Dracula (Lords of Shadow)

Gabriel Belmont / Dracula
Gabriel Belmont as Dracula in Lords of Shadow 2
Role(s)	Knight of the Brotherhood (formerly), Prince of Darkness
Date of birth	11th century
Age	Immortal
Weapon(s)	As Gabriel: Vampire Killer, Dark Gauntlet, Sub-Weapon As Dracula: Shadow Whip, Void Sword, Chaos Claws
Abilities	See Gabriel Belmont/Abilities
Appearances	1047: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 1072 and other eras: Mirror of Fate 1400s and c. 2057: Lords of Shadow 2
Music theme	Belmont's Theme (Lords of Shadow) Final Fight (Mirror of Fate) Dracula's Theme (Lords of Shadow 2)

For other uses, see Dracula (disambiguation).

"I am the dragon, Dracul! I am the Prince of Darkness... I am and will be, forever, a thorn in His side! That... is my vengeance!"

— Gabriel as Dracula, to his wife, Marie, in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

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 most powerful vampire in history, known as Dracula, and started a war upon the world and the God he had once served.

Story

See also: Lords of Shadow Timeline

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

"I have done... questionable things..."

— Gabriel to Marie

File:Gabriel meets pan.jpg

Gabriel meets Pan

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 dreamed 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.

File:Gabriel confronts Cornell.jpg

Gabriel confronts Cornell

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.

File:Gabriel and Carmilla resize.jpg

Carmilla speaks to Gabriel

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.

Zobek immobilizes Gabriel

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

"I am the Dragon."

— Gabriel, before facing the Forgotten One

Gabriel and Laura, in Reverie

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 traveled 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.

File:Gabriel corrupted.jpg

Gabriel destroys the Vampire Killer.

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

"You fight well. Worthy of the name... Belmont!"

— Dracula to Simon

Gabriel, now known as Dracula, in 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 and an intense battle began between father and son. During combat, Dracula switched between his Void Sword and Chaos Claws, 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

"What is a man... But a miserable pile of secrets!"

— Dracula, as he observes the Brotherhood's siege

Dracula, as he appears in Lords of Shadow 2.

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 the power of God would never harm him, as he was still His 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. Dracula asks what Alucard wants with him since he knows that he cannot be killed. Alucard agrees saying that "only his father, Gabriel Belmont can destroy Dracula". Dracula says it is too late for him, explaining that the roots of evil are deep and using himself as an example, how he was the most devoted warrior of God once, but that even he, fell into darkness becoming "The Prince of Darkness", saying that both Satan and Zobek are afraid of him, and even if Dracula was gone, they would replace him, therefore evil would prevail one way or the other. Alucard however proposed a way to truly eliminate evil and 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

"Don't you dare call me that! Eu sunt Dracul!"

— Dracula to Zobek

Dracula in modern times

Dracula found himself awakening in his old castle in the approximate year of 2057 with no memory of the pact he made with Alucard, nor how he came to lie in a centuries-long slumber. As Alucard had predicted, Zobek sensed Dracula's awakening and came to him, informing him that Satan's return to the earthly realm was not far off. His "old friend" urges Gabriel to prevent the resurrection. Gabriel attacks Zobek, who effortlessly throws him out a window, and reveals that making a deal with Zobek is Gabriel's only chance to be freed from his immortality. Dracula disappears at the end of the conversation, transforming into a flock of bats and returning to the cathedral.

Events of Lords of Shadow 2

See also: Gabriel Belmont/Missions

"After centuries of sleep, of nothingness, I have returned."

— Dracula, awakened in Modern Times

After leaving the cathedral and emerging into Castlevania City, Dracula, who is on the brink of death by starvation and has almost no strength, is effortlessly subdued by one of Satan's Soldiers, but rescued by Zobek's Lieutenant. After Dracula regains his strength by feasting on an innocent 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 to an otherworldly version of his Castle in its prime by a hallucination of a little boy that he eventually somehow recognizes as his own son, Trevor, as he looked as a child. Once inside, Gabriel soon learns that his castle has turned against him: if Dracula succeeds in his quest to die, then the castle and its inhabitants, which are magically linked to the Vampire Lord, will also die. Thus, the Castle seeks to injure Dracula badly enough that it can trap him there and keep him alive forever.

