It is the time of the Crusades when we find Leon Belmont, hero of the knighthood. On one dark day, his fiancée Sara Trantoul is kidnapped. His friend and former compatriot of the Crusades, Mathias Cronqvist (bedridden since losing his wife, Elisabetha Cronqvist), tells Leon that his lady has been taken away by a vampire named Walter Bernhard, who lives in the forest known as Eternal Night, possessor of the legendary artifact known as the Crimson Stone. Unable to convince the church to lend him aid, he gives up his sword and his title to find Sara himself. Upon entering the evil forest, Leon comes across a mysterious old man named Rinaldo Gandolfini, who bequeaths to Leon a whip enchanted with the power of alchemy.

After making his way to the final chambers, Leon rescues Sara, only to discover that she has been tainted by the vampire and is doomed. Unable to reverse her cruel fate, Sara sacrifices herself to let her soul be entwined with the alchemy whip, creating the legendary weapon known as the "Vampire Killer." This enchanted whip can destroy the power of Walter, and Leon sets out to take his vengeance for the death of his beloved. After defeating the evil vampire, the true nature of the plot is revealed - the kidnapping of Sara was all orchestrated by Mathias. Angry at God for the death of his wife, Mathias had sold his soul and embraced the side of the vampire - he used Leon to kill Walter so he could claim the holy artifact, the Ebony Stone, as his own. Mathias tells Leon that his bloodline will be cursed to "forever hunt the night," and as such, forever hunt him. Leon swears that, until the time, the Belmont Clan will hunt him dead.

Countess Elizabeth Bartley ("The Vampire Countess"), perhaps the daughter of Mircea Dracula (which would make her the niece of Wallachian Prince Vlad Dracula III, though not born yet), was found kneeling over the dead body of an England townsperson, blood dripping from her exposed fangs. She was tried as a vampire witch, convicted, and burned at the stake. Centuries later, a Transylvanian noblewoman, Countess Elizabeth Bathory (also known as Erzsébet Báthory), who lived from 1560 to 1614, followed in Bartley’s footsteps. This woman, historically referred to as “The Blood Countess,” more than often bathed in blood, thinking that it would make her younger. She had many of her own servant girls killed simply to obtain more blood to soak in.

1431 A.D.

History records Vlad Dracula III, the "Son of the Dragon," is born to Prince Vlad "The Dragon/The Devil" Dracul II of Wallachia and Princess Cneajna of Transylvania in the Transylvanian town of Schassburg/Sighisoara. In the decades to come he became the warlord prince/voivode of Wallachia in 1448, from 1456-1462, and finally in 1476. A member of the Order of the Dragon, he was sworn against the Ottoman Turks, with whom he had been forced to live with his brother Radu for some twelve years as children as part of the terms for the sparing of his father's life by the sultan. Eventually Vlad Dracula claimed his birthright as prince of Wallachia for reigns that have immortalized him as a Romanian hero, but it was through his cruel means by which he earned the name Tepes; "The Impaler," for which would historically nickname him "Vlad the Impaler." Vlad Dracula was said to have been responsible for the deaths of over 100,000, both criminals and his sworn Turkish enemies alike.

We must assume that Mathias Cronqvist, at this point, found the otherworldly means to be reborn inside Princess Cneajna as Vlad Dracula III (that Cronqvist was able to do this in 1844/1852 through Malus supports this) or at some point, perhaps in 1476, took Vlad Dracula III's place. Or perhaps at some point in the real Vlad Dracula's 20s or 30s, Mathias could have killed him, hidden the body, and mimicked the young prince's appearance.

NOTE: See the "In Search of Dracula" section for details on Prince Vlad "The Impaler" Dracula III and more scans from the Topps' "Dracula: Vlad the Impaler" comic here.

1476 A.D.

Prince Vlad Dracula III falls on the battlefield during December in the defense of his homeland of Wallachia, decapitated in a marsh near Snagov by a Turkish assassin disguised as one of his own men. Vlad’s head was allegedly taken back to Constantinople to be displayed before his Turkish enemies and his headless remains were later buried near a monastery in Snagov. The hated and feared Vlad the Impaler was thought laid to rest for eternity.

