Dracula (Lords of Shadow)

Gabriel Belmont, later known as Dracula and Dracul, is a knight from the 11th century and the main character of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow saga.

He was originally a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protected and defended the innocent against supernatural threats. But after defeating the ultimate evil, losing everything he loved on his quest, and obtaining immense power from an ancient demon, he became the powerful vampire known as Dracula, and started a war upon the world and the God he had once served.

Story

 * See also Lords of Shadow Timeline
 * See also Gabriel Belmont/Background

Early Life
Some years ago, a child was found on the door of one of the Brotherhood of Light convents. It is not known who his original parents were though some suspected he was an unwanted bastard from a local wealthy landowner, most likely the Cronqvist family, though this has never been proven.

The order gave the nameless boy the Christian name of one of the blessed archangels, Gabriel, and raised him as one of its own members. The precocious child quickly proved to be extremely talented, developing a mastery of the fighting arts unprecedented in the Brotherhood. However, he was also prone to dark moods and moments of brooding that only his beloved childhood sweetheart, Marie, could pacify.

The two youngsters were made for one another; they grew together and soon started to make promises of their future, promises that were always kept. One idyllic morning, with the blessing of both her family and the Brotherhood, the couple was married.

Gabriel took the surname of Belmont, after his love of mountains and the high places of the World.

Before Lords of Shadow
In 1046, Gabriel was sent by the order to capture a dangerous creature called the Daemon Lord. Injured by the beast, he used his blood and a magical device to lock it away.

While Gabriel was on this mission for the Brotherhood, Marie gave birth to his son named Trevor, but knowing of Gabriel's eventual descent into darkness, decided to leave the child in the hands of the Brotherhood and to hide the birth from Gabriel.

Events of Lords of Shadow


Some time after Marie's death, the heavens were cut off from the earthly plane, thus leading the people to believe that God had abandoned them. The Brotherhood of Light knew otherwise. After receiving a message from the three founders of their order in heaven, the Brotherhood sent Gabriel to contact the dead and ask Marie if she knew of any means to save the world. Taking up the Vampire Killer and an amulet connected to the old gods, Gabriel begins his journey.

He met an old god, Pan, who allowed him to communicate with Marie who, throughout his journey, aided Gabriel in times of peril. Next he met a supposed comrade of the order, Zobek, who instructed Gabriel to destroy the Lords of Shadow, the rulers of the demonic forces now driving mankind into extinction. Both Pan and Zobek desired an end to their tyrannical rule, but for very different reasons.

His first great test came when he met Claudia, an innocent young psychic and her enchanted guardian, the Black Knight Golem, who briefly aided him in his journey. However, when they stopped to camp, Gabriel dreamt that he stabbed Claudia in the night, only to wake and discover her dead body, indicating that it was not a dream. Finding Claudia dead, the Black Knight became enraged with grief and attacked Gabriel, forcing him to destroy it in self defense. This act granted Gabriel the Knight's enchanted Dark Gauntlet, allowing him to launch flame based attacks as well as fight back mystical attacks from enemies.



The first Lord of Shadow he faced was Cornell, who revealed that the Brotherhood of Light was founded by three divinely empowered saints who led God's army. In doing so they were rewarded with monumental bounties, transcending human parameters and becoming divine beings in Heaven whose power was second only to God's, but at the cost of discarding all chaotic elements within themselves. The result of this transformation was that the leftover bodies of each of the three lords in Heaven now arose as their demonic counterparts on Earth, and thus the Lords of Shadow were born. This creates a poetic irony, since the Lords of Shadow were the ones who created the very demons now driving mankind to extinction. This revelation caused Gabriel to begin to lose faith in the Order. Killing Cornell granted him the Lord of the Lycans' Cyclone Boots, which granted him the speed of a beast.



After the Lycans he faced off against the vampires. Gabriel continued his journey killing their champions, Olrox and Brauner, and facing the puppets of Laura, second in command of the vampire race and the only enemy not killed in the entire game, until finally he reached Carmilla, queen of the vampires, and the second Lord of Shadow. In the dialogue with Carmilla, she hinted at Gabriel's future when she stated he indeed would be "one of us." Her death granted him the third of the enchanted gear granted to the Lords of Shadow by Heaven, her Seraph Shoulders, which grant him angelic wings and the ability to double jump.

