Walter Bernhard

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	This character or verse has mature themes and concepts, thus those of young age are ill-advised to look through these.

“	The power of the night is still full. I shall teach you the meaning of true terror.	„
	~ Walter to Leon Belmont

Background

Walter Bernhard was a powerful vampire lord and the first main antagonist in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. However, unbeknownst to him, his actions were part of a greater plan.

Chronologically, Walter was the second vampire faced by the Belmont Clan (after Joachim Armster), and his unwitting actions led to the longstanding conflict between the Belmonts and Dracula.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Walter’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Walter resided in a forest called Eternal Night, shrouded in perpetual darkness thanks to the Ebony Stone, a jewel created through alchemy. This stone, one of two vampire treasures he obtained through unknown means, granted Walter virtual invincibility by infusing him with the energy that maintained the forest’s darkness. Still, Walter sought the other vampire treasure, the Crimson Stone, but was unsuccessful. The power and protection of the Ebony Stone often led Walter to boredom. To entertain himself, he would play deadly games with brave warriors, kidnapping those close to them to force confrontations. He would even turn his captives into vampires to watch the ensuing tragedy, as he did with Justine Gandolfi, daughter of Rinaldo Gandolfi. Rinaldo attempted to save her but failed. Walter spared him, allowing him to live outside the castle, knowing Rinaldo’s thirst for revenge would lead him to assist any future challengers with his expertise, making the “game” more interesting for Walter. Walter repeated this with other warriors, all falling to his minions. He also turned his servant, Joachim Armster, into a vampire. When Joachim eventually rebelled, Walter easily defeated and imprisoned him, casting him as one of the five guardians new warriors had to face before challenging Walter himself. Walter eventually met Mathias Cronqvist, who suggested abducting Baron Leon Belmont’s fiancée, Sara Trantoul, for a unique challenge, given Leon’s renowned skills. Eager for such a confrontation, Walter kidnaps Sara. Leon, informed by Mathias, renounced his title to pursue Walter. Walter also encountered the deity Death, though it’s unclear if they met alone or with Mathias. After Leon defeated the guardians, Walter welcomed him, confirming that Mathias’s information about Leon’s prowess was accurate. Leon’s attack was ineffective due to the Ebony Stone. After toying with Leon, Walter returned Sara to him, but with a curse of vampirism beginning to take effect. Walter then eagerly awaited Leon’s final confrontation with him in the castle’s highest room. However, Sara’s willing sacrifice of her tainted soul enabled Leon to create the Vampire Killer, a weapon powerful enough to shatter the Ebony Stone. Armed with this weapon, Leon reached the throne room and fought Walter, who was confident of victory. But Leon’s weapon canceled Walter’s protection, leaving him vulnerable. Walter, shocked and fearful, vowed to revive and someday obtain the Crimson Stone. On the brink of death, Walter’s revenge plans were ended when Death appeared and took his soul, offering it to Mathias, the true holder of the Crimson Stone. Mathias revealed his scheme, explaining that he orchestrated Walter’s kidnapping of Sara, knowing Rinaldo’s skills and Walter’s habit of turning victims would lead to Walter’s defeat. This would allow Mathias to acquire Walter’s soul via the Crimson Stone, granting Mathias the vampiric power he sought to eternally curse God for his beloved Elisabetha’s death. Mathias offered Leon the same gift, but Leon rejected him, calling him a fool. Mathias departed, ordering Death to eliminate Leon, a task that ultimately failed. Using Walter’s soul, Mathias transformed into the vampire lord Dracula. Though Walter himself did not appear again, he lived on indirectly as Dracula, who relied on Walter’s soul and the Crimson Stone as the sources of his dark power.

Personality

• Love of Games: Walter is bored due to his immortal life and wants to play interesting games. Due to this he lacks any real empathy and treats everything like a game, even life itself, taking precious things from people and having them fight him for it.

