1783 AD

Season 1:

Working in the New World, carrying on the Belmont family quest to rid the world of the undead and Night Creatures, 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. comes across a recently turned vampire, a Mohican warrior who had been fighting against the British colonists. Taking him as a threat to the humans of the land, Julia battles the vampire, killing him and saving the colonists. What she didn’t realize at the time, and only learned after, was that the Mohican warrior was the lover of a master 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 by killing the vampire Julia had just put a warrant on her own head.

Soon realizing the danger coming, Julia grabs up her young son, 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., and flees with him across Massachusetts to the docks of Boston. She intends to get him on a boat for France where, hopefully, her friend TeraOne of four girls that can be rescued in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. Tera was a young nun you lived in the village in the original game, although her role was greatly expanded in Castlevania: Nocturne, turning her into Maria's mother. will be able to care for and defend the boy from any threats that might come. But before they can get to the boat. Olrox catches up to them. He takes on Julia in a pitched battle, with the tides of the fight going back and forth. However, when Richter tries to tap into his own magic (passed down to him through the generations from 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.), he ends up only distracting Julia. She has to defend him from an attack by Olrox, and this mortally wounds her.

For his part, Olrox finds the situation agreeable, one dead for another, and so he leaves the boy alone. His blood vengeance sated, he does tell the boy that when he becomes a man, and wants his revenge, to come and find the vampire. It’s a fight he looks forward to.

Seeing his mother die in front of him, killed in part by his own mistakes, it scars Richter. It pushes down his powers, leaving him unable to tap into them. He gets on the boat, his mother’s whip in hand, and joins with Tera who does, indeed, raise the child as her own. He bonds with Tera’s daughter, Maria RenardA young heroine, and cousin to Richter Belmont, with the blood of the Belmont clan in her veins, Maria teams with Richter to fight back Dracula and the forces of darkness in the late 1700s., with the two becoming like siblings. But deep down the events in Boston haunt him and keep him from truly growing into the vampire hunter he could be… at least for a time.

Episodes Referenced

• Castlevania: Nocturne: Season 1:
  • "Witchbottle"

Important Information

Julia Belmont is a new character created for the Netflix series. Although we all knew that Richter had a mother, and that he was likely the grandson of Juste BelmontGrandson of Simon Belont, and grandfather to Richter, Juste wields both the power of the Belmont clan and the magic of the Belnades family. Juste has to put his considerable power to the test when Dracula’s castle reappears, all on a quest to help his friend Maxim find their missing companion, Lydie., this episode (and the events after) detail who his mother was, her connection to her father Juste, and what happened to her, forcing Richter to pick up the whip and become the next hero of the clan.

Olrox, meanwhile, is reinvented in this episode (and the episodes after). Instead of the vaguely Germanic vampire likely based on Count Orlock from NosferatuPredating even the first official adaptation of Bram Stoker’s work, this German silent film was not authorized by the Stoker estate and was quickly sued over upon its release. It’s also considered one of the great classics of the silent horror era. (1922), Orlox is now an ancient Aztec vampire with his own powers and his own agenda. It’s a stark contrast from his role in the game series, but it does help to make him into someone more than just another generic vampire lord. It also explains why he’s in the New World since that’s his home turf in the anime series.