Godbrand

Warning! This article contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

Godbrand
Japanese name(s)	ゴッドブランド Goddoburando
Role(s)	Antagonist Dracula's general
Species	Vampire
Gender	Male
Date of death	c. 1476
Status	Deceased
Affiliation(s)	Dracula's Army
Weapon(s)	Sword, axe
Firstappearance	"War Council" (S2E01)
Appearances	War Council Old Homes Shadow Battles Broken Mast
Partnerships	Dracula (former master) Carmilla (former colleague) † Dracula's generals (former colleagues) †
English voice(s)	Peter Stormare
Japanese voice(s)	Shinpachi Tsuji

"Because this isn't a war, Carmilla. It's a suicide. His wife's dead and he wants to join her. And he wants to take all of us with him. We're all gonna die! All of us!"

— Godbrand in "Shadow Battles"

Godbrand (ゴッドブランド, Goddoburando^?) is a character appearing in Netflix's Castlevania animated series. He was one of Dracula's generals; a viking vampire that loves hunting, killing, having sex and "turning humans into boats". He was introduced in Season 2, where he played a prominent antagonistic role.

He was voiced by Peter Stormare.

Appearance

Godbrand is a muscular vampire with red hair and pointy ears, a trait of his vampiric form. Although he wears some type of armor with gold trims, his upper chest and one of his shoulders are partially exposed.

Personality

"Little Godbrand. Little vampire. Little parasite. Little boat weevil who delights in making noise and pretending he is important and dangerous."

— Dracula in "Shadow Battles"

Godbrand is a big-mouthed viking who enjoys the pleasures of raiders. These pleasures include raiding human villages, killing, drinking blood, drinking beer, having sex, and making boats.

Godbrand imagines himself as a brutally strong warrior that others bow down to in respect of his might. In truth, he will brashly state his desires but will quickly bow down and become deferential when faced with power or authority. His weak nature is on display when he questions Dracula, speaks with Carmilla, and even in his interactions with Hector and Isaac. Godbrand only lives up to his delusions of grandeur when hunting humans that are physically weaker than himself.

He considers humans to be no more than unthinking livestock. He was initially very excited by Dracula's war, seeing it as a way to reorganize the human race into becoming a larder for the vampires. His prejudice extends to being commanded by humans, but he will still defer to his human leaders if he senses that angering them is a bad idea.

Despite his brashness, he is surprisingly thoughtful in certain respects and very attuned to the feelings of his fellow vampire generals. He accurately observed that Dracula's war was uncoordinated and demonstrated that he respects organized warfare. He also saw the possible long-term effects of the war, realizing that killing all humanity would end his species' food supply and that they would be best served by organizing humanity into pens for consumption. For these reasons, he does not agree with Dracula's ways of plotting the war and sides with Carmilla's intentions of betrayal.

Godbrand was the biggest proponent of the vampire generals' majority interest. For this reason, he was very influential among the vampire generals, connecting with them and commanding them during human hunts.

However, the fact remains that Godbrand is brash, outspoken, and socially careless, traits which ultimately cost him his life. He will voice his desires and opinions freely first and consider if this was a bad idea later.

Godbrand nearly angered Dracula to the point of killing him by not heeding his growing irritation at his continuous questioning of the human genocide. He is later killed by Isaac when attempting to convince him to switch sides. He told Isaac of his intentions to betray Dracula without taking the time to assess if he would be onboard with the idea, leaving his guard down afterward before confirming if Isaac accepted his proposal.

Powers and abilities

"Godbrand is a viking vampire that loves nothing more than the thrill of the hunt. His passions include killing, having sex and turning humans into boats."

— Godbrand's profile description

In battle, Godbrand wields a sword and an axe. Being a vampire, he has supernatural abilities and powers which include superhuman strength, speed and agility.

Appearances

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

Quotes

• "I don't want to be rationing myself on *** pig blood." ("Shadow Battles")
• "Pigs blood gives me the ***." ("Shadow Battles")
• "Ah, blood! I've dreamed of my legendary life, and now I am thirsty, *** your eyes, man, bring me blood and beer!" ("Broken Mast")
• "We are the generals of the court of Vlad Dracula Tepes and we deserve a proper *** drink. The maps say there's a town twenty miles away from here. They will never see us coming and *** them if they do. Tonight we feed." ("Broken Mast")
• "I'm saying, it may be time for the old man to sit in his study and let the rest of us take care of this for him. Do it right. Set up livestock pens and pursue the war properly. Without him." ("Broken Mast")
• "It's not betrayal. Unless the old man decides to be difficult about it." ("Broken Mast")

Gallery

Screenshots

Godbrand and Zufall.

Godbrand and Dragoslav.

Godbrand with Carmilla.

Godbrand is vanquished by Isaac.

Concept art

Official sketch by Isaak Ramos, visual developer of the show.

Model sheet.

Model for Season 2.

Expression models for Season 2.

Early concept design of Godbrand, later reused for one of his men in "Broken Mast".

Godbrand early concept arts.

Godbrand concept art.

Godbrand's viking crew model.

Viking Crew A model sheet.

Viking Crew C model sheet.

Viking Crew E model sheet.

Other

Godbrand's stats.

Trivia

• Even though his profile states that one of Godbrand's passions includes "turning humans into boats", it's never revealed if this is just a metaphor or if it's meant in a literal sense.
• Godbrand's physical appearance seems to be based on his voice actor, Peter Stormare.
  • Coincidentally, Stormare voiced a different version of Dracula in DC's The Batman vs. Dracula.
• The name "Godbrand" is a variation of a Norwegian name which is sometimes spelled Gudbrand. The name literally means "God blaze". The most famous wearer of the this name was Chief Gudbrandr, who resisted Christianity in Norway in the 11th century. The Norwegian valley Gudbrandsdalen is named after him.
• The name could probably also be a reference to Dio Brando, a character from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga/anime. "God-" translates to Italian as Dio; "-brand" could be italicized as the surname Brando. This wouldn't be the first time Castlevania makes a reference to this series.
• 
  An early design of Godbrand showed him fatter, with gray hair and beard, and wearing a fur shoulder pad. This design would be reused for one of Godbrand's men in "Broken Mast"; he can be seen at the beginning of the episode, when Godbrand remembers his past as a viking vampire warrior.
  • This character reappears in "The Endings", still with the same design, as an unnamed enemy during the attack on Dracula's castle.
• Godbrand dislikes pig's blood because, according to him, it gives him diarrhea.