Richter Belmont (animated series)

is a character and main protagonist of the Netflix original animated series, Castlevania: Nocturne. He is a young, powerful and cunning descendant of the Belmont lineage of vampire hunters, and current owner of the whip. After his mother was murdered by a vampire in front of his eyes when he was a child, he grew up to become one of the most powerful warriors in his family line. He lives with Tera and her daughter Maria Renard in a small cottage on the hills in Machecoul, France. Both him and Maria, a skillful young witch, fight the increasing numbers of vampires that have started to appear in the land, as well as to bring justice and equality to its inhabitants.
He is voiced by Edward Bluemel.
==History==
Richter was first seen at age 10, walking with his mother Julia heading to port. Richter asked her why he had to move away to live with his "auntie" Tera; Julia embraced him and told him that it wasn't safe for him and that she was sorry. This moment was cut short with the arrival of the vampire Olrox, who had come to kill Julia. Richter mocked the vampire telling him that his mother was going to kill him, to which Olrox replied that many have tried and none have succeeded. A battle then ensued and Julia gained the upper hand for a moment, but then Richter tried to intervene, which did more harm than good and Olrox took advantage of this. Julia was able to land a powerful fire spell and Olrox could be heard writhing in pain, but he then transformed into a serpent like beast and pinned Julia down and killed her. Richter was horrified as Olrox stepped over his mother's corpse and approached him. Olrox knelt down and told him that he only killed her out of vengeance as she had killed the person he loved. Olrox then vowed to one day kill Richter but not now, and left. Richter grabbed his mother's whip, ran to the docks and boarded a ship.
Nine years later, when Richter was 19, he could be seen in the woods listening to Maria Renard's speech about the revolution. Suddenly, three vampires appeared and attacked the group of people gathered there. Richter swiftly killed the first one instantly; he and Maria then fought together against the remaining two. Richter ensnared one with his whip, burning the foe's flesh. The vampire then warned Richter that killing him wouldn't do him any good, as the "Vampire Messiah" was coming soon. Richter stated that he had no clue what he was on about and decapitated him; he then saw that Maria's familiars had blinded the last vampire, so he threw his sword at him, impaling and killing him. After the fight, one of the revolutionaries named Jacques returned Richter's sword to him. Maria asked Richter what was the Vampire Messiah, to which Richter responded that he had no clue. While returning to the village, Maria asked why were all the vampires in France, and Richter jokingly replied that local ham and beans make the locals' blood nice and smokey, to which Maria insulted him for his crudeness. Maria then suggested that they tell the Abbot about the so called Vampire Messiah, although Richter warned her to keep her magic a secret, and then joked about her being burnt as a witch, to which she replied that she knew when to keep quiet.
They arrive at the abbey and are greeted by Mizrak, who tells them that the Abbot was busy. Richter tells him about the previous vampires attack, so Mizrak lets them in. Inside the abbey, Richter tells the Abbot that they killed three vampires in one night, which wasn't normal for them, and they then asked about the so called warning, with Richter joking about how nice it was of the vampire to warn him. Abbot dismissed the warning saying that those were just ghost stories, but nonetheless offers his aid by sending his spies to investigate the château.
On their way out, they both made jokes about the Abbot having spies. Richter then noticed a pub and Maria said that he could go for a drink and make it home herself, but Richter told her that he promised her mother he would get her home on time; plus, he hadn't eaten dinner yet. Back at Tera's house, Richter falls asleep and has a nightmare involving Olrox, but is awaken by Maria. She then asks him why he kills vampires, to which he jokes about it being the most fun one can have with clothes still on, which made Maria blush. Maria then mentions she kills vampires because they are evil, and Richter then sarcastically jokes about being surprised that vampires are evil. Maria then asks him why he helps her, and he states that she is family and that he doesn't need to believe in her goals, he just needs to believe in her.
