Brauner

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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.

“

I shall grant you a world of peace, my beloved daughters...

„

Background

Brauner (ブローネル Burōneru) is the main antagonist of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. In 1944, he resurrected Dracula's Castle and sought to take Dracula's place as its master, launching his own campaign against humanity.

Before becoming a vampire, Brauner was an artist. He is responsible for creating the many portraits that Jonathan Morris & Charlotte Aulin must travel through to access different areas within the castle.

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

Brauner was once a human artist whose beloved daughters were tragically killed during World War I. The immense grief and rage from this loss awakened his latent powers, leading him to embrace vampirism and seek revenge against humanity. Thirty years later, in 1944, Brauner resurrected Dracula's Castle by using the souls of the fallen from World War II. His goal was to use the castle's power to wipe out mankind. Unlike most vampires, Brauner had no loyalty to Dracula, due to his previous failures, and sought to distance himself from the Count by using his portraits to separate Dracula from the castle, trapping a portion of the monsters he controlled within them. Eric Lecarde, a vampire hunter, ventured into the castle alone but was defeated and gravely injured by Brauner. Eric’s daughters, Loretta and Stella, entered the castle in search of their father and found him wounded. Brauner appeared behind them, believing them to be the reincarnations of his late daughters. He turned them into vampires, casting a spell to make them love him as their father, all in front of Eric, who was presumably killed afterward. Before his death, Eric bound his ghost to the castle, hoping that one day someone would come to defeat Brauner. When Death was resurrected alongside the castle, he remained loyal to Dracula. Upon learning of Brauner's rebellion, Death began planning to remove the usurper. Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin eventually entered the castle, where they encountered Brauner and his vampirized daughters, Loretta and Stella, in the Sandy Grave. Brauner revealed that he had no loyalty to Dracula and had sealed the Count using his paintings. He made it clear that he intended to destroy humanity on his own. As the situation escalated, Brauner told Jonathan and Charlotte to focus on dealing with Death, and then teleported away with his "daughters." If Jonathan and Charlotte defeat the Lecarde sisters without using Sanctuary, Brauner will intervene to stop them and spirit away his daughters, pleading for mercy. When Charlotte points out that they aren't his biological daughters, Brauner claims their bond exists in their souls, not just their blood. The castle crumbles, and all three vampires escape, leading to a bad ending and game over. However, if the duo uses Sanctuary on the Lecarde sisters and clears Brauner's remaining portraits, they will face him in his painting study. Brauner initially believes that Stella and Loretta have returned but soon realizes that Jonathan and Charlotte have infiltrated his domain. Despite being told that the Lecarde sisters have regained their senses, Brauner clings to his delusions, leading Jonathan to call him "sad." Enraged, Brauner engages in battle. Upon his defeat, Brauner curses humanity for the World Wars and reveals that he only wanted to protect his family. However, Death arrives, kills him, and unseals Dracula, restoring the Count as the true ruler of the castle. This forces Jonathan and Charlotte into a final confrontation, where they must defeat Dracula and Death to complete their mission.

Personality

• Misanthropy and Arrogance: Brauner harbored a profound hatred for humanity, viewing them as inferior and undeserving of life. His sociopathic misanthropy fueled his genocidal ambitions, and he sought to use Dracula's castle and army to bring about humanity’s destruction. His arrogance extended beyond mere disdain for others, as he considered himself superior, even looking down on Dracula for his repeated failures to resurrect. His calm demeanor and polite mannerisms were a façade used to assert his self-perceived superiority, rather than a reflection of any true respect for others.

• Tragic and Insane: Like Dracula, Brauner was a tragic figure, deeply scarred by the loss of his loved ones. This tragedy warped him into a vengeful, bloodthirsty individual. His insanity reached disturbing levels when he kidnapped and manipulated the Lecarde sisters, believing them to be his daughters. He went so far as to murder their father and turn the sisters into vampires, using mind control to force them to love him as their father. His madness only intensified when Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin broke his control, pushing him further into a violent rage.

