Characters / Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Beware of unmarked spoilers further down the page.

Main Character Index > Rondo of Blood

This page deals with the characters from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.

For the Dracula himself, see Castlevania – Dracula.

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Richter Belmont

Voiced by (Japanese): Jin Horikawa (Rondo of Blood), Kiyoyuki Yanada (Symphony of the Night, The Dracula X Chronicles, Harmony of Despair), Shin-ichiro Miki (Nocturne of Recollection)

Voiced by (English): Scott McColloch (Symphony of the Night), Liam O'Brien (Portrait of Ruin, Dracula X Chronicles prototype), David Vincent (The Dracula X Chronicles, Harmony of Despair, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), Edward Bluemel (Castlevania: Nocturne)

"Die, monster! You don’t belong in this world!"

One of the more infamous Belmonts (thanks to Symphony of the Night) and probably Juste's son or at least his grandson. Richter has a girlfriend named Annette, until Dracula suddenly takes an active stance and assaults his home, kidnapping Annette, Maria, and several other women. Richter heads to the castle, saves the maidens, confronts Dracula, and kicks his ass.

Four years later, on the night of a full moon, Richter mysteriously disappears, prompting Maria to search for him. Fate intervenes, however, when Castlevania reappears almost a century ahead of schedule. Investigating, Alucard discovers that it is Richter himself who raised it, acting as its lord and master. It transpires that he was influenced into doing so by the dark priest Shaft, who possessed Richter as part of a scheme to resurrect Dracula. With the help and insight of Maria, Alucard is able to break the spell on the Belmont, who leaves the rest to him.

Since the release of Portrait of Ruin, he is canonically the last full-blooded Belmont to wield the Vampire Killer until Julius Belmont two hundred years later in 1999.

