cryptsleeper

1. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed? Seasons one and two of Castlevania make Alucard's moral code clear: he is a man of justice and a man of responsibility. In reacting to his mother's murder, he understands Dracula's reaction and advises killing the priest responsible for inciting the whole thing rather than all of humanity, as that is fair and correct for what has come to pass. To blame the world is wildly incorrect, and when his father fails to listen, Alucard makes it clear that he will fight Dracula about this. What results is Alucard's near death, and he retreats and recovers for a full year. When he is reawakened by Trevor and Sypha, the dhampir takes responsibility for what has to happen next: Dracula needs to die, and he is going to have to be the one to do it. That it will deprive him of his last family member is irrelevant - he failed to stop this once, and his mother would be aghast at what has happened in her name. He has to correct that.

Season three carries through that sense of responsibility, but in another manner. When Sumi and Taka arrive, they explain the cruel vampire circumstances they escaped from and their hopes to free their people. Alucard, having been gifted the Belmont Hold of centuries of vampire hunting lore, lets them access it, imagining Trevor would approve of the move. Sumi and Taka also allow Alucard's sense of hospitality to shine through, as he provides clothing, shelter, and even cooks for them. Given that his mother Lisa once berated Dracula for failing to be remotely welcoming, it is likely that this trait was learned from her.

Unfortunately by the end of season three, these codes show signs of warping and conforming closer to Dracula's moral code of being alone, keeping the world at bay, and justice being punitive rather than measured and fair. In response to a murder attempt, Alucard is not content enough with simply dispatching his would be dispatchers, but he impales the corpses of Sumi and Taka on the lawn, as his father once did.

2. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take: best, worst, most likely?
As season three's conclusion might have you believe, Alucard's worst version of himself is a version of his father. Impaled corpses on the lawn, holed up away in a castle, and lashing out at the world as it tries to encroach further upon him. He's been betrayed by people he's trusted and almost murdered, he's been left alone in the wreck of his home where he murdered his father, and the whole situation would be enough to drive anyone to a bad, dark place. If season three had no follow up, then this would be a logical place to think the dhampir might be.

The best version of Alucard would be a man who could forgive himself for the patricide he did for the good of the world, who could trust others easily and provide access to his home and the Belmont Hold with no issues, and who might have a twinge of sadness to him. Moreover and most importantly, he could communicate his real emotional needs, instead of downplaying them or hiding them behind an impossible wall of ice.

In the end though, the most likely path for Alucard centers around guilt, forgiveness, and how he chooses to interact with the world. He may not ever fully permit himself to be free of the guilt from having to kill his father or the subsequent aftermath and power vacuum it created, but he's able to function with that weight. Going out into the world though? That may be a step too far, due to a lingering mistrust and a desire to be apart. With enough time spent bonding with people who he can trust though, Alucard can likely be better at expressing his emotional needs, melting the ice wall he hides behind just enough.

3. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why?
Alucard's most extensive group experience is defined by his time with Trevor and Sypha. Although they were drawn together by a prophecy regarding Dracula's defeat, the particulars of their roles were not especially refined. Sypha forms the emotional core of the group as well as being the magic user, far better socialized and empathetic. Trevor represents a strategic mind, but both he and Alucard share a does not play well with others personality due to their respective isolation. Alucard acts as the primary muscle, capable of working with Trevor's planning and Sypha's skill. The trio's ability to work together and function as a coherent whole is a massive element of season two, and it ends with the three of them not only defeating Dracula, but being capable of providing emotional support. Alucard does not shrug off the empathy or gestures from either of them as he might have done earlier in the season, but his desire to still keep himself apart means that Sypha and Trevor leave him alone in a ruined castle.

A similar approach plays out with Sumi and Taka upon their arrival, especially as they make to attack Alucard first. However when they explain their circumstances, and given that Alucard has had an overall positive experience with group work in the past, he is more trusting of the two and allows them into his home. While not all of the castle's secrets are revealed and Alucard keeps some things close to his chest, he is generally more open and personable until it all goes so very wrong.

