The creators of Castlevania: Nocturne shocked the entire fanbase last year when they introduced Alucard into the story. Alucard was one of the main characters of the prequel Castlevania story, as he helped Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades defeat his father, Dracula, and later on, fight death itself.
Many believed that, just like Trevor and Sypha, Alucard’s story was also concluded with Castlevania, but his entry in Castlevania: Nocturne has certainly opened ways for new narratives and storylines to be introduced into the story. However, there was one problem with his character design that needed to be changed.
The director of the series once revealed that he was frustrated with one aspect of Alucard’s design, and if they had not changed it, this particular aspect would have only gotten worse with time. The aspect that frustrated the director was Alucard’s hair, as they had to go with a different look for the character in the sequel series.
The Confusion of Alucard’s Hair in Castlevania: Nocturne
Gizmodo interviewed Castlevania: Nocturne’s writer Clive Bradley and co-director Sam Deats after the release of the series, and the main topic of discussion during the interview was the return of Alucard to the sequel. While talking about Alucard’s character design, director Deats revealed that they decided to go with the Symphony of the Night look for the character.
Deats stated:
So there’s almost a bit of a debate about Alucard’s design and whether he has intended to have pale blonde hair or white hair in Symphony of the Night based on the artwork of him and even his character’s sprite in the game.
At the time of designing him in the original series, though, I decided to lean towards the pale blonde hair in order to invoke his mother, which was appropriate to the story.
According to Deats, when Alucard was being designed for the original Castlevania series, they decided to go with the pale blonde hair for the character as an ode to his mother, but for Castlevania: Nocturne, there was a bit of a debate, as Alucard had white hair in the Symphony of the Night video game (the narrative of Castlevania: Nocturne).
Alucard’s Hair Proved to be a Major Problem
Talking about Alucard’s character design in Castlevania: Nocturne, director Deats revealed that his white hair while directing the series got more and more saturated with the lighting, and it proved to be a big problem for them that only got worse with time. However, the director had already decided to go with the white hair.
Deats revealed:
His hair got more saturated during lighting/compositing than I had ever intended, though, which was a constant frustration of mine. But even back then I tinkered with the idea that if we were to jump forward in time, to show how time has passed by leaning more towards the white haired direction (this also had the added benefit of not being something we would have to worry about getting over-saturated during lighting!).
Deats also explained that as the entire narrative was based around the video game Symphony of the Night, they had to make sure that Alucard represented that look.
However, he also had to look a little worn out as he had been fighting for 300 years. His appearance was a little earlier than fans would have expected, but it certainly helped the series.
You can watch Castlevania: Nocturne on Netflix.
