Carmilla

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

A loyal servant of Dracula, Carmilla (written as "Camilla" in this game due to poor translation) was entrusted with the Magic Cross, the only item capable of granting access to the ruins of Dracula's castle. At the time of Dracula's death (seven years prior), the dark lord laid a curse upon Simon Belmont, dooming the hero to death unless Dracula's body parts were collected and brought to the ruins which would, in turn, resurrect the demon once more.

Hiding in the Laruba Mansion (near the Camilla Cemetery), Carmilla waited for the hero to arrive, trusting in her vampiric powers to protect her and defeat the Belmont. Unfortunately, Simon had spent his time in the countryside becoming more powerful so that, but the time he reached the final chamber of the mansion, he was no match for Carmilla. Defeated, her essence returned to the grave once more while Simon was finally able to move on and defeat Dracula for a second time.

• 1698 AD: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Although simply known as the "vampiress" in her first appearance, the graveyard near her mansion was named the "Camilla Cemetery". Additionally, later entries in the series reused elements of her boss fight, namely her giant, demonic mask, in her various boss fights. It's now fully acknowledged that Carmilla is the vampiress from Castlevania II, marking this as her first official appearance.

Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

Resurrected a century later, Carmilla aided Dracula in his plot to defeat Richter Belmont, the current wielder of the powerful Vampire Killer. Dracula minions went out into the Romanian countryside and captured four maidens to serve as bait for the Belmont. Meanwhile, Carmilla took her own consort, Laura, to amuse her during the proceedings.

Eventually, Richter reached Carmilla's chamber near the end of the castle dungeons. There, She battled the hero while Laura paced the grounds in an attempt to grab the hero and hold him down. Although together they proved a difficult fight, Richter was still more powerful and, eventually, defeated them both, sending the vampiress back to her grave once more. Her mission failed, Richter was able to eventually ascend the castle, save all the girls, and defeat Dracula once more.

• 1792 AD: Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

This game marks the only time that Carmilla has had a consort in the main series: Laura. Although a nice nod to the Laura character from the Carmilla novella, Laura wasn't really given much to do here, or later in the series. Even though she appeared once more (as a common enemy in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin), she never did reach her full potential in the main storyline of the series.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Brought back to life by her followers at her ancestral castle in Austria, Carmilla once more plotted the resurrection of Dracula. This time around she had to contend with a trio of vampire hunters that could mess up her plans: Master Morris and her two trainees, Hugh Morris and Nathan Graves. To that end, she planned a trap for the heroes. Once they'd entered her castle and came to the main chamber, the Audience Room, Carmilla struck, capturing the elder Morris and casting his two apprentices into the pits of the castle below where, she assumed, they'd die. Master vampire hunter in her control, she planned to use him as a sacrifices at the height of the full moon to fully restore Dracula's powers.

What she didn't count on was Nathan making headway through her castle. She attempted, repeatedly, to stop his progress, sending her servant, the Necromancer, after him. Then she took control of Hugh Morris's mind, using the young vampire hunter's jealousy of Nathan as a way to worm in and turn him to the side of evil. Nathan defeated the Necromancer and, later, freed his friend from the evil of the vampiress.

Luring Nathan to the Underground Waterway, she eventually did battle with the hero in one last attempt to stop his progress. Although unsuccessful, eventually falling in battle to the lad, she was at least assured that the ritual to raise Dracula was nearly complete. By the time th hero would get to him, the vampire lord would be alive once more. She went back to her grave in hopes that her Dark Lord would once again rule the countryside.

Of course, Nathan then went on to face Dracula in the Audience Room. Though the battle was pitched, Dracula's resurrection proved short lives as the young vampire hunter defeated the vampire lord. Both Carmilla and Dracula had failed, while the three vampire Hunter left the castle assured that the demonic evil was at rest once more.

• 1830 AD: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Circle of the Moon features Carmilla in her most prominent role in the series, making her integral to the story of the game. This is also one of the few main series titles that doesn't take place in or around Dracula's castle, instead focusing on Carmilla's ancestral home. That's part of the reason many of the classic tropes of the series, such as the Clock Tower and the Castle Keep, were not featured in the game at all.

Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls

Carmilla later reappears, resurrected by the Grimoire of Souls tied to 1792 AD. There she possessed Annette, the lady love of hero Richter Belmont. Within the book Carmilla had Annette as her hostage (replicating elements of what happened in the past) as she guarded the vital soul the heroes needed to recover. The heroes had to climb their way to Carmilla's chamber, though an underground recreation of Castle Dracula, before they could confront Carmilla and Annette in the countess's ballroom.