In short, Alucard doesn't trust people off the bat and tends to play things close to his chest. When trust is earned, he is capable of responding in a more genuine and less guarded manner. The amount of work required to gain that trust varies.

4. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?
Alucard is still learning to relationship in many ways, as canon doesn't elaborate much on if he grew up with friends or with much interaction with the human world. Based on the fact he missed Trevor and Sypha enough to make horrifying dolls of them and imitate their voices, and on what he had with Sumi and Taka before the murder attempt, a few things can be determined.

Most of all, Alucard really needs some sort of purpose. With Dracula defeated but no one else in the big castle with him, he's not only lonely but aimless and losing track of days. With Sumi and Taka present and asking to learn from him, Alucard's general demeanor brightens considerably, and he doesn't only relish the company but he relishes the chance to do something constructive.

Related is his need for companionship. The Trevor and Sypha dolls are enough to prove that relationships of any stripe help to stave off loneliness and depression for him, and the violent end of season three serves to underscore a simple point. Alucard does not do well when left alone.

To get any of this, Alucard's approach is to be as giving and trusting as he can be, showing what can either be seen as naiveté or a real approach to no longer be the ice well Sypha sees in season two. Not only does he go out of the way to give shelter, cook, and offer conversation with his guests, but he's frank while being just cautious enough to not dig into painful recent memories. That he lets Sumi and Taka take him to bed is a sign that this works, but then it all crashes down.

5. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?
Alucard's world view is best understood in looking at the end of season two, when he is given the custody of the Belmont Hold by Trevor. Approaching Sypha and Trevor, he admits that his first instinct after defeating his father was to return to a deep sleep in his personal crypt under the city of Gresit, away from the world. With the castle exposed to the world instead, he plans to guard it, but sees it as a tomb - one whose responsibility and stewardship he will now take over. At that point, Trevor gives Alucard custody of the Hold as well, making a point of tying together Alucard's vampire and human heritage and to treat it as collection of knowledge to be shared, rather than a place of death. The fact that Alucard still intendents to be apart from others doesn't garner comment, but it does make a point: Alucard sees himself as between worlds, but not fully existing in either. He is meant to keep the Night World at the borders, and that is because he has the skills to navigate it. This thought process is also a self-punishment and means of dealing with the guilt of having committed patricide.

6. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? Alucard balances instinct and intellect, using both as appropriate but having little interest in faith and spirituality. Being raised by a polymath of a father and a doctor of a mother, Alucard has had access to information that the rest of humanity won't know for centuries to come. The castle he grew up with had electric lights, and in building his own private crypt, Alucard was able to copy almost all of the technology present in his childhood home. Alucard knows how to plan, and while he isn't the strategist Trevor is, he isn't slacking in the department either.

In physical fights, Alucard is all instinct, but that comes from experience and his abilities. (See above.) He does well in a fight, capable of reacting automatically, and he is typically successful in most brawls in the series.

Fighting is about where anything like instinct and intuition falls off. Given that his father is viewed as the bane of humanity and his mother was murdered by the Church, spirituality holds little interest for Alucard. Growing up in fairly isolated circumstances, Alucard also has growing to do emotionally, as he can be childish about his own issues (see question 7).

7. What is something others might find intolerable about them? When Alucard is insecure, he will lash out at others to try and regain his confidence. This is shown in season two with his regard for Trevor, as they spend most of the season sniping at each other over absolutely nothing. When Alucard proceeds to comment to Sypha that she's spending too much time enjoying Trevor's company, she correctly calls the dhampir out that he's worried he chose wrong, that he's going to fail, and that he is acting like a child for behaving in this way. For how Alucard tries to carry himself as a mature adult, it's a blow, but also incredibly accurate and astute.