>>93788718>he couldn't find a way, narratively, to get a pirate character involved in a story in a landlocked nationThen don't make him a pirate! It's an adaptation; people would forgive you for changing some things for the sake of making sense from a narrative standpoint so long as it remains faithful to the source material.
Heck, since they seem to be taking bits of lore from other Dracula media, as well as the historical Dracula, and the fact that Grant's last name is purported to be a nod to the Danesti family, just make Grant into a deposed noble forced to turn to banditry, who has a bone to pick with Dracula. In the original games, it was Grant who said that Dracula killed his family, and perhaps you could make this true...
OR
Perhaps his family was destroyed by others, but he blames Dracula for the death of his family. Why not, right? The Draculesti and Danesti families share a common ancestor, and villagers who hate the Dark Lord would likely target the Danesti family simply because of their relation to the Dark Lord, no matter how distant.
Either way, Grant's story becomes much more interesting, and you can take it further by drawing parallels between him and Trevor; both are the last sons of once great families, hated by the people of Wallachia for similar reasons. Make him a nastier Trevor, so that he can see what he could become, and be disgusted by it. Have Grant see that for all the shit flung his way, Trevor persevered, and that inspires Grant to be better.
They both see themselves, and what they could have been in one another, and for different reasons, inspires them to become better people.
BAM, now Grant becomes a compelling character.
