User blog:Officer Candy Apple/Pure Evil Proposal - Actrise

Here is my new PE proposal and the first one in 2020, and I want to proposal this villain for a long time. Though she was originally removed from CM/PE category because she was kicked out of TV Tropes' CM list, I still find this character having potentials to be approved, at least on this wiki.

Now, here is Actrise, a major antagonist of Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

What's the Work?
Castlevania 64, also known in Japan in Castlevania: Apocalypse, is a part of the well-known Castlevania series released in 1999, upon Nintendo 64 platform. It was originally titled Castlevania in North America, but fans nicknamed it as Castlevania 64 after Nintendo 64 to differentiate it from other installments of the franchise.

The story happens in Transylvania, 1852, focusing on the adventure of two vampire hunters, Reinhardt Schneider (a vampire killer who is also an heir to Belmont clan) and Carrie Fernandez (a young girl with magical powers), as well as their conflict against (once again) Dracula and his minions when they discovered that Dracula had returned.

It later earned a expansive remake known as Legacy of Darkness in November of the same year, which added a prequel storyline detailing the quest of Cornell, a wolf man, something which happened 8 years before Castlevania 64 (1844), and added Henry Oldrey (among other characters) into the cast.

Who is She? What Have She Done?
In Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness, Dracula has four major minions in all working to resurrect him. Besides his recurring right-hand Death, there is also Gilles de Rais, Ortega and Actrise. Gilles de Rais is rather generic as Dracula's minion and Actrise's accomlice, while Ortega is driven by jealousy (and later showed remorse over what he had done), but Actrise - the arch-enemy of Carrie Fernandez - certainly isn't bother by these.

Originally before becoming a vampiric witch, Actrise was a narcisstic human stage actress (P.S. She is really aptly named, because "actrise" is French for "actress") who tries to stay young and beautiful forever by learning the Dark Magic. To that end, she sacrificed 100 children, including her own child, to become a vampire and stay youthful forever. She eventually succeeded and pleadged her allegience towards Dracula, and continued to sacrifice children with Gilles de Rais' assistance, sealing their souls into crystals for Dracula to use.

In Legacy of the Darkness, Actrise already took part in abducting Ada, Cornell's sister, in order to sacrifice her to revive Dracula. She and Gilles de Rais also vampirized Master Oldrey and made him to attack his wife and son, Henry, who was later rescued by Cornell. By the end of the prequel part, Cornell was forced to sacrifice his werewolf power to save Ada. In the end, Actrise sacrificed Cornell's werewolf form to Dracula and ensure his revival eight years later.

In Castlevania 64, Actrise truly crossed the line in her quest to resurrect Dracula. She took part in abducting many children, looking for Dracula reincarnated. Among all the vampire hunter clans, Actrise targeted the magical Fernandez clan and one of its female member, Camilla Fernandez (no, not that Carmilla), an unfortunate cousin of the aforementioned Carrie Fernandez. When Carrie tried to stop Dracula from returning, Actrise vampirized Camilla to fight Carrie, and she took great amusement to see her foes fighting their own family unwillingly.

By the time Carrie confronted her and fought her, Actrise revealed her atrocious past to Carrie in an attempt to corrupt her and make her join Dracula's side, but Carrie merely refused, calling Actrise "pathetic" and said she would never become a true mother. Furious, Actrise then stared into Carrie's face, which reminded that of her own child (whom she already sacrificed) in their last moments. Actrise then make one last attempt to kill Carrie because how much she reminded her of the said child, but she eventually perished.

Ironically, before her death, Actrise's face became hideous, skeletical and grim, revealing her true age and appearance before she was sealed in crystals (just like her victims before, so it's truly karmic) before shattering away. She died in disbelief that she would ever lose, unknowing that she was merely a pawn in Dracula and Death's plans.

Heinous Standards
Actrise is really one of the most repulsive villains in the while Castlevania franchise, particularly prior to Satan's presence from Lords of Shadows. From the beginning of the beginning, the reason that Actrise sold her soul to Dracula was purely motivated by her own selfish and narcissistic attempt to stay young and beautiful forever. To achieve such, she sacrificed 100 children (including her own daughter, making her a stark contrast to the more sympathetic Brauner) in exchange for her immortality. She has no remorse over her crime that aimed her own gain, unlike many others who rather saw it as a job given by their master. She also laughed when she turned Camilla Fernandez to a vampire and make Carrie to fight her own kin she originally tried to rescue. What was worse, Camilla boasted how she sacrificed her own child among other 99 children only for pure immortality, and attempted to kill Carrie - not just because she rejected her offer, not just because she scorned her, but also Carrie reminded Actrise of the latter's child. As a result, Actrise attempted to kill Carrie and present her heart to Dracula.

Fruedian Excuse/Mitigating Factor
Many Castlevania villains, including Dracula himself, has Mitigating Factors, people to care about, sympathetic backstory or all of them, but Actrise have none. She already proclaimed she loved nobody but herself, so her so-called loyalty towards Dracula is probably out of pure self-serving reason, merely because he is the reason she can stay eternally youthful.

Final Verdict
I'm leaning towards yes.