Turning a hero into a Legend
The Count’s origins
As very few people know, Vlad III, son of Vlad II – also known as
Vlad Dracul – and grandson of Mircea the Elder, has never called
himself Vlad Tepes (The Impaler). The name was given to him by
the Wallachia boyars and by his sworn enemies, the Turks.
They were, after all, the ones impaled by the Prince as a result of
their treachery or to serve as an example for anyone who would plunder
and subdue his land,Wallachia. Unlike his enemies that feared him, his subjects
loved Vlad III, perceiving him as a patriotic figure, a savior rather than a tyrant.
When The Myth meets History
The Birth of Dracula.
The name Dracula given to the Vampire Lord created by the novelist Bram Stoker
was inspired by Vlad’s patronymic – Dragwlya, Dragulea, Dragolea, Draculea,
which is a diminutive of the epithet Dracul carried by his father, Vlad II,
as a result of his affiliation to the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric
order founded in 1408.
Therefore, Dracula would literally mean “Son of the Dragon.” But the word
drac has now the meaning of devil, which has led to misinterpretations
of Vlad’sepithet as characterizing him as “devilish.”
The Lord of the realm
The Legendary Transylvania
Folkloric tales describe The Count’s homeland as a realm roamed by
demons and spirits, mythical undead creatures who subsist by feeding
on the blood of living beings.
They all obey a centuries-old vampire, who, unlike the vampires of
Eastern European lore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like
creatures, exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm; “the cleverest and the
most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the land beyond the
forest,” as one of his sworn enemies would describe him.
A traveller through centuries
Passion never dies
Equally a curse and a blessing, the Count’s immortal condition
carriedhim from his secluded castle to everycorner of the earth,
restlessly pursuing his burning passion for the mortal that took his
heart forever. Losing her to the implacable time again and again,
he never stopped searching and finding her in different times,
in different places.
Time is nothing but an illusion for the immortal determined
to cross centuries just to hold her in his arms again, reborn as
Ilona, Mina, Anna…
THE IMMORTAL LEGEND
The Legend lives!
Night still follows day. The moon still raises shadows in the
night.Mortals still share whispers in the shadow. A stranger’s
glance caught from the corner of the eye, a mysterious smile
that thrills you like an icy fire, a casual touch on the hand that
makes your whole body shiver and an inviting, unearthly voice
you could never say no to. Does that resemble anything you might
have experienced, or dreamt of, or fancied about? It might have
been more real than you think! He is here.
