Erzsebet Báthory

is a character in the Netflix original animated series, Castlevania: Nocturne. She is the queen of vampires, who plans to take over the world by bringing eternal night to it and with this, leave her vampiric brethren to roam free forever. She is immensely powerful and believes herself to be the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian goddess of war, Sekhmet.
She is voiced by Franka Potente.
==History==
Erzsebet is an ancient vampire who presumably hails from the times of ancient Egypt. She is praised as the queen of all vampires, though Tera claims she was a monster before ever becoming a vampire. According to Báthory herself, she was once a humble girl who people called mad for proclaiming to be the "Messiah". It is said she drank from the blood of the warrior goddess, Sekhmet, daughter of Ra, god of the sun, gaining with this immeasurable powers. She seeks to enshroud the world in perpetual darkness, which will allow her vampiric brethren to move openly and unabated without any repercussions and, in this way, to conquer it all. For this end, she plans to halt a solar eclipse while the sun is completely blocked by the moon. Her plan was to be carried out in France; some of the reasons for this were because it was a point in the world where the eclipse could be seen, because the vampire population there had a high position in society and were politically influential, to take advantage of the frequent social conflicts resulting from the ongoing revolution, and also because the Abbot of the town of Machecoul was secretly a Forgemaster who under the proper negotiations could provide her with an army of night creatures.
Báthory's herald and main person in charge to make the proper preparations for her arrival was her loyal servant, Drolta Tzuentes, presumed to have been at her side since the times of the bygone desert empire. One who, in the past, had commanded troops of soldiers to terrorize an entire continent under her mistress's name. Other powerful vampires from around the world were summoned as well to participate in these preparations, including the new world vampire Olrox and the Comte de Vaublanc, while the vampire aristocracy, represented by the Marquis, were in charge of providing them the proper accommodations in his opulent château. All this, while the rest (and vast) common vampire population was organized for their queen's arrival, forming a cult where its members were branded on the forehead with her symbol: a solar eclipse.
The night of Báthory's arrival finally came, with her personally riding a sumptuous golden chariot pulled by three white horses and escorted by an entourage of her loyal cultists. Báthory was remarkably tall, about twice the size of a normal human or vampire, and exquisitely attired with a golden chest piece complemented with equally golden long gloves and headpieces, as well as an extravagantly long and lavish white gown. Báthory rarely bothered to look at her interlocutors during conversations, and instead she could almost always be seen staring at the immensity of space, surely scheming new plans, as well as thinking about her own magnificence.
As her first gift, Drolta presented her with a young woman of high class for her to feast upon, which Báthory gladly accepted and who from that night on, became her favorite pet, bringing her almost everywhere she went and whom she frequently fed upon. Later that night, a street procession was held in Báthory's honor to let all the vampires in town know their savior and deliverer had finally arrived and that the eternal night was soon to come. After this, she gave a speech at the Vendée, addressing the most elite members of the French vampire nobility and announcing them her plans to drown the world in perpetual darkness.
Nights later, after being informed of Olrox's vast powers, including his ability to transform into a dragon, Báthory made sure to procure his allegiance to her. Later on, Abbot Emmanuel, accompanied by his trusty guard, Mizrak, and the rest of the Knights of Saint John, paid a visit to her at the château so she could personally inspect some of the night creatures he had created. After some deliberations about the number of creatures he could produce, Báthory demanded him to make a sacrifice in order to prove his loyalty to her—something he loved—his daughter, Maria. The priest reluctantly accepted this condition.
The next day was the date the solar eclipse was to take place, and just like she promised to her people, Báthory made use of her immense magical powers to stop the moon when it was completely blocking the sun. Apart from allowing all the vampires to roam free, this act greatly strengthened their abilities - the most evident cases manifested in both herself and Drolta. Drolta turned into a demoness-like being, while Báthory transformed into her Sekhmet goddess form, with her head acquiring shape of a white lioness adorned with a sun around it. All the vampires then headed to attack the town of Machecoul; Báthory did as well, although she did so by riding her chariot instead of flying like everyone else, while Olrox secretly followed her in mist form.
