History Characters / BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Most likely an unintentional example on his part. Zangetsu's bullheaded approach to the castle and his immediate hostility to Miriam for rather petty reasons lead to him coming off as DumbMuscle at first. Dominique and Gremory both underestimate his perceptiveness severely, and when he figures them out, he instantly becomes the SpannerInTheWorks.

** Miriam is also a lot like Shanoa. They have very [[RavenHairIvorySkin similar physical appearances to each other]], both help townspeople in their games, use shards/glyphs which are embedded in their skin, were both taken in as a child by a demon/dracula-worshipping organization who tried to use her to summon forth said demons/dracula at the cost her life. Her relationship with Gebel echoes Shanoa's relationship with her adoptive brother Albus, as both of them are {{Evil Former Friend}}s who thank them for letting them see them smile one last time as they die.

* ShearMenace: She may try to chop you with gigantic scissors she pulls out of a demonic portal.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Yes, you can change the blood color to white. And yes, it will also imply that she's covered in a certain...''[[ADateWithRosiePalms other]]''...bodily substance. A later update also added [[UrineTrouble yellow]] as a selectable blood color.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Yes, you can change the blood color to white. And yes, it will also imply that she's covered in a certain ''other'' bodily substance. A later update also added [[UrineTrouble yellow]] as a selectable blood color.

* DropTheHammer: Seen wielding one in concept art.

* AscendedMeme: Miriam can obtain a shard called [[https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/003/898/294/b4fdc7f31f1e8ffae139cca7b78e99a7_original.jpg?v=1433150730&w=639&h=&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=50a54bda2f7fb68f78f569cf0f2e9d6c Insatiable]], where she tosses a wine glass à la Dracula.

** Concept art of the actual game, conversely, plays this straight, as it depicts Miriam's body crystallizing from rose-esque blue to an eerie stained glass-esque red à la [[BigBad Gebel]], in what appears to be access to a SuperpoweredEvilSide.

*** Riga Storæma, which summons a flame pillar, and Riga Dohin, which casts a giant ball of fire.

** LightEmUp: Tis Raiff and Tis Rozaïn are light beam attacks. The former fires multiple beams of light that when upgraded fire [[BeamSpam more and more]], while the latter when upgraded turns into a large light-based KamehameHadoken.

Encountered in the upper area of Dian Cécht Cathedral in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 6 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''. Bloodless can additionally be selected as a playable character in the main game if "BLOODLESS" is entered as a name.

* BloodCountess: She's an ancient vampiress whom you first encounter while she's bathing in a tub of blood to maintain her youthful appearance, in an obvious send-up to Elizabeth Báthory.

** Dominique expresses anger that Zangetsu "betrayed" her by figuring out her plans and giving Miriam the Zangetsuto to surprise-attack Gremory, which would hold more merit if she herself wasn't so deceitful and manipulative. In fact, it was Zangetsu figuring out that her kind exterior is a façade used to manipulate others that led to him "betraying" her in the first place. [[LampshadeHanging Miriam promptly calls Dominique out for this.]]

* LightEmUp: When you face her, she frequently uses Tis Raiff and Tis Rozaïn, which involve light beams.
* LightIsNotGood: She uses Enochian Script, the supposed language of the Angels, to control the crystal corruption, effectively making her immune to it. She also wields it to summon Bael, and any demon she wants to by her own admission. Finally, in both her boss fight and the Bael boss fight, she tends to use Tis Rozaïn and Tis Raiff the most, the two light-based shards. She additionally wields a whip made of light to attack and Reflector Ray to move as a flash of light in her boss fight. Lastly, she wears some white.

* MirrorBoss: During the endgame, she fights using spells available to Miriam, such as Riga Storæma.

* TheSociopath: Has shades of this, as she manipulates everyone around her while keeping a [[FauxAffablyEvil façade of niceness]] on top of an apparent NiceGirl look.

* AdaptationalHeroism: {{Exaggerated|Trope}}. She's the BigBad of ''Ritual of the Night'', but she becomes a playable character in the sequel of ''Curse of the Moon'', and in this continuity, her NiceGirl trait is not a façade.

* DefrostingIceQueen: The loss of Dominique finally cracks Robert's cool façade - he spends most of Episode 2 bonding with Hachi and will catch Dominique if he's present when Zangetsu frees her.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: For the battle's Coup de Grâce, Zangetsu allows you to do this.

* {{Lunacy}}: During her second phase in the first ''Curse'', her attacks depend on what phase of the moon is showing, she uses crescent moons à la [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Death]]'s mini sickles, and she starts dropping blood moons near the end of her boss fight.

Encountered in the lower area of Dian Cécht Cathedral in ''Ritual of the Night''.

* GutturalGrowler: Courtesy of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Solid Snake]] himself, David Hayter.

* ManlyMan: A scarred, rugged, peerless warrior with not just any [[GutturalGrowler deep, guttural voice]], but ''the'' [[Creator/DavidHayter deep, guttural voice]]? Zangetsu is the archetypical manliness personified.
* MrFanservice: His choice of clothing [[WalkingShirtlessScene leaves much of his upper chest exposed]] to reveal a ''very'' muscular build, due to training and fighting for many years slaying demons. Him being voiced by David Hayter[[note]]whom you may recognize as [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Solid Snake]][[/note]] makes him a GutturalGrowler, enhancing his appeal for those who are attracted toward men.

* BarrageOfBats: In the first phase of her boss fight in ''1'', she lifts one of her hands and, with a glow of purple energy, summons a heavy stream of bats that travserse the screen in a set path.

* BathingBeauty: Is said to bathe thrice a day without fail, and you indeed find her by [[InterruptedBath interrupting]] her while she's in a [[BathtubScene bathtub]] bathing... in blood.

* MagikarpPower: Her only starting ability is the slide that everyone has and even that has to taken from a nearby red crystal orb. In addition she's also easily killed as she has low health and only has only 3 resistances. But throughout the castle, there are red crystal globes for her to break. Doing so grants her improved attributes (including boosts to [=MP=] regeneration) and new powers, eventually making her a formidable character in a fight.

* MsFanservice: A sexy vampiress that is introduced [[NakedOnArrival naked]] lounging in a [[BathtubScene bathtub]]. You can and will also inflict ClothingDamage on her during the fight.

* {{Catchphrase}}: "'''Kill''' those murderers '''''dead!'''''"

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Her [[CatchPhrase catchphrase]]: "'''Kill''' those murderers '''''dead!'''''"

[[caption-width-right:350:"''[[EloquentInMyNativeTongue So long as I am called forth]], [[Engrish I will keep resurrecting.]]''"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"_[[EloquentInMyNativeTongue So long as I am called forth]], [[Engrish I will keep resurrecting.]]_"]]

* CompositeCharacter: ''Curse of the Moon 2''[='s=] unlockable Ultimate Zangetsu has the powers of the previous game's Ultimate Zangetsu, but with the added powers of the Soul Eraser Zangetsu.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her status as the ([[DiscOneFinalBoss initial]]) FinalBoss of ''Curse'' hints at the revelation that she is the TheHeavy of ''Ritual''. (Unfortunately, she too isn't the actual instigator in ''Ritual'') It also helps that she attempts to possess Zangetsu in three of ''Curse''[='=]s MultipleEndings (and succeeds in two of them), showcasing that she can do this to other people as well... such as Gebel in ''Ritual''.

* CaptainErsatz: Revenant is based on the original ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' Belmonts. He wields a whip and even uses other weapons very similar to ''Castlevania''[='=]s Dagger, Cross, and Holy Water subweapons. Additionally, given his black hair and armor, his design is not-too-dissimilar to that of ''[[VideoGame/HauntedCastle Haunted Castle]]''-era Simon. When his boss room is first entered, mulitple doors slide open from a circular hole in the wall, out of which the Revenant climbs. This boss intro is very similar to that of the Doppelganger boss in ''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night''.

* KillItWithWater: He throws a potion that greatly resembles ''Castlevania''[='=]s Holy Water, sending a wave of flames on the ground towards you.

* TeleportSpam: Very much like ''Castlevania''[='=]s Dracula.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: For some reason, he is the only boss from the first ''Curse'' who doesn't show up in ''Ritual''.

* WalkingSpoiler: Given what happens at the end of Episode 1, it is impossible to talk about Dominique without spoiling a good portion of the story.

