Konami’s Castlevania debuted in 1986 and over the decades players haven’t tired of whipping the holy hell out of Count Dracula. Almost every console under the sun has seen a Castlevania game, and though Konami doesn’t seem interested in a new entry anytime soon, we’re still getting the occasional retro collection.

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While the game series in hold, over on TV, Castlevania is going from strength to strength. Netflix bowled us over with its amazing anime and is about to follow it up with Castlevania: Nocturne, which will adapt all-time classic games Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.

So, with 37 years of games to choose from, who are the most powerful characters in the Castlevania franchise? The canonicity of various titles gets confusing, so here’s our top 12 as presented in each game:

12. Death

You might expect the Grim Reaper to be a little higher up this list, but while he is incredibly powerful, he usually turns out to be all talk when it comes to combat. Death made his debut in the first Castlevania and has appeared in most games since, usually as the penultimate boss before Dracula himself. Sure, his habit of filling the screen with twirling scythes means he’s a tough boss, but he’s far from invincible.

Across the series, he’s demonstrated a strong loyalty to Dracula and is often instrumental to his resurrection once he’s been put back in the ground, but doesn’t seem to have any ambitions beyond what his dark Master desires.

11. Trevor Belmont

You’re going to find a lot of Belmonts on this list, but while we don’t think Trevor is the most powerful member of the long-lived vampire-whippin’ clan, he’s certainly one of the coolest. He made his debut as one of the earliest Belmonts in 1990’s Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, though is probably best known to most for his starring role in Netflix’s Castlevania anime.

There we meet him as a grumpy drunken layabout who’s abandoned his family’s quest, but after meeting Sypha Belnades, the two form a close partnership that’d prove key to defeating Dracula. We have a serious soft spot for him purely because of the anime, and we’re hoping Nocturne‘s Richter will get similarly fleshed out.

10. Maria Renard

It’s one thing to infiltrate Dracula’s castle in armor wielding a vampire-killing whip, but quite another to do it at 12 years old in a pink poofy Princess dress. Maria Renard made her debut in Rondo of Blood as an unlockable character, hurtling her way through the game tossing cats and summoning mythological deities. After thrashing this incarnation of Dracula he launches into his typical woe-is-me monologue, but Maria scolds him: “It’s your own fault for being so mean to everyone!” Fair point.

Maria would return as a bonus character in the Saturn port of Symphony of the Night. Now a teenager, she’s picked up some martial arts skills along the way, though still takes every opportunity to show off her magical power. She’s set to make her anime debut in Castlevania: Nocturne and while her pink dress seems to have been abandoned, we’re eager to see her in action.

9. Simon Belmont

The star of the original Castlevania and one of the icons of the series. Simon is the epitome of what you want in a vampire killer: determined, fearless, and highly skilled. In a nod to how talented he is with a whip, Super Castlevania IV allows him to strike in eight different directions, a technique surprisingly few of his descendants ever bothered to learn.

In the series canon he’s considered a true legend. His adventures redeemed the reputation of the Belmont clan so much that people began to look to him for long-term leadership against hell’s armies, resulting in the formation of a village in which future vampire hunters would train. It’s not for nothing that Super Smash Bros describes him as “the most renowned of vampire hunters.”

8. Sypha Belnades

Introduced as a mysterious hooded sorcerer in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, most fans these days will be more familiar with her animated incarnation on Netflix. In that show, she’s a formidable monster-killing machine that can tap into elemental magic – though this is merely a reflection of what she was doing back in 1990 on the trusty Nintendo Entertainment System.

Sypha was one of four playable characters alongside Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Grant DaNasty, with her spells so cranked up she’s effectively the game’s “easy mode.” Slicing through a tricky 8-bit game as a flame-throwing, ice-spike hurling, ball-lightning generating powerhouse is a wild ride. Her strength is perhaps proven by how effortlessly she can demolish the final boss in comparison to Alucard, Trevor, and Grant. We stan.

7. Carmilla

Also familiar to Netflix viewers will be the dark seductress Carmilla. Generally depicted as a key servant of Dracula and instrumental to his various resurrections, she’s popped up across the games as a tough miniboss. In her first appearances, she was simply a giant, spooky flying mask, but in more recent games she’s graduated to being a naked demon woman riding a giant floating skull. Pretty metal.

Carmilla is notable by the standards of Castlevania villains for her sadism and cruelty, with Castlevania Judgment noting that her greatest joy is “shredding humans and letting their blood splatter on her.” Carmilla is also a major antagonist in the Netflix show, displaying a tactical genius and an ability to manipulate human and vampire alike. Given the right opportunity, she may one day overshadow Dracula himself.