Interestingly, it is revealed that a "King of Angels" has been helping Gabriel on his quest.



Before he headed of to the Land of the Necromancers, Gabriel faced Pan, his guide throughout his journey. Pan taught Gabriel how to battle against light and dark magic, knowing well the final battle Gabriel would be facing at the end of the his journey, and then sacrificed himself, as the death of a god was needed to proceed to the land of dead. Eventually Gabriel learned that, in fact, Zobek was the third Lord of Shadow all along.

Zobek had engineered his entire journey. Using the Devil Mask, Zobek made Gabriel kill Marie so that he would end up focused on revenge, and thus blind to the truth of the quest for the God Mask. He also had Gabriel kill Claudia so that the Black Knight would attack him, granting him the Dark Gauntlet, as Gabriel would be powerless against Zobek while wearing it. Zobek loathed how each of the Lords of Shadow harbored a piece of the God Mask, each possessing their share of the power and unwilling to compromise to actually make use of it. Thus Gabriel was the ideal pawn to eliminate them and reunite the pieces, which he did. After revealing all of this, Zobek electrocuted Gabriel, but was in turn burned alive as Satan materialized from the flames that consume him.

Satan revealed himself as the real mastermind behind the whole plot, implanting knowledge of all the dark arts into Zobek to aid him in his quest to set up the entire charade with Gabriel, and was the real power behind sealing off access to the heavens for all deceased pure spirits. Marie persuaded all the souls trapped in limbo to revive Gabriel. Satan offered Gabriel a place at his side, but Gabriel refused, telling Satan that his lust for power was what caused his fall from grace. Angered, Satan put on the God Mask and initiated the final battle.

At the climax of the duel, Gabriel grabbed Satan, and after opening himself to the light, invoked a divine ritual, possibly the same that gave birth to the Lords of Shadow, sending Satan back to Hell. After this, Gabriel met with Marie one final time, discovering that the God Mask did not hold the power to resurrect the dead as he had hoped. Giving her husband one last kiss, Marie departed for Heaven, taking the God Mask with her. Watching as she and all the other dead departed, including Claudia, who appears briefly to say goodbye, Gabriel was then left alone and on his knees, weeping for his beloved.

Events of Reverie and Resurrection


Soon after, Gabriel was summoned by Laura to the Bernhard castle. There he learned that by killing the three Lords of Shadow, Gabriel has unleashed a new menace: the Forgotten One, an incredibly powerful demon whom the founders of the Brotherhood had imprisoned deep in the center of the castle. Laura and Gabriel decided they must find the entrance to the ancient fortress of the Brotherhood.

After opening the gate to the Brotherhood fortress, Gabriel and Laura travelled through the ancient castle and gathered the blood of the three founders in order to open the gate to the Forgotten One's chamber. However, only dark beings could enter into the dimension where the Forgotten One was kept. To bypass this, Laura asked Gabriel to drink all of her blood and release her from her immortal torment. With reluctance, Gabriel did as she asked, killing Laura while he himself became a creature of the night. He stepped through the gate alone to confront what awaited him.

Gabriel entered the Dimensional Prison to seek the demon. He showed signs of darkness, including renouncing his humanity, hunger for violence, and partial insanity. After unlocking the doors, he found The Forgotten One emerging from lava, climbing the rocks to open the portals to the original realm, despite the demon being in a weakened state. The two fought and came to a draw, causing The Forgotten One to retake his power and move on to the Underworld, the final plane before entering the mortal realm.



Gabriel followed The Forgotten One, and showed more signs of darkness. He claimed that he was darker and more terrible than The Forgotten One, and that the creature would beg for mercy before the end. He confronted the demon again, and after the battle, The Forgotten One finally opened the portal, mocking Gabriel that the portal was open and that he would let him live to watch the world's destruction and claimed that he had failed his mission. However, just when the Forgotten One was about to reclaim the part of his power he had sent to unlock the seal, Gabriel intervened and absorbed the Forgotten One's demonic power. While the Forgotten One begged for mercy, Gabriel used his new-found power to destroy the demon once and for all. Just before leaving the Underworld, Gabriel destroyed the Vampire Killer, leaving the pieces lying broken and forgotten within the dark dimension.

