Castlevania: Nocturne (2023) s01e03 Episode Script
Freedom Was Sweeter
1
- [eerie music playing]
- [sizzling]
[blows]
To the one before whom evil trembles.
[Vaublanc] I give my devotion.
To the Devourer of Light, the Messiah.
I pledge my service, forever.
[sizzling]
[eerie music building]
[music fades]
[dramatic opening theme music plays]
[music fades]
[insects trilling]
[birds chirping]
[creek bubbling]
The vampires and night creatures
were coming from all directions, Annette.
All we could do was retreat.
None of this is your fault.
Edouard would never have abandoned me.
[exhales, sniffles]
And now he's dead.
He knew the risks
when he chose to come here.
[sighs]
He was my family.
[gentle music playing]
I had no one after my mother died.
After she was killed.
[woman] Sunrise, sunset ♪
In the night ♪
Your mother's Iwa ♪
Is unchained ♪
- [woman humming]
- [grunts]
[sighing]
[humming continues]
[giggles]
[ominous music playing]
[mouse squeaking]
[gasps]
[woman gasps]
[high-pitched ringing]
- [neighs]
- Sorry! She's sorry!
- [gasps]
- See? Her bag is almost full.
She's been doing good. Real good.
The crop will be good and cleared.
[cicadas rattling]
[woman humming]
Watch over ♪
And protect ♪
You ♪
[chuckles]
[footsteps approaching]
[Vaublanc] And so many things
which could hurt you, child.
[ominous music playing]
Snakes, witches, secrets.
Do you have secrets, Esther?
- [Esther gasps]
- [flames whoosh]
[tense music playing]
[sniffs]
- [Vaublanc snarls]
- [Esther whimpers]
- [objects clattering]
- [Esther whimpering]
[Vaublanc] Ah.
- [Esther whimpering]
- [eerie music playing]
[Esther gasping]
[grunts]
[Esther grunting in pain]
There will be no spells cast
on my plantation.
No charms, no dances, no songs.
- [eerie music building]
- [gasps]
- [bones snap]
- [music fades]
[Annette softly] Sunrise, sunset ♪
In the night ♪
Your mother's ♪
Iwa ♪
Is unchained ♪
I know what it's like
to watch your mother die.
I fled but I guess you couldn't do that.
[mysterious music playing]
I held my mother's lullabies in my heart.
The songs were ancestral calls,
connecting me to African deities
beyond the plantation,
beyond ocean crossings and mortal flesh.
I could not be caged.
No matter how many times
they tried to take me.
[ominous music playing]
I was always plotting an escape.
[grunting]
But the slave drivers' eyes
were always on me.
[Annette struggling]
[groans]
I was 16 when they tried to brand me
but I was not going to be branded.
- [suspenseful music plays]
- [sizzling]
- [grunts]
- [clangs]
[mysterious music playing]
[Annette] I'd inherited
from my father's bloodline
the power of the god
of war and iron, Ogun.
I didn't know what was happening,
but my guiding spirit heard my calls
when I needed him the most.
You better run, little girl.
[ominous music playing]
[Vaublanc whistles]
[chuckles] Run. Run as fast as you can.
[barking]
[panting]
[gasps] No.
[ethereal music playing]
[music fades]
[panting]
- [indistinct conversations]
- [man singing in distance]
[gasping]
[grunts]
[gasps]
[horse neighs]
[sniffs, snorts]
[sniffing]
- [barking]
- [gasps]
[whimpering]
- [singing grows louder]
- [opera music playing]
[gasps]
- [panting]
- [music grows louder]
[gasps softly]
Edouard believed singing
was the soul's way of speaking.
That's why, from pauper to statesman,
everyone is drawn to music.
[chuckles]
He'd say that when he was on stage
looking out to the audience,
he could see the colors
of everyone's soul.
Mine was pink.
He was wrong, though.
Green is my favorite color.
[opera music and singing continue]
[sniffing]
[dogs barking]
- [dogs barking]
- Stop. Stop. Stop!
- [music stops]
- [patrons gasping, murmuring]
Who the hell are you,
and what do you think you're doing?
[Vaublanc] My slave came through here.
My dogs can smell her.
There are 500 people in this theater,
and all any of us can smell is your dogs.
I want my property back.
[audience murmuring]
But I can wait.
[door closes]
[music continues]
[music fades]
- [door opens]
- [footsteps approaching]
[shudders] No, no, no, no, no.
Not now. No, no, no, no.
[gasps softly]
You're stepping on my French silks.