To this end, in order to regain his Void Sword, Dracula must fight the Stone Golem, which is animated by a thick, viscous "Evil Blood" that seems to represent the castle's corruptive influence. After returning to Castlevania City, Dracula encounters Bioquimek's CEO, Raisa Volkova, who has transformed herself with a demonic virus engineered by the corporation, becoming a powerful demoness in the progress. Bioquimek intended to release the virus into the atmosphere on that very night, transforming the people of Castlevania City into misshapen demons called Possessed Citizens. Upon sensing Dracula's presence, Volkova deliberately releases this virus in the lab, which begins spreading through the air, infecting the Bioquimek scientists and transforming them, to slow Dracula down. Afterwards, when she attacks him again, Gabriel defeats Volkova, and brings her back to Zobek for questioning.

Before being able to reach Zobek, Dracula is stopped by Trevor, who brings him inside the castle once again. Dracula must reclaim his Chaos Claws, which have been hidden by the Gorgon Sisters, who remain loyal to him. After encountering Euryale and Stheno, Dracula understands that Medusa has the Chaos power he seeks. On his way to her, he frees the Chupacabras^[sic] from his prison, so the little spirit who annoyed Gabriel in ancient times on his journey to kill the Lords of Shadow can tell him where to find Medusa, the last sister, and Euryale and Stheno meet him there. However, when she makes her appearance, Medusa reveals herself to have been corrupted by the Evil Blood, and after vomiting up a huge amount of blood, she drags her sisters down with her, spreading the taint to them too. The three corrupted sisters unleash their ultimate power against their former master and combine into a massive creature called the Gorgon, which Dracula is forced to fight and slay.

Back in the present, Bioquimek has released the virus right on schedule, and Castlevania City is under a hellish siege, with people both transforming into monsters and slaughtering innocents who haven't. In Zobek's lair, Dracula confronts the imprisoned Volkova, but accomplishes nothing. Zobek explains that her brain is full of confusion, and theorizes that the corporation must have created an antidote to the virus, and that it could help Raisa become human again, which would make it easier to read her mind and learn about the Acolytes and their plans. Dracula then leaves and reaches a train station, where a soldier from Satan's army attacks him. After an intense 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 called by Trevor, who says his mother Marie is in danger. Dracula goes back to the Castle and encounters Carmilla, reborn in a human-seeming form. After biting Carmilla, who presented herself as a loyal servant of the Vampire Lord, Dracula realizes her blood was cursed, and that it would eventually make him Carmilla's slave. Enraged, he prepares to confront Carmilla, but when the next door opens, Marie appears instead, to the surprise and happiness of Dracula.

File:DraculaMarie.jpg

Dracula reunites with Marie

Dracula wonders if Marie is real, or just an apparition. He expresses regret regarding what happened to them a millennium ago. She explains the Brotherhood of Light prevented her from telling him everything, 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 Dracul. Marie then asks to help him slowing Carmilla's curse: Dracula bites and drinks Marie's blood, which eases the symptoms of the curse. Dracula then escapes the library after evading Carmilla. He confronts her at the top of a tower, where she seeks to murder Marie. After a brutal fight, Dracula kills Carmilla again, taking her Mist Form powers in the process, and rescues Marie.

Gabriel 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 Zobek. However, when they inject it into Volkova, nothing happens, and she reveals herself to be a pureblood demon, never having been human at all. In fact, she is one of the Acolytes of Satan, the daughter of the devil, and unleashes her true level of power, escaping effortlessly from her bonds and transforming into an even more hideous form, with which she battles Dracula. After a tense battle, he slices her in two.

Dracula falls from Zobek's Tower, but somehow lands in his Castle. There, Trevor asks him to find the pieces of the last shard of the Mirror of Fate. To get the first two, Dracula has to fight Pan's vengeful brother, Agreus, and the temporarily Blood-possessed Toy Maker and his inventions. 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 named Abaddon appears, allowing the hooded man to escape in the confusion. After a long chase around the city, Dracula is attacked by the hooded man in the city's library. However, Dracula needs to fight Abaddon, who followed them, while the man flees again. Dracula eventually destroys the demon and follows the man's trail to a church. Inside, he finds his Void and Chaos powers disabled as the church protected by holy magic, and then realizes that the man before him belongs to the Brotherhood of Light. The two engage in a fierce battle, breaking the floor and falling to a cave under the church, and Dracula emerges victorious, despite the man making use of a Combat Cross, as well as other tools of the Brotherhood, such as holy water and a demon-summoning dark crystal.