General Information

Name: Walter Bernhard

Nicknames/Other Names:

Origin: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

First Appearance: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

Company: Konami

Creator: Koji Igarashi

Actor

• Japanese Voice Actor: Yukimasa Kishino
• English Voice Actor: Jamieson Price

Sex: Male

Sexuality: Unknown

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: Unknown (Noted that he is a vampire of unknown age)

Homeworld: Earth

Residence: Castlevania

Story Role: Villain, False Final Villain

Classification: Vampire, Dark Lord

Species: Vampires

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Vampire Physiology

In-Universe Creator:

Occupation: None

Affiliations: Succubus, Medusa

Enemies: Leon Belmont, Rinaldo Gandolfi, Joachim Armster (Joachim has an intense desire for revenge against Walter due to Walter imrpisoning him underground after he tried to rebel), Death, Mathias Cronqvist (Manipulated Walter in order to get his soul and become a vampire)

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Other (His soul has been absorbed into Mathias' crimson stone)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Walter is a dangerous hedonist who likes thrilling games because he has eternal life. Turned Rinaldo's daughter into a vampire, resulting in her killing Rinaldo's wife and son. Noted that Walter plays these life and death games due to distract himself from the boredom of eternal life, raising the stakes of the game by stealing that which is most precious from his target. The full transformation into a vampire has them gradually lose their humanity)

Threat Level: Street Threat (Walter stays within his castle and waits for a strong person to come face him and his castle)

Codex Statistics

Grade: A

Tier: 7-C, Far Higher with Empowerment. Has a 2-C Power Source from Chaos

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Town level (Potency) (Walter possesses enormous demonic power. Walter also serves as the absolute evil, the opposite to God, where for God to be perfectly good, there must be a being of perfect darkness, being the entity opposite to God, with such power making him far superior to Golem from Castlevania Judgment, as he died to a random unknown hunter after his return from the time rift. Golem with his ultimate can shoot out a mouth blast that vaporizes everything it touches as far as the eye can see getting these results), Far Higher with Empowerment (When using Demonic Megiddo, he transforms into his true state, gaining far more power to deal a powerful attack). Has a Universe level Power Source from Chaos (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where the source of Dracula's power comes. from the chaos that exists in the center of Dracula's castle, a product of wicked human intentions and hearts that seek destruction, with the castle itself being a spiritual world existing as a prouct of Dracula's magic where a stream of chaos exists within it, this stream of chaos being the entire chaotic ream which has millions of stars and galaxies spinning)

Durability: Town level, Far Higher with Empowerment

Striking Strength: Town Class (Potency), Far Higher with Empowerment

Lifting Strength: At least Class 10, likely Higher physically (Before Dracula, Walter served as the absolute evil, the opposite to God, where for God to be perfectly good, there must be a being of perfect darkness, being the entity opposite to God, making him far superior to Hector's Battle-Type innocent devils who can move entire tree logs that are blocking roads out of the way where logs can weigh around 15 to 5 tons. Hector's battle-type innocent devils can lift open large iron doors that "no man could force open"). At least Class G with Magic (Should be comparable to a weakned, dead Dracula where even with just the remnants of his magic, Dracula's magic could lift his entire castle), Far Higher with Empowerment

Travel Speed: At least Superhuman regularly (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where Dracula can take many forms when traveling, whether it be a wolf, bat, or a beast who moves so fast it catches on fire). At most Faster Than Light at top speed (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where Dracula serves as the absolute evil, the opposite to God, where for God to be perfectly good, there must be a being of perfect darkness, being the entity opposite to God, making him faster then enemies such as the Sky Fish who moves so fast that it appears as a beam of light and is only slowed down when time is stopped and the White Demon, who can move at the speed of light at short distances. Vampires can move so fast that the light itself cannot keep up with them, leaving an afterimage behind, along with Belmonts such as Juste Belmont, moving so fast that the light afterimage behind him cannot keep up. Alucard in his suppressed Genya Arikado form can still move so fast that an afterimage made of light is behind him). Far Higher with Empowerment

Attack Speed: At most Faster Than Light, Far Higher with Empowerment

Reaction Speed: At most Faster Than Light, Far Higher with Empowerment

Stamina: Limitless (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where the source of Dracula's power comes from the chaos that exists in the center of Dracula's castle, a product of wicked human intentions and hearts that seek destruction, with the castle itself being a spiritual world existing as a prouct of Dracula's magic where a stream of chaos exists within it, this stream of chaos being the entire chaotic ream)