- [magic hums]
- [wood rattling]
[magical humming fades]
You need to get out of those wet clothes.
Help yourself to something.
Oh! Lovely.
That's from The Beggar's Opera.
He's a vampire, isn't he?
Your master.
- [Annette] Has he gone?
- [Edouard] I doubt it.
[Annette inhales] I'm fast. I can run.
This is an island, baby. Can you swim?
Mm.
I'm Edouard.
Annette.
There's not that many places to hide
for people that look like us.
You're thinking,
"Oh, but he was born free.
He's not like me."
It's what's in our hearts
that matters, Annette.
So why do you sing for these people?
I make them happy,
and they lower their guard
and loosen their tongues.
You learn useful information that way.
It helps when I have to hide runaways.
- [mysterious music playing]
- [horse and carriage approaching]
[horse neighs]
[Annette] Edouard took me up
to the mountains to join the Maroons,
escaped slaves mobilizing a resistance,
which I had just joined.
[magic hums]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[Annette panting]
Cecile was the high priestess.
She taught me spells.
How to open spiritual crossroads
for ceremonies.
[sizzling]
[Annette] How to quieten my fear
so that I could hear Ogun clearly.
Close your eyes.
- Breathe in.
- [inhales]
- Breathe out.
- [exhales]
- Breathe in.
- [inhales]
- Breathe out.
- [exhales]
[intriguing music playing]
[music continues]
- [reciting incantation in Creole]
- [rattles]
[rattling]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[Annette] Warriors in arms.
Family in hearts.
[Cecile] Revolution is sweeping France,
humbling the lords and ladies and dukes
and, who knows, maybe even kings.
Liberty, equality, fraternity, they say,
but their revolution will not break
our chains of bondage.
Slaves will still be beaten,
tortured, and oppressed.
We must discard the god of the whites
and listen to the voice of emancipation.
[all cheering]
[Cecile] It is time for Saint-Domingue
to burn!
[Richter] It sounds like an epic battle.
[Annette] Freedom was sweeter
than the sugar we harvested.
[people shouting]
[ominous music playing]
[Annette] I hunted down Vaublanc.
- [crickets chirping]
- [tense music playing]
What do you think
this rebellion will change?
There will always be masters and servants.
Slavery is the natural order.
You can't kill us all.
I can kill you.
You're still that scared little girl
singing her little songs at bath time.
- [magic humming]
- [grunts]
[grunts]
[groans]
[grunts]
[groans]
[groans weakly]
[Annette straining]
[grunts]
[chirping]
[music fades]
[Edouard singing
"Il Mio Tesoro" by Mozart in Italian]
Vaublanc changed into a bat.
What other magic can they do?
Cecile, what's wrong?
- [loud whooshing]
- [monster snarling]
[bats screeching]
[whimpering, groaning]
- I'm here. Cecile, I I'm here.
- [groaning]
- [shudders]
- [eerie music playing]
[gasping] Suffering, death,
hundreds of thousands of dead.
She's worse than Vaublanc could ever be.
The Vampire Messiah, she calls herself.
Here in Saint-Domingue?
No. Not yet.
Across the ocean.
She will conquer Europe first,
unless we stop her.
[music fades]
I have to go to France.
Then I'm coming with you.
He'll be waiting when I get back.
Warriors in arms, Annette.
Family in hearts.
[Annette] He was so brave,
so committed to our freedom.
We'll avenge him.
I swear.
[mysterious music playing]
- [music continues]
- [blade whirling]
[music fades]
[Mizrak grunts]
Who the fuck are you,
and what do you want?
[grunts, gasps]
Why is your Abbot forging night creatures
for the Vampire Messiah?
It doesn't sit well with your faith.
What do you know about faith?
[grunts]
Faith is a foundation.
Faith is order.
"When you walk through fire, you shall not
be burned, nor will flames consume you."
Isaiah, 43:2.
Faith is a companion
in the hardest of times.
When the world abandons you.
Oh. Has the world abandoned you, Mizrak?
You know my name, tell me yours.
The revolution's forcing everyone
to choose sides.
Clergyman who don't profess loyalty
to the state are being guillotined.
And you'd rather be loyal
to Erzsebet Bathory?
- [ominous music playing]
- Do you have any idea who she is?
What she's capable of?
[Mizrak groans, grunts]
[grunts, pants]
The moment she doesn't need you,
she'll turn on you and murder you, slowly,
one by one.
[scoffs, chuckles]
You expect me
to believe you care, vampire?
Let's do this again,
somewhere more comfortable.