As he stands over the hooded man, 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 the non-infected people taking refuge there, and Victor offers the Vampire Lord his help. The two exit the caves, and meet Zobek's Lieutenant on Victory Plaza. There, after Victor sacrifices his life to bait the second Acolyte, Dracula recovers the last piece of the Mirror of Fate from Victor's body.

Dracula faces his 'inner self'

Dracula returns to the castle and meets Trevor. But when the father and son try to rebuild the Mirror, the Evil Blood captures the boy, and Dracula has to fight his inner self, a construct of blood representing his evil nature. Gabriel frees Trevor, and reunites with his family. He then leaves the castle. In the city, Dracula infiltrates the lair of the second acolyte, Nergal Meslamstea, 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 this is over, he will choose his family, saying he "already did".

With the help of the Lieutenant, Dracula reaches the final acolyte, Guido Szandor. There, he is abruptly forced into the Castle, where he is encouraged by Marie and Trevor to read the Book of Dracul, which enables Gabriel to regain his lost memories of the pact he made with Alucard, and the Lieutenant removes his helmet, revealing himself to be Alucard in disguise. Father and son celebrate their reunion, but Zobek, sensing the treachery, appears and transforms into his true form, that of Death. Dracula decides to confront Death alone, and after a long battle, Gabriel kills Zobek and reclaims the Vampire Killer, his old weapon. Dracula parts ways with Alucard to find the last Acolyte, who vanished before the fight with Zobek.

Dracula stares one last time into the Mirror of Fate

The two vampires find the Acolyte in Dracula's cathedral and allow him to summon Satan, making him vulnerable. Satan is unimpressed upon seeing Dracula and Alucard behind his son, and murders Guido to punish him for leading Satan's greatest enemies right to him. After a brief chat with Dracula, Satan summons the Leviathan, which takes off into the sky with Satan on its back. With the help of Alucard, Dracula climbs onto the Leviathan and kills the huge demon by having it swallow its own energy. During the fall, Dracula fights in a duel with Satan, who has possessed Alucard's body. After the battle, Satan taunts Dracula, insisting that Gabriel cannot kill his own son, but Dracula claims otherwise and prepares to stab Alucard's body with the Vampire Killer. Seeing this, Satan flees before the strike, and Dracula ceases his attack in the nick of time and rushes towards Satan, impaling him with the Vampire Killer, killing the Devil once and for all. With Zobek and Satan both slain, and the ancient pact fulfilled, Dracula awakens his son by feeding him his blood, and breaks the Mirror of Fate, stating that he should be the master of his own destiny. As the sun rises, Gabriel and Alucard leave for the cathedral together, their future uncertain.

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 appears to have aged rather significantly and his appearance 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 Gabriel

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.

As Dracula

Dracula'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 specter 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 principle -as he had tried to do with Simon- Dracula immediately ceased his attack after hearing an infant's cry and then handed over the cure for the demonic plague to Victor. More of his human nature is seen after he faced the Toy Maker, as he was going to kill the man after being possessed to take the piece of the Mirror of Fate, but spared him after he regained his senses and merely requested the piece, all the while telling him to now keep his heart safe, in reference to the Toy Maker's past tragedy.

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.

Powers and abilities

Main article: Dracula (Lords of Shadow)/Abilities

As Gabriel Belmont (Lords of Shadow)

Gabriel was trained in the arts of combat from a very young age, though he has showcased incredible powers of strength, stamina and agility far beyond human ability as well. His standard arsenal consists of the Combat Cross and other supplementary weapons such as Silver Daggers, Holy Water Flasks, and rare Dark Crystals.

The Combat Cross, also known as the Vampire Killer is a multifunctional weapon invented by Rinaldo Gandolfi. Gabriel upgrades his combat cross throughout his journey. It consists of an iron crucifix with a retractable chain quenched with Holy Water hidden inside the main body of the weapon. Hence, the Combat Cross is a very effective weapon against the undead and also allows the wielder to channel either their light or shadow magic into it.

