A birthday gift from my friend last year. I'm really shocked when I opened the box 😳 I thought it's impossible to make it real but she did it!! She did it for me 🥺😭 It looks exactly the same as his ✨ The kanji is handwritten by herself, so beautiful 💖 She's really talented and she made my dream comes true 🥺 I hang it on my bag as a charm so it can be with me wherever I go 😆 I'm so happy that I finally have a couple thing with my windy babe 😍🤭
I love how Greta's response to Alucard's traumatic experience, where he was literally raped by Taka and Sumi, is literally, "oh yeah, I had a threesome once."
Why the fuck is this show still going? Why do we have to deal with Nocturne now wtf
Brb using this ask to speak my mind about Greta because, like many things in this show, I don't think she was that great.
Alucard: And then, I'm ashamed to say, I put them on stakes outside the castle like I was my father.
Greta: Okay.
Alucard: I'm just saying, I am not at my best. It has been...difficult.
Greta: Hmm. I can see that. I mean, I had a boyfriend and a girlfriend at the same time once, but they never tried to kill me. Actually, no. I tell a lie. His wife went for me with a pitchfork.
Then Alucard proceeds to laugh, and Greta to go "I knew you'd be strange"
I think the worst part isn't the god awful dialogues. It's the fact that this, right there, has fans going "they're such a good couple" "haha coping with trauma by joking around haha classic" "waw I love Greta" and many other positive reactions. The amount of people who don't see what's wrong here saddens me. How can you not see how fucked up it is to compare your very consented relationships with this stranger's sexual assault and betrayal of his trust? The "coping with trauma by joking" only works when the traumatized one is the one joking about it. And when the other one joking with you is someone you know and trust. Because I can buy the "trauma dumping on a stranger" thing, but seriously, it's the same problem as Alucard and Trevor going "eat shit and die" "yes fuck you" and then laughing like they've known each other for a while now. You need time for stuff like this. People don't make friends by being rude and inconsiderate to others.
We cannot ignore how much this screams "male trauma isn't that important". It's not shown only in this exchange, as Hector also went through a traumatizing sexual experience, betrayed by one he trusted fully just like Alucard. And, just like Alucard, s4 does not follow through with it seriously. Just like Alucard, his trauma is brushed off with a joke. (Something about Hector "enjoying it"). There is no real consequences to what happened to them, as Hector still is in love and protects Lenore despite what she did, and Alucard quickly got over everything the moment he decided to help Danesti (no consequences for staking two people and putting them in front of the castle either). He did not hesitate for long to help, and did not hesitate at ALL to bring all these strangers to his home despite having been betrayed by two trusted companions just a few episodes ago. The show seems to have a problem with handling male trauma. Just like it won't allow a female character to be weak, it won't allow it's male characters to be vulnerable. Not for more than five seconds, at least.
Tbh I've had a problem with Greta since the beginning. Here's some of the dialogue from after Alucard arrived at her town and defeated 3 monsters right in front of everyone's eyes:
Alucard: How long have you been under attack?
Greta: Four days. First it was just one of those bastards. More every night. We barely made it through last night. We're lucky only a third of us are dead. Will you help us?
Alucard: I'm sure I can do something for you.
Greta: I'm not interested in magic tricks and one fight. These people are under my care. Will you stay and defend them for as long as it takes?
Alucard: I said--
Greta: You have to understand. I don't know you. You've been 20-odd miles away for months. You creep around the forest. You've got bodies on stakes outside your weird castle. You're obviously half-vampire, and you stink of wine, and you appear to me to be at least half-crazy. But you were the only possible advantage I could think of. I don't need to be impressed by low-key swagger. I need you to commit to saving these people. Because my life isn't worth living if I can't save theirs.
Alucard: All done?
Greta: Did it work?
Alucard: Yes.
Greta: Then I'm all done.
Listen, I know, I get it, she's the chief and has a lot of responsabilities, a lot of pressure on her shoulders. Her people depend on her for survival, wich... well, was pretty poor this far. And I get that she doesn't fully trust Alucard... But she is still the one who asked for his help, and there she is, acting as if she didn't just send someone to his death to get him. She's condescending, goes says one fight is not enough to convince her (as if Alucard had something to prove, and not, I don't know, the people who asked for his help?? If anyone has to prove they're worth something, it's THEM), says he's "creeping around the forest" like he's some beast when all we ever saw him do was going to get some water, wich was BEFORE the Taka and Sumi incident btw (if the show actually showed us Alucard creeping around, it could've been worth something, but show don't tell is sooooo hard). And I'm not saying she was COMPLETELY wrong to say he was "stinking of wine", but MAYBE don't talk down to your only chance and call him half crazy?? "I don't need to be impressed by low-key swagger" damn right you don't, because Alucard doesn't owe you people anything. I feel like she's completely overlooking that fact. THEY need him, HE doesn't need them. Girl almost died because she was fighting with a PITCHFORK, wich she LOST to one of the monsters btw! And there's no way ANY of them would've survive had Alucard not been there... but she's not impressed by Alucard's magic and physical abilities?? Acting unimpressed by and uninterested in what and who saved your life, and the lives of the people you seem to care so much about, is not being a cool, strong and independant woman. It's called "thinking I'm better than everyone else".