Later that night, they are attacked by night creatures. Maria asks what are they and Richter says whatever they are he is sure they can die. During the battle, Richter gets pinned down by one of them and he then starts having flashbacks about his mother's death. Luckily, he is saved by two unknown travelers, Annette and Edouard. Maria asks who they are, but Annette immediately changes the subject, so Richter asks her to first answer their questions, so both introduced themselves. In the morning, Richter is seen kicking the dead night creature into a ditch and setting it on fire, and then heads home for breakfast. Edouard thanks Tera for a good meal and he mentions he hated ship rations, especially the meat, to which Richter jokes about not knowing what animal the meat was from, making everybody to laugh. They then begin to talk about the Vampire Messiah, to which a suddenly startled Tera asks them the name of this "Messiah", to which Annette replies it is Erzsebet Báthory. At the mention of this name, Tera runs away. The group follow her to the river bank and Richter asks her if she is okay. Tera then starts telling them about her previous life in Russia; she reveals having had a sister, as well as her first meeting with Báthory. She reveals she had to kill her own sister, as Erzsebet had turned her into a vampire for fun. After hearing this, Richter takes her hand and vows to avenge her sister at any cost. Later, Richter attends the burial of Maria's dead bird familiar which was killed in the battle the night before, while Edouard sings a song for both the bird and Tera's sister, while Richter looks somber as the song makes him think of his mother.
During the strategy meeting about the château, Richter promises Tera they are only going for reconnaissance and they will stay hidden. At the Vendée château, they see a pile of corpses, one of which was their friend Jacques, who they had seen fine just the prior day. Unfortunately, an enraged Annette blows their cover and a fight ensues. Overpowered against the mass of vampires, Richter orders everyone to fall back. Unfortunately, while fleeing, Edouard is overwhelmed and killed while Annette was making a stone bridge. Back home, Richter watches Annette mourn her friend and he vows to avenge him. The next day, Richter listens to Annette talk about her past and how she met Edouard. He comforts her by telling her he was a good man and that his spirit will live on. They then have Maria hold another meeting of revolutionaries, where she introduces Annette to her group. A horde of night creatures suddenly appears, and Richter, Maria and Annette fight to protect the civilians. During the struggle, Richter sees how one of the monsters saves Annette and then is carried away toward the abbey. Richter asks Annette what happened, and she tells him that the creature was Edouard. The next morning, Richter tries to convince Annette she is just grieving and her mind is showing her what she wants to see; Edouard was dead and she had to accept it. Maria then noted that the night creatures were heading to the abbey, so they should go there to investigate. Tera insists on accompanying them and joins them. Richter asks Annette if she would kill Edouard if she had to, to which she replies she would. In the evening, they infiltrate the abbey but are discovered by Drolta Tzuentes, the Marquis and the Abbot and another battle ensues. Richter fights with the Marquis and decapitates him with his sword. He challenges his opponents who is next, but then, to his horror, Olrox suddenly appears, terrifying Richter, who runs away cutting the plan short.
Richter then reaches a stream where he breaks down, as seeing Olrox made all his pain resurface. Later, he is in town and he sees three young revolutionary girls preparing for an upcoming festivity and discussing about what part each should play. The littlest one wants to be "Liberty", but they tell her she can only be either "Equality" or "Fraternity" to which Richter states that only a man can be Fraternity, as it means "brotherhood". The two older girls giggle and flirt with him a bit; one gives him a headband and asks him join their revolution. However, Richter declines saying they didn't need him. Later that evening, Richter is seen in a bar starving and trying to buy a meal, but he doesn't have enough money; he offers to kill some vampires to pay the bartender back, but the latter makes a counter-offer that he can pay by washing dishes instead. Richer sighs and unexpectedly the bartender brings him a full meal and tells him, the Bartender it was bought to him by an old man sitting on a table in the corner of the tavern. Richter happily partakes in his free meal and then goes to thank the man. The old man tells him a saying about a free meal and then tells him to go home. Suddenly, a vampire enters the bar and asks for the old man to show himself. Richter tries to grab his whip, but the old man had taken it without him noticing and uses it with great mastery to kill the vampire with ease. After the fight, Richter follows the man and asks him who he is. The man jokes, saying that isn't he supposed to be clever, at least that is what Julia used to say. Richter again asks him who he is and then the old man introduces himself as Juste Belmont, his grandfather, shocking Richter.
