Annet Renard was Richter Belmont's girlfriend, and it was her fate, too, to become a pawn in the eternal play. After Dracula was risen from his slumber by Shaft and his deviant followers, he cooked up a plan that saw his forces ravage Warakiya and take some of the town women hostage in hope of luring a Belmont hero to his castle for a duel. The skeletal and demon perpetrators grabbed Annet, her younger sister, Maria, plus others and imprisoned them in ghoulish locations surrounding the castle.

Annet, herself, was locked away near the castle keep, in the preceding clock tower (or in the caverns, if you prefer Castlevania: Dracula X's truncated story). From here, Dracula could keep an eye on her while further taunting Richter. When Richter arrived in the clock tower, he located the key to her chamber in an eagle's nest in a branching corridor, and this is all that stood in the way of his beloved. It was easy, yes--but Dracula's only interest was to goad Richter this far.

Her saving holds more relevance toward the story continuation of both games: In Rondo of Blood, her rescue counts towards your completion percentage and thus the best ending. And in Castlevania: Dracula X, saving her opens up a hidden stage, and, thereafter, an alternate boss on the clock tower stage whose defeat unlocks the game's best ending.

The master Librarian is a longtime ally of both Count Dracula and his son, Alucard, and throughout the eons, he resided in the castle's huge library where it was his job to maintain the castle's wealth of informational pieces. The Master Librarian thereby became a very fountain of this information.

No one was more surprised than he to see Alucard emerge into his tiny den within the long library when the two hadn't been in contact for hundreds of years. Though the Librarian's allegiance was strongest with Dracula, he couldn't suppress his true nature to help the less fortunate, especially if they had something to offer in return. While Alucard certainly wasn't in that class, the Librarian readily made his services available to the half-breed hero when promised a huge reward in return. (Perhaps his redemption? We never learned.) To such a soul, wealth and security were always of the utmost assurance.

Of course, his services are more yours than Alucard's: After his trust is earned, in-game, the Librarian will begin to function similarly to the merchants of games' past only with more in the way of information. He'll sell to you stronger armor and weaponry, he'll buy from you gems and other valuable stones, he'll list for you the many enemies and their statistics, and he'll furthermore supply valuable tips on how to defeat the game's strongest enemies. After the game is cleared, his den will also be the site of Symphony's sound test.

Lisa was the woman with whom Vlad Tepes Dracula fell in love after becoming a vampire. After the death of his first wife, Vlad waited patiently for countless years, for he believed that she would one day be reborn so that they could be together again. When he met Lisa, he was convinced that she was his beloved reborn.

Not surprisingly, as Lisa learned to love him, his hatred toward God did not resonate onto her, because it was never in her nature to hate. In fact, she loved Vlad more than anything in the world despite his flawed vision.

To others, Lisa was known as the very kind woman who sacrificed all of her time to medicine, and she would prepare all kinds of remedies for the sick and weary. Due to the paranoid nature prevalent in this time-period, when people lived in fear of the forces of darkness, a rumor spread that Lisa's medicinal practices were so effective because she was a witch. Thus, the authorities arrested her, tried her as a witch without much proof, and executed Lisa immediately thereafter. This was an act that drove Vlad to insanity and became the driving force behind his lust for revenge against the humans.

Though, there remained one true connection between the two: The baby to which Lisa gave birth shortly before her death--Adrian Farenheights Tepes, better known as Alucard. Right before her execution, she made Alucard promise to deliver to his father two messages: "Do not do the humans any harm," she'd ask, "for theirs is already a hard lot." Also, she needed that Vlad know one more thing: "Tell him," she said, "that I will love him for all of eternity."

In Symphony, Lisa's is more a pseudo-apperance: The Succubus tries to play upon Alucard's conflicted status by taking Lisa's form, in an attempt to enrage him enough to where he'd join in evil's cause almost unwittingly (as in Luke Skywalker "joining the dark side"). Thereafter, after defeating Dracula, Alucard speaks to him the words he promised his mother he'd relay.

The early 19th century was a desperate time for mankind. The Belmont clan had gone missing, the specter of Count Dracula continued to loom over Transylvania, and people began to lose their ability to resist darkness. Fearing the worst, those in positions of power began to search for new ways to counter Dracula. A brave few formed organizations whose purpose was to prevent the return of count Dracula and in the event of his resurrection remove him from this world.