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• The Ace: Richter is outright called the strongest vampire hunter by multiple characters, and he clearly outclasses his ancestors in terms of raw power. The only Belmont who might possibly be stronger is Julius, who lives centuries later. The reason Shaft brainwashed Richter is because killing him would be too difficult.
• Badass Bandolier: His redesign in The Dracula X Chronicles, the remake of Rondo of Blood, has him carry holy water bottles in one.
• Badass Creed: In The Dracula X Chronicles:
  Richter Belmont: I'm a Belmont. That's my job.
• Badass in Distress: He was badass in his debut, then he got caught and below in Symphony of the Night. Then, he retains much of the badassery off-screen, but Jonathan Morris can feel it when he fought the Whip Memory in his form.
• Badass Longcoat:
  • Dons one after the Time Skip in SotN.
  • Also sports one in The Dracula X Chronicles.
• Barbarian Long Hair. He lets it grow out after Rondo of Blood.
• Blood Knight: In Symphony of the Night, the once noble Richter Belmont has become this, desiring to resurrect Dracula so that they can continue to fight for all eternity, in part so he can feel useful again and in part due to unsated bloodlust. Since he’s being controlled by Shaft, it’s ambiguous as to whether this is solely due to the spell, or if Richter himself possesses such darker desires deep down. An unused voice clip (reinstated in the updated release as a game over line should you lose to him) even has him demand a more satisfying battle.
  No! Fight harder! I still lust for blood!
• Blue Is Heroic: Richter wears a blue coat in all of his depictions.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In his tenure of distress in SotN.
• Chick Magnet: For a total of four girls!
• Combat Parkour: By quickly double-tapping the jump button, Richter can perform a back flip to evade enemy attacks… or just to look cool.
• Dark Reprise: "Strange Bloodlines/Blood Relations", his battle theme in Symphony. The same goes for "Bloodlines Bequeathed" in Portrait of Ruin.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Richter's special moves in Symphony of the Night require some dexterity, but when mastered he can speed through the game faster than Alucard and even Maria can.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's the last boss of Symphony of the Night... unless you get a particular item, then defeat him in an alternate manner, in which case defeating him grants access to the second half of the game, the Inverted Castle.
• Distressed Dude: After he goes missing, Maria goes into Castlevania to rescue him.
• Face–Heel Turn: Becomes the Big Bad of Symphony of the Night. Subverted, in that he was being controlled by Shaft and goes right back to being a hero once he's rescued.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Sports a brown fingerless glove on his right hand in Rondo, so he can hold his whip carefully.
• Fragile Speedster: Played straight with the appropriate alternate modes in Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin. He can't use equipment like the respective main characters can, resulting in monsters being able to inflict more damage, but that run speed. Just look at him go!
• Guest Fighter: Makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Moveset Clone of Simon.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His name is spelled "Rihiter" in the Japanese manual of Dracula X for Super Famicom, and "Richiter" when selecting his mode in Portrait of Ruin.
• Large Ham: Less so than Dracula, but still. The opening dialogue of Symphony of the Night is infamously Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  Richter: Die monster! You don't belong in this world!
• Hotblooded: Powerful and passionate, yet also inexperienced and impulsive, at least during Rondo.
  • Also shown in the radio drama Nocturne of Recollection, where Richter gets riled up enough by two rookie vampire hunters rudely demanding information out of him and calling him useless that he challenges them to try and beat him in a fight. They promptly (and wisely) skedaddle instead.
• Hypnotize the Captive: The main objective of the first half of Symphony of the Night is to rescue Richter from Dracula’s Castle, but he turns out to be Brainwashed and Crazy. It’s revealed that Shaft brainwashed him to get him out of the way, because it was easier than outright killing him, and would make trouble for Maria and Alucard.
• Leitmotif: "Divine Bloodlines" and most of its variations, including "Blood Relations"/"Strange Bloodlines" from Symphony of the Night and Bloodlines Bequeathed from Portrait of Ruin.
• Lighter and Softer: As opposed to the other Belmonts usually being depicted as stern and serious 24/7, Richter smiles more often and is cheerful towards the other humans he meets in Rondo of Blood.
• Lightning Bruiser: Moreso than other Belmonts, as he is capable of performing dashes, uppercuts, kicks, and even backflips.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Becomes one in Symphony of the Night with Ayami Kojima's design.
• Martial Arts Headband: Wears one in Rondo, though it's ditched in The Dracula X Chronicles remake. He does wear it again in Symphony, but not in the alternate outfit represented in the game's official artwork. Most other representations of Richter use the headband.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In Symphony, after Alucard has saved him from Shaft's control and he realizes he's helped to revive Dracula.
• My Greatest Failure: Getting mind-controlled into helping resurrect Dracula, which Richter felt such shame over that he ended up quitting vampire hunting and taking the whole Belmont family into hiding.