On his left hand Gabriel wears the Dark Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is an ancient relic forged in the pits of Hell. It grants him tremendous superhuman strength, able to move heavy obstacles by punching them, conjure Hellfire from his fist to incinerate all enemies, and overpower Satan with ease. In addition, it also grants him the ability to defend and counter magical attacks.

Additional relics acquired by Gabriel are the Cyclone Boots and Seraph Shoulders which allow him to sprint with amazing speed and double jump respectively. Gabriel has the ability to utilize magic in combat as well. Light Magic and Shadow Magic are both at his disposal and are used for healing his wounds or boosting his offensive power. Combining magic with his combat allows Gabriel to use new and devastating moves on his foes as well.

While an incredibly competent warrior, his fall to darkness and defeat of the Forgotten One was only a prelude to his true potential.

As Dracula (Mirror of Fate, Lords of Shadow 2)

"My power has grown infinite. Now only fools dare oppose me."

—Dracula ruminating during the siege on his castle

As Dracula, he has all the common powers of a vampire combined with the immense power of the ancient demon known as the Forgotten One, who was the sovereign of the elemental plane of darkness. He also possesses great holy powers, surpassing even that of the Paladin Roland de Ronceval. This he attributes to being God's Chosen One after acquiring the God Mask. This makes Dracula one of the most powerful beings the Castlevania world has seen to date, only outshined by God. It is even admitted that Satan and Zobek fear his power.

In the Lords of Shadow 2 trailer, he is seen to possess even greater physical strength as well as telekinesis and the ability to transform into magical smoke and manipulate the smoke to a variety of effects; such as flying through the air and landing with enough force to stagger a battalion of knights, creating magical whip of red energy that slices enemies with great speed and force, and instantaneous teleportation.

Dracula's Dragon Form

His powers and weapons as Dracula are first seen in-depth in Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate. When battling Alucard and Simon, he can transform his hand into a red gauntlet, which allows him to produce a magical red whip similar to his old Combat Cross. When fighting Trevor, he is shown retaining his ability to use light and shadow magic, and uses both a light magic-empowered sword and a pair of shadow-magic empowered orange gauntlets, which allow him to perform an array of magical attacks. With the sword he is able to send out waves of energy, and with the gauntlets he summons bursts of fire similar to the Gauntlet's tremor attacks. Also, in parallel with his classic counterpart, he is able to fire a stream of fireballs and commands legions of monsters, such as werewolves, undead knights and the Succubus.

The release of Lords of Shadow 2 revealed the nature of Dracula's powers. Rather than using Light and Shadow magic he uses the Void and Chaos, and each is tied to a weapon. The orange gauntlets are named Chaos Claws, and are slower but powerful. The sword is the Void Sword, which is light and fast, granting Dracula an increase in health with every attack, and able to blast void power to freeze enemies. His neutral weapon is the Shadow Whip. In addition to these changes Dracula does not absorb neutral magic from enemies, but rather orbs of blood. If Dracula is in need of quick health, he can easily drain the blood from enemies.