Range: Standard Melee.Thousands of Kilometers with Curse Manipulation (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where after being defeated by Trevor and his friends, Dracula left a demonic curse that enshrouded all of Europe in misery and torment), Multi-Universal with his powers (Should be the same as Dracula, as Mathias absorbed his soul to become Dracula, where the castle is directly steered by Mathias' power, which exist on top of another dimension. The castle is directly steered by Dracula's power. The Castle can summon creatures of chaos to spawn and attack whoever enters a room through enemies spawning from glyphs. The castle can make glyphs that teleport one outside of the castle by standing over it. A lot of these creatures are summoned from Hell. The castle has magic energies that seal the gateway to hell)

Intelligence: Supergenius Intelligence (Walter is a master of magic, where magic requires one to have a deep understanding of Quantum Physics to utilize it to its fullest, requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification")

Knowledge: Grandmaster level

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics (Even the smallest creatures of the night can destroy a bridge, one of Dracula's bats easily destroyed a stone ground block), Intimidation (Creatures of the nights appearances can cause one to have their body's cells cry out in terror), Immortality (Ageless; The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something being their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations. Immortal Metaphysical Aspect; Creatures of the Night can continue to exist even as a spirit and use their spirit form to form bodies out of inanimate material around them), Acausality (Causality Immunity; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something being their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations), Free Will (Creatures of the Night do not follow the hand of God and instead choose of their own free will), Empowerment (Creatures of the night are empowered by the night, becoming stronger when it's night time), Evolution (Creatures of chaos can inherit evil natures awakening into stronger enemies with new abilities and less weaknesses), Resurrection (Self-Resurrection; Creatures of chaos can be brought back to life from the power of hate. This has also been shown with slain heads reviving as an angry wraith), Regeneration (Mid-Godly overtime; Even the castle from Castlevania is a Creature of Chaos, where they are always rebirth from Chaos with each rebirth, the creatures takes a new form, with this state being referred to as a "regeneration cycle"), Invisibility (Creatures of Chaos possess a natural aura of darkness, which makes one unable to see those with an aura of darkness by the naked eye), Time Manipulation (Passive; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon), Darkness Manipulation & Subjective Reality (Creatures of chaos very existence causes dark powers to flow beyond the control of the Elgos' grimoires, due to them collecting documented information on Dracula and his castle. Causing their power to materialize in the real world in the form of monsters. With the real world and world of grimoires being one and the same), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (Passive; Creatures of the night's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to greatly strengthen their dark powers. It is noted by Lucy that the "vital soul" of a monster is the cause of the grimoire chaos. Their vital souls are causing the grimoires contents to be overwritten changing history to things such as Jonathan Morris is now at a disadvantage in battle, or Charlotte fading from existence due to them messing with the history of the Grimoires, Maria starting to fade because Richter's history is being rewritten, where if the books contents change the creatures magic will keep growing and eventually overflow into reality, causing the grimoire to fall into chaos and even more monsters materializing into the real world. The text alterations also make the monsters stronger. With the real world and world of grimoires being one and the same), Law Manipulation (Creatures of Chaos can alter grimoires, which do not adhere to the laws of reality), Power Modification (Creatures of the night alterations of the Grimoire can greatly limit the powers of those far stronger then them, such as Jonathan Morris' power being limited due to the alterations. The Chaos of the Grimoire destabilized the magic of the others).