• Obsessive and Delusional: Brauner’s delusions were evident in his obsession with his paintings, which he believed to be masterpieces. His maniacal excitement during the boss fight revealed the depth of his insanity, as he summoned horrific abominations from his artwork and saw them as his greatest creations. His personal studio was filled with grotesque paintings, though it remains unclear whether they reflected his art prior to his descent into madness or if they were a direct result of his spiraling mental state.

• Unyielding Revenge: Brauner’s thirst for revenge was all-consuming, and once he lost control over the Lecarde sisters, his desire to reclaim them became an obsession. His anger at being thwarted by Jonathan and Charlotte manifested in a brutal drive to destroy them, intending to regain control over the sisters and restore them to their role as his 'daughters.'

General Information

Name: Brauner

Origin: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

First Appearance: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Latest Appearance: Vampire Survivors

Company: Konami

Creator: Koji Igarashi

Actor

• Japanese Voice Actor: Hisao Egawa
• English Voice Actor: Jamieson Price

Sex: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: Unknown

Time Period: 1944

Timeline: Main Timeline

Homeworld: Earth

Residence: Dracula's Castle

Story Role: Main Antagonist, Supporting Antagonist, Tragic Antagonist

Legacy: Unknown Legacy

Influence: Personal Influence (Is the very reason Eric Lecarde died and why Stella Lecarde and Loretta Lecarde were turned into vampires)

Language: English

Classification: Creature of the Night, Child of the Night

Species: Human (Formerly), Vampire

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Humanoid Physiology (Formerly), Vampire Physiology

In-Universe Creator: God

Occupation: Artist

Affiliations: Stella Lecarde (Formerly), Loretta Lecarde (Formerly)

Enemies: Humanity, Jonathan Morris, Charlotte Aulin, Eric Lecarde, Death

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Deceased (Killed by Death)

Date of Death: 1944

Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Brauner views humans as inferior creatures that don't understand respect. This rage came from Brauner losing his rea daughters in World War One, having his anger and grief awaken his hidden power, which he used to become a vampire)

Threat Level: Global Threat (Brauner intends to take the world from mankind as he sees humans bring death and ruin to everything of beauty. Brauner wishes to punish humans whose war has ruined his life. Brauner is trying to make a painting piece specifically to destroy the world)

Codex Statistics

Grade: S

Tier: At least 7-C, Higher with Painting Infusion, Far Higher with his most powerful painting piece

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: At least Town level (Potency) (During most of Portrait of Ruin, Brauner is the Castle Lord, instead of Dracula, as he is taking Dracula's power for his own 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, 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. Can harm and fight against enemies stronger than characters who can take hits from neutron bomb, that have a yield range of 1-10 kilotons of TNT. Can harm Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin), Higher with Painting Infusion (Brauner infuses magic into paintings to increase his power, where his power grows stronger by the minute), Far Higher with his most powerful painting piece (Brauner is trying to make a painting piece specifically to destroy the world)

Durability: At least Town level, Higher with Painting Infusion

Striking Strength: At least Town Class, Higher with Painting Infusion

Lifting Strength: At least Class 10 (Vampires are considered far larger threats than the standard creature of the night monsters, which should make him 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 and Hector's battle-type innocent devils can lift open large iron doors that "no man could force open"), Higher with Painting Infusion

Travel Speed: At least Superhuman regularly (Vampires can assume the shape of a wolf, a bat or fog). At most Faster Than Light at top speed (Vampires are loved by the night, beyond even the typical Creature of the Night, 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. Alucard in his suppressed Genya Arikado form can still move so fast that an afterimage made of light is behind him), Higher with Painting Infusion

Attack Speed: At most Faster Than Light, Higher with Painting Infusion

Reaction Speed: At most Faster Than Light, Higher with Painting Infusion

Stamina: Limitless (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)

Range: Standard Melee, Planetary with most powerful painting piece (Brauner is trying to make a painting piece specifically to destroy the world), Interdimensional with Painting Worlds (The paintings Brauner controls are a multilayer quantum-space barrier, acting as a series of walls that surround the magic controlling Dracula's Castle with the paining itself being the outermost wall where attempting to break it will simply have it regenerate requiring one to go into the painting world to find the will of the artist embodied in them and the monster that is the core of the magic energy of each painting) & Abilities (Spatially segregated Dracula's Castle from the throne room in order to gain all the power himself)