One such brave soul was Barlowe, who formed an organization called Ecclesia. It was Ecclesia's mission to study "glyphs" (magical energy representative of the power that dwells within all things) and one day put them to use as the means for fighting Dracula. Their efforts were so considerable that certain men of power took notice and entrusted to Barlowe the vessel for the soul of Dracula, in hope that Ecclesia's research would materialize in a weapon potent enough to destroy the Dark Lord. Furthermore, he was ordered to seal away the vessel and release it from captivation only when a final solution was apparent. There was one technicality: Should their research ultimately prove invalid, the vessel would be taken away from them. Barlowe agreed to these terms.

Ecclesia concocted several glyphs and used them against the vessel. Not one of them could even scratch it. If those in power found out, they would surely take it back, leaving Ecclesia in ruin. They managed to keep their failure a secret, securing the vessel, and continued experimenting. Finally, Barlowe came up with a solution: Fight fire with fire! His research, helped along by Albus--his star pupil and Ecclesia's chief researcher--culminated in the creation of Dominus, a glyph of ultimate power. Dominus was the representation of the Count Dracula (the mystical combination of hatred, anger and agony), which they magically altered to be used as a weapon against the Dark Lord.

What his students didn't know (except possibly for Albus, who despite being kept largely in the dark was working closely with him) was that Barlowe could not resist the vessel's allure and was actively studying it rather than keeping a safe distance; Dominus' very existence was in fact based upon the samples taken directly from the vessel, which contained Dracula's actual body parts. Somewhere along the way, things went awry; Barlowe, thanks to frequent contact, was corrupted by the vessel's power and became engulfed in darkness, which he managed to hide from his students while he plotted to resurrect Count Dracula, the very opposite of his original goal. He began hatching a sinister scheme.

In order to bring about Dracula's return, he'd have to sacrifice his students and somehow do so with their blessing. He used Dominus, being the bearer of which was seen as an honor, as the catalyst. He chose Shanoa, a woman gifted with the ability to absorb and harness glyphs, as the one to bear Dominus, under the guise that she'd use this power to fight Dracula. When Albus, who knew of Dominus' self-destructive power, sought to protect Shanoa by convincing Barlowe to instead entrust him with the "honor," the old man reluctantly agreed.

Though, he had no intention of keeping that promise; in order to take Albus out of the picture, he sent him a great errand and in the meantime hoped to infuse Shanoa with Dominus, knowing it would kill her and serve as the perfect sacrifice. Even though Albus returned in time to stop it from happening, interrupting the ceremony and stealing away Dominus for himself, Barlowe was able to salvage the event by instead sacrificing Shanoa's memories and emotions. When she awakened in an amnesiac state, he lied to her, insisting that it was Albus' intervention that led to the loss of her memory. He then sent her on a mission to track down Albus and retrieve Dominus, as if Albus was simply a misguided youth seeking ultimate power.

Barlowe remained at Ecclesia and during conversations with the multitasking Shanoa managed to play coy, showing no hint of ill-intent and appearing as completely sincere. For now, he could only encourage her to continue on Albus' trail, eliminating him if necessary. When Shanoa finally began to figure it all out, thanks to the now-understood actions of Albus, she confronted Barlowe, who revealed the vessel's existence but nothing more. She was eventually forced to slay Albus, who was overpowered by Dominus but lived on in her memory as the brother she once knew; she returned to Ecclesia and honoring her promise to the fallen Albus refused to use Dominus on the vessel, as Barlowe requested.

She called Barlowe on his lies, knowing of his evil deeds. He started to deny the charges, but his tone only grew more apologetic, as if his actions were simply misunderstood. "Shanoa," he said, "if you ever trusted me, then hear me: Mankind needs you. Needs your life!" It was now clear that Barlowe was under Dracula's control. The now-mad Barlowe, laughing maniacally, began an assault on Shanoa. Soon, he was brought to his knees, utterly defeated.

Without Dominus, he explained, he could never destroy the seal and release Dracula into this world, which was "the realization of Ecclesia's mission and the singular wish of all mankind." Mimicking Dracula's words, Barlowe stated that it is indeed mankind's wish, that their hearts yearn for his presence; if not, why would he return again and again? The enchanted Barlowe, his strength returning, began hovering, gravitating toward toward the vessel. Sensing the imminent return of Dracula, he used what remained of his power to destroy the already cracked seal, sacrificing himself to the cause. Shanoa watched as the vessel exploded, vaporizing Barlowe in the process.