And then she has the AUDACITY to act like her whole little speech is what convinced Alucard to help... When he had already accepted to before that. "Did it work?" Did WHAT work?? What do you think "I'm sure I can do something for you" means?? I swear this served nothing but show us that she's a #girlboss who takes no shit, EVEN when no shit was given to begin with. Thanks, NFCV, but we already got that you don't know how to write any other type of women.
It's not like she doesn't give valid points as to why she wouldn't trust him fully. But I feel like, when you have in front of you someone who isn't fully human and has bodies on stakes in front of his "weird castle" and that you think is AT LEAST "half-crazy" (and that you also just witnessed taking down three monsters by himself, when you couldn't even hurt one a tiny little bit), and it's the only person you can ask for help, then you'd at least be careful with your words. Because for all she knows, Alucard could've been a monster, the biggest asshole she's ever met (remember, she doesn't know him), or simply someone who would not have appreciated being talked down to and insulted to his face. Resulting in him leaving them to their fate because fuck 'em, they can live or die, what will it change for him? She wouldn't have been such a great leader, now, would she? Ah, but how could we expect proper diplomacy from the show who's only diplomat is Lenore.
Of course Alucard stayed to help anyway, and WE, the audience, expected as much... but she could have NEVER predicted that he was, in fact, a "good guy". Her whole speech was about how bad Alucard looks from the outside and how she still expects him to do what THEY need him to do. In what world is that a good idea?? The only redeemable part is her basically admitting that, after many deaths, they became desperate. But she acts so damn entitled, I swear to god. I know she ends up telling him thank you and praise his entrance, but it doesn't erase the whole, useless speech.
Then the whole "comparing an actual relationship with rape" thing happens. And then some fight. And they reach the castle...
Saint Germain: Dracula's castle. Astonishing. It's really quite--
Greta: Ugly as sin.
Alucard: It's not ugly.
Greta: It's ugly. And it's sad. And it's cold. Bad things happened here.
Alucard: That's my childhood home you're talking about here.
Greta: Well, that explains a lot.
... ok I'm kinda laughing BUT IT'S A DESPERATE LAUGH. Maybe the fans are right. Maybe they make for a great couple... because they both share the instinct of insulting their new "friend's" home the moment they arrive in it despite the fact that they've been brought there to begin with is a big deal. Seriously, what the hell? I get that Dracula's castle is a little special, a little unusual, and not to everyone's taste... but it's still a whole damn castle that the guy you talked down to is offering you to live in, for you and your people's protection, and you INSULT IT TO HIS FACE?? And then insult him once again when he tells you he grew up there (because what other implication is there to get when she says "well, that explains a lot", here?). What an incredible couple dynamic!
"Bad things happened here" yeah just like bad things happened in your village. Your point? Do you wanna go back, maybe? Was your village less "cold"? Is a castle not enough from this total stranger that doesn't know any of you and wins nothing in letting you live there? How entitled do you have to be?? I mean she's allowed to find the whole place creepy and all, all I ask for is some damn decency!! Just a little bit of respect to your vampire Jesus!! I don't think he deserves any kindness, because he's a cunt, but YOU don't know he's a cunt! You don't know shit about him, and you and your people's survival depend on him!! Would it kill you to be grateful, for once?? Do you KNOW how many people would LOVE to have the opportunity to live in a CASTLE?? At least PRETEND to be a little embarrassed to tell him what you think, I don't know!
Out of the top of my head, there's two more moments that I want to talk about, as they show another aspect for her personnality I really, really dislike.
The first moment: when Alucard had to block a door during the siege to protect everyone, preventing monsters from entering... and I can MAYBE accept a little bit the fact that Greta has to remind him that their ennemies can climb. Alucard's "I should have thought of that" is an insult to his intelligence, but sure, whatever, I'll call it karma for how Trevor has been treated the whole show. But then, Greta says "Lucky you have me here to run your life for you now", and... urgh. I. Urgh. I'm sorry but this... seriously? So she's officially his mom, huh. Alucard NEEDS someone to tell him everything he needs to do, he's not the master of his own body and mind. He's just a brat who needs his mommy to tell him what he has to do because otherwise, he's lost. Because he can't think for himself like an adult, no.