My name is Olrox, by the way.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Erzsebet] Is everything ready
in Machecoul?
Devotees are filling the château.
The Marquis is excited to meet you,
and I'm meeting the Forgemaster tomorrow.
[Erzsebet] Mm.
I dreamt last night
about the world we are making.
The Empress of Russia,
the Holy Roman Emperor,
the Ottoman Sultan, the Pope,
all kneeling before me,
kissing my feet.
[moans] It was such a beautiful dream.
They're all going to kneel, Countess.
Every single one.
We've all heard about the slave uprising
in Saint-Domingue.
Tonight, we've got someone
who took part in it.
A great revolutionary leader.
I give you Annette.
They're going to love you.
Egun mojuba. Ancestors, I give respect.
I am not a revolutionary leader.
I am a girl who used to be a slave
until slavery could be endured no longer.
This revolution,
it speaks of something it calls reason,
but only God can save your souls.
We lit a spark, a few of us at first
hiding in the mountains,
but the sugar and tobacco fields
had dried out in the sun,
and the spark lit a flame,
and then the flame was an inferno,
and all their power and cruelty
crumbled before us.
- [people cheering]
- Liberty, equality, fraternity!
They burn Catholic churches
and destroy statues
of Mary and the saints,
and call it reason.
I call it the work of the devil.
- [roars]
- [dramatic music playing]
It's all right, stay in your seats.
We're safe.
God will protect us.
- [exciting music playing]
- [snarling]
Split up. Clear pathways.
- [metal rasping]
- [gasps]
[grunts]
[snarling]
[Richter grunts]
[whip cracks]
[screeching]
Go!
[roars]
[snarling]
[roars]
[Annette grunting]
[shrieks in pain]
[Annette panting]
[roars]
- [grunts]
- [shrieks]
[music fades]
[eerie music building]
[gasps]
[sizzling]
[ominous music playing]
[growls]
[music fades]
What the fuck just happened?
It was Edouard.
I saw his eyes.
What? What do you mean?
- He's dead.
- [sobbing softly]
- They're going to the abbey.
- [Annette sobbing]
[sad, ethereal music playing]
He's a night creature.
My sweet, beautiful Edouard
has been turned into a monster
conjured from hell.
[music fades]
[gentle, ethereal music playing]
- [eerie music playing]
- [sizzling]
[blows]
To the one before whom evil trembles.
[Vaublanc] I give my devotion.
To the Devourer of Light, the Messiah.
I pledge my service, forever.
[sizzling]
[eerie music building]
[music fades]
[dramatic opening theme music plays]
[music fades]
[insects trilling]
[birds chirping]
[creek bubbling]
The vampires and night creatures
were coming from all directions, Annette.
All we could do was retreat.
None of this is your fault.
Edouard would never have abandoned me.
[exhales, sniffles]
And now he's dead.
He knew the risks
when he chose to come here.
[sighs]
He was my family.
[gentle music playing]
I had no one after my mother died.
After she was killed.
[woman] Sunrise, sunset ♪
In the night ♪
Your mother's Iwa ♪
Is unchained ♪
- [woman humming]
- [grunts]
[sighing]
[humming continues]
[giggles]
[ominous music playing]
[mouse squeaking]
[gasps]
[woman gasps]
[high-pitched ringing]
- [neighs]
- Sorry! She's sorry!
- [gasps]
- See? Her bag is almost full.
She's been doing good. Real good.
The crop will be good and cleared.
[cicadas rattling]
[woman humming]
Watch over ♪
And protect ♪
You ♪
[chuckles]
[footsteps approaching]
[Vaublanc] And so many things
which could hurt you, child.
[ominous music playing]
Snakes, witches, secrets.
Do you have secrets, Esther?
- [Esther gasps]
- [flames whoosh]
[tense music playing]
[sniffs]
- [Vaublanc snarls]
- [Esther whimpers]
- [objects clattering]
- [Esther whimpering]
[Vaublanc] Ah.
- [Esther whimpering]
- [eerie music playing]
[Esther gasping]
[grunts]
[Esther grunting in pain]
There will be no spells cast
on my plantation.
No charms, no dances, no songs.
- [eerie music building]
- [gasps]
- [bones snap]
- [music fades]
[Annette softly] Sunrise, sunset ♪
In the night ♪
Your mother's ♪
Iwa ♪
Is unchained ♪
I know what it's like
to watch your mother die.
I fled but I guess you couldn't do that.
[mysterious music playing]
I held my mother's lullabies in my heart.