!Playable Characters in ''Curse of the Moon'' and its sequel.
[[folder:Gebel]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gebel.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Shusaku Shirakawa (JP) / Creator/RayChase (ENG)
One of the antagonists of ''Ritual of the Night''. Another Shardbinder and Miriam's best friend. Gebel (JEE-bull) was the only one to survive the Alchemists' demon summoning ritual. In his rage, he slaughtered the Alchemists and disappeared. Now he has returned with a host of demons at his command and has summoned a demonic castle called the Hellhold to lay waste to England.\\\

It is said that his real purpose in summoning the castle was to give Miriam a place where they both belong, but as his crystal corruption progressed, he soon forgot his own reasoning. The more he surrounded himself with hellspawn, the quicker the corruption spread. He continues to plot the downfall of man, and how to best convince (or use) Miriam to achieve his dark ambition.\\\

Gebel is also one of the recruitable playable characters in ''Curse of the Moon''.

%%* AmbiguouslyBrown: Gebel is a surname in Turkey, as well as Germany. It is also derived from the Arabic word ''jabal'', meaning hill/mountain. However, the game doesn't specify if Gebel himself is Turkish, German, both or neither.
* BeatTheCurseOutOfHim: What Miriam effectively does to him during their battle in Classic Mode. It succeeds and [[BaitTheDog Gebel actually comes to his senses]]... only for [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Dominique to abruptly kill him herself]] and face Miriam instead.
* {{BFS}}: Though he spends most of his boss fight spamming spells and other shard abilities like Summon Hellhound, he will sometimes attack with the Eternal Blue, the strongest greatsword in the game.
* BigBadWannabe: The nemesis of ''Bloodstained'', who summoned a hell castle and wants to destroy humanity. In the end, he turns out to be little more than a pawn of Gremory, and by extension Dominique.
* BodyHorror: Unlike Miriam, whose crystal growths are comparatively lesser, Gebel's body has transformed to a point where it is more crystal than skin, the crystallized parts of which can be quite unnerving to look at.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: As it turns out, his evil actions are explained by the fact that Gremory was mind controlling him and forcing him to do her and Dominique's bidding.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Takes on reddish-violet as the villain of the story.
* ChewingTheScenery: Gebel ''consumes'' every scene he's in, especially when he's [[LargeHam yelling]].
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: He has forgotten any good intentions he once had for Miriam when summoning the demon castle. Given that his corruption had progressed to a near-terminal stage and that Gremory was toying with his plague-addled mind at her leisure, he didn't rightly invoke the dark side in question on his own, either.
* DecoyAntagonist: Gebel is set up as the main antagonist of ''Ritual of the Night'', and the one who instigates the conflict by summoning the demons and the castle. In the end, he simply turns out to be an UnwittingPawn of the actual antagonists.
* DivineParentage: Heavily downplayed, but Dominique reveals that the reason Gebel managed to survive the first summoning of the demon castle ten years ago was because he had the blood of an exorcist, which was holy enough to allow him to live in spite of the hellish ritual.
* DyingAsYourself: Goes through this in ''Ritual of the Night'', regardless of the player's actions. In the first bad ending, Miriam just kills him, with Gremory's control briefly lapsing before he dies. Gebel uses his last moments to say that Miriam did the right thing, and thanks her as he expires. In the good ending, he [[TakenForGranite turns into a crystal statue instead]] thanks to Gremory advancing his crystallization quickly. Gebel remarks that he's glad he got to see Miriam smile one last time before he becomes entirely crystallized.
* {{Expy}}: His role in this game is quite similar to that of Dracula, though appearance-wise, he looks more like Alucard.
** One could argue he has more similarities character-wise to Richter Belmont from ''Symphony of the Night'', namely being a heroic character who was turned evil by an outside source and a DiscOneFinalBoss. Killing him also nets you the Bad Ending, just like what would happen if you killed Richter. This also makes him similar to Albus from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'', with whom he also shares an antagonism towards the resident AloofDarkHairedGirl protagonist, and commenting on how good it is to [[WhenSheSmiles see her smile]] as they pass on, [[DyingAsYourself Dying as Themselves]].
** Appearance-wise, he shares some similarities to Stella and Loretta Lecarde, once having been a normal human who is in the process of metamorphasizing into something else due to a mystical disease and in which one of their eyes have turned red as a symbol of this (vampirism for the Lecardes, and crystallization for Gebel). He also shares the fact that he uses the same gimmick that the {{player character}} uses in game (the partner system in ''Portrait of Ruin'' for the Lecardes, and Shards and their powers for Gebel). As well, like Richter, the Lecardes were also [[DiscOneFinalBoss disc one final bosses]] who were brainwashed by an outside force, and killing them also nets you a bad ending.
** He also shares similarities with Maxim from ''Harmony of Dissonance'', being a misguided man who ends up being corrupted by a source of demonic power, inadvertently summons Dracula's castle and formed an alliance with Death, only to be betrayed and killed by his machinations. In the True Ending path, Gebel dies because Gremory was the only one slowing down his crystallization curse, and her abandoning him speeds up his disease to terminal levels. He is also merely her pawn, like Maxim was to Death, and, yes, [[RuleOfThree killing Maxim leads to a bad ending]].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: It's unknown to what extent it's played, but it seems that being reminded of some of the good things about humanity and his past causes him pain. Somewhat subverted when, at the end of his conversation with Miriam, he mentions that if she gets through his castle, absorbing shards all the while, and is still capable of calling herself human by the end of it, he's willing to listen to what Miriam has to say.
* EvilCounterpart: He's built up as this up till the climax, having the same origin story as Miriam as a Guinea Pig.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: In the Bad Ending, as he dies, he assures Miriam that she made the right choice and thanks her for stopping him. When he dies in the path to the true ending, he accepts his fate gracefully, telling Miriam that the world is better off without him and urges her to destroy the castle.
* FaceHeelTurn: He was once a HopeBringer to Miriam, showing her that she still had her humanity when she crossed the DespairEventHorizon. Now the tables are turned, and he's the despairing villain to her hopeful heroine.
* FightingYourFriend: He, Johannes, and Miriam used to be friends. His initial intention upon summoning his demonic castle was to give Miriam a place to belong, but when his magi-crystal curse got worse, he forgot why he summoned the castle.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There is some foreshadowing that Gebel isn't the bad guy, in spite of definitely looking the part.
** He is one of the optional protagonists of ''Curse Of the Moon'', and can potentially assist Zangetsu in taking down Gremory. This is not a coincidence.
** Miriam notes that she's seen a flicker of who Gebel used to be beneath all of the hate, right before Gremory notes that they should leave. This is because Gremory is trying to keep up her brainwashing on him and Miriam can ruin that.
** Miriam and Johannes make mention of how good he used to be, before he seemingly fell into evil to the point he suffers from TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget. He hasn't technically forgotten, but Gremory is screwing with his mind, making him evil rather than him doing it of his own accord.
** His outfit [[WalkingShirtlessScene shows off his bare chest]], which is almost completely crystallized, except for the spot where his heart is. A visual cue that no matter how drunk on demonic power he appears to be, his heart is still human.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Before the curse changed his physical appearance, he used to wear glasses. Miriam can obtain them for herself as a reward for collecting all of the shards in the game. This trope ends up applying to someone, alright, but it isn't him.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Promotional art shows that he had blond hair before the crystal corruption, and he was Miriam’s best friend.
* HumanoidAbomination: Due to the Alchemists' curse, Gebel has basically become more crystal than human. He plans to plunge the world into chaos using demons summoned from hell.
* HumansAreBastards: Believes in this after what the Alchemists did.
* LastNameBasis: Gebel is a surname instead of a given name. Assuming Gebel is his last name, he hasn't been addressed by his first name.
* MagicKnight: Though unlike Miriam or Zangetsu, he favors sorcery. He'll still pull out a greatsword with one hand should Miriam get too close.
* MaskOfPower: He wears a golden mask over the right half of his face, which has, at this point, completely crystallized.
* MeaningfulName: The word "Gebel" comes from the Maltese and Arabic word "jabal" which means hill or mountain. Gebel challenges Miriam by telling her to climb the castle (which is roughly the size of a mountain) and find him.
* MirrorBoss: The majority of his attacks are shard abilities that Miriam can also use: Riga Dohin, Teps Salrenda, Va Ischa, and Summon Hellhound. Miriam can also craft his greatsword to use. The only unique moves he has are a grab attack and the ability to turn the lingering AOE of his Riga Dohin into a giant ball of dark energy and send it across the room.
* OneHandedZweihander: He can swing his greatsword one-handed with the same ease Miriam can swing a regular sword.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: It's mentioned in one of the Unnamed Alchemist's last journals that two years after the demon summoning, Gebel returned with a load of demons under his command to sentence the Alchemist Guild members to death. It ends off with the Unnamed Alchemist realizing that Gebel has a special punishment in mind for him, and promptly (and futilely) begging for mercy.
* PlotlineDeath: Gebel dies in both ending paths, either by Miriam's hand or by his crystallization curse becoming terminal and killing him.
* SacrificialLion: No matter which ending you get, you cannot save Gebel, as his death is required to show that Gremory and Dominique are the true threats by plotting to summon Bael.
* SleevesAreForWimps: When he's not fully wearing his cape, he's got a vest that [[WalkingShirtlessScene doesn't close]].
* SlouchOfVillainy: When Miriam finally meets him at Hall of Termination, he's lazily lounging on his throne before taking her on.
* TakenForGranite: His fate in the True Ending. If he's freed from Gremory in his boss fight, his curse rapidly progresses and his body becomes completely crystallized.
* UnwittingPawn: He is being used by Gremory, who intends to use him to call forth Bael the Demon King to the human world.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: He doesn't actually wear a shirt. His vest remains open, exposing the center of his chest. It's somewhat difficult to notice this because [[GemTissue his entire chest is almost completely crystallized at this point]].
* WeCanRuleTogether: He offers this to Miriam, in part because they're the only ones who can understand each other.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Appears to be true at first, but subverted, because he doesn’t actually have a black heart at all.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: The crystallization curse has progressed so far that he could die at any given moment. Sure enough, going for the true ending has him succumb to the disease.