When excavation digs turn up empty, the question becomes raised: what happened to the body?

Rising from the grave some time later in a rebirth that began his centennial resurrections (i.e., automatic, naturally occurring revivals not caused by outside sources), Prince Dracula, now strigoi; nosferatu; an Undead vampyre, begins working toward his new dark agenda. Looking back into the ways of alchemy he had once studied as a mortal man, he turns his attention to the ways of evil in a crusade against humanity itself.

Perhaps seeing Vlad Dracula III as a kindred spirit, if he did not actually get reborn as Vlad Dracula III perhaps Mathias Cronqvist took Vlad's place after he fell on the battlefield, mimicking his appearance.

1482 A.D.

The third child of Prince Dracula III, the son of Ilona Elisabeth ("Lisa") Szilágy and only child of Dracula for which history records no known name, who had lived much of his young life with the Bishop of Ordea, dies of an unspecified mortal ailment.

Little does history know, it would seem, that this third child's name was Adrian Fahrenheights Tepes (for whatever reason, he was given the surname of Tepes/"The Impaler").

At some point, either as a result of his "unspecified mortal ailment" that led to his death this year or some enchantment performed on his corpse, Adrian became vampirised. He took on the name "Alucard" ("Dracula" spelled backwards) perhaps to be eccentric or otherwise in shame of his current state of being. Alucard sought out his father, or his father sought out him, and he became one of Dracula's chief generals/guardians in the army of darkness he was forming to instate an all-new rule over not only Wallachia anymore (as he did during his life), but Transylvania, Romania, and ultimately all of Europe.

From the beginning, Alucard had his reservations about what his father was doing. At this point, he would do well to keep them to himself.

1482 A.D. - CASTLEVANIA LEGENDS ( GB )

From Castle Dracula, now known and feared as "The Demon Castle Dracula"/"CastleVania," the Undead Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist, "prince" no longer and freshly vampirised, raises a hellish army of undead he has assault and ravage Transylvanian Romania. Dracula used his newfound supernatural powers and the magic powers of his followers to spread his plague of darkness and despair throught the European continent.

It would seem that at the nearly same time the Prince of Wallachia transcended death to become the Prince of Darkness, a baby girl possessing special powers was born to a family living in a remote area of the country. "Your powers are meant for a higher purpose and not only for yourself," she was often reminded as she was growing up. Taught how to handle a whip by her grandfather and having learned at an early age of her ability to sense the presence of beings physical and spiritual that cannot be seen by ordinary humans, she was ready. The plot of this girl's fate began to develop one night in her seventeenth year when she met up with the young enigmatic Alucard, who was on a journey to search for the father that deserted him. Fearlessly and selflessly, this young woman - her name Sonia Belmont - makes her journey within the gates of the Demon Castle, encountering and defeating not only Count Dracula, but his forgotten son, Adrian "Alucard" Fahrenheights Tepes, though that encounter was only a test... but yet so much more. Later that year after the birth of her son, Trevor, the townspeople of her village of Warakiya begin to fear the Belmont Clan’s powers, as the child bears supernatural powers from its half-vampiric father, Alucard.

It would seem, however, that Sonia did not truly vanquish the Count. Though beaten, it seems Dracula only went into hiding, licking his wounds and biding his time. Having been tested against Sonia Belmont, he knew now the limits of both his powers and new Undead body.

NOTE : While the original Japanese timeline claims 1450, Legends must occur in late 1482 because: 1) Historically the third child of the real-life Prince Vlad Dracula III (for whom history records no name), born to Prince Dracula and Ilona Szilágy, died this year of an unknown ailment while living with the Bishop of Oradea. Applying CastleVania to this bit of history, it could be said this third child was Alucard. 2) Assuming all the hints throughout the game are true regarding a romantic relationship between Sonia Belmont and Alucard, her child seen at the end of the game has to be Trevor, as that would explain the origin of the Belmont family's seemingly superhuman powers and abilities (plus, since she assumedly never married Alucard or took his last name, it would explain why Trevor took his mother's surname and not his father's). Trevor was mentioned as having been driven out of Warakiya in the opening to CastleVania III because of these powers, which, ironically enough, link the Belmonts beyond Sonia by blood to Dracula himself. As CastleVania III takes place in 1499, Trevor would only be 17, assuming he was born the same year (late 1482). Any higher than 1482 and Trevor's age would get somewhat far-fetched... though as it is said above, his maturity could have been accelerated as a result of his 1/4 vampiric blood from Alucard. See the note on the CastleVania III entry below.

