The second season of "Castlevania: Nocturne" sets up many interesting themes for a potential season 3 and wraps up most of the big arcs from season 1. At the same time, the show hasn't fully answered one of its biggest mysteries, which has to do with a new species of nocturnal creature created by Abbot Emmanuel (Richard Dormer).

In the original Castlevania series, nocturnal creatures were created by Demon Masters, human sorcerers who use a specific type of dark magic to channel souls from Hell into dead bodies, transforming them into monstrous creatures. These masters channel their magic through a specific, unique tool, and the monsters they create are loyal to them. In most cases, the souls channeled into night creatures do not seem to be the same bodies that housed them in life, but there are some obvious exceptions to that rule. In general, however, the creatures of the night proved to be rather mindless.

But all that changes in the first season of the sequel series Castlevania: Nocturne. Emmanuel uses a different method to create them via a massive machine with a mysterious power that works much faster than the methods seen in the original show. The results are also varied, as many of the subsequent nocturnal creatures seem to retain their humanity and their free will, to some degree. This begins with Edward (Sydney James Harcourt), and in the second season, many other creatures of the night show the same strange humanity. While the second season doesn't explain this, it does provide a few more clues that add to the mystery. Let's get into it.

The simplest explanation for Emmanuel's strange nocturnal creature phenomenon is simply that his alternate method of masters results in different types of creatures. In the second season, most of the French Revolutionary Army soldiers he turns into monsters retain some element of autonomy and connection to their previous lives, which allows Edouard to turn them against Erzebeth Bathory (Franca Potente) at the end of the season. . The machine even turns Drolta Tsuentes (Elarica Johnson) into a vampire/creature of the night hybrid after she is killed by Alucard, allowing her to emerge into daylight and greatly amplify her strength, seemingly without losing any of her former identity.

In Season 1, we see Emmanuel use some sort of Enochian Book of Spells to operate his dark machine, and after his death in Season 2, Olrox (Zan McLarnon) looks through it. While looking through the book, he encounters a dark spirit, which he calls "Old Coyote" or "Mephistopheles". The true identity and purpose of this being remains a mystery, but it is clear that he manipulated Emmanuel and may even have told him how to construct the machine. This could mean that Emmanuel did not use traditional master magic at all, which could explain the anomalies in his nocturnal creatures. And since it was really the machine and its contraptions that created the creatures, not Emmanuel himself, it stands to reason that they wouldn't be so loyal.

Of course, without knowing Old Man Coyote's true motives, it's hard to say anything for sure. With luck, we'll get another season of Castlevania: Nocturne to explore the mystery further.

While it would be nice to have a little more clarity on how the Master's magic works in "Castlevania," the mystery is far from a plot hole. The franchise has always embraced a fairly open interpretation of its supernatural story, away from the "hard magic" systems of many fantasy stories. Annette (Tuzo Mbedu) wields a very different kind of magic than the speaker powers of Richter (Edward Blumel) and Juste (Iain Glenn), who are all different from what the Masters of Masters do. The original series revealed that there are many worlds in the Castlevania universe, and that means a truly limitless variety of witchcraft and sorcery.

Nocturne has done a lot to expand the world of Castlevania into new arenas and mythologies, which it blends with the more traditional vampire lore of video games in a fascinating way. Hopefully, Netflix will see fit to renew the show for another season, which could shed a little more light on how all these different supernatural pieces fit together.