Events of Mirror of Fate


Gabriel became an immortal vampire and took on the name of Dracul, but the people knew him as Dracula. He made Carmilla's castle his own fortress, and grew to master new forms of magic, such as the Void and Chaos, as well as command new legions of monsters. The Brotherhood of Light sought to kill Dracula, being partially responsible for his fate and for being a vampire, and sent many knights to the castle to slay him, all of whom failed. At the same time, Dracula sought to take his revenge on the Brotherhood and remake the world as he saw fit. When he came of age, Gabriel's son, Trevor, was finally informed by the Elders of the truth of his parentage, and started a journey to defeat his demonic father and avenge his mother.

Dracula was confronted by Trevor at the top of his castle, in the chamber of the Mirror of Fate where years ago Gabriel fought Carmilla. He saw that he carried a copy of the Combat Cross, and asked for the name of it's user. Trevor did not tell his name but did tell him he knew who and what his father was and that he was there to remove the stain upon his family name and avenge the death of his mother. Dracula was amused by Trevor's personal motives and the dark lord took a moment to explain his nihilistic views of life and death, believing he sent his victims to a better place before making it clear he had no intentions of knowing them and that he did not know his mother.

Trevor vehemently told his unknowing father that he did know her, and he swore to tell him her name when he killed him. Angered by the boy's arrogance, Dracula summoned his Void Sword an intense battle began between father and son. During combat, Dracula switched between his Void Sword and Chaos Gauntlets, using his new powers to their fullest extent against Trevor, but the younger warrior countered with his own combat skills and Light and Shadow magic to match Dracula's weapons.

Dracula took the fight into the air but was knocked back down to the chamber below, with Trevor falling after him and roaring he would know his mother's name. Infuriated, Dracula swore he would never be defeated and met Trevor's final attack head on. With a violent burst of blood, Trevor was defeated, stabbed with his own weapon.

As Trevor lay dying, he looked into the Mirror of Fate and, realized the truth of Gabriel's fall into darkness, told him that they were opposites. Gabriel had accepted his fate even when he was betrayed at every turn while Trevor had fought against his fate even though it was in vain. He told Dracula that he pitied him and revealed himself as his son.

Confused by this revelation, Trevor only pointed to the mirror behind him. Looking into the Mirror of Fate himself, Dracula saw the truth of Trevor's words and was filled with outrage, horror and regret. Remorseful, Dracula desperately attempted to revive Trevor by feeding him his blood, weeping to his son to live.

As it did not seem have any effect, Dracula placed his son's body in a coffin, on which he wrote the name Alucard, since he never learned his son's real name but possibly remembered what Trevor had said about them being opposites. Dracula would also place Trevor's clothes and Combat Cross in a secret chamber in the library, as a sort of memorial shrine to him. Blaming the Brotherhood for his son's demise, he sent his werewolves to attack the Brotherhood's sanctuary, killing all who lived there, save Trevor's son Simon, who escaped to the mountains at the cost of his mother's life.

Years later, Dracula witnessed the meeting of Simon and Alucard, smiling, before he teleported away. Soon after, Simon confronted Dracula in his throne at the top of his castle. Though impressed by Simon's skills, he made it clear that he was no match for him, and as he prepared to attack him, Alucard entered the room. Dracula had hoped Alucard would side with him, but when his son refused, he decided to kill Simon despite Alucard's protests that it was their battle. Dracula had come to despise the Belmont name and refused to allow the bloodline to continue.

Dracula fought both of them at the same time, but refrained from using his full power as he had against Trevor, only making use of his Shadow Whip and fireballs. He knocked Simon out and dueled Alucard for a while before teleporting back to his throne and seizing control of Simon, forcing Alucard to fight his own son. Dracula mocked Alucard for holding back and refusing to harm Simon and became disgusted when Alucard successfully freed Simon from his control. He nearly strangled Alucard to death with his whip, but Simon saved him at the last moment.

Dracula managed to knock Simon down again with an intense burst of dark magic, but Alucard finally managed to get his father in a hold and keep him in place, allowing Simon to stake him with Trevor's Combat Cross. Dracula was finally defeated for the first time and disappeared into a mysterious red light, melting into a pile of ash. Alucard remarked that Dracula's "death" was atypical of a vampire, suggesting that he survived the encounter. His castle collapsed shortly after his supposed demise.

