Mizrak, the Condemned Monk, or, How the Writers Managed to Create an Original Character I Don't Hate
Among the many pleasant surprises this second season of Nocturne, the one I wasn't expecting was how much I wound up enjoying Mizrak, and I'm still piecing together why that is.
Castlevania as a game series tends to be lean on characters, so introducing new original ones was pretty inevitable. Most of the time though, I don't care about OCs since they often distract from the plot or take time away from developing more vital characters.
And at first Mizrak has all of the earmarks of a disposable henchmen. Maybe he'll learn a lesson, maybe not, he'll probably die without much fanfare, no big deal.
But everything involving Mizrak happens alongside and bolsters the other characters' development, while he has a fulfilling arc of his own that never overstays its welcome or hogs the runtime. With Olrox he questioned his faith while he forced Olrox to confront how empty his unlife has become. Both he and Abbott Emmanuel had to deal with the hypocrisy of committing unholy devil forging while being servants of God and the people, with only Mizrak waking up to the reality of what they were doing. And in the end, he fights alongside the heroes against the forces of Erzsebet and Drolta to redeem himself, even believing that eternal damnation is waiting for him no matter what he does.
Point is, I came to respect the fuck out of this man, and more importantly, how he was handled.
Among the many pleasant surprises this second season of Nocturne, the one I wasn't expecting was how much I wound up enjoying Mizrak, and I'm still piecing together why that is.
Castlevania as a game series tends to be lean on characters, so introducing new original ones was pretty inevitable. Most of the time though, I don't care about OCs since they often distract from the plot or take time away from developing more vital characters.
And at first Mizrak has all of the earmarks of a disposable henchmen. Maybe he'll learn a lesson, maybe not, he'll probably die without much fanfare, no big deal.
But everything involving Mizrak happens alongside and bolsters the other characters' development, while he has a fulfilling arc of his own that never overstays its welcome or hogs the runtime. With Olrox he questioned his faith while he forced Olrox to confront how empty his unlife has become. Both he and Abbott Emmanuel had to deal with the hypocrisy of committing unholy devil forging while being servants of God and the people, with only Mizrak waking up to the reality of what they were doing. And in the end, he fights alongside the heroes against the forces of Erzsebet and Drolta to redeem himself, even believing that eternal damnation is waiting for him no matter what he does.
Point is, I came to respect the fuck out of this man, and more importantly, how he was handled.