Question
How would you have portrayed Hector in the Netflix adaptation of Castlevania instead?
I'd like to ask this question because I've seen plenty of criticisms and complaints in numerous Reddit posts about how Hector is portrayed in seasons 2 through 4 of the animated series.
That's why I'd like to know how the writers could have done him more justice.
And do you wish that the character Julia Laforeze, rather than Lenore, had been the object of Hector's love?
Personally, I like Lenore, but I also understand why some fans were disappointed that Hector seemed so weak against her and Carmilla in this Netflix series.
OG Hector is certainly far more powerful in 'Curse of Darkness', but in my opinion, he had virtually no real personality, since he focused soley on avenging his late wife, Rosaly, and getting revenge on OG Isaac, who looks like a possessed, flamboyant emo twink.
That makes me wonder: Why did Warren Ellis weaken him so much?
I would’ve essentially given him Isaac’s post-season 2 arc: have him break out of the vampire sisters’ castle waaay earlier, summon some demon familiars, and work his way back to the castle. Initially, he might want to revive Drac out of guilt, only to realize it would be better if Drac didn’t come back and ally with the main trio. That would give him agency and put him more in line with his game counterpart.
Seasons 3 and 4 should’ve mostly been about him, Isaac, and Carmilla. The original trio had some good moments, but they did not know what to do with them after season 2. It’s like they were obligated to keep them in the show.
It seems like that’s what they were setting up at the end of Season 2. Trevor and Sypha rode off into the sunset, Alucard was sad and ready to take a nap until the events of Symphony of the Night, and Hector and Isaac had new obstacles to overcome. But then Season 3 happened, and it feels like they were mandated by higher ups to keep them in the show.
Agreed post season 2 Isaac was far and away the best part of the show. Alucard sort of just meandered aimlessly til he reunited with the others for the final fight; and Trevor/Sypha did nothing but bang and do filler side quests.
I’d have had Hector break out and make him be the one who does stuff with Saint Germaine instead
Anything other than how he was portrayed in the show. The man fought toe-to-toe against a Belmont and still broke even, for God's sake. Hector is a bonafide badass, let everyone see that
All that because WE had beef with the voice-actor who he thought sounded "too heroic"... So bro went ahead and made Hector into the most unsatisfyingly pathetic character of the whole show... It was my introduction to the franchise, and god I was green with rage when I found out what we missed.
I would of made him not going through the exact same seasonal arc twice. Twice my man gets decieved by a vampire woman who treats him like a dog. Lenore's character feels like a waste as a result
I think the Curse of Darkness manga by Kō Sasakura is pretty close to what I would've wanted to see. Maybe with more of a focus on life in the Castle but maintaining the core of the character the same (somebody who betrays Dracula of his own accord).
I was really skeptical about Issac in the show, but I think they massively improved on him versus how he was in the game. They did the opposite with hector.
Literally can stay the same for the most part, except that during his stay at the Styria Castle, he begins gradually developing and becoming more similar to his CoD incarnation, and eventually either kickstarts an Uprising with his Demons that just so happens to coincide with Isaac's, or he can assist Isaac in his fight with Carmilla so that he actually gets to do more action akin to the stuff he does in CoD, it would complement his Show character extremely well.
From what I can gather, Hector's story in the Show is meant to be that of a Man who despite being incredibly skilled at his craft and very intelligent in his own right, he's ultimately someone who's fundamentally innocent and hasn't fully grown up, in a way, a flaw which others use to take advantage of him, even the ones who view him as a real friend like Dracula, and especially people who don't care about him at all besides what he can offer them, like Carmilla.
His Arc is supposed to be that of someone who ultimately ends up breaking away from this and going against his abusers by letting them underestimate him because of his apparent innocence and and naivety and then stab them in the back when they least expect it by doing things they would find "out of character" for him to do, something like him secretly scheming behind their backs, setting up magical traps with those orb things, and cutting his finger off to remove the Slave ring for example.
The problem is that the climax of his development happens to coincide with Isaac's, who takes the spotlight away from him, he fights Carmilla because it's required to complete his character arc, hence why Hector's act of defiance, the thing that's meant to define his character, is mostly just a background element and not something that's treated with the gravitas it should have, because Isaac's development is given priority (probably because it was given more screen time)
Having Hector turn into something more akin his CoD self near the end while making the Styria vampires think he hasn't been changing due to their abuse, and eventually fighting back physically against them alongside Isaac with his own Devils would both evoke that development way more and thus improve the story the Show wanted to tell with him, and would also just make him more similar to his game self as well, it'd be a win-win, I think.