Having previously kidnapped Maria, the Abbot was already in the middle of the ceremony to sacrifice her. However, Richter, Annette, Tera and Mizrak arrived to the abbey in time to prevent this, and also with the intention to destroy the Abbot's infernal machine. A battle then ensued between them and his night creatures; however, Drolta and an entourage of vampire cultists arrived shortly after to support them. With his newly discovered magical powers, Richter and his allied were able to offer a balanced fight against them, and at one point they even started to gain the upper hand. Unfortunately, Báthory finally arrived as well, and without even having to move, she displayed her vast superiority, with none of the best attacks by the heroes even managing to reach her. Seeing themselves overwhelmed, Tera begged Emmanuel to turn his creatures against Báthory to save Maria. After hearing this, Báthory told her she didn't plan to kill Maria, but to turn her. Tera then proposed to take her instead and to let her daughter go. After learning that she was a Speaker, Báthory recognized her from when she kidnapped and turned her sister years ago in Russia, and how Tera had to kill her to put her out of her misery; so, the vampire queen agreed to her proposal and took her in her grasp. Greatly outnumbered and overpowered, but at least with Maria now in their hands, Richter and his allies were left with no other option than to escape and leave Tera in Báthory's hands.
==Appearance==
Erzsebet is gigantic in height, towering over everyone, with the tallest known individuals only reaching her chest. She has pale skin and pointed ears like all vampires. She also has red hair she wears in an onion shaped bun. She has red eyes and uses crimson lipstick that perfectly combines with the color of both her hair and eyes. Proper of her title of "queen", she can always be seen attired in the most lavish clothes, such as an elaborated golden armor complete with golden long gloves and headpiece, accompanied with an extravagantly long white gown, as well as a blue royal dress with crimson details and long risen neck flaps.
After her transformation, she takes on a lioness-like form with a crimson mane, a sun disk behind her head, and a cobra on her forehead, resembling more depictions of the Egyptian war goddess, Sekhmet. In this form, she wears a magnificent black and gold two-piece dress complete with a long black cape with full golden underside.
It is worth noting a red gem she seemingly has embedded below her neck. In her humanoid form, this gem is smaller and found within a four pointed rhomboid star, while in her goddess form, it appears alone and becomes larger.
==Personality==
Erzsebet is a high-functioning psychopathic narcissist vampire. Even as a human, she had a penchant for unimaginable cruelty, with Annette stating she would brutalize and eventually murder young girls and boys. After being turned into a vampire, her capacity for depravity only grew, slaughtering entire villages of commonfolk who dared seek freedom from their oppressors while keeping a select few alive to torment at her leisure. Rather than draining her human victims of all their blood and killing them, as it is common practice for most vampires, Erzsebet would keep her prey alive for as long as possible, subjecting them to unimaginable torment until they either couldn't endure her twisted games anymore or died of shock. One of her followers claimed that one method she used was to string her victims up by their arms with hooks through the bones in a way that ensured they would stay conscious for days. The luckier of her victims, usually young virgin women, would be turned into her vampiric thralls if they either proved to be useful to her or she happened to take a liking to them, as was the case with Tera's sister and Tera herself. She manipulates vampires and humans alike into seeing her as a messiah who would save them from the ongoing revolution and restore the world to its "natural" order, specifically the preservation of the system of slavery and supremacy that the vampiric and human aristocracies had come to enjoy, with Erzsebet announcing her intention to extend her crusade to America and beyond once the French Revolution had been crushed under her heel.
Following her consumption of Sekhmet's blood and claiming the goddess's powers for herself, her arrogance grew to full-blown megalomania and the development of a raging god complex. She grew to see herself as Sekhmet and regarded Amun-Ra as her "father", envying the worship the sun god received from mortals. She desired to kill him and be worshipped and/or feared in his place, going so far as to conjure a permanent solar eclipse to bring about an eternal night that would enshroud all humans into misery. She depicts herself in her relationship to the real gods as the oppressed victim of their faith, behaving as though she is a real god.
