Maria Renard
In many ways, Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of BloodThe first adventure for Richter Belmont, this game didn't originally make it to the West (instead seeing a SNES remake to replace it) as was considered something of a prized collector's item by fans. was a groundbreaking game. It was the first Castlevania released in a disc-based format, the first to feature CD-quality audio and wear it's anime influence openly. But beyond just aesthetics, the game took many of the best features of Castlevania III: Dracula's CurseThe third, and final, NES entry for the series, Dracula's Curse returned the series to its roots with a more traditional adventure. But it also added in branching paths, multiple characters, and new hero Trevor Belmont. and improved upon them, making a game that, in most ways, felt like an evolutionary leap over what came before.
Of the two heroes featured in Rondo, Maria would prove the more interesting. Like only Sypha BelnadesOne of three heroes recruited by Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula, Sypha is a powerful sorceress, and one of the most famous members of her clan. before her, Maria was a female hero in a series dominated by men. She was also the first child hero in the series, aged only 12 in her first appearance. Certainly the game played up these aspects, giving her a pink dress to wear and showing a cutesy Game Over screen any time she died (as opposed to the grim "Game Over" the Richter BelmontRevealed first in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood in Japan, and then Castlevania: Dracula X in the West, Richter is the Belmont hero of the late 1700s who worked with Maria Renard to bring down Dracula. got). But those little flourishes were part of her charm, a certain playfulness that the series hadn't really expressed before.
The fact that Maria endured, growing up and gaining new play styles later in the series also worked to her advantage -- for some players, the fact that they could see Maria change and grow up gave the events in the series some context. Unlike with Richter, or Christopher BelmontThe second ever Belmont, and second hero, revealed in the series, Christopher predated Simon by 100 years within the series Chronology, even if American sources struggled to get the lineage straight., where the passage of time is stated but the characters remain ageless, Maria truly changed.
Of course, the series flirted back and forth with her age, using both the younger and older Maria in her various appearances (Castlevania: JudgmentOne of the final Castlevania titles released under director Koji Igarashi's tenure, this Wii game was a crossover 3D fighter featuring characters from across the whole series. made her fifteen, splitting the difference between her age and styles) wanting to have the best of both worlds when dealing with the character. Still, among all the Castlevania, Maria remains unique for the risks and changes the series was willing to take with her.
Character History:
Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
Growing up in the region of Romania, Maria knew well the dangers lurking in the lands outside Dracula's castle. Her own family, the Renard clan, were powerful vampire hunters (with distant blood-ties to the Belmont family), and Maria grew up learning much about her potential power. That power, the magic within her that granted her the ability to fight the forces of darkness, would put her in danger, though.
The dark priest, ShaftThe dark priest and righthand man for Dracula through Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. He has no relation to the cool private eye fron the 1970s. None whatsoever. Really., seeking power to aid his lord, Dracula, kidnapped girls from the local village to use in his dark ceremonies. Among them was Maria, who Shaft prized for her power -- with the magic inside the girl Shaft knew he would have a very powerful sacrifice for his dark lord. Killing her family, Dracula's minions kidnapped the younger Renard and imprisoned her in Dracula's castle.
While in captivity, Maria and AnnetteThe sister (well, "sister") of Maria Renard. Her exact familial connection to other characters is confused by bad translations across the Western games. She was then reinvented completely for the Netflix series. bonded, growing close. The two were so separated, and Maria was taken to Shaft's dark chamber to be made ready for the sacrifice. However, the dark ceremony was interrupted by Richter Belmont, the local hero who had come to the castle to save the girls and defeat Dracula. Freed of the dark magic, Maria refused to leave the castle, instead swearing to aid Richter in his fight so as to keep the lands, and her new friend Annette, safe.
Together the two heroes fought their way through Dracula's castle. Maria, for her part, summoned a variety of animal companions to aid her in battle, including doves, lizards, and cats. These animals proved effective in combat, and worked as a counterpoint to Richter's more bombastic style. Once they reached the throne room, Maria took on Dracula, using her newfound power to deliver the fatal blow against the demonic fiend.
As the two heroes, Richter and Maria, watched the castle crumble he took the young girl under his wing. Adopting her into his family (as they already had a distant connection), Richter vowed to raise the girl in the Belmont clan. She also deepened her bond with Annette, who was Richter's betrothed, taking to calling the older woman her "big sister". The lands were safe, and Maria had a new family to call her own... for a time, anyway...
