- "Alucard's mother. Count Dracula's wife who he loved dearly, a woman like the Virgin Mary. She created medicines for those people who suffered from the epidemic but she was executed due to the witch trials."
- — Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku booklet description
Lisa was Count Dracula's second wife and the mother of Alucard. Although never physically appearing in the Castlevania series before or since, her death served as Dracula's motivation to wage war on humanity, finalizing his transformation into the main antagonist of the games.
It should be noted that Lisa is only ever referred to by her first name in the games; neither her maiden name nor what name she took when married (Cronqvist, Ţepeş or a pseudonym of some kind) have been established.
Story
Background
Count Dracula mourns over Lisa's body.
Very few exact details about Lisa are revealed in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and subsequent material. She was alive sometime before the 1470s.[1]
At some point during her life, Lisa met Count Dracula and became involved in a relationship with him. The reason Dracula fell in love with her was because she was the spitting image of his previous wife, Elisabetha, who passed away during the time of the Crusades.[2] From their union, Alucard was conceived, inheriting the vampiric traits of his father and his mother's human heart.
Lisa created medicine for those who suffered from the epidemic.[3] Due to the witch trials going on in Europe at the time, Lisa was apprehended and executed. Dracula later found her body but arrived too late to save her.[4] Alucard was present shortly before Lisa's death, just like his father, being unable to stop the event, with Lisa requesting that Alucard allow the mob to kill her, under the belief that it would ultimately save their souls from eternal damnation. Lisa delivered the following words for Alucard to deliver to Dracula:
- "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." ...She also said that she would love you. For eternity.
Upon learning about his wife's death, Dracula vowed revenge. In 1476, he began his war upon humanity.[5]
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
The illusion of the Succubus.
Although Lisa does not make a physical appearance, the Succubus impersonates her in order to deceive Alucard. Throughout the castle, Alucard is able to rest in coffins in order to restore his health and save the game. One of these save rooms, located in the Underground Caverns, is different from the rest, having a black and purple scheme instead of the usual red and gold. If Alucard rests in that particular coffin, the Succubus appears in his nightmare and recreates the moment of Lisa's execution, taking her appearance. The scene ends with Alucard seeing through the illusion by a speech that contradicts his mother's point of view and results in an encounter between him and the Succubus. Due to the death of the Succubus in the dream world, her soul is sent wandering for eternity. Alucard would later divulge Lisa's last words to Dracula upon beating the latter, causing Dracula to beg for Lisa's forgiveness before bidding his son farewell.
Other appearances
Castlevania: Dracula's Curse Animated Movie
Project 51 Productions obtained the rights from Konami to create movies based on Castlevania. Their planned project was a direct-to-DVD feature covering the story of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, with Lisa as one of the secondary characters. The project lay dormant for many years and was later picked up by Netflix, and renamed simply, "Castlevania". The four-episode miniseries was released on July 7th, 2017. It has been announced for a second season in 2018 with twice as many episodes.
The script writer, Warren Ellis, posted a short outline on the production blog of the movie involving Lisa. The scene involves "Dr. Lisa Fahrenheit" treating a person's cough in her house located a short distance from the village.
Castlevania (animated series)
- Main article: Lisa (animated series)
In the series, Lisa is fully depicted as being Dracula's wife and mother to his child, Alucard. Being a scientist, she is enthralled with Dracula's castle, which can seemingly travel through time. This allows him access to technology not available during that period. Lisa sends off Dracula to travel the world by convincing him that he should learn to "walk like a man" in order to become more empathetic with mankind. While he is away, she is apprehended and burned at the stake under accusations of practicing witchcraft by the town's religious leaders. After Dracula returns and discovers the murder of his wife, he condemns the human race and vows to kill the citizens of Wallachia.
Notes
- Contrary to popular belief, and how the animated series portrays the event, Lisa was not burned alive. In the promo mini manga from the Konami Magazine that acts as a small prologue to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Dracula is seen holding Lisa's corpse with some bloodstains, and she does not have any noticeable burn damage on her clothes nor face. In the game, she is only seen crucified. She probably died of blood loss from injuries inflicted on her body by the two men wielding spears next to her.
- The Alucard Sword is an heirloom passed down through Lisa's family.[6]
- It should be noted that the manual of Symphony of the Night describes Lisa as "the only woman Dracula ever loved". However, Lament of Innocence introduces Dracula's previous wife, Elisabetha. Whether this statement from the manual is an oversight is unknown.
- In the instruction manual of Akumajō Dracula X: Tsuioku no Yasōkyoku the sentence is written as follows: "ドラキュラ伯爵が唯一愛した妻[...]". The kanji for uniqueness, "唯一", is used. "唯一愛した" means "only love", the implication in the sentence being that Lisa was Dracula's wife for who he had a love which was like no other. [7] When this sentence was translated to English, it was incorrectly assumed the sentence meant Lisa was Dracula's only wife. If this would have been the intended meaning, "ドラキュラ伯爵が愛した唯一の妻" would have sounded more appropriate (although the sentence would still have been weirdly expository in nature). Therefore, the above mentioned contradiction does not exist in the Japanese manual.
- The Encyclopedia of Castlevania describes Lisa as the "spitting image" of Dracula's former wife. Speculation that Lisa is the reincarnation of Elisabetha is common in fan circles.[2]
- If this is taken into consideration, then Lisa's role would be similar to that of Mina Harker from the 1992 film adaptation of the original novel, Bram Stoker's Dracula, where Mina was the reincarnation of Dracula's first wife, Elisabeta.
- According to producer Koji Igarashi, Lisa is a descendant from a holy bloodline, which is the reason why her son, Alucard, is able to use holy weapons.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Official Castlevania Timeline. Dorimaga. 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Encyclopedia of Castlevania. 2001.
- ↑ Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku booklet. Konami. 1997. p.10.
- ↑ Konami Magazine Nocturne in the Moonlight Comic
- ↑ Castlevania 20th Anniversary Pre-order Bundle. Konami. 2006. Timeline. 1476: Castlevania Dracula's Curse.
- ↑ Alucard Sword description: "Mother's family heirloom".
- ↑ Weblio definition
- ↑ Developer Interview, from NTT Pub Official Guide.
External links
- Lisa at the Castlevania Fan Wiki