Castlevania 2x01 Featured Television 

Five Thoughts on Castlevania‘s “War Council”

By | May 12th, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

What is a recap? A miserable little pile of spoilers!

While the first season used a general theme in its titles of single words, season two of Castlevania instead uses exclusively two-word titles. It’s not an important fact, but it does show a general trend overall.

As season one concluded, the Bishop who had caused Dracula’s year-long campaign of extermination against Wallachia had been killed, and our group of three heroes had been formed: monster hunter Trevor Belmont, Speaker magician Sypha Belnades, and half-vampire Adrian “Alucard” Ţepeş, all united in their goal to stop the mad vampire once and for all. So, what will they do now?

Today we’ll return for the first episode of Castlevania season two, “War Council.”

Warning: Castlevania is a mature series. Imagery, language, and themes may not be suited for young audiences.

1. To You, One Year Ago

Much like season one’s “Witchbottle,” “War Council” opens on a scene focused in on Lisa of Lupu, this time focused in on the night she was arrested from her hometown by the Bishop of Targoviste a year before the majority of the series events. While brief, this scene helps to both clarify what exactly happened that night and to remind returning viewers of the impetus to Dracula’s crusade against humanity.

Married to Vlad Ţepeş, Lisa had returned to Lupu Village to help her people, as she had intended to do from the beginning. Viewers are shown the way in which she actually practiced medicine, from semi-automated centrifuges to books on anatomy and other pieces, all through the lens of treating the very same woman who was at her home to pay her respects shortly after her arrest as shown in the series premiere. Her methods are still seen as magic, but she is patient and kind, regularly telling others that what she is doing is merely utilization of forgotten knowledge, rather than any sort of occultism.

The reason why the Bishop and his men had come to Lisa’s home was on the accusation of a local “wise woman,” a kind of medical practitioner who relied more heavily on superstition and homemade remedies than scientific research and knowledge. Judging from the conversations that occur, it seems heavily implied that not only was the wise woman intimidated by Dr. Ţepeş and her unorthodox methods, but was perhaps even jealous of her success and ability to take away the wise woman’s livelihood due to increased effectiveness of her treatments. Of course, her decision to rebuke the Bishop’s claims of paganism in regards to her medical practice with the words “It has nothing to do with any god” was not particularly well thought out on her part, and the Bishop’s fanaticism would of course go into high gear even if it weren’t already set on accusing her in the first place.

Both showing her compassion and emphasizing the tragic nature of Dracula’s return to villainy, Lisa outright begs the Bishop and his men not to harm her, telling them that “his” (Dracula’s) wrath would be so much worse than that of Satan “because he’s real,” and more importantly that he had “come so far” from the monster he once was, with killing her implicitly “making” him turn back to horrific violence. The fact that the Bishop is framed in the flames of Lisa’s home, as if wreathed in hellfire, further emphasizes the vile nature within humanity at its worst, as well as wordlessly showcasing Dracula’s own opinion of them as a whole.

2. Legion of Gloom

As shown in the eponymous council of this episode, Dracula’s crusade has extended beyond Wallachia. While he still focuses in on the country, it seems that he is intent on killing all of humanity rather than just those within the country itself. He has invited vampire lords from around the world to work with him, including many from other European and Asian countries. There are even two humans among them (more on them below). The eclectic nature of the council draws attention to both the multicultural nature of vampirism in the series and the level of authority that Dracula has such that he is capable of drawing in such a crowd of what are essentially vampire nobility in the first place.

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The only named vampire in this episode (barring a Japanese one to be discussed later) is a Viking known as Godbrand. An original to the franchise, his profession indicates he is likely at least four hundred or more years old, given the time of Vikings in Scandinavia ranged from the late 700s to the late 1000s CE, long before the current year of 1476 in the series proper. What this tells about his power is unclear, but he remains subservient to Dracula regardless. If nothing else, he is a source of black comedy in his hedonistic (un)lifestyle, focused in on, to quote one of the humans, Hector, what he can “kill, fuck, or make a boat out of.” However, he isn’t exactly stupid either, as he is well aware that the war has no real sense of order to it beyond wildly lashing out at the world, and seeks a bit more direction or even a sense of one.