Lords of Shadow 2 Prologue


Dracula managed to survive his supposed "death" by the hands of Simon and Alucard and remained in his reconstructed castle, his rule going unchallenged for over five hundred years as he continued to hunt down humanity and strike at them with his legion of monsters, though he began to long for a true death, despairing of his immortal life. The Brotherhood of Light wished to finally be rid of him, and so launched a massive invasion of his castle in the 1400s. Dracula resided at the top of his throne during the siege, simply drinking blood from a goblet, though he became annoyed when the knights finally breached his throne room and surrounded him. Listening to their hopeful words as they believed they could kill him, Dracula only smiled and raised his empty goblet, stating, "What a timely coincidence. I'm dying for a little drop of blood!"

Dracula then engaged the large group of knights single-handedly using his Shadow Whip, Void Sword and Chaos Claws to their full extent, wiping out the knights in short order. He then exited his throne room and stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the entire castle, watching the massive legions of knights invading his home. Disgusted, he mused to himself for a moment before noticing the advancing Siege Titan and dodged its punch that shattered the balcony, forcing him onto a lower one. The Brotherhood Paladin, Roland de Ronceval, then emerged from the Titan to confront Dracula directly, declaring God to be with him.

Dracula merely sneered, "That will be your ruin!" and engaged the Paladin in a fierce duel, matching the golden warrior's blades with his own. Before their fight could finish, the Siege Titan struck again, and the Paladin retreated with Dracula in close pursuit, leaping onto the Titan to follow after him. Dracula then scaled the mechanical monstrosity, easily surviving the legions of knights pouring out from inside it, the Paladin's flaming arrows and the Titan's own attempts to shake him off by attacking the castle.

Dracula reached the top of the Titan and corrupted its power source, a holy crystal, by vomiting his tainted blood onto it. The Titan fell, killing hundreds of soldiers and greatly damaging Dracula's castle. Dracula easily survived and emerged from the wreckage to confront the Paladin once again. Dracula emerged victorious, shattering Roland's helmet, wings and blades. Desperate, the fallen Paladin pulled out a battle cross and began reciting in Latin, calling on the power of the seven archangels to destroy Dracula.

Dracula, however, merely pitied the Paladin before explaining that God's power would never harm him, as he was still God's chosen one. To prove his point, he joined Roland in his chant but turned the holy power against him, and the explosion wiped out the entire army of Brotherhood Knights and Dracula's own castle. Dracula stood alone in the aftermath, surrounded by bodies and holding the ruined battle cross before discarding it.

While behind him his wayward son, Alucard approached, Alucard explained his plan to lure Zobek and Satan out of hiding. His sword the Crissaegrim will put his father into a deep sleep that will lead Satan to believe that Earth is safe to conquer, and Zobek, out of fear of Satan, will desperately seek out and revive Dracula knowing that he doesn't stand a chance against Satan by himself.

On the brink of Satan's return Alucard will remove the sword from his body, reviving the vampire lord but also with his mind and body broken so that Zobek cannot read his mind. Zobek will forge a alliance with Dracula with the promise of the one thing he truly wants, a permanent death through the use of the reforged Vampire Killer. Then after Dracula regains his power they will kill Zobek, Satan, and finally themselves ridding the world of evil.

Reluctantly agreeing to the plan, Dracula impales himself on the sword and Alucard proceeds to hide his body.

Lords of Shadow Epilogue
Dracula found himself awakening in his old castle in the approximate year of 2057 with no memory of how he got there or of who he was. However, the famed Belmont Clan still seeks his ultimate destruction.



Over the centuries, Gabriel eventually became weakened and yearned for release from his immortal bonds, and went into hiding in an old church. Years later in modern times, he met Zobek again who predicts that Satan's return to the Earthly realm is not far off. His "old friend" urges Gabriel to prevent the resurrection. The two engage in a short fight after which Zobek reveals it is Gabriel's only chance to be freed from his immortality. Gabriel disappears at the end of the conversation, transforming into a flock of bats or possibly mist.

Events of Lords of Shadow 2

 * See also: Gabriel Belmont/Missions

After leaving the cathedral, Dracula is subdued by one of Satan's Soldiers but rescued by Zobek's Lieutenant. After regaining his strength by feasting on a family, Zobek explains to the vampire lord that Satan's Acolytes are preparing his return, and unless they are stopped, Satan's return is guaranteed. To this end, Zobek believes he has located the first of the Acolytes are in the Bioquimek Corporation though he doesn't know who it is.

