Castlevania Olrox - Tumblr Posts
The thing about Erzsebet is that she's a very unsubtle colonialism metaphor.
Olrox likens her to the Spaniards who invaded his land and slaughtered his people, She speaks of how she wants to conquer Europe and later the "New World" because she considers it her divine right to do so (The Manifest Destiny ideology that made invaders believe that they were divinely ordained to destroy the native population and settle on their land).
She tells the Night Creatures in episode 8 to silence Edouard's singing. During the French Revolution, music and songs were considered a fundamentally important part of it (him singing the songs he used to sing when he was a human could also symbolise his rebellion against his nature as a Night Creature, beings that were considered nothing but bloodthirsty, mindless monsters that held no memories of their past lives)
Even the great power she possesses is not her own, it was the blood of Sekhmet, an Egyptian goddess, another land she conquered and stole from (Drolta says that she was an Egyptian priestess in life, making me believe that Erzsebet was the one to turn her)
She promises slave-owning vampires that as their Messiah she will return the world to it's "natural order", where the slaves that revolted against them will become their property again.
This directly contradicts what Annette's mentor said. That slavery may seem like this practise that always existed to people like Annette who was born into a family of slaves, and lived the majority of her life in chains and people like Comte de Vaublanc who was likely born into a family of slaveowners, someone who spent his entire life enslaving and abusing people. But ultimately, humans did not come into this world as slaves and slaveowners. Turning slavery into something that is not natural and inevitable but rather a man-made evil that can be defeated.
Idk i noticed those things while watching the show and i saw no one in the tags talking about it so I decided to write down my thoughts.
You know how in Castlevania: Nocturne Olrox get's really fucking annoyed everytime someone calls him "a dragon"? As I see it, is because he gains his powers from Quetzalcoatl, you know, the god who was a feathered serpent
It's up for debate, but dragons are not really a mesoamerican concept. To say that Olrox is a dragon is to make his culture invisible and not acknowledge his aztec origins
(I haven't finished the season, so if any of this is really obvious later, just ignore I posted this hahaha)
If you need more fanfics of Olrox and Mizrak, let me share this diamond with you
Five Suns
MeZaKi93
Summary:
"By lying to myself I lied to you, too... and I hoped my actions spoke louder than my words."
Olrox didn't want to allow himself to love again, but when he did, it gave him new purpose. New reason for his quest to protect his home and his world from a self-proclaimed goddess whom only a god could possibly oppose - even if he thought he was merely imitating one. The darkness was starving the land and it was time for a new Sun to rise.
The first half is set before the end of the season finale, the second part is after. Olrox-centric, inspired by the serpent-form he took in the first episode that is *not* confirmed to be Quetzalcoatl, but might as well be. Hope you enjoy!
Notes:
In Aztec mythology, the world was born when one of the gods sacrificed themselves to be the Sun. The world was destroyed four times and we currently live in the fifth world. I took inspiration from the fact that Olrox's serpent form - I know everybody calls it a dragon, but what if it was something else? - is most likely based on Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent who is a god of light, life and wisdom for the Aztecs. This is an interesting note if it's true and I played with this thought when I wrote this story.
As a LatinAmerican student let me tell you something about Olrox, I love him and everything he represents.
Did he killed Julia Belmont? Yes, and she had it coming , let me explain; You don’t go out on a literal civil war without context on what’s going —on and who’s attacking who and most importantly why— take the side that looks like you, just to essentially killed the last hope of protection the other side has —Let’s remember that Belmont knew about the tale of vampires that could be friendly or neutral at worst /aka Alucard/ she could have spoken to the natives or the slaves to know why this was happening, but she didn’t /I doubt she did at least/— then make unfair decisions about who is evil and deserves to die.
(She might have KNOWN what was going on, since –in my understanding– she was living there for A GOOD WHILE, so she either didn’t care or was oblivious enough to pass it out.)
Olrox is literally the best thing to ever happen to me in so long, the lore behind him and the profound sense of cultural connection I feel with him is something I haven’t felt in a long time, I can feel his rage and his intense feeling of disgust at the idea of colonialism.
As a kid most of us were always told that colonialism was good for us, that we were savages before and now “we’re better bc we have technology”, but guess what, we had our technology back then, we had a way of living and a good thing going on. Was it perfect? No. But it was way better that the hell that was forced into us, the sickness and the cultural hatred that influenced us into submitting our culture and beliefs, THAT WASN’T A GOOD THING.
Olrox has every right and reason to do what he does. Fight me in the comments about it.
Olrox is the most interesting character in the whole cast of Castlevania Nocturne (at least until we see what Alucard will do in season two).
