10 most shocking moments from Castlevania: Nocturne

Castlevania: Nocturne is, hands down, the perfect follow-up to Powerhouse Studio’s Castlevania series that took over Netflix back in 2017. It takes us forward in time a few hundred years after Dracula died. Set during the French Revolution, Nocturne tells us a story about vampires rising into power as monarchs and playing god, taking advantage of and killing innocent civilians wherever they go. We follow Richter Belmont, the last Belmont of his time, and his acquired family — Maria and her mother Tera — as they struggle with the inequalities between the rich and the poor, witnessing how vampires have managed to take over basically everything in Europe.

With eight incredible, impeccably written episodes, Castlevania: Nocturne gives us plenty of plot twists and scares, and pulls no punches when it comes to the fate of some of our favorite characters. Loosely adapted from the video game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood‘s plot, it delivers a terrifically dark story. It is MOST DEFINITELY not for kids – just because a show is animated does not mean it’s not gory, doesn’t contain heavy language, doesn’t have disturbing scenes, and doesn’t have nudity. Nocturne contains a lot of all of that.

Let’s talk about some of the moments that had our hearts skipping, had us sitting on the edge of our seats, or made our jaws drop to the floor. But be warned: I will be SPOILING everything. Read at your own risk!

1) Julia Belmont’s death

Nocturne starts us off with a nice dose of trauma as a young Richter Belmont witnesses the death of his mother Julia. Not only does he see it happen, his eyes are locked with hers as it does. He tries to help but only gets in the way and he can do nothing but watch as Olrox stabs Julia through the heart and makes little Richter the last Belmont. That he knows of, anyway.

Poor little Richter. This trauma is enough to make him unable to use his magic for years. We can clearly see how Julia’s death deeply affects Richter as he grows up and bottles these emotions, running away every time he gets scared. It’s only when he’s had about an episode’s worth of “crying it out” that he truly embraces what happened and how it brought him to where he is, and becomes who he’s supposed to be: a Supersaiyan a Belmont.