Without his full powers Gabriel is forced to rely on stealth during the trek into the locked down building. Once inside the building, Dracula is lured back inside his Castle by a hallucination of his son, Trevor, as a child. Dracula soon learns that his castle has turned against him: if Dracula succeeds in his quest to die, then the castle and its inhabitants, which have come to rely on the vampire lord to live, will also die.

To this end in order to regain his Void Sword, Dracula must fight the Stone Golem, and successfully defeats the portion of possessed castle. Now back in the corporation Dracula fights Bioquimek's CEO, Raisa Volkova, turned demon via a demonic plague and defeats her. He brings her back to Zobek for questioning.

Before being able to reach Zobek, Dracula is stoped by Trevor who brings him inside the castle once again. Dracula must reclaim his Chaos Claws from the Gorgon sisters. After encountering Euryale and Stheno, Dracula understands Medusa has the Chaos power he seeks. On his way, he frees the Chupacabras from its prison, so the little spirit can tell him where to find Medusa, the last sister. The last Gorgon is corrupted by the castle's blood, and Dracula has to fight a gigantic creature before getting back his full Chaos power.

Back in the present, Dracula confronts Raisa Volkova. Zobek explains her brain is full of confusion and that an antidote could help her becoming human again. Dracula then leaves and reaches the train station where a soldier from Satan's army attacks him. After a movemented fight on the train, Dracula jumps right before the train crashes into the next station, killing many of Satan's minions.

There, Zobek's Lieutenant gives Dracula a hand to continue his search, but soon departs, as Zobek needs him. Alone, Dracula is soon called by Trevor who says Marie is in danger. Dracula goes back to the castle, and encounters Carmilla, reborn. After biting Carmilla, who presented herself as a servant of the vampire lord, Dracula realizes her blood was cursed, and that it could make him Carmilla's slave. Enraged, he prepares to confront Carmilla, but when the next door opens, Marie appears to the surprise and happiness of Dracula.



Dracula wonders if Marie is real, or just an apparition. He expresses regret regarding what happened to them a millenium ago. She explains the Brotherhood of Light prevented her to tell everything to him, and that Gabriel will soon be with her. Dracula then angrily states that Gabriel disappeared a long time ago, and that he is and will forever be Dracula. Marie then asks to help him slowing Carmilla's curse: Dracula bites and drinks Marie's blood. Dracula then escape the library after fooling Carmilla. He confronts her at the top of a tower. After a rude fight, Dracula kills Carmilla and rescues Marie.

Dracula returns to the present and continues his search for the antidote. After infiltrating another Bioquimek lab, Dracula obtains the antidote and brings it back to Raisa. However, the demon reveals to be an Acolyte of Satan, and Dracula confronts her. After a tense battle, he slices her in two.

Dracula falls from Zobek's tower, but lands in his castle. There, Trevor asks him to find the pieces of the Mirror of Fate. Dracula has to fight Pan's brother, Agreus, and the Toy Maker and his inventions to recover two pieces from the Mirror. Trevor tells him the last piece isn't in the castle.

Back in the present, Dracula is then sent by Zobek to the cathedral where he woke up, as he sensed a powerful presence there. Upon arriving, Dracula witnesses a hooded man leaving the cathedral. When he approaches him, a powerful demon appears, and the hooded man leaves. After a long chase around the city, Dracula is attacked by the man in the city's library. However, Dracula needs to fight the huge demon that followed them, while the man flees again. Dracula eventually destroys the demon and follows the man's trace to a church. The two engage in a fierce battle, breaking the ground, and Dracula emerges victorious.

When the two fall into the caves under the church, Dracula realizes people are watching them, and spares the man's life. The hooded man presents himself as Victor Belmont, protector of humanity. Dracula gives him the antidote to protect non-infected people, and Victor offers his help. The two exit the caves, and meet Zobek's Lieutenant on Victory Plaza. There, after Victor sacrifices his life to fool the second Acolyte, Dracula recovers the last piece of the Mirror of Fate.



Dracula returns to the castle and meets Trevor. But when the father and son try to rebuild the Mirror, the castle's blood corrupts the boy, and Dracula has to fight his inner self, representing his evil nature. Dracula frees Trevor, and reunites with his family. He then leaves the castle. In the city, Dracula infiltrates the second acolyte, Nergal Meslamstea's building and confronts him in his office. However, Nergal is way too powerful, and Dracula has to lure him into the castle to fight him. There, after an epic fight with the Riders of the Storm, Dracula crushes Nergal's skull. Before leaving the castle, he makes a promise to Trevor: when all is over, he will choose his family.