Once Carmilla was defeated, though, Dark King Soma arrived, stealing the vital soul before the heroes could reclaim it. Even after a pitched battle with this foe the heroes were unable to regain the needed soul, forcing them to leave the book to search elsewhere for the elements they needed.

• 2038 AD: Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls

Grimoire of souls is a mutli-episode game released for mobile phones. Each adventure in the game featured chapters taken from other games in the series, such as this episode and its recreation of sections of Rondo of Blood.

Castlevania: Judgment

When the evil demon Galamoth attempts to remove Dracula from time (thus ensuring Galamoth would be the new, evil ruler of the world), a time agent, Aeon, gathers together a force of heroes and villains. The plan was for them to do battle until one warrior was left standing. This warrior would then go on to defeat the Time Reaper, the agent of Galamoth who was destroying time, thus saving the timeline.

As one of the warriors on the evil side, Carmilla fought bravely for her dark lord. A devoted follower of Dracula throughout the centuries, Carmilla proved a worth contender, a warrior of grace and power. Her encounters with the other warriors allowed her to show off her fighting ability, as well as her evil wit, taunting the heroes as she bested them one by one.

However, two of her fights took a slight turn. First, her battle with the living Golem was strange as, apparently, she had created the golem years before. Shocked at his sentience, she was also confused (and a little disgusted) when it called her its "mother". She quickly disavowed the beats of this, besting him before moving on to more interesting battles. Then she encountered Maria Renard, a young girl absolutely obsessed with her bust size (seriously). Carmilla was a little weirded out by this, but did her job and fought cunningly and bravely.

Through her efforts she helped to ensure that the Time Reaper was eventually brought down. She was returned to her timeline so that, once again, she could plot to ensure the eventually success of Dracula. We're still waiting for that last part to happen (but we're not holding our breath).

• 12000 AD: Castlevania: Judgment

Her appearance in Castlevania: Judgment is different from previous entires. Here, Carmilla doesn't ride a large mask, instead using a whip. About the only connection she has to previous forms is the pink color of her (very skimpy) outfit. Seriously, Judgment is just an odd game.

Lords of Shadow History:

Castlevania Netflix History:

Arriving in season two of the Castlevania anime, Carmilla (voiced by Jaime Murray) is one of Dracula's lieutenants, a lesser noble summoned to the Dark Lord's castle to aid in his war against humanity. Carmilla, though, has other plans; through her own machinations she plotted to take over Dracula's throne and rule the world herself. Through deception and subterfuge, Carmilla went among the various other lieutenants she figured she could control, including the vampire lord Godbrand and the Devil Forgemaster Hector to try and find allies for her own plan.

Although Godbrand proved to be too much of a drunk and a letch to be used properly, Hector was a more willing accomplice. An easily led, almost innocent individual, Hector wanted nothing more than to remove the evil from the world. He felt that evil came from humans and, he hoped, the population of humans could be culled back to just a small, docile herd, protected and maintained for their own good. Carmilla convinced Hector that Dracula didn't share this vision but, instead, Carmilla could ensure the protection of this herd of humans. All she needed was Hector's help.

Together, the two (Carmilla and Hector) set about a plan to move Castle Dracula (which could move itself about via magic and clockwork) to the seaside town of Braila They managed to convince Dracula and the rest of the vampiric council of this plan under the guise that it would cut off the escape route of humans from Wallachia via Braila's sea port. In reality, though, Carmilla had her own forces massed at Braila, waiting in ambush, for when the castle appeared.

Once at Braila, Carmilla and Hector left the castle, dragging behind them a chained up Bishop (who had been killed days earlier and then turned into a zombie via Hector's forge magic). They had the Bishop bless the waters of Braila, making them holy (and therefore toxic to the undead). When Dracula's forces went out onto the bridges of Braila, Carmilla's armies attacked, destroying the structures and plunging Dracula's minions into the sea where they burned up. Then, using ballistas, Carmilla's men launched a counter offense, sending their own bridges across the sea so they could attack the castle.

This plan would have worked perfectly except the castle was then pulled away from Braila by a trio of heroes (Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Alucard) who, at another location, used their own magic to drag the castle (effectively kicking and screaming) away from Braila This left Carmilla and Hector stuck at the town, unable to take over the Castle and rule in Dracula's stead.

