So, my first real Castlevania thought that makes itself into a post is about Trevor.
I already thought the conversation between Trevor and Sypha’s grandfather / the elderly Speaker was interesting in how they mutually had a point. Trevor’s comment about how evil flourishes because normal people stand by is met by the fact that those bystanders aren’t just doing this because of comfort- they’re afraid and they’re being manipulated. That doesn’t absolve them of all culpability- during Lisa’s execution we see common people reacting with joy, relief, happiness, and in Gresit, the bishop’s aides were very easily able to use the common people as their execution weapon against the Speakers.
However, that line gets some very interesting new context during the scene when Trevor whips those same people into a demon-slaying militia in minutes.
Because frankly, all along, under the apathy Trevor feigns, there’s this fact that he’s incredibly interpersonally attuned. He pays attention to people. Even when he limps into Gresit looking for food, the first thing he does in the marketplace is get a high vantage point and look over everything, and then we get an extended montage of him not even talking to people as much as just listening– commenting where it’s appropriate, offering little of his own opinions. A friend of mine described it as feeling like a game where you wander around town and listen to the NPCs- and if you think about the role NPC chatter like that tends to serve, it says something very interesting about what Trevor’s doing. He rapidly gathers a huge amount of information that, for the rest of the season, he keeps acting on.
But the powerful thing this lends to Trevor’s remark about being a bystander is that what makes him effective as a leader is that he’s got a knack for seeing the power people have, whether or not they’re utilizing it. He skimmed a disorganized mob, noted a bunch of pitchforks and spears, and went “well, now, that could be a respectable line of pikes if you put them in order.”
He takes a group of panicked people- people who have been raided nightly for a while, who are not at their best and brightest, and gives them precise, efficient instructions that are very easy to follow. When he calls for pikes, he clarifies it quickly, before anyone responds in confusion.
And that’s even the main asset he plies against his enemies, such as the cyclops or the aide in question- he keeps tabs on what they’re capable of, what they do, and what they avoid. What does their equipment, their tactics, say about them, how does this seem to their surroundings.
And I guess the interesting thing is- Trevor’s charisma, his decisive actions as a leader- are actively built on what would at a glance appear to be a back-seat position. He spends a lot of time observing, tallying- often pointing out with casual remarks- and just listening, but, when it’s crunch time he already has a huge number of pieces to build off of. Putting it in terms of my archetypes post, Trevor is a really interesting case of a Paragon character who uses a lot of the tools of a Heart. At the end of the day, it’s his ideals he lives by (whether or not he particularly wants to) but he is able to compel people to those ideas by using impressive charisma and interpersonal connections.
Which is really interesting, because, he’s probably the last person who would describe himself as charismatic or leader material.
[ disclaimer I have not watched s2 yet and I do like to check the notes / reblogs so please don’t give me spoilers ]
Guess who just watched Netflix’s Castlevania and just want to indulge herself with casual vampire parenthood. Baby Alucard wants to be like his father but he can’t unleash his true power just yet.
Plot Designing 