That's what I get from this dialogue, and it'll only be confirmed two episodes later, in the second moment that I really disliked: when Sypha was just about to leave the castle.
Remember the context: it's been two weeks since the previous episode. Two weeks since Trevor's "death". Sypha is pregnant, and think it's better for her to join back the Speakers to give birth and live with them. Alucard sees her, and stands up to go talk to her. Greta holds him back and tell him to be gentle, because I guess he wouldn't have been otherwise! (And tells him that she hasn't spoken in two weeks because that the only way the writer found to tell the audience how much time has past). He and Sypha have a nice little chat, where she tries just a little to convince her to stay... but, ultimately, it's Greta's intervention that changes Sypha's mind. Ignoring the debate of "wouldn't it have been better if Alucard, who's SUPPOSED to be Sypha's old friend (lol and lmao), had been enough to convince Sypha, rather than have the new character she doesn't even know convince her?", I'd like to shine the light on this line from Greta:
Greta: And I was hoping you could help me teach this brilliant but actually fairly useless man how to live his life.
Again, she treats Alucard like a child, and we're supposed to find it cute. Well, sorry, but I don't find "treating your adult partner like a being lesser than you" cute, especially when it's more than once. This man fought by your side and saved you and your whole village, for god's sake!
It might seem like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but I'd like to remind everyone that this show has FIVE official couples, and they all, except for ONE, boil down to "girlboss tells her man what to do and how to be like she's her mom". Lisa and Dracula, Sypha and Trevor, Lenore and Hector (this one makes me puke in my mouth), and Greta and Alucard. Each and every one of them has, at one or more occasions, somehow insulted their man, often to their face (if you have a doubt about Lisa: she literally called Dracula "worst than the devil" when the Bishop arrested her :) ). And the one exception? The two lesbian vampires. They literally could not make their couple another "strong woman x man who's submissive to her because she's strong" because they're two strong women. This is so laughable.
So, yeah. I really don't like her, but, let's be fair, I really don't like most of the cast. Either because of their character, or because of the way they've been treated by the narrative. Or both. Trevor and Hector are the only ones I can appreciate, really. They both deserved so much better.
Nocturne is not near as bad as the first show, despite it's many flaws. But hey! They're just one season in! They have all the time to remedy to that :)
You know, I keep bitching about the Styria cast/story and Isaac because. quite frankly. everything else is boring as sin. But sometimes it's good to be reminded that everyone in this joint sucks <3
Oh Greta, you are the worst of both worlds: she is clearly only there to be Alucard's convenient consolation prize gf after the horrors he went through (and to give game fans who were waiting for Grant an extra slap in the face), and she also fills the quota of #girlbosses by being rude as shit and actually really disrespectful to someone's plight
Wish i had screenshots of Sypha being a rude bitch to Trevor because she fits the pattern to a T... but i most certainly have the other proof that this show treats trauma with nuance and respect :)
I love when male rape is represented with all the care of a kick in the balls <3 between this absolutely disgusting line and Greta's frankly nonsensical "joke", I think whatever editor was at the helm decided to drink their sorrows away and allowed the first draft written on toilet paper to be finalized.
Aside from that, you know what Greta is also meant to be? Lisa 2.0. Because her rant about how gross Alucard is is almost a replica of the way Lisa talks down to Dracula in the very first episode:
Dracula: What have you to trade for my knowledge, Lisa from Lupu?
Lisa: Perhaps I could help you relearn some manners. I've crossed the threshold of your home, and you haven't offered me a drink or even to take my coat.
[...]
Dracula: You are definitely different to most humans I have met in recent times.
Lisa: Maybe I can teach you to like people again, or at least tolerate them, or stop putting them on sticks.
Do you know the difference, though? Lisa's sass is more justified. She did walk through a courtyard of impaled corpses, and Dracula did sneak around in the shadows before creeping on her. It comes across as a brave woman treating a genuinely dangerous vampire as a man, and a rude one at that: while it still fits the mold of the wise woman fixing the disaster of a man, at least it's more believable and unique! And she's also more polite when she insists that she'd like help to become a real doctor, not like "you're a weirdo but eh, I don't have anyone better".
So Greta is a shittier Lisa. One that is as sensitive as a pebble in your underwear. She never stood a chance, man. Her only appeal is the most generic "sass" you can write.
unrelated but absolutely love how the literally only loving couple in this joint is the lesbian one. and they are as interesting as wet flour. ah, the smoldering romance of the show (shows, actually, because Ricthernette and Olrak ain't that better) <3
