Castlevania Season III By Warren Ellis

 Castlevania Season III

By Warren Ellis

So before we begin, let me just admit that I found Season III the weakest of the three. Not that it's terrible, I had a lot of fun watching it. That said, Season III plants our characters in what is basically a side quest while our villains develop and gather their armies. Season III is very busy planting seeds for future seasons and as a result, the story of season III feels very incomplete. Season I worked as a story about the heroes coming together and realizing they're the heroes. Season II worked as the climax of the crisis that had to be been formed by Dracula's decision to attempt global omnicide as a sort of massive murder-suicide. Season III shows the aftermath and keeps the ball rolling but doesn't really wrap up its various stories very well. I think part of the problem is that Season III is telling four separate stories that don't intersect at all, let me explain. Fair warning, there are spoilers ahead.

The first story it tells is of an Alucard that is... Frankly not dealing with his grief and isolation well. Travis and Sypha had basically turned over Castle Dracula and the Belmont mansion to his keeping and left him alone. They did this because Sypha was now addicted to adventuring and asked Travis to come with her. Travis for his part liked the idea of exploring a relationship with her over rotting in the memories of his destroyed childhood home and moving around, doing good is normal for him anyway (They’re a cute couple, but this whole thing would have been better for everyone as a poly trio.  I will die on this hill.{I’m generally in favor of heterosexual pairings because that’s just how I’m wired.  That said I do find the idea of the three of them trying to work out a relationship interesting.  It would be a novelty in this kind of series at least} And I get that.  On the other hand, this was definitely three-way-thirst from the beginning, or at least, Alucard and Trevor clearly want to bone.  Trevor and Sypha do in fact bone.  I see no reason why everyone cannot be happy.  And yes, it would be rather novel.). Now Alucard does get company in the form of a pair of Japanese twins named Sumi and Taka. They came chasing a Vampire Lady named Cho, who was serving in Dracula's court as a general and was killed in the general bloodbath at the end of season II. To be honest, teaching seems to suit Alucard fairly well and human company helps him move past his grief and loneliness. I honestly found the idea of Alucard founding some kind of monster hunting school really interesting, unfortunately, the arc doesn't go that way. Which was kind of wasteful and I was left asking if we even needed this in Season III?

The second story is about Trevor and Sypha who come to the large village of Lindenfield, a fortified settlement run by a Judge with a priory, which is basically the religious home of people who've taken religious orders but are not necessary monks, that is run by Sala, a fallen priest (Subtle distinction here.  Friars are also found in priories, but they’re mendicants.  Different order from monks, but it’s a very fine line.). Lindenfield has problems, it's priory is full of friars, monks, and priests who have basically gone mad under the stress of Dracula's war. The fact that the Church is at fault for provoking it and then basically sitting on its hands the whole time has also gotten out and isn't helping their mental or emotional state. As such under the leadership of Sala, they've basically become a cult that worships Dracula, instead of worshiping Christ, like the good peasant's tax dollars intended (This is not a good thing.{In a world where priests can legit create anti-demon and vampire weapons, I can see a reason for them to be supported by the government, but the Wallachia Church went off the rails by a good degree} No no, I mean it’s bad that now they worship Dracula.  That’s gonna end poorly.). To make matters worse, the cult is hiding something in the depths of the priory and plotting dark deeds in some mad pursuit. Trevor and Sypha aren't alone in trying to figure out what's going on here though, there's also the charming and tricksy Saint Germain who is desperate to get into the priory because he believes that what's hidden there is the infinite corridor. The Infinite Corridor is a system that links together many different worlds and time periods and traveling through it is from what I can see fairly dangerous but possibly very rewarding. Saint Germain also has an intensely personal reason for trying to get back in there as he left someone important behind the last time he attempted it. Now, this is a fairly interesting and well-told, dark story that adds depth to the setting and reminds us of the consequences of Dracula's war. The problem is it's basically taking off to the side of the more impactful events of Season III and kinda feels like something that was set up to keep Trevor and Sypha from getting involved with the villains before they've had a chance to build their power bases (That is exactly what it is.). Let's talk about those villains, shall we?