With the help of the Lieutenant, Dracula reaches the final acolyte. There, he finally remembers everything thanks to Marie and Trevor: everything was written in his travel book, and the Lieutenant reveals to be Alucard in disguise. The two celebrate their reunion, but Zobek, sensing the treachery, appears. Dracula confronts Death, and after a long battle, kills Zobek and reclaims the Vampire Killer, his old weapon. Dracula parts ways Alucard to find the last Acolyte, who vanished before the fight with Zobek.



The two vampires find the Acolyte in Dracula's cathedral, but it is too late: Satan returns and summons the Leviathan. With the help of Alucard, Dracula is capable of climbing on the Leviathan and destroying the huge demon. During the fall, Dracula fights in duel Satan who possessed Alucard's body. After the battle, Dracula crushes Satan in the street, and destroys him with the Vampire Killer. Dracula awakens his son by feeding his blood, and breaks the Mirror of Fate, stating that he should be the master of his own destiny. As the sun rises, Dracula leaves for his cathedral.

Appearance
Gabriel is tall with a muscular build. His hair is brown and sometimes depicted as curly and long. Though in the actual game, it appears be straight and is about shoulder length (however in the epilogue of the first game, and in Lords of Shadow 2, his hair is shown to have grown past his shoulders).

The armor he wears is based on Simon's from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest but with notable differences. It is emblazoned with a skull, and consists of thick plates that covers all of his upper body. His legs are covered with ironclad boots. In addition, Gabriel's armor also contained a hood which he could wear to conceal his face should the need arise.

Originally, Gabriel's design resembled a classic barbarian, before Kojima then advised the staff to refine him into a character that was more relatable for the player. David Cox mentioned that Robert Carlyle, who provides the voice for Gabriel is a bit similar to the character.

In the epilogue of Lords of Shadow, Gabriel now appears to have aged rather significantly and his appearence has changed drastically. He is now bare-chested and only wears a sort of cloak/skirt about his waist held up by a sash with a large face as a clasp. Instead of his old gauntlets, he now wears bits of two steel gauntlets held on by scraps of fabric. He is less muscular than he was in the past, but proves to still be formidable (as seen when he survived the fall from his lair onto a paved street.) His hair is now longer and white, and he now has sickly pale skin. His eyes glow a deep orange and he now has the ability to grow fangs at will.

In Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2, Gabriel appears as sort of a fusion/combination of his original human form and his later vampiric form. His hair is still long and brown -if anything it is darker than before-, but he now wears shoulder coverings similar to his old armor with the chest exposed with a large skeletal face set in a belt. He has abandoned the Dark Gauntlet and now wears a red cloak. He has also abandoned the Cyclone Boots in favor of simple leather ones.

Personality
As a child Gabriel sometimes fell into dark moods, and had a tendency to brood, which could only be broken with the aid of Marie, whom he came to love deeply. As a man, Gabriel was still morose and moody at times, but he was also incredibly tenacious, noble and faithful, having been raised by the Brotherhood to believe in God and put his faith in Him.

Following the death of Marie, Gabriel was heartbroken and when he discovered a chance to revive her, he was willing to go anywhere and do anything to resurrect her. During his quest he learned that the founders of the Brotherhood were the cause of the troubles of the world, and his faith began to waiver. He was also plagued with nightmares of Marie's death, which prevented him from sleeping, and as the stress grew he ceased sleeping, and soon stopped eating. The death of Claudia, an innocent, made him even more bitter and angry.

At the end of Gabriel's quest he no longer cared for the suffering of others and held his grief and sorrow in place with anger, consumed by his wish to revive Marie. He even consigned a disgraced holy man, albeit a selfish and cowardly one on the brink of insanity, to death by taking a holy relic which had protected him.

When he faced the Lord of the Necromancers, Gabriel learned that Zobek had influenced him with the Devil Mask to make him pursue the powers of the Lords of Shadow to fulfill the prophecy by killing everything in his way, including his Marie. This was the plan, but the Lord of the Dead had not foreseen the darkness within Gabriel, and how terrible he would become, earning him the nickname "Prince of Darkness". He said that Gabriel was a beast, and a cold-blooded murderer.