1499 A.D. - CASTLEVANIA III : DRACULA’S CURSE ( NES )

Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist comes out of hiding, recuperated from his battle with Sonia Belmont and ready to continue his reign of darkness. Chaos is wrought over Transylvania and all of Europe again in the form of Dracula’s reforged army of undead.

Even after being banished from his village of Warakiya for fear of his unnatural powers by the villagers (these "powers" stemming from his heritage with Alucard), Trevor C. Belmont of the mighty Belmont Clan, son of Sonia, accepts the challenge of stopping Dracula’s sorcery even at the young age of 17. Teaming with Grant DaNasty (a ghostly pirate cursed by Dracula), Sypha Belnades (a Mystic Warlord, also of Warakiya, thought long dead), and Alucard (the "forgotten son of Dracula" who at last musters up the courage to oppose his father), Trevor accomplishes this by storming Dracula’s Demon Castle and slaying the vampire.   NOTE : While the Japanese timeline says 1476 (which would work if this was CastleVania Legends and Alucard wasn't in it), it must be at least ten years or so after Legends, which I explained in the note for Legends must occur in 1482, as Trevor has to grow up while it still has to be the 15th century. Plus, by saying that Dracula didn't really resurrect in CV3, and saying that Dracula wasn't really slain in Legends, it doesn't screw up the centennial resurrections and still enables it to work in the proper sequence according to the Japanese timeline : 1476 - prior to Legends; 1576 - Adventure (i.e., while Sonia confronted Dracula in 1482, it was Trevor in 1499 that vanquished him properly. It is more than likely the actual events of CastleVania III happen in 1498 or 1499, as Trevor would only be 17 at 1499 if he was born in late 1482 by Sonia even though his bloodline w/Alucard could make this maturity plausible. By this more logical reckoning, though Dracula likely came out of hiding in 1499 and began sending his undead legions across the land, he wasn't actually opposed by Trevor, Grant, Sypha, and Alucard for some time. This would be reasonably consistent with the prologue to CastleVania III.

Disillusioned with the ideals of his mentor, Hector, one of Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist's two Devil Forgemasters, fled CastleVania to pursue a more normal life... leaving Dracula vulnerable to the Belmonts, namely Sonia and Trevor. Now, three years after Dracula was most recently slain in battle, the magic power of the curse released upon his death has infected all of Europe. As the continent succumbs to pestilence, heresy and mob violence, Isaac – a former friend and fellow Devil Forgemaster – suddenly appears. Believing their master's death was a result of Hector's betrayal, Isaac implicates his friend's beloved in a deadly witch trial. Holding Hector responsible for the death of the vampire king, Isaac seeks out Hector’s beloved girlfriend and brutally murders her. Fueled by revenge, Hector sets off on a journey to his former home, which is now completely morphed in dark magic, to confront Isaac.

The time of his first centennial resurrection at hand after his original in 1476, Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist rises to combat the latest generation of vampire hunter from the Belmont Clan. The great-grandson of Trevor, a tempered young man by the name of Christopher Belmont, meets the challenge put before him, traveling to Dracula’s castle and fighting the vampire. Though CastleVania does crumble, Dracula, however, turns to mist before his opponent can land the killing blow. The Count then escapes the ruins of his Demon Castle as a bat.

1591 A.D. - CASTLEVANIA II : BELMONT’S REVENGE ( GB )

Fifteen years after Christopher’s fateful battle with Dracula, Soleiyu Belmont, Christopher’s son, is possessed by the evil of Dracula’s influence on the day that would mark his coming of age, warping him to serve the Count’s purposes. Hunting the Count to the four castles that mysteriously rise from the earth, then to the resurrected CastleVania itself, Christopher successfully slays Dracula in their rematch and saves Soleiyu.