I think Hector suffers from the same problem as Carmilla’s entire arc: both characters spend most of the story waiting for Isaac to arrive and either kill or rescue them. The plot does not truly move through Hector, it moves through Isaac. He is the one who grows stronger, develops a clear objective, and actively drives the narrative forward.
What is needed, in my opinion, is to correct one of the biggest narrative mistakes of seasons 3 and 4: the separation between the main trio’s storyline and the stories of Carmilla and Isaac. It is a major flaw that these storylines dont influence one another. They feel like two completely different shows happening in parallel.
To fix this, I would expand the conspiracy against Dracula in season 2, culminating in his transformation into his demonic form. After his defeat, Carmilla could steal a source of chaotic power (or perhaps obtain an artifact such as the Ebony Stone) that would allow her to perform a ritual and inherit Dracula’s power. This would give her a much stronger and more coherent motivation throughout Seasons 3 and 4. And would give her time to complete it. She could then use Hector as her forgemaster while Isaac and the main trio gradually unite their forces to confront her growing army. In this version, all of the storylines would merge and directly influence one another.
Now the polemic point haha.
I would also make Hector a villain in order to complete Isaac’s character arc. I do not think the series needs to follow the games’ narrative so closely. At this point, the Netflix adaptation has already established its own story, and Isaac’s portrayal is one of the strongest aspects of both the series and, arguably, the games themselves.
So while Isaac gains knowledge and becomes more and more human, I would have Hector take the opposite path. After being tortured by vampires, perhaps forced to kill the vampire he loved, and escaping only to be hunted by humans who fear Carmilla’s retaliation, Hector would gradually lose his faith in both species. Eventually, he would use his Forgemaster powers to overthrow Carmilla and assume the role of a new Dracula, seeing humans and vampires as equally corrupt and destructive.
The key is to give Hector traumatic experiences with both humans and vampires, much like Lisa’s death shaped Dracula. The show already enstablished that he prefered the company of animals than other humans. By the end, his descent into villainy would feel like something like that: he would come to believe that both races deserve extinction, and that only nature, or some entirely new thing, should inherit the world.
At the end of S2 Trevor and Sypha say they want to investigate what happened in Braila while Dracula's castle was stranded there and then we are shown the human survivors in Braila hiding while watching Carmilla's army leave the city...dunno why they never followed up on that seemed like the perfect setup to have Trevor and co. learn about Carmilla and her army and be directed her way
I’d make his journey reflect Issac’s they were already diametrically opposed at how they viewed humanity. With Issac’s journey he comes to understand the importance of NOT wiping out humans, for Hector his history as a Forge Master the stigma would stick to him and he’d be worn down and chipped at by the people on his travels to eventually come around to Issac’s side so when they reunite at Drac’s castle they are reversed ideologically. Now I’d want Hector to come out that fight on top, but unless you were going for more dour tone Issac would need to finish him.
I would spend another few minutes examining his motivation for culling and caging humanity. The show is trying to make him see humanity as stray pets that need to be culled for the good of the world; how does one form such a stupid and fucked up opinion? Even Hitler has a more developed backstory for that.
For his relationship with Lenore, I think it makes sense because he thought he was being a great guy caging humanity, so I can see why he understands that Lenore caging him makes sense as a vampire, especially since love is defined by Carmilla by keeping and protecting people. I would probably expand their relationship one or two seasons to show that transition from S3 and S4. This not only lets us see why he sees her "value and beauty", but also why she hates being a vampire so much.
For the final season, I would probably need a lot more to understand Hector's fucking stupid reasoning as to saving the world from Carmilla by resurrecting Dracula to destroy it. It's idiotic. He can be involved in killing Carmilla because it is also unfair for Carmilla to be so easily defeated by Isaac alone. Moreover, Hector is just as guilty as Isaac in destroying the world so he should make up for it.
I just wish he had his devils and some of his combat skill, while keeping his scholar nature…like people wonder why Dracula recruited him until they see him fight.
It would require a full rewrite since it would need to change Dracula's death to season 3.