• Official Couple: With his girlfriend Annette, who he storms Castlevania to rescue. Canonically, he does indeed manage to save her and they settle down.
• Optional Boss: In Portrait of Ruin, you can have Stella and Loretta perform a ritual to have Jonathan fight the Vampire Killer's memory of him. Winning allows Jonathan to use the Vampire Killer's full power.
• Ornamental Weapon: His Rondo and Symphony sprites and character art have him wear a short sword in a brown scabbard, but he doesn't use it in-game until Symphony as part of a super jump that doubles as a slash attack (He's holding it in a Reverse Grip).
• The Paladin: If his opening dialogue with Dracula in SotN is any indication, he's an idealistic Hunter of Monsters who is completely dedicated to fighting the forces of evil. Until he suddenly ends up the lord of Castlevania, that is.
• Passing the Torch: Some time after Symphony, due to the events of that game, Richter decides to retire from vampire hunting and disappear alongside Annette, but not before entrusting the Vampire Killer to the Belmont clan’s distant relatives, the Morris family.
• Playing with Fire: If Richter tries to perform an Item Crash with no sub-weapon equipped, he instead unleashes a flame-empowered super attack with his whip.
• Rogue Protagonist: In Symphony of the Night, due to being Brainwashed and Crazy. He goes back to being heroic when Alucard breaks Shaft’s control over him.
• Shipper on Deck: Noticing that Maria had developed a romantic attraction to Alucard, he assures Maria that she should go after Alucard and try to soothe his tormented soul.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Richter has precisely no patience for any of Dracula's philosophical musings no matter the version of their legendary Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  Dracula: It is not by my own power that I am resurrected. It is the greed of humanity which calls me back. And thus, by might, I rule. Might becomes the one and only justice in this world.
  Richter: Of all the self-serving claptrap!
• A Sinister Clue: How do we know that Richter is Not Himself in SotN? In artwork, he holds his whip with his left hand.
• Staking the Loved One: Should the player fail to save Annette in Dracula X Chronicles, she gets turned into a vampire and Richter has to do this.
  Richter: Oh my god, Annette… I’m so sorry I didn’t save you. But you know what I do to vampires. What I have to do.
• Stone Wall: He is just about as slow as most other Belmonts in Rondo of Blood. Unfortunately, most enemies are made more agile, so he comes off as slow. His normal attack is only as half as potent as Maria's normal attack as well. However, he can take much more damage than Maria can before he dies. Averted in SotN, however, as he is given an expanded moveset that allows him to move at a much faster pace.
• Victory Is Boring: In Symphony, he tells Alucard that his reasoning for reviving Dracula is so that he and Dracula can be locked in glorious combat for eternity. He's actually being brainwashed by Shaft.
• Was It All a Lie?: Discussed above, but Richter makes a very valid point in Symphony of the Night. When Alucard confronts him in Dracula's throne room and demands an explanation for why Richter is siding with Dracula, Richter points out that each Belmont has at best a single shot at Dracula (if even at all due to his returning once a century) before ultimately becoming useless beyond siring the next generation to continue the ongoing war. He IS being controlled by Shaft, however, but given that there's no explanation given for the nature of this mind-control, it's unclear whether this thought was implanted into Richter's head by Shaft or if Richter himself believes this and it was simply the weakness Shaft exploited in order to control him. Given the game never explains any of this bit, it's open to player interpretation as to whether Richter sincerely believes this way or no.
• What You Are in the Dark: Briefly implied in his Rondo of Blood ending, when Dracula clarifies that Mankind's dark desires are what lead to his resurrections. When Dracula asks whether or not Richter himself has any such desires, Richter briefly stammers only to leave the question unanswered.
• World's Best Warrior: Stated in the Castlevania lore that Richter is, when it comes to vampire hunters and even the Belmont Clan, the most powerful of any era until Julius, who surpassed him by permanently defeating Dracula. This is most likely why Dracula tried to get rid of him preemptively by sending the normal late-game boss Death to kill Richter early on, as well as the reason why he ordered his minions to launch a sneak attack to destroy Richter's village. When that didn't work (Richter was not there at the time), Dracula kidnapped several women, including Richter's girlfriend, to use against him and lure him to the castle on Dracula's own terms. Richter is the only Belmont that Dracula has put this much effort into getting out of the way instead of directly facing him.
  • Richter's power is further emphasized when Jonathan Morris has to fight the memory of Richter carried in the Vampire Killer to prove himself worthy of wielding it, and even Richter's shade is utterly badass.
  • In Symphony, Shaft thought it would be easier to control Richter's mind and make him Lord of Castlevania than to risk fighting him again, with the added benefit that having the greatest vampire hunter under their control meant that Richter himself could take care of any other hunters that might show up.
• Wolverine Publicity: Appears in several other games thanks to his popularity in Symphony. Only second to Simon in this regard.