Resistance to Ice Manipulation & Absolute Zero (All enemies in Castlevania III: Dracula's curse can eventually break out of being frozen from Sypha's ice magic. Along with this to protect against ice attacks in series, one normally wears rings that help them resist against absolute zero), Time Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. With time in Castlevania being so potent that not even eternity can withstand time, along with even artificial life being subject to the laws of time. Some creatures of chaos are immune to time stop, normally being boss level creatures), Fate Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with fate being a truth wound by time)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics (Vampires are considered far larger threats then standard creature of the night monsters), Immortality (Ageless; Vampires defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity, with Mathias noting he has eternal life. Aeon notes that vampires exist for eternity. Walter is noted to be a vampire that has eternal life. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something being their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations. Immortal Metaphysical Aspect; Vampires will someday come back to life despite them being killed due to being immortal), Acausality (Causality Immunity; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something being their limited lifespans, a limitation that cannot be overcome, however dwellers of the darkness do not apply to the laws of the human world, ignoring such limitations), Free Will (Vampires do not follow the hand of God and instead choose of their own free will, defying God's decree), Enhanced Senses (Vampires can smell that Reinhardt Scheneider and Carrie Fernandez smell different from the usual adventurer), Surface Scaling (Vampires can stand on ceilings), Flight (Vampires can either naturally levitate grow wings to fly, turn into a bat, or into mist), Immersion (Vampires can infuse magic into paintings to increase their power), Empowerment (Vampires are loved by the night, making them so powerful that vampires like Walter Bernhard never been defeated before Leon Belmont gained the vampire killer. Noted by Leon that the night should help Joachim Armster as well due to him being a vampire, with the only reason it doesn't is due to Walter holding the ebony stone), Resurrection (Even if one somehow manages to kill a vampire, they will someday come back to life despite them being killed due to being immortal), Transformation (Shapeshifting; Vampires can assume the shape of a wolf, a bat or fog. Vampires can disguise themselves as huamns), Teleportation (Vampires possess the ability to teleport freely. Even non-threatening vampires such as Rosa, fade out from view), Power Suppression (Vampires can submerge their own vampiric powers if needed), Life-Force Absorption (Vampires can consume one's lifeforce, allowing them to heal themselves through biting into a victim), Vampirification (Vampires can turn others into vampires, Walter turned Rinaldo's daughter into a vampire), Invisibility (Vampires possess natural aura of darkness, which makes one unable to see those with an aura of darkness by the naked eye), Time Manipulation (Passive; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon), Animal Manipulation (Bats serve under the control of vampires, being freely spawnned by any vampire), Cloth Manipulation (A vampire's blood can transform clothes, such as Hector combining a vampire's blood with a prince's clothes to get Dracula's clothes), Electricity Manipulation (Vampires can sometimes have electricity form around them as they transform), Soul Manipulation (The candles in Castlevnia are people's souls that were taken by Death or by vampires).

Resistance to Temperatures (Vampires bodies turn cold, with them feeling no heat), Biological Manipulation (Vampires biological functions are no longer required for them), Time Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon. With time in Castlevania being so potent that not even eternity can withstand time, along with even artificial life being subject to the laws of time),Death Manipulation: "Death" loses all meaning for Vampires, as they defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity. Where even if one "kills" a vampire they will simply just come back as they are not bound to death), Fate Manipulation (All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with fate being a truth wound by time), Law Manipulation (Vampires defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity)

Escape Prevention (Upon entering the forest Leon, Rinaldo noted that Walter made it so Leon could not leave), Darkness Manipulation (Due to the Ebony Stone, his demonic power allows him to make it eternally night in the forest under his control), Energy Absorption (Walter can get hearts out of objects and enemies, where hearts are a measure of one's stored energy, thus one is absorbing energy when gaining hearts), Domination (Walter has demons under his control), Sealing (Walter sealed away the Forgotten One due to an enormous uncontrollable power it had), Blessed (Noted that Walter is beloved by the eternal night), Teleportation (Teleported Sara to his side), Electricity Manipulation (Walter uses electricity to appear before Leon), Telekinesis (Telekinetically returned Sara to Leon), Sleep Manipulation (Walter can put one to sleep), Invulnerability (Metaphysical Invulnerability) & Forcefield Manipulation (Passive; Walter is completely immune to attacks from Leon), Light Manipulation & Teleportation (Can create pillars of light that he teleports around), Energy Projection (Can shoot out energy projectiles), Homing Attack (Walter can shoot out energy projectiles that home in on the target), Explosion Manipulation (Can shoot out orbs that explode on impact. With Demonic Megiddo, can release a massive blast of energy that explodes outwards), Transformation (Transformative Arsenal; When using Demonic Megiddo, Water transforms into his stronger demon form), Fire Manipulation (Conjures multiple pillars of fire underneath the target)

Walter's castle is Castlevania, a creature of Chaos that has the following abilities:

Magic (The castle pulses with dark magical power. The castle uses magic to do things like re-animate corpses, along with skeletons), Reality Warping (The Castle does not work on standard logic, where changing rooms can have one view a completely different background, such as room with a blue sky that is reflecting up and downwards and having the cloud srotate at a fast speed), Transmutation (Beings that come near are subject to the castle's influence, such as a local barnyard owl which was mutated just from flying near it), Save and Load (The castles magic has rooms where one can sit on a chair and is enveloped in the angelic wings of light, allowing them to save their progress, with these chairs being acknowledged in rooms in the castle with a description), Possession (The castle possesses objects with its magic, such as a ouija table), Bestowal (The castle enables one to keep their mind after dying, becoming a ghost), Mind Bestowal (The castle can bestow a mind through its magic), Soul Bestowal (The castle can bestow a soul through its magic. Imbued the Mud Man with a tormented soul), Power Bestowal (The castle grants enemies to attack under the power of magic. The magic of Dracula's power that empowers the owl enemy), Resurrection (Resurrection of Multiple Targets; The castle uses magic to return creatures of chaos back to life), Sealing (Dracula's magic captured Aguni, a primitive god of fire. The Castle has doors sealed off without solving puzzles. This can extend to walls being sealed off where explosions will not effect it until the seal is gone), Telekinesis (The Castle can lift parts of levels apart. The castle has blocks that float and levitate up and downards to crush opponents or send them into spikes), Immersion (Can bring paintings to life and have them attack), Mimciry (Physiology Mimicry; The castle contains mirror worlds where perfect clones of oneself can fight. The Castle can also do this without mirror worlds, where they make a perfect copy that have all of their moves and sub-weapons, and can freely switch to a different person to copy their abilities), Teleportation (The castle has access to the teleporter seat, the seat of a device that allows instant movement across Valachia. The castle has objects that fade in and out while trying to platform on them), Invisibility (Parts of Dracula's castle are invisible such as invisible stairs, and invisible platforms), Necromancy (The castle can raise the dead to attack whoever enters a room. The castle reanimates human bones as monsters by its evil magic. The Castle created the Executioner from numerous dead bodies), Fusionism (The Castle can create an abomination made from numerous dead bodies), Mind Manipulation (Everything that enters the castle is under the control by the power of Dracula's castle, the ghost of Eric Lecarde needed to cast a magic barrier to bind himself so he could be free from the control of the castle. The Castle corrupts the minds of those who enter it, such as making Maxim Kischine feel strange ever since coming to it. It also corrupted the mind of Hugh turning him against Nathan with Nathan noting he's being controlled by Dracula. The castle increases one's dark desires, allowing Dracula to easily control them. The magic of Dracula's power that empowers the owl enemy also spurs it to violence), Madness Manipulation (The Castle warped Gergoth, a once-gentle beast and drove it mad), Elemental Manipulation & Chaos Manipulation (The castle infuses some enemies with chaos, giving it all elemental properties), Blood Manipulation (The casle imbues blood all over a skeleton, making them always return to life no matter what damage is done to them. The Castle has areas where its blood can form new enemies), Acid Manipulation (The castle has areas of acid rain falling), Size Manipulation (Magically enlarged a toad through the use of demonic baptism), Fear Manipulation (Even while far away, Curtis and Michelle felt malicious intent from the castle where their bodies seemed to squeal "run away". Michelle even being at the entrance to the castle had her body telling her to not go in and her leg muscles being petrified like stone), Perception Manipulation (The Castle is able to warp the users perceptions, making a room where it is split into three parts that do not operate under standard spatiality and directionality), Gravity Manipulation (The castle has rooms with reverse gravity), Curse Manipulation (The Curse status that spirits inflict comes from them absorbing the magic power around the castle. The Castle cursed a human to turn into a lizard man), Life Manipulation (The castle can bring inanimate statues to life to attack. Can cause the glass murals to come to life and attack), Soul Manipulation (Those that die in the castle become one of the floating spirits that wander the halls of the castle for eternity), Plant Manipulation (The castle can cause even the trees to attack. The castle can cause the plants and leaves to form a wraith), Forcefield Manipulation (The castle set up a barrier seal outside of it to make people unable to enter. Evil energy can create barriers blocking one until they defeat all enemies), Fire Manipulation (Can cause fire across an entire room just from causing a chandelier with candles to fall, setting everything, even people on fire), Portal Manipulation & Battlefield Removal (Application Based; The castle can create portals that send one to another dimension, where time is stopped. Brought a wandering merchant in through swallowing him into a dense fog. The castle has magic energies that seal the gateway to hell), Summoning & Glyph Creation (The Castle can summon creatures of chaos to spawn and attack whoever enters a room through enemies spawning from glyphs. The castle can make glyphs that teleport one outside of the castle by standing over it. A lot of these creatures are summoned from Hell), Water Manipulation (The Casles Waters seem to be very hazardous, as it instantly kills enemies upon touching them), Spatial Manipulation (The castle can shift the room to make it where Trevor needs to escape upwards that will instantly kill him if it reaches him. The castle can make blocks disappear and re-appear, making it diffuclt for one to traverse around the castle. The Castle made it where the stairway Soma was walking up with Mina went longer hen usual, trying to keep Soma from going to the Shrine and instead bringing him to the castle), Sense Manipulation (Caused Soma's senses to dim even entering the chaotic darkness near the Castle), Weather Manipulation & Electricity Manipulation (The Castle is the reason for a massive cloud that covered the entire sky. Can conjure thunderstorms around itself that can summon enemies during it's flashes of lightning. Can summon enemies through the lightning bolts it makes), Dark Matter Manipulation (The castle contains dark matter within it that beings can use for weapon creation), Abstract Manipulation & Hell Manipulation (The castle can create a core of evil made from hatred, envy, anger and other dark emotions).

