About Varney

About

Death is a character in the Castlevania animated series. An eternal entity also known as the Grim Reaper, Death seeks to bring Dracula back from the dead. He tricks Saint Germain in doing so by disguising himself as Varney and the Alchemist.

In the English version of the show, both Death and Varney incarnations of the character were voiced by Malcolm McDowell, while the Alchemist was voiced by Christine Adams.

Personality

Consuming the essence of beings who die is not only Death's purpose since the beginning of the first life on Earth, but also his greatest pleasure; just as his hunger for souls and their life energy is his greatest pain. A hunger of the same nature as a vampire's thirst for blood. Death dreams of all life in the world dying so that he can eat his fill of souls along with their life energy, gain omnipotence, and never be hungry again.

Death has no moral limits, there is no act of cruelty or sadism that is beneath him. His desire to kill and consume all the souls of the world is a testament to his absolute selfishness and utter lack of empathy. Death's use of the Rebis is perhaps an even greater demonstration of Death's evil nature. Death has no sympathetic or empathetic features, he is the most evil and morally indifferent character in the series.

As Dracula carried out his attempted genocide, Death was the chief profiteer. Never before had Death eaten so well, nor been so close to his dream of consuming all life. When Dracula was killed, Death was enraged with humanity for ending the genocide and taking his "treasure" away. Death then worked tirelessly to revive Dracula as a Rebis, so that Dracula could murder the world and unwittingly feed all of life to Death.

Varney and Death are one and the same. Though the Varney persona is used to create a laughable character who can influence beneath suspicion, it is still a close parallel to Death's personality. Death is vainglorious, whether he is Varney, the Alchemist, or without disguise. Varney thinks highly of himself as a member of Dracula's court and as an ancient vampire in England. Most everyone who meets Varney, or smells him, have a less flattering opinion of him. Likewise "Death" speaks of himself as if he were the aspect of death itself; arrogantly exposing his immortality and omnipotence. In both personas, Death assumes he is greater than educated observers know he is, and as Varney, he intentionally tries to use more complicated words to appear more educated, something he admits to Saint Germain.

Another parallel between Death and Varney is their place in their respective environments. Both personas are parasites, taking from their environment while giving nothing back. Varney was just significant enough to be a part of Dracula's court and enjoy the plundering of Targoviste after Dracula destroyed the city. Death gives nothing to the world, only seeking to take all life from it. Though Death sees his pleasure for eating the life force of souls that just died as a God given purpose, Trevor Belmont presented an accurate and damning assessment of what Death is: "You're only an old killer, you don't make anything, you don't live. You just eat and hide."

Appearance

"I'm Varney. Night Mayor of London, Terror of British Isles, king vampire *** of all Europe. And I don't have to put up with this."

"I'll have both of you for my *** dinner."

"He has unfinished business, sir. He owes us death. Death in volumes unprecedented. His great work remains incomplete."

"I'm Varney. Varney of London. Since before it was London. I was mighty when London was a Roman ghost town and we still marked our borders out with human skulls."

Powers and Abilities

Death is so powerful that Trevor accepted he wouldn't survive his battle with him. And yet, Death does have his limits. He cannot pull back the dead from Hell (he must rely on humans to do so) and is frustrated to need inferior humans and vampires to enact his will on Earth. As much as he likes to frame himself as the eternal force of death, he is still a living, though partially spiritual, being that can be killed or have his physical form/presence destroyed and/or banished.

Nigh-immortal

Death is nearly completely immortal, having existed since before the dawn of history to the very beginning of life on Earth. Only the most powerful magical weapons can hurt him. Extreme physical strength: Death's physical strength is the greatest of any character in the series. He is able to smash stone towers with his fist and slice through solid rock like butter using his scythe. His attacks are mighty enough to create gusts of wind strong enough to blow men away.

Shapeshifting

Death can take on any human form he chooses. Disguising himself as both Varney the vampire and the Alchemist. Death can also grow in size by consuming souls and their life energy, becoming as large as a castle tower.

Genius level intellect

Much like Dracula, Death has lived for ages, millions to billions of years, and has knowledge of many disciplines. Disguised as the Alchemist, Death displayed great knowledge of the principles of alchemy. However, Death only lives to consume souls and has no interest in creation unless it is to create an item or being that will allow him to consume more souls. As a result of not applying himself, Death's knowledge is inferior when compared to Dracula.

Master manipulator

Death is a cunning strategist and trickster. He has a keen understanding of psychology and an intuitive sense of how to manipulate people's desires to achieve his own ends. Death was effortlessly able to trick Saint Germain into abandoning his morality and do Death's dirty work. In his manipulations, Death always remains beneath suspicion.