History Literature / CountAndCountess

* ReliableTraitor: [[spoiler: As adults, Istvan Bathory to Vlad, culminating in his HeelFaceTurn. Emperor Frederick would also apply if he weren't such a kind and empathetic man.]]

* {{Badass}} / HiddenBadass / ActionGirl / ActionMom / WaifFu: Subverted. Elizabeth does kill a couple of people who have it coming, specifically [[spoiler:her husband and her rapist]], but she never actually ''fights'' anyone, [[spoiler:preferring to get the drop on them with a hidden weapon]], and the majority of who she kills are innocents.

* HannibalHasAPoint: Sultan Mehmed. He may be the antagonist, and he and his men are responsible for some great cruelty, but Vlad proves to be capable of greater evils, and the points he makes on religion would be fair from a modern perspective.

The book follows two of history's most notorious psychopaths: Count Vlad III Dracula, the 15th century Christian zealot known best for impaling his Muslim enemies, and Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th century Hungarian princess rumored to have [[BloodBath bathed in the blood]] of six hundred girls.

* AntiVillain: They both start out as this, particularly Vlad. All he wants to do is avenge his dead brothers and win back Romania's freedom. Unfortunately, he pulls this off in [[CompleteMonster all the wrong ways]].

* ChildSoldiers: A young Vlad and the rest of the Janissaries. [[spoiler: Later Vlad's little brother, Radu, whom he spent the entire middle section of the novel believing to be dead.]]

* ChurchMilitant: Vlad. Even as a teen, he is overly zealous about his faith in Christianity, possibly because he's really got nothing else. Reaches tragic heights [[CompleteMonster by the story's end]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Both Vlad Tepes and Elizabeth Bathory were pretty unsavory characters, by all historical accounts. The novel amps this UpToEleven, if anything, but suggests it was their childhood (Vlad as a ChildSoldier, Elizabeth as a [[DisabledMeansHelpless cripple]] and a disgrace to her family name) that made them so cruel. Both Vlad and Elizabeth seem very moral in childhood, even kind, until [[BreakTheCutie life just says no]]. invoked

* CompleteMonster: Both characters were morally and socially troubling individuals, even in childhood, but they at least started off as tragic and sympathetic. By the end of the book, it's almost cathartic when they die. invoked
** More Vlad than Elizabeth. She's no saint, but at least she ''thinks'' she's behaving in a logical way, and feels no true satisfaction when she murders someone innocent. Vlad, on the other hand, gloats about the stench of burning bodies, enjoys watching the fear on his victims' faces, and proposes at one point lowering the age of conscription for his army. When the age of conscription is already twelve.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: When they are children, Vlad lists a number of ancient epileptics to try and cheer Elizabeth up about her disability. Vlad brings up Socrates, Caesar, and Alexander the Great. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Elizabeth quickly retaliates with Caligula.]]

* ItWasHisSled / ForegoneConclusion: It's almost impossible not to go into the story knowing that both characters will die by the end of it.

* MagnificentBastard: Sultan Mehmed. invoked

* MoralEventHorizon: Vlad seems like a very nice, albeit unhinged, young boy, until he kills the Turkish couple who tried to give him shelter and food.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Because both main characters are very young when they first begin correspondence, it can easily read as middle-grade fiction... at first.

* AdultFear: When [[spoiler: Elizabeth seizes up and causes her aughters death]]

* HairOfGold: Vlad and Elizabeth are both imagined as blonds; Vlad's hair is at one point referred to as a lion's mane while Elizabeth is compared to the moon. When they are young and innocent, this gives a wholesome and positive image. Probably done [[RuleOfSymbolism on purpose]], knowing that both kids will grow up to be total monsters.

* ChurchMilitant: Vlad. Even as a teen, he is overly zealous about his faith in Christianity, possibly because he's really got nothing else. [[ItGotWorse Reaches tragic heights]] [[CompleteMonster by the story's end]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Because both main characters are very young when they first begin correspondence, it can easily read as middle-grade fiction...[[ItGotWorse at first]].

* ItGotWorse: Everything.

* AssholeVictim: Was anyone really all that upset when [[Elizabeth kills her rapist]]?

The book starts InMediasRes. A very young but very well educated Vlad and his two brothers have just been sold by their cowardly father, the Prince Regent of Wallachia, as war hostages to the Ottoman Empire. Vlad's older brother is killed from the get go while his younger brother is treated like a concubine. Vlad himself is expected to become a Janissary, one of many Christian boys kidnapped by the Sultan to [[ChildSoldiers fight on the frontlines of war]]. Vlad, despondent, writes a suicide note in the dirt of the campsite.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Both Vlad Tepes and Elizabeth Bathory were pretty unsavory characters, by all historical accounts. The novel amps this UpToEleven, if anything, but suggests it was their childhood (Vlad as a ChildSoldier, Elizabeth as a [[DisabledMeansHelpless cripple]] and a disgrace to her family name) that made them so cruel. Both Vlad and Elizabeth seem very moral in childhood, even kind, until [[BreakTheCutie life just says no]].

* AWolfInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: "Darvulia" is really the Holy Roman Emperor's daughter [[MeaningfulName Elizabeth]], planted in Elizabeth's service to fill her head with heathen ideas and turn the public against her. Presumably so her dad could snatch Elizabeth's throne without any contest.]]
* {{Badass}} / HiddenBadass / ActionGirl / ActionMom / WaifFu: Elizabeth, often to awe-inspiring degrees. You don't want to put her anywhere near a hunting rifle. Or a gardening spade. Or hair scissors...

* CompleteMonster: Both characters were morally and socially troubling individuals, even in childhood, but they at least started off as tragic and sympathetic. By the end of the book, it's almost cathartic when they die.

* HairTriggerTemper: Vlad. So much.
* HannibalHasAPoint: Almost scary how much Sultan Mehmed invokes this.
* IfItsYouItsOkay: Vlad hates anyone who's not a Christian. Unless they are Elizabeth.

* InNameOnly: Neither character is ever referred to as "Count" or "Countess" within the text.

* MagnificentBastard: Sultan Mehmed.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Elizabeth.
--> ''And sometimes in thinking of you I feel myself a young girl again, another illusion of mine, and I am suddenly breathless and small. In truth, I feel that I am always that small girl, except that I am trapped constantly in a cage outwardly made of stone, and the cage is the way in which I present myself to the world that surrounds me. I can have no weakness lest it be exploited.''

* UnreliableNarrator: Vlad insists there is no love lost between him and his brothers, but has a breakdown when [[spoiler: he unexpectedly finds his little brother alive and well, then loses him ''again'', this time for good]]. Every action he undertakes in the novel is either revenge for his brothers, or lonely desperation to be with the only friend he's ever had.

* WouldNotShootACivilian / WouldntHitAGirl: Averted, hard.

** Another one for Vlad is [[spoiler: his little brother Radu. After spending years thinking Radu was dead and slowly devolving into a sadistic mass murderer, Vlad is unexpectedly reunited with his very much alive brother. His first course of action is to smile incredulously and touch Radu's hair. It is the only kind moment he's ever had in the novel.]]

** Borderline personality disorder is the ''least'' of his problems. He also seems to suffer from histrionic personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and mild schizophrenia. Why does Elizabeth love him, again? Oh, right, because she's just as nuts...

* MoralityPet: Istvan Bathory to Vlad. Considering how manic both main characters become, they are sort of morality pets toward each other.