Maria Renard

Voiced by (Japanese): Yoko Teppotsuka (Rondo of Blood), Chisa Yokoyama (Symphony of the Night, adult), Hekiru Shiina (Symphony of the Night, child), Sawa Ishige (The Dracula X Chronicles), Miyu Matsuki (Castlevania: Judgment, Nocturne of Recollection), Chiwa Saitō (Harmony of Despair)

Voiced by (English): Kimberly Forsythe (Symphony of the Night), Michelle Ruff (The Dracula X Chronicles), Philece Sampler (Castlevania: Judgment, Harmony of Despair), Pixie Davies (Castlevania: Nocturne)

"Hmm. A gentleman after all. Thank you."

A distant relative of the Belmont Clan, she was captured by Shaft due to her magical powers, but was saved by Richter. She assists him in battle and lives to see Dracula beaten. In the SNES version, she and Annette (Richter's girlfriend) were made sisters, a relationship that did not exist in the PC Engine original (although it was mentioned again in the manual of Symphony of the Night, but this was because the translator was more familiar with the SNES version than the PC Engine original, which was a Japan-only release at the time).

Four years later, when Richter vanishes, an all grown up Maria goes to look for him. After a year of no success, Dracula's castle appears, as if to show her the way, and inside she ends up meeting Alucard and works together with him. She saves Richter, and develops feelings for Alucard, and is able to convince him to remain awake (If you get the Best Ending, Maria runs after Alucard, leaving Richter on the cliff. In the audio drama Nocturne of Recollection, Maria and Alucard are living together).

