Though Dracula may seem like a singular creation, Stoker in fact drew inspiration from a real-life man with an even more grotesque taste for blood: Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or — as he is better known — Vlad the Impaler Vlad Tepes , a name he earned for his favorite way of dispensing with his enemies. Vlad II was granted the surname Dracul "dragon" after his induction into the Order of the Dragon, a Christian military order supported by the Holy Roman emperor.
Situated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman Empire, Transylvania and Wallachia were frequently the scene of bloody battles as Ottoman forces pushed westward into Europe, and Christian Crusaders repulsed the invaders or marched eastward toward the Holy Land.
But the meeting was actually a trap: All three were arrested and held hostage. The elder Vlad was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind. Years of captivity Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts — Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior. According to some accounts, however, he may also have been imprisoned and tortured for part of that time, during which he would have witnessed the impalement of his the Ottomans' enemies.
The rest of Vlad's family, however, fared even worse: His father was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local warlords boyars and was killed in the swamps near Balteni, Wallachia, in Vlad's older brother, Mircea, was tortured, blinded and buried alive.
Whether these events turned Vlad III Dracula "son of the dragon" into a ruthless killer is a matter of historical speculation. What is certain, however, is that once Vlad was freed from Ottoman captivity shortly after his family's death, his reign of blood began. In , the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, threatening all of Europe with an invasion. Vlad was charged with leading a force to defend Wallachia from an invasion. His battle to protect his homeland was victorious: Legend holds that he personally beheaded his opponent, Vladislav II, in one-on-one combat.
Though he was now ruler of the principality of Wallachia, his lands were in a ruinous state due to constant warfare and the internal strife caused by feuding boyars.
Tearfully, Vlad agrees and drinks her blood and completes his transformation into a powerful and complete vampire and yells at the loss of his beloved wife. His powers having increased to a great extent he returns to the monastery and sees his subjects at near death, the Prince turns them into vampires to launch a final assault on the Turks.
Controlling the weather, Vlad and his minions attack the Turks as Dracula heads toward Mehmed. In a battle between Vlad and Mehmed, Mehmed uses silver which reflects sunlight to fight the Vampire Prince. Vlad,now takes the name "Dracula" - the son of the Devil and kills Mehmed by turning into bats, stabbing him with a stake and draining him off his blood.
With his son's life in danger due to his own vampire subjects, Dracula is forced to defend his son against his subjects, who are lusting for more blood. Later, Shkelgim saves Dracula and gives him blood. Vlad lived through centuries as his son took the role as king of Transylvania, Romania. In modern day, Vlad meets Mina Murray , who is the reincarnation of Mirena. The two speak of one life going to the next as Gaius Julius Caesar watches from the distance. Vlad is a devoted family man who is willing to sacrifice anything, even his own humanity, to protect his family and his people.
A strong Christian, Vlad begged for God's forgiveness after becoming a vampire while in the three day transition period. Vlad is strong and courageous, able to stand firm against whole legions of his enemies in direct combat. Upon becoming a vampire, his demeanor darkened and he became animalistic and primal while in battle, as he is seen roaring and savagely killing his enemies, while still maintaining the skill and concentration of a man.
He became far more savage when he fed on Mirena when she was dying, unleashing an army of murderous and evil vampires for his own vengeance, as well staking and biting Mehmed to death. He was still only focused on saving his son to the point were he let all vampires burn, including himself, in the sun to protect him from danger.
Many see Vlad as a monster before becoming Dracula, as seen with the Ottoman subject telling the prince that his rage was there, locked in cage.
Though not wanting the power, he appeared to enjoy turning into a flock of bats cracking a smile once learning of the ability. Vlad's love for her and their son leads him to kill Mehmed's, risk war and giving up his soul to become a vampire. When her husband begins to lose his humanity, she refuses to let him lose it completely. Her death also caused him to become more savage and much like his former reputation. Ingaras is the son of Vlad and Mirena.
It was Vlad's love for his son that motivated Vlad to kill Mehmed's men to save his son from going to his army. He also risked war to save his son when he killed the soldiers.
He willingly gave up his humanity and turned himself into a vampire to save him, but was not unwilling to let him go in order to save him, as he knew that as a vampire, he was doomed to lose everything at his own hand. Some scholars have argued, quite bizarrely, that the absence of pertinent details from Vlad Tepes' life and legends in the text of Dracula is somehow evidence of Stoker's knowledge of the tales and his desire to explicitly fictionalize them.
But what about the impaling? It was already a common to stake vampires in folklore and contemporary literature. The fact that beheading is given as a method of killing vampires when Vlad III himself was beheaded after falling in battle? That particular vampire-killing method appears in a book of Transylvanian superstitions that we know Stoker read.
Transylvania was a popular exotic locale in Gothic fiction. Anyway, why would Stoker base his character on a Wallachian rule and then place him in Transylvania? Some people think the two figures look alike , although that's a bit dubious. Some of the connections scholars have made between the text of Dracula and the life of Vlad III are real stretches. McNally and Florescu suggested at one point that a passing reference to Nuremberg is a deliberate name-checking of the place where Vlad III's father became a member of the Order of the Dragon.
And the notes tell us exactly where Stoker got the name "Dracula. While in Whitby in the summer of after, it should be noted, his much-discussed dinner with Vambery , Stoker came across a copy of William Wilkinson's book An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. We know that, because he copied sections of the book into his notes.
Wilkinson's book contains references to multiple voivodes named Dracula, and some of the sparse details on one such Voivode Dracula make it into Stoker's text: that he crossed the Danube to attack Turkish troops and had some success. That's it. There is no reference to a "Vlad," no mention of a nickname Tepes or "the Impaler," no detailing of his legendary atrocities. So why did Stoker choose that name, Dracula?
Well, we can infer that from his own notes. The footnote explained that Wallachians gave the name "Dracula" to people who were especially courageous, cruel, or cunning. Stoker chose the name, it appears, because of its devilish associations, not because of the history and legends attached to its owner. This is the only reference to the historical Voivode Dracula that appears in Stoker's notes. Is it possible he knew more? Sure, it's possible. But this all we know for certain. The fact is, there is probably no one single model for Dracula.
Numerous scholars have suggested that the magnetic Irving provided the model for Dracula's mesmerizing personality , but this is, again, speculation.
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