Richter is next seen following his grandfather and demanding answers. He berates him for never having shown himself, as he was his only living relative, to which Juste joked about not wanting to be expected to give him advice or birthday gifts. He then joked about killing Tera, as he thought she told Richter about him, but Richter revealed that it was all a coincidence. Back at Juste's hut, Richter continued asking him more questions; Juste told him to wait outside while he brewed some coffee. Richter waits for him sitting outside and Juste reunites with him shortly afterward, bringing him a cup of coffee. Juste then tells him about his past, his grandmother, and also their ancestress Sypha Belnades, who was an incredibly powerful magician. On his part, Richter tells Juste how his mother died. Juste asks him why was he there, and Richter just breaks down again. Juste reaches out to him but decides not to comfort him. Later, as Juste walks away to relieve himself, Richter senses vampires approaching. Unfortunately for him, he gets overpowered by Nikolai and his goons and is restrained along with Juste. Nikolai taunts Richter about his failings to save his new family as Juste watches, unable to do anything. Just as Richter is about to be killed, he turns to Juste to find the old man staring at him in the exact same way his mother did before she died. This suddenly awakens his latent magic power and sets his entire body on fire, also burning everything in the near vicinity with it he kills the vampire goons. Juste frees himself, takes the whip, and helps Richter kill Nikolai.
Richter then arrives to save Tera from the Marchioness and her goons, and effortlessly kills them with his magic. He is then hugged by Maria, who was overjoyed to see him okay and even jokes about his new headband. Richter tells Tera he had met Juste, to which she apologized for keeping it from him. Richter helps her to carry her buckets of water back home, where he was sarcastically greeted by Annette. Richter goes to her room and apologizes for running away earlier, to which Annette replies she knew he would return and that she heard from Tera about Olrox. They come to an understanding regarding their respective pasts and pains. During a meeting about getting into the abbey, Olrox suddenly pays them a quick visit. Richter takes this as a chance to avenge his mother, but he is unable to locate the vampire. Olrox tells Richter that if he was there to kill him, he would have done so already; in fact, he could have killed him three times already. Richter then decides to listen to what Olrox has to say and the latter tells him to just read the book he just gave him.
Early the next morning, Richter and the rest are awoken by the unexpected visit of Mizrak, who tells them that the Abbot has taken Maria hostage and is going to sacrifice her. Mizrak joins Richter, Tera and Annette on the rescue mission. Richter asks what happened to the sky and Annette tells him it was prophesized the Messiah would swallow the sun and thus give her kin eternal night. Their path is then blocked by warrior monks of the Knights of Saint John, which Mizrak belongs to, and he attempts to use his rank to order them to stand aside and pray with him. Unfortunately, this approach fails, so Richter and his group have to kill them. Arriving at the abbey, Richter and his group put their plan into action. Richter fights Drolta, Mizrak and Annette fight the vampire cultists gathered there, while Tera goes to save Maria. They hold their ground for a while until Erzsebet Báthory arrives and overpowers everyone. Even though she demonstrates to be immune to the Belmont's vampire killing weapons, Richter doesn't give up and tries to save Maria and Tera. Unfortunately, Maria gets badly injured and Tera is turned into a vampire by Báthory. Richter picks up an unconscious Maria and holds her in his arms while trying to fight off the other vampires. Annette then arrives and uses her magic to create an escape route. They are then pelted by a mob and Mizrak rejoins them. Drolta and a other vampires catch up with them in the hills. Richter puts Maria down and prepares to fight, although Drolta is too fast and he is almost killed. Fortunately, Alucard suddenly arrives and swiftly kills Drolta with a single stab of his sword, and tells them he is there to help.
==Appearance==
Richter has short brown hair, blue eyes, and has a slightly more tanned skin tone than his mother. He wears a blue vest with a white interior, which features a silver Belmont crest on its back. He wears leather armbands on his forearms which connect with fingerless gloves. He also wears white pants and a wide belt that covers a large part of his belly, as well as jackboots. At one point, he started wearing a white bandana given to him by a peasant revolutionary.