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• Action Girl: Without a doubt! She can fight through Castlevania as easily as any of the Belmonts.
• A-Cup Angst: Only in Judgment; she's obsessed about her chest size and admires the other females' assets. Ironic considering how endowed she was in Rondo of Blood. Aeon cryptically hints that she'll get her wish of developed breasts, but by then she won't care about it anymore.
• Badass Adorable: As a young girl, she's very cute, but also very deadly with her attacks.
• The Beastmaster: Her attacks are magical animals that she summons.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Particularly in Judgment, she's a lot lighter in tone than you'd expect of a Castlevania protagonist — she's practically a Magical Girl. Despite this, she's capable of going toe to toe with Dracula and every monster at his command. In Judgment, Eric proclaims that her power is legendary, said to be even greater than that of the Belmonts.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Guardian Fist!" "(holy beast name), appear!"
• Cheerful Child: Her introduction and Establishing Character Moment in Rondo of Blood once Richter rescues her from being sacrificed by Shaft makes it clear Maria barely registers what kind of danger she put herself in. She still resolves to "beat the Badman" despite Richter suggesting she head home and let him take care of it. Richter can do little more than let out a hearty laugh as Maria loudly shoots down this suggestion.
• Children Are Innocent: Maria is completely unimpressed by Dracula's Motive Rant and vampiric villain navel gazing and more or less scolds Dracula as though he were a schoolyard bully.
  "I don't understand what that means! No matter how complicated you try and make it sound, a bad thing is still a bad thing!
• Conveniently an Orphan: In the PSP remake, when Richter instructs her to go home because her parents are worried about her, Maria informs him that they're already watching over her in heaven because they were killed.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: In Judgment, she has a cutesy tendency to trip; her Hyper attack involves her tripping at the last moment, allowing an empowered Osca to beat up the enemy for her, while two of her special attacks can randomly fail due to this.
• Cute Witch: In Rondo, where she's a cute young girl who fights demons with her animal friends and magic. A Time Skip later, she outgrows the trope to turn into a Hot Witch.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Maria's ending in Rondo of Blood involves dressing down and scolding Dracula for being a meanie.
• Double Jump: Maria is capable of this in every game she appears in, including Rondo (in which Richter just does a backflip), so Maria can reach areas he can't.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: A doll-like and adorable young vampire huntress in a frilly pink dress.
• Eyelid Pull Taunt: Her character profile art◊ in the original Rondo of Blood.
• Expy: Her original design in Rondo of Blood is a dead ringer for Sailor Venus.
• The Four Gods: Four of her animals are cuter versions of them. She summons the Four Sacred Beasts when she has those animals and performs an item crash.
• Fragile Speedster: She is much more agile than Richter is, but she cannot take anywhere near as much damage as Richter does before she dies.
• Full-Contact Magic: In the Saturn version, Maria mainly uses punches and kicks to fight, but also fires energy blasts from her fingertips to strike long-distance enemies. She can cast spells normally, though.
• Glass Cannon: Her doves act as if they are battle boomerangs, allowing them to deal two hits per attack at very close range because they make a second hit on the return trip. Since each hit is as strong as one of Richter's hits from his normal attack, she can deal twice the damage as Richter can per attack. She can also fire off doves much more frequently than Richter can swing his whip. However, Maria cannot take anywhere near as much damage as Richter can before she dies.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The names of her attacks.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair, and as a girl, basically gives a Shut Up, Hannibal! to a defeated Dracula.
• Head-Turning Beauty: In Symphony of the Night.
• I Hate Past Me: Downplayed. The older Maria isn't too thrilled upon meeting her younger self in Grimoire of Souls, insensitively calling her immature. Though she eventually comes to appreciate and respect her younger self.
