Vampire



Vampires are a class of immortal undead demonic beings, known in the Castlevania series for being the primary antagonistic forces that threaten to cover the world in darkness and chaos.

History & Analysis
Vampires are undead, supernatural beings, whose origins come from Slavic and ancient world folklore. Believed to have originated from the reanimating corpses of restless souls of the dead, heretics of established religion, users of black magic, or even those that have sold their souls to be the incarnate of dark gods and deavas, they are known to feast upon the life essence of living beings, are endowed with dark powers, like shapeshifting, flight, great strength, incredible speed, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, and immortality. They are able to grant vampirehood to others by feeding their blood to their victims, and can only be slain by sunlight, with anointed and holy items, or by destroying their hearts.

Castlevania Vampires
Vampires in Castlevania are slightly different from their real world basis; where they retain most of their real world traits, they also are granted the ability to use black magic, and some are able to draw upon the very origin of all evil itself, Chaos, to augment their power at the cost of corrupting themselves even further.

Dracula has also demonstrated a power unique to Castlevania as well, able to channel and absorb the evil and malice of humankind to resurrect himself every 100 years, summon lesser demons, curse lands around him to rot, plague and famine, and corrupt men's hearts even further. It is likely that this power is given to him as he is chosen by Chaos to be a Dark Lord, and only available to chosen beings.

Their history in the Castlevania series portrays them as a great evil that terrorize mankind. Where their origins are not clearly established, nothing is truly known about them other than the fact that vampires have existed long before the rise of Dracula and are beings born of Chaos.

Master Vampires
Powerful vampires who answer to no one.
 * Dracula
 * Walter Bernhard
 * Brauner
 * Carmilla
 * Gabriel Belmont

Dracula Follower Vampires
Ancient vampires devoted to Dracula. Their contract with Dracula allows for them to be reborn with the Castle.
 * Carmilla
 * Gilles de Rais
 * Elizabeth Bartley
 * Olrox

Half Vampires
Half human half vampire dhampirs who can choose whether to follow the ways of the vampires or the ways of the humans.
 * Alucard (the half-human son of Dracula)

Victims of Vampirism
Humans who were turned into vampires either against their will or when left with no other choice, often to the great lament of their loved ones. These victims were unable to return to being humans and were usually slain by heroes.
 * Joachim Armster - Circumstances of his turning by Walter are unknown
 * Gwendolyn - Eric Lecarde's love interest
 * J. A. Oldrey - Henry Oldrey's father. Turned by Gilles de Rais
 * Camilla Fernandez - Carrie Fernandez's cousin, turned by Gilles de Rais
 * Charles Vincent - In the bad ending of Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
 * Sara Trantoul (not completely turned) - turned by Walter
 * Rinaldo's daughter - turned by Walter.
 * Laura - Taken from her familly and turned unwillinglly by Carmilla
 * Gabriel Belmont - willinglly turned by Laura

Cured Vampires
On rare situations a vampire can be cured from their Vampirism, so far only those who have been unwillingly turned to vampires seem to have been cured. When using the vampire cures on other undead it has been known to destroy them (such as using the Undead Killer or Sanctuary spell).
 * Rosa
 * Stella
 * Loretta
 * Vincent Dorin (if the player chooses to do so)

Trivia

 * While they are a present theme in Castlevania, the vampires don't have much fullfilment in the series, unless assisting Dracula in his resurrection or ascension to power. Their appearences and attributes vary from game to game, but they usually appear as antagonists throughout the series, fighting against the heroes or taking someone they care about away. The vampires have enhanced strength and senses, and being undead, they are virtually immortal. As children of the night, it is said they have power over darkness.


 * They are shown to possess advanced powers, but are no match to the Dark Lord himself, although they vary among their appearances, such as teleportation, shapeshifiting into bats, and mental powers. Other attributes are their pale skin and different colored eyes (varying between scarlet red and light blue) in their appearances, some of them being of demonic nature such as Olrox or J.A. Oldrey.


 * Some can say vampires lack souls and therefore lack a conscience for their acts, explaining why their indiscriminate killing of the humans and why they have to be destroyed. In contradiction, it's said the Crimson Stone can turn the souls of vampires into power for its master, indicating that they indeed have souls but do not connect to their "evil" behavior.


 * In the games (just like the vampire lore), they are highly vulnerable to Holy Water and the Cross subweapons, as they cause great deal of damage to the vampires. They also are affected by sunlight, being creatures of the darkness.


 * Vampires: Gilles de Rais, Blackmore and Olrox are all parodies of Dracula.