Elizabeth Bartley

Elizabeth Bartley is a Vampire Lady and Count Dracula's niece, who serves as the central antagonist of the video game Castlevania Bloodlines. She is based on the infamous Countess Ersébeth Bathory the "Bloody Countess": a child-murderer who was rumoured to bathe in her victims' blood to retain her youth, and is as such linked to many vampire stories.

Elizabeth Bartley is an ancient and very powerful Vampire Lady referred to as Dracula's niece. Whether she was sired by him or became a vampire through other means is unknown though. What is sure is that she is one of his high-ranking followers. She might have been serving him for many centuries, and might have worked alongside Carmilla given that they where both involved in witchcraft at some point in the serie's history.

In the non canon comics Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy, which expand the story of the game Castlevania the Adventure set in 1576, the Bartleys are a noble clan of worshippers of Darkness, who take part in Dracula's resurrection. Whether or not they are related to Elizabeth is not known. In the same fashion, the Bodley Mansion where Dracula's servants are keeping one of his remains in the game Simon's Quest, set in 1698, is believed by some to be a mistranslation of Bartley Mansion.

As for Elizabeth Bartley herself, she served Dracula until she was captured and executed for vampirism in the early 1600. She is resurrected by the witch Drolta Tzuentes around 1914. In the Japanese version of Castlevania Bloodlines, Drolta brought her back on purpose to serve her, while in the Occidental version Drolta was an amateur witch who brought her back by accident. (Drolta is based on Dorottya Szentes, a servant of the historical Ersébeth Bathory who helped her mistress in her killing spree.)

Elizabeth roamed Europe and gathered many monsters to serve her, turning several humans into vampires in the process. Including the girlfriend of Eric Lecarde, one of the games' primary protagonists, triggering the young vampire hunter's thirst for revenge. Elizabeth took profit of the extremely tense political context and staged the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria, leading to World War I. She later used the souls of the victims of the war to resurrect Dracula, who in turn used it to spread his influence all over Europe, leaving the Castlevania in ruins to establish several bases in different countries, while he based himself in Proserpina Castle in England.

In 1917, John Morris, related to the Belmont Clan, and his best friend Eric Lecarde set out to destroy Dracula and Elizabeth Barley, visiting each country plagued by Evil and freeing it of the presence of demons by killing the Boss Monster who rule each location. They eventually storm Proserpina Castle and confront many of Dracula's servants, including Death in person, before destroying the vampires and setting Europe free from Evil, yet still war-torn.

Elizabeth Bartley first summons Medusa to battle the player, then takes the matter into her own hands.
 * Medusa attacks following a defined pattern but without her signature snakes or eye-beam: first by spitting fire into two interconnecting wave then as a straightforward blast, then by swiping her tail, then by dashing forward several times. She must be targetted between her attacks.

Dracula's niece is a force to be reckoned with. She conjures four to six orbs rotating in the air and starts teleporting around while leaving afterimages and firing red energy balls. The heroes must get close and strike her repeatedly. If they do not manage to strike her as many times as there are orbs rotating before the orbs gather into one, they will unleash a powerful attack, which depends on the obs' elemental property: Either a fire blast, a lightning bolt or a giant sword.