8 Cool Facts About Netflix’s Castlevania You Didn’t Know

Set in medieval Europe, the dark fantasy depicting the battle to save Eastern Europe from the danger of extinction by Dracula, Castlevania is an excellent work of animation ideal for fans of the video game saga as well as for the public that enjoys animation. With a fascinating and mature story and thanks to its casts and production, this series has become a charismatic fictional fairy tale of modern pop culture.
But there little do we know about the series itself. Even the most ardent lover of Castlevania doesn’t know everything about the dark mystery fictional world of vampires.

So that’s why today I brought you 8 of the most amazing facts about Castlevania I bet you didn’t know about.

So let’s get started

1. Trevor’s Voice Actor Was The Dwarf-King In The Hobbit Trilogy

Richard Armitage (voice of Trevor Belmont) was Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit Trilogy and the HYDRA assassin Heinz Kruger who killed Erskine in Captain America: The First Avenger. He also starred in the 2004’s BBC Historical drama North & South as John Thornton, American TV series Hannibal as Francis Dolarhyde, Netflix mini-series The Stranger as Adam Price, British TV drama Robin Hood as Guy of Gisborne.

If you are into Marvel Comics, I’d say check out the Marvel podcast Wolverine: The Long Night. Richard Armitage provided the voice of Logan there. It won the 2019 iHeartRadio Award for Best Scripted Podcast. I’ll give you a link here. Don’t worry it’s free. It’s on Spotify. Be sure to check it out.

2. Alucard’s Character Design Is Based On “Symphony of the Night

Alucard’s character design based on the game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Alucard’s design in the series is actually based off Ayami Kojima’s design from Symphony of the Night instead of his classic design from Dracula’s Curse.

Designed by T. Fujimoto and I. Urata, his debut appearance from Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse just had short black hair and a cape and suit that almost made him look like a miniature version of Bela Lugosi‘s portrayal of Dracula, whereas Kojima’s design gave Alucard a unique touch with bishōnen-style art which just looks amazing.

3. “Alucard” is “Dracula” Spelled Backwards

This was so obvious in a way but anyway If you spell Alucard backward it turns out to be Dracula. This is a direct reference to a character in Son of Dracula (1943). According to some critics, American filmmakers Robert and Curt Siodmak wanted to make an entirely new character for their 1943 horror film Son of Dracula. So they just made the name “Alucard” by spelling “Dracula” backward.

Although it is worth mentioning that all the fictional characters named Alucard do not really follow the same pattern as this. For example in Kouta Hirano’s ‘Hellsing‘ Alucard and Dracula is the same person. He has always been Dracula himself. Either way, it’s not just Hellsing, “Alucard” is used as a pseudonym, by Dracula, in a number of films and books in the same way as Sheridan le Fanu used Carmilla as an anagram of Mircalla in his 1872 Gothic novel Carmilla which been published twenty-five years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

4. Voice Actor of Alucard from Castlevania Video Games voiced the Japanese dub of Netflix’s Trevor Belmont

Trevor Belmont- his Japanese voice actor, Ryōtarō Okiayu, also voiced Alucard in the Japanese version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Up until 2021, he has performed more than 400+ roles in almost 320+ titles. And by the way, Shin-ichiro Miki (Kisuke Urahara of Bleach, Roy Mustang of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Zamasu of Dragon Ball Super) voiced the Japanese dub of Netflix’s Alucard this time.

5. Lenore and Morana’s name have references to the classic poem and ancient goddess

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore

Lenore, her name is possibly a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 narrative poem The Raven, in which “Lenore” is the name of the narrator’s deceased wife. And her concept design was partially inspired by Lucy Westenra‘s portrayal by Sadie Frost in the 1992 film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, based on the gothic horror novel of the same name by Bram Stoker.

As for Morana, she was named after Marzanna, also known as “Morana” in some countries, the goddess of winter’s death, rebirth, and harvest in Slavic paganism.

6. Castlevania Executive Producer is a big fan of Anime

American Film producer and YouTube personality, Adi Shankar

Indian-born American film producer, YouTube personality Adi Shankar has become a household name in the digital generation. He has produced titles such as The Grey, Killing Them Softly, Broken City, Walk Among the Tombstones, Lone Survivor, and Gangs of Wasseypur. He also launched the popular one-shot series of unauthorized pop culture satire films Bootleg Universe which include James Bond and The Punisher to titles like Power Rangers.

But did you know he is a big fan of anime as well ? From Akira, Berserk, Dragon Ball Z, Fist of the North Star, Ghost in the Shell, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Ninja Scroll to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Trigun, Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City – he has cited a whole bunch of anime as his inspiration for his works. He also mentioned that he wants to bring more anime-style content, series like Castlevania to western media. November 2018, Adi Shankar announced that he had acquired the rights to produce a Devil May Cry animated series. He also revealed that he would be creating Ubisoft’s open-world action-adventure stealth video game franchise Assassin’s Creed into a television series, which would be in the anime format.

7. Castlevania Screenwriter Warren Ellis Is An Award-Winning Author

Warren Elis is an industry by himself when it comes to writing. From award-winning comic books to best-selling novels. From writing screenplay for critically acclaimed video game series to designing the story for popular television drama. He can do everything in S class quality.

It is important to point out His Eagle Award-winning post-apocalyptic webcomic FreakAngels will be adapted into an original anime series by Crunchyroll next year.

8. There’s a JoJo Reference in Netflix’s Castlevania

Netflix’s Castlevania has a JoJo reference to a reference that was in Symphony of the Night.

Remember the Tunisian merchant from Castlevania Season 3 Episode 2 who gave Issac the distance mirror ? He was holding a mask that strikingly resembles the Stone Mask from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

If you have played the original game Castlevania video games, you’ll probably know Stone Mask was one of the many equippable items throughout the Castlevania series that adds to the player’s Defense and their Intelligence as well. Furthermore, Castlevania: The Portrait of Ruin later designed the mask in a way that resembles the mask used by Kars in JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure part two Battle Tendency, with a depression in the middle of its forehead, in the mold of the Red Stone of Aja. According to the creators of the game, this is a homage to the manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki.

There you go our 8 Cool Facts About Netflix’s Castlevania You Didn’t Know About. How many did you know? How many you didn’t ? You’ve got one to share ? Be sure to let us know in the comment below.

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