Mathias Cronqvist

Mathias Cronqvist was Leon Belmont's good friend. In the world of knights who lacked education, he was a genius tactician who was even called Cronqvist the Wise. Because Mathias's family had books recording secret arts transmitted orally concerning alchemy, a science that experiments with the arcane, Mathias himself had a detailed knowledge of alchemy. His beloved wife, Elisabetha, died from illness while he was on an expedition. Mathias was grief stricken and bedridden and Leon was forced to continue the campaigns without his friend. When Leon's beloved was kidnapped, Mathias told him that it was the doing of a vampire who had a castle in the east.

In fact, Mathias had deceived Leon and was not likely really bedridden. In deep mourning, Mathias devised a plan to take revenge on God for stealing Elisabetha by becoming a vampire and living eternally. He manipulated Leon, Rinaldo, Sara, even Walter and his monsters, in order to obtain a vampire's soul with the Crimson Stone, and he was reborn with it. He then offered Leon to join him and become immortal, because Leon suffered the same loss. Leon refused and vowed instead that his clan would forever hunt him. As time went on, Mathias renamed himself Dracula, taken from the Romanian word "Dracul" meaning dragon and devil. For more details on his later life, see Dracula.

Trivia

 * The name "Mathias Cronqvist" may be a reference to Matthias Corvinus, the King of Hungary. Matthias Corvinus had Vlad III Drăculea as his vassal, at times, and once as a prisoner; this connection to the historical Dracula may have influenced the way IGA chose to name his antagonist.
 * The reasons for Mathias's fall and metamorphosis seem to be strongly inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula film of 1992, based on Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula". Both Mathias and Coppola's Dracula renounce God and seek and obtain immortality out of anger at the death of their wives. While Elisabetha Cronqvist does not commit suicide, she does pass away while Mathias is away 'fighting in God's name' (It has been proposed that this was during the First Crusade, however this is not possible as according to game canon Elisabetha died in 1093, one year before the events of the game - Pope Urban did not call the First Crusade until the 27th of November, 1095). Further, she shares the name of Dracula's wife in the film.
 * Mathias's English voice actor, Crispin Freeman, supplies the voice for Hector, main protagonist of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. He also supplies the voice for the vampire Alucard in the anime series Hellsing (in which Alucard is really Dracula himself).
 * His surname, Cronqvist, is Swedish in origin and means "crown twig".
 * It is revealed on the Japanese Official Site of Castlevania: Lament of Innocencethat Mathias earned the title of "Count" in the Crusades, a fact that is later referenced on his new identity, Dracula.