Fictional character in Castlevania video games
, better known as , is a character in Konami's "Castlevania" series of video games. His first appearance in the series was in the 1989 game ', but he is best known for his role in the critically acclaimed ', released in 1997. His design in "Symphony of the Night" was created by Ayami Kojima, marking her first contribution to the "Castlevania" franchise.
In the series, Alucard is the son of Dracula, the antagonist of the "Castlevania" series. Due to his human mother, Lisa, Alucard is a dhampir, a half-human, half-vampire. His mother's death and admonition not to hate humanity caused him to take up arms against his father. In "Dracula's Curse" and "Castlevania Legends", he fights against his father alongside the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan, and he is featured as the protagonist of "Symphony of the Night". Alucard additionally is present in ' and the follow-up sequel ', where he interacts with the protagonist of both games, Soma Cruz, as the Japanese government agent . The "Lords of Shadow" reboot series, starting with the character's introduction in ', introduces a reimagined Alucard with a new backstory, revealing him as Trevor Belmont, once a mortal who was transformed into a vampire after his death at the hands of his biological father, the remorseful Dracula.
Several video game publications have provided praise and criticism on Alucard's character. While Alucard debuted in "Dracula's Curse", his characterization stood out more in "Symphony of the Night" for being a different type of protagonist from his predecessors. In "Aria of Sorrow" and "Dawn of Sorrow", where Alucard was present as Genya Arikado, reviewers noted that although he fell into a stereotypical character mold, the greater concentration on supporting characters was a welcomed change from previous "Castlevania" games. Alucard's portrayal in the "Lords of Shadow" and Netflix series also led to positive response by the media.
Conception and development.
Alucard was intended to be a mirror image of his father, as evidenced by his name, his father's name spelled backwards. The original "Castlevania" games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) contained references to the Universal Horror films, with Alucard being a tribute to Lon Chaney Jr.'s role as Count Alucard from the 1943 film, "Son Of Dracula". 
The idea of using Alucard as a protagonist in "Symphony of the Night" came from Konami's idea for a character whose abilities could grow and change, and also a character who could transform into other things. Given those two points, and the need to connect the protagonist to the history of "Castlevania", they chose Alucard. The original design was not found appealing by the staff, and they redesigned him. While the game does not explain it, Alucard can use holy weapons thanks to his human heritage. 
The ending of "Symphony of the Night" where Maria chases after Alucard was left to the player's interpretation. Though the idea about a romantic interaction was planned, the team did not want Alucard to turn Maria into another vampire. Another idea Igarashi had was that Alucard defeated Dracula in the original plotline by Bram Stoker, instead of Quincy Morris. Despite pressure for the change of protagonist, Alucard was highly popular to the fanbase with the staff members thinking it was due to him being cool.
When it came to the reboot "", Mercury Steam told the audience the spin-off "Mirror of Fate" would include Trevor Belmont and Alucard as different playable characters, before later revealing them to be the same character but transformed. With "Mirror of Fate", Mercury Steam wanted to explain the story that connects the Belmont Clan with Dracula. Alcuard plays a major in the sequel due to his connection with Dracula. For the DLC of the next game, Alucard became playable with the plot being focused more on his relationship with Dracula before the events of "Lords of Shadow 2".
For the Netflix series of "Castlevania", the art team were given directions from Konami staff members. One of those factors was Alucard's ambidextrous talents, or lack thereof. In the original animation for the show's fourth and final episode of its first season, animation director Spencer Wan had drawn Alucard holding a sword in his left hand. It was only after revisiting notes from Konami that Wan remembered the video game publisher had reminded the art team at Powerhouse Animation that Alucard had to be drawn as right-handed. This led to several changes in the making of the series in order to make Netflix's Alucard fit Konami's ideas. The first encounter between Alucard and Trevor was one of the most challenging fights to animate but the staff found that Alucard being shirtless made it easier. Despite the narrative focusing too much on tragedy, the staff made sure to give Alucard and Trevor Belmont a friendly relationship that often comes across as childish to balance the tone. For the fourth season, the team promised the emotionally destroyed Alucard would recover his humanity in this new arc.
The writers always planned to bring back Alucard for "Nocturne" even if he only appeared in the last scene from its first season. They wanted to make it a surprise return as well as make it as beautiful as possible. In retrospective, Producer Adi Shankar said that "Symphony of the Night" stood out for deviating from the franchise's common narrative elements of the Belmont clan and instead focused on Alucard who is too different from previous protagonists. He further compared the story with how different the Marvel Universe films are as they go from ' (2011) to ' (2016). This version of Alucard was later confirmed as bisexual on Twitter by Sam Deats, one of the series directors. Alucard also appears in "".
Design.
Alucard debuted in ' for the Nintendo Entertainment System, where he was designed by T. Fujimoto and I. Urata. Much of the original artwork for the game was lost during the Great Hanshin earthquake. Alucard's subsequent appearances would largely be designed by Ayami Kojima, who managed the character designs for ' and "".
