Dracula

The fictional character Count Dracula is one of the most enduring in the history of film and literature; so great is its fame, it was only a matter of time before the prolific king of vampires crossed into the world of video games, the new medium, and directly into a series made specifically in its honor (Akumajo "Dracula," as it started in Japan). The series we know as Castlevania stars the Belmont heroes in their perennial battles with Count Dracula, whose character as such is an amalgamation of three separate personages: The troubled vampire menace from the novel Bram Stoker's Dracula, which presented the Count as an extension of real-life tyrant Vlad Tepes; the smooth, calculating horror-movie icon as performed by Bela Lugosi; and Konami's own erratic interpretation, which plays with possibilities that the Count is either of the latter suggestions yet still exclusive to the series it has created for him.

It's in this section where I'll attempt to make sense out of an ever-tangled mess by unraveling it and and tying it back together and in doing so explain from beginning to end the tale of the Dark Lord. We'll start by learning about the history of the real-life Vlad Tepes (a name that even the series' version has actually used) and properly segue into the fictional; then examine how the seemingly anachronous Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Castlevania Legends are possible by this rule; and, finally, follow the character to its doomed end. This is done in six chapters, as depicted below; you can at any time zip to the chapter of your convenience or follow the story page-by-page using the teaser links located on the pages' bottom portions. (To view this story as it once existed, please visit the old Dracula Story page.)