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 refered 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 Cemetary 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 Millarca 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 cluebook fond 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
Camilla appears as the boss of the fourth stage in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood along with her consort Laura. Noteably, 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 Castlevania: 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: Circle of the Moon
Contrary to her relative minor roles in previous games, Camilla appears as a much more prominent character in Castlevania: 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: Lords of Shadow


Along with Zobek and Cornell, Carmilla 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.

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. 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.

Castlevania 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: Harmony of Dissonance
In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, a statue 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.

References to the novella Carmilla

 * Carmilla herself is based on the titular character of the novella Carmilla, an Austrian countess and vampire. Truly the supposedly-long-dead Countess Millarca von Karnstein, Carmilla meets the narrator Laura when she is saved from a wagon wreck.


 * Carmilla's mask is another reference. 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 in the novel she came from.


 * Laura, the girl who appears alongside Carmilla in Rondo of Blood, was the narrator of Carmilla; she is the vampire countess's love interest, and nearly her victim. Carmilla wishes to transform Laura into a vampire so they may be together eternally. Laura does not share Carmilla's feelings, and is somewhat embarrassed and intimidated by Carmilla's attention.