==Personality==
Richter is a casually confident and juvenile hero, but he was also shaped by personal struggles. His flippant demeanor masks the trauma of losing his mother and having a difficult childhood, which inwardly causes him to doubt himself and question the worthiness of his actions. He also admits to struggle with strategic planning and decision making. However, his core values remain unchanged and he is ultimately a selfless and good-hearted person.
The death of his mother at a young age left a devastating mental wound on Richter that followed him into adulthood. Initially timid and alone, he eventually came to terms with his trauma and transformed it into a drive to show empathy for and protect innocent people from vampire-kind. Though Richter is sensitive to his past and possesses some degree of emotional vulnerability, he is first and foremost proud of his lineage and is not afraid to throw himself into dangerous, hopeless situations when his gut demands it, even being willing to fearlessly challenge Erzsebet Báthory to defend Maria.
==Powers and abilities==
===Powers===
*Magic: As a descendant from Sypha Belnades, Richter is a immensely powerful mage with the ability to control the elements. After the trauma of his mother's death, Richter lost this ability; however, after a conversation with his grandfather, Juste, he eventually came to terms with his trauma and awaken the full potential of his magic again. When using his magic or feeling intense emotions, his eyes glow electric blue.
**Pyrokinesis: As a child, Richter was only known to shoot normal colored flames from his fingers. However, after awakening his full magical potential as an adult, Richter can now use the more powerful blue flames. The most notable trait of Richter's magical flames is that they are much more intense and stronger than the red, orange and yellow flames normally used by the Speakers. His flames are powered by his rage, so the greater his anger, the hotter his flames are. Richter can almost instantly combust anything he touches. He utilizes this ability in a more martial capacity than his distant ancestress, such as often using an open hand or using flames to augment the power of his punches and jab strikes, as well as enhancing his physical capabilities such as his speed and strength, imbuing his whip and knives with fire, or igniting his arm and then swinging it at the target to release fire streams which surround the enemy in a whirlwind of flames. His flames were hot enough to burn an entire group of vampires into ash in mere seconds. Over time, he learned to produce a greater amount of flames than his ancestress without tiring, capable of maintaining successive assaults for long periods of time and also launch blue flames from his feet, allowing propulsion, a skill his ancestress only learned through months of practice.
**Cryokinesis: After regaining his cryokinetic powers, Richter became more powerful than ever, capable of manipulating absolute zero temperatures. Richter can use ice to protect himself during battle. Unlike his distant ancestress, more creatively. Richter can enhance his fists to greater strength with ice, and uses it to call forth protective layers of ice to function as armor for his body or to create ice gauntlets and blades on the elbow and imbuing his whip with ice, or for long range attacks by creating ice spikes for throwing, as well as using a freezing touch. He even use this to freeze Drolta's extending claws and break it during their fight in the Abbey.
**Electrokinesis: Richter can imbue his whip with crackling electricity, often done in conjunction with fire. The resulting combination causes an explosion at the whip's point of impact.
*Peak human conditioning: Richter is an exceptional warrior in peak physical condition. He developed levels of strength, durability, speed and reflexes near the absolute limits of human capability. He is able to keep up with vampires and demons in close quarters combat. He is strong enough to use a short sword as a throwing knife, break large metal blades with a kick, send night creatures and vampires flying with his whip, and also behead them with a single whiplash. He is fast enough to dodge and block bullets, and attacks faster than the sound barrier, even allowing him to catch vampires off guard. His physical skills –along with his magic– even allowed him to fight on equal terms against Drolta Tzuentes.
*Immense pain tolerance: Richter's endurance is unbelievably high and he has outstanding survivability for a mortal man, as he is shown to be able to withstand assaults and direct attacks from vampires. His durability is so developed that he was able to take a vampire's warhammer strike and emerge practically unscathed, as well as to keep fighting after being sent flying and crashing on the Abbey's benches and stone floor by Erzsebet Báthory.
