Season 4 of Netflix's Castlevania brings its characters full circle with proper narrative endings - but does it line up with where they all end in the video games? Based on the hugely successful and iconic monster-hunting video game series from Konami, the Netflix anime chooses to take specific influence from Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, a prequel to the very first game in the series. Dracula's Curse features legendary vampire and monster hunter Trevor Belmont as he teams up with a pirate thief named Grant Dynasty, the powerful witch Sypha Belnades, and the tortured dhampir Alucard to stop Dracula from ravaging the world.
The series borrows the narrative of the game in broad strokes but gives a more humanistic side to Vlad Dracula. This time around, he's given a valid reason to want to destroy the world, as the Catholic Church is responsible for burning his wife at the stake. In retaliation, Dracula amasses an army of vampire hopefuls and summoned Night-Creatures to wreak havoc on the land of Wallachia, and even when he's killed by the show's trio of heroes (Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard), the legacy of his carnage continues through new vehicles such as the vengeful vampire queen Carmilla and Dracula's loyal Forgemasters Hector and Isaac.
The final installment of the series, Castlevania season 4, ends with a massive bang before settling back into the more quiet moments of the story to give its heroes what they all deserve by the end: peace. But while the Netflix show has the opportunity to give them a happy ending at last, their legacy in the Castlevania franchise is one eternally haunted by perpetual night.
Since Dracula's Curse is the third game in the series and technically a prequel, the events therein all take place before Dracula's return to life in the very first game. Trevor Belmont is arguably the first Belmont to help defeat Dracula after he has become the Dark Lord everyone recognizes him as, and he doesn't do it alone. Trevor can choose between three different allies to help him throughout the course of the game, and the narrative ending varies depending on which ally you choose. Out of Alucard, Grant, and Sypha, the ending featuring Sypha is generally considered to be the game's true canon ending.
After defeating Dracula in Castlevania 3, Trevor and Sypha retire away from their duties and marry in secret. However, their post-marital peace only lasts for so long, as Trevor is forced back into action in the game Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, in order to investigate a foul sickness that falls over Wallachia. Trevor soon discovers that it's been engineered by a cult of Dracula heralded by his Devil Forgemaster Isaac, and must team up with Hector (the player character in Curse of Darkness) to stop him. After helping Hector defeat Isaac and prevent him from accessing the Infinite Corridor, Trevor once again returns to his wife and the two have a child, beginning a bloodline that leads to legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont, the main character of the original Castlevania video game.
Alucard's history throughout the games is a bit more involved, as he frequently appears throughout the timeline leading all the way up to the modern day. After helping defeat his father in Dracula's Curse, he goes into a guilt-induced slumber, only to be woken up in 1797 to discover that the mad priest Shaft is trying once more to resurrect his father. In order to stop him, he first fights Richter Belmont, the current warrior of the Belmont Clan who's under Shaft's control, and then teams up with Belmont and a distant relative of his named Maria Renard. The three of them inevitably beat Shaft and then help Alucard defeat his own father once again.
Adrian Tepes returns once again in 2035, pretending to be a man named Genya Arikado in order to help a young man named Soma Cruz learn to control his destiny for the greater good, as Soma has been chosen to be a vessel for Dracula's dark powers. Alucard helps him understand and use the powers he inherits from Dracula, becoming a close ally and friend to Soma. Even in the future of the Castlevania universe, the one constant that will never change is the looming threat posed by Count Dracula and the glimmer of hope wielded by those who seek to oppose him.