Following the final battle, Gabriel saw Marie again, but was ashamed of himself and what he had done during his quest. Marie forgave him, saying that while he was flawed, he was as God intended, and she still loved him. The revelation that the God Mask Gabriel had reclaimed could not resurrect the dead was the final blow to Gabriel and, his spirit broken, he wept as Marie left for Heaven.

When Laura called him to her, asking for help defeating the Forgotten One, Gabriel claimed not to care for the fate of the world, and only agreed to help the vampire so he would not be plagued by more guilt for having failed humanity. After drinking Laura's blood Gabriel relinquished most of his humanity, and claimed that he was now darker and more terrible than the demon he hunted, which became true when he claimed the demon's power and killed him. He then renamed himself Dracul, and returned to the human world.

Dracul's feelings of pain and emptiness became manifest in the Void Sword and Chaos Claws which replaced for him the Light and Shadow magic he had wielded as the Brotherhood's chosen one.

Dracul (known to the people as Dracula) hungered for revenge on the Brotherhood, and wished to remake the world as he saw fit, in revenge for his betrayal. During this time he formed a sort of philosophy on killing based on his nihilistic view of the world; he felt that he had sent his victims to a better place, and he did not care to learn more about them. Thus he denied knowing Trevor's mother when he first confronted his son.

In spite of how dark he had become, he still retained a measure of his old humanity. When he learned of the true identity of Trevor, he was horrified and remorseful for having killed his and Marie's son to the point of crying. He attempted to revive him, but when it seemed to fail, he gave his son a respectful burial. Now even more angry at the Brotherhood's latest betrayal -sending his own son to kill him-, he sent his werewolves to their sanctuary to kill all who live there, and resumed his old plans.

Dracula's voice actor Robert Carlyle admitted that Dracula doesn't relish who he is, and would prefer a more normal life and a better relationship with his son. Also, it was shown that Dracula is fond of his grandson Simon, as he complimented him when they met face to face, stating that he fought well and was worthy of carrying the Belmont name. However, despite being fond of him, he was not beyond trying to kill him, but was visibly shown to be holding back while doing so.

While conversing with Alucard, Dracula further elaborated on his nihilistic and apathetic viewpoint, using his own fall as an example of the darkness that resides in the heart of all of humanity, that even if he were to die now others would simply take his place, and that ultimately evil would prevail, proving itself the natural order of everything. Snapping a disfigured cross he demonstrated his belief that the world was thus, irrevocably broken.

In modern times Dracula still lived, but had withdrawn from the world out of disgust and weariness, becoming a shadow of his former self, despairing of his undead existence and longing for death. To this end he entered into a pact with Zobek to defeat Satan in exchange for a true death.

On his final quest he encountered specters of his wife Marie and Trevor as a boy. These apparitions caused a change in Dracula, awakening vestiges of the man he once was. Such was his love for his son that Dracula fought and killed his own servants to keep the boy safe, and searched his entire castle for fragments of the Mirror of Fate, simply because Trevor wished to have it to play with.

When Dracula encountered the spectre of Marie, he espoused much of his feelings for the world. He demanded to know if the Brotherhood had told her of how he would slay her, or of how he and their son would become mortal enemies. He also revealed his bitter feeling towards God for the lot he had been dealt in life and resolved to forever be a thorn in his side. Marie's response was that their suffering had meaning and that she had been sent back to help Dracula, who could not believe that she was real. He also confessed that he wished to leave the castle, and that it was no place for their son.

At his final meting with his son, Dracula promised that when the adventure was over, he would choose his family, and he did so. This kindness was shown when he confronted Victor, the last Belmont. Rather than killing him on principal -as he had tried to do with Simon- Dracula immediately ceased his attack after hearing an infant's cry and then offered Victor a cure for the demonic plague.

Dracula's reformation proved to run so deep that it forced the blood of his castle to physically manifest as a grotesque monster called Inner Dracula, and try to kill the apparition of Trevor, because Dracula's love for his son was the only force strong enough to threaten his monstrous side. Dracula defeated his demons and killed Satan himself by bluffing the Devil into thinking that he would sacrifice his own son to kill his oldest enemy.

In the end, Dracula looked one last time into the Mirror of Fate before crushing it, resolving to make his own destiny and live with his son Alucard after all.

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