Marchioness

The Marchioness is a minor character in the Netflix original animated series, Castlevania: Nocturne. She is the loving and faithful wife of the Marquis, who lives a sumptuous life full of privileges at the Vendée château in western France. However, like her husband, she hides a terrible secret behind her high nobility persona.
==History==
A member of the vampire court of nobles, the Marchioness made her debut by attacking a drunken Jacques and then dragged his weakened body back to her husband, the Marquis, at the Vendée château, who helped her drain what little blood Jacques had left.
After the Marquis was decapitated by Richter Belmont during their encounter at the abbey, the Marchioness was seen hysterically crying over his beloved's body while cradling his severed head, which she kept after the funeral. She was next seen at the ball thrown in honor of Erzsebet Báthory's arrival, still cradling her husband's head and even dressing it up nicely. Still grieving and urging for vengeance, the Marchioness left with two servant vampires to capture Maria Renard and kill Tera, using a pistol sword during the ambush, but was overpowered by the latter, so she pretended to be dead, drifting along a nearby river's stream, and then jumped at an unexpecting Maria. Briefly gaining the upper hand, she was about to shoot Tera in the head, but her shot was suddenly deflected by Richter's whip, who had just arrived. The vampire hunter wrapped his whip around the Marchioness's leg and then incinerated her using his recently awakened blue fire magic.
==Appearance==
The Marchioness appears as a stunningly beautiful woman with scarlet red eyes, a curvaceous figure, deathly pale skin, and white hair styled into a beehive (likely a wig). She is often seen wearing a formal gown befitting her status as a nobleman's wife, as well as wearing black lipstick.
==Personality==
Not much is known about her besides the fact she is highly playful and sadistic, letting Jacques to use his musket before taking him out. However, she is also noted to have highly cherished her husband, going as far as keeping his severed head and even trying to avenge his death.
As shown, she had at least some level of cunning, having pretended to have been killed during her ambush to kill Tera and Maria to avenge her husband by holding still and floating stiffly in the river's stream to trick her targets into a false sense of security.
==Powers and abilities==
*Vampire physiology: As a vampire, she has great speed and agility. She can also possibly levitate, although she is only seen performing high leaps in the series, up to the height of a relatively tall treetop.
*Adept melee and firearms combatant: During her ambush on Tera and Maria, she uses a pistol sword. While she barely uses the blade, she demonstrates to be a great markswoman, surely having hit her targets both times if they hadn't been first blocked and then made her lose her aim.
==Appearances==
==Gallery==
===Screenshots===
A Common Enemy in Evil - Nocturne - 86.png
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The Natural Order - Nocturne - 64.png
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Blood is the Only Way - Nocturne - 24.png|Death at the hands of Richter.
===Concept art===
Marchioness Model Sheet.jpg|Official model sheet by Suzanne Sharp
Marchioness Expressions Model.jpg|Expressions model
Marchioness Funeral Model Sheet.jpg|Funeral outfit model sheet by Suzanne Sharp.
Marchioness Funeral Model.jpg
Pistol Sword (S1E7) Model Sheet.jpg|Pistol sword from "Blood is the Only Way" model sheet by Suzanne Sharp.
Pistol Sword (S1E7) Model.jpg
==Trivia==
*While the Marchioness doesn't have a single line of dialogue in the entire series, her presence is pivotal to push its narrative, as it was she who captured Jacques, who after his transformation into a night creature, was able to communicate with Edouard and form an alliance with him and other creatures to rebel against their captors.
*The idea of the Marchioness keeping the head of her husband may be inspired by Elizabeth "Bess" Raleigh (1565-1647), an English Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was rumored to have kept the embalmed head of her husband, Sir Walter Raleigh, inside a velvet bag for the rest of her life. However, while it is known she and her ladies left the scene with the head the day of his execution, there are no accounts of she actually keeping it afterward.
==See also==
*Marquis
category:Deceased Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:Vampires
Category:Nocturne Characters
Category:Nocturne Season 1 Characters