Barlowe was successful in resurrecting Dracula, his last act in this world though the antithesis of Ecclesia's original ambition. Though it isn't easy to justify blaming Barlowe for his inability to resist the darkness, it's due to his actions that all record of the disgraced Ecclesia would vanish into the mists of time.

Albus was Ecclesia's chief researcher and like Shanoa trained from an early age to harness Dominus and destroy Count Dracula. Due to his dedication to research, the supreme pupil became Barlowe's trusted assistant. In addition to his prowess as a top researcher, he was also a warrior highly skilled in the use of magic; armed with a pistol named Argatha, Albus could channel glyph energy into bullets, which would then manifest as magical projectiles.

Albus was very close friends with Shanoa, the equivalent of her brother. Albus cared for Shanoa so much that he would do anything he could to prevent her from accepting Dominus, the true meaning of which was lost on her; Albus knew that the accepting of Dominus would interfere with one's memory and emotions, a risking of one's own life. To ensure that she would not receive it, he met with Barlowe and persuaded him to change his mind--to select Albus even though both knew he hadn't the capacity to absorb Dominus. Or at least not yet. Barlowe gave the youth his word before sending him out on a great errand.

As the day of the ceremony neared, whence Shanoa would become the bearer of Dominus, Albus sensed something was wrong and returned to Ecclesia, where on the special day he was informed by Shanoa that Barlowe had changed his mind--that Albus was unfit to bear such a responsibility. This set Albus into a rage. He later interrupted the ceremony, charging Barlowe with an act of deceit, before somehow stealing Dominus for himself and quickly escaping.

Albus knew that he had little time to act; he had only a few weeks to find a way to control this chaotic glyph and properly harness Dominus as the means to destroy Dracula before Shanoa could catch up to him, seeking what she didn't know was a highly self-destructive power. During his previous errand, Albus pieced together that Barlowe's aspirations were anything but sincere, and he didn't want to see Shanoa used as a pawn in a deadly game. His travels led him to a village called Wygol, which he had researched to discover was home to descendants of the Belmont clan. He took captive several of its habitants with the intention of taking samples of their sacred blood, hoping that it could act as a conduit to contain Dominus. That the village's founder, Nikolai, thought him to be Dracula was a realistic outcome more than a fear.

As Albus had guessed, the power of Dominus began to corrupt him, so he thought up a temporary solution. When the amnesiac Shanoa caught up to him on Minera Prison Island, requesting that he return to Ecclesia, he left to her care the splintered Dominus Hatred, one of the trio, hoping that it would slow the rate of corruption and buy him more time; he repeated this action when they later met in the Giant's dwelling, this time entrusting to her Dominus Anger. He encouraged the confused Shanoa to question Dominus' source, to speak to Barlowe and perhaps learn the truth as he had.

By the time of their final physical meeting, it was too late--Albus was overpowered by even one piece of Dominus and now sought to retrieve the two pieces of Dominus he had previously given to Shanoa, violently if necessary. "All of humanity is merely cattle, led to slaughter at my behest. I, Lord Dracula!" he shouted, underlining to Shanoa the severity of the situation. She had no choice but to fight and defeat her former friend, to reclaim the final piece of Dominus.

But Albus wasn't truly dead. Once Shanoa absorbed Dominus Agony, reuniting the whole of Dominus, she was overcome by an odd sensation and could somehow see into Albus' memories, quickly learning that his actions were only meant to protect her; Albus was able to live on as merely a vision, a remnant living within the Dominus glyph as absorbed by Shanoa--a divine occurrence made possible by the Vampire Killer whip's legacy and specifically Shanoa's absorbing of the glyphs that Albus had created to encase the Wygol village habitants (now known to her as Belmont descendants). Too, she learned the truth about Barlowe's scheme and was encouraged to confront him on the matter, before which Albus made her promise to never, under any circumstances, use Dominus. Trusting his words, she agreed.