Kojima's work in "Symphony of the Night" was her first breakthrough into the gaming industry, and her dark, gothic style borrows heavily from "bishōnen"-style art. From a visual perspective, Toshiharu Furukawa found it appealing to have a stylish man as the lead for this installment. Along with the change in lead, there was also a switch in visual style from an anime-esque look to one inspired by Baroque art. Kojima was inspired by the novels "Vampire Hunter D" illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano when working in the game, with Alucard being highly influenced by its title and main character.
In "Aria of Sorrow", Kojima's designs followed the new theme that producer Koji Igarashi was attempting to pursue by placing it in a futuristic setting. Following this theme, Alucard's appearance as Genya Arikado was made much more contemporary, featuring modern attire compared the historical appearances of previous "Castlevania" characters. Kojima was not present in the design team for "", and Arikado, along with the rest of the cast, were drawn in an anime style. Igarashi, also the producer of "Dawn of Sorrow", wished to utilize the anime style as a marketing technique due to his belief that the Nintendo DS targeted a younger audience than previous systems had. The anime style would also serve as a litmus test as to whether future "Castlevania" games would incorporate the style. For the Netflix series, Alucard's design was inspired by "Symphony of the Night" with the director noting it was "deep" for the character despite Trevor and other characters being influenced by other games.
For "Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate", Alucard's human form, Trevor Belmont, was created as a parallel to Dracula's former self, Gabriel Belmont. MercurySteam had more freedom with this game resulting in connections between the Belmont and Dracula. Despite being Dracula's child, Alucard was designed with the idea of being his opposite as shown with how he is attached to the light. The staff wanted Trevor to stand out and not look identical to Gabriel. Meanwhile, there were less hints about Simon Belmont being Trevor's son. The themes of fate and the parallels involving Alucard and Dracula was inspired by Christopher Nolan's film, "Memento" (2000). The powers Alucard has access to in the "Lords of Shadow" reboot were loosely based on "Symphony of the Night".
Voice actors.
"Symphony of the Night" is the second "Castlevania" game to employ voice actors for the characters (the first being the "" for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM²). The Japanese voice actor for Alucard was Ryōtarō Okiayu, and the English voice actor was Robert Belgrade. Igarashi especially liked the final scene, when Alucard says "Trouble the soul of my mother no more!" as it emphasizes the character's humanity, in contrast to his quiet and emotionless lines earlier in the game. The English actor, Robert Belgrade, grew fond on the game and noticed he received favorable feedback from the fans. Belgrade lamented he was not called by Konami for later works which he attributes due to the localization team being moved.
Igarashi noted that due to fan complaints over the voice acting in "Symphony of the Night", a new script for the game as well as a set of new voice actors were used in "The Dracula X Chronicles". Yuri Lowenthal replaced Belgrade for this version.
In the "Lords of Shadow" series, Alucard is voiced by Richard Madden. Producer Dave Cox claimed Madden was chosen due to his popularity and talent in order to fit with other famous actors like Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart.
James Callis voices Alucard in the 2017 Netflix series "Castlevania" and its 2023 sequel, "". Callis originally auditioned for Trevor. However, the way he did his Trevor audition was exactly how he voices Alucard, which the staff found funny. This led to Callis taking the role of Alucard. The team enjoyed recording several lines due to how violent and humorous some interactions were.
Caliis recalls being a fan of vampire stories in his youth but played few "Castlevania" games during that time. As a result, he had no knowledge of the franchise when being cast for the role. He was impressed by Netflix's "Castlevania". In describing his character, he considers it fair to say that he plays his Alucard's very close to himself. He added that the character "has lived, loved, experienced humanity in all its glory and its despair" and manages to become more human when interacting with the human race. He felt that if he had one word to describe his tragic heritage, it would be a "torn". Callis further claimed Alucard "as having the visage and demeanor of a placid lake", repressing his human instincts.
Appearances.
In video games.
In the 1989 "" for the NES, Alucard is initially a boss encountered by the primary protagonist, Trevor Belmont. If the player defeats Alucard, he can be utilized as a playable character in the game.
Alucard's following appearance in the series is in the 1997 game, "", where he is featured as the game's protagonist and primary playable character. Due to the brainwashing of the current member of the Belmont clan, Richter Belmont, Alucard heads to his father's castle to find Richter and ensure that Dracula does not return. He encounters Richter, who has been controlled by the dark priest Shaft into believing he is the lord of Dracula's castle, and Alucard manages to free him from the spell controlling him. In response, Shaft creates an inverted version of Dracula's castle for Alucard to travel through, and Alucard defeats him, and ultimately, Dracula as well. "Symphony of the Night" also expands on Alucard's background, revealing how his human mother, Lisa, was hunted down and executed by humans who believed her to be a witch. Despite this, Lisa admonished Alucard to respect humans and not hate them as his father did. In an alternative ending, the young Maria either chases Alucard in the hope of helping him, or resigns herself to Alucard's fate and leaves with Richter.
The 1997 "Castlevania Legends" was Alucard's third appearance in the series. Similar to his initial appearance in "Dracula's Curse", he is a boss challenging the skills of the game's protagonist, Sonia Belmont. After she defeats him, he accepts her strength and decides to submerge his powers by entering a deep sleep, believing that she will defeat Dracula in his stead.
In the 2003 "", Alucard is