!!!''Curse of the Moon'' series tropes:
* AntiAir: His basic attack is an upward-angled SpreadShot, making him exceptionally good at dealing with enemies hovering above him. The downside, of course, is that he is lousy at dealing with low-lying enemies.
* BarrageOfBats: His standard attack is pulling his cape back to fire a trio of summoned bats.
* {{Expy}}: He plays like Alucard's ''Castlevania III'' appearance, in particular being able to shapeshift into a bat.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Unlike ''Ritual of the Night'', where it's impossible for him to make it out of the game alive, ''Curse of the Moon'' allows Zangetsu to recruit or at least let him live, and he is still alive by ''2''.
* WeakButSkilled: Gebel is rather limited in offensive utility, as his basic attack generally deals less damage except at point blank range and his bat form can't do much except a weak DashAttack. However, said basic attack has the unique distinction of hitting at an upwards angle, allowing him to destroy weak enemies and projectiles coming from above, and his bat form is small and manuverable, allowing you to skip platforming segments and fit into elevated gaps that no other character can get into.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Alfred]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alfred_2.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TaitenKusunoki (JP) / Christopher Swindle (ENG)
The mentor of Johannes, and a powerful Alchemist who was involved in the demon summoning ritual a decade ago. He's also a father figure for both Miriam and Johannes, or at least he was. Right now, he's only obsessed with acquiring the Liber Logaeth, a magical tome kept in Gebel's possession, for an unknown reason...\\\

Alfred is also a recruitable playable character in ''Curse of the Moon''.
----
* TheAtoner: His actions in ''Ritual'' showcases elements of this. His plan was to place runes at the Castle's weakest points before blowing it up, with the very high chance that he might die in the process. Though he doesn't succeed, he manages to pass the plans off to Johannes, and spends his last breaths apologizing profusely to Miriam for her getting involved with all of this. He may also be somewhat guilt-ridden from being a bit of an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom (as mentioned below).
* BadassLongRobe: His long robe is old and tattered, but Alfred himself is a very powerful alchemist with many spells at his disposal. His power is so great that he can magically go toe-to-toe with a shardbinder as powerful as Gebel.
* FlashStep: In his boss fight, he uses this to get away from you.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There was some foreshadowing that he's not the bad guy that people in-game claim him to be.
** In ''Curse of the Moon'', he's one of the protagonists. This is not a coincidence.
** His ImpliedDeathThreat makes it unclear as to whether he's going to kill Miriam and Johannes, or the castle and its demons will. He knows that Dominique is evil and working with Gremory, and he wants Miriam and Johannes out of the castle before he enacts his plan to blow it back to Hell.
** He claims in his boss fight that he was preparing a seal to use on someone else, but will have to use it on Miriam instead. As the name implies, a "Seal" means he's using it to keep something sealed or locked up, not harmed. Not to mention he refers to a "her", which implies that he was probably going to use it on Dominique, as is confirmed in the next Alchemy lab you go to after fighting Alfred.
** The journals from an Alchemist Guild Member, alongside mentioning their research on the crystal shards and using them to summon demons, make note that a colleague was being kind to the shardbinder children and studying kinetic force-manipulating spells. It's eventually revealed that the colleague is Alfred, and he was studying those spells to keep Miriam from being consumed by the curse.
** Last but not least, Johannes mentions that the spell keeping Miriam from becoming corrupted further by the Shards was very powerful and involves stasis magic. Who in the first few hours of gameplay mentions his power surpasses Johannes and is noted to use slowing magic?
* GetBackHereBoss: When actually fought in ''Ritual'', he's prone to running and teleporting away a lot.
* GoodAllAlong: So good that it wouldn't be a stretch to say he's the game's BigGood acting as a StealthMentor. The ApocalypticLog that Miriam finds throughout the castle ultimately turns out to be written by one of Alfred's colleagues rather than Alfred himself. These journals actually prove Alfred's innocence: he opposed the ritual to summon the demons, spent a great deal of time bonding with the children, was researching ways to stop the crystals from spreading even before Johannes, and is heavily implied to be the one who put Miriam into her magically-induced slumber to both sabotage the ritual and save her life. The reason he's after the Liber Logaeth is that he knows that Gremory is using Gebel to summon Bael, and that Dominique also wants it for reasons he believes to be malevolent. Alfred wants to use the Liber Logaeth in combination with the Enochian script he's placed all over the castle's structural weaknesses to destroy it. On top of that his seemingly threatening warning to Miriam at the beginning of the game comes from wanting to protect her from Gremory, realizing that Miriam would make for a much stronger puppet if Gebel were to be defeated conventionally. Alfred knew he'd likely die doing all of this, but he does pass along his research and plans to Johannes when they reconcile, allowing his apprentice to destroy the castle in his stead and to give him a good chance to stop the crystals for good and truly save Miriam.
* ImpliedDeathThreat: When Johannes walks into Miriam's meeting with him, Alfred makes note that his magical strength exceeds Johannes, and tells him to take Miriam and leave the castle or else they will die. Whether he means by the monsters or himself is unclear, but it's there. However, considering that Alfred is GoodAllAlong, it turns out that he's referring to the demons, Gremory, Gebel, Dominique, or all of the above. He wasn't trying to actively kill Miriam or Johannes at all. However, his plan to destroy the castle by placing destructive runes around its structural weaknesses and blowing them up with the Liber Logaeth can play this straight, as it would probably kill them if they're still inside when everything goes boom, which is part of the reason why he's trying to make them leave (the other part being that [[UnwittingPawn they might play into Gremory and Dominique's plans]]).
* MotiveMisidentification: Johannes initially believes that Alfred wants the Liber Logaeth so that he can restore the Alchemist's Guild to power. It turns out that Alfred wants to use it to banish the demons and the castle.
* OnlySaneMan: The Unnamed Alchemist's journals reveal that Alfred was one of the only senior Alchemists who realized that the plan to use Shardbinder children to unleash demons on the Earth to scare people into supporting the Alchemists again was both completely immoral and insanely dangerous.
* PlotlineDeath: In the True Ending path, he is mortally wounded by Gremory in the Den of Behemoths when Gremory steals the Liber Logaeth from him. In his final moments, he reveals his real plans to Johannes and says his farewells to Miriam.
* PoorCommunicationKills: While making thinly-veiled death threats at Johannes, Miriam, and Zangetsu, it's eventually learned that Alfred's true target is Dominique, because he knows that she's not to be trusted. When Miriam asks why he didn't just tell her that, he says that by time the two of them met, she already trusted Dominique more than him, and even if she ''did'' believe him, Miriam wouldn't have done what he asked anyway.
* StatusInflictionAttack: Most of Alfred's attacks in ''Ritual'' focus on weakening Miriam with status ailments such as poison, cursing her HP and MP to half-capacity, and casting sigils to slow her movements. This makes far more sense once Miriam learns that Alfred was only trying to keep her away from the castle to protect her from Gremory, not kill her.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While Alfred is not responsible for any of the shard experiments and demon summonings, he did try to help the Unnamed Alchemist in their attempts to summon a demon by just telling them to invert the summoning rite in it. This sadly somewhat helped the alchemist in getting as far as he did and is the reason why so much damage came from them.

