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| “ | You Belmonts have never understood power of the Word of God! The people of this city are mine and our Lord's now, and they'll do as I ask in His name. | „ |
| ~ The Bishop to Trevor Belmont. |
| “ | Targoviste is gone. The other great cities are lost or losing. Gresit will be the last major city in Wallachia. For all intents and purposes, I will be the church. | „ |
| ~ The Bishop to Trevor Belmont. |
The Bishop is a major antagonist in the 2017 Netflix's animated dark fantasy series Castlevania, serving as the main antagonist of the first season and the overarching antagonist of the second season.
He is the fanatical and delusional bishop of Targoviste who seeks to gain power over Wallachia through the church. He is also notable for being the one responsible for having Lisa Ţepeş executed, thus setting off Dracula's war on humanity and the events of the series.
He was voiced by Mitsuru Ogata in the Japanese version and Matt Frewer in the English version, with the latter also portraying Panic in Disney's Hercules (both in the movie and the animated series), Chaos in Disney's Aladdin, The Leader in The Incredible Hulk animated series, Pestilence in Supernatural and Jackal in Gargoyles.
Personality[]
| “ | The Bishop: I have done (God's) bidding. My life's work is in his name! Blue Fangs: Your life's work makes him puke! |
„ |
| ~ Blue Fangs dismisses the Bishops delusional justifications for his atrocities. |
The Bishop was an extremely vile, cruel, and deluded man, utterly fanatical and extreme in his desire to maintain a twisted sense of what he believes to be the "natural order" of the world. Anything that deviated from this ever so slightly was something he considered a threat to his beliefs, which he would counter with extreme excommunication and execution as he saw fit. Like most fanatical figures, the Bishop had unshakable self-righteousness and extreme delusions of grandeur, at all times, he believed himself to be in the right, no matter the circumstances and evidence to the contrary, seeking to impose his views and destroy any opposition to those beliefs no matter the cost, shifting the blame for people's suffering to everyone but himself.
The Bishop preaching to Trevor that he does not understand the power of God.
The Bishop was extremely self-important, self-aggrandizing, hypocritical, delusional, arrogant, sanctimonious, cruel, sadistic, and vile; he was willing to militarize his church and induct thieves, murderers and thugs into his ranks as priests. He had no consideration that Lisa Tepes was a doctor and was outright unwilling to listen to what she had to say as it went against his twisted sense of order. He had no doubts about his beliefs, and could not differentiate between truth and lies, and wanted to rid the world of all other viewpoints that countered his own. He could also become verbally violent at such contradictions to his ideology. The Bishop likewise held little regard for the idea of serving God in heaven, preferring to have more time to root out all the "evil" he believed existed in Wallachia. Under this belief system, he essentially hijacked Christianity for his own twisted crusade, turning into something far more evil than any demon. He also regularly manipulated the people of Gresit into killing or ostracizing anyone who didn't follow his beliefs, and regularly encouraged violent mobs against them. He also is a coward, as he hid in the church of Gresit without helping any of his followers.
When confronted by Dracula, the Bishop declared him to be an apparition of Satan; however, this was merely a ruse, it is implied the Bishop knew of Dracula, and was so interested in using Dracula's attacks on Wallachia to gain influence and power that he simultaneously denied his existence and declared that the arrival of Dracula's army of demons as a punishment against those who didn't adhere to the Bishop's beliefs. To be succinct, after the Bishop unleashed Dracula's wrath by murdering his wife, he blamed everyone else but himself, believing he was above blame and that God would protect him. However, God was so disgusted with the Bishop's acts that He refused to protect the man from the demons that attacked Gresit, allowing the demon Blue Fangs to kill him. When confronted by Blue Fangs, the Bishop lost his ideology when the demon placed the blame for Dracula's war on humanity squarely on the Bishop's shoulders. Ripped apart emotionally by the realization that God hated him and the demons loved him for making their attacks possible, the Bishop was helpless as Blue Fangs ripped his face to pieces.
When resurrected as a zombie, the Bishop is completely enslaved to the will of his new masters while still retaining his knowledge as a priest. His final death in the waters of the Danube River during Carmilla's attack on Dracula at Braila is a likewise fitting end: a hideously corrupted soul whose outer body finally reflects his inner rot, consumed and destroyed by his use of the very sanctity that he claimed to wield in the name of God.
History[]
Season 1[]
The Bishop watching Lisa being burnt at the stake.
The Bishop was a senior cleric of the diocese of Targoviste, subordinate to the Archbishop of that city. Considering the Archbishop to be less zealous in the service of the Church than himself, the Bishop took several duties upon himself, including the finding and denunciation of suspected witches. It was the Bishop who personally condemned Lisa Ţepeş after seeing the medical equipment in her cottage. His denunciation was quickly seconded by Targoviste's mayor, and Lisa was burned alive at the stake. The Bishop was present when Dracula appeared over his wife's pyre, warning the assembled crowd that he would return in a year with an army to slaughter them all. The Bishop denounced this appearance as a falsehood, crafted by the Devil to trick them - but made sure to relocate from Targoviste before the year was out, citing a falling out with his superior, the less pious Archbishop, over his questionable proclivities. He was thus not present when Dracula returned, planting his castle in the center of Targoviste and massacring its inhabitants.
Arriving in Gresit in the wake of these events, the Bishop's ultimate goal, after hell had been unleashed, shifted to becoming the most powerful cleric in Wallachia. With all of the other major cities having been destroyed by Dracula's army, he in essence would become the holy oligarch of his own bent faith. He also recruited a corps of priests who policed Gresit for "impious" folk, ruling the city with an iron fist.
The Bishop moments before being eaten by the Blue Fangs.
When Dracula's hordes began to invade Gresit, the Bishop put the blame on the small tribe of Speakers who had come to the city to offer aid. While an angry mob went to kill the Speakers under the guidance of his priests, the Bishop remained secure within the walls of his own church. He was shocked when some of the demons entered the church unhindered, and he was confronted by their leader, Blue Fangs, who mocked the malignant cleric for his evil hypocrisy, knowing full well that his atrocities had been committed due to his blindness to goodness in those whom he saw as impious and his reflexive desire to destroy that which he did not understand, twisting the true faith and cutting him off from God. Exhausting verbal defense of his actions, the Bishop was helpless to prevent Blue Fangs from brutally "kissing" him to death.
Season 2[]
The Bishop being resurrected as a zombie by Hector and have him cleanse the water of Braila
The Bishop's corpse, along with several other victims of the attack on Gresit, is gathered up by Dracula's soldiers and turned over to Hector. At Carmilla's direction, Hector reanimates the Bishop as a zombie, and then commands him to kneel in the river in Braila, sanctifying the water and making it lethal when Carmilla's forces launch a surprise attack and collapse the bridge Dracula's army is crossing, causing his soldiers to fall into the water and die almost instantly. Since he is now a zombie, the Bishop is also destroyed by the blessed water, consumed by blue flames while still muttering meaningless prayers.
Trivia[]
- The Bishop's physical appearance seems to be based on that of his voice actor Matt Frewer.
- He can be compared to Judge Claude Frollo, as both of them are fanatical, hypocritical, and utter self-righteous individuals who think they are doing God's work while committing almost all the Deadly Sins in the Bible. Their death also ironic as both of them are killed by holy means for Frollo is fire and for the Bishop is water.
- It is implied by Blue Fangs that the Bishop knew all along that Lisa was not a witch and had her killed out of pettiness. This can be backed up when he accused the Bishop of lying about Lisa being a witch when confronting him in his church.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Bishop on the Castlevania Wiki.
