrii Blinov, who inherited Dracula's advanced endurance and his ability to copy his opponent's attacks, a weaker version of the vampire's Power of Dominance. Though the Belmont clan is still alive, only Soma Cruz—the true reincarnation of Dracula, now free from his vengeance—is able to truly prevent Dracula's influence from returning. Soma vows to absolve himself of his past and start anew, and Arikado stays by his side to watch over him.

In one possible ending of Dawn of Sorrow, Soma succumbs to the darkness within him, turning him into the dark lord once again. Arikado, now resurfacing as Alucard, teams up with Julius and Yoko Belnades to fight the reborn Dracula. Together, they defeat Soma, much like what Alucard and Trevor did nearly 600 years ago, now lamenting over the loss of their friend.

In the Lords of Shadows timeline, Alucard is the name given to Trevor Belmont after he was turned into a vampire by his father Gabriel, now known as Dracula.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As an Assist Trophy

“	Alucard will attack nearby opponents with a flurry of slashes. As the son of Dracula, he can also turn into a bat and charge at opponents further away. By the way, when you read "DRACULA" backwards, you get...?	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Alucard as he appears in Ultimate.

As an Assist Trophy, Alucard's primary weapon is the Crissaegrim (sometimes referred to as Valmanway), an extremely rare and powerful blade in Symphony of the Night. Similarly, only the sword slashes are visible when attacking rather than the sword itself being visible in motion, similar to the original games. He is also capable of using the Power of Mist, a transformation that lets him travel through certain walls and avoid attacks completely, Soul of Bat, a bat transformation that leads into the hard-hitting Wing Smash tackle, and both his jump kick and back dash techniques, which have become standard abilities for all Castlevania main characters since their introduction. He is one of the many Assist Trophy characters that can be KO'd. Also when summoned, he will say "Out of my way!" or "Suffer me!".

As a background character

Alucard also appears as a special guest character during Pit's conversations with Palutena in Palutena's Temple if Richter is present. Palutena formally introduces Pit to Alucard, with the latter recalling the events of Symphony of the Night afterwards before ultimately telling Pit not to underestimate Richter. He is the only Assist Trophy to have this role, and he even acknowledges his status as an Assist Trophy after Palutena inquires about his participation.

Spirit

Alucard is a Legend class Primary Spirit located in the Dracula’s Castle segment of the Dark Realm of World of Light. His Spirit Battle has the player fighting Simon while Alucard drops in to attack the player. Only Simon must be defeated to win. His Spirit can also be claimed from the Spirit Board or from the shop located in “Vault”.

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slot	Ability	Series
1,055	File:Alucard Spirit 1.png	Alucard		★★★★	3	Sword Attack ↑	Castlevania Series

Gallery

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  Alucard as an Assist Trophy in Ultimate.

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  Alucard as he appears in Ultimate.

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  Alucard attacking Meta Knight in Ultimate.

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  Alucard attacking Bowser Jr. in Ultimate.

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  Alucard's portrait in Palutena's Guidance, Ultimate.

Trivia

• In a Famitsu interview, Masahiro Sakurai stated that Alucard was briefly considered as a playable character, due to a lot of fans probably being most familiar with him. However, he instead chose Simon and Richter, feeling that players would probably prefer one of the Belmonts, resulting in his Assist Trophy and cameo roles.
• The blog for Alucard references that his name spelled backwards is "Dracula".
  • Much like many of the bosses found on the Dracula's Castle stage, the name "Alucard" was taken from one of the many classic horror films that inspired the series. The name originated from the 1943 Universal film Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. in the title role. Chaney's character takes the name "Count Alucard" posing as a count from Hungary moving to an antebellum mansion in Louisiana. As the film's protagonist, Frank Stanley, learns near the beginning of the film, Count Alucard is indeed Count Dracula.
• Alucard is the second third-party character to directly converse with a first-party character in a Smash Taunt, the first being Snake when he converses with Slippy Toad.
  • By extension, Alucard is the only third-party special guest character to converse in Palutena's Guidance.
  • In this appearance, the reverb effect applied to his voice is the same as in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
• Alucard has previously appeared as a playable character in another fighting game, Castlevania: Judgement.
• Alucard cannot be summoned in Wii Fit Studio. It was stated during a tournament hosted by Nintendo Spain^{[citation needed]} that he doesn't appear because the stage has a giant mirror, referencing how vampires do not have a reflection in mirrors.
  • However, if the game is hacked to spawn him in the stage, it can be seen that he does indeed have a reflection.
  • While Alucard can be summoned on Fountain of Dreams, and has a reflection in its water, this is consistent with the given reasoning. The reason why vampires do not have reflections in mirrors is because of their weakness to silver, which is used in mirrors (albeit less so in modern mirrors, which mostly use aluminum), but not found in water. This also ties with the superstition of mirrors displaying the viewer's soul; thus a vampire's lack of reflection means that they have no soul. Despite the weakness to silver, Alucard can wear silver armaments in both Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Despair.
• Alucard is one of the two new Assist Trophy characters in Ultimate to use newly recorded voice clips, instead of recycled voice clips; the other is Zero. Coincidentally, both share a Japanese voice actor.

External Link

• Article on the Castlevania Wiki.