Although officially Rondo of Blood is the 1792 AD entry on the Castlevania timeline, much of Maria's story actually comes from two later remakes. Castlevania: Dracula XThis SNES game was a loose remake of Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, and even by the team that made it is considered a non-continuity adventure. (commonly referred to as Dracula XX or simply DXX) was a SNES remake / re-imagining of Rondo that established Maria was Annette's younger sister (before, the two were completely unrelated). While a small detail, Maria would again affirm that Annette was her sister in the official sequel, Castlevania: Symphony of the NightReleased on the PlayStation in 1997, this game, while not hugely successful in the U.S. at the time, went on to become on the most beloved titles in the Castlevania series.. Considering that DXX wasn't an official in-continuity, this was an odd detail to perpetuate (even if it did give Maria some more background shading).
Eventually, continuity was adjusted by a later remake, Castlevania: The Dracula X ChroniclesA remake of Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood which featured updated graphics, music, and some new gameplay elements. It also included classic versions of Rondo and Symphony of the Night (the latter of which had a new bonus Maria mode).. This game established that the Renard clan were vampire hunters with a connection to the Belmont clan. Maria was, then, a distant relative of Richter and, with her family dead, Richter took her in as his own adopted sister. With Richter and Annette later married, Maria would then be Annette's adopted sister-in-law (which, due to differences between Japanese and English, can also be translated simply as "big sister" or "older sister").
It should be noted that, as shown in the later sequel, Symphony, Richter was the hero to officially kill Dracula (although Maria is there on the sidelines to aid him if he were to fall in battle). While players can fight Dracula as Maria in Rondo, her version of the fight is not officially canon.
Castlevania: Judgment
A couple of years after her time fighting Dracula with Richter, Maria was comfortable but a touch dissatisfied with her life in the Belmont household. Having matured some in the interim years, Maria still had a desire for adventure, to be among the grown ups and not treated like a child. To that end, with her new barn owl pet, Maria ventured out into the lands of Romania one fateful night (because they're always fateful nights). There, among the monsters that always seemed to roam the lands, Maria encountered the time-traveler, Aeon.
As Aeon explained, in the far future Galamoth (evil villain and rival to Dracula) looked to defeat Dracula in the past and change history so that Galamoth came out on top. Sensing the kind of damage this could do to history (i.e., a lot), Aeon was looking to bring heroes and villains together in the rift in hopes that he could find one among them with the power and skill to stop Galamoth's plans. Promising Maria a great prize if she competed, the young vampire huntress readily agreed to participate in his fighting tournament, and the two ventured into his time rift.
(Of course, since it was a fighting game any one of the heroes, or villains, could have proved victorious -- the exact hero to end Galamoth's plans was never determined by Konami, so it's up in the air now if Simon officially cast the fatal blow or not.)
One part of Maria's story that we glossed over, primarily because it is such a point of contention among Castlevania fans, is that Maria has a particularly annoying fixation in this game: tits. We're not kidding when we note that Maria was absolutely obsessed with huge breasts -- she was young, still a girl, and lacked big ta-tas, so she'd go out of her way to talk about how other women in the tournament had humongous gazongas. It became, in no uncertain terms, hugely annoying, and it reduced Maria to a one-note character. Sure, it would have been worse to have a male character always commenting on tits, but it's not that much better coming out of Maria's mouth.
Still, aside from her annoying dialogue, the fighting-game version of Maria was an interesting bridge between her Rondo version and the playable character she'd become later. Swapping out her doves for an owl (as she would in later games), Maria is a capable fighter with decent reach. She also has a certain amount of gliding capabilities, being able to float after jumps with the assistance of her bird companions.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Five years after Dracula's defeat at the hands of Richter Belmont and Maria Renard evil fell over the land once again. When her adopted older brother, Richter, goes missing right around the same time Dracula's castle magically reappears on the high mountains of the Borgo Pass, Maria realizes the two events have to somehow be related. Taking matters into her own hands, the teenage girl heads to the demon castle to once more fight whatever evil may be lurking within its passages.
In the castle, though, Maria meets an unexpected stranger -- AlucardOne of three heroes recruited by Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula, Alucard was the son of Dracula who turned from his fathers evil, battling against his cursed family line again and again. (one-time hero of Castlevania III). The stranger reveals himself to be a vampire lord and son of Dracula, but he proves that he's not on the side of the devil, instead working against his father's evil machinations. Although at first the young Renard doubts his veracity, it's with his help that Maria was able to track down Richter. Unfortunately, the Belmont seemingly went mad, proclaiming himself the ruler of the castle.
