#they're explicitly going against previously established lore

[helladventurers]

...ok i was wondering about this for a while but the more i find the dragon tears the more I'm like 🤨

(massive totk spoilers at the tags please don't read if you are avoiding spoilers, also please don't post spoilers on the replies since I'm still playing through the story)

Is Totk a reboot????? 🤨

[beevean]

The more I rewatch the show, the more I notice how it's in this in-between state regarding its lore. It takes the base elements from the Wiki, but it doesn't understand the context, and it creates more holes than necessary.

It's the most evident with Dracula and the Devil Forgemasters, and rewatching S3 made me notice yet another consequence of this.

So I complained enough about the scene where Lenore manipulates Hector in his cell, because it's just a repeat of what Carmilla did one month prior: Dracula stupid, we'll give you what you want. I also complained how... sterile this emotional manipulation is. But there's another thing:

Lenore: What was Dracula going to give you? Hector: I… I don't understand the question. Lenore: You were helping build an army for Dracula. You were advising him. He was going to kill all the humans… Hector: I didn't know that. I didn't understand that until later.

Lenore: What was he going to give you for doing this work that he lied to you about? What was your reward for serving a man who lied about his intents? Hector: Ach. I-I assumed I would live outside whatever enclosures were placed around the remaining humans.

Maybe it's because I'm knee deep in the MF manga, and as of this writing I finished re-translating Hector's big breakdown about how he's afraid like there is no place for him, how he couldn't live with his own parents, how the Castle no longer stands, and how he fears that Rosaly and the others will eventually realize that he's just an abomination... but I realized that the script has been warped so that Hector couldn't give the simplest answer:

"Dracula gave me a home and appreciation."

That's it. This is Hector's "reward". By all means, this trait was kept from mangas to show: Hector and Isaac have been shunned by humanity, and Dracula was the first person who ever showed them kindness, so this is why they're loyal to him. Sure, Lenore could have still protested against this ("That's it? All of this work, just for the right to live?"), but it would have been consistent with with previously established, and maybe even a poignant way to show that Hector really craves for little more than love, which would have even explained, as horrible as it is, why Lenore thought to resort to sex to tie him down. (instead he keeps begging for new shoes in a comical manner, which instead makes him come off as childish :\)

... and then I realized, well, actually no. The trait wasn't kept.

This is, once again, a result of a simple change in lore. In the mangas, Hector and Isaac go to Dracula, in one version explicitly when they were young boys, and the three have a relationship of Lord and knights. The knights offer their services, the promise to study dark magic and train to be efficient fighters, and the Lord in return gives them a home, a place where they won't be hated for how they were born. It's in theory a more equal relationship, even if tinged with the emotional dependency of the boys.

In short: there is no "reward" for participating in the mission of mass slaughter. It was their duty, as Dracula's knights. It was what expected from them after he so generously allowed them to live.

Of course, this makes Hector's betrayal more poignant: he decided that his own safety was less important than the simple principle that not all humans deserve to die.

As I pointed out multiple times, in the show it's Dracula who goes to the two men to "hire" them. And it's no longer a relationship of Lord and knights: it's just... boss and workers. And when you think about it, yes, Dracula doesn't really offer them anything, he just went to them like "wife died, i want to kill all humans, come with me". Isaac accepted only because he's a fanatic who also would like the human race to die out. Hector... Hector just goes along with Dracula's half-hearted suggestion. He was doing fine in his little house in Rhodes. He didn't need Dracula, and Dracula clearly didn't need him, judging by how the two barely register each other's existence. Most importantly, Hector didn't really care about his plan, he just thought "yeah sure why not".

And this is a recurring theme, Hector going "yeah sure why not" to everything happening to him. Even at the very end, when Isaac stops his quest to resurrect Dracula, something he worked on for one month and a half, and he just gives up after a few words. I keep being more and more appalled by the complete lack of agency of this character, way beyond what intended.

(I will forever die on the hill that, contrary to popular belief that N!Hector is motivated by a deep need for love and that justifies all of his mistakes, game Hector displays this trait far more prominently and coherently, even if it's just implied.)

Another thing I noticed that ties with this above point but more generally: the show makes the point multiple times, through Carmilla, Lenore and the Captain, that Hector and Isaac would have been eventually involved in Dracula's genocide as humans. Isaac seemingly realized this and made peace with it, Hector never put 2 and 2 together because of course he didn't. To me, this smacks of the writer pointing out a plot hole in the original story... that simply isn't there, much like Flynn coming up with a whole philosophical debate on "why doesn't Sonic kill Eggman?" ignoring the simple answer "because Eggman is good at running away". In this case, the mangas make it clear: Hector and Isaac are not simple humans. They were born cursed, and have been infused with Dracula's magic. Hector has a whole crisis over whether he's a human or a demon. Of course Dracula wouldn't sacrifice his elite soldiers, that he basically made, for the sake of his slaughter!

Now I can already hear the argument that adaptations don't have to be 1:1, and some changes are bound to happen or don't matter that much. The reason I'm spending so many words about this, aside for my personal preference for the original themes, is that the original story worked just fine. These changes are actively damaging! They do nothing but raise more questions, create more holes to be patched... and most importantly, it makes the characters look bad. Dracula comes off as stupid for how wishy-washy he is with Hector, lying to him and not showing him a hint of respect, which always makes me wonder why did he bother to hire him. Hector comes off as weak and stupid, doing so much for no tangible reason, and this alone is the reason why his entire arc in the show is basically "other villains play him like a fiddle". Even Isaac is weird here, as the show tries to conciliate him being a mindlessly loyal servant of Dracula with the two being friends, leading to a very awkward relationship where they speak like equals in one scene and Isaac worships the guy like a God in another.

Changes are fine if they actually fix a problem of the original story, or are at least innocuous. Not because you didn't understand the assignment, and then you pretend to be smart about it.