Lenore

Lenore is a major character introduced in Season 3 of the Castlevania animated series. She was one of the four Queens of Styria and a member of the Council of Sisters, where she served as their diplomat. She was charged to convince Hector to help the Council build an army of night creatures. She was voiced by Jessica Brown Findlay in the English version of the show. Lenore's appearance is that of a slender beautiful young woman of shorter stature, with pale skin, ginger red hair and red eyes. Like all vampires, she has pointed ears and sharp fangs. The sides of her hair are gathered into a small long braid on her back, with a silver hair ornament and a translucent veil attached, covering part of the hair. The rest of the hair is wavy and worn loose. She wears a dark navy blue dress with teal embellishments and trimmings and partially covered at the shoulders by a fluffy white coat. She has a belt with a bat-like symbol on the buckle, and she also wears a silver necklace and studs. Lenore is the diplomat of the group and is good at getting others to trust her. While she appears to be kind and honest, she is as shrewd and calculating as her sisters... perhaps even more so. As such, she is not above using underhanded tactics to get results, such as manipulation and gaslighting, which is exemplified when she seduces Hector before making him her slave. She does stay somewhat true to her word, though, as she doesn't return Hector to his cell, but allows him to live in the castle with her and her sisters, although he is still condemned to a life of servitude. Lenore is shown to take her job as the Styria Council's diplomat very seriously, as seen during her first interactions with Hector, where she made it viciously clear that she wasn't weak and to never assume that she was an easy target to either manipulate or underestimate due to her innocent appearance, demanding respect as an equal from her prisoner. Due to her duty as a diplomat, Lenore has shown herself to be incredibly tactful, pragmatic, and patient when negotiating with others, as seen during her negotiations with Hector, were she made sure to be both precise and patient during the course of her visits to carefully dissect his mentality and glean the proper method to manipulate him into doing what she wanted, while ensuring at the same time that he remained oblivious to her subtle manipulation and analysis of him. Lenore also possesses the strong personal belief and value in the practice of commerce, having the firm belief that everyone has to have some sort of desire for whatever action they do, and believes that everyone deserves a proper reward for their services given, as stated by her during her talks with Hector, where she also reveals that she believes this method is the best tool to be used during negotiations, which ensures that everyone involved in the proceedings is content; and believing that other motivational tools, such as faith, are weak tools during negotiations. It was also noted by her "sisters" that she probably was the kindest and most compassionate of the four, as stated by Carmilla, who mentions that one day, when Lenore found a spider with a broken leg, felt immense pity for it and ravingly tore the castle apart hoping to find the right object small enough to create a splint - an attitude in complete contrast to the typical behavior of a vampire. However, this sense of compassion and kindness was later revealed to be incredibly warped, as seen where she happily declared that what she always wanted from Hector was for him to be her "pet", as she had come to the conclusion that he simply couldn't handle living on his own without someone controlling him, utterly ignoring his own pleadings for freedom, as she had already set her mind into believing this was what was best for him and what he always wanted and needed all along. Although twisted, this served to show Lenore's sense of fairness and honor as well. Despite it not being what he initially thought and him essentially being enslaved, Lenore had indeed fulfilled her promise to treat him better than a prisoner and secured him a level of independence, autonomy, and freedom within the castle; something that no human within a castle full of vampires could ever obtain. Unlike her sisters, the authors portrayed Lenore as a conflicting character whose compassion is pitted against common vampire complexes, such as treating humans as inferior. Lenore also seems to have some feeling of insecurity from her sisters making fun of her compassion or not taking her seriously (as she pointed out to Hector often happens due to her being a diplomat). This makes her true intentions harder to read since she can present a front to her sisters for the sake of a tougher appearance while hiding her true emotions. One such example is portrayed in "The Reparation of My Heart", where Carmilla presented her plan for turning humans into endless supply of blood. To Carmilla's remark about humans being "self-replicating food", Lenore appeared rather upset - she clearly didn't feel good about such maniacal attitude, but when grinning, Morana noticed her expression, Lenore tried to hide her feelings. Also, Lenore's reaction to the story of the spider was exaggeratedly dismissive since she likely didn't want to admit her compassionate nature to her sisters, who were picking on her for it. Her sisters also consider Lenore a romantic. In "I Have a Scheme", Striga responded to Morana's remark about "falling in love in a fairy tale castle", that she sounded like Lenore. Events of Season 4 provided further insight into Lenore's kinder nature, showing her not being an evil person. Being a child of war and a diplomat Lenore was never comfortable with the idea that the best way to end war is to kill most of the people and cage the rest. Lenore was also shown as genuinely caring for Hector, protecting him from Carmilla's anger and rushing to his defense during Isaac's attack on the castle. Being a romantic, Lenore preferred happiness to the power that consumes it. She questioned Carmilla whether conquering the whole world would bring her happiness and was very concerned and worried when Carmilla had a strong outburst about her desire for world domination and taking everything from everybody. Lenore also pointed out to Hector how power is something that ruined her life, probably implying that Carmilla's lust for power and conflict between Carmilla and Isaac cost her stability of life and caused changes she couldn't handle.