Resistance to Time Stop (Areas in the Castle are unaffected by time being stopped, and blocks and objects will still fall. Noted that the stop watch has no effect on moving platforms in the castle. Christopher stopping time on an elevator does not stop the elevator from moving, machinery still moves along, and floating objects still float. With time in Castlevania being so potent that not even eternity can withstand time, along with even artificial life being subject to the laws of time)

The Power of Dominance, gives him the ability to wield the abilities of monsters he's killed, rule over and command monsters, as Dracula hosts countless spirits within his castle, endlesslly wandering the castle, he has the ability to use every ability a monster that appeared in the castle has in the series, giving him: Penetration Damage (Physical Penetration; With Skeleton Archer, a skeleton equipped with a bow and arrow. With Skeleton Hunter, an elite Skeleton Archer, has excellent accuracy), Bladed Penetration; With Axe Armor, an armored knight that wields a giant axe. With Evil Sword, a sword possessed by an evil spirit, it cuts through anything and everything. With Mad Diver, a zombie with long claws that travels freely underground. With Skeleton Swordman, a skeleton that brandishes a broad sword. With Executioner, in life, he chopped off the heads of thousands of innocent convicted men), Burrowing (With Mad Diver, a zombie with long claws that travels freely underground), Invulnerability (Metaphysical Invulnerability; With Golden Knight, a soldier with special armor that only takes damage from magical attacks), Aura & Invisibility (With Phantom, a monster that dons the aura of darkness and cannot be seen by the naked eye), Soullessness (With Soulless, a soulless human brought into being by an Undead Parasite), Irregular Physiology (With Dullahan, a headless armored knight, it wanders in search of its lost head), Undead Physiology (Zombie Physiology; With Zombie, a freshly buried corpse animated by magic. With Skeleton, a human skeleton animated by magic. With Flame Zombie, a zombie born from a fire victim, it emits flames from its body. With Poison Zombie, a zombie that spews deadly poison that can rot flesh on contact. With Frost Zombie, a zombie born of a corpse that froze to death, it is cloaked in cold. With Hanged Man, the zombie of a man who died by hanging. Skeleton Physiology; With Spartacus, the bones of a swordsman of the Roman Era, as skilled with the sword as he was in life. With Skeleton Knight, the bleached bones of a dead knight, attacks under the power of magic. With Skeleton Soldier, the bleached bones of a dead soldier. With Skeleton Warrior, the bones of a warrior animated by magic, persistently returns to life. With Skeleton Hunter, an elite Skeleton Archer, has excellent accuracy. With Wolf Skeleton, a wolf's skeleton animated by magic. With Storm Skeleton, the bones of a person who died in a storm, comes apart and attacks in pieces. With Mirage Skeleton, a skeleton that uses illusions of self to protect itself. Other; With Undead Parasite, undead infested by parasites from working on constructing the filthy Great Shrine), Incorporeality (With Vassago, an evil spirit said to be summoned by those who seek knowledge. With Ghost Soldier, the ghost of a soldier that died in vain. With Ghost Knight, the ghost of a knight that died still holding on to grudges. With Ghost Warrior, the ghost of a warrior that died in a sneak attack. With Rune Spirit, a spirit born from the hatred of animals massacred by humans. With Ghost, a vengeful spirit that died with unresolved grudges), Resurrection (With Skeleton Warrior, the bones of a warrior animated by magic, persistently returns to life), Regeneration (With Red Skeleton, who endlessly regenerates, from any kind of damage due to it absorbing blood), Intangibility (Elemental Intangibility; With the Mist, a mist that swallows up the living), Lifeforce Absorption (With Spirit, an evil spirit that sucks up people's life energy. With Succubus, a monster that sucks up a person's essence by taking advantage of their feelings), Petrification (With Medusa, a legendary monster whose gaze can turn people to stone), Body Control (With Storm Skeleton, the bones of a person who died in a storm, comes apart and attacks in pieces), Dimensional Travel (With Astral Fighter, a Skeleton Fighter that teleports using the Astral Plane. With Astral Knight, a Skeleton Knight that teleports using the Astral Plane), Energy Projection (With Buckbaird, an evil eye that gazes from the darkness and shoots out an energy beam from its eye), Mimicry (With Doppelganger, a monster that looks like its target and is able to replicate their powers, weapons, and abilities), Flight (With Gargoyle, a monster with wings, red eyes, and a hide as hard as stone) & Animal Manipulation (With bats, animals that fly and serve under the control of a vampire), Breath Attack (With Hellhound, a dog that breathes red hot flames) & Fire Manipulation (With Flame Zombie, a zombie born from a fire victim, it emits flames from its body. With Flame Sword, an evil sword that possesses the elemental properties of fire. With Merman, a red merman that attacks be spewing fire. With Flame Elemental, a knight surrounded by red hot flames), Elemental Manipulation & Chaos Manipulation (With Chaos Sword, a sword that possesses all elemental properties and attacks as it changes), Hellfire Manipulation (With Flame Demon, a demon that wields the fires of Hell), Ice Manipulation & Absolute Zero (With Fish Man, a blue merman that attacks by spewing ice. With Frost Swod, an evil sword that possesses the elemental properties of ice. With Frost Demon, a demon that wields absolute cold. With Frost Zombie, a zombie born of a corpse that froze to death, it is cloaked in cold. With Frost Elemental, a knight that harnesses arctic chill), Electricity Manipulation (With Thunder Sword, an evil sword that possesses the elemental properties of lightning. With Thunder Demon, a demon that wields the thunder that rolls in the heavens. With Thunder Elemental, a knight surrounded by lightning who unleashes flashes of light), Poison Manipulation (With Poison Zombie, a zombie that spews deadly poison that can rot flesh on contact. With Poison Lizard,a Lizard Man that spews a deadly poison. With Skeleton Flower, a flower made of bones, spews deadly poison), Illusion Manipulation (With Mirage Skeleton, a skeleton that uses illusions of self to protect itself).

