Netflix's Castlevania: Season 2's Most Gruesome Kills, Ranked

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Castlevania Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.

Netflix's Castlevania wowed critics and fans alike last year, thanks largely in part to its amazing storytelling and the universe building that Warren Ellis, Adi Shankar and Co. did to shape Wallachia, a land overrun by Dracula's hordes. However, it isn't just about the narrative, as the technical component, the visual aesthetic and such, all combine for a really solid piece of animation.

Another aspect of the show which continues to stand out is its fight sequences and action scenes. With the latest batch of episodes outdoing its debut season, we take a look at the most brutal kills in Castlevania's Season 2, counting down to the absolute best.

6. The War Council's Killing Spree

Throughout the season, Dracula's patience is tested by his War Council, who constantly want to plunder villages and feed on innocents. This annoys the legendary vampire, as he believes such infantile behavior paints them as nothing more than primitive monsters. Nonetheless, his generals eventually break rank and go on a killing spree when they grow tired of their leader's attitude.

We see the War Council on a rampage in one of the series' goriest sequences to date. They attack a snowy village in the dead of night, ripping out the torsos of men, slicing women in half, squashing tiny children, and impaling multiple victims. It sums up how vampires see humanity, as lambs to the slaughter, and that they, as the world's alphas, needed to remind humans of their place in the food chain.

5. Isaac's Religious Meltdown

Season 2 spends a lot of time building the friendship of Dracula and his Devil Forgemaster, Isaac (a necromancer). In Isaac's backstory, while it's understood he's a villain trying to help destroy humanity, it's hard not to empathize with him. He was enslaved by Christian missionaries and is beaten for secretly reading their books.

However, Isaac snaps after his master indicates the only way to show him love is by whipping him and conditioning him into being a puppet for the church. He jumps onto the man and in a sequence similar to the Game of Thrones scene where the Mountain killed Oberyn Martell, Isaac digs his thumbs into the priest's eyes. He ends up crushing his owner's skull, developing an undying hate for his own species.

4. Dracula's Massacre of the Merchants

In Season 1, we really didn't see Dracula unhinged, but Season 2 shows his most primal form. As Alucard (Dracula's son), Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades plot against him, Dracula's own generals begin to wonder if he's lost his savage attitude. Dracula admits death no longer delights him, but as he regales Isaac about a past massacre, he reminds everyone just how gruesome he can be.

The vampire king is seen attacking a merchant village years ago in Transylvania, with 40 men as his targets. Knowing the men would ignore his warnings and try to greedily escape with all their goods, he swarms as the sun sets, decapitating, slicing and ripping his victims to shreds. It's Dracula unleashed, devouring hearts and literally bathing in blood, before leaving carcasses and a burnt village behind as a message to the families of the dead.

NEXT PAGE: The War Council Falls and an Unexpected Death

3. Isaac Kills Godbrand

When Godbrand, a hotheaded Viking-vampire, comes to Isaac's chambers, the necromancer manipulates him into revealing plans to overthrow Dracula. But before Godbrand can leave, in a rare moment where he loses his cool, Isaac takes his whip (a spiked whip he uses for self-flagellation) and wraps it around the vampire's neck, slitting it open.

As Godbrand struggles, Isaac decides he deserves a more severe punishment for his treacherous ways, and plunges his necromancer blade straight into the traitor's heart. This causes the vampire to burst into flames, turning to ash instantly, and leaving the War Council a general short.

2. The War Council Falls

When Trevor, Sypha and Alucard assault Dracula's castle, they first have to contend with his generals, both those defending him and the traitorous ones. In a high-octane battle, we see Alucard turning into his rabid wolf form, as well using his levitating sword, to cut a bloody path to his dad. Trevor also gets in on the action, using his explosive whip, the Morning Star, and sword to slaughter the opposition too.

However, it's the mage Sypha who really steps up, freezing one of Dracula's phase-shifting generals and shattering her, before using her pyrokinetic abilities to burn another general to death. Her crowning moment, though, comes when she creates an ice pane and slices another general in half in a scene befitting of a fatality from the Mortal Kombat franchise.

1. Dracula's Death

When the trio of heroes finally take on Dracula, Trevor and Sypha are easily overpowered. However, when they combine their skills with the strength of Alucard, their magical combos begin to really hurt the tyrant. It all comes to a head when Dracula lets his guard down in Alucard's bedroom, finally regretting how he's failed his son and dead wife, Lisa.

In an act of suicide, Dracula allows his son to stake him, which is quickly followed up by Trevor beheading the king and Sypha magically incinerating his remains for good measure. It's a brutally executed yet heartbreaking death, which leaves the protagonists shaken because they know deep down mankind was to blame for Lisa's murder.

Now streaming on Netflix, Castlevania Season 2 stars Richard Armitage, James Callis, Matt Frewer, Graham McTavish, Alejandra Reynoso and Tony Amendola.