Intelligence: Supergenius Intelligence (The paintings Brauner controls are a multilayer quantum-space barrier, acting as a series of walls that surround the magic controlling Dracula's Castle with the paining itself being the outermost wall where attempting to break it will simply have it regenerate requiring one to go into the painting world to find the will of the artist embodied in them and the monster that is the core of the magic energy of each painting. Spatially segregated Dracula's Castle from the throne room in order to gain all the power himself. Has a full understanding 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

Chaos Creature AbilitiesInnate AbilitiesThrough the Castle

Creature of the Night AbilitiesVampire Abilities

Is a Creature of the Night, which gives:

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 is 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, along with ignoring the very passage of time. With their souls being completely free from time. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is 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 (1-T, 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 considered the same or "equal", compared to the like of Brauner's painting worlds that are quantum multi-layered spaces requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification"), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (Passive; Creatures of the night's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to strengthen their dark powers greatly. 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 contents of the book 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 considered the same or "equal", compared to the like of Brauner's painting worlds that are quantum multi-layered spaces requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification"), 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 than 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 (1-T; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time. 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 (Temporal Fate; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time, with fate being a truth wound by time)

Is a Vampire, which gives:

Superhuman Physical Characteristics (Vampires are considered far larger threats than the standard creature of the night monsters), Stealth Mastery (Vampires are able to attack stealthily in search of human blood), Disguise Mastery (Vampires will sometimes disguise themselves as villages in order to get near one), 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 is 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, along with ignoring the very passage of time. With their souls being completely free from time. The biggest hindrance to humans when attempting to accomplish something is 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 Schneider 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 (1-T, 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 Castlevania are people's souls that were taken by Death or by vampires), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (Passive; Vampire's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to strengthen their dark powers greatly. 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 contents of the book 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 considered the same or "equal", compared to the like of Brauner's painting worlds that are quantum multi-layered spaces requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification"), Law Manipulation (Vampires can alter grimoires, which do not adhere to the laws of reality), Power Modification (Vampire's alterations of the Grimoire can greatly limit the powers of those far stronger than 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 Temperatures (Vampires bodies turn cold, with them feeling no heat), Biological Manipulation (Vampires biological functions are no longer required for them), Time Manipulation (1-T; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time. 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 (Temporal Fate; All immortal beings disrupt the flow of time according to Aeon, with their souls being completely free from time, with fate being a truth wound by time), Law Manipulation (Vampires defy God's decree that life should be limited, and exist for eternity)

Standard Abilities Granted From MagicUnique Abilities

Magic & Principle Manipulation (Through utilizing magic, one has to have a deep understanding of Quantum Physics to utilize it to its fullest, requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification". Magic comes from alchemy, a field that experiments with the principles of God's creation of the world, along with being said to be as great a task as recreating God's creation of the Earth), Non-Standard Interaction (Extra-Planar Interaction; Magic is able to interact with beings such as Camilla Fernandez, Physical attacks are difficult to land as Camilla lives in the Astral plane, and her earthly body is completely ethereal), Limited Immersion & Dimensional Travel (3+1-D; Magic users can align their magic with the magic of another to enter into painting worlds), Summoning (Magic can be used in order to summon weapons and items inscribed in grimoires), Soul Manipulation (Yoko through the use of magic discovered a new ability to draw the monster souls out and use them)

Awakening (Brauner's anger and grief from losing his daughters in World War One had him awaken to a new hidden power), Empowerment (Brauner infuses magic into paintings to increase his power), Power Modification (Through the use of the paintings, Brauner is making the castle's power his. Noted by Charlotte that the painting's function are used by Brauner to control the power of Dracula's Castle), Severing (Brauner is able to separate Dracula from his magic), Petrification (Can construct enemies out of a painting that petrify upon contact), Battlefield Removal (Forced Teleportation) & Sealing (Brauner can seal people into paintings and teleport them away), Immersion (Can place himself into a painting and use it to teleport away), Madness Manipulation (Noted by Charlotte that Brauner possesses incredible power where just the sight of him would drive an ordinary person mad), Quantum Manipulation & Spatial Manipulation (The paintings Brauner controls are a multilayer quantum-space barrier, acting as a series of walls that surround the magic controlling Dracula's Castle with the paining itself being the outermost wall where attempting to break it will simply have it regenerate requiring one to go into the painting world to find the will of the artist embodied in them and the monster that is the core of the magic energy of each painting. Spatially segregated Dracula's Castle from the throne room in order to gain all the power himself), Paint Manipulation (Can draw with his paint and have it spread across the entire screen), Poison Manipulation (Can construct poison enemies from the painting that deal poison damage), Curse Manipulation (Can construct enemies that deal curse status upon contact).

