Maria was born in 1780 to aristocratic parents of the Renard Clan, which had distant blood ties to the Belmont clan and were known to keep doves as pets for protection. It is not clear if Maria was aware of her warrior heritage, but she was born with powerful magical potential, and was very brave for a small girl.
In 1792 when she was 12 years old, the dark priest Shaft raided her village for women to offer as sacrifices to increase his lord Dracula's strength. Maria's parents were killed in the raid and she was taken off with three other villagers, Iris, a doctor's daughter, Tera, a nun, and Annette, the fiance of this current generation's Belmont warrior, Richter. It was under these circumstances that Maria first met Annette, and they were initially brought to the Castle together. Having lost her parents, Maria and Annette formed a bond in captivity and Maria would start referring to Annette as her "big sister". Annette told her about Richter and how powerful he was and that she was sure that he would save them.
Shaft noticed that Maria had a hidden power inside of her and determined that it would be best used to serve Lord Dracula. He separated Maria from Annette and brought her to a hidden ceremony room. There he cast a spell on her, which brought that power forward, but he was interrupted by Richter Belmont, who was able to find them. Shaft fled without a fight and Maria awoke to find Richter, as brave and as powerful as Annette had said that he was. Richter was happy that she was okay and asked her to go home to her parents, but she said that since they were now in heaven she had no where else to go and would follow Richter. She had a strong desire to save Annette and the other villagers and stop the "bad man" who had captured them. When she became a little irritated by Richter's pleas for her for safety, she inadvertently summoned a dragon for the first time, which caught Richter off guard. It was now evident that she was no longer a helpless girl, but had the power, will, and stubbornness to survive in the castle. Richter felt that he had no choice but to allow her to help him. Maria used newly awoken powers to gain dominion over animals as well as the four Celestial Beasts to protect her on her quest. Maria and Richter split up in order to search for the missing village women. The women who Maria was able to save were very surprised, and maybe a little disappointed, to be saved by a young girl instead of a strong young man, but then very grateful. Throughout her ordeal and despite her loss, Maria remained cheerfuly optimistic and confident in her abilities and her animal friends' help. They were eventually able to save all of the village women and Shaft was defeated. During the final confrontation with Dracula, it is possible that Maria aided Richter by channeling all of her power to cast a powerful protection spell on him.
A year after her time traveling incident (Castlevania Judgement), Richter vanished under the light of a full moon. Maria immediately set out to find her guardian and friend with no idea of where to start. After a year of searching, in 1797, Dracula's Castle reappeared as if to show her the way. While she set out to Dracula's Castle once again, unbeknown to her, Alucard, the son of Dracula who had put himself under an eternal sleep after defeating his father with Richter's ancestor Trevor Belmont 300 years earlier, was mysteriously awoken from his slumber. Alucard also set out to the Castle with the intent of destroying the castle and preventing Dracula's revival. Maria and Alucard would meet several times while pursuing their separate goals. Maria was surprised to find another "human" in the Castle, but when Alucard introduced himself at her request and explained what his goal was, she decided to trust him and they went their separate ways. Maria had trouble getting around the Castle after that as its very form seemed different than the last time she was there. When she met up with Alucard again, she asked him about it, and he explained that the Castle was a creature of chaos and that it can take many forms. With this in mind, she continued her search. She later witnessed a battle between Alucard and a Hippogryph and was very impressed by the strength he had shown during the battle. She decided to ask Alucard to help her find Richter, or at least let her know if he ran across him. Alucard agreed, but she did not like what he had to say about him once he did encounter him. He had told her that he was in league with Dracula and claimed to be the lord of this castle. Maria was relieved that Richter was indeed in the castle, but couldn't believe what Alucard had said about him, so she left in a hurry to find out for herself. She eventually found out that what Alucard was saying was the truth, but she knew that he was being controlled somehow. She was not confident in her own ability to face and defeat Richter however, and she decided to test Alucard's strength to determine if he was up to the task. Alucard was able to defeat her and she entrusted saving Richter to him. She pleaded for him not to harm Richter, but they agreed that he must be stopped, so she gave him the Holy Glasses to enable him to see through evil illusions. Alucard faced off against Richter in the Castle Keep, but was now able to see the mysterious orbs that allowed Shaft to control Richter, and in the middle of their battle, he destroyed those orbs, thus releasing Richter from his spell. While Alucard chased Shaft into an inverted Castle in order to prevent his resurrection of Dracula, Maria helped the wounded Richter escape from the castle. They went to a ridge a safe distance from the castle and waited for Alucard to finish his task. As they watched the Castle crumble in the aftermath of Alucard's victory, Alucard met up with them at that ridge in order to bid them farewell. He told them that his blood was cursed and that the world would be better off to be rid of him, and he departed to return to his deep slumber. This was unacceptable to Maria, who had developed a strong attraction to Alucard and couldn't imagine him not being a part of her life. After Richter assured her that it was okay, she set out to convince him to stay.