Thinking he had an ally in Carmilla, Hector stuck around Braila, waiting for her next plan. Carmilla, though, had Hector thrown in chains so he could be dragged back to her lands. With much of her army lost when the castle moved, Carmilla had need of a new host of minions, and what better way to get them than via a Devil Forgemaster. She sent of for her lands, Hector in tow, to plan her next means of becoming absolute ruler of Wallachia.

• 1476 AD: Season 2

For the third season, Carmilla traveled back to her home castle with the Devil Forgemaster Hector in tow, chained up behind her remaining soldiers, severely beaten and lacking any shoes as he was led through the snow. At her castle she had in thrown in the deep prisons of the castle, stripped naked and fed only moldy bread. She blamed him for her failure at Braila, however fair that was, and beat and punished him because it made her feel better about the failings of her own plan.

At the castle, Carmilla met with her three sisters -- Lenore, Morana, and Striga -- the four of whom made up the "Council of Sisters". Carmilla talked about her grand plan for their lands, a way to take over all the countries in a long corridor all the way back to Wallachia. They could pen the humans in, putting up man fortifications along their borders, and have a giant grazing land where the vampires could live on humanity and feed forever, fat and happy. All they needed was Hector's Devil Forgemaster powers to give them the army to protect those borders.

As her sisters pointed out, if she wanted to use Hector she probably shouldn't have treated him so poorly; forged devils obey only their master, and with Hector not exactly in an agreeable mood, Carmilla's plans seemed to be on thin ice. That was where her sisters came in, though: Lenore worked on hector, trying to get him to be more agreeable, while Morana negotiated with the mercenaries in the surrounding lands, offering to pay them if they came to the side of the vampires. While they handled the details, Carmilla mostly sat around, drinking wine and plotting the future of her vampiric kingdom.

Her sisters did their part, getting Carmilla the army she needed: a band of mercs to patrol the border along side an (enslaved by magic) Devil Forgemaster who would make them their demonic army. They just had to go conquer the world.

• 1477 AD: Season 3

By season four of the show Carmilla's war on humanity had begun full-force. While her sisters Striga and Morana were at the front line, guiding troops and overseeing resources, and her sister Lenore spent her days in Hector's lab, watching him work, Carmilla plotted her next moves. Taking over the thin strip of continent she'd originally planned wasn't enough; she wanted more. She wanted all of it, the whole world, and she was willing to spend every day she had to battling every single group on the planet until she ruled it all.

As she explained to Lenore, every man she'd ever met had pushed her down, treated her as "less than". Than hadn't changed when she'd become a vampire as it was then the male vampires that treated her like dirt. Her attempt on Dracula's power was supposed to give her the status to turn the tide, to show everyone she was the queen. And then, likely, she would have killed everyone that had every disagreed with her in any way. While Lenore certainly understand Carmilla's anger, she was horrified at the lengths Carmilla was willing to go, the blood she was willing to shed and the risks she wanted to take.

Whatever Camilla's plans might have been, though, they were cut short when Isaac (traveling with his horde via portal) attacked the castle of the sisters. Although Carmilla had assumed she'd have all of Hector's army at her back to defend her, instead she found that the whole time Hector had been working against her. The curse placed up him put his monsters under the control of the sisters but it didn't completely stop his free will. He'd gone around the castle and laid traps, runes and stones to work against Carmilla's vampire henchmen. He then cut his finger off, taking off the ring and breaking the curse. That meant Carmilla didn't have her monsters, his horde of Innocent Devils, at her beck and call.

Suddenly Carmilla was facing a horde of beasts, from Isaac's army, all in her throne room with no backup. Still, she was a master vampire and, with a long sword sharpened to a fine edge, she was powerful enough to take on dozens of demons at a time. Her throne was splashed with their blood, soaked inches deep as the viscus fluid sloshed around. The constant battle did wear its toll on her while Isaac's demons were seemingly limitless. Eventually it was Isaac and Carmilla against each other, with the Forgemaster still aided by more of his demons, and it was too much for Carmilla. Seeing the way the battle had turned she kept her agency and killed herself, impaled on her own sword, choosing a death rather own hands than at the hands of any man.