6. Richter Belmont

Richter is regarded as among the strongest Belmonts to have ever lived, whipping his way through Rondo of Blood and playing a major role in the events of Symphony of the Night. He’s the first hero in the series to utilize the “Item Crash” ability that cranks up the power of the sub-weapons, comes with a suite of acrobatic moves that push him beyond what his ancestors and most of his descendants can do, and can sass Dracula like nobody’s business: “Your words are as empty as your soul!”

His potential is proven in Symphony by Shaft choosing to possess and manipulate Richter rather than simply kill him. He believed Richter was “the supreme vampire hunter”, which made him the perfect deterrent to any would-be heroes seeking to invade Dracula’s castle. We’re very excited to see him strut his stuff in Castlevania: Nocturne.

5. Alucard

The son of Dracula might be the most popular character in the franchise and the star of its best entry, Symphony of the Night. That game showcases his intimidating skill set, including a mastery of swordsmanship, superhuman senses, shapeshifting abilities, and incredible speed and agility. As a dhampir, he possesses most of the benefits of a vampire while being also able to walk in sunlight without harm and resist a thirst for blood.

But Alucard’s human side is what holds him back. The memory of his mother Lisa not only keeps him on a heroic path but psychologically prevents him from realizing his true power and truly becoming his father’s son. An Alucard who abandoned morality and set out to gain as much dark strength as possible would likely far exceed what Dracula himself is capable of, so we’re lucky he’s on our side.

4. Soma Cruz

The star of Aria of Sorrow occupies a unique place in the Castlevania mythos. His story takes place in 2035, with Cruz a transfer student on a trip to Japan who’s unexpectedly transported to Dracula’s castle. Soma soon realizes that he has supernatural abilities and skills, including the Power of Dominance that lets him steal creatures’ souls and make them his slaves. It’s soon revealed that Soma is a reincarnation of Dracula himself, with his essentially good-hearted nature struggling against his dark destiny as the castle’s master.

Along the way, he proves his potential in battle against Alucard and Julius Belmont and players get a taste of what Soma could really do in Portrait of Ruin where Dark Soma is the boss of the alt-history Julius campaign. Perhaps the only thing stopping him from topping this list is that he’s always holding back to stop himself from becoming corrupted by the Dracula in him.

3. Julius Belmont

This is the Belmont who finally did what none of his ancestors ever could. In 1999, Julius Belmont actually killed Dracula for real, finishing him off in a such a way that he can’t resurrect or return (though he can be reincarnated). Finally fulfilling the true aim of the Belmont family puts him in pole position as the most skilled successful vampire hunter in the long family history.

We first meet him in Aria of Sorrow, where we learn that the stress of the 1999 battle against Dracula caused him to lose his memories. As he gradually regains them he once again grows in stature, with even Soma Cruz only able to fight him to a stalemate. Their battle underlines just how fierce a combatant he is, wielding the iconic Vampire Killer whip better than few others ever have. Perhaps the only downside is that he never got a game showing his moment of triumph, as we’d have loved to play out the famed “Demon Castle War.”

2. Dracula

I mean, Drac had to be up there, right? If Dracula isn’t actively the antagonist in a Castlevania game, he’s at least a huge part of every plot. In early games, he was simply a two-dimensional nod to Universal Studios’ Dracula, but from Rondo of Blood onward, he’s gradually become a more complex villain – and particularly so in the anime.

Over the course of the franchise, he’s taken many monstrous forms in the final moments of each game, underlining that he’s more of a demonic king than a traditional vampire. And, even though Aria of Sorrow seems to suggest that after a millennium of resurrections he’s permanently dust, somehow we suspect that Drac will be back. After all, he’s already reincarnated in Soma, and few other characters play the long game quite like Vlad Tepes.

1. Sara Trantoul

Right now you may be thinking “who the heck is Sara Trantoul?” Well, she has the highest kill count in the entire franchise, has been directly responsible for putting Dracula back in the ground on multiple occasions, and is the single strongest weapon humanity has against the forces of darkness.

Introduced as the fiancée of hero Leon Belmont in Lament of Innocence, she was promptly kidnapped by the vampire Walter Bernhard. Leon set out to rescue her, though by the time he arrived she’d been bitten and was fast becoming a vampire. Recognizing that she was about to lose her humanity, she made a pact that she’d bind her soul to his whip. The Vampire Killer was born: the occult superweapon instrumental in stopping Dracula in practically every game.

Sara Trantoul may not be the flashiest hero in Castlevania, but without the power of her soul, Dracula would have taken over the world years ago. And whenever you crack a Belmont whip, she’s right there alongside you.