Tera
When Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood came out, it did much to expand the Castlevania series and its ideas. It revisited the idea of multiple heroes you can play as giving the heroic Belmont Richter and unlockable ally, Maria Renard. But it took that a step further, throwing in three other ladies who could be found, and rescued, to unlock the best ending for the game. This bit of collecting, coupled with parallel stages running throughout the castle, greatly expanded the scope and exploration of the game, making it into something of a proto-Metroidvania.
Tera was one of the four ladies in the game, a woman to rescue. However, it was in the expanded remake, The Dracula X Chronicles, that rescuing Tera became much more useful. In this game, Tera held a necklace, the appropriately named Tera's Necklace, that allowed Richter to break special Red Skeleton Bricks (as well as outright kill Red Skeletons). Without this necklace, Richter (and Maria) would be unable to fully clear the castle, unlocking all its secrets. Tera suddenly became much more useful, and rescuing her felt essential and not just like a chore.
Sadly, beyond this Tera didn't see much other expansion. Like Iris from the original game, Tera didn't gain much more in the way of background or story. She's an unlockable prize but not a fully realized character in the same way Annette was.
Character History:
Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
As everyone in the surrounding villages had been told, every 100 years the evil Castle Dracula would appear on up in the mountains of the Borgo Pass and a horde of evil monsters would come pouring forth. The only line of defense against this was the clan of Belmonts, heroes with a mighty (and magical) whip that they used to beat back the forces of evil. The villagers were prepared for Dracula's eventually arrival, but they weren't prepared for his plan this time around.
Needing sacrifices for Dracula's resurrection, as well as a way to tempt Richter Belmont, heir to the clan, into the castle, the dark priest Shaft had his minions kidnap a few of the girls from around the villages nearby -- Annette, Maria, Iris, and Tera included. Tera, a young nun who lived in town, was among those kidnapped. Devout in her beliefs, she knew, deep down, that God would save her, that someone sent by the Almighty would find where the minions had stashed her in the Dracula's Castle and that she would be rescued.
Hours later, she was indeed rescued when the heroes, Richter and Maria, found the young woman and freed her from her prison. Seeing them as manifestations of God, Tera fell to her knees in thanks, wowed by the glory of God. She gave the heroes her necklace with the vow that it would aid them in their travels. The heroes led her out of the castle, to follow the path they had cleared, free of the monsters that had one existed there. She returned home, safe and sound, free of the demons and able to worship once more.
Tera's necklace, and the Red Skeletons Bricks associated with it, are exclusive to the expanded remake, The Dracula X Chronicles and weren't a part of the original game, Rondo of Blood. Of course, to find all the secrets in the remake, and unlock all the bonuses, saving Tera, and getting the necklace, is essential.
Castlevania Netflix History:
Castlevania: Nocturne
Tera (voiced by Nastassja Kinski) grew up and lived with her clan of speakers in Russia, aiding the locals in their times of need. It was one such mission, helping a poor village that was starving and in need of assistance, that her clan (presumably the Renard clan) ran into trouble. A vampiress living there, Erzsébet Báthory (aka Elizabeth BartleyBased on Erzsabet Bathory, Elizabeth is the secondary antagonist in Castlevania: Bloodlines. Bartley is the niece of Dracula and, by sowing discord around Europe, she aids in his eventual resurrection. in the main game series) was the ruler of the land and she did not take kindly to anyone helping her people. She was a cruel, evil monster who loved nothing more than capturing and torturing young girls, and she lived to see humanity suffer under her wrath.
Seeing the Speakers aiding the humans living on her lands, Bathory sent her minions out to kill the clan and anyone they aided. Although the Speakers had powerful magic on their side, they weren’t able to fight off the evil creatures Bathory enlisted. Most of the Speakers died, leaving only Tera and her sister alive, although her sister was captured and taken to Bathory’s castle. Seeing no other way to save her sister, Tera went after her, hoping to free the girl and save her from the monster
Unfortunately Tera discovered, deep in Bathory’s dungeon, that her sister had already been turned into a vampire. Bathory found Tera there, and came to capture Tera as well. Tera quickly killed her sister, then flung herself out of the castle, just barely fleeing the grasp of the vampiress. She then left Russia, slowly making her way west until she ended up in France. There she met 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., leader of the congregation in Paris, and they quickly fell in love. Secretly he fathered a child with her, but the fear of what would happen to his position, or to Tera and the child, if that information came out, quickly meant that they broke off their relationship. She went out to a cottage in the woods nearby to build a life for herself and have her child, who she soon named Maria, while the Abbot tried to put things behind him, never acknowledging he was the father of the child.