The pride in herself and her perceived godhood is so great that she has a notable obsession with being worshipped by her followers, her fellow vampires included. This is best shown in her interactions with Olrox and Emmanuel. With the former, his refusal to bow down to her as all her other vampire subjects do, lead to her holding an orb of dark magic in her hand in a threatening manner until he begrudgingly and reluctantly bowed to her, with a look of smug satisfaction on her face as she reveled in her power over him. With the latter, she responded to Mizrak's assertions of him being a man of God, with her declaring that she is a god in an enraged tone, clearly feeling slighted over one of her would be minions worshipping any other god but her, so much that she demanded that the abbot sacrificed his own daughter as a sign of his devotion to her. Erzsebet also shows a carnal side to her sado-maniacal persona, seeing a particular charm in a few of the subjects of feeding and flensing tendencies. Nikolai stating that some of the more fortunate (depending on ones point of view) tend to be converted into her personal undead servants/playthings. Having enough of a particular liking of some of the more comely females whom her servants bring into her service. Once taking a shine to an aristocrat's daughter whose father held strong ties to the resistance movement. Looking at her as more of a sumptuous enchantress than merely cattle feed. Even going so far as to turn Tera's younger sister due to such humble charms many decades ago. Something of which is extent when Erzsebet licked her lips after Drolta mentioned the head priest's daughter. Even more so when she willingly, almost gleefully, took the mother, who once escaped her back in Russia so many years ago, as she offered herself up in exchange for their daughter's well-being. Taking a taciturn satisfaction on turning her, a Speaker and powerful sorcerer in her own right, into another one of her thralls.
==Powers and abilities==
*Vampire physiology: As a vampire, Erzsebet possesses many of the same abilities as her brethren. However, Erzsebet has extraordinarily displayed the levels of superhuman physical prowess that far surpasses most of the other members of her species.
**Immortality: As a vampire, Erzsebet is naturally immortal, immune to the effects of age, and is perpetually locked in her physical prime.
**Levitation: Erzsebet has the ability to levitate off the ground with a thought, such as when she dismounts from her chariot.
*Dark magic: Erzsebet is an incredibly powerful dark magic user, capable of manipulating a rare and old darkness magic. This mysterious power is the basis of her claim of being the "Vampire Messiah", as she has promised her disciples everlasting darkness and unfettered domination over humanity.
**Darkness manipulation/Eclipse summoning: Erzsebet possesses a profound connection to darkness on a vast scale, allowing her to summon a solar eclipse to give her followers free reign, without worrying about sunlight-induced immolation.
**Transformation: As a vampire of incredible power, Erzsebet has the power to transform into a more monstrous form. When channeling the powers of Sekhmet, Erzsebet shifts into a more bestial state that increases her height and gives her leonine features, hearkening to Sekhmet being a lion-headed goddess. In this form, Erzsebet is immune to most attacks, including elemental magic and even Richter's whip.
***Telekinesis: Erzsebet demonstrated the ability to momentarily paralyze Richter in mid-air when he attempted to attack her.
***Barrier: In her Sekhmet form, Erzsebet can erect an invisible force field that automatically props up and deflects almost any assault directed at her, be it magic, conjured metal blades, or whip, all being rendered completely ineffective.
***Magic absorption: Erzsebet, as Sekhmet, once outright inhaled a torrent of blue esoteric flame belted at her by Richter Belmont without effort.
==Appearances==
==Quotes==
*"I dreamt last night about the world we are making. The Empress of Russia, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Ottoman Sultan, the Pope, all kneeling before me, kissing my feet. (moans) It was such a beautiful dream. (to Drolta in "Freedom was Sweeter")
*My sister the Moon burns brightly tonight. She's very excited, of course. Soon we will force our father, Amun-Ra, the Sun, down on his knees to grovel in the mud for mercy. But there will be no *** mercy. I will cut off his head and suck out his brains and spit them into the dust. (groans) They've always worshiped him. My father. The *** Sun. Since they crawled out of caves, mortals have adored him, because they are afraid of the dark. Soon there will be only darkness. And terror will be all they know. (after arriving to France in "Guilty Men to be Judged")
*"No longer shall we be trapped on the edges of the world in pitiful shadows. The skies will break into obsidian black, and my glory will cover the Earth. And yes, she was once the humble girl who they called mad. But see? She was the Messiah the whole time. And now she has the blood of Sekhmet in her veins. All will see, and will bow. She stands here, not only as your queen, but as your god. Feast for your goddess! Drink! Dance! (Making a speech in the Vendée in "Blood is the Only Way")
:– Drolta: "I have some good news. I know how you can secure the Abbot's loyalty forever. He has a daughter." 
:– Erzsebet:"Ah. A daughter. How delicious."
:— ("Blood is the Only Way")
*"A god should know where all her dragons are." ("Blood is the Only Way")
*"Once they see my beauty, all will worship me." ("Blood is the Only Way")
*"I will make the Abbot worship me." ("Blood is the Only Way")
:– Drolta: "Before we make any plans, Her Magnificence needs to know she can trust you."
