“To die, to truly be dead, that must be glorious,” Bela Lugosi’s eternal vampire once enthused on the silver screen. But true legendary antiheroes never attain the sweet reward of oblivion.
Before Universal Pictures’ classic 1931 film, Dracula was most famous in English speaking countries as the repellent vampire created by author Bram Stoker in a minor publishing novelty from 1897. Gruesome but not significant. Now, of course, he casts the largest shadow in horror, and it grows with every swing of his cape.
Historical Roots of Dracula’s Name
Stoker only took the name of “Dracula” from Vlad Dracul III, the original caped crusader. But the book’s titular inspiration got that name when The Holy Roman Empire named him to the chivalric Order of the Dragon. Dracula means Son of the Dragon. As the protector of Wallachia and Transylvania, he was a far more bloodthirsty ruler than the infamous Queen Mary I,...
Before Universal Pictures’ classic 1931 film, Dracula was most famous in English speaking countries as the repellent vampire created by author Bram Stoker in a minor publishing novelty from 1897. Gruesome but not significant. Now, of course, he casts the largest shadow in horror, and it grows with every swing of his cape.
Historical Roots of Dracula’s Name
Stoker only took the name of “Dracula” from Vlad Dracul III, the original caped crusader. But the book’s titular inspiration got that name when The Holy Roman Empire named him to the chivalric Order of the Dragon. Dracula means Son of the Dragon. As the protector of Wallachia and Transylvania, he was a far more bloodthirsty ruler than the infamous Queen Mary I,...
- 10/23/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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