In spite of the prominence of vampires, Dracula’s most trusted advisors amongst his generals are the aforementioned two humans, Hector and Isaac. Hailing from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, a different game in the Castlevania franchise from that which is being most directly adapted, the two are trusted above vampires because they are human. While the undead may view humanity without direct contempt, only seeing them as livestock to be slaughtered, humans who ally themselves with those who seek the extermination of the entire species clearly are both aware of human malice and intellect, and have a focus and clarity that those who see their prey as nothing but food lack.

The clarity is not just important due to the effectiveness of the war effort, but also its efficiency. Far from his behavior in the series premiere, Dracula seems very depressed, not caring about how the genocide of humanity takes place so long as it happens. He doesn’t even care about humanity’s suffering, only that his crusade ends with their death.

3. Hector’s Childhood

During a brief moment, viewers are shown a sound-only explanation for why Hector is amongst Dracula’s army, or at least why he hates humanity enough to side with those against them. The entirety of the moment is brief, but telling about the kind of person Hector can be if feeling abused.

In short, his childhood was one of abuse. His mother outright told him that she never wanted him to his face and that she had always known he was “wrong,” while his father saw alchemy as nothing but a means to earn money, power, and safety, rather than as a means to help people. The latter even went so far as to tell the young Hector to accept cruelty as part of the world, rather than attempt to fix it. As a result, when he could take no more, Hector locked the door to their house and burned it to the ground with both of his parents inside of it, screaming to be let free.

The overall effect is rather disturbing due to the use of viewers’ imagination over deliberately showing any of it, as well as emphasizing that despite how kind and innocent Hector may seem, he is still dangerous to many common people if pushed.

4. Gresit Happens

We turn back to the city of Gresit in the aftermath of the battle with the night hordes. There is a focus on the dead, the injured, and the mourning, making sure readers know that in spite of the successes that Trevor and Sypha had, they did not manage to save everyone. The city still has to rebuild, but it is in the process of doing so.

As promised, the Speakers are finally leaving the town, with the exception of Sypha herself due to her quest to kill Dracula. The latter is worried because she has never traveled without her family before, and seeks comfort with Trevor… who is very bad at consoling her due to having spent most of his life on his own, but at least he is making a vague attempt at it. Nevertheless, they do continue to bicker back and forth as they go back to their third companion.

Meanwhile, Alucard is absently drawing portraits of his father and mother with a stick in the dirt of the building where the Speakers were previously housed, muttering to himself about how he does not actually want to define himself in opposition to Dracula, much like his mother had wanted both he and Vlad to be their own people, but has to do so and abandon his identity as Adrian Ţepeş in order to protect humanity as Alucard of Wallachia, the name of his mother’s people. In fact, he is sad enough that he actually sheds a tear about how he has to commit patricide and go against his mother’s wish for each of them to be their own people.

Continued below

5. Devil Forging

Outside of their clarity, the episode concludes on the other reason why Hector and Isaac are needed: they are Devil Forgemasters. The dark magic of devil forging is one that only humans can possess, and allows them to draw forth souls from Hell to infuse into the bodies of the dead using an acutal arcane forge, hammer, and knife.

These Forgemasters are also the reason for Dracula’s demonic troops: using their magic, Hector and Isaac have been artificially creating “night creatures,” as they are called in the series, from the dead of various massacres. In the words of Hector, they “make life from death” in their forges.

Hector appears unusual, as he treats his creations not like tools, but more like pets, including his actual pet: Cezar, a small puppy missing an eye.

One victim set to be forged is intriguing: the Bishop, who is missing around half of his face, but is otherwise intact (though very much dead).


//TAGS | Castlevania

Gregory Ellner

Greg Ellner hails from New York City. He can be found on Twitter as @GregoryEllner or over on his Tumblr.

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