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Elizabeth Bartley (the incorrect romanization of Erzsébet Bathory) is a Vampire Lady and Count Dracula's niece, who serves as the main antagonist and penultimate boss of the 1994 Sega Genesis game Castlevania: Bloodlines, which is known in Europe and Japan as Castlevania: The New Generation and Vampire Killer respectively.

She is based on the infamous Countess Erzsébet Bathory the "Bloody Countess": who was accused of gruesome child-murders and rumoured to bathe in her victims' blood to retain her youth, being as such linked to many vampire stories.

Personality[]

Next to nothing is known about Elizabeth Bartley. She seems to be collected, refined and erudite, yet cruel, ruthless, uncaring, revengeful and power-hungry. She earned one of the heroes' staunch hatred for vampirizing his betrothed he had to slay, but whether she did it to antagonize him or to sire servants is unexplained.

What is sure is that she is highly intelligent and scheming, single-handedly causing World War I. She perfectly used the setting without direct involvement, knowing how and when to strike, then skilfully used it to spread her influence throughout Europe.

The Japanese manual states that she shares her historical counterpart's killing spree, making her just as vicious and sadistic as she was, though she did so for rituals of Dark Magic. Whether she did bathe in her victims' blood is not known, but a distinct possibility. (Story wise, Actrise is a child murderer and Carmilla bathes in blood.)

Powers And Abilities[]

Elizabeth is enormously powerful. As Dracula's kin, her abilities are similar to his own. She has enormous control over monsters, demons or evil forces, as well as great knowledge of magic and arcane rituals.

She can fly, teleport, summon monsters and conjure elements, and is bound to master the classic vampire powers (exceptional strength, speed and stamina, hypnotic gaze and presence, shape-shifting, and control over feral beasts and the weather.)

Background[]

Elizabeth Bartley

Elizabeth Bartley's game depiction.

Elizabeth Bartley is a highly powerful Vampire Lady, referred to as Dracula's niece. Her line is linked to Dracula, just like her historical counterpart was distantly related to Vlad the Impaler. The Japanese manual states that her life was almost identical to History's records.

She was born in 1560 in a wealthy family and was married at fifteen years old to the older Hungarian Count Ferenc II Nádasdy, who was away leading troops. So, she learnt dark sorcery from her elderly maidservant Drolta Tzuentes (the incorrect romanization of Dorottya Semtész, said to have assisted Erzsébet in her killing-spree), and started murdering dozens of girls in gory dark rituals. Until she was discovered and executed in 1614, the year her historical counterpart died under house arrest (or walled-in according to some).

When and how she became a vampire is unknown, likely during her murders. While the franchise chronology had yet to be established when Chronicles was released, Dracula has been later established to have lived during the Eleventh Century, making Elizabeth Bartley more of a distant descendant than her niece. It must be noted that the English manual simply states that she was executed for vampirism in 1412, axing all historical references.

Role in the Game[]

Drolta Tzuentes

Drolta Tzuentes

Elizabeth Bartley is resurrected by the witch Drolta Tzuentes in 1914 in the ruins of the Castlevania. In the original Japanese version, Drolta resurfaced, having likely faked her death during her execution, and revived her on purpose. On the contrary, in the English translation she is an unrelated amateur witch who revives her by accident.

She roamed Europe and built Castle Proserpina in England for herself, ruling Dracula's hordes and draining blood. One of her victims Lucy (Gwendolyn in English) begged her lover Eric Lecarde, one of the heroes, to stake her before she became a vampire.

She took profit of the extremely tense political context to stage the murder of the heir of the Austrian Empire, as revenge for her execution and to ignite war. So she used the souls of World War I victims to revive Dracula, who in turn used it to spread evil over Europe, leaving the Castlevania in ruins and establishing bases in several countries.

In 1917, John Morris, distant relative of the Belmont Clan, and his best friend Eric Lecarde set out to slay Dracula. They destroy the monsters in each country before storming Castle Proserpina. There, they defeat Death in person, before destroying the vampires and setting Europe free from Evil, yet still war-torn.

Boss Battle[]

Elizabeth Bartley is fought in her coffin room. She first summons Medusa to battle the player, almost making it look like a transformation. Right after, Elizabeth takes the matter in hand and battles the heroes. (In Easy Mode, killing Medusa kills her as well.)

  • Medusa lacks her signature snakes or eye-beam, instead attacking first by breathing two interconnecting fire streams then a straightforward fire blast, then by swiping her tail, then by stabbing with her claws several times. She must be targeted between her attacks.
Affrontez la Comtesse Sanglante

Battle against Bartley.

Dracula's niece poses a considerable challenge. She conjures four to six rotating orbs around her and teleports leaving afterimages. The heroes must dodge her red energy balls, get close and strike repeatedly.

If they fail to land as many hits as there are orbs before they gather into one, they unleash a deadly attack, depending on their colour: a monster summon, a fire blast, a lightning bolt or a fast-moving sword.

Castlevania Nocturne[]

Main Article: Erzsebet Bathory (Netflix's Castlevania)

Trivia[]

  • Elizabeth Bartley was meant to return as a major villainess in Symphony of the Night, but it was axed.
  • Elizabeth's actions during the game led to the descent into villainy of Brauner, making her directly responsible for the events of Portrait of Ruin. Moreover, Brauner unknowingly avenged her by killing Eric Lecarde.
  • In the non-canon comics The Belmont Legacy, expanding the story of Castlevania the Adventure set in 1576, the noble Bartley family are evil worshippers who resurrect Dracula. Any relation to Elizabeth is unspecified.
  • Likewise, the Bodley Mansion where one of Dracula's remains is stored in the game Simon's Quest, set in 1698, is believed to be a mistranslation of Bartley Mansion.

External links[]

Navigation[]

             CastlevaniaLogo Villains

Original Series
Major Villains
Carmilla | Chaos | Death | Dracula | Shaft
Secondary Villains
Actrise | Albus | Barlowe | Beelzebub | Brauner | Celia Fortner | Dario Bossi | Dmitrii Blinov | Elizabeth Bartley | The Forgotten One | Galamoth | Gilles de Rais | Graham Jones | Isaac | Joachim Armster | Legion | Medusa | Menace | Olrox | Ortega | Stella and Loretta | Succubus | Time Reaper | Walter Bernhard

Lords of Shadow
Dracula | Satan | Zobek | Carmilla | Cornell | Satan's Acolytes (Raisa Volkova | Nergal Meslamstea | Guido Szandor) | The Forgotten One | Inner Dracula | Toy Maker

Netflix Series
Dracula's Army
Dracula
Dracula's Court: Carmilla | Godbrand | Chō | Dragoslav | Raman | Sharma | Zufall | Isaac | Hector | Death
Minions: Blue Fangs | Slogra and Gaibon | Priory of Lindenfeld (Prior Sala | The Visitor) | Dragan | Ratko | Night Creatures (Flyseyes)
Council of Sisters
Lenore | Morana & Striga
Others
The Church (The Bishop | Archbishop) | Scarred Man | The Judge | Sumi and Taka | The Magician | Saint Germain | Olrox | Erzsebet Báthory | Drolta Tzuentes | Abbot Emmanuel | Comte de Vaublanc | Marquis | Nikolai

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