!!!''Curse of the Moon'' series tropes:
* {{Expy}}: He plays similarly to Sypha Belnades from ''Castlevania III''. In ''Curse of the Moon 2'', his staff attack can restore weapon energy when it hits enemies, similar to ''Yoko'' Belnades from ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow''.
* GlassCannon: His spells are tremendously powerful, but Alfred has the lowest health and worst movement of the entire cast. In fact, the final battle of the first ''Curse of the Moon'' requires that the party protect him long enough to cast one massive spell that can take out the corrupted Zangetsu once and for all.
* KillItWithIce: Frostcalibur, one of his most useful abilities allows him to freeze enemies and allow any followup attacks to deal double damage. If paired with Miriam's axe sub-weapon, it can one-shot most mooks and deal heavy damage to bosses.
* MundaneUtility: You can use Alfred's Frostcalibur for platforming by freezing enemies or Miriam's boomerang scythes in mid-air.
* {{Nerf}}: Alfred's fireball barrier is significantly weaker in ''Curse 2''. Several projectiles that would have been stopped before aren't now.
* NighInvulnerability: He can surround himself with an aura of rotating fireballs that blocks most damage and deals damage to enemies that touch it.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: He dies on the True Ending route of ''Ritual of the Night'', but is able to survive the events of ''Curse of the Moon'' by the player's choice, and shows up in ''2''.
* SquishyWizard: He has low health, but a wide array of spells.
[[/folder]]

!Playable Characters in ''Curse of the Moon 2''
[[folder:Dominique Baldwin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rotn_dominique.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see her ''Curse of the Moon 2'' appearance.]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curse_of_the_moon_2_dominique_5.jpg]]]][[/labelnote]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KaoriMizuhashi (JP) / Creator/FrydaWolff (ENG)
A young exorcist who works for the Church, Dominique supports Miriam's mission as a shopkeeper in Arvantville, the village near the Hellhold. She also works alongside Zangetsu, with the two conducting their own investigation in the castle. While Miriam and Zangetsu are doing their separate duties, however, Dominique is enacting a plan of her own...

She eventually was PromotedToPlayable in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon 2'' and later in the ''Curse of Dominique'' mode.
----
!!!''Ritual of the Night'' tropes:

[[folder:Robert]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curse_of_the_moon_2_robert.jpg]]
A bald soldier with extraordinary sharpshooting skills, he's an old friend of Zangetsu that has a disdain towards both demons and Church members. ''Curse of the Moon 2'' is his very first appearance as he did not appear in the prequel or ''Ritual of the Night''.

* BottomlessMagazines: Played with by default; while he doesn't have an ammunition limit, he must reload his musket after every shot, which significantly reduces his attack speed. Played straight when he puts on the Bandanna, however, as he breaks out [[DualWielding a second musket]] and is simply able to shoot as fast as the player can [[ButtonMashing mash the attack button]] until you turn it off or run out of WEAPON Points.
* CanonForeigner: He is one of the two playable characters specifically created to appear in the ''Curse of the Moon'' spinoff series.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When told that there's no oxygen on the moon and that fire needs oxygen, Robert's first thought is to go gather firewood as soon as they arrive.
* DefrostingIceQueen: The loss of Dominique finally cracks Robert's cool façade - he spends most of Episode 2 bonding with Hachi and will catch Dominique if he's present when Zangetsu frees her.
* {{Expy}}: Robert being TheGunslinger draws parallel with [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Albus]]. His ability to cling to walls may also make him a modernized version of [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Grant]], the way [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Hammer]] was originally going to be. Grant could throw knives as a basic attack in the Japanese version of Dracula’s Curse, similar to Robert’s long-range rifle.
* GlassCannon: Robert has the lowest health out of all the playable characters, but he has an excellent range and a set of powerful sub-weapons to make up for it.
* GunsAkimbo: Using the Scarf subweapon allows Robert to use both of his guns and enables him to do rapid-fire shooting.
* JerkassRealization: Robert makes no secret of hating Dominique and even threatens to shoot her on sight when they first meet. So when she sacrifices herself at the end of Episode 1, it shocks Robert into finally realizing that his anger towards the Church has blinded him and that he mistreated one of the few people that supported him. In the intermission scene of Episode 2 after just one stage, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Robert is seen crying as a result]].
* LongRangeFighter: He uses a rifle as his primary weapon and, thanks to his [[GlassCannon small health pool]], is best for taking out troublesome enemies from a distance.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Dominique's HeroicSacrifice at the end of Episode 1, he realizes that whenever the team needed her, she was there for them and comes to realize how wrong he's been. In the prelude to Stage 2 of Episode 2, he sits and weeps in regret.
* TheParanoiac: He is suspicious of every character ''except'' Zangetsu (who was an old comrade), wanting to shoot Dominique on sight and believing that bringing Hachi into the party is a bad idea.
* PetTheDog: Literally does this in the Chapter 2 intermission, starting off [[IWishedYouWereDead distraught about losing Dominique]] but gets cheered up by Hachi in later levels.
* RememberTheNewGuy: He's an old war buddy of Zangetsu, and is apparently on such good terms that he considers Zangetsu someone he can trust.
* TookALevelInKindness: Dominique's sacrifice shakes him so badly that after he picks himself up from his JerkassRealization, he starts treating Hachi nicely and even plays fetch with him.
* WallJump: Robert has a ''Videogame/MegaManX''-like wall slide and wall jump that allow him to reach areas inaccessible to other characters.

[[folder:Hachi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hachi_3.jpg]]
A playable character who makes his debut in ''Curse of the Moon 2''. Initially a normal corgi, an evil Alchemist experimented on him in relation to a project involving a PoweredArmor, granting Hachi the ability to control the armor to fight demons. He now follows Zangetsu, as he seemingly owes a debt to the aged warrior.

* CanonForeigner: He is one of the two playable characters specifically created to appear in the ''Curse of the Moon'' spinoff series.
* CrutchCharacter: While Dominique makes going through the stage easier, Hachi makes going through bosses easier thanks to his big HP pool and multiple utilities like his NighInvulnerability (especially when certain bosses like Vepar take advantage of the floor spikes) and his NotQuiteFlight, which can keep him midair for awhile and punching bosses without having to jump a lot. Because of this, when you lose Hachi for the Episode EX run, boss fights can get a lot more challenging.
* DeathFromAbove: The armor's immense weight allows Hachi to kill demons by outright flattening them from an altitude.
* GoombaStomp: He can pound the top of enemies to deal heavy damage.
* GroundPound: In addition to dealing damage to enemies from above, Hachi can also burst through weak flooring with his pound attack.
* HeroicDog: Hachi is a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot-riding/Powered Armor-wearing demon-hunting doggie.]]
* MegatonPunch: Introduces himself by demolishing the Stage 3 boss (a massive train) with a single punch.
* MightyGlacier: Hachi's suit is extraordinarily powerful, being able to withstand huge amounts of damage and having passive immunity to most hazards that don't cause instant death. However, he's also a big target and can't move fast, as well as lacking any offense besides a short-ranged punch.
* MiniMecha: He rides around in a {{Steampunk}}-esque mech.
* NighInvulnerability: His only weapon skill turns him completely immune to any form of damage (except falling into pits and lava). He is also naturally immune to floor spikes, and can actually flatten them to make them harmless to other allies.
* NotQuiteFlight: He has the ability to hover for a short time, making him capable of skipping tricky platforming sections.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Apparently, he met Zangetsu at some time in the past, and traveled a long way just to look for him.
* TeamPet: He serves this role for Zangetsu's team, with many of the team members taking turn in petting him when he's off-mecha.
* TransformingMecha: The bottom of the armor transforms into various things depends on the circumstances: by default, it has a pair of legs, but walking on spikes or moving while crouched turns them into tank threads or train wheels depending on the stage, hovering turns them into a pair of jets and walking on ice turns them into SpiderLimbs.
* UtilityWeapon: The PoweredArmor is possibly the single-most versatile piece of equipment in the entire game. It can:
** Break steel blocks or armored enemies that would otherwise require Miriam's Axe or Ultimate Zangetsu's ChargedAttack to destroy.
** Break SpikesOfDoom on the floor by simply walking through it.
** Break cracked floor and otherwise fragile surfaces with its GroundPound.
** Walk over poison floor.
** Walk on ice without slipping.
** Hover in midair, allowing you to skip some platforming and cross gaps.
** Turn invincible to tank through otherwise-impassable hazards.