Shanoa was unable to keep her promise, as she was forced to call upon Dominus to destroy the seemingly invincible Count Dracula; she would surely pay for tapping into its power with her life. As she prepared to exit this world, almost desiring of such a fate, Albus again appeared to her. While the despondent Shanoa was going about her final mission, Albus was wandering within Dominus to see if he could locate the memories it had stolen from her. Once Dominus had rushed away, having acted as the catalyst in Dracula's destruction, it left behind a glimmer--the sacrifice she had just made. Using what was left of his fading influence, Albus supplanted the radiant signal, effectively sacrificing his soul to spare Shanoa's life. While he had no regrets in doing so, he asked of the distressed Shanoa one final wish: To smile for him. Though she was suffering, she found the energy to grant his request, a sight he found beautiful enough to mark his passing. After all: What kind of brother would he be if he didn't protect her?

Ten years before the events of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, there existed an untold tale of Dracula versus the family of legend (or at least a faction of the family bearing blood relation to the Belmonts). After Richter Belmont vanquished from this world the hated Count, the clan pulled a disappearing act and relinquished possession of the Vampire Killer and the mystic sub-weapons due to an unexplored policy that it not again touch the hardware until Dracula's next in-cycle resurrection--one requiring approximately one hundred years of rest on the part of the Dark Lord. Fearing that deviants, as they always had, might attempt to resurrect Dracula early, the clan left the weapons to the care of the Baldwin and Graves warriors, who were related to the Belmonts by blood. It would be their job to in the meantime counter any threat.

When Dracula did indeed return to this world, early, it was Morris Baldwin and members of said Graves family who battled the resilient Count and removed him from this world.

After the epic struggle, Morris came to realize the near-unlimited power of Dracula, and in researching history, he lived in fear that Dracula might return sooner than believed--that his followers would seize a golden opportunity, a Belmont-less scenario, and hastily try again, or that Dracula was simply feigning defeat in order to hide out and over time regenerate enough power to orchestrate a surprise return. To prepare for such an event, he took under his wing two youths: His son, Hugh Baldwin, and Nathan Graves, the offspring of his relatives; he trained the two boys to be expert vampire hunters. Though, in a move that shocked everyone, Morris, as the elder entrusted with the whip and the weapons, decided that Nathan should be the next hunter in line and not Hugh, his son, who seemed to be the more logical choice. This decision affected the two youths in different ways. Morris was deeply disappointed to learn that Hugh came to despise Nathan, his former friend, who he now saw as his bitter rival.

Years later, notwithstanding, the event that Morris feared was coming to fruition: The countess Camilla had been resurrected and was preparing to do the same for her master, Lord Dracula. Morris and his students sensed this imbalance in nature and sped toward the castle to prevent such a ritual from occurring. They were too late, and for Morris, this resulted in his untimely capture, wherein Dracula would slowly drain the old hunting master's life-force and use it to replenish his own.

Morris survived the process long enough for Nathan, and later Hugh, to arrive and carry him off to safety. While Hugh was proud of Nathan's efforts in vanquishing Dracula from this world, he was even more proud of the fact that through their castle-wide encounters his two students learned to work out their differences and accept their separate distinctions.

Hugh is the son of Morris Baldwin and, like many others, a Belmont descendant of a different surname. Because of the strong bond between the Baldwin and Graves families, he and Nathan became great friends during their years of training under the watchful eye of Morris.

It was obvious from observing their training that Hugh was superior in terms of skill, and Hugh always showed great pride in that position. However, when his father started to favor Nathan, it was beyond his understanding. "What was it that his father saw?" everyone wondered. Over time, the constant attention paid to Nathan began to make Hugh feel resentful, jealous and even hateful. Finally, Hugh was pushed over the edge when Morris Baldwin, the elder, presented to Nathan the Vampire Killer whip and the sub-weapons rather than to Hugh, who proved to be more skillful.

When the trio arrived at the castle, a preemptive strike by Dracula landed Hugh and Nathan in the castle's catacombs. Hugh broke free from Nathan, pushing him aside, and set out to look for his master. He was having little to no luck and became bitter when Nathan was able to make better progress. The hate grew so much that Hugh's mind became clouded, and he was easy prey for Dracula's dark magic. Nathan learned this all too well when he entered the castle keep only to be attacked by a nearly possessed Hugh.

When Nathan emerged victorious, knocking some sense into him (or knocking the spell's influence out of him, as it were), Hugh, who had been watching himself externally, helplessly, came to finally understand why his father made the decision to hand down the weapons to Nathan. The humbled Baldwin gave Nathan his blessing to finish the search and bring their master to safety, and he vowed, thereafter, to restart his training with a newfound respect.