Resistance to Extreme Heats (With Flame Zombie, a zombie born from a fire victim, it emits flames from its body. With Flame Elemental, a knight surrounded by red hot flames), Extreme Colds (With Frost Zombie, a zombie born of a corpse that froze to death, it is cloaked in cold. With Frost Elemental, a knight that harnesses arctic chill), Electricity Manipulation (With Thunder Elemental, a knight surrounded by lightning who unleashes flashes of light), Regeneration Negation (With Red Skeleton, who endlessly regenerates, from any kind of damage due to it absorbing blood)

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Equipment

• Ebony Stone: A stone Walter possesses made with alchemy, that allows him to create an eternal night. With this stone, Walter can make it where the night favors him over other vampires. This makes him completely invulnerable to anything asides from the Vampire Killer.

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Notable Techniques

Anger Fist

Walter can harness his rage into a powerful lunge, enhanced by his vampiric strength, allowing him to inflict significant damage.

Dark Inferno

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Walter fires up to three molten spheres of dark energy that, unlike Dracula's version, will slow down and stop a few meters in front of him before detonating shortly thereafter.

Summon Spirit

Walter releases a cluster of white-blue spirits that converge on his target. However, the tracking capability of this ability is not perfect; it can only adjust within a limited range. If the target manages to move beyond this turning range, the spirit bolts will completely bypass them.

Fire Pillar

Walter summons multiple energy masses beneath his opponent’s feet, which rapidly gather power before exploding into pillars of light blue fire. In a manner reminiscent of Castlevania III, Walter aims to ensnare his target between these energy pillars, with the final blast always erupting in front of them rather than beneath, potentially catching any overly cautious hunter by surprise.