![=NPCs=]
[[folder:Johannes]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johanes.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu (JP) / Creator/BenDiskin (ENG)
A former member of the Alchemy Guild. Johannes was unaware of the Guild's plan to summon demons and befriended both Miriam and Gebel. After the Guild's destruction, he allied himself with Dominique and the Church, using his skills as an Alchemist to study shards and predict when Miriam would awaken. He has a vague understanding that her awakening and the Hellhold’s appearance are no coincidence, and journeys to the castle with Miriam.

* TheAtoner: He has shades of this, apologizing to Miriam for what the Alchemist's Guild subjected Miriam and Gebel to. Even when Miriam says he's not to blame and that he's taken care of her and Gebel, he responds that he didn't do enough.
* TheCaretaker: Partially one for Miriam. He's there to help her on her quest, seeing as she's the best suited for it thanks to being a Shardbinder, but he also makes sure she's eating properly and gets some rest. He also expresses worry if you've been gone for too long.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Green is his color theme.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Was once a member of the Alchemist guild that created the magi-crystal curse, but left when they decided to summon demons from hell.
* EquipmentUpgrade: He provides the services that upgrade your shards.
* ItemCrafting: He also provides the services for Miriam to procure new weapons as well.
* NonActionGuy: He's no match for the demons that Miriam fights, so he assists her in a supporting role.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Though it's not made apparent until the end of the game, part of Dominique's plans required knowledge of Alchemy and the shards, both of which she easily got from Johannes. To be fair on his part, Johannes wasn't aware of her true nature until the final part of the plot (when Miriam reaches the Den of Behemoths), and at this point, she's already able to make use of his information.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Towards Gebel when Miriam and him talk about who should take him down.

[[folder:Anne Knolles]]
[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rotn_anne.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkariKitou (JP) / Rena Strober (ENG)
A little girl saved by Miriam and Dominique when demons attack Arvantville. Unfortunately, her parents were already killed. Despite everything, she's still a cheerful child who helps Dominique look after her shop.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: During the last segment of the game, Anne becomes the new shopkeeper after having learned how to do it by watching Dominique. She even knows how to handle Shards for when Miriam wants to sell them, much to Miriam's surprise when she asks:
--> '''Anne:''' Don't worry! She taught me how to do it!\\
'''Miriam:''' What? That sounds...horribly unsafe.\\
'''Anne:''' Try me, you'll see! (audio) / Try me if you don't believe me. (dialog box)
* CheerfulChild: Keeps a bright and cheerful demeanor despite losing her parents.
* LiesToChildren: Downplayed at the end of the game. On frequent occasions, Anne will cheerfully state that she's filling in at the stop until "the nice lady gets back". There is no option for Miriam to break the news about [[BitchInSheepsClothing Dominique]].
* NominalImportance: Anne is given an entire scene and several lines of dialogue introducing her as a character, only for her to then stand aside next to Dominique at the shop and neither do nor say anything of note for the rest of the game. Until the final stretch, whereupon it's revealed that Dominique is a traitor. Afterwards, Anne becomes the person who runs the shop in Dominique's absence, revealing that she's learned how to do everything [[AwesomenessByAnalysis simply by watching all this time]].

[[folder:Lindsay Blair]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lindsay_blair.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Reiko Muratsubaki (JP) / Creator/KariWahlgren (ENG)
A survivor of the demon attack in Arvantville. She is a vengeful woman who asks for Miriam's help vanquishing the many demons who have killed her family and friends.

* {{Catchphrase}}: "'''Kill''' those murderers '''''dead!'''''"
* CrusadingWidower: The first person she has you avenge is her husband.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Her [[CatchPhrase catchphrase]]: "'''Kill''' those murderers '''''dead!'''''"
* LargeHam: Her hatred for the demons that slaughtered her friends and family has left her very passionate in her desire for vengeance, especially the deliverance of her iconic line.
* QuestGiver: Her quests are of the {{revenge}} kind: Hunt so-and-so demon to avenge the death of villagers.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Has Miriam do this on her behalf, since she's not a warrior.
* ShoutOut: Several of the villagers that Lindsay has you avenging are named after various ''Castlevania'' characters (which also doubles as a TakeThat to Creator/{{Konami}} for their killing of the series). One of the quests in particular, to avenge a ruffian named [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Richter]], has you fighting a very familiar-looking zombie who uses a whip.

[[folder:Susie Quinn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/susie_quinn.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Reiko Muratsubaki (JP) / Fryda Wolff (ENG)
A survivor of the demon attack in Arvantville. She is the oldest woman in the village, who would like nothing more than a good meal in spite of all the recent trauma.

* BigEater: For a frail little woman at the age of 78, Susie can pack the food away like it's nothing.
* DeathSeeker: When Miriam first meets Susie, she is so shaken up from the demon attack that she wishes she was dead.
* QuestGiver: Susie's quests involve offering her various meals. Her memory isn't very good, so Miriam must figure out her requests from the clues she offers. Thankfully, one of those clues is a ''picture'' of the food in the thought bubble above her head, allowing you to match it to the item's icon in the crafting menu.

[[folder:Abigail Cleese]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Aiko Okubo (JP) / Fryda Wolff (ENG)
A survivor of the demon attack in Arvantville. She is a religious woman who has strong faith in what she believes in and wishes to give different mementos to honor the fallen villagers. However, she does not have access to many of the items that she needs, so she employs Miriam to gather them for her.

* BuryingASubstitute: It is implied that for many dead villagers, there is NotEnoughToBury, so she instead settles on burying items of sentimental value to the deceased.
* DueToTheDead: She wishes to honor fallen villagers by providing proper burials.
* GoodCounterpart: She turns out to be this to Dominique. They are both religious women who are deeply affected by the deaths of others, but Abigail remains kind-hearted and committed to her faith, while Dominique went on a RageAgainstTheHeavens and became a power-obsessed psycho.
* QuestGiver: She asks Miriam to gather certain objects as a replacement memento for proper burials for some of the dead villagers.

[[folder:Harry Benson]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Kenichi Mine (JP) / Christopher Swindle (ENG)
A survivor of the demon attack in Arvantville. Harry is a farmer who can help Miriam plant and grow crops.

* NiceGuy: He's friendly and pleasant to be around.

[[folder:Benjamin Judd]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Yasuhiro Mamiya (JP) / Creator/FredTatasciore (ENG)
A villager who has become lost and stranded inside the castle and requires Miriam's help to get back home.

* BraggingRightsReward: The reward you get for successfully bringing him back to the village is the Adversity Ring, which increases your stats whenever you're afflicted by a negative status effect (poison, curse, etc.). However, interacting with him the third and final time requires the Dimension Shift shard, which is dropped by the second-to-last boss, meaning you won't get much use of it outside a NewGamePlus.
* TheDitz: The guy's clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed. Besides his thinking that Paris is a city in Spain, despite Miriam clearly explaining to him how Waystones work (just think of where you want to go and it'll take you there), he manages to mess it up. ''[[EpicFail Twice]]''. He ends up getting on Miriam's nerves, warning him in their third encounter that if she sees him again in the castle, she'll kick him in the head.
* GuideDangIt: He can be quite difficult to find without a guide, especially his second hiding spot, in a secret room behind the waterfall in the Forbidden Underground Waterway.
* InUniverseFactoidFailure: When Miriam tells him that the crystal decorations on her body are "all the rage in Paris", he tells her that "I've never been to Spain". Anyone who knows their geography can tell you that Paris is the capital city of France.
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: He's named after Ben Judd, who helped organize the Kickstarter campaign.

[[folder:Todd]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/todd_but_smaller.png]]
A human who was turned into a Killer Barber demon by picking up a cursed pair of scissors. Despite the name, he would prefer not to kill people.