• Improbable Weapon User: Animals, including doves, dragons, cats, owls...
• Implied Love Interest: For Alucard. With the prompting of Richter, she follows Alucard after the end of the game to help him out of his solitude. In the radio drama, the two of them are living together.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Her Harmony of Despair Character Pack spells her name "Maria Rendard".
• Innocently Insensitive: Her initial reaction upon meeting her younger self in Grimoire of Souls is calling her immature. She probably meant to say she's inexperienced, but it offends the pre-teen Maria.
• Kick Chick: In the PSP port of Symphony of the Night where she's an unlockable character, her moveset includes various slide kicks and jump kicks in addition to her summon magic.
• Kid Hero: She's 12 in Rondo of Blood.
• Leitmotif: "Slash"; it's both her theme in Judgment and the music accompanying her spirit battle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In the Saturn version, it's "Guardian", which plays during her boss fight and while fighting Shaft as her.
• Lethal Chef: Implied in the radio drama. When Maria declares that she would cook that night, Alucard's imp servant asks if she plans on giving Alucard a stomachache, which he agrees to the imp's point. This only spurs Maria on to try her best in cooking as she storms off to buy ingredients.
• Lethal Joke Character: She's a very silly-themed character, even making her first game Lighter and Softer by choosing her and she regenerates health by eating cakes, but she has a very small hurtbox, a Double Jump (one of the first, if not the first, Castlevania characters with this), can abuse her slides and rolling, has different subweapons than Richter, and has an insanely high-damage Invulnerable Attack Spell.
• Little Miss Badass: Her abilities put Richter to shame. In Judgment, she's the final boss for Eric in Story Mode, and he comments in awe that her abilities are said to be greater than those of the Belmonts.
• Magical Girl: She borders on being this in Rondo of Blood and is clearly meant to invoke the imagery of it, from her youth and inexperience and cheerful attitude, to her stylish frilly pink dress and decorative ribbons, down to her animal friends that aid her in the fight against Dracula and his forces. All she's really missing is a Transformation Sequence and a magic wand to fully embrace the trope.
• My Future Self and Me: The younger Maria eventually meets her older counterpart in Grimoire of Souls. While the Rondo of Blood version is excited to meet her, the one from Symphony of the Night is not initially impressed. They get better, though.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She is the daughter of local nobles.
• Pink Means Feminine: She wears a short pink dress when she's a little girl. Though in the PSP remake, she's wearing a masculine outfit, but it's also pink.
• Plucky Girl: Her power to control the four holy beasts was awakened during an incident when she was 12 years old, her parents were killed by Dracula whom also had her abducted, and the dark priest Shaft placed her in a chamber alone to perform a ritual sacrifice (or, in the remake, is said traumatic event that unlocked her powers). And yet, she presses on, eager to fight evil.
• Related in the Adaptation: Dracula X makes Maria the younger sister of Annette for some reason. This little factoid is not acknowledged in any other Castlevania game, but likely stems from the fact that Maria calls Annette onee-chan.
• She Is All Grown Up: Grew into a beautiful woman at 17 in Symphony of the Night.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During her Golden Ending in the PSP remake, she counters Dracula's dying I Was Beaten by a Girl rant about how there's no such thing as good or evil, by stating the very obvious fact that hurting others is wrong.
• Squishy Wizard: All her attacks are magical, and she cannot take much damage before dying.
• Steel Drums and Sunshine: Her ending theme in Rondo, "Mary Samba".
• Summon Magic: She can summon and control the Four Sacred Beasts.
• Sweet Tooth: Richter's health powerups are meat. Maria's are sweet cakes, candies, and ice cream.
• Token Mini-Moe: A little girl in a pink dress in a series where most of the other playable characters are at least in their late teens. No longer the case in Symphony, where she is a teen herself.
• Vampire Hunter: She swore to hunt Dracula after her parents were killed.

