10 most shocking moments from Castlevania: Nocturne

7) Meeting Juste Belmont

Castlevania: Nocturne has a really interesting story with an even more interesting way of storytelling. A lot of the personal trauma the characters deal with is mirrored in other characters. Maria and Richter both discover relatives they believed to be dead or just gone are very much alive and right under their noses. Annette has to face the vampire who murdered her own mother in front of her as a child and Richter has to face Olrox, the vampire who murdered his mother.

Maria finds out her father is Abbot Emmanuel, and we all know he is not a good person. Richter discovers that his grandfather Juste Belment has been nearby all these years and, although he’s kind of an ass, he’s a Belmont and fights for good. This discovery comforts him; he’s not alone anymore, he’s not the last of his family. This gives him more strength and makes him more confident in his own skills.

Also, if Richter was able to get his magic spark back, who’s to say Juste can’t? It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks, and two Belmont magic users fighting together would be absolutely awesome, and dangerous.

8) The Devourer of the Sun

Sekhmet, Erzsebet Bathory, the Messiah, Devourer of the Sun, Countess, the Lioness, Mistress of Dread, Goddess of War…she’s the Mother of Titles, with almost as many as Daenerys Targaryen. She’s not Dracula. She is, however, a monster of the same caliber, if not worse.

Erzsebet’s goal is to leave the world in darkness, allowing herself and her vampire minions to roam around at any and all hours of the day, harvesting, attacking, and biting humans whenever they please. Total world domination: that’s the main goal. Her way of achieving it is actually pretty ingenious: she manipulates the moon into an eclipse, “devouring” her father Ra and making it 10:00 p.m. forever. (I wonder what effect this will have on the tides, but that’s just my ready-for-the-apocalypse mind thinking out loud.)

For those bummed about Dracula’s absence from this story, fear not: Erzsebet is just as worthy of your reverence. She’s basically untouchable, her very entrance into a room will send chills down your spine. She’s somehow wickedly charming, beyond powerful, and truly terrifying, an ancient powerhouse returning for revenge on humankind. She wants complete and total chaos, human harvesting, night creatures roaming around, and for the world to bow at her feet. She likes to hang you by the bones “so you don’t bleed out too fast” and she can feed on you slowly for about three days, for crying out loud.

Take a seat, Dracula. Mommy’s home.