With Maria's help, Alucard is able to track Richter to the high keep of the castle and reveal that Richter is just a pawn in a greater game. Captured and brain-washed, Richter was made into a puppet by the dark priest, Shaft. It's through Alucard's confrontation with Richter that the dark magic was broken and Richter was freed from the evil spell. With Maria's aid, Richter was escorted from the castle to safety while Alucard went deeper in to find his father and end the evil that spread across the land. Together, the heroes watched as Dracula's castle crumbled.
Although Maria was not playable in the original version of Symphony (although she was originally planned for inclusion, her playable role was cut for time), a Japan-only port of the game to the Sega Saturn (referred to as Castlevania: Nocturne in the MoonlightThe Saturn port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, commonly referred to by it's Japanese name to differentiate it from the PlayStation version. It had more features built in, but not everything about this port was superior., the Japanese name for the original, to differentiate it from the English release we got) included her in a playable role as well as two new, small areas to explore. Unfortunately, the Sega Saturn was a bad fit for a game as detailed as Symphony, and the engine was severely compromised during the porting process.
A second remake of Symphony was eventually released as part of The Dracula X Chronicles. A playable version of Maria was included in this version as well, although the bonus areas from the Saturn port did not make the transition. Over-all, though, this was the most complete and best version of the game released to date.
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls
Maria is one of many heroes to appear in the large, crossover title Grimoire of Souls. In this adventure, multiple heroes get resurrected by the power of the Grimoires, powerful books seemingly tied to Dracula's magic. It is thought that, somehow, the books could be used to bring back the Dark Lord (despite his soul living on, reincarnated into the good-natured lad Soma CruzA young exchange student on a trip to a Japanese shrine, Soma is sucked into an adventure he never could have anticipated when Dracula's Castle, sealed within the magic of an eclipse, pulls him into its dark and foreboding grasp.). However, things aren't what they seem when someone in the order devoted to the books starts tapping into the dark magic, seemingly to awaken those dark magics.
Pulled out of the books by Lucy WestenraLibrarian for the Order of Elgos, a group dedicated to protecting magical tomes with a dark connection to Dracula's power. Using the power of the books, Lucy summons forth past heroes to fight a growing threat, evil forces looking to use the books to resurrect the Dark Lord and remake the whole timeline., a librarian of the order, the heroes have to band together and go into the various volumes, exploring each of the past times when Dracula rose up and then was defeated. This puts them in direct opposition, it would seem to the dark sorceress (and one time librarian) HerminaA powerful sorceress and former member of the Order of Elgos. Seemingly a villain, Hermina used to oversee the powerful grimoires the Order guarded. However her turn against the Order was actually because she suspected a threat from within the group and knew she had to stop the dark plans brewing within.. She stole some of the books before and everyone in the order assumed she was the one attempting to resurrect Dracula. This was only made more obvious when she showed up with a seemingly mind-controlled Soma, in his Dark King form, ready to steal the vital souls from the various volumes.
As it was soon revealed, though, it wasn't Hermina but the leader of the order, Seward, who was behind the attempt to raise the Dark Lord. Seward was, in fact, Dracula's faithful servant DeathThe Grim Reaper who, in the series, is Dracula's right hand man and most reliable supporter (although the Netflix series changes this some). He comes for the souls of the living, especially those of the Belmont clan., and with the power of the vital souls in the books Death was able to fulfill his purpose and bring about the resurrection of the true Dark Lord.
Seeing no recourse, the heroes traveled back into the oldest of the volumes, that tied to the era of Dracula's first true defeat in 1476, where they teamed up with Trevor BelmontThe third Belmont revealed in the release history of the franchise, Trevor's clout among fans has grown. Between love for his first game, and his starring role in the Castlevania anime, Trevor is perhaps even more popular now than even Simon. to fight the Dark Lord and, once and for all, ensure that his dark magics were destroyed, ensuring he could never rise up again.
Grimoire of souls is a multi-episode game released for mobile phones. Each adventure in the game featured chapters taken from other games in the series, such as episodes recreating sections of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.
Non-continuity History:
Castlevania: The Bloodletting
Although Symphony of the Night was the first official sequel to Rondo of Blood, originally a different game in the series was intended to fill that slot. Called Castlevania: The BloodlettingThis title was meant to be the follow up to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, a Sega 32X-exclusive cart that would have seen the return of Richter Belmont and Maria Renard to take on vampires once more. However, the failure of the 32X attachment all but ensured this game wouldn’t see the light of day, with its basic materials getting reworked into Castlevania: Symphony of the Night., this game would have seen Richter and Maria team up on a new adventure against the forces of darkness. Both characters were redesigned for the new game, featuring new sprites in a slightly different style from Rondo of Blood. However, the intended platform for the game, the Sega Genesis 32X add-on, was quickly scrubbed from existence due to poor sales, and The Bloodletting was quietly canceled.
