Mathias Cronqvist

Mathias Cronqvist
Japanese name(s)	マティアス・クロンクビスト Matiasu Kuronkubisuto
Role(s)	Knight, tactician, alchemist
Species	Human Vampire (by the end of the game)
Gender	Male
Date of birth	1062
Date of death	1094 (1999 real death)
Age	32
Status	Deceased (resurrected several times until his final death in 1999)
Firstappearance	Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Appearances	1094: Lament of Innocence
Dialogue	Dialogue page
English voice(s)	Crispin Freeman
Japanese voice(s)	Nobuhiko Kazama
Music theme	Dracula Appears

"We have risked our lives and fought for the sake of God... But God mercilessly stole away the one I loved most... When all I ever wished for was Elisabetha's safety!! If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it!! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!"

— Mathias to his former friend, Leon

Mathias Cronqvist was Leon Belmont's good friend. In the world of knights who lacked education, he was a genius tactician who was even called Cronqvist the Wise. Because Mathias's family had books recording secret arts transmitted orally concerning alchemy, a science that experiments with the arcane, Mathias himself had a detailed knowledge of alchemy. His beloved wife, Elisabetha, died from illness while he was on an expedition. Mathias was grief stricken and bedridden and Leon was forced to continue the campaigns without his friend. When Leon's beloved was kidnapped, Mathias told him that it was the doing of a vampire who had a castle in the east.

In fact, Mathias had deceived Leon and was not likely really bedridden. In deep mourning, Mathias devised a plan to take revenge on God for stealing Elisabetha by becoming a vampire and living eternally. He manipulated Leon, Rinaldo, Sara, even Walter and his monsters, in order to obtain a vampire's soul with the Crimson Stone, and he was reborn with it. He then offered Leon to join him and become immortal, because Leon suffered the same loss. Leon refused and vowed instead that his clan would forever hunt him. As time went on, Mathias renamed himself Dracula, taken from the Romanian word "Dracul" meaning dragon and devil. For more details on his later life, see Dracula.

Trivia

• The name "Mathias Cronqvist" may be a reference to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. Matthias Corvinus had Vlad III Drăculea as his vassal at times and once as a prisoner; this connection to the historical Dracula may have influenced the way Koji Igarashi chose to name his antagonist.
• The reasons for Mathias's fall and metamorphosis seem to be strongly inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula film of 1992, which is based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Both Mathias and Coppola's Dracula renounce God and seek and obtain immortality out of anger at the death of their wives. While Elisabetha Cronqvist does not commit suicide, she does pass away while Mathias is away 'fighting in God's name' (it has been proposed that this was during the First Crusade; however, this is not possible as according to the game's canon Elisabetha died in 1093, one year before the events of the game - Pope Urban did not call the First Crusade until the 27th of November, 1095). Furthermore, she shares the name of Dracula's wife in the film.
• Mathias's English voice actor, Crispin Freeman, provides the voice for Hector, main protagonist of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
  • He also provides the voice for the vampire Alucard in the anime series Hellsing, in which Alucard is in fact Dracula himself.
• His surname, Cronqvist, is Swedish in origin and means "crown twig".
• It is revealed on the Japanese official site of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence that Mathias earned the title of "Count" in the Crusades, a fact that is later referenced on his new identity, Dracula.

See also

• Cronqvist Family

External links

• Matthias Corvinus at Wikipedia
• Mathias Cronqvist at the Castlevania Fan Wiki