: – Mizrak: "He's a man of God."
:– Erzsebet: "I. AM. A GOD."
:– (Moment of tension)
:– Erzsebet: "What will you give up to prove your love for me?"
:– The Abbot: "What do you want?"
:– Drolta: "Submission."
:– The Abbot: "What do you mean, 'submission'?"
:– Drolta: "Submission. Tomorrow, the Vampire Messiah will come to the house of your God to seal the alliance."
:– Erzsebet: "In blood."
:– The Abbot: "A sacrifice?"
:– Erzsebet: "Someone you love. Your daughter, perhaps? That would seal our union, wouldn't it?" 
:– Mizrak: (Defensive) "A daughter? The Abbot has no daughter." (Turning to see at the Abbot's frozen in fear after hearing the Countess mentioning his daughter. Mizrak became shocked learning the Abbot having illegitimate child as he gasp)
:– Erzsebet: "Men lead by their ***. And now I have yours in my hand"
:– The Abbot:(Still in shock) "How did you..."
:– Drolta: "Prove your loyalty, Abbot."
:– Erzsebet: "What was she called again?"
:– Drolta: "Maria."
:– ("Blood is the Only Way")
*"I am Sekhmet. Goddess of war. Mistress of dread. Lady of slaughter. She who mauls." ("Devourer of Light")
*"I don't want to kill her. Did you think I wanted to kill her? What primitive minds you people have. It never ceases to shock me. Of course, yes, back in the mists of time, longer ago than your primitive minds can imagine, when the Earth itself was young, back then I was honored many times with human sacrifice. A virgin, obviously. Are you a virgin? But no, I don't want to kill her. On the contrary. I'm going to give her eternal life." ("Devourer of Light")
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Báthory's goddess form is faithful to some extent to depictions of Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian warrior goddess who has the head of lioness, a sun disk around her head, and a cobra on her forehead. 
**However, her desire to devour light and block out the sun is more similar to chaos serpent Apep.
*In "Guilty Men to be Judged", Báthory refers to her father as Amun-Ra, the Sun; yet in other instances within the series, her father is referred to simply as Ra. Ra was the ancient Egyptian deity of the Sun, and possibly the entity the series intends to refer to. Amun, on the other hand, was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. He acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with Ra, as Amun-Ra. On his own, he was also thought to be the king of the gods.
*Báthory's plan of enshrouding the world into darkness to let vampires roam free is similar to how Walter Bernhard would magically keep the forest where his castle lied in eternal night in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.
*The orbs of magical energy Báthory produces when using magic may be a nod to the energy orbs Elizabeth Bartley –an antagonistic character from Castlevania: Bloodlines whom Báthory is inspired by– uses to summon her elemental attacks during her boss fight.
*Her Japanese voice actress, Rika Fukami, voiced Lisa and the Succubus in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
*Her name is a reference to Elizabeth Báthory (Hungarian: Báthori Erzsébet), a 16th century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary.
**The historical character was known for having kidnapped hundreds of young girls, which would then be tortured and killed. This is reflected in the series when Tera mentions this was a common practice of her, with her own little sister being one of her victims.
** One of the historical Báthory's servants, named Dorotya Semtész (or Dorottya Szentes), was her accomplice during her kidnapping and killing sprees, who inspired the minion character Drolta Tzuentes in the series.
*Her base design is a possible reference to Carmilla from the 2000 animated film Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Apart from her very tall stature, pale skin and red hair, Báthory's blue dress is reminiscent to Carmilla's, having a long cleavage that separates its upper piece into two parts –left and right– and that goes all the way down to her belly.
Sekhmet - 01.png|Sekhmet, the Egyptian warrior goddess.
Carmilla - Vampire Hunter D - 01.jpg|Carmilla from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.
Carmilla - Vampire Hunter D - 02.png
==See also==
*Elizabeth Bartley
*Galamoth - Another antagonistic character with an Egyptian deity motif.
==External links==
*Erzsebet Báthory (Netflix's Castlevania) at the Villains Wiki
Category:Antagonists
Category:Egyptian Monsters
Category:Female Characters
Category:Vampire Masters
Category:Vampires
Category:Nocturne Characters
Category:Nocturne Season 1 Characters