Alucard


 * " Dracula! In the name of my Mother, I will defeat you again!"
 * —Alucard, to his father Dracula, in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night240px-Alucard_002.jpg

Adrian Farenheights Tepes (Ţepeş), also known as Alucard (ja. アルカード lit. Arukādo), is the son of Dracula in the Castlevania series. As the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa, Adrian had special powers, preordained to be stronger than any human but not potentially as strong as his father. After Lisa was killed, mistaken for a witch, Adrian grew up under the influence of his father, whence he was taught in the black arts and molded into a warrior who would one day fight for the side of evil.

Adrian's existence did not come without quirks, as the gentle, human side of his mother always seemed to cloud his "better judgment", as Dracula would have put it. Before his mother's death, Adrian was by her side. Even though he was enraged, she insisted that he not take that anger out on the humans. With those thoughts forever implanted into his being, his mind always wandered as he questioned his father's intentions. After standing by for as long as he could, he broke away from his father's army and disappeared. Understanding that Dracula was going to implore his wrath on the people, Adrian would turn his efforts towards destroying his father's army, hopefully encouraging him to reconsider. Furthermore, he chose to go under the name "Alucard" — his father's branded name in reverse — to represent that he stood for beliefs opposite those of his father.

Much is unknown about Alucard's past, particularly his age and when he was born, much less how his father came to have a relationship with Lisa. Chronologically, the events occur sometime before Castlevania III. Alucard is also absent for many of the games in the series. He does not appear after Castlevania III until Symphony of the Night. At the end of Symphony of the Night, he announces his intention to go in to hiding, sparing the world from the cursed blood in his veins. However, he returns in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. What he does in these stretches of time, as well as his origins, may be explained in future games.

Alucard is an adept swordsman, and typically wields one-handed swords. Alucard's other attacks use dark magic. As a shape shifter, Alucard can change into a bat, other animals, or even mist.

Alucard was also featured as a secondary character in an episode of a video-game (NES) oriented cartoon, Captain N. This Alucard however has very little to do with the character featured in Konami's games as he was depicted as a rebellious teenager with a distinct modern (80s/90s) flare. Alucard was set to star in a new castlevania adventure on the Xbox 360 and PS3 which would have mark his second 3D Castlevania appearance (his first being Castlevania Judgement). Little was known about the game since there was only a small teaser at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, but the Japanese text read, "He wears with him a jet black darkness and a cursed bloodline. He betrayed his kind and destroyed his father. And with him is a blood stained fate." The game's fate is currently unknown.