• 1477 AD: Season 4

Her depiction in the series stands in direct contrast to how she's shows in the game series (and other movies). Here, she's a stark blond Nordic vampiress (instead of a dark-haired, southern European lass) and her loyalty to Dracula is never in question because it doesn't exist. She's no willing servant, one to work in resurrection Dracula time and again. She hates all the old guard and wishes to see the whole lot of ancient vampires wiped from the world. She makes for an interesting villain, even if (or maybe because) she isn't a version of the character we've seen before.

Fighting Against Carmilla:

In her first appearance, Carmilla isn't much of a threat. In comparison to the bosses in the original Castlevania, the foes of Castlevania II are pretty tame, and Carmilla is no exception. When you walk into her boss chamber, her giant mask will begin circling the room, over and over. As long as you remain at a safe distance and attack with your whip and/or daggers, Carmilla should never even come close to touching you.

Her battle in Dracula X Chronicles expands on the ideas from Simon's Quest. This time she'll still ride a giant skull (which bursts forth from the giant mask, in a nice touch), and the drops of blood from the mask will explode upon contact with the floor, raining down fire on the hero. This forces you to dodge a lot of incidental damage. Additionally, Laura will run around the bottom of the room the whole time, attempting to grab you and drain away your hearts. Once you've damaged Carmilla enough, she'll die and Laura will transform into a very agile, ninja-like appearance. A couple of more quick attacks will finish off both vampires, winning the day.

Her return appearance in Castlevania: Dracula X is much more impressive, although really this is a battle with Annette dressed up like a Carmilla fight -- if you fail to save Annette you'll have to fight this "version" of Carmilla at the top of the Clock Tower. There, she will ride atop a giant, demonic skull, dodging your attacks. The eyeballs of the skull will fly out at you, sometimes homing in on your location, sometimes alight with fire, and sometimes casting lightning bolts at you. It can be a frenetic battle but good pattern recognition, and quick dodging, will be your friends.

Although she's one of the prime villains in Circle of the Moon, her boss fight isn't actually that threatening. She will, once more, ride her giant demon skull, slowly flying across the room, spewing out poison bubbles. A good shield (like the rotating ice spheres or the dash shield) will help you clear out the poison. Make judicious use of the space by the doors to the room as Carmilla will not have the room to attack you physically up there. Then, just watch out as occasionally she blast out a wave of air blades. If you layer on the damage enough, she'll quickly fall.

In the first Lords of Shadow, Carmilla's battle is a multi-phase affair. First, she'll summon forth a horde of vampires. These are easy enough to manage by either layering on the damage or getting in close and using a Quick Time Event to stake them. Just watch out as Carmilla was unleash a powerful lightning attack so be ready to dodge. Once you've killed enough of her minions, Carmilla will reveal her true vampiric form (while also destroying parts of the boss arena, leaving less room for you to maneuver). She'll attack like many of the other vampires, dodging in close and attacking with her wings and claws. She'll also continue to summon forth more minions, making for a very frenetic battle.

Once you've damaged her enough in this phase, you'll have to wade through a Quick Time Event as Gabriel stabs repeatedly at Carmilla in close combat. She'll then fly up, unleash more lightning, and destroy a further section of the arena. The battle, though will largely progress as before with you and her dodging around, trying to get in melee damage. She will also occasionally fly up and summon bats to swarm in and attack you. And, she can cast lightning at the ground, causing a limited, but very damaging, blast radius.

Damaged enough, Carmilla will fly up one last time, leading the last set of Quick Time Events. She'll cast lightning at you that you'll somehow absorb and use against her. Down on the ground Gabriel will try to stake her, but she'll attempt to fly away. Gabriel will catch a hold and fly with her, throwing his whip through her chest. On the highest peak of the castle, Gabriel will pull Carmilla down, staking her on the roof and causing the castle the crumble. Both will then tumble to the ground before Gabriel gets the last blows in, destroying the vampiress.

Her return fight in Lords of Shadow 2 is a different affair. This time she'll float around the initial boss room in a protected bubble while summoning demonic knights to fight for her. Like her previous vampire minions, these can be killed via enough damage or an up-close Quick Time Event. Carmilla will also occasionally cast a lightning bolt that sprays a wave of damage across the ground (forcing you to jump to avoid it). With a powerful enough attack you can damage the bubble, stunning Carmilla. Repeat this process enough times (minions first, and then attack the bubble), and you'll break her shell, moving the battle to the next phase.