1691 A.D. - VAMPIRE KILLER ( MSX2 HOME COMPUTER )

[ remade as CastleVania / Demon Castle Dracula (NES), Haunted Castle (Arcade), CastleVania Chronicles (PSX) ]

One hundred years after Christopher Belmont thought he had put an end to Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist, the King of Vampires musters up enough energy to rise from the grave with his Demon Castle for his second centennial resurrection. Again throwing a veil of darkness over Transylvania, the great-grandson of Christopher, Simon Belmont, takes it upon himself to fearlessly enter Dracula’s castle and slay him after his love, Linda Entwhistle, is captured by the vengeful King of Vampires.

Penetrating the monstrous inner defenses of CastleVania, Simon fights his way back to the Count, slays him, then escapes to watch the great demonic castle crumble into the ground. Linda Entwhistle remains missing.

1698 A.D. - CASTLEVANIA II : SIMON’S QUEST ( NES )

When it seems Simon did not complete his task in destroying Dracula (he failed to burn or otherwise destroy the body), he finds himself under his curse. Under the strain of time, his curse worsening and threatening to overtake his body, Simon travels across the land, tracking down the vampire’s scattered body parts before burning them deep inside the remnants of the destroyed Demon Castle Dracula/CastleVania.

Count Dracula rose from the ashes, forcing a rematch with Simon. The victorious Belmont at last rescues his bride-to-be, Linda Entwhistle.

1698 A.D. - SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV ( SNES )

No rest for the wicked. Simon Belmont is called to duty once again when a group of the surviving servants of Dracula resurrect their fallen master from the grave, the Demon Castle Dracula/CastleVania along with it.

Again entering the Count’s castle, Simon fights his way to Dracula in their third and final confrontation, definitively finishing the job this time.

NOTE: Super CastleVania IV was released in Japan as a remake of the original CastleVania (or in Japan’s case, Demon Castle Dracula), in both storyline and levels. When this game made it to the U.S., however, Konami of America added an IV to the title, edited the documentation text, and altered the text of the opening prologue—all this to make the game into a sequel and continuation of CastleVania II: Simon’s Quest (CastleVania III: Dracula’s Curse was a prequel), not simply a remake. "Once again Simon Belmont is called upon to destroy Dracula," the prologue states. In other words: for the CastleVania (U.S./Europe) series, Super CastleVania IV = sequel to CastleVania II; for the Demon Castle Dracula (Japanese) series, Super CastleVania IV = remake of original CastleVania/Demon Castle Dracula.

Lydie Erlanger, a Transylvanian youth, has been kidnapped and brought into a mysterious castle in the fog - the Demon Castle Dracula/CastleVania, reconstituted fifty years after Simon's final battle with the Count (and fifty years earlier than due). Lydie's friend, Juste Belmont (possibly the grandson of Simon) and Maxim Kishine, must enter the once again and slay the forces within. Once inside, Maxim begins to act funny - in his jealousy, could he be conspiring against the Belmonts?

It is discovered that Maxim tried to recover the body parts of Dracula burned by Simon in order to prove his worth as a Vampire Hunter, and ended up being possessed by Dracula, and kidnapped Lydie so he could resurrect once again. Naturally, Juste puts a stop to all of these plans, and the world becomes safe once more.

[ remade as CastleVania : Dracula X / Dracula XX (SNES) ]

 

Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist is resurrected prematurely again, this time by a dark priest named Shaft. The grandson of Juste Belmont, Richter Belmont, finds his loved ones being kidnapped by the Count in a fiendish plot of vengeance against the Belmont Clan for the acts of his ancestors at age 19. Dracula had kidnapped his beloved Annette, her sister Maria, a village Nun named Tera, and the village doctor's daughter named Iris.

Richter, and with the added help of Maria, follows in the footsteps of Trevor and Simon as he traverses the dark halls of CastleVania until he came face to face with Dracula, emerging victorious.

