Actrise



Actrise (ja. アクトリーセ Actrice) is a witch who appears as a non-playable character in Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, both of which were published on the Nintendo 64 in the late nineties.

Character history
As a mortal woman, Actrise was a French stage actress obsessed with youth and fame. When her good looks began to fade, she turned to the occult to prolong her beauty. After learning the art of witchcraft, she struck a bargain with the Devil to attain the prize of eternal life. This pact entailed the most depraved act any mother could imagine: filicide.

As Actrise descended further into madness, she became infatuated with Dracula and eventually traveled to Castlevania. Every year she sacrificed one hundred children to the Count, imprisoning their souls for use in satanic rituals. Thus, she dedicated herself to Dracula's early resurrection and became one of his most devoted servants.

While her accomplice, Gilles de Rais, was superior in strength, Actrise played an integral role in the resurrection of Dracula. She supplied the crystals used to contain magic power which were vital to the resurrection ritual. In 1844 she captured the power of the man-wolf Cornell inside a crystal which was used to reincarnate Dracula in the body of the young boy Malus. Her other gems peppered the castle, including one in the Castle Center that magically sealed the Behemoth boss, another in the Tower of Science that animated the tower's machines and experiments, and the crystalline structures inside the Tower of Sorcery. Actrise's crystals were not only conduits for magic, but also clever weapons against intruders.

In 1852, as Carrie Fernandez made her assault on Dracula's stronghold, Actrise attempted to persuade the girl to give her soul and power to Dracula. When she refused, Actrise pitted her against one of her own kin - the Fernandez warrior - who had been caught and vampirised some time before. Near the end of the game, Actrise had no choice but to engage Fernandez in combat atop the Room of Clocks. Actrise's magic was ultimately insufficient to defeat the young girl. Before her death, the witch's true visage - both hideous and skeletal - was revealed. Actrise was ensconced in a crystal and shattered, her remains spread to the four winds.

Boss battle
The Actrise boss battle is exclusive to Carrie's quest. Atop the castle's battlements, in place of Actrise, Reinhardt Schneider will fight Death whereas Cornell will fight Ortega.

Actrise's first priority is protecting herself behind a bastion of gems. The smaller crystals are easier to break than larger crystals, and should be destroyed first in the effort to attack her person. (The barrier crystals reappear at a fixed interval.) After receiving damage, Actrise will surround herself with a protective maelstrom of crystal shards. When she finishes summoning her primary shield the shards will traverse the tower's top, demobilizing Carrie (until she takes damage) if she's in their path. Actrise's other attacks - all of which are magic based - include:
 * 1) Summoning crystals that emerge from the ground where the player is standing. (In Castlevania  she summons crystals more quickly than Legacy of Darkness.)
 * 2) Shooting two, rather slow, homing bolts.
 * 3) Raining down two arcs of homing bolts onto the player.
 * 4) Ricocheting a homing bolt off of several stationary crystals.

About Actrise

 * Mary Oldrey:
 * Yes, the vampire Oldrey is my husband. There was a man named Gilles de Rais and a woman, Actrise. They made him what he is today.


 * Carrie Fernandez:
 * I have the power to subdue Dracula himself. You had no chance. Dracula knows this. He used you merely to delay me.

By Actrise

 * Quite a show there, lobo.
 * It's all the crystal could contain, but it should be sufficient for the ritual.
 * She has such power it is almost terrifying... only a child, but a true Fernandez.
 * She was a Fernandez too, a warrior who came to fight the dark lord. We took her alive, and made her a vampire. [...] She had great spirit and struggled mightily against the curse. But now she is wholly a vampire, desperate for blood. Ha, what joy! Two cousins fighting to the death!
 * It is a simple matter... sacrifice the lives of 100 children. I slew my own child to attain the prize of eternal life!
 * Oh dear, you make me so sad... looking at me just as my child did... how pitiful! I love no one in this world other than myself!
 * I will gouge out your heart as a gift to my lord!



Trivia

 * Throughout both games, her name is translated as "Actrise" and "Actrice." Although the former is more commonly used, "Actrice" is more appropriate because it is the French word for "actress."
 * Actrise's character art from Castlevania was drawn by Yasuomi Umetsu. Her costume and coiffure are not historically accurate: The dress is an amalgamation of later fashions; she would have worn a bonnet instead of a hat.
 * Actrise's theme is the 18th track on Castlevania: The Original Game Soundtrack (released in Japan and Europe). The slightly dissonant music features a tinkling piano and bells; the sinister, disjointed nature of the composition is indicative of Actrise's simmering madness.