History WMG / Dracula

** Another theory is that the woman are in fact his real wife and daughters--with the the blonde being the obvious "wife" since the other two women let her go first to feed on Harker. Likewise considering that the other two are described as having Dracula's noses, it's a good possibility they're the daughters

* A less contested branch of the family gave us [[ComicBook/{{TheTombOfDracula}} Rachel van Helsing]], Abraham's granddaughter; after a brief relationship with her Indian companion Taj Nital she was mother to the mixed-race [[Anime/{{Hellsing}} Arthur van Helsing]], father of Integra, presumably raised by his mother given his use of the surname (his brother Richard possibly came from a different father).

And just as his oh-so-[[EvilIsSexy corrupting manly wiles]] took in Lucy--he didn't exactly bother with the wiles with Mina--he's got a bit of a man-crush on Jonathan. Let's see... Very intent on keeping Harker in control. Even if it's for the sake of his delicious, delicious blood, keep in mind how modern interpretations of him feeding tend to go. Either [[KissOfTheVampire overtly pleasurable and carnal]] or invasive and [[MindRape mind-rapey.]] (And if we're assuming the Englishman in ''Dracula's Guest'' is Harker too, or simply one of his predecessors, he's concerned enough personally to want to keep him safe, rather than simply sending away for another solicitor. And he does so by sending one of his big ol' wolves to keep him warm.) Declares Jonathan his and his alone when casting away the three Vampire Brides, and gets defensive when one of them knowingly taunts that he himself has never known love. Is incredibly irritated when Jonathan gets away, and takes it out on his virginal loved ones. And in the aftermath of his captivity, redolent with creepy themes of Stockholm syndrome and the Count's desire to be constantly in lordly control, apparently Jonathan's horror regarding what has transpired is enough to [[MindRape cause a nervous breakdown.]] How romantic. Sick and twisted, but romantic. More likely than him harboring a secret flame for Mina, anyway...

* Even simply being type A+ (a very common blood type in England: about one-third of the population today) would make her compatible with types A+, A-, O+ and O-, or about six-sevenths of the population altogether. Receiving donations from four different people would be risky, but still not unreasonable odds that she'd be OK.

* Even simply being type A+ (a very common blood type in England: about one-third of the population today) would make her compatible with types A-, O+ and O- as well, or about six-sevenths of the population altogether. Receiving donations from four different people would be risky, but still not unreasonable odds that she'd be OK.

[[WMG:Dracula actively prevented the Demeters crew from turning]]
He had a to make a long journey to get to London, and the ship only containd a limited amount of people he could feed on. If Dracula allowed every crew member he killed to become a vampire, he'd have to share the dwindling food supply with more and more other vampires as the journey processed, and exhaust everyone long before reaching London. So to ensure he himself had enough food to last the whole journey, he took precautions to keep the killed crew members from becomming vampires.

[[WMG: Nasferatu is Syphilis]]
Dracula obviously comes from "Dragon," and Dracula is very old, from previous generations. He also becomes Dracula after going to war. He's very angry at God and dissavows him. Many solders visited prostitutes and caught syphilils and would bring it home to their wives, who gave birth to children with it. Tertiary syphilis causes scales to form on the skin which looks like a snake. This, plus the pain, and the terror of the disease would give rise to the idea of a snake or a dragon. That is, he's the problem from a previous generation coming back and the new generation has to face it.

Next, this is terribly guilt riddening. It's a lust fueled mistake that leads to horrible disasters. Since people believed since the French Revolution that there's nothing really wrong with sex for pleasure, they weren't equiped to face the guilt of causing one's wife to contract syphilis. They would repress their guilt.

Repression leads to the "uncanny," which comes from Freud, and it has to do with the sensation that one isn't at home any more, it's erie. The repression also causes loss of the understanding of cause in effect, which makes things look supernatural and unreal. Jonathan can't help but talk about Nasferatu, but he can't talk about it either. This too demonstrates repression.

[[WMG: Johnathan didn't turn because he stumbled upon a very potent anti-vampire prophylaxis.]]

* I seem to recall Van Helsing referring to them as his "brides", but it was pretty obvious he meant more like "concubines". I do like the idea of them as his daughters, though, very much. Doesn't that make him something of an OverprotectiveDad with wanting them to get away from Harker, or the four of them more like a quasi-incestuous cannibal clan?

The story would really be about a man who gets syphilis while visiting prostitutes on a business trip and comes home to give it to his wife. He cannot admit to himself that he caused her all this misery because he believed in Enlightenment Values. He represses his guilt and loses his ability to see the cause and effects of everything. That's why Dracula can compell his wife. It's why things would happen that didn't make sense. Dracula also can't see himself in the mirror because people don't like to look at themselves in the mirror when they feel guilty.

Dracula obviously comes from "Dragon," and Dracula is very old, from previous generations. He also becomes Dracula after going to war. He's very angry at God and dissavows him. Many solders visited prostitutes and caught syphilils and would bring it home to their wives, who gave birth to children with it. Tertiary syphilis causes scales to form on the skin which looks like a snake. This, plus the pain, and the terror of the disease would give rise to the idea of a snake or a dragon.

