Chō

Chō (蝶（チョウ）^?) is a character appearing in Netflix's Castlevania animated series. She was a Japanese vampire and one of Dracula's generals.

History[]

A female Japanese vampire that was the ruler of her own hidden court in northern Japan before leaving to join Dracula's army in his war against humanity.

Taka and Sumi, two traveling vampire hunters, were given to her by their parents to serve as her human "honor guard". According to them, Chō would often make her slaves watch other slaves fight her, only to be beaten and devoured. Sumi and Taka used these gruesome shows as opportunities to learn Chō's fighting style in hopes of eventually defeating her.

After Chō was summoned to Dracula's castle, Taka and Sumi took the opportunity to kill her soldiers and free her other slaves. Knowing there was nothing to prevent Chō from returning to Japan and taking more slaves, they traveled to Wallachia to find and kill her.

Chō, along with most of Dracula's other generals and their troops, were killed during an ambush schemed by Carmilla as part of her plans to take control of Dracula's war campaign in favor of her country only. After an initial attack while they were advancing toward the port town of Braila, the generals were forced to retreat inside Dracula's castle, where they then engaged in a fierce battle against Carmilla's own forces. During the struggle, the castle was teleported to the Belmont Hold, and after sensing the Belmont's morning star, Chō and the other vampires stopped fighting each other to face the new threat.

Chō would attack Alucard after he eliminated several vampires, expelling mist from her palms. Alucard evaded the attack, much to her shock and countered, but Chō transformed into mist to avoid getting killed. Raman and Dragoslav attacked Alucard shortly afterwards, the latter managing to hit him to the ground. Chō then reappeared in her mist form and attempted to finish him off with poison, but Sypha froze her condensed mist before smashing it into chunks, killing her instantly.

Appearance[]

Chō's facial features are notably refined, having delicate and sharply defined traces, which in conjunction give her an air of sophistication and elegance.

Even for a vampire, it's notable the paleness of her skin. This is further accentuated by her use of contrasting makeup, which besides the peculiar design on her lips –having the lower one painted only in the middle–, it's also possible that her face has been further whitened by the use of cosmetic powders commonly used in her country.

Chō has long, straight, black hair, which fashions an intricate traditional hairstyle. Her hair is trimmed at varying lengths depending on its location on her head and tied at the back-top in a big bun held together via an elaborated tiara and a long oriental hairpin with small ornaments hanging from it.

Her garments are remarkably sumptuous, although a bit extravagant. She wears a long black and yellow imperial kimono, completed by a red shirt underneath and a big belt-like band tied near the chest area that holds it together. The sleeves of this dress are notoriously long and wide, which most of the times end up hiding Chō's hands, and the skirt and other lower parts of the dress are disproportionately long in comparison to the rest of her body, which as a consequence, she must drag around while walking.

Personality[]

While having her own court and human servants, Chō was sadistic and cruel, noted by Sumi and Taka for her exceptional brutality toward the humans she enslaved. When summoned by Dracula to aid in his genocidal war against humanity, Chō had shown to be loyal to him and his cause and stood by his side during the attack on Dracula's castle.

Powers and abilities[]

Immortality: As a vampire, Chō’s life span exceeds that of a normal human, allowing her to live for hundreds of years behind the walls of her fortress.
Superhuman Strength: Chō possesses a superhuman amount of physical strength, far surpassing that of a regular human, allowing her to easily overpower them, as she had done with many warriors who had been brave enough to fight her.
Superhuman Speed: Chō was shown to be able to outmanoeuvre her human foes, catching them off guard and giving her the chance to take them down.
Mist form: Chō can transform her physical form into that of mist, making her intangible to certain physical attacks such as Alucard’s sword. In this form she could disperse herself, keeping her hidden from her enemy. In this form she is also able to fly, giving her the aerial advantage.
Poison expelling: Chō is able to emit poison from her palms, presenting itself as a purple vapour. Both of the times she used this ability however were unsuccessful, largely due to the lack of speed that the poison moves at.

Appearances[]

Season 2
2-01. War Council	Yes
2-02. Old Homes	Yes
2-03. Shadow Battles	No
2-04. Broken Mast	Yes
2-05. Last Spell	No
2-06. The River	Cameo
2-07. For Love	Yes
2-08. End Times	No

Season 3
3-01. Bless Your Dead Little Hearts	No
3-02. The Reparation of My Heart	Cameo
3-03. Investigators	No
3-04. I Have a Scheme	Yes
3-05. A Seat of Civilisation and Refinement	No
3-06. The Good Dream	No
3-07. Worse Things Than Betrayal	No
3-08. What the Night Brings	No
3-09. The Harvest	No
3-10. Abandon All Hope	No

Quotes[]

About Chō: – Alucard: So you were part of the court of this vampire you call Chō?; – Sumi: Yes. In northern Japan. Far from anywhere. We all lived in her secret fortress. Trapped in her fortress.; – Taka: We were given to Chō's hidden court as children. It amused her to have a human honour guard. Not that she needed guarding. Sometimes, it was her pleasure to have allow a hunter to pass through her ranks into the court.; – Sumi: This was how it was. Everyday. Some new horror. Some new punishment. Some new boastful exercise of her complete power over us. Every day was slavery. Every day was death. And we had to watch it all.; – Taka: Chō was ancient and arrogant. She had lived forever where no army could reach her. No superior power end her.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Concept art[]

Animations[]

Trivia[]

Chō means "butterfly" in Japanese.
- In Japanese culture, butterflies are associated with peaceful death due most species having remarkable short lifespans; as well as seen as souls of the living ascending into the afterlife.
Chō's origins seem to draw upon vampire legends from her native region. Although there is little lore regarding vampiric creatures within the Japanese nation, dark history from the end of the Heian era to the early Kamakura Era tells of how ancient Japan was thrown into chaos; not only due to wars over corrupt politics and brigands ruling the countryside, but demons able to terrorize and prey freely in this time of disorder and anarchy. Most notorious was that of Shuten-dōji, the powerful undisputed ruler of all demons throughout Japan at that time, who was regarded with great dread for his commandeered raids on villages and cities, and his feeding habits of gorging on the blood and flesh of humans captured, his most favorite being beautiful maidens. Furthermore, in regards to Shinto thought, purification, be it physical and spiritual, was done to ward off kegare, or filth and defilement, the worst coming from the results of death and violence, as kegare unchecked was believed to spawn demons or even transform living creatures into demons.
Another origin for Chō could be the enenra, a Japanese monster that is composed of smoke and darkness.

Chō

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