While Richter's sprites from this failed game were (it is thought by fans) used to Zombie Trevor's sprites in Symphony of the Night, Maria's redesigned sprites seemingly never saw the light of day. While we at the Inverted Dungeon took to calling these new sprites "Gretchen Renard", that name never seemed to stick (unlike with the horrible things we've done to Hanz BelmontDubiously known as the brother of Richter Belmont, Hanz was first introduced in the cancelled Sega 32X title Castlevania: The Bloodletting. Known only as "The Rival" at the time, he was later picked up by fans and renamed as "Hanz Belmont", creating a richer backstory for the character than Konami ever gave him., aka the Rival), and everything about Maria from The Bloodletting has pretty much faded from the series.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Although Richter has an in-continuity appearance in Portrait of Ruin as part of the Whip's Memory (a boss battle Johnathan Morris has to go through to unlock the true potential of the Vampire Killer), Maria's appearance in the game is strictly non-canon. As part of the unlockable Richter Mode, Maria can be used to explore the castle alongside the older Belmont. In this game she is in her 12-year old appearance, making this mode feel very like Rondo of Blood.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Maria also made an appearance, alongside Richter, in Castlevania: Harmony of DespairKonami's entry into the online massive multiplayer market, this game features teams of heroes going into Dracula's Castle to fight the demon, with rare loot and extra goodies to grab along the way.. As part of a downloadable character pack (with Richter), Maria was once again in her Rondo guise. This, despite many of the enemies coming from Symphony and later games. Still, since Richter was also in his Rondo incarnation, this made a certain amount of sense.
Castlevania Netflix History:
Castlevania: Nocturne
Born to former speaker TeraOne of four girls that can be rescued in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. Tera was a young nun who lived in the village in the original game, although her role was greatly expanded in Castlevania: Nocturne, turning her into Maria's mother., Maria is a young but powerful warrior. She has the ability to summon animals to her aid, beasts that have some unexplained connection to her, likely derived from some variation of Tera’s speaker magics as well as the dark powers her (secret) father, the AbbotHead of the Paris church in the time of the French Revolution. He's initially presented as a helpful ally, but secretly he's working with the vampires to ensure the rise of their coming Messiah., possesses. She uses these powers alongside her cousin, Richter Belmont, to fight the growing vampire threat in Paris. She also speaks to the people of Paris, convincing them to rise up and fight the nobility as part of the Revolution.
After a vampire attack at one such small gathering, Maria goes with Richter to speak to the Abbot in hopes he might take their concerns seriously. He dismisses them, and their thoughts that the Marquis and MarchionessIn the time of Revolutionary France, the nobility is under siege by the pesantry. It just so happens that the nobility, led by the Marquis and Marchionesse, are vampires, and they fear the loss of power. So they join with the coming vampire Messiah to ensure their own rule. are aligned with the vampires gathering, saying only that he’ll talk to his contacts and investigate. However, aid is provided to our young heroes in the form of two warriors from across the ocean, Annette and EdouardA former opera singer, who also aided in sneaking slaves out of the Carribean plantations, Edouard joined with Annette on a mission to stop the coming vampire Messiah. Unfortunately he was captured by the vampires and turned into a night creature soon after arriving in Paris.. These two came to seek “the Belmont”, with warning of a vampire Messiah who would be arriving in Paris. They agree to join with Maria and Richter, and immediately plan a scouting mission to the Marquis’s estates, hoping to see for themselves if the vampires are gathering there or not.
Unfortunately the heroes are spotted and forced to flee. In the ensuing chase Edouard is captured and killed, leaving Annette broken and the other two unsure of what to do. They just know they can’t quit, not when they know the vampires are readying for something big.
Maria decides that the best thing would be to try, once again, to rally the people of Paris to the Revolution. If the people rise up and fight, the nobility wouldn’t stand a chance. She gets a small gathering of townsfolk together and encourages Annette to speak about her time in Saint-Domingue, leading the escaped slaves to overthrow the nobility in the French colony. The speech is rousing, ruined only by the arrival of night creatures. While Maria and Richter handily right the beasts, Annette thinks she recognizes one of them as a resurrected Edouard, and that he recognized her back. They watch him get dragged off by the other night creatures, but Annette immediately wants to charge in and save him.