Next, this is terribly guilt riddening. It's a lust fueled mistake that leads to horrible disasters. Since people bleieved since the French Revolution that there's nothring really wrong with sex for pleasure, they weren't equiped to face the guilt of causing one's wife to contract syphilis. They would repress their guilt.

Repression leads to the "uncanny," which comes from Freud, and it has to do with the sensation that one isn't at home any more, it's erie. The repression also causes loss of the understanding of cause in effect, which makes things look supernatural and unreal.

Syphilis has a phase where it drains people of their energy. It was also considered to be tainted blood. It needs fresh blood to survive. Dracula is old, representing the disease, and he's a parasite, a combination of lust and the bacteria. Combine these details and give it a persona, and Dracula is tertiary syphilis. Dracula can't sleep at nights, has a huge ego, looks dead, has gangly fingers, and can't walk straight. He is the embodiment of syphilis.

** In ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' and its remake the Count actually tries to lick Harker's finger, freaking him out to no end. The novel's Dracula is a bit more restrained.

[[WMG:Dracula was trying to get himself killed.]]
Dracula hired Harker's firm to arrange the purchase of a bunch of homes in London. He then keeps Harker imprisoned, confiscating his letters but letting him keep his diary. The diary chronicles everything that Harker learned from his first-hand experience with a powerful vampire. Once Harker learns everything that he can, Dracula lets him escape back to England so he can tell people about his awful experiences. Meanwhile, the Count deliberately infects and kills a very prominent socialite who is being courted by three people who just ''happen'' to have the resources that can destroy him. One of whom was the student of Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, the world's foremost expert on vampires. Dracula himself hand-picked Quincey Morris, Dr. Seward and Lord Godalming and gave them a motivation to hunt him down and kill him. With their direct experience in vampire hunting, they use their knowledge to hunt down and destroy every other vampire they can find. Dracula wanted to kill not only himself, but to destroy every other accursed vampire in the world.
* Something like this is implied in his "look of peace" as he dies--he may not have known it consciously, but the ennui he sought to satisfy by [[TakeOverTheWorld spreading his curse and control to England and the world at large]] is finally relieved by death.
* He also forgets to lock Jonathan in his room in the castle, allowing Jonathan to climb down the wall into the Count's vault while he is sleeping -- then does the same thing AGAIN (at which point Jonathan tries to kill the Count with a shovel).
He forbids his brides from feeding on Jonathan until after he has left the castle, despite Jonathan no longer being of any use -- then leaves him in alone in the day, despite knowing Jonathan can climb down the walls.

He reveals himself on the ''Demeter'', risking scared sailors potentially chucking him overboard or discovering him.
He feeds on Mina, and has her drink his blood, allowing the hunters to use her to track him, and his treatment of Renfield causes the madman to betray the count.

* Again due to my obsessive study of vampirism and Dracula I found that apparently it is only possible to kill a vampire when the following criteria are met: The head must be severed, the heart must be pierced with a yew tree stake, the garlic must be placed in the mouth, the body and head must be burned, separately (sources vary on whether it has to be at a crossroads as well), and holy water must be sprinkled on the place where the remains are buried. Dracula did not suffer all of these criteria, therefore if he depends on the more traditional vampiremythos, he may well have survived.

* Fortunately, [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines his son John]] will try to fini* gets whipped*

* This is, in fact, Fred Saberhagen's take on the events in his own novel ''The Dracula Tapes'' -- Dracula (who can't really be killed by metal weapons in that story or its sequels, although they do hurt) deliberately sets up his 'death' to throw off his dogged pursuers by making sure they only manage to get to him just as the sun sets and his powers return, allowing him to feign death by turning into mist once their blades go through him. And in part because they're quite tired from the extended hunt themselves, it works.
** P.N Elrod's ''Quincey Morris, Vampire'' uses this premise as well -- unfortunately, [[HoYay Arthur]] was a little too obsessed with finding Quincey's "Corpse" for it to work out.
* Stoker apparently did change the ending slightly to make it more ambiguous. (in one draft, ''his castle collapsed'' as he died. Yes, ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' has precedent!)

He is the product of {{Unbuilt Trope}}s. Regardless of what other vampire lore goes by, Stoker's vampires are destroyed by: cutting off their head, and removing the heart. We know this works because we see it work on Lucy. We know that whatever Jonathan and Quincey do to Dracula at the end works because he dissolves into dust ''and'' because [[NoOntologicalInertia Mina is no longer an Un-Dead in progress]]. All this proves is that stakes are not necessary for destroying the heart (knives work just as well). It all depends on the situation; using a hammer and stake was Van Helsing's method of choice for an immobile vampire lying in a coffin with no way of fighting back, but he arms the team with knives and guns for destroying Dracula probably in the heat of battle. (Van Helsing has clearly read his ''[[Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide Zombie Survival Guide]]''... actually, he probably wrote it.)
** Thank you. Also, in a lot of Eastern folklore, beheading and/or cutting out the heart and/or impaling the vampire with cold iron works just fine. The stake thing is a recent, regional invention. In some places, you were expected to behead a vampire with a gravedigger's spade. In some places, red hot silver nails through the skull was the place to go. In some, you just buried them upside down. Different methods from different traditions people. We don't know which one Stoker was drawing on, but at the end of the novel Dracula and his influence on Mina, are gone. Ergo, he is DeaderThanDead.