• Shadow Whip: A supernatural whip-like weapon, which Dracula creates from his own vampiric blood. It retains many of the moves and attacks of the Vampire Killer and serves as his main weapon. The Shadow Whip manifests as an eldritch red gauntlet on Dracula's right arm.
• Chaos Claws: Dracula's Chaos Claws are burning red gauntlets and are use similar to Shadow Magic. They inflict extra damage and can channel powerful flame eruptions from the ground. After acquiring the Primordial Chaos gem, Dracula is able to fire Chaos Bombs. The description of the Fire Cover attack indicates that the Chaos Claws' energy projections allows Dracula to burn enemy souls.
• Void Sword: This mystical blue sword can be spawned by Dracula, capable of stealing life and healing him. Works similar to Light Magic. The sword can use adaptable powers like wave blasts, slashes of Void magic and a freezing power as well as a swirling vortex of wind during which the sword gives off electric blasts. When he recovers the Primordial Void Gem, he can fire Void Projections.
• Immortality: After Gabriel became a vampire and gained the power of the Forgotten One, he became the immortal Prince of Darkness and took up the moniker Dracul. At the same time, he also maintains his position as God's chosen one, and is thus immune to the divine and holy magic that would typically harm those of his kind. As the new master of the castle, Dracula remained in the world for over nine hundred and sixty six years. Also as an elder vampire, Dracula can take on different appearances such as a withering old man, his young self and through the downloadable content he can take on a physical appearance strikingly similar to Vlad III Drăculea, the Impaler with a mustache and a beard. Nothing in the Lords of Shadow universe can kill Dracula, except the Vampire killer, though never proven.
• Blood Manipulation: Dracula can utilize his own blood in many ways. The most evident manifestation of this is the Shadow Whip itself (which is revealed to be forged out of blood in the game's first trailers). After completing the tutorial stage, Dracula will then don his new longcoat by creating it out of his blood. Lastly, the Vampiric Possessionability turns Dracula into a stream of blood that enters the body of its victim, after the possession, he reconstructs himself using the blood.
• Blood Draining: As a vampire, Dracula can drink his enemies' blood to heal himself. By draining the blood of vampires such as Carmilla, Dracula can gain access to their innate powers like Carmilla's Mist Form.
• Mist Form: Dracula can become an elusive black and red mist to reach new locations, phase through enemies without taking damage, instantly appear near enemies, and create large shock waves of smoke as seen in the E3 trailer.
• Plague of Rats: In the shadows, Dracula can transform into a small pack of rats in order to get passed enemies that are unaware of this form and reach small locations with ease. Interestingly, Dracula has all of the bestial transformations of a common vampire except possibly wolf form, which his son Alucard possesses.
• Dragon Form: Dracula's true form is his dragon form. It is similar to the original Dracula's different forms he would take during a battle with a Belmont (except the original Dracula had a variety of true forms). In this form Dracula has partial Pyrokinesis, able to breathe fire upon his enemies. With the right amount of collected scales for his talisman, Dracula can transform into a dragon and obliterate his enemies. This power's process works similar to the Dark Crystals from the first game. He is also able to partially manifest this form even without a dragon talisman, as shown by how he finishes off the Gorgon. It can also be assumed that like his original counterpart, Dracula can maintain this form for a long period of time if he chooses, though it may place a tremendous strain on his power.
• Bat Swarm: Enemies can be stunned or distracted by a cloud of bats summoned by Dracula.
• Shadow Daggers: Like the Shadow Whip, Dracula can create projectile daggers from his blood magic. This power refills on its own from Dracula's blood reservoir.
• Stolas' Clock: The demon prince Stolas enclosed the ashes of a thousand dead bodies in these twisted hourglasses. These clocks slow time when shattered by Dracula. Enemies must be hit in order to be slowed down in time.
• Seal of Alastor: A relic that can be shattered to unleash the soul of a legendary warrior. Once activated, Seal of Alastor unlocks all of Dracula's weapon skills regardless of his progress.
• Chaos Eruptions: In Mirror of Fate, Dracula can create eruptions of fire from the ground when fighting Trevor Belmont. In Lords of Shadow 2, these pillars of flame explode much quicker using the Explosive Earthquake skill that emulate the Dark Gauntlet's Exploding Quake ability.
• Void Slashes: When fighting Trevor in Mirror of Fate, Dracula can swipe at the air with the Void Sword, causing slashes of Void magic to travel towards Trevor. The slashes can also be created in mid air.
• Void and Chaos Shockwaves: In Mirror of Fate during his fight against Trevor, Dracula can leap into the air and unleash shockwaves of either Void or Chaos magic (depending on which weapon he is wielding) that can encompass the entire room. During his fight against Simon and Alucard, Dracula uses a "neutral" shockwave reminiscent of the Shadow Whip's magic.