The songs were ancestral calls,
connecting me to African deities
beyond the plantation,
beyond ocean crossings and mortal flesh.
I could not be caged.
No matter how many times
they tried to take me.
[ominous music playing]
I was always plotting an escape.
[grunting]
But the slave drivers' eyes
were always on me.
[Annette struggling]
[groans]
I was 16 when they tried to brand me
but I was not going to be branded.
- [suspenseful music plays]
- [sizzling]
- [grunts]
- [clangs]
[mysterious music playing]
[Annette] I'd inherited
from my father's bloodline
the power of the god
of war and iron, Ogun.
I didn't know what was happening,
but my guiding spirit heard my calls
when I needed him the most.
You better run, little girl.
[ominous music playing]
[Vaublanc whistles]
[chuckles] Run. Run as fast as you can.
[barking]
[panting]
[gasps] No.
[ethereal music playing]
[music fades]
[panting]
- [indistinct conversations]
- [man singing in distance]
[gasping]
[grunts]
[gasps]
[horse neighs]
[sniffs, snorts]
[sniffing]
- [barking]
- [gasps]
[whimpering]
- [singing grows louder]
- [opera music playing]
[gasps]
- [panting]
- [music grows louder]
[gasps softly]
Edouard believed singing
was the soul's way of speaking.
That's why, from pauper to statesman,
everyone is drawn to music.
[chuckles]
He'd say that when he was on stage
looking out to the audience,
he could see the colors
of everyone's soul.
Mine was pink.
He was wrong, though.
Green is my favorite color.
[opera music and singing continue]
[sniffing]
[dogs barking]
- [dogs barking]
- Stop. Stop. Stop!
- [music stops]
- [patrons gasping, murmuring]
Who the hell are you,
and what do you think you're doing?
[Vaublanc] My slave came through here.
My dogs can smell her.
There are 500 people in this theater,
and all any of us can smell is your dogs.
I want my property back.
[audience murmuring]
But I can wait.
[door closes]
[music continues]
[music fades]
- [door opens]
- [footsteps approaching]
[shudders] No, no, no, no, no.
Not now. No, no, no, no.
[gasps softly]
You're stepping on my French silks.
- [magic hums]
- [wood rattling]
[magical humming fades]
You need to get out of those wet clothes.
Help yourself to something.
Oh! Lovely.
That's from The Beggar's Opera.
He's a vampire, isn't he?
Your master.
- [Annette] Has he gone?
- [Edouard] I doubt it.
[Annette inhales] I'm fast. I can run.
This is an island, baby. Can you swim?
Mm.
I'm Edouard.
Annette.
There's not that many places to hide
for people that look like us.
You're thinking,
"Oh, but he was born free.
He's not like me."
It's what's in our hearts
that matters, Annette.
So why do you sing for these people?
I make them happy,
and they lower their guard
and loosen their tongues.
You learn useful information that way.
It helps when I have to hide runaways.
- [mysterious music playing]
- [horse and carriage approaching]
[horse neighs]
[Annette] Edouard took me up
to the mountains to join the Maroons,
escaped slaves mobilizing a resistance,
which I had just joined.
[magic hums]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[Annette panting]
Cecile was the high priestess.
She taught me spells.
How to open spiritual crossroads
for ceremonies.
[sizzling]
[Annette] How to quieten my fear
so that I could hear Ogun clearly.
Close your eyes.
- Breathe in.
- [inhales]
- Breathe out.
- [exhales]
- Breathe in.
- [inhales]
- Breathe out.
- [exhales]
[intriguing music playing]
[music continues]
- [reciting incantation in Creole]
- [rattles]
[rattling]
[reciting incantation in Creole]
[Annette] Warriors in arms.
Family in hearts.
[Cecile] Revolution is sweeping France,
humbling the lords and ladies and dukes
and, who knows, maybe even kings.
Liberty, equality, fraternity, they say,
but their revolution will not break
our chains of bondage.
Slaves will still be beaten,
tortured, and oppressed.
We must discard the god of the whites
and listen to the voice of emancipation.
[all cheering]
[Cecile] It is time for Saint-Domingue
to burn!
[Richter] It sounds like an epic battle.
[Annette] Freedom was sweeter
than the sugar we harvested.
[people shouting]
[ominous music playing]
[Annette] I hunted down Vaublanc.
- [crickets chirping]
- [tense music playing]
What do you think
this rebellion will change?
There will always be masters and servants.
Slavery is the natural order.
You can't kill us all.
I can kill you.
