Carmilla (Lords of Shadow)

Carmilla is the Dark Queen of the Vampires in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and the second Lord of Shadow that Gabriel Belmont encounters and defeats.

Early Life
It is suggested that Carmilla had originally lived in or near the Bernhard family's Castle when it was owned by Friedrich von Frankenstein. She vowed to bring him to justice for the evil experiments that he committed.

Along with Zobek and Cornell, she founded the Brotherhood of Light and imprisoned a powerful demon, which escaped the control of the Bernhards, it was known as The Forgotten One. After decades of struggle against the forces of evil, Carmilla ascends to heaven and becomes a spiritual being second only to God. Unknown to her though, her physical remains gives rise to the Dark Queen of Vampires.

When she became a vampire, most of the Bernhards were driven out, and she kept Friedrich von Frankenstein alive to torture him and uses him to develop creations for her. She killed many of her retainers, turning them into Skeleton Warriors who guarded her castle. The castle became known as the Vampire Castle. She later took the child Laura from her parents, turned her, and made Laura her "daughter." Laura later commented that Carmilla still had some humanity within her somewhere, unlike herself.

She summoned the demon brothers Brauner and Olrox from hell and gave them vampiric powers. These became the lieutenant and commander of her Vampire armies. She later cast a spell of cold and ice and endless winter over her country, in order to make sure that the Vampires would not be as bothered by the daylight sun. Throughout the centuries the land became known as the Land of the Vampires. Most people had been driven out or changed, those who chose to stay lived in Wygol Village. The village became the vampire's source of food and a place to conscript more troops.

Events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
When Gabriel arrived to confront her, she attempted to seduce him at first, trying to tempt him to her cause and convince him to join her (as well as possibly to save herself from defeat and death at his hands). However, the recently widowed Gabriel's will was not shaken, and he rejected her. Angered by this, Carmilla revealed her prior knowledge of him and his quest to resurrect his wife, denounced it as a fool's errand and engaged him in battle, summoning her Vampire Warriors to aid her.

Once they were all defeated, she used her vampiric powers to partially destroy the throne room, then metamorphosed into her true vampire form to fight Gabriel directly. However, after a long struggle that ended with half the castle destroyed and Carmilla seriously injured, Gabriel finally killed her by stabbing her in the heart with the Combat Cross, breaking off the stake attachment in the process.

After this, Gabriel was rewarded with Carmilla's Seraph Shoulders, granting him spectral wings and allowing him to double jump.

Events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Carmilla will appear in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. She appears to be under Dracula's authority, as she is seen bowing to him. Surprisingly, she also appears in human form, as the person she was as a founder of the Brotherhood of Light. The reason for this change (and her resurrection in general) is currently unknown.

Trivia

 * Hōko Kuwashima, Carmilla's Japanese Seiyū, also voiced Shanoa in Order of Ecclesia.
 * If you look closely at the red mirror during the boss fight against Carmilla, you can notice that you can see Gabriel's reflection, yet you can't see hers.
 * In a certain way Carmilla was right about Gabriel all along. She said that there was no ressurection for Marie and he would become "one of them", since in the ending and DLC, Gabriel renounced his humanity and became the vampire lord Dracula.
 * It's entirely possible that carmilla knew of gabriel's ultimate fate and sought to hasten it in order to better serve her own ends as her throne room is where the mirror of fate is located. Her dialogue also heavily implies that she knew of gabriel's fate. When asked about this by david cox on his twitter account, he merely replies "I'd like to think so." as shown here https://twitter.com/CastlevaniaLOS/status/336955870095233024
 * Intrestingly, the name of Carmilla originally belongs to the title character of a Vampire novel written by Sheridan Le Fanu. The novel predates Dracula written by Bram Stoker by 25 years, this shares a similarity with Lords of Shadow as the character of Carmillla existed before Gabriel took up the title of Dracula.
 * Carmilla is supposedly to appear in Lord of Shadow 2, it is unknown what role she will play due to her demise in the previous game.