When Richter mysteriously disappears four years after his last confrontation with Dracula, Alucard returns from his self-imposed slumber in 1797 after three centuries. Fearing another return of his father to be behind it, Alucard challenges the evil of Dracula, embarking on a long quest through the Count’s topsy-turvy castle that concludes with another slaying of the vampire. It is a quest that would also forces him to confront Richter himself, who became possessed by the dark priest Shaft’s power. Richter himself and an older Maria Renard aid Alucard on his journeys.

At the site of an old Austrian castle, a dark priestess named Camilla successfully resurrects her dark master, Count Dracula. Using the life power of the captured elder vampire hunter Morris Baldwin, Morris' two young disciples, friends/rivals Hugh Baldwin and Nathan Graves, had not only to save him but stop yet another coming of Dracula.

Count Vlad Dracula, with the help of the Grim Reaper himself and his minions, is resurrected by the sacrifice of the blood of an innocent girl. After destroying local villages, he begins to kidnap children, looking for a suitable body to host his undead soul. It is then when man-beast Cornell ("Blue Crescent Moon") steps in and attempts to stop this plan and save his adopted sister, Ada. Along the way, in a Villa he passed through, Cornell rescued a young boy named Henry Oldrey. Eight years later, in early 1852, Henry, now a gun-wielding knight, returned to go on a quest to rescue six children Dracula's minions sought to use toward their dark master's resurrection before CastleVania returned from whence it came.

After Cornell's quest in 1844, a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church gave this prophecy: "One clear night after 7 days of thunder and rain, a blood moon will shine down on a foggy lake and children of darkness will gather in the old castle. An infant with blue eyes and blue hair will be born on this night to a young couple living in a small village in the forest. On this child's eighth birthday, the soul of the true devil will wake from a deep sleep and play a destructive melody."

Cornell and Ada had gone to the forest to start a new life together. Could the infant of the prophecy have been their son? It seems a strong possibility. Cornell and Ada played key roles in Dracula's plan for rebirth, so for Dracula to be reborn into the body of their son would seem to fit the puzzle.

"He changes into a bat, into a wolf and fog, He
adores the night, despises the day, and curses God,
He requires the blood of young women to keep his eternal life,
It is the ressurection of Dracula, the castle's owner
and the demonic deity."

"He has risen."

- From the Wallachian Journal of Entries, 1849

At age 25, Belmont Clan descendant Reinhardt Schneider receives a warning from his father, Michael Gelhart, "Some day, you may have no choice except to fight." After Reinhardt's father passes away, Reinhardt accepts his destiny to be a vampire hunter, and trains daily in the mountains of his homeland of Walkia Village, Romania. As the tenth year of his training in the mountains approaches the end, incidents of monsters attacking children lost in the woods increase. Reinhardt senses the increased activity in a sign of the return of the dark lord and emerges from the mountain. He seeks out Priest Samuel, the only one that remembers the past, to undo the seal on the symbol of the Vampire Killer, the holy whip, heirloom of the Belmont Clan. His success in doing so is just in time for an unexpected resurrection of Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist and CastleVania.

Meanwhile, tragedy strikes again in a young girl's life when Dracula's demonic forces come to ravage their village. Her foster mother is killed while diving to save her. Her grief and terror unlock a greater power within Carrie, a power to create an orb, which she unleashes at the demon that bears down upon her. The orb strikes the beast the writhes in agony as it is banished back to the pit. She vows to stop the terror and heads to the castle. A mystically-empowered 12 year-old orphan whose parents were condemned and burned by villagers frightened by anything they could not understand, Carrie Fernandez, descendant of Sypha Belnades and a Spanish family traveling through Europe, joins Reinhardt's effort to challenge the Prince of Darkness and vanquish his Demon Castle.

In the end, it all made sense: a young boy born in the forest. Dracula's plan eight years before to circumvent his next centennial resurrection (not due until 1897), by using the wolf power that had been extracted from Cornell, was to be resurrected in a new body. Death went to the village and gathered up the seven children, in order to find the "chosen one" who would now be eight years old. When Reinhardt and Carrie first meet Malus, he seems like an innocent child lost in the castle. They later realize that evil dwells in the soul of the young boy. Reinhardt discovered that Malus is, in fact, Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist reborn, and that it was he who must be confronted and slain.

