As the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trilogy would have it, Dracula is very different from the vampire we all know, even when compared to his many incarnations in the Castlevania series. Betrayed by God, hated by Satan and feared by humanity, this Dracula treads an indefinite path, struggling with his own darkness and the remnants of the man he once was. He's equivocal, and that makes Dracula a more interesting protagonist than any vampire hunter could ever hope to be.

The Lords of Shadow mythos doesn't stop there, though, giving us one more truth at the heart of Dracula's existence: The man he used to be was a vampire hunter, a man of intense faith. It's the perfect internal conflict, self-loathing versus self-preservation, destruction versus redemption.

It also means Dracula is handy with a whip, and that's great news for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.