Carmilla has survived and withdrawn to her home nation. There we learn that Carmilla shares powers with three other vampires that she calls her sisters. There's the warrior Striga, who serves as Carmilla's general, and Striga's lover Morana who is the administrator. The sister that takes center stage this season is Lenore, the diplomat of this sisterhood. Lenore has a tough job in front of her. When everything went to hell, Hector, one of the human forgemasters, decided he had enough of Carmilla. Carmilla disagreed and beat him into submission with her bare hands and then kept beating him the entire way back to her nation (In Stygia.  It would be fair to say that calling her angry and frustrated is a bit of an understatement.). However, all the beatings in the world aren't gonna get Hector to make an army of monsters for Carmilla and she needs that army. Because with Dracula fallen and the sheer amount of damage that he's done, there's a massive power vacuum in the region (Read: Eastern Europe) and Carmilla is thinking that an empire ruled by her and her sisters would fill that vacuum perfectly. So Lenore is going to have to persuade Hector to overlook his brutal treatment and cooperate. So let me just say watching Hector and Lenore interact is terrifying, she is very good at sounding so reasonable and sincere. She is also very clear that this is her operating diplomatically and trying to cut a deal with Hector but figures out how to press his buttons to the point that Hector ignores all of that to let himself get manipulated... Again. I'm starting to wonder if Hector has some sort of learning disability honestly (Probably more like an attachment disorder.{would you mind expanding on that?} Okay, so growing up is basically an exercise in taking risks and when they don’t go well, you run to a comforting figure for reassurance and advice.  If that relationship is toxic, it can fuck a kid up in all kinds of ways that affect them later.  They can become avoidant of emotional investment; anxious and afraid of rejection inside relationships; compensate by being way too trusting because they crave what they never actually got etc.  Alfred Bester for instance has an avoidant attachment disorder.).

For me, the most compelling story is Isaac taking a walk. You see, at the climax of Season II, Isaac was fully prepared to give his life for Dracula, and Dracula decided that Isaac was too gifted and intelligent to die like that. So he hurled Isaac through a portal into North Africa. As you do when you want to save your friend's life. Alone, embittered and at first unsure of what he should do with himself, Isaac starts walking, looking to find a way back to Wallachia. I assume because Isaac hasn't realized that Wallachia is something of a shithole and he could do better anywhere else (He is also looking for revenge.{yeah but how well has that gone for anyone in this show so far?}). ANYWHERE ELSE. Isaac's encounters with humanity and his grappling with the fate of the human soul in the afterlife are for me some of the best moments in the show. Although there are times I want to grab Isaac by the shoulders and shake him. For example, he throws a fit when he shows up with a small army of monsters and is told no, you can't bring a company of man-eating abominations into our town! I kinda want to scream at him “Dude, you are literally showing up to these people's homes with creatures that can and will eat them if left to their natural impulses! Their fear is completely justified here, especially since you keep flying off the handle and ordering the monsters to kill and eat people!” It's not that Isaac is sadistic or completely lacks empathy here, it's that he is utterly unable to grasp that other people find his horde of hellspawn alarming and have good, rational reasons for doing so (They are his friends and pets, clearly.  They’re under his command, why be afraid of - oh.). For example, whenever he runs into someone who treats him with respect and doesn't give in to their natural instinct to scream and run, Isaac is polite, and respectful, at times almost gracious. But given that few people are willing to roll those dice, each leg of Isaac's journey leads to the expansion of his horde and a deepening of his contempt for humanity. At the end of the season when he confronts a dark wizard in a battle for a kingdom, you kind of realize that Isaac has become a dark lord almost by accident and there's grim humor here I enjoy.

The climax of Season III is a montage of warfare and sex as we cut rapidly between each of the 4 stories which give you a bit of a feeling of whiplash. I would have preferred maybe each story getting a final episode to itself maybe.  All in all, I would give the Castlevania series as a whole a B, with Season II as the strongest and Season III has the weakest. I do recommend it highly if you enjoy a Gothic horror fantasy. While the creative team is experiencing upheavals with Warren Ellis leaving the show. That's honestly for the best and I'm kinda interested to see what happens in Season IV.  I hope you'll be watching it with me. 

This wraps up our official Fangsgiving offerings and I'd like to thank everyone who joined us, provided commentary or guest reviews. Next Friday we'll be returning to the world of the Dwarves as voted for by our ever-wise patrons. If you'd like a voice in our deliberations, join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where for a dollar a month you get a vote in upcoming reviews and themes. Next week, for Veteran's Day we'll be celebrating with a GI Joe Doubleheader reviewing Vol V and Vol VI. Until then stay safe and Keep Reading!