Bram Stoker's Dracula Revealed: The Mythology, History & References Explained!

the 1992 film bram stoker's dracula is my favorite adaptation of the most adapted horror novel ever dracula by some guy whose name i forget oh right it's bram stoker despite having the author's name in the title francis ford coppola's film adaptation does not depict the novel exactly in fact one of the main arcs of the film is a love story between dracula and mina that was not in the novel at all however coppola took stoker's novel and made it his own creating a unique and very layered piece of cinema within these layers coppola planted many

details and references some of which are easy to miss so in this video i will break down and explain the references in bram stoker's dracula you might have missed and not simply references to the dracula novel because there are a ton of those but references to real world history art literature and the mythology that inspired bram stoker's iconic vampire story so let's get started this may be one of the most epic intros and origin story sequences in any movie but it is also not in the novel at all the sequence is inspired by the true

history of vlad the third voivod of vulchia aka vlad dracula aka vlad the impaler aka vlad tepes which also means the impaler stoker's novel takes its title from this true historical figure and references vlad's history several times however the novel begins at the end of the 19th century not in the 15th year 1462 constantinople had fallen muslim turks swept into europe for the vast superior force the turks anthony hopkins mentions here are the ottoman empire they had conquered constantinople nine years before the date he mentioned in 1453 and in doing so ended the eastern roman

empire by 1462 the ottomans were strengthening their grip on the balkans including vlad the third's home turf of volakia in present-day romania vlad was one of the few leaders in this region that managed to resist the ottoman expansion at least for a while from transylvania arose a romanian knight of the sacred order of the dragon the order of the dragon was a true military order founded in 1408 by sigismund von luxenburg a later emperor of the holy roman empire its aim was to defend against all non-christian invaders but particularly against the ottoman empire vlad iii's

father vlad ii took his title from this order he was called vlad dracul or vlad the dragon his second son then took the title vlad draculia meaning son of the dragon throughout the film we can see a fictional version of dracula's family crest which depicts a dragon he must face an insurmountable force from which he might never return because anthony told us this battle occurs in 1462 and it appears to begin at night then concludes in the early hours of the morning it is likely meant to loosely depict the knight attack of tergo vishte during

which vlad iii raided the ottoman camp just south of the wallokian capital of turgoviste vlad's troops did take out a sizable chunk of the ottoman army but didn't defeat them completely as the scene would have us believe vlad did however leave a quote forced unquote of thousands of impaled ottoman soldiers for the sultan to discover following the battle vengeful turks shot an arrow into the castle carrying false news of draculia's death this scene adapts a real legend regarding vlad the third's first wife whose name is not known according to this legend while vlad was away

from his fortress pulonari castle an arrow message was shot into the chamber of the princess with news of the ottoman army's attack on the castle the following morning rather than risking capture the princess jumped from the castle tower into the river below in the film however she jumps after hearing false news of dracula's death the river in this legend was later named rule domini meaning the ladies river in a later scene in the film dracula names the river arjesh [Music] but arjesh is actually the larger river that rule of domini connects to these blue flames

are adapted from a section of the book in which dracula explains that on one night of the year blue flame will appear over places where hidden treasure is buried stoker took this detail from emily gerard's articles on transylvanian superstitions a huge inspiration for his vampire lore gerard's articles state that on saint george's night treasure can be found under a flickering blue flame uncovering this treasure can also attract evil spirits and gerard also states that by placing three coals at the threshold of a house the finder of this treasure can prevent demons from entering this latter

detail may have been the inspiration for dracula's need of an invitation before he can enter a home or dracula's need for someone like harker to voluntarily cross the threshold of his castle before he can possess them as implied here the portrait of dracula we see here was not based on a portrait of vlad iii but instead resembles a self-portrait by german artist albrecht duda painted in the year 1500 and i never drink why dracula chuckles at this because he doesn't drink wine but he does drink blood oh you didn't need me to explain that okay

sorry to be proud what devil are rich whatever so great