* CaptainObvious: When asked by Miriam why he doesn't just cast aside his cursed scissors.
-->'''Todd:''' Cast them aside?! If I could take them off, ''I wouldn't be cursed!'' Duh!
* CharacterCustomization: Todd allows the player to customize Miriam's appearance, such as her hair and skin color. He can expand his options with magazines that Miriam brings him.
* CurseEscapeClause: Todd will be made human again if he can successfully cut [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] unique hairstyles. They have to be done properly: messy haircuts will cause the cursed scissors to kill his current customer as punishment.
-->'''Miriam:''' You have the worst curse ever.\\
'''Todd:''' Yes. ''Quite literally'' yes.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "If I don't give my patrons ''good'' haircuts, the scissors '''kill''' them '''dead'''."
* ShoutOut: A "Demon Barber" named Todd who occasionally kills his patrons (albeit unwillingly)? [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet Where have we heard that before?]] In case it's not clear enough, the [[MonsterCompendium bestiary]] description of the Killer Barber demons (which Todd is one of) describes them as looking for "Pretty Women" to scissor. "Pretty Women" is a song from the ''Sweeney Todd'' musical.
* ThatCameOutWrong: He wants to start barbering Miriam's hair, but his choice of words results in Miriam's snarky rejection.
-->'''Todd:''' Please ... I'll cut you for free.\\
'''Miriam:''' That is not an enticing offer.\\
'''Todd:''' [''Stammers.''] No, not cut ''you''!
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In a game like this, you'd think that finding the required hairstyles to break Todd's curse would be how his sidequest resolves... but no. There aren't even [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] hairstyles in the game. Instead, the game ends with the Castle destroyed and no knowledge of what, if anything, happened to Todd in the interim.

[[folder:Orlok Fahrenheit Dracule (O.D.)]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orlok_farhenheit_dracule_npc_bloodstained_ritual_of_the_night_wiki_guide300px.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RyotaroOkiayu (JP), Robert Belgrade (ENG)
A rather... familiar-looking (and sounding) man who serves as a librarian in the Hellhold. As his name suggests, he is a vampire. He permits Miriam to check out tomes which augment her abilities. All he asks in return is that the borrowed tomes be returned in good condition, so be sure not to forget before the mission is complete... or else!

* AllPowerfulBystander: He's the single most powerful entity in the castle, but he has no interest in taking it over, fighting the humans invading it, dealing with the curse in any way, or spreading terror across the land. Orlok just wants to tend to his library.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: He's a vampire with grey skin.
* BadassBookworm: His in-game bio states that he cares only about books and isn't interested in the affairs of humans and demons. He's also a very deadly OptionalBoss who will quickly cut you down if you're not prepared for him.
* BadassCape: He's got one too. The design depicts stars in space, interestingly enough.
* CaptainErsatz: Of Alucard, who else? Most notably due to his appearance and voice (and middle name), but he also has similar abilities such as freezing time, transforming into a bat, a wolf, and mist, skilled swordsmanship, and the distinct three-fireball attack he inherited from [[{{Dracula}} his father]]. When taking out books and when he confronts Miriam as a boss, he adopts Alucard's idle stance.
* CastingGag: Just look at who voices him in both dubs. Creator/RyotaroOkiayu has voiced Alucard for years in Japan, and Robert Belgrade had voiced Alucard in the original [=PS1=] English dub of ''Symphony of the Night''.
* ColourCodedTimestop: Negative-color-type. His special ability when fought as a boss, and the move you obtain upon defeating him.
* CompleteImmortality: Despite turning into crystal and [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattering]] like everything else Miriam kills, if you return to the library after his boss fight, you'll see that he's very much alive and well. He reminds Miriam that he's a vampire, but now that he's been defeated by her, he's now under her command. He's clearly not happy when he tells Miriam she's free to pillage his books as much as she pleases.
* CompositeCharacter:
** He is designed after Alucard but works as a Master Librarian, and has as many [[MythologyGag mythology gags]] to both characters as they could cram in.
** During his boss fight, he has attacks that are shared by both Alucard (sword, bat, wolf, and mist attacks) and Dracula (sucking on blood and fire balls or pillars).
** [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Say "O.D." out loud]], [[SdrawkcabAlias backwards]].
* FelonyMisdemeanor: Try to leave without returning the Tome of Conquest, and O.D. will attack Miriam before she reaches the end of the journey.
* {{Irony}}: When Miriam first meets him and realizes he's a vampire, he assumes that she's going to try to kill him for that reason alone despite having no quarrel with her and calls her out on it. Towards the end, he's the one who instigates the fight with her despite her having no quarrel with him, and she's the one who ends up defeating him anyway. [[CompleteImmortality Kinda.]]
* MarkOfShame: After you defeat him and return to the library, he'll be sporting a mask with thick glasses, a GagNose, and a VideoGame/{{Wario}}-style mustache, making it clear how humiliated he feels about being Miriam's new servant. He's also shown wearing it in his entry in the demon archives. Miriam can obtain a similar mask, the Nose Glasses, by launching him out of his chair from below (which she can do ''before'' fighting him).
* OptionalBoss: Uncovering at least 99% of the map will unlock the final book in his collection: the Tome of Conquest. If you borrow it and then go to that one suspiciously empty room with boss doors in the Glacial Tomb, he will appear there to forcefully retrieve it.
* PlayingWithFire: Capable of summoning pillars of fire and shooting fireballs.
* PunnyName:
** O.D., or Original Dracula. Can also mean Original {{Dhampyr}}, refering to Alucard's status as one.
** Going back to Alucard's SdrawkcabName, if you pronounce his initials in reverse order, you get the name of [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure a certain other character]] with the same power he does.
* ScaryLibrarian: How does he decide to punish Miriam for not returning a library book? By threatening her with a FateWorseThanDeath.
* SeriousBusiness: When he tells you to return his books and that the Tome of Conquest is extremely valuable and to make ''extra'' sure to return it, he ''means'' it.
-->'''O.D.:''' You'll pay for this transgression. [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Death is too kind for you!]]
* SuppressedRage: Although his expression remains the same, if you talk to him after defeating him in battle, he is clearly ''not'' happy about becoming Miriam's servant and the fact he can't stop you from just taking all his books now (which he likens to "pillaging").
* TokenHeroicOrc: He's pretty nice for a creature of the night, since he loans out stat-boosting library books, and helps create an [=ID=] card for you for the train if you give him a photograph. Less so when he's fought as an OptionalBoss, but, if you win, he goes back to a more reluctant version of his previous self, since he's under your thrall and a tad bitter about it.

[[folder:The Unnamed Alchemist]]
Though not exactly an NPC in the game, the Unnamed Alchemist is an author of twelve journal volumes that can be found on bookshelves around the castle, which reveal the events leading up to the Alchemists' demon summoning ritual.