NOTE: That Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist is able to be reborn in such a way (Malus) does lend support to the theory that Mathias Cronqvist found a way to be reborn as Vlad Dracula III back in 1431.

Count Vlad Dracula III/Mathias Cronqvist and CastleVania are revived for the fourth centennial time (his death as the reborn Malus in 1852 was in a different body). Now finding himself in the late nineteenth century, Dracula takes on an aristocratic status, donning the title "Count Dracula of Bistritz." In addition, he takes on a new, more intuitive and subtle agenda in Europe, beginning by looking into the purchase of land in England’s Carfax Abbey property. It is in the interim of this, however, that he marshals a new army - not one of undead skeletons, zombies, and lizardmen, but a sizable faction of gypsies who pledge their loyalty to the Count.

Lawyer Jonathan Harker becomes the guest of Count Dracula in his bid to turn all of Europe to vampirism. After nearly a year of struggle, Harker, Quincey P. Morris (the latest Belmont Clan descendant), and others manage to finally track down and slay Dracula. Quincey Morris stabs Dracula in the heart with his bowie knife before falling from the wounds he suffered from Dracula’s army of gypsies. His son, two year-old John Morris (with friend, Eric Lecarde), watch the grim battle unfold at the decrepit Castle Dracula from the shadows.

Peace was restored to Europe, until the outbreak of the Great War (WWI), which transformed the continent into a dark world filled with massacre and violence. At the beginning of the war, on June 1914 at Sarajevo, the Crown Prince of Austria was assassinated. It was said that a strange beautiful woman was involved, within the shadows. It was the Countess Elizabeth Bartley. In order to revive her uncle, Count Dracula, she conducted an unholy ceremony which caused the war, giving her possession of human souls from Europe.

As the Great War continues to play out so does Countess Elizabeth Bartley's machinations to resurrect Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist. John Morris, Belmont descendant, and Eric Lecarde, expert spearsman, accept the challenge of stopping the evil Countess.

Chasing her across Europe, they find and slay her at a newly erected castle in England, Castle Prosperina, though not before she actually succeeded in resurrecting her uncle. This forced another confrontation with the undead Count, one John Morris and Eric Lecarde walked away from victoriously.

In July 1999, the fearsome king prophesized by Nostradamus himself appeared. Yes, the fearsome king meant Count Vlad Dracula III/Mathias Cronqvist. Gaining the Vampire Killer, which had once again returned returned to the legitimate Belmont family, Julius Belmont, with the help of some companions, freed Count Dracula from his cycle of rebirth and sealed him and the Demon Castle Dracula in a lunar eclipse in what became known as the "Demon Castle Wars."

At that time, Count Dracula was completely destroyed.

In Japan, high school student Soma Cruz and his friend Mina Hakuba enter into a shrine... only to wake up inside the Demon Castle Dracula, CastleVania. As he fought through the castle, he met an interesting cast of friends, including Julius Belmont, ancestor of the famed Belmont clan of vampire hunters, Yoko Belnades, a descendant of Sypha Belnades, Genya Arikado, a mysterious ally that seemed to be Alucard in disguise, as well as Hammer, a military man who set up a useful shop.

Through his quest, Soma discovered he had the power to take enemy spirits and use their abilities. Finally, Soma defeated Graham Jones, an evil-hearted cult leader who thought he was the reincarnation of Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist. Only when Soma defeated Graham did he discover the terrible truth - Soma himself was Dracula's reincarnation. He was able to defeat the dark forces inhabiting the eclipsed castle and escape it unharmed.

One year later, Soma Cruz is confronted by members of an evil cult who wish to destroy him so that they might inherit his powers of darkness for themselves and resurrect the evil of Count Vlad Dracula/Mathias Cronqvist. Thus, Soma and his allies from his previous quest set out to eliminate this cult and the threat they created, traveling directly to their headquarters to do just that.