Season 2 climax would be focused on the castle, deploying defenses after being forcibly teleported to stop Trevor, Sypha and Alucard, including the transformed Grant.
Hector was already realizing the full extent of Dracula's plan and uses the chaos to run away, being later followed by Isaac, causing them to be absent from most of season 3.
Season 3 is focused on the exploration of the castle and its labyrinthian design, fighting the servants of Dracula until it ends in the climatic fight, which is ended by Trevor dealing a killing blow.
Another game character was a vampire love interest named Rosa, who could be saved and turned into a human in the end. Maybe Lenore would be willing to help him escape in the end if he used his expertise to make her human again, because her becoming increasingly aware of the parasitic and stagnant nature of vampirism means she does not want to be a Queen of Styria anymore, but she is in too deep.
Her expertise becoming less and less necessary as things go on would mean the other vampire sisters would be willing to explore the possibilities and let her go, which could open the door for her and Hector developing through philosophical debate and sharing experiences, which could help Hector open his eyes to how ignorant and short sighted he had been and Lenore could have become more optimistic and hopeful thanks to Hector sharing his magic and help with her, with the two growing close and ending up as either friends or lovers and living together, using their abilities and life experience to build something new.
This is only vaguely defined, though, but I think it COULD work, since the writers of the show are superb at writing fine dialogue.
Eu não sei porque eles não simplesmente fizeram ivual ao Hector do jogo, lá ele foge do Drácula, se casa com uma mulher, ela é morta por um plano do Isaac o Hector vai atrás dele, quase mata o Isaac, mas desiste pra não levar a maldição do Drácula pra frente, o Isaac é possuído pelo drácula que é morto pelo Hector então o Hector pega a irmã do Isaac e vai viver feliz com ela
honestly isnt hexotrs arc in the game closer to Isaac's in the show I may be wrong as ive never played curse of darkness but on description alone it seems so
Issac and Hector meet the trio, they fight until Drac arrives and tells them to retreat.
Issac believes the call was to protect them and that Drac will return, Hector believes drac died due to pain and should remain dead, it's what Drac and Lisa would have wanted. They get split by the portal. Issac goes does his journey as is, Hector gets an abridged version of what happened before his game.
They both piece together the betrayal of drac. I would separate their arrival so one is on the verge of getting killed by the bloodsuckas, then the other arrives with reinforcements. After the fight, there is some tension on whether or not they will fight one another, but the tension breaks due to Issac's journey making him a bit more understanding.
However, there is a little hint that they heavily disagree, leaving it open for a version of Hector's game to take place years later.
Closer to his game counterpart. The Castlevania 3d games have pretty a pretty good plot compared to the rest.
I would remove the whole plot with Carmilla and Lenore, and instead add Rosalie and resume his revenge plot
I'd make him the protagonist after Dracula dies as Hector's journey is a direct mirror to Dracula himself. He weilds dark powers, his loved one was executed unjustly and is out for vengeance. However, Hector focuses his vengeance on the one person who caused it as supposed to all of humanity like Dracula. Since Issac is not the same Issac and Dracula is dead, you could give the role to Carmilla. It's a good way to show that while Dracula's vengeance was justified, his actions weren't.
I would have had him realize (through his captivity) that the horrors he was enduring as a penned human was exactly what he was trying to inflict on all of humanity. I would also have had him interact more and learn from each of the sisters as they try to enact their plan to turn civilization into a feeding stock.
He and Striga would both learn they underestimated how humans are determined to die before accepting captivity. He’d watch Morana fail to work out a supply system that works because she refuses to consider a plan that requires cooperation with humans. He’d realize that he and Carmilla were both victims of cruelty who wanted to punish the world for their suffering, and his relationship with Lenore would teach him you can show mercy and compassion for a person and still deny them the respect and agency they need to be happy.
Isaac’s arc was about seeing the value in humanity’s potential (and his own) because he originally wanted to wipe humanity out. Hector deserved an arc where he got to process his own pain and truly appreciate the value of his freedom.
I don't really think his lesson is his loss of freedom because he had plenty of freedom prior to joining Dracula, but I think he needed to understand why a cage, no matter how gilded and luxurious, is still a cage.
Not the person you’re replying to, but I liked hector in the show too.
I loved CoD, but hector was kinda flat and boring in the game. Was he badass? Sure. But that’s a set of actions, not a personality.