* AmbitionIsEvil: His focus on continuing the experiments was merely [[ForScience to see where it'd end up]], to line his pockets, and to keep his position in the guild secure.
* ApocalypticLog: Of a sort, given the journals detail the guild shortly before and after they started mass summoning demons.
* ArtificialHuman: Not him, but he's noted for his attempts at creating a homunculus, which had resulted in the formation of a crystal corruption.
* AssholeVictim: He's the one responsible for causing the crystal corruption experiments and demon summoning to come to be, resulting in 10 years of misery. Considering his ''astonishing'' lack of ethics and complete disregard for his test subjects (as well as the '''absolute stupidity''' of his "plan"), few will feel bad for him after reading his volumes when he notes that Gebel has come to punish him and it will be worse than the others.
* DeadpanSnarker: Shows some shades of it. For example, when asked to try and produce a demon from the Liber Logaeth, he mentions that if nobody had done it in the generations before him, that "their faith is sorely misplaced". He also mentions that since he started attempts to learn demonology, he "hasn't been able to conjure more than a fart thus far."
* EvilLuddite: The whole point of summoning demons is to scare people away from embracing the Industrial Revolution and abandoning spirituality and alchemy.
* ForScience: His reasoning for continuing the shard experiments with demon summoning, with little care for where his subjects come from or how much damage potential it has.
* GreaterScopeVillain: It's actually ''his'' actions that motivated Dominique for orchestrating her grand plan of unleashing Bael so she will get the power to slay God. Neither of them are very different from each other in terms of nature, although Dominique was a lot smarter at it.
* HiddenDepths: The third volume implies that he used to [[EvenEvilHasStandards have standards]]. In the midst of many futile experiments regarding demonology, he wondered if summoning a demon requires a human sacrifice, before deciding that he must try more catalysts. Of course, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope it didn't last...]]
* {{Irony}}: When noting on how his "old friend" still opposes the ritual, the author states that "to gain much we must sacrifice much. It is the most basic principle of Alchemy". After the major demon summoning came to be, and the Church found that they had a hand in the affair and proceeded to execute many members of the guild, the author notes the same principle still held: "we sacrificed everything, and gained just as much misery".
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Not that trying to summon demons was ever moral or safe in the first place, mind, but at the time of writing the third volume, he didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of using a human sacrifice to do so. By the time he wrote the sixth, he'd fully embraced the idea and become a full-fledged MadScientist.
-->'''Vol. 3:''' I cannot count how many permutations of the rite I have attempted. My methods are correct; it is my materials that fail me. What is missing? A human sacrifice? No, I must try more catalysts.\\
'''Vol. 6:''' The Guild has supplied the children I need--I care not how--and bade me transplant the crystal. My old friend [[OnlySaneMan vehemently opposes the move on moral grounds]], but I wish only to complete this experiment, replenish the Guild's coffers, and continue my historic work.
* MrExposition: Reveals the information of things that have happened during the years before the demonic invasion, as well as his studies in producing the crystal curse.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: It doesn't restore any sympathy to him after the horror he caused, but [[HeelRealization his final entry seems to indicate the Alchemist is aware of how much of a monster he's become]]. His final words are ''haunted'':
-->'''The Unnamed Alchemist:''' ''To the Shardbinders who died at my hands: forgive me. And to you, my dear friend Alfred: I should have listened. May God have mercy on me...''
* PosthumousCharacter: He was killed by Gebel before the present plot begins, as punishment for using him and other children as sacrifices to instigate a demonic ritual.
* RedHerring: The player would naturally assume for most of the game that the journals were written by Alfred, who has been nothing but antagonistic up to this point and can't go two seconds without raving about getting his hands on the Liber Logaeth. After TheReveal that Alfred was GoodAllAlong, you realize that Alfred is instead the author's colleague who he complained was going soft and befriending the children, and the author is someone else entirely. Only after the reveal does the author actually name his friend.
* SkewedPriorities: Crossing over with TooDumbToLive. The unnamed alchemist considers demon summoning, his standing in the guild, and profiteering from said demons and shards as higher on the list than... oh, you know, human lives, safety, and ''any form of scientific ethics''? Or, for that matter, the potential to ''actually '''succeed''''' in its aim of securing the continued power of the Alchemist's Guild, instead of, well, causing [[HellOnEarth complete and total catastrophe]]? Even worse, the rest of the Guild (with the exception of his "old friend") had ''the same skewed priorities''.
* WalkingSpoiler: It's impossible to discuss the events of this game without mentioning this Alchemist's involvement in igniting the first Demonic Invasion for the sole reason of protecting their wealth and terrorizing the industrial revolutionaries.

!Bosses
!!Bosses in both ''Ritual of the Night'' and ''Curse of the Moon'' series.
[[folder:Vepar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vepar_3.jpg]]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see the full body]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/full__vepar.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
A sea-demon feared for hailing storms and casting ships into the abyss.\\\

Encountered at Galleon Minerva in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon 2'' as the boss of Stage 4.

!!!''Ritual of the Night'' tropes:
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: A gigantic half-woman half-sea-monster that attacks Galleon Minerva and towers over Miriam.
* BellyMouth: She has a large maw on her midsection that spits out attacks and [[FlunkyBoss mooks]] to get in your way.
* CombatTentacles: She occasionally uses her tentacles to slap the player. This tentacle attack is the one her shard bequeathes to Miriam.
* FlunkyBoss: Can summon Seama demons to attack the player.
* MakingASplash: She can attack the player with water projectiles and fire jets of water that sweep the boss arena. In higher difficulties, Vepar can shoot a sweeping water jet that covers the whole screen, which can only be dodged by using her minions as body-shields.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Vepar's top half resembles that of a woman from head to chest, and the belly resembles a sea creature with huge teeth and six eyes.
* SeaMonster: A gigantic woman with a monstrous face on her belly and tentacles below her waist who causes problems out in the sea.
* WarmupBoss: Doesn't hit much harder than the other enemies on the ship and has slow, highly telegraphed attacks. She's just dangerous enough to wear down a player who doesn't even try to dodge, but won't pose a challenge to anyone who found the backdash button. She is significantly more dangerous in the Hard and Nightmare difficulties, especially if not starting from a NewGamePlus.

!!!''Curse of the Moon'' series tropes:
* CanonImmigrant: She did not appear in the first ''Curse'' game, but appeared in ''Ritual'' and returns in ''Curse 2''.
* AnIcePerson: Unlike in ''Ritual'' where her only element is water, in ''Curse 2'' she also uses icicles.
* LosingYourHead: In ''Curse of the Moon 2'', her humanoid "head" is destroyed in the first phase of the battle. In the second phase, she attacks with her BellyMouth, which is her ''true'' head.

[[folder:Andrealphus]]
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/andrealphus.jpg]]
[[quoteright:270:[[labelnote:Curse of the Moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/andrealphus_curse_moon.png]]
[[/labelnote]]
A demon with a stunning, peacock-like panoply of feathers.\\\

Encountered in Livre Ex Machina in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 5 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''.

* FeatheredFiend: True to his Goetian description, he evokes the imagery of a peacock, namely, having a flashy, colorful tail.
* FeatherFlechettes: Uses his feathers as a projectile attack.
* FragileSpeedster: Andrealphus is very fast and most of his attacks limit your own mobility, making landing hits on him hard. He is one of the bosses with the least health, though.
* PromotedToPlayable: He's a playable character in Boss Revenge mode.

* BlowYouAway: One of his attacks is to try to blow you off the mast of the Galleon Minerva.
* DesperationAttack: Andrealphus's final attack when reduced to no health has him proceed to brighten the background and launch himself from the right side to kick lightning from his feet. He then moves back to the center, creating lightning to cover both ends of the mast to cage you in before he disintegrates himself in a huge blast of lightning in the middle.
* ShockAndAwe: Uses electricity, in particular atmospheric lightning.
* SuicideAttack: His DesperationAttack doubles as this. He disintegrates himself as part of his last assault.

[[folder:Valac]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valac_ritual_night.jpg]]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Curse of the Moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valac_curse_moon.png]]

A twin-headed demon drake who rules over the tower.\\\

Encountered at the Tower of Twin Dragons in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 4 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''.

* BellyMouth: Valac deserves special mention. Being a serpentine dragon, his belly mouth ''extends across the entirety of his serpentine body''.
* BreathWeapon: One of his attacks is firebreathing, the same technique Miriam acquires after beating him.
* CreepyCentipedes: Despite being mostly serpentine, each of Valac's bodies possesses eight arms that he uses to crawl on the tower, on top of his excessive amount of teeth which also evoke centipede legs.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Not only does he have plenty of sharp teeth in his mouths alone, but also teeth lining up his underside from the chin all the way to the tail.
* SharedLifeMeter: Both bodies share the same HP pool. It doesn't matter which head you keep hitting, both will eventually fall at the same time.
* WakeUpCallBoss: If Craftwork caused you to lower your guard after the comparatively-harder Zangetsu in ''Ritual'', Valac will be sure to wake you up again. He's gigantic and hits very hard from both sides of the screen at once, teaching you to learn his attack patterns and dodge intelligently, all while accompanied by a more sinister boss theme.

* FusionDance: In ''Curse'', after you take out both his heads separately, he comes back with both his bodies joined along his toothy undersides.

[[folder:Glutton Train]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glutton_train.jpg]]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Curse of the moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glutton_train_curse_moon.png]]

A demon that fused with a train's engine, causing it to run amok.\\\

Encountered at the Bridge of Evil in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 1 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: For the battle's Coup de Grâce, Zangetsu allows you to do this.
* BellyMouth: Though not traditionally a "mouth", the Glutton Train does devour coal through its stomach-furnace.
* {{Cyborg}}: It's a large demon fused with a train engine and utilizing a large mechanical arm with a built-in machinegun and various pieces of armor protecting it. It's much more obvious in ''Ritual'' (with its modern, high-quality graphics) than in ''Curse of the Moon'' where it was more [[AmbiguousRobots ambiguous]].
* GhostTrain: Demon train, rather, but still.
* MoreDakka: One of his attacks in ''Ritual'' is just to spray the arena with bullets; this attack can't be dodged except by hiding behind Zangetsu as he blocks it.
* NighInvulnerability: In ''Ritual'', all of Miriam's attacks only do ScratchDamage to it; you need to team up with Zangetsu to be actually able to damage it for any worth... unless you [[AttackItsWeakPoint attack its open mouth]].
* TimeLimitBoss: The only boss where you are under a timer to finish it.