• Hellfire: While facing Simon and Alucard in Mirror of Fate, Dracula can lift his cloak to shoot a barrage of fireballs. This is strikingly similar to how the original Dracula attacked while fighting. Dracula also uses fireballs against Trevor near the conclusion of their fight. If hit, Trevor will completely disintegrate leaving no traces behind. This effect is similar to the Forgotten One's blast if he detects Gabriel during the Resurrection DLC's stealth sections.
• Legions: As the Prince of Darkness, Dracula has command over the creatures of the night. Terrorizing the world from his powerful castle, Inner Dracula later turns the loyal creatures against their Lord in its attempt to stop him from going through with his goal to achieve eternal rest.
• Teleportation: As seen in Mirror of Fate, Dracula can teleport to different locations in an instant while leaving behind traces of his infamous black mist. He does this while eavesdropping on Simon and Alucard and during the final battle with the latter two in which he teleports around his throne while being chased by Alucard. This ability may very well be linked to his Mist Form. In Lords of Shadow 2, Dracula is notably seen to use teleportation against Raisa Volkova and Nergal Meslamstea.
• Electrokinesis: Since he was turned by Laura who was of Carmilla's vampiric breed and could manipulate lightning, it can be assumed that as Dracula, Gabriel will have this power. In the Void Sword trailer, Dracula is briefly shown able to emit lightning from the sword as a swirling vortex surrounds him.
• Acidic Blood: During Dracula's battle with the Brotherhood, he vomits a great amount of vampire blood into the power source of the Siege Titan. This was powerfully toxic enough to corrupt and destroy the mechanized giant. When using the Vampiric Possession skill, he mentions that his blood corrupts the body of the victim, explaining its gradual losing of health.
• Super Strength: As a vampire, Gabriel's above-normal strength was increased dramatically. Dracula is able to push a large battering ram with little effort, peel off metal parts of a Siege Titan and effortlessly pick up fully armored soldiers and throw them around like rag-dolls.
• Super Speed: Dracula can move inhumanly fast and can easily outmaneuver humans and outrun them.
• Super Agility: As Dracula, Gabriel is extremely nimble. Able to leap a great distance onto the Siege Titan's hand to confront the Golden Paladin and he can frequently dodge unblockable attacks from enemies with relative ease.
• Possession: Dracula can use his blood to possess his enemies and force them to fight one another or to take control of them to a limited degree. He can only inhabit a body temporarily, as the power of his blood will quickly kill the host. In Mirror of Fate, he uses a different type of possession is able to take control of Simon without directly inhabiting his body. This form of possession uses some type of black smoke and allows Dracula to manipulate his victims far more efficiently as evidenced by Simon still being fully combat-capable, as opposed to targets in the modern day who are barely able to walk. This form of possession is not seen in Lords of Shadow 2.
• Flight/Levitation: Like Carmilla, Dracula was able to shortly levitate high off the ground after he gained his powers and before killing the Forgotten One. He also levitates during,his confrontations against Simon, Trevor, and Alucard, using a combination of levitation and mist to maneuver in battle and avoid getting hit. In Lords of Shadow 2, he levitates an instant before possessing a target.
• Resistance To Holy Artifacts: A regular knight of the Brotherhood of Light would believe that crucifixes and other holy artifacts can weaken and kill all vampires. However, they have no effect against Dracula as he was once a knight of the brotherhood and God's chosen one. In some instances he can even reflect holy magic back against the caster due to this reason. This is also similar to how Dracula from the famous novel written by Bram Stoker couldn't be affected by crucifixes because he himself served God as Vlad Țepeș.
• Demonic Wings: Similar to the Seraph Shoulders, Dracula can summon wings via his blood magic to double jump. This is due to Dracula imitating the effects of the holy artifacts he had in the previous game, before abandoning their use altogether.
• White Wolf Medallion: When at an altar, this relic will summon Dracula's spirit guide, the White Wolf, who can lead Dracula between the castle of his past and the modern city.

Enemy Data

Enemy Data: Dracula
Image	Name - Game Description	Statistics	Items	Location	Notes
	Dracula  - Mirror of Fate				[ edit ]
	A former knight chosen by the Brotherhood to defeat the Lords of Shadow and restore light to the world, Gabriel fulfilled his mission but at a heavy price. Tormented by the death of his wife, betrayed by his faith and led down a path to eternal darkness, he returns from oblivion to the highest tower of the castle, in search of revenge on those who wronged him.	Strong: Bat Projectile, Stopwatch, Boomerang, Electric Bomb Difficulty: 5/5 HP: 1200 (Act II), 1500 (Act III) Exp: 2500 (Act II), 3000 (Act III)		Throne Room, Mirror of Fate	Weapons: Shadow Whip (Act II), Void Sword, Chaos Claws (Act III) Allies: Simon (mind controlled, Act III, Combat Cross, Throwing Axe (Arc Throw))

Trivia

Main article: Dracula (Lords of Shadow)/Trivia