Metamorphosis

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Although Walter has never demonstrated a second form, during his most powerful attack, he morphs into a demon-like creature, suggesting that he possesses the ability to shapeshift, similar to Dracula.

Teleportation

Like Dracula, Walter has the ability to teleport using a pillar of light accompanied by a swarm of bats.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Walter will not directly attack the opponent; instead, he wants to wait for the person to pass his challenges and reach his throne room to fight him. Once there, Walter will teleport around shooting energy attacks and massive waves, along with using Demonic Megiddo.

Weaknesses

• Creature of the Night Weaknesses: Creatures of the night become weaker when exposed to the morning sun. Garlic significantly weakens creatures of the night, and causes demons to die if its placed on the ground. If a vital soul is defeated, the grimoire will revert back to its original content.
• Standard Vampire Weaknesses: After a vampire is sufficiently weakened, the sunlight can kill them. Otherwise Vampires can stand out in the sunlight just fine. Though some weaker vampires can have the sun burn them overtime, killing them. Oak Stakes are able to break through the magic of a weakened vampire. Defeating a vampire will stop the effects of someone they have bitten, but only before they've turned. This is shown in Harmony of Dissonance where through Juste killing Dracula's Wraith, the bite marks on Lydie have vanished. Vampries refelections do not appear on mirrors, making them easier to identify.
• Unique Weaknesses: Walter views everything as a game, thus he tends to underestimate the threats that come to him, such as when he let the Vampire Killer hit him, believing it would do nothing to him.

Note

• Contrary to popular belief, holy attacks and the whips in Castlevania can affect and harm people that aren't apart of the creatures of the night. Leon's Doppelganger can use holy water and holy attacks against him in this fight along with the alchemy whip despite Leon being a pure and noble warrior. Simon's Doppelganger can harm him with the vampire killer, despite Simon being a noble hero.

Trivia

• Many of Walter's attacks are similar to Dracula's, most notably the famous triple fireball Hellfire attack. It seems Mathias/Dracula inherited Walter's powers upon stealing his soul (Dracula himself would later pass these inherited traits on to his son Alucard). When using his most powerful attack, the Demonic Megiddo, Walter transforms into a demonic bat that strongly resembles the "final" or "demon" form of Dracula that appears in several games.
• His name is of West Germanic origins: Waldaharjaz "ruler of army" - fitting given the number of monsters he has command over, and Bernuharduz "bear-hard".
• Walter's name-element Wald- comes from the root h₂wolh₁-dʰ-, which also yields Common Slavic vold- > South Slavic Vlad (East Slavic Volod). Perhaps Mathias took the name Vlad as a somewhat mocking way of "honoring" the vampire who granted him eternal life.

A statue of Matthias Corvinus.

• Walter's overall design appears to be based on the historical figure of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary from 1458 to 1490, having long red hair and bearing a similar armor (according to some depictions of him from the era).
  • Despite this, the name "Matthias Corvinus" most likely ended up being the inspiration for "Mathias Cronqvist" instead. While the roles these characters play in the game are not historically accurate, it is probable they were only included to enrich the narrative of the game's story.
  • It is also worth mentioning that Matthias had Vlad Drăculea (the historical figure Dracula is based upon) as his vassal (and even as his prisoner at one point).
• Walter's red hair is a traditional trait of vampires in Romanian folklore. The strigoi (those who become vampires after death) are said to almost always be redheads, as opposed to the moroi (who are vampires from birth).
• Apparently, Walter Bernhard isn't a Transylvanian Saxon or Banat Swabian, as the former group settled in Transylvania in the mid 12th century and the latter in the Banat of Temeswar in the 18th century, after Walter's final death. It is likely that he descends from, or was one of, the Migration Period's Germanic settlers.

Battle Records

2-1-0

• Joachim Armster - Fight
  • Conditions: Walter had the ebony stone.
  • Location: Castlevania
  • Note: Little is known about the fight other than Joachim rebelled against Walter and he locked him up for that. Along with this, Joachim notes he only lost to Walter because of his ebony stone.

• Leon Belmont - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Walter's Castle Entrance

• Leon Belmont - Fight
  • Conditions: Match was a rematch.
  • Location: Pagoda of the Misty Moon

None.