His understanding of human nature and the fact that he doesn’t want to attack ‘peasants’ but rather prefers ‘drink blue blood’ leaves me alone with the thought that he is hundreds of years ahead of his time. Many people think that us latinoamericanos didn’t have any type of resistance, but trust me when I say, that’s far from the truth; Olrox is the best way of putting it, he understands the thinking of colonialists and also understands the importance of being silent and letting the other speak, he doesn’t show his cards until the counterpart is vulnerable, he does the same that Native American revolutions did back then.
AND I LOVE HIM FOR THAT.
Some historical context for Olrox
Okay, let me prephase this with one important message: Castlevania Nocturne made me really happy by making the plot all about colonialism, as colonialism and its fallout and how it influences us to this day is a topic that I am very passionate about. We do not talk enough about it. The US does not talk enough about it because it could make white people feel uncomfortable. And here in Germany we do not talk about it, because we act as if this had nothing to do with us at all.
But the show talks about it and I love it.
And I honestly also gotta say that I love that the BI_PoC character have a concrete cultural heritage. Olrox is Aztec, Annette is Yoruba, and Drolta is Egyptian. Other shows: Please take notes!
But let's talk Olrox, because he is so fucking interesting and amazing!
We know about him that he is Aztec and also that he is 250 years old. Or roughly that old by the time he kills Julia. Which would put either his birth or his turning somewhere around 1530.
Now, the fall of the Aztec Empire has a very exact date: August 13th, 1521. But you should keep in mind that this does not mean that on that day the Aztec's are extinct. To this day there is still 1,5 million people speaking Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and preserving some of the Aztec cultural traditions. It was just that on that day the empire construct fell to Cortez and the Spaniad conquistadors and a lot of Aztecs went into exile to flee the genocide that Cortez was bringing upon them.
The question of course is: Was Olrox still human at this time or was he already a vampire? From his dialogue it is clear that he was at least alive and grown enough to remember the fall of the empire and the distruction Cortez and his men brought upon them. But you can bet it was very traumatic.
I also am assuming he was turned by a white man. Because so far my assumption is that vampirism is an old world thing that got brought to the new world through colonialism. (Mostly because in Dracula's court we do not see any new world vampires.)
Now, the other interesting thing is what he says about his dead lover. The one Julia killed. So, first the "town in Massachusetts" he speaks about is clearly Stockbridge. Which was the town in which many Mohicans have settled during the colonial times, as well as other people from the Iroquois Nations. Now, it should be noted that the Mohicans were not part of the Iroquois alliance and in fact went to war with the Iroquois, but by the time colonialism really geared up there was some cooperation between the Mohicans and Iroquois.
Due to this they were in an alliance with the Oneida (who were part of the Iroquois) by the time of the Revolutionary war. Now, the Revolutionary War created a lot of conflict between the Iroquois nations, because they did not agree which side they should fight on. Of course both sides promised that they could keep their land, but the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca did not trust the colonists and hence sided with the British, while the Oneida and Tuscarora (and through them also the Mohicans) sided with the Colonists.
And the dead lover clearly was among those siding with the colonists. Now, a quick refresher for the non-Americans (and the Americans who slept to history class, which is understandable). The Revolutionary War lasted from April 19, 1775 to September 3, 1783 (which, yes, also means that Julia and Richter probably were in the US during the war the entire time and the "evil" Julia was fighting probably was linked to it). And of course we all know how it ended for the Indigenous people: The colonists won, countless Indigenous folks died on both sides, only to get booted of their land soon after. The Oneida und Mohicans were made to move westwards not soon after the war ended. So, yes, Olrox would have seen that happen.
Now, an interesting thing in his dialogue was when Erzebet said: "We will create a new world." To which he replies: "I have heard that one before." And she says: "This time we are going to make it to last."
And the big question is to what this is refering. Is it refering to the colonialization or is it refering to the revolutionary war? Or something entirely different. In both cases it would be possible. And yes, the American Revolution definitely were claiming to create a new world. But was it that what he refered to or something else?
Well, never the less: Interesting character. Really good writing.
IM SO FUCKING TIRED RN
👀
IM SO FUCKING TIRED RN
They're life long partners y'all
Olrox was so hot and for no reason like......look at the material!
!!Wow I Love him!!💜💜
Olrox is the most interesting character in the whole cast of Castlevania Nocturne (at least until we see what Alucard will do in season two).
His understanding of human nature and the fact that he doesn’t want to attack ‘peasants’ but rather prefers ‘drink blue blood’ leaves me alone with the thought that he is hundreds of years ahead of his time. Many people think that us latinoamericanos didn’t have any type of resistance, but trust me when I say, that’s far from the truth; Olrox is the best way of putting it, he understands the thinking of colonialists and also understands the importance of being silent and letting the other speak, he doesn’t show his cards until the counterpart is vulnerable, he does the same that Native American revolutions did back then.
AND I LOVE HIM FOR THAT.
OLROX | Castlevania: Nocturne
Are we all just not gonna talk about when Olrox glared at Erzsebet and then had tears in his eyes after he saved Mizrak???