What Netflix’s Castlevania Got Wrong
One of the three main arcs of the third season was not written very well
Video game adaptations. They’re hard to adapt properly. Most of the time they’re pretty awful, other times they’re decent, and then you get that one golden egg in the pile. By all accounts, Castlevania was on the track to fail when it was announced.
As if by a miracle, the first season was done well enough to garner widespread attention, and a sequel was greenlit. We’re three seasons in now, and I can say without a doubt that I think it’s fantastic. But is it perfect? No. The issue I have with the Castlevania adaptation is the character, Hector.
When we first see Hector at the beginning of season two, it doesn’t take long to find out what kind of person he is: a man full of hatred for his kind, and yet ironically does not want to see them suffer. He is also very intelligent and gifted. This is because we learn right away that he’s held in high regard by Dracula, a character shown to be all-knowing and all-powerful.
Yet throughout the two seasons, those traits also come with a very glaring flaw, his naivety. Somehow, vampires can manipulate the same man who seems to have his wits about him in every other way. It happens with two distinct times: with one different character per season.
I’ll admit that when looking at Hector within the lens of S2 alone, it’s just a matter of me not liking Hector holistically. A character who can carry that level of empathy and yet work with these monsters doesn’t make much sense to me. However, what happened to him in S2 does make sense. Dracula lied to him about his plans, but only because Dracula assumed that if Hector knew the truth, Hector would turn against him.
Carmilla acted on this very fact, successfully drew Hector to her side, and that contributed to Dracula’s death. This led to Hector being double-crossed by Carmilla and was treated like dirt, which only cemented why I never liked him. The result was predictable. Dracula was the only vampire who respected him and his humanity.
Fast-forwarding to S3, here’s where I have an issue with it narratively. Hector is supposed to be intelligent. Naïve yes, but at least has his wits about him. Hector’s entire plot in S3 revolved around Lenore, one of Carmilla’s three sisters, seducing him into being their pet. Only human forge masters can create armies from hell and they needed to find a way to get Hector to swear allegiance to them.
Lenore, the self-proclaimed diplomat of the group, flirted with Hector, slowly easing up his prison conditions over time. Hector does eventually swear loyalty to her as she places a magic ring on his finger, binding him to Lenore. Any semblance of intelligence I thought the man had is now really hard for me to grasp. What exactly proves that the man is as capable as it is claimed? All he’s done is make bad decisions, which were understandable in S2 but now in S3, the man has already gone through a very similar scenario. Why exactly did he not learn his lesson? Again, if he was considered to be dumb then I’d be fine, but he’s not. Naivety only goes so far.
Aside from this, Lenore’s characterization contradicts the theme of the season. When looked at S3 as a whole, vampires were right about humanity needing to be controlled. Aside from the protagonists, humans are regularly portrayed as terrible people through Issac’s arc and with the actions of the Lindenfeld leader, Judge.
By contrast, the four sisters in Carmilla’s court are warm and caring toward each other. The difference in civility between the supposed beast and the regular person is quite clear. Lenore is shown to be a caring individual, who prefers to talk things out over violence. Yet in the end, this ends up being untrue. It was all just another manipulation. What was the thematic purpose of setting up this divide, if the plot isn’t going to go through with it? Why not have Lenore logically convince Hector of joining their side? After all, it’s exactly what Lenore refers to, being a trade.
The only counter-argument I can see being made here is that the point is for everybody to suck, not just humanity. If that’s the case then yeah it does make more sense I suppose, but I would have preferred if Lenore had civilly achieved her goal, as it also would have allowed Hector to fulfill his profile as an intelligent person and not some sniveling loser who’s been manipulated by two different women now. In that sense, the two issues are connected.
I guess what saves the show for me is the fact that the Hector stuff is only character motivation for an infinitely better plot, being Issac’s. It also doesn’t make Dracula’s death any less impactful because the main trio still does most of the work to make it happen. If anything it’s just more of something that dropped the show from a 10 for me to a 9. Still a great score.
Also published at facetsoffantasy.net.