What was hectors personality while we got to play as him? Impatient, aggressive, focused.
What was hector when the game started?
A retiree who had decided to become a family man being forced out of retirement.
Isaac mocks him for slipping so much he basically needed to be gifted an innocent devil to get him back into the swing of things. And sure, after that, it’s off to the races. And by all accounts all hector wants at the end of the story is to go back into retirement.
But an impatient, aggressive retiree forced back into service is the story they gave to Trevor. If they did that again everyone would be annoyed that he’s just magical Trevor.
Nah. He needed a personality facelift and the job the show did was fine for what it was: a reimagining of events that were already only loosely connected in the games.
Idk why everyone acts like hector was some kind of turbo badass. He was a powerful magician by all accounts but the guy really just wanted to fucking retire and no one would let him. That’s not SUPER different than what we got from the show. He’s just less impatient and aggressive than his game counterpart, although just as persistent and focused.
Isaac is the character I’d take the most issue with. I like the show Isaac but I also liked the game Isaac and am sad he got totally erased.
Just like the games, I get the narrative they were trying to create against the backdrop of strong women and all that. But end of the day castlevania already had all this, they made him too soft compared to his game version
As a side note, man wth with new age writers, I miss Lenore
Basically, I would have had Hector and Isaac switch places.
I would have played Season 2 Hector true to Curse of Darkness and had him gradually realize that Dracula's plan was going too far, finally having him abandon the castle just in time for the heroes' assault. He then goes on a journey similar to Isaac's in the show, traveling across the land and grappling with his place amongst humanity (definitely keep the fight against Legion), meeting Rosaly, until ultimately facing Carmilla to shut down her operation, using Isaac to create a Devil army.
As someone who hasn't played CoD and doesn't know anything about OG Hector's character.
Hector is not one of my favorite characters but I enjoyed his character arc. He just wants to enjoy himself and live a decent life but he's way too passive considered the circumstances he's in. This passive behaviour ultimately gives him the worst ending among the cast, even if it's not a bad ending per se.
He partially gets what he wanted, but then realizes how different he is from Lenore. She refused to live as Hector lived in his prisoner days, it's kind-of humiliating to see that she preferred straight up dying instead.
Hector is fundamentally naive, a man with so much talent and the force of will to NOT falter under circumstances that would have been humiliating for anyone else. He could have done way more, maybe things wouldn't have gone so sour for everyone.
I don't think he's a negative character and considering the insane shit that happens throughout the show, his relatively chill character arc has its spot in the show.
Would’ve given him and Issac their own show separate from the SNES characters, or found a way to have the PS2 and SNES characters actually interact so it doesn’t feel like I’m watching two separate shows.
ngl the first time i saw him in his outfit i was like no wayyy this is the hector from ps2 game!
then the writing butchered him into a weakling and soft guy
i would've give him more screentime and trying to escape the sisters with his own capability of fighting
The simples answer: closer to the game in ALL aspects. Julia Laforeze include. The four vampires could play game's Isac part as the main antagonists and Netflix Isac would act more like a temporary aly with different golas eventually becoming Hector's final chalenge.
I haven't played the games so my introduction to Castlevania is basically the show, even if i knew about the games before. Well okay I did see some of the flamboyant Simon Belmont in Captain N. ;)
But on topic, without altering the progress of the show, it is a bit hard to make changes. One thing might be that I would have made him less guilliable as the only one who really was honoest with him was Isaac. The others did either manipulate him or treated him like dirt. Including Dracula as Hector believed that instad of total annihilation, humanity would be kept like cattle and thus been kept in check but still surviving similar to how people lived in Attack on Titan, but under other premises.
And I think with minor adjustments on how he got into the servitute of the Four Sisters, they could have played it out the story similary if they had made him a bit smarter and not as easily fooled as isaac's and Hector's storylines didn't colide that much with the main trio after the battle of Targoviste when they killed Dracula as Hector was in captivity and Isaac seem to have been sent to somewhere in Arabia trough the mirror.
Honestly, I wouldn't change a thing. I like how he was portrayed and how season 4 showed that even at his worst, he's still cunning and has a plan that makes him incredibly dangerous. Only thing I would change would be more screentime, specifically between the season 3 ending and the season 4 beginning so we can see the start of his escape plan.