Standard ResistancesCastle Resistances

Resistance to Extrasensory Perception (Brauner could not be sensed by Death), Immersion & Dimensional Travel (Stella and Loretta note that even for them it's impossible to travel into the painting in his studio painting, requiring one to break the seal. Where magic users can align their magic with the magic of another to enter into painting worlds)

Resistance to Dracula's Castle (Brauner is able to segregate Dracula from his Castle to gain all the magic for himself meaning he faces none of the adverse effects from being within the castle)

The Castle Abilities Include:

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), Possession (The castle possesses objects with its magic, such as a ouija table), 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 affect it until the seal is gone), 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), 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), 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), Abstract Manipulation & Hell Manipulation (The castle can create a core of evil made from hatred, envy, anger and other dark emotions), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, where is noted by Lucy that the "vital soul" of a monster is the cause of the grimoire chaos where creatures of the night's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to strengthen their dark powers greatly, along with their vital souls 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 contents of the book 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 considered the same or "equal", compared to the like of Brauner's painting worlds that are quantum multi-layered spaces requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification". Death was going to use Dracula's magic to rewrite Dracula's defeat to Trevor making it where Dracula defeats Trevor Belmont instead where Dracula would go on living in the rewritten grimoire with each grimoire being its own world and the grimoires influence extends into reality), Law Manipulation (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, which alter grimoires, which do not adhere to the laws of reality), Power Modification (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, which the vital souls cause alterations of the Grimoire that can greatly limit the powers of those far stronger than them, such as Jonathan Morris' power being limited due to the alterations. The Chaos of the Grimoire destabilized the magic of the others)

During most of Portrait of Ruin, Brauner is the Castle Lord, instead of Dracula, which means he inherits the powers of Dracula's Castle, giving him:

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 clouds rotate 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 affect 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), Mimicry (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), Poison Manipulation (The very waters of the castle are poisonous, killing one in an instant if they fall into it), Gravity Manipulation (3-D; 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 (3-D; 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 difficult 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 its 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), Text Manipulation & Plot Manipulation (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, where is noted by Lucy that the "vital soul" of a monster is the cause of the grimoire chaos where creatures of the night's dark powers allowed them to rewrite the Grimoires to strengthen their dark powers greatly, along with their vital souls 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 contents of the book 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 considered the same or "equal", compared to the like of Brauner's painting worlds that are quantum multi-layered spaces requiring understandings of theories such as "Curse Amplification". Death was going to use Dracula's magic to rewrite Dracula's defeat to Trevor making it where Dracula defeats Trevor Belmont instead where Dracula would go on living in the rewritten grimoire with each grimoire being its own world and the grimoires influence extends into reality), Law Manipulation (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, which alter grimoires, which do not adhere to the laws of reality), Power Modification (The vital souls are noted to be apart of the Castle's power, which the vital souls cause alterations of the Grimoire that can greatly limit the powers of those far stronger than 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 Time Stop (1-T; 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)

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Equipment

• Painting Worlds: The paintings Brauner controls are a multilayer quantum-space barrier, acting as a series of walls that surround the magic controlling Dracula's Castle with the paining itself being the outermost wall where attempting to break it will simply have it regenerate requiring one to go into the painting world to find the will of the artist embodied in them and the monster that is the core of the magic energy of each painting.

