Carmilla



Carmilla (カーミラ, Kāmira), sometimes also known as Camilla in both English and Japanese, is a recurring boss character and antagonist in the Castlevania series. Several incarnations of her have appeared throughout. She is sometimes, but not always, accompanied by her servant Laura. She is often referred to as possessing great beauty and allure.

She often appears as a loyal servant to her master Count Dracula, either plotting to revive him, or awakening from her slumber in order to come to his aid. Her role is notably averted and expanded upon in the Lords of Shadow series.

In addition to appearing in several installments, she is also the namesake of Camilla Cemetery in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, as well of Carmilla's Lair from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.

Carmilla is based on the titular character of the novella Carmilla, written by Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872. Appearing to be a member of Austrian nobility, in reality she the long-dead Countess Mircalla von Karnstein, returned to life as a vampire.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Carmilla made her first appearance in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, where she appears as one of the three bosses. She goes by the moniker Onna Kyūketsuki (女吸血鬼), which she is referred to in the manual, which translates to "female vampire". A clue book found in Debious Woods refers to her properly as Carmilla. She can be encountered in Laruba Mansion. Upon defeat, Carmilla leaves behind the Magic Cross, the item which is used to enter Dracula's Castle.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Carmilla appears as the boss of the fourth stage in Rondo of Blood along with her consort Laura. Notably, the spelling "Camilla" in used in this game instead of "Carmilla". Once Richter or Maria enter the boss room, they are first greeted by Carmilla's mask. From behind the mask, Carmilla appears as a giant nude woman atop a skull. The mask then breaks into several pieces and Carmilla begins to attack with the skull. One of her attacks is shedding tears of blood.

Castlevania: Dracula X
In Dracula X, if the player fails to save Annette, Carmilla will possess Annette, appearing as the boss of Stage 6 (the Clock Tower) instead of Death. While her appearance resembles her one from Rondo of Blood, her attacks are identical to those of Shaft from the same game.

Castlevania (Nintendo 64)
A model of Carmilla atop her skull can be seen in early footage of the Nintendo 64 game Castlevania. However, she is not present in the final game.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Contrary to her relative minor roles in previous games, Camilla appears as a much more prominent character in Circle of the Moon. Possessing her own castle located in Austria, she plots to revive her master Count Dracula in order to unite the forces of darkness.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
In Harmony of Dissonance, an effigy sculpted in relief can be found in the Skeleton Cave which is clearly intended to resemble Carmilla's mask (Vampira) from Simon's Quest and Rondo of Blood.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow


Carmilla's next prominent appearance is in Lords of Shadow. In the story of the game, she is one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Light, along with Cornell and Zobek. Several hundred years in the past, the three founding members performed a mystical ritual to ascend to a higher state of existence. Their good sides were transported to heaven as angelic beings, while their dark sides were left behind and became the Lords of Shadow. Carmilla's original gentle nature was turned into that of a vicious vampire. She takes up residence in the Bernhard Castle, and possesses a piece of the God Mask, a device which the protagonist Gabriel Belmont must retrieve in order to resurrect his dead wife Marie.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Many centuries afterwards, Carmilla reappears in her castle in her former human form, where Gabriel, now known as the vampire lord Dracula, takes residence. She seduces him into drinking her blood which has a poisonous effect on him. In order to resist her influence, Dracula drinks blood from his resurrected wife Marie. After evading Carmilla in the castle's library, he chases her onto one of the rooftops, where she attempts to trick him by taking the form of Marie and forces him to choose which of the two is his real wife. Dracula makes the right choice and faces Carmilla in combat. As he gains the upper hand, despite the witch's best efforts, including regaining his Mist Form from her, Carmilla makes one final attempt to break Dracula by threatening to kill Marie, only to be impaled through the mouth by him with a piece of broken gate and destroyed for good.

Castlevania: Judgment
$Judgment$ Galamoth plots to send the Time Reaper from 10,000 years in the future into the past to destroy his rival Dracula, and change history. A man named Aeon discovers this and pulls together champions from different eras of history into a dimensional rift, in order to find a chosen one capable of destroying Galamoth's servant, the Time Reaper. Carmilla is one of these warriors.

Carmilla is a female vampire. She worships Dracula like a god and her greatest joy is shredding humans and let their blood splatter on her. Carmilla views humans as nothing more than prey and always looks down upon them. She is aggressive and provocative.

Etymology
Carmilla is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. First published in 1871 as a serial narrative in The Dark Blue, it tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. Carmilla predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years, and has been adapted many times for cinema

Carmilla, the title character, is portrayed as possessing lesbian traits. Her victims are exclusively female. However, she becomes emotionally involved with the protagonist Laura. Carmilla has nocturnal habits, but is not confined to the darkness. She has unearthly beauty, and is able to change her form and to pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego is a monstrous black cat and she sleeps in a coffin.

In the story, Carmilla takes advantage of the anonymity of a masquerade ball to look for victims. In the games, her mask represents the ballroom masks that Carmilla wore to the many parties she went to, and was also used to hide the fact that she was a vampire.

Although Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than Dracula, the latter has been cited as being heavily influenced by Le Fanu's novella.

Trivia

 * Carmilla is referenced by Edmund McMillen in his game The Binding of Isaac via a boss known as The Mask of Infamy.