A few years later, Tera finds a small boy waiting for her on her doorstep. This lad is Richter Belmont, the son of her dear friend (and distant cousin), Julia BelmontMother of Richter Belmont, Julia is shown to be the heir to the family power, and its famed whip. Working in the New World, Julia is caught up in a battle with Count Olrox before she is killed at the hands of the master vampire. Her death protecting her son sends the boy on his own journey to find some way, eventually, to make his mother proud.. His mother had died in Boston, attacked and killed by a vampire, Count OlroxA master vampire who, we assume, was from Germany, with powers and abilities comparable to that of Dracula himself. Olrox is likely based on the fictional character of Count Orlock from Nosferatu, with his name accidentally (or maybe purposefully) changed during translation., and as her dying wish Julia sent Richter away to the only person she could trust. Taking him in, Tera raised Richter like she was own, striking something very close to a mother-son relationship with the orphaned lad.
Several years later, with the rise of the French Revolution, Tera acts as an advisor to her daughter and her ward. They fight for the people, raising up their spirits so they’ll join the Revolution, and Tera keeps an eye on them to make sure they stay safe. But when night creatures come to her home, she helps Richter and Maria fight them off, using the speaker powers of her clan to summon the elements in battle.
Thankfully more help comes as well, in the form of 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. 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., two heroes from the Caribbean who come with warnings of a vampire Messiah who will rise up in Paris. Tera warns her children to be safe and not get into trouble, but they almost immediately fail to avoid it, getting caught investigating the vampire dealings at the estate of 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.. Edouard is lost during the escape, and Tera worries about who might be next.
Later, when the three return from a gathering for the Revolution, they recount how they were attacked by night creatures again. Annette mentions that one of the demons looked surprisingly like Eduoard, like he might have been used to make the creature and that he might be in there still. They want to head back to the Church to investigate, to see if Edouard really is alive as a night creature. Tera agrees to show them how to secretly get into the crypts, but she also says that she’s going with them, refusing to sit out this time.
Leading them through a secret passage she knew about from her time with the Abbot, the heroes get into the crypts and immediately find night creatures. This leads them to wonder who is making them and why the Abbot is protecting them. But when the Abbot, flanked by vampires, comes into the crypts, Tera realizes the truth: the man she once loved is actually the demon forgemaster, the one helping the vampires, and that he’d lost his way with God. Tera, along with the other heroes, fights back against the creatures and the vampires, but when Richter flees out of fear (having come face to face with Olrox, the vampire that killed his mother), the rest of the group has to retreat as well, mission incomplete.
Annette, Maria, and Tera regroup back at Tera’s cabin. Annette aids Maria, patching up a nasty wound the girl got from a night creature, using her magic to seal up Maria’s wound. The three discuss what happened, and Annette talks about how angry she is with Richter, who fled before the rest of them when Olrox appeared. Tera explains what Richter went through as a child, seeing Olrox kill his mother, but Annette won’t let it go, can’t understand the pain he’s going through and argues that everyone loses someone and this is no time to be weak. Eventually the matter is dropped and they all head off to bed.
Later, Tera is awoken when she hears Maria and Annette conversing. She goes out to see Annette trying to leave while Maria blocks her. Annette wants to charge off, to find the vampires and kill them before freeing Edouard, Maria and Tera advise caution, stating that they can’t go out half-cocked without a plan. Eventually they convince Annette, who relents, agreeing to only observe, not engage. But she still goes out to clear her head and gather information.
The next day the Abbot comes to the cabin. He asks to speak and, after some attempts by Tera to make him leave, she eventually relents. He explains his fear for the people of the city, how the Revolution, in his eyes, has turned them from God and made them evil. A greater evil, he argues, than the vampires and the night creatures present. Tera disagrees, as does Maria, and the conversation gets heated. After seeing that the man she knew is lost at this point, she blurts out that she wished she had never met the Abbot, to which he replies that if she had the she wouldn’t have Maria, revealing to the girl her true parentage.
This, of course, shocks Maria because Tera had always told her that her father was dead. Tera sends the Abbot away and talks to her daughter, to try and reason about why she withheld the truth, but it’s clear trust has been violated between them.
This article is currently incomplete. More information will be added shortly.
Tera in Popular Culture:
It is theorized by some fans that Tera was named for the Egyptian priestess (and main antagonist) Queen Tera in Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars. This novel served as the inspiration for Hammer's fourth and final Mummy film, 1971's Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.