“ | This so-called Revolution, it's not a struggle for the right of man. It's an abomination, an affront to the natural order, to common decency, above all, to God and his church. My own holy order, the Knights of Saint John, founded to protect pilgrims in the wars for the Holy Land, has been commanded to submit to the blasphemous, Godless state. We would rather die. But whatever atrocities they commit in the names of their sacrilegious future, the days of this abomination will soon be over. A deliverer is at hand. A new Joan of Arc, a mighty warrior queen to lead us to salvation. She will raise a holy army of the righteous to crush the blasphemers. In the name of God. | „ |
~ Emmanuel's speech on the revolution. |
“ | I've never been sinless, Tera. | „ |
~ Emmanuel expressing that he is a flawed man. |
Emmanuel, also known as the Abbot, is a major villain in Castlevania Nocturne, a sequel/spin-off of Castlevania: The Animated Series, a loose adaptation of the video game franchise by Konami.
He is a corrupt priest, who desires to demolish the French Revolution as he is extremely concern over the anti-religious sentiment that the revolutionaries hold and that the revolution itself will lead to more bloodshed. This leads to Emmanuel in making a temporary alliance with Erzsebet Bathory and her vampiric cult due to sharing similar goals despite his dislike for the vampires. Emmanuel offers his services by making an army of night creatures. Later in the story, it is revealed that Emmanuel is Maria's father and Tera's former lover.
He was voiced by Richard Dormer in the English dub and Akio Kato for the Japanese dub.
What Makes a Him Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- Emmanuel is credited as a very nuance character when compared to most religious characters in the series specifically the Bishop from the last show. He heavily contrast the Bishop as Emmanuel is portrayed as a deeply affable priest, who genuinely wanted to save Christianity from the revolutionaries. But the Bishop, on the other hand, is the complete opposite as he mainly wanted to spread his own views in Christianity and kills anyone who don't fit his fanatical views while killing a harmless doctor for no reason other than thinking she is a witch.
- Even those who didn't like the Bishop as a character much prefer Emmanuel.
- He has an compelling story of being a priest during the time of the French Revolution, where many of the revolutionaries are seeking to de-christianize the country while killing many associated with the church for not choosing a side or renouncing their faith. Emmanuel wants to save his religion by stopping the revolution but his measures in doing so made the situation worse because not only did he side with the vampiric aristocrats but is a forgemaster. Despite making night creatures for the vampires, he did plan on using his monsters to fight them once the revolution has been dealt with but does not understand the extreme risk he is taking. In the show, he is divided between his family or protecting his faith.
- Throughout the show, he is presented as a very flawed man and does not take any pleasure for what he is doing but still believes that what he is doing is a necessary sacrifice to protect his religion.
- Due to this characterization, some fans develop sympathy for Emmanuel and view his story as a "fall from grace" story as he was once a benevolent priest, who fell in love with a Speaker magician, Tera. This love would lead him to break his vow of celibacy and gaining a daughter named Maria. He choose to stay out of their lives as to protect them, but overtime, he has become progressively worse as a person due to the French Revolution. Because of this, they see his story as a tragic one.
- The voice performance by Richard Dormer is amazing as it shows the genuine and affable nature of the Abbot while displaying his delusional and hypocritical personality.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- Despite the nuance of his character, most detractors found Emmanuel to be the most illogical character in the entire show. Since he is a priest, detractors felt his plan of stopping the revolution by temporarily working with the vampiric aristocrats, and by extension, Erzsebet Bathory, makes him come off as an idiot since his plan would easily backfire considering Erzsebet wants to conquer the world, in a way damning his own people to more suffering. His idea of using his night creatures to rebel against Erzsebet makes him even more of an idiot because he is relying on his night creatures, who are not powerful enough, to kill her purely by chance.
- Due to this, he is viewed as a less sympathetic or pitiful character as he plans of teaming up with the vampires to preserve Christianity, even though it completely contradicts his faith. This also includes his later actions in the show.
- Detractors have come to view this as evidence of the shows commentary on the French Revolution not working as most of the aristocrats are shown to be vampires and again, as a priest, you would think someone like Emmanuel would be against them due to them being unholy creatures but he choose to work with them anyway.
- He has been accused of being a boring character who dragged the story for too long, and the dilemma between him and his family is considered uninteresting.
- He is another example of the evil priest trope and the third one that the series introduced so far. At this point, some Castlevania fans are already tired of this trope and felt Emmanuel could've been used for something better due to his unique role within the story. While many others found Emmanuel to be a wasted character as he died way too early in season 2 and did not like the fact his death is mainly used to develop Maria's character. Due to this, detractors view Emmanuel's story as underwhelming and rushed but still feel he had the potential to be a good character.
External Links[]
- Abbot Emmanuel on the Villains Wiki
- Abbot Emmanuel on the Castlevania Wiki
- Abbot Emmanuel on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
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