You're still that scared little girl
singing her little songs at bath time.
- [magic humming]
- [grunts]
[grunts]
[groans]
[grunts]
[groans]
[groans weakly]
[Annette straining]
[grunts]
[chirping]
[music fades]
[Edouard singing
"Il Mio Tesoro" by Mozart in Italian]
Vaublanc changed into a bat.
What other magic can they do?
Cecile, what's wrong?
- [loud whooshing]
- [monster snarling]
[bats screeching]
[whimpering, groaning]
- I'm here. Cecile, I I'm here.
- [groaning]
- [shudders]
- [eerie music playing]
[gasping] Suffering, death,
hundreds of thousands of dead.
She's worse than Vaublanc could ever be.
The Vampire Messiah, she calls herself.
Here in Saint-Domingue?
No. Not yet.
Across the ocean.
She will conquer Europe first,
unless we stop her.
[music fades]
I have to go to France.
Then I'm coming with you.
He'll be waiting when I get back.
Warriors in arms, Annette.
Family in hearts.
[Annette] He was so brave,
so committed to our freedom.
We'll avenge him.
I swear.
[mysterious music playing]
- [music continues]
- [blade whirling]
[music fades]
[Mizrak grunts]
Who the fuck are you,
and what do you want?
[grunts, gasps]
Why is your Abbot forging night creatures
for the Vampire Messiah?
It doesn't sit well with your faith.
What do you know about faith?
[grunts]
Faith is a foundation.
Faith is order.
"When you walk through fire, you shall not
be burned, nor will flames consume you."
Isaiah, 43:2.
Faith is a companion
in the hardest of times.
When the world abandons you.
Oh. Has the world abandoned you, Mizrak?
You know my name, tell me yours.
The revolution's forcing everyone
to choose sides.
Clergyman who don't profess loyalty
to the state are being guillotined.
And you'd rather be loyal
to Erzsebet Bathory?
- [ominous music playing]
- Do you have any idea who she is?
What she's capable of?
[Mizrak groans, grunts]
[grunts, pants]
The moment she doesn't need you,
she'll turn on you and murder you, slowly,
one by one.
[scoffs, chuckles]
You expect me
to believe you care, vampire?
Let's do this again,
somewhere more comfortable.
My name is Olrox, by the way.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Erzsebet] Is everything ready
in Machecoul?
Devotees are filling the château.
The Marquis is excited to meet you,
and I'm meeting the Forgemaster tomorrow.
[Erzsebet] Mm.
I dreamt last night
about the world we are making.
The Empress of Russia,
the Holy Roman Emperor,
the Ottoman Sultan, the Pope,
all kneeling before me,
kissing my feet.
[moans] It was such a beautiful dream.
They're all going to kneel, Countess.
Every single one.
We've all heard about the slave uprising
in Saint-Domingue.
Tonight, we've got someone
who took part in it.
A great revolutionary leader.
I give you Annette.
They're going to love you.
Egun mojuba. Ancestors, I give respect.
I am not a revolutionary leader.
I am a girl who used to be a slave
until slavery could be endured no longer.
This revolution,
it speaks of something it calls reason,
but only God can save your souls.
We lit a spark, a few of us at first
hiding in the mountains,
but the sugar and tobacco fields
had dried out in the sun,
and the spark lit a flame,
and then the flame was an inferno,
and all their power and cruelty
crumbled before us.
- [people cheering]
- Liberty, equality, fraternity!
They burn Catholic churches
and destroy statues
of Mary and the saints,
and call it reason.
I call it the work of the devil.
- [roars]
- [dramatic music playing]
It's all right, stay in your seats.
We're safe.
God will protect us.
- [exciting music playing]
- [snarling]
Split up. Clear pathways.
- [metal rasping]
- [gasps]
[grunts]
[snarling]
[Richter grunts]
[whip cracks]
[screeching]
Go!
[roars]
[snarling]
[roars]
[Annette grunting]
[shrieks in pain]
[Annette panting]
[roars]
- [grunts]
- [shrieks]
[music fades]
[eerie music building]
[gasps]
[sizzling]
[ominous music playing]
[growls]
[music fades]
What the fuck just happened?
It was Edouard.
I saw his eyes.
What? What do you mean?
- He's dead.
- [sobbing softly]
- They're going to the abbey.
- [Annette sobbing]
[sad, ethereal music playing]
He's a night creature.
My sweet, beautiful Edouard
has been turned into a monster
conjured from hell.
[music fades]
[gentle, ethereal music playing]