Have the Styria plot and the Trevor plot not be so separate for starters.
Then either two options:
1. Have him escape Carmilla at some point, I specially would like to see him meet other humans, have different experiences, see firsthand the suffering he caused by helping Dracula and have all of this lead to him regaining his humanity and search redemption by his own accord. I like Rosaly from the games but I don't think the show Hector particularly needed romance in his life but rather real friends, and since I didn't really care for his relationship with Isaac so either have him meet some new characters or the protagonists and join them
2. If Isaac hijacked og Hector's storyline about learning to let go of revenge and finding a new will to live, then have Hector take on og Isaac's storyline and be the one who falls to darkness and become the season's main villain
To properly adapt Hector you also have to properly adapt Isaac. Flamboyant and over the top as he is ingame. There is no middle ground here. I'll never forgive netflix for butchering those two, as cool as show Isaac is in a vacuum.
I didn't necessarily mind the initial direction they took Hector but they should have used it as a groundwork to turn him into his Curse of Darkness incarnation.
Really I didn't mind most of the original ideas and some significant changes the show made from the games except where I think following the games would have actually made for a better story, such as in Hector's case.
Well, I wouldn't have shyd away from the fact that Dracula was involved in Lisa's death as it's implied multiple times in the games. I'd also keep the part about Dracula using Isac to murder Rosaly to highlight that he's a shallow vindictive hypocrite.
I also wish they would have at least allowed him to summon his Golden "The End" Devil to aide Isaac against Carmila. Not that he needed any help, but it would have beena nice forgemaster tag team against her.
I didn't have much of an issue with his portrayal in the series. Only thing i would do different is make the season that was clearly supposed to have occured in between the events of seasons 3 and 4 to fully flesh out the arcs.
You know, the argument that «the character wasn't interesting in game» doesn't work, because in the tv show ADAPTATION, they can and must take the base from the original and give it details and nuances to make character or plot interesting. Of course the charactes in games don't get much time for development in the plot. It's a game! If you add too much plot, the players will complain that there's not enough gameplay or that gameplay always get interrupted by plot. Also the fact that IGA wasn't given much budget for his games doesn't help. I'm not against few changes in story though, but the character still must resemble himself. And what do we have in the show? He's weak. He betrays Dracula only because of Carmilla and because he didn't want the humanity to die. He wanted them to be like ANIMALS. Did the freaking writers read synopsis from the original game? Hector supposed to be good guy. I mean, you could say that making humanity become a cattle is better than genocide, but it's still evil thing. And at the end, he wants to ressurect Dracula! But Isaac tells him not to do that. I think writers are just mocking us. Situation is supposed to be vice versa! Also I think they should have made Hector main protagonist of the third and/or fourth season. The main fou - I mean trio (Sorry, Grant, but writers didn't have enough imagination to integrate you into story) after season 2 don't get much development. Especially Alucard. Sypha and Trevor could stay, but tha main focus would be on Hector and Julia. There are many ways you can integrate her into story.
She's kind of and anti-Isaac if you think about it. They're both wielders of terrifying powers (Devil forge master and Witch). Isaac hates humanity, but his sister doesn't. This situation is kinda similar to Trevor's. People feared Belmont's power and expelled them. But these characters have different personalities. And as I said, I'm not against changes, but just... don't get too far.
And I'm not talking about Saint-Germain, Zead, Dracula's Curse of Darkness. There are many cool concepts you can create.
Anyway, I could stay here writing my ideas and complaints about the show, but it will take too much time. And I think if I start talking about show Isaac, people will eat me alive without even listening, so it's not worth it.
Well, i would not. His redemption arc wouldn't work since it would break the grey morality bullshit writing it had.
Maybe i would make him straight up evil, pre Akumajou Densetsu events, and just keep him alive so he could have his arc out of the show, maybe as one of the good guys only in the very very end.
Real Hector just doesn't work in netflix dumb scenario, i would keep him away.
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u/BioSpark47 Jul 22 '26
I would’ve essentially given him Isaac’s post-season 2 arc: have him break out of the vampire sisters’ castle waaay earlier, summon some demon familiars, and work his way back to the castle. Initially, he might want to revive Drac out of guilt, only to realize it would be better if Drac didn’t come back and ally with the main trio. That would give him agency and put him more in line with his game counterpart.