His stylists. How else do you think he maintained that mustache? and general appearance. Later when Dracula moves to England Renfield takes the role. Dracula, realizing he's incompetent, recruits Lucy for the job. After Lucy's death he returns to Renfield briefly before he considers hiring Mina.

[[WMG: Van Helsing -- and thus, the rest of the team -- didn't know that vampires' victims don't remember being bitten.]]

[[WMG:Dracula is a Historical text disguised as fiction.]]
It's all in here: http://draculawasframed.blogspot.com/

* Abraham's son was [[Film/HammerHorror Laurens van Helsing]] (sometimes Anglicized as Lawrence); Laurens was the father of [[Film/TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires Leyland van Helsing]], grandfather of [[Film/TheSatanicRitesOfDracula Lorrimer van Helsing]], and great-great-grandfather [[note]] Lorrimer's son and Jessica's father remains unknown [[/note]] of [[Film/DraculaAD1972 Jessica van Helsing]]. It remains possible that Laurens was a fraud who had no actual relation to Abraham, given that he claimed to have fought Dracula in 1872 (about 5 years before the events of the novel) and mistakenly believed that [[HorrorOfDracula Abraham's first initial was "J"]].

* Abraham's son was [[Film/HammerHorror Laurens van Helsing]] (sometimes Anglicized as Lawrence); Laurens was the father of [[TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires Leyland van Helsing]], grandfather of [[TheSatanicRitesOfDracula Lorrimer van Helsing]], and great-great-grandfather [[note]] Lorrimer's son and Jessica's father remains unknown [[/note]] of [[DraculaAD1972 Jessica van Helsing]]. It remains possible that Laurens was a fraud who had no actual relation to Abraham, given that he claimed to have fought Dracula in 1872 (about 5 years before the events of the novel) and mistakenly believed that [[HorrorOfDracula Abraham's first initial was "J"]].
* A less contested branch of the family gave us [[Comics/{{TheTombOfDracula}} Rachel van Helsing]], Abraham's granddaughter; after a brief relationship with her Indian companion Taj Nital she was mother to the mixed-race [[Anime/{{Hellsing}} Arthur van Helsing]], father of Integra, presumably raised by his mother given his use of the surname (his brother Richard possibly came from a different father).

Dracula already has 3 brides at the start of the story, and once in London he bites and kills Lucy, who then becomes a vampire herself. Mina is also threatened with this fate when Dracula bites her. But somehow, none of the crew of the ship that brought Dracula to London, and which he all kills for their blood, turn into vampires.

There was no logical reason ''why'' Dracula's castle should collapse when he was killed DeaderThanDead. At first, it struck Stoker as a [[RuleOfCool cool and dramatic]] note to end on, but closer reflection made him think, "Wait a minute, that's absurd. [[ItWillNeverCatchOn Who ever heard of]] a building collapsing just because [[LoadBearingBoss its owner was destroyed]]? It makes no sense." And, indeed, it wouldn't make sense in the context of the story. Had he left in the original ending, the first FridgeLogic shared on the ItJustBugsMe page would have been, "''Why'' did Dracula's castle collapse?"

* Abraham's son was [[HammerHorror Laurens van Helsing]] (sometimes Anglicized as Lawrence); Laurens was the father of [[TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires Leyland van Helsing]], grandfather of [[TheSatanicRitesOfDracula Lorrimer van Helsing]], and great-great-grandfather [[note]] Lorrimer's son and Jessica's father remains unknown [[/note]] of [[DraculaAD1972 Jessica van Helsing]]. It remains possible that Laurens was a fraud who had no actual relation to Abraham, given that he claimed to have fought Dracula in 1872 (about 5 years before the events of the novel) and mistakenly believed that [[HorrorOfDracula Abraham's first initial was "J"]].

* According to the Diaries of the Family Dracul trilogy by Jeanne Kalogridis, the blonde is Countess Elizabeth Bathory, one brunette is a distant descendant of Dracula's, and the other brunette is a simple peasant girl.

* A less contested branch of the family gave us [[Comics/{{TombOfDracula}} Rachel van Helsing]], Abraham's granddaughter; after a brief relationship with her Indian companion Taj Nital she was mother to the mixed-race [[Anime/{{Hellsing}} Arthur van Helsing]], presumably raised by his mother given his use of the surname (his brother Richard possibly came from a different father).