===Abilities===
*Master martial artist: Richter is an extremely skilled and formidable hand-to-hand combatant. He often incorporates punches and kicks when using his weapons; and when disarmed, he can now enhance his strikes with magic, often encasing his fists with fire or ice to reinforce his strikes. He has also shown himself to be capable of employing throwing knives in combat with lethal accuracy.
*Master whip fighter: Richter is highly skilled with his family whip as a weapon. On multiple occasions, he is able to use it with unmatched precision and speed. He developed a style of fighting in which he can quickly switch between lashing from a distance to close fighting. He can use his magic both offensively and defensively during combat, and even mix it with his whip attacks.
==Appearances==
==Quotes==
*"Is Auntie Tera a vampire hunter? No. So, will I be safer with her? No. I should be here with you, fighting evil." (10 year old Richter in "A Common Enemy in Evil")
*"The local ham and beans is pretty sensational. Makes local blood nice and smoky." ("A Common Enemy in Evil")
*"I don't believe in destiny... I believe in you and your mother. I believe you're the kindest, most courageous people in the world. So, I don't need to understand the things you believe in, and I certainly don't need to believe them too. I just need to stand by you. Always."
*"Well, whatever they are, I'm sure they can die." ("A Common Enemy in Evil")
*"I'm quite happy with my whip and my knives, thank you. Generation upon generation of my ancestors have killed vampires with just this whip. Actually, quite a lot of them could do magic, including my mother."
*"I've only been afraid once in all my life, and I was 10."
*"My mother said you were dead. She said she went to the New World because there was no one else, and she was the heir to the Belmont mission and there were vampires there she had to fight. Like Olrox."
*"You're a Belmont. You're not supposed to hide in a hut. And you're not supposed to kill vampires for money."
*"She was looking right at me when she died. I could tell. I mean, I could tell when her life stopped. I saw it in her eyes. The actual moment where it ended. And then Olrox let me go." (Telling Juste about Julia's death)
*"There's something you forgot about Belmonts. Stupid of me, I'd forgotten it too." ("Guilty Men to be Judged")
*"I have to live. There are people I love. Pity it didn't work like that for you. I'm much younger than you."
*"When I had nothing to hold onto and everything was gone, I remembered the things that make me who I am. The hopes, the pain and the ***. The love in this house. And, I suppose for the first time, I really made a choice about the kind of person I want to be. A Belmont. I left all six of them in a pile of ash. I won't let myself be afraid ever again." ("Blood is the Only Way")
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*In "A Common Enemy in Evil", Richter can be seen doing the V sign, a characteristic trait of the original character he is based on, seen in some games he has appeared in, like Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
*Richter's appearance in the animated series is a blend of his designs in Rondo of Blood and The Dracula X Chronicles.
*Richter's use of elemental magic in addition to his whip is similar to Juste Belmont's practice of it in the original timeline. This is due to their respective blood ties to Sypha Belnades.
*Many of Richter's attacks in the series are references to his iconic moves from the games (sometimes also including some from other games such as Harmony of Dissonance). Some examples include:
**One of Richter's main means of attack is throwing small knives at his enemies. Besides this being a somewhat evident nod to the Dagger sub-weapon, in the episode "Horrors Rising from the Earth", he can be seen throwing many of them in quick succession when fighting the Marquis; this is possibly a nod to his iconic Item Crash, 1,000 Blades.
**In "Guilty Men to be Judged", when he reawakens his dormant magical powers, the energy surrounding him acquires the shape of a giant cross, being a clear reference to the Grand Cross crash.
**When fighting, Richter can sometimes be seen covering his hands in ice and repeatedly punching enemies with them. This seems to be a reference to the Sacred Fist and its Ice Book fusion, Icicle Knuckle, which Juste used in Harmony of Dissonance.
**In "Devourer of Light", Richter performs a frontal somersault over Drolta Tzuentes.
==See also==
*Richter Belmont
==References==
==External links==
*Richter Belmont (Netflix's Castlevania) at the Heroes Wiki
Category:Belmont Clan (animated series)
Category:Humans
Category:Male Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Vampire Hunters and Huntresses
Category:Witches and Wizards
Category:Nocturne Characters
Category:Nocturne Season 1 Characters