The
antihero is easily one of the more popular hero architypes out there as they’re
much more believable than that of the Paragon or Chosen One. The reason for
this being that the antihero has something to gain from saving the day rather
than doing it because it’s the right thing, or worse yet, doing it because they’re
not given any agency in the situation at all. Regardless of their reasons for
doing this however, there is still one key part about them that makes the antihero
who they are. In spite of everything, they’re still the hero. This is Trevor
Belmont of the Castlevania Netflix series.
We don’t actually get introduced to
Trevor till the very end of the first episode and even then, it’s hardly in a
flattering light. The scenes that preceded this was one of horrific violence
that I won’t go into for the sake of spoilers. But is fairly obvious that our
hero has his work cut out for him. And yet the only thing he seems worried
about is where his next tankard of ale is going to come from. Trevor has even
been given information as to what’s coming after a villager rushes in like a
raving lunatic and starts shouting about monsters ravaging a nearby city.
In spite of this, one of the bar’s
patrons uses this as an opportunity to get up on his soap box and start ranting
about how the noble families are responsible. He goes on to say that the worst
of them all is House Belmont. At this point, Trevor realizes that he’s hardly
welcome here, or anywhere as we find out that House Belmont had been excommunicated
by the church for dealing with monsters. Trevor corrects the man by saying they
were monster slayers and always have been. Unwilling to listen, the patrons
gang up on Trevor and throw him out of the tavern after roughing him up a bit.
This whole scene sets up a precedence
for Trevor’s motivations. Even as he makes it to the next city which is
currently being ravaged by monsters, he’s only looking to pass through after
finding some food and ale going so far as to ignore the fact that there are
people who need his help. But since the mass populace still vilify the Belmont
name due to the influence the church has, Trevor knows its just a good way to
get himself in more trouble that he honestly doesn’t need. This is something
Trevor tries to tell himself as well and something we see nearly every time he
is about to get involved in something he knows he shouldn’t.
A good case and point is when he
saves an old man from a couple of thuggish Priests. The Priests claiming the
old man’s congregation, known as The Speakers, were responsible for the monster
attacks. This obviously isn’t true and Trevor realizes that The Speakers are
just being used as a scapegoat by the church. This tactic seems to have worked
well on the populous as they descend on mass onto where The Speakers are hiding
only to find Trevor standing there instead. The Speakers having been moved elsewhere.
Its at this point he fends off the mob as well as he can just till their sites
are set on survival against the hoard of monsters that are descending onto the
city.
Many of us would think that he’d be
justified leaving these people to die with these monsters after their own monstrous
acts. Instead, he rallies them together to fight against them, leads them in a
fight against the hoards and turns the massacre into a war. These very same
people, just moments ago, were ready to have Trevor’s head on a pike and now
they owe him their lives and much more. Trevor himself went against his own selfish
creed in favor of these people because no matter how hard he tries, no matter
how much he wants to pretend he isn’t, he’s still willing to do the right thing
because he’s a hero. Because its what his family stood for. Because its what he
still stands for. And most of all, he knows he gains nothing from it beyond the
knowledge that he’s done his family name justice. Trevor Belmont may be an antihero,
but he is also a perfect case of a reluctant paragon.
Do you have a character you’d like
me to talk a look at? Have some insight into what I’ve just written? Just want
to say Hi? Message me directly or via my ask box. Thanks for reading!
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