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Notable Techniques

Standard Vampire TechniquesUnique Techniques

• Blood Draining: Vampires can bite and drink the blood of their victims. Blood acts as a source of energy and life for vampires and creatures of the night, an example of this being Red Skeletons who endlessly regenerate, from any kind of damage due to it absorbing blood.
• Transformation: Vampires are able to turn into bats, wolves, fog, and other sorts of creatures as they please.
• Super Strength: Vampires are incredibly superhumanly strong, even for the average creature of the night, being noted to be stronger than even Werewolves.
• Super Speed: Vampires can move incredibly fast, to where all of them leave behind light projections due to how fast they're moving, while they can control their speeds even to approach speeds such as sound. They are normally beyond even other creatures in the castle such as the White Demon who moves at the speed of light at top speed.

• Blood Art Technique: Brauner paints two large blood trails on the screen in the shape of sideways Roman numerals (II, V, or X). The trails damage the opponent on contact but can be destroyed with attacks or spells.
• Paint Blobs: Releases numerous blood-like blobs from his hand that spread around him, damaging the opponent on contact.
• Summon Monsters from Paintings: Brauner summons creatures from his paintings, with effects varying by color:
  • Green: Two giant monsters with five large appendages spin from the center of the room to the edges, inflicting Poison on contact.
  • Gray: Two giant ghosts, one on the ceiling and one on the ground, move to the screen's edge, inflicting Curse on contact.
  • Blue: Numerous cycloptic heads fly toward the opponent, inflicting Petrification on contact, lowering defenses and leaving the opponent vulnerable.
• Portrait Teleport: Brauner teleports into his portrait and flies around the room. Contact with the moving portrait causes damage, similar to the Captain miniboss from Rondo of Blood.

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Other

Standard Tactics Brauner, encountered as the penultimate boss, employs an array of deadly techniques. He begins the battle with his signature move, the Blood Art Technique, painting two massive blood trails on the screen in patterns resembling Roman numerals (II, V, or X, all sideways). These trails damage upon contact but can be destroyed with attacks or spells.

Brauner follows up by summoning paint-like blood blobs from his hand, harmful on touch, and spreading them around. He can also summon monsters from a painting, with the effects depending on the painting's color:

• Green: Summons two large spinning monsters with five appendages each, inflicting Poison status upon contact.
• Gray: Summons two giant ghosts, one on the ground and the other on the ceiling, which inflict Curse status upon contact.
• Blue: Releases numerous flying cycloptic heads that inflict Petrification status on contact, lowering defenses and leaving the player vulnerable.

Additionally, Brauner can teleport into his portrait and fly around, damaging players upon touch, in a manner reminiscent of the Captain miniboss from Rondo of Blood.

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. Vampires reflections do not appear on mirrors, making them easier to identify. Vampires are noted to be weak during the dawn.

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. Holy Water even works and harms enemies such as the "Holy Armor", a knight who has natural holy powers. Corrupted enemies such as Charlie Vincent, use holy water attacks on Carrie and Reinhardt. Characters like Jonathan Morris wear armor like the Holy Mail, an armor that reduces damage from holy attacks.
• While vampires have some weakness to sunlight and can burn overtime in them, higher tier vampires, can stand out in the sunlight just fine without being weakened. It should also be noted even with Dhamphir's like Alucard, in original lore, he was considered a full vampire yet could stand out in the sunlight perfectly fine.

Trivia

Victor Brauner (c. 1960).

