GAWD I LOVE THIS TRACK!!!! I can listen to it all night long, over and over again and never get tired!!!

Anyone else wanna discuss how awesome this track from Symphony of the Night is???

Alucard can’t get enough of it either…I think it may be inspired by him or it’s his theme.

The Tragic Prince is Alucard's theme? Well I need to check.

In any way, the Pitiful Scion remix from Harmony of Despair is pure sweetness, that is.

Yeah, I have to agree that song is probably the best out of the entire soundtrack...

I would say "Lost Painting" comes pretty close to it as well.

Best track from the soundtrack is Wandering Ghosts for me. Tragic Prince is alright.

Pardon my butting in, yet I can't help but think that Tragic Prince/Young Nobleman of Sadness should be regarded as Alucard's TRUE character theme (much like Theme of Simon Belmont/Dance of the Holy Man is for a certain vampire hunter we've come to know and love) instead of Dracula's Castle (also from SotN). I mean really, TP just conveys so much anger, grief, regret and resolution: sure, Adrian/Alucard is Mathias'/Dracula's son, but he uses his powers and heritage to oppose his father and destroy him for good, though he knows it's a losing battle: Dracula will keep coming back as long as there's darkness and evil (and the will to do them) in the hearts of humans, but instead of despairing, Al keeps coming back again and again to fight his father and honor his mother's final wish: "Do not hate humans: if you cannot abide with them, at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot."

Also, I gotta say there's a lot of Lisa Farenheits in Alucard: that steadfastness of his to his mom's last will allows her love for Mathias/Dracula to keep shining through centuries after her death. If I were in charge of writing the series (love 'im or hate 'im, IGA isn't perfect, and some if not most of his decisions are downright wrong or stupid), I'd keep on developing this dicotomy so maybe (just maybe) I could work out Mathias'/Dracula's final and permanent redemption at the end of the game dealing with the final Demon Castle War of 1999 (lousy year, huh? Though we managed to clean everything up pretty fast).

---------- Post added at 11:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 AM ----------

Last thing: though Mathias the man would be dead and resting in peace, Dracula's shadow would still be wondering around the eclipse holding Castlevania, but since his former self reneged on his hatred of God and died in His grace, it would no longer have an avatar to make himself flesh to the world. Way I see it, it has a few suitable shoo-ins for replacing Mathias: the Dark Lord Candidates from Dawn of Sorrow (Dmitri Blinov and Dario Bossi), any people born in '99 with supernatural powers and sensitivity to the castle's magic (Graham Jones from AoS, for instance) and lastly, Soma Cruz, Dracy's supposed "reincarnation."

I've always had a problem with this last word: not only does it clash with my Christian upbringing, but personally I also feel that it's much too easy a copout: wanna justify somebody being good or evil? Then make him the "avatar" of God or Satan! It just preconditions the guy or girl into becoming something, instead of leaving that to his/her own good or bad choices. I, for one, like to think that Soma somehow inhereted Dracula's Power of Dominance over Castlevania and its monsters (and with that, the potential to succeed him), yet that doesn't mean he HAS to become the Dark Lord. Anybody can become ultimately good or evil if he/she has the will and means to go through (or refuse to follow) their particular inclinations.

Sorry for getting so off-topic: I let myself get possessed by my wild imagination. I'd like for the rest of you out there to share your opinions on this and more in this or another thread, if possible. Again, sorry about the derailment: sometimes I'm a little too passionate about the wrong thing.