Count Dracula is an undead, centuries-old vampire, and a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula is handsome and charismatic, with a veneer of aristocratic charm. Dracula studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and has a deep knowledge of alchemy and magic. Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, he led troops against the Turks across the Danube. Dead and buried in a great tomb in the chapel of his castle, Dracula returns from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle with three terrifyingly beautiful female vampires beside him. In Dracula, the eponymous vampire has decided to move from Transylvania to London. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker’s employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his cordiality and historical knowledge, and even rescues him from the clutches of the three female vampires in the castle. In truth, however, Dracula merely wishes to keep Harker alive long enough to complete the legal transaction and to learn as much as possible about England. Dracula leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him 50 boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs to regain his strength and rest during daylight. During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the ship’s crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to the ship’s helm. The captain’s log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship’s journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a dog and runs up the 199 steps to the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the shadow of the Whitby Abbey ruins. Soon the Count begins menacing Harker’s fiancée, Wilhelmina “Mina” Murray, and her friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in an insane asylum overseen by John Seward, who is compelled to consume spiders, birds, and other creatures—in ascending order of size—to absorb their “life force”. Renfield acts as a kind of sensor, reacting to Dracula’s proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula visits Lucy’s bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy’s deterioration, her three suitors – Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris – call upon Seward’s mentor, the Dutch doctor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition’s supernatural origins, and tries to keep the vampire at bay with garlic. Nevertheless, Dracula attacks Lucy’s house one final time, killing her mother and transforming Lucy herself into one of the undead. After the undead Lucy attacks several children, Van Helsing, Seward, Holmwood and Morris enter her crypt and destroy her to save her soul. Later, Harker joins them and the party work to discover Dracula’s intentions. Harker aids the party in tracking down the locations of the boxes… The party pries open each of the graves, places sacramental wafers within each of them, and seals them shut. This deprives Dracula of his ability to seek safety in those boxes. Dracula gains entry into Seward’s residence by coercing an invitation out of Renfield. As he attempts to enter the room in which Harker and Mina are staying, Renfield tries to stop him; Dracula then mortally wounds him. With his dying breath, Renfield tells Seward and Van Helsing that Dracula is after Mina. Van Helsing and Seward discover Dracula biting Mina and forcing her to drink his blood. The group repel Dracula using crucifixes and sacramental bread, forcing him to flee by turning into a dark vapour… Although Dracula’s ‘baptism’ of Mina grants him a telepathic link to her, it backfires when Van Helsing hypnotizes Mina and uses her supernatural link with Dracula to track him as he flees back to Transylvania. The heroes follow Dracula back to Transylvania, and in a climactic battle with Dracula’s Romani bodyguards, finally destroy him. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart to kill him, Mina’s narrative describes his decapitation by Harker’s kukri while Morris simultaneously pierces his heart with a Bowie knife (Mina Harker’s Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). His body then turns into dust, but not before Mina sees an expression of peace on his face. Dracula’s powers include super strength, wall crawling, hypnosis, mind control, control over nocturnal animals (such as wolves and rats), weather manipulation, shapeshifting, change his size, transmit his vampire curse to others, and has limited invulnerability. His featured forms of shapeshifting in the novel include that of a bat, rat, wolf, vapor and fog. He also can only be definitively killed by decapitation followed by impalement through the heart or shooting him with a sacred bullet. He also requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him. Without it, he physically ages at an accelerated rate. Sunlight also weakens Dracula, but unlike other vampires does not destroy him. He also possesses an aversion to garlic and sacred objects such as a cross. Dracula cannot cross running water or enter a house uninvited.
First Publisher Archibald Constable and Company (UK)
Appearance List Eerie #12, Dracula (play) and Dracula (novel). Bram Stoker’s Dracula originally appeared as a stage play on May 18, 1897 (which only two people attended). The (much-more famous) novel was released eight days later.
Description Count Dracula is an undead, centuries-old vampire, and a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula is handsome and charismatic, with a veneer of aristocratic charm. Dracula studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and has a deep knowledge of alchemy and magic. Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, he led troops against the Turks across the Danube. Dead and buried in a great tomb in the chapel of his castle, Dracula returns from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle with three terrifyingly beautiful female vampires beside him. In Dracula, the eponymous vampire has decided to move from Transylvania to London. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker’s employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his cordiality and historical knowledge, and even rescues him from the clutches of the three female vampires in the castle. In truth, however, Dracula merely wishes to keep Harker alive long enough to complete the legal transaction and to learn as much as possible about England. Dracula leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him 50 boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs to regain his strength and rest during daylight. During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the ship’s crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to the ship’s helm. The captain’s log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship’s journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a dog and runs up the 199 steps to the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the shadow of the Whitby Abbey ruins. Soon the Count begins menacing Harker’s fiancée, Wilhelmina “Mina” Murray, and her friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in an insane asylum overseen by John Seward, who is compelled to consume spiders, birds, and other creatures—in ascending order of size—to absorb their “life force”. Renfield acts as a kind of sensor, reacting to Dracula’s proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula visits Lucy’s bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy’s deterioration, her three suitors – Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris – call upon Seward’s mentor, the Dutch doctor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition’s supernatural origins, and tries to keep the vampire at bay with garlic. Nevertheless, Dracula attacks Lucy’s house one final time, killing her mother and transforming Lucy herself into one of the undead. After the undead Lucy attacks several children, Van Helsing, Seward, Holmwood and Morris enter her crypt and destroy her to save her soul. Later, Harker joins them and the party work to discover Dracula’s intentions. Harker aids the party in tracking down the locations of the boxes… The party pries open each of the graves, places sacramental wafers within each of them, and seals them shut. This deprives Dracula of his ability to seek safety in those boxes. Dracula gains entry into Seward’s residence by coercing an invitation out of Renfield. As he attempts to enter the room in which Harker and Mina are staying, Renfield tries to stop him; Dracula then mortally wounds him. With his dying breath, Renfield tells Seward and Van Helsing that Dracula is after Mina. Van Helsing and Seward discover Dracula biting Mina and forcing her to drink his blood. The group repel Dracula using crucifixes and sacramental bread, forcing him to flee by turning into a dark vapour… Although Dracula’s ‘baptism’ of Mina grants him a telepathic link to her, it backfires when Van Helsing hypnotizes Mina and uses her supernatural link with Dracula to track him as he flees back to Transylvania. The heroes follow Dracula back to Transylvania, and in a climactic battle with Dracula’s Romani bodyguards, finally destroy him. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart to kill him, Mina’s narrative describes his decapitation by Harker’s kukri while Morris simultaneously pierces his heart with a Bowie knife (Mina Harker’s Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). His body then turns into dust, but not before Mina sees an expression of peace on his face. Dracula’s powers include super strength, wall crawling, hypnosis, mind control, control over nocturnal animals (such as wolves and rats), weather manipulation, shapeshifting, change his size, transmit his vampire curse to others, and has limited invulnerability. His featured forms of shapeshifting in the novel include that of a bat, rat, wolf, vapor and fog. He also can only be definitively killed by decapitation followed by impalement through the heart or shooting him with a sacred bullet. He also requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him. Without it, he physically ages at an accelerated rate. Sunlight also weakens Dracula, but unlike other vampires does not destroy him. He also possesses an aversion to garlic and sacred objects such as a cross. Dracula cannot cross running water or enter a house uninvited.