After discussions together, Tera agrees to lead the group into the crypts of the Church to see if there are night creatures there and who might be responsible. They discover the demons are at the Church, and that someone is summoning them. Specifically, the Abbot. He seems shocked to see them there, but he intercedes before Maria is killed by Drolta TzuentesA minor character in Castlevania: Nocturne. The captain and his men stop Drolta Tzuentes and her entourage from entering the city. For this "mistake", he and his men are quickly dispatched.. The heroes are forced to flee, but this interaction colors Maria’s feelings towards the Abbot in ways that could not be repaired.
That evening, Maria, Tera, and Annette regrouped at Tera’s cabin. Maria, injured by one of the night creatures, allowed Annette to bandage up her arm, using magic to seal the wounds and stitch them up cleanly. Afterwards, the three went to bed, but Maria was woken by a sound. Thinking it might be Richter, who ran off during the retreat from the abbey, Maria goes to investigate. Instead she finds Annette, who was about to head out to find her own revenge. Maria and Tera convince Annette not to do anything foolhardy, to sit back and wait while they devise a plan, one that won’t lead to all of them getting killed by vampires.
The next day, the Abbot comes to Tera’s cabin. While Tera initially rebuffs him, his pleas to simply talk finally sway her and she lets him in. The two have a fiery discourse about what the Abbot is doing and why his teaming up with the vampires is wrong, a fact he disagrees with. He fears for the souls of his parishioners, and those of everyone participating in the Revolution, watching as they turn their back on God in exchange for “reason”. He sees the vampires as the only way to bring the people back, ruling over the flock so they turn back to God. Tera and Maria both think the plan is evil, and Tera even states that she wishes she’d never met the Abbot, a statement that causes him to blurt out that if they’d never met then she wouldn’t have Maria.
This reveals to Maria just who her father was. Instead of being a dead man, as she was always told, her father is alive but also someone she stands diametrically against. The conversation does not end well, but Maria goes to speak to him again later that night, outside the abbey. They have another fiery exchange with her once again rejecting his actions and what he stands for while he pleads with her to join him. Maria refuses, knowing she stands for what’s right. And as this whole conversation plays out, Drolta watches from a distance, slowly piecing together just who Maria is and what she means to the Abbot.
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Playing as Maria:
In her initial appearance in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Maria was a fast, light character who proved much easier to control from Richter (a good starting character for people looking for an easier time making it through the game). She came equipped with doves she could throw as well as animals she could use as sub-weapons. Her play style was very different than Richter, including a double jump Richter didn't have access to, giving her mobility over the Belmont. However, she wasn't as strong as Richter, helping to balance her out some.
It's worth noting that her Rondo of Blood incarnation was exactly the version that was used for both Portrait of Ruin and Harmony of Despair with only very minor tweaks to her character. Anyone that played her in one version would easily be able to pick her up in the other two games. Also of note is the fact that, although included as a girl to rescue in the SNES port of Rondo, Dracula XX, Maria is not a playable character in that game.
The big changes for Maria came in the ports on Symphony of the Night. The first version, Nocturne for the Sega Saturn, drastically changed her play-style. Instead of throwing doves, Maria gained martial arts-style punches and kicks. She also could summon over-charged versions of her animal companions, acting a lot like the item crashes Richter could use. That said, while Maria in this version could use sub-weapons, she was unable to perform item crashes with them. Still, this version of Maria was extremely agile, having a high jump added to her repertoire, making her an interesting character to control (even if she wasn't the "easy mode" she started off as in Rondo.
While she was again included in the second remake of Symphony included in The Dracula X Chronicles, this time Maria played more like her Rondo form. She remains as agile and mobile as before (more so, in some ways, since she retained a high jump and gained the ability to glide after jumping), this time instead of throwing doves, Maria threw owls (a minor aesthetic change). She also could, once again, use her animal sub-weapons attacks, and she was capable of performing item crashes with them. Interestingly, Maria was also included as a boss in this version of the game, one Alucard had to fight to progress the story forward.
Finally, Maria made an appearance in Castlevania: Judgment. Here she came armed with a staff that had a cage on the end containing her owl companion. She could glide with the aid of her birds, use the common sub-weapons, and can summon her animal companions (as special "call" spells). She had a lot of range and, although she played differently from many of the other characters, could prove to be quite formidable... if you could get past her awful dialogue.