• Brauner is based on real life painter Victor Brauner, a surrealist artist that often painted portraits that included signs and symbols based from a diverse range of sources, such as religion and mysticism. Eyes had been a reoccurring theme in much of his early works; in doing so, he gained a reputation of seer among the Surrealists community, also believing himself to be one. After an incident where he lost the sight of his left eye, his work became more introspective and symbols such as a prophetic cyclops eye became common. Likewise, one of the vampire Brauner's attacks in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin involves summoning Cyclops' heads, and the big painting on the canvas in his studio has many eyes, among other macabre imagery.
• Even though Brauner is a vampire who seeks Humanity's destruction and uses the souls of those who died in World War II to revive Dracula's Castle, he does not seek to revive (nor does he intend to serve) Dracula, who he keeps under a seal, instead taking the castle's power and army for himself. The reason Brauner does not revive Dracula is because of his constant failures to destroy Humanity. Brauner is one of a handful of monsters/vampires who do not serve Dracula (such as the Frozen Half and the Time Reaper) and is opposed to Dracula's status as Dark Lord (similar to Galamoth).
  • Ironically, Dracula is partially responsible for the deaths of Brauner's two daughters (which fueled Brauner's hatred for Humanity), as Dracula's niece, Elizabeth Bartley, had the Crown Prince of Austria assassinated, leading Europe into the chaos of World War I (which took the lives of Brauner's two daughters) in order to revive her uncle, only for both to be defeated by John Morris and Eric Lecarde (the same man Brauner would later murder). Brauner, however, apparently held Humanity responsible for the war (it is unknown if he was aware of Bartley's role in starting the war or not) that led to the deaths of his beloved daughters.
    • In a further level of irony, Brauner's English voice actor, Jamieson Price, voiced Walter Bernhard, who ended up being manipulated by Mathias Cronqvist into allowing him to become Dracula, with Death even playing a major role in his final defeat.
    • In addition, both Brauner and Dracula became vampires for the exact same reason: Both did so due to sadness over the loss of loved ones (as Mathias became Dracula due to the death of Elisabetha Cronqvist, while Brauner became a vampire because of his daughters' deaths during World War I), and both even developed genocidal views against Humanity for similar reasons (although in Brauner's case, it was the same reason he became a vampire, while with Dracula, it was the death of his second wife Lisa Tepes at the hands of humans that resulted in his genocidal actions against Humanity).
  • Despite being enemies, both Brauner and Eric Lecarde have lost loved ones due to the actions of Elizabeth Bartley. She turned Eric's lover, Lucy Seward, into a vampire who Eric was forced to destroy, and started the war which took the lives of Brauner's daughters (whose souls Brauner believed had been reincarnated into Eric's two daughters, Stella and Loretta).

Count Orlok, from the 1922 Gothic horror film, Nosferatu.

• Brauner's overall design seems to be based on both Count Orlok, the main antagonist of the 1922 Gothic horror film Nosferatu, and Count Olrox from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. While in fact Olrox was primarily inspired by the film's character, Brauner only wears a purple-colored Victorian apparel similar to Olrox's; the rest of his physical features (face, pointy ears and thin hands with long nails) along with the design of his suit (which now portrays a larger collar) are more reminiscent to those of Count Orlok.
  • These similarities are highlighted in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, as defeating Brauner while playing as either Soma Cruz or Alucard]] sometimes has the Olrox's Suit appear as an enemy drop.
  • The similarities were also given a nod in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, where after Lucy alludes to Brauner sealing Dracula's Castle in a painting to take advantage of its magic, Genya Arikado mentions he was familiar with Olrox, yet not Brauner.
  • Coincidentally, both Brauner and Olrox were vampires who restored Dracula's Castle without actually serving Dracula, usurped his authority, and even ended up killed by Death with the unwitting aid of a vampire hunter.
• His internal files give names to his three invocations. This is actually the Japanese phonetic pronunciation of the damage type they inflict:
  • Doku (毒, "poison") for the green star-shaped monster.
  • Noroi (呪い, "curse") for the gray ghosts.
  • Sekika (石化, "petrification") for the cyclops' heads.
• Brauner's method of attack when he enters a painting and swoops down on the player is reminiscent of the Captain, a miniboss from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
• Brauner is the first person to think of separating Dracula from his castle as a way of subduing him, with Genya Arikado and Julius Belmont doing something similar later on during the Demon Castle War, as Arikado commented on.

Battle Records

2 - 2 - 0

VictoriesLossesInconclusive

• Eric Lecarde - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Dracula's Castle

• Stella Lecarde & Loretta Lecarde - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Master's Keep
  • Note: Brauner sneak attacked Stella and bit her with Loretta being in too much shock to move.

• Jonathan Morris & Charlotte Aulin - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Master's Keep

• Death - Fight
  • Conditions: Brauner was already defeated and weakened by Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin.
  • Location: Master's Keep
  • Note: Due to Death along with Dracula being the hardest fight for Jonathan and Charlotte, it is likely that Death would be able to defeat Brauner without needing to wait for Jonathan and Charlotte to weaken him.

None.