Now Carmilla will assault you more directly, teleporting around the room (with a very stylish bat effect) before moving in close or launching more lightning at you (sometimes as blasts and sometimes as homing bolts). More of her minions, too, will join the fight, keeping the pressure on you. Damaged enough her and Carmilla will then start creating duplicates of herself. These versions will summon a tightening ring of lightning that has a different timing from before, forcing you to adjust your dodging jumps. You'll have to take out the duplicates to reveal the real Carmilla.

After a cinematic moment where Gabriel steals the power of mist from Carmilla, she will then change her attacks up, summoning a ghostly version of her vampiric form, using it to capture you, deal out powerful melee blows, and unleashing combos of lightning attacks. This will lead to the final Quick Time cinematic that sees Gabriel finish off the vampiress with a stake in bloody fashion.

Back in the main timeline, we have another play on the classic Carmilla fight, this time in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls. Carmilla arrives in her Dracula X appearance, but instead of being aided by Laura she has Annette Renard at her side. The fight is still fairly similar, with Carmilla floating around on her giant skull while Annette walks the ground, attempting to grab the hero and drain their blood. Carmilla will shoot out purple orbs of energy, that was fly directly where the hero is standing, and she can drop pillars of bloody flames onto the ground.

Once her energy bar is depleted, Carmilla was disappear into a bloody mist before re-emerging from a pool of blood, her health mostly restored. While she flies around once more, Annette is turned into a vampire maiden. The two will then start teleporting back and forth with each other, with Annette summoning bats that will fly out and at the hero while Carmilla will summon bloody orbs that will fly out and explode in arcs and waves of blood that will travel along the ground. is part of the battle is frenetic but can be handled well if you're careful. Deplete her health bar a second time and Carmilla will finally go down.

Playing as Carmilla:

As a fighter in Judgment, Carmilla is quick and agile. He wields a chain that she uses like a whip, giving her a decent ranged attack. This, combined with a poisoned gas attack she can unleash to damage fighters over time, with her ability to wailing on her foes with flurries of blows, can make her a hard opponent to take down.

Carmilla in Popular Culture:

Carmilla is directly based on the title character from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novella Carmilla. In it, she's a vampire who preys on young women, usually by posing as a young woman herself in need of a place to stay. Once settled into a manor, she'll slowly feed from the women around her, draining them of life force. Many aspects of her story were maintained for her appearances in the Castlevania series beyond just the vampirism. In multiple games, she appears floating on a giant, demonic mask, an obvious nod to the climactic costume ball set near the end of the novella. Then there are the lesbian overtones of the novel, mirror in Dracula X where Carmilla has a young servant (often named Laura after the character in the book) that the player has to fight.

Other parts of her story were excised from the series, such as her constantly changing her name (although even that is amusingly mirror, see below), bouncing from "Carmilla" to "Mircalla" to "Millarca" -- always variants of her name. Also missing from her character in the series was Carmilla's ability to transform her shape, usually into that of a large cat or great beast.

Beyond Castlevania, Carmilla has had a number of appearances throughout pop-culture. She's show up in a number of movies, from the 1932 Vampyr to the first of the Hammer "Karnstein" trilogy of film, The Vampire Lovers and even featuring in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. She's also featured prominently in a number of other books, stage plays, radio productions, comics, and video games. She may, in fact, be the second most adapted vampire in pop culture, only after Dracula.

Carmilla Trivia:

Due to a translation error in Circle of the Moon, Carmilla's name was written as "Camilla" in that game. That, coupled with Circle's already nebulous place in the Castlevania timeline has lead many fans to consider Carmilla and Camilla two different characters. It worth noting that her name was similarly misspelled in Castlevania II, but that game had a notoriously bad translation, so errors like that were just par for the course.

Of course, we at the Inverted Dungeon consider all (non-explicitly remake) entries in the series as cannon, so for discussion sake, Carmilla and Camilla are the same person, translation error or no.

In her original story Carmilla would often use aliases, re-spellings of her name, to hide from those that might hunt her. Going as "Camilla" instead of "Carmilla" in Circle is just a nice play on that trick, even if it was unintentional.

Originally, Carmilla was planned for inclusion in Castlevania for the Nintendo 64. An early model of her was debuted with her riding atop her demonic skull (much like in later entry Circle of the Moon), but by the time the game was released she had been removed.

Another sighting of her can be found in Harmony of Dissonance, this time as a sculpted relief of her iconic mask. This is a nice nod towards her, although she wasn't otherwise in the game.