Dracula is known for many things like drinking
blood, living in a giant castle, and looking like Gary Oldman but did you know
he had a son? Not in the Freudian way either, in some reimaged versions of
Stoker’s novel Dracula has a son named Alucard (Dracula backwards). Although
this character was created for the 1943 movie Son of Dracula Alucard is probably best known for his depiction in
the video game series Castlevania. Now
you may be thinking that they must work together, but nope, Alucard wishes to
impale his father’s head on a stake with little remorse. So what caused the
animosity, the cold-blooded hatred between father and son? Simple: mommy
issues.
In the series, Alucard is
the son of Dracula, the antagonist of the Castlevania series. Due to his human
mother, Lisa, Alucard is a dhampir, a half-human, and half-vampire with all the
powers of his father, but with none of the weaknesses. His birth name was Adrian
Fahrenheit Ţepeş, but Alucard forewent his name after the death of his mother
for being persecuted as a witch. Despite
this, Lisa admonished Alucard to respect humans and not hate them as his father
did. This caused Alucard to focus his grieving pain into hatred towards his
father, who he ultimately blames for not protecting his mother. However Dracula
also grieved over the death of his beloved, by trying to resurrect her only to
fail, turning her into a succubus then killing her again and by destroying half
of Eastern Europe with his army of darkness. For centuries father and son
dueled to quench their grieving hatred towards one another.
This may sound like a
classic case of Oedipus complex, but I don’t think it is that simple. Lisa’s
last words to her son before she was burned at the stake were “Do not take that anger
out on the humans, as their lives are already full of hardship” (Castlevania Symphony
of the Night). Watching your mother burn to death in front of you and telling
you not to blame the people who are currently burning her might scar any child,
especially the child of the Prince of Darkness. I believe that Alucard’s hatred
towards his father stems from the fact he thinks his father could have saved
his mother. Growing up with the equivalent of a demonic superhero as a father
Alucard harbored discontent for his father for not protecting his mother from
harm, therefore focusing all of his hatred of those who actually killed his
mother towards his only living family, his father.
Castlevania is a fantastic series, for sure, and I think your analysis of the complexities in the Dracula and Alucard relationship is spot on. Yet, I think Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, perhaps my favorite games in the series, put an interesting spin on the Dracula mythos too. The main character of the Sorrow series, Soma Cruz, is more or less a reincarnation of Dracula, and Alucard appears as a Japanese government agent who mostly acts as a helper. Yet, it is Soma's friend Mina Hakuba, a spin on Mina Harker, who really gives the Sorrow series a link to Dracula. In a very similar sense to the backstory of Stoker's original work, as well as the Coppola film, Mina, a priestess, is shown to be Soma's childhood friend, but the romantic tension is made quite clear, especially because Soma does not want to succumb to the powers of darkness that come with the Dark Lord title, and their encounters with a cult who wants Soma to do so make up the bulk of the story. I think romantic dynamics like Soma and Mina's happen fairly often in the series, actually.
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