* DesperationAttack: His desperation attack in ''Curse'' starts out as if it were going to shove another chunk of coal into itself, which can lure you into thinking to use it to attack it again. However, it stops as it's shoving it in, and them proceeds to launch a huge blast of fire that would immolate you unless you were hiding behind the coal it took out. Then it finally dies.
* PlayingWithFire: Its attacks came in the form of launching fireballs at you from its stomach or launching bits of still burning coal at you.

[[folder:Bathin]]
[[quoteright:205:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bathin_ritual_night.jpg]]
[[quoteright:205:[[labelnote:Curse of the Moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bathin_curse_moon.png]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YuMoriyama (JP) / Creator/BenDiskin (ENG)
Demon with the ability to reflect like light.\\\

Encountered in Underground Sorcery Lab in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 7 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Nearly every word of his BossBanter is him boasting about his speed.
* EnergyWeapon: His snake head can fire a long laser stream.
* MultipleHeadCase: Demon, horse, and snake heads.
* PromotedToPlayable: He's one of the playable bosses in Boss Revenge mode.
* SuperSpeed: Being able to turn into a ray of light allows him to travel long distances and bounce around the room very, very quickly.

* BadassBookworm: He is encountered reading in a library in ''Curse of the Moon''.
* DesperationAttack: After taking lethal hit, he proceeds to do one last attack where he covers the entire room but one stack of books, forcing you to seek refuge there. But then he appears alongside three other copies of himself to attack your position.
* ShockAndAwe: Mainly in ''Curse'', he wields black lightning to crawl along the walls and to fire from his snake tail.
* SuicideAttack: His last attack in ''Curse'' also ends up killing him.

[[folder:Valefar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valefor_ritual_night.jpg]]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Curse of the Moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valefor_curse_of_the_moon.png]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KenichiMine (JP) / Unknown (ENG)
A demon who draws power from coin. His fortune has waned as of late.\\\

Encountered in Den of Behemoths in ''Ritual of the Night''. Also appears as the stage 3 boss of ''Curse of the Moon''.

* BackgroundBoss: Valefar stays in the background of the stage while he attacks you.
* BanditMook: After you deplete all of his health the first time in ''Ritual'', he will steal your money to heal himself. Don't worry; when you kill him, you get it all back.
* BossAlteringConsequence: When you deplete all of his HP, he'll heal himself based on how much money you have. If you have no money left, he'll just die instantly.
* CastFromMoney: Played with. He throws around a lot of gold and money to attack you with. The biggest instance of this is when you fight him in ''Ritual'' and he's supposed to be dead, he proceeds to cast from ''your money'' to replenish his health!
* DevelopersForesight: When Valefar's health is depleted, he will heal himself by stealing all your gold. If you don't have any, he will keel over and die instead, calling you out on it in the process. (If you come in with a very low amount of gold, he will sound more disappointed than in despair.)
* TheGambler: He has quite the collection of gigantic poker chips.
* MoneyMauling: He himself is composed of gold coins, and he uses poker chips and coin projectiles to smack you.
* SchmuckBait: The stage leading up to him in ''Ritual'' has many chests with SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity amounts of money in them. If you collect them all before facing off against him, he obviously becomes much harder.
* ShowsDamage: Once you start hammering on him, the coins on his body fall off, revealing a [[DemBones ribcage]].
* StoneWall: He starts out with only 3,000 HP, but can go up to a whopping ''99,999 HP'' if you have enough money for him to steal, potentially making him the hardest boss in the game purely due to his ability to outlast you. For the record, the two {{Super Boss}}es (who are ''intended'' to be very difficult) both have "only" 10,000 HP. If you have no money at all, however, Valefar collapses, complains about your lack of funds, and dies instantly.

* BlingBlingBang: He attacks you with mounds of gold coins, and summons gold-plated mooks at intervals.
* DesperationAttack: His last attack in ''Curse''... a bit unintentional. When he loses his health, he loses his ability to compose his form, and [[GeniusLoci the vault]] in which he fights you begins raining down as gold coins that can hurt you unless you follow a path through them.
* FlunkyBoss: He generates gold-plated mooks to attack the player during his boss fight.
* GeniusLoci: In ''Curse of the Moon'', Valefar is not only the demon you face at the end of the level, but also the entire ''level'' itself, being a huge vault with loads of money and gold-plated demons. Once he's killed, the vault returns to its natural form and the collected gold becomes skulls instead. He averts this in ''Ritual'' by virtue of showing up in a level whose [[MacroZone theme]] doesn't match up with his own.
* InterfaceScrew: His DesperationAttack slowly turns the screen brighter and brighter until you can't see anything at all at the very last seconds of said attack.

[[folder:Gremory]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gremory_ritual_of_the_night.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see her Curse of the Moon appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gremory_curse_of_the_moon.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see her One Winged Angel form, exclusive to Curse of the Moon]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gremory_second_form.jpg[[/labelnote]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SaoriGoto (JP) / Creator/KariWahlgren (ENG)
A demoness of half-human, half-beast form. She presides over the moon.\\\

In ''VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon'', she serves as the BigBad, lording over the demon castle until Zangetsu (with or without allies) arrives to end her. In ''Ritual of the Night'', she is Gebel's second-in-command, or at least, that's the role she plays while actually plotting her own agenda.

* VillainProtagonist: Is the main character of the DLC Dominique's quest which is about her ending up in Limbo after the events of the main game and challenging the rulers of the realm in a bid to gain power.

* UncertainDoom: She is not explicitly shown dying, despite her DeathCryEcho upon Bael's defeat. All that can be said for certain is that she has been sealed away in the demon world along with Bael.

She eventually was PromotedToPlayable in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon 2''.

* TheHero: She's the main character, and the plot deals with her facing down Gebel.

* TheHeroine: In the first ''[[VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon Curse of the Moon]]'', she takes up the hero mantle once more in the Nightmare Mode after Zangetsu [[FallenHero became corrupted]], as she ends up being the only character controlled by the player during the [[DuelBoss final battle against Zangetsu]].

* InformedAbility: In one particular conversation, Dominique mentions that Zangetsu sent a message with a hint about what turns out to be the Invert ability, something that she claims he can do as well. This is never shown at any point in the game — not even in his second boss fight, after Miriam has learned it and can use it against him to make the battle a complete joke. There's a possible overlap with GameplayAndStoryIntegration, as Zangetsu does admit that he held back against Miriam a lot during that second fight. Dominique could also be lying.

* LightEmUp: When you face her, she frequently uses Tiz Raiff and Tis Rozalin, which involve light beams.
* LightIsNotGood: She uses Enochian Script, the supposed language of the Angels, to control the crystal corruption, effectively making her immune to it. She also wields it to summon Bael, and any demon she wants to by her own admission. Finally, in both her boss fight and the Bael boss fight, she tends to use Tis Rozalin and Tiz Raiff the most, the two light-based shards. She additionally wields a whip made of light to attack and Reflector Ray to move as a flash of light in her boss fight. Lastly, she wears some white.

* MercyKill: She and Gebel both promised each other that if one of them ever turned evil, the other one would put them out of their misery. In the bad ending, she fulfills her end of the deal and kills him, for which he is grateful. In the good ending, she frees him from Gremory's spell and turns him good again… only for the curse to completely crystallize him and kill him anyway, though at least Miriam gets to avenge him by killing Gremory and Bael.

* NighInvulnerability: In ''Ritual'', all of Miriam's attacks only do ScratchDamage to it; you need to team up with Zangetsu to be actually able to damage it for any worth.
** Unless you [[AttackItsWeakPoint attack its open mouth]].

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She is one of the few characters who treats Miriam as a fellow human being and helps her quest to stop Gebel. It's actually {{Subverted|Trope}}, as far as ''Ritual of the Night'' goes in which it's revealed to be an act.

* ShoutOut: A "Demon Barber" named Todd who occasionally kills his patrons (albeit unwillingly)? [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet Where have we heard that before?]]
** In case it’s not clear enough, the Killer Barber demon’s description describes him as looking for “Pretty Women” to scissor.

[[spoiler:Accept this charge, as his savior]];