Annette

Voiced by (Japanese): Atsuko Honda (Rondo of Blood), Sayaka Ohara (The Dracula X Chronicles)

Voiced by (English): Sally Cahill (The Dracula X Chronicles), Thuso Mbedu (Castlevania: Nocturne)

Richter Belmont's girlfriend. She gets kidnapped in Rondo of Blood.

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• The Beastmaster: Should you not save her in the Dracula X Chronicles remake, she becomes a lesser vampire who utilizes bats to protect herself and attack others.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Preferred suicide over vampirism if damnation was her fate.
• Damsel in Distress: She gets kidnapped at the start of Rondo.
• Evil Costume Switch: Should you not save her in the Dracula X Chronicles remake, she gets a succubus outfit complete with demonic wings, courtesy of Dracula making her into a vampire.
• Evil Counterpart: She becomes one of Maria should Annette not be saved.
  • Both of them were kidnapped by Shaft and Dracula's forces and have a chance to be saved by Richter, but Maria gets saved by Richter and continues fighting against Dracula despite the trauma of losing her parents to him. Annette's condition occurs because nobody saved her and she swaps sides due to being unable to fight back against vampirism and thus loses her humanity.
  • Their powers also deal with utilizing beasts, but while Maria uses The Four Gods and doves as her main attacks, Annette wields bats due to her transformation as a vampire.
• Evil Feels Good: After becoming a vampire her attitude takes a complete 180 degree turn, and she becomes totally enthusiastic about being one of the evil undead, even having an evil Noblewoman's Laugh during combat, reverently referring to Dracula as "Lord Dracula", and sadistically taunting Richter and Maria with lines like "Stupid little brat!" and "I'm sorry, did that hurt?" during combat and on the game over screen.
• Face–Heel Turn: She makes one should you not save her in the Dracula X Chronicles, although a good portion of it may have been due to the traditionally depicted Brainwashed and Crazy effect of vampirism.
• Failed a Spot Check: In Grimoire of Souls Richter doesn't recognize her at first when she confronts him in her lesser vampire form, either because he's Distracted by the Sexy or her drastic change in appearance and personality has a reverse Clark Kenting effect.
• Flat Character: Has little characterization beyond (A) being Richter's girlfriend to motivating him to raid Dracula's castle to rescue her; (B) being friends with Maria, reasurring him that she's OK, which convinces Maria to join up with Richter; (C) showing she's not tempted in the slightest by Dracula's offer; and (D) worrying about Richter and Maria when they decide to press on to fight Dracula even though she's been saved. She's so utterly unimportant outside of this that she's not mentioned at all in Symphony of the Night outside the instruction manual, despite it being a direct sequel with Richter himself as a major character. Granted, this still means she has more characterization than any of the game's other non-player characters.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: In Grimoire of Souls it's noted that, as a lesser vampire, Annette might be more of an emotional rather than a physical threat to a Belmont-level hero, but against anyone else she massively outclasses any of the demon castle's other monsters and would be unbeatable by any of Elgos' normal human soldiers.
• Official Couple: With Richter.
• Permanently Missable Content: In Grimoire of Souls she's fought as a solo boss midway through Chapter 6, before appearing as an assist character in Carmilla's boss fight at the end of the chapter. This mini-boss fight only occurs once and won't happen in later playthroughs on the same player profile, similar to a couple other storyline-related mini-boss fights such as the first fight with Death.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: If she becomes a Lesser Vampire in the PSP remake, as well as while Brainwashed and Crazy in Grimoire of Souls.
• Reforged into a Minion: In Dracula X Chronicles Dracula basically transforms Annette into almost a copy of the series' succubus minions from Lament of Innocence and Symphony of the Night, right down to the near identical lingerie wardrobe, bat wings, and sadistic personality. Annette and the SOTN succubus even share the same voice actor in the SOTN redub included with Dracula X Chronicles.
• Related in the Adaptation: Dracula X makes Maria into Annette's sister^note This is likely a mistranslation of the japanese honorific onee-chan (big sis), which denotes seniority but not necessarily blood relation. However, this isn't so much as mentioned in any other source material (except the manual for Symphony of the Night, but that was only because the translator was more familiar with Dracula X than Rondo of Blood).
• Satellite Love Interest: There isn't much to her aside from being Richter's girlfriend.
• Spell My Name With An S: Her name is spelled Annet in Dracula X and Annette as of The Dracula X Chronicles.
• Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Threatens to commit suicide if Dracula doesn't back off. Dracula is amused, but undeterred, not caring whether she follows through.
• Tragic Monster: In Dracula X, she becomes an incarnation of Carmilla if she isn't rescued in Stage 6 and replaces Death. This concept was recycled for Rondo's PSP remake, where she becomes a Lesser Vampire if she isn't rescued in Stage 7 and replaces Shaft G. Grimoire of Souls combines the two so that Annette is made Brainwashed and Crazy by Carmilla and becomes an assist character in her boss fight, initially acts like first-form Laura and then fights as her vampiric form during the second phase, but she reverts back to normal after Carmilla is beaten.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Is never mentioned in Symphony of the Night even in the Good Ending, where Maria and Richter decide onscreen to take their leave, and without Alucard there to be confused as to who she is, there was no reason not to mention her.
• World of Technicolor Hair: She has purple hair in the original Rondo of Blood, in keeping with the game's 90's anime aesthetic. This was changed to blonde in Dracula X and the PSP Dracula X Chronicles remake.
• Yandere:
  • In the PSP remake, once she becomes a Lesser Vampire in the bad ending route, she immediately wants to turn Richter into a vampire so they can be together.
  Annette: "I'll make you mine forever!"
  • Doubly so in Grimoire of Souls, where she outright says she'll happily take Richter against his will.

Tera and Iris

Voiced by (Tera; Japanese): Hiromi Murata (Rondo of Blood), Eri Sendai (The Dracula X Chronicles)

Voiced by (Iris; Japanese): Akie Yasuda (Rondo of Blood), Mizuhara (The Dracula X Chronicles)

Voiced by (both; English): Karen Strassman (The Dracula X Chronicles)

Tera is a nun and Iris is the daughter of a doctor. Both were kidnapped along with Maria and Annette.

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• Answer to Prayers: How Tera views Richter and Maria saving her. Granted, she's seen praying when they get her, so she likely did so.
• Bifauxnen: The PSP remake takes the concept of Iris being the daughter of a doctor and runs with it, giving her a very princely redesign with a boyish haircut, glasses, and a gentleman-like scholar's uniform.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Tera gives off this vibe in the PSP remake. She sees Richter as the manifestation of God Himself and Maria as a Guardian Angel.
• Damsel in Distress: Just like Annette.
• Flanderization: In Rondo of Blood, Tera refers to Richter or Maria as a guardian angel sent to rescue her, but it seems like she's speaking figuratively and otherwise converses with them normally. In Dracula X Chronicles, she flat out believes that Richter is God manifest and that Maria is the Virgin Mary, much to Richter and Maria's confusion, and continues to speak as such even after they repeatedly try to correct her.
• Immortal Breaker: Tera's gift to Richter and Maria gives them the power to destroy the red skeletons and walls made of them. Given in game they always rise back up when defeated without her item, it becomes a specific form of this.
• In Case of X, Break Glass: Iris's gift to Richter and Maria gives them the power to destroy crystal structures when they strike them, which is one of the things needed in order to get through one of the mechanisms keeping Annette trapped.
• The Medic: Iris bandages up an injury that your character received when she's saved. Taken even further in Dracula X Chronicles, where she dresses like a scholar-doctor and possesses a knowledge of germ theory and infection that's a good 50 years or more ahead of her time.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unknown what Dracula had in store for them, but considering Maria was planned as a sacrifice and Annette was turned to a vampire, should you not manage to save either of them, then their fates become this trope in a nutshell (in the PSP remake Shaft's dialogue makes it explicit all the girls except Maria are being grabbed to be fed to Dracula and made into his brides, though whether or not this would happen is unclear since Richter forces Dracula to flee the castle even in the bad ending).
• World of Technicolor Hair: In Rondo of Blood Tera has green hair in a ponytail, in keeping with the game's 90's anime aesthetic. This was changed to black hair in a hime cut in the Dracula X Chronicles PSP remake.

Shaft

Voiced by (Japanese): Jin Horikawa (Rondo of Blood), Kiyoyuki Yanada (Symphony of the Night) and Dai Matsumoto (The Dracula X Chronicles)

Voiced by (English): Jeff Manning (Symphony of the Night), Tony Oliver (The Dracula X Chronicles)

"Servants, come forth from the gates of Hell! Attack! Rid my master's castle of this pest!"

Shaft was an evil priest who revived Dracula during the time of Rondo of Blood, and he helped the old Count kidnap multiple young women. Later, he was instrumental in keeping Richter Brainwashed and Crazy during Symphony of the Night.

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• Arc Villain: He serves as The Heavy for Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, as he works to resurrect Dracula in both games.
• Bald of Evil: Not that you would know it since his head is almost always covered.
• Crystal Ball: His signature — he primarily uses green crystal balls to attack during his boss fights.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Richter kills him twice — as both a human and a ghost — in Rondo. He should have been Deader than Dead, yet even this doesn't stick, as Shaft goes on to enslave Richter so that Alucard can take the spotlight in SotN.
• The Dragon: To Dracula, and played this role to a brainwashed Richter.
• Evil Sorcerer: His narrative role.
• Evil Sounds Deep: In Symphony of the Night, he's played with a menacing baritone.
• Faster Than They Look: During Rondo of Blood, in which he somehow manages to jump around the room like a ninja.
• Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: The third attack he is capable of with the orbs, which sends them bounding all over the room.
• Necromancer: His main choice of magic, which he uses to revive the four bosses from Simon's journey into Castlevania, as well as preserving his own soul after being killed by Richter. In his ghost form, Shaft summons the corpses of the Wyvern and Behemoth to attack Richter.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He is ironically responsible for detecting and unlocking Maria's magical potential in the remake. In the original version, he simply caught her trying to be a hero.
• Playing with Fire: Shafton Fire, where he sets his orbs on fire and sends them towards their target.
• Scary Black Man: Most of his sprites give him a darker skin tone than his art would suggest. In Dracula X Chronicles, he is just as pale-skinned as his artwork.
• Shock and Awe: Shafton Lighting, where he uses his orbs to cast bolts of lightning.
• Sinister Minister: He is technically a priest.
• Something Only They Would Say: One major clue to the fact that he is possessing Richter in Symphony of the Night is the incantation that Richter uses to summon monsters to attack Alucard: it's the exact same thing Shaft says when summoning monsters to fight Richter in Rondo of Blood's PSP remake.
• Soul Jar: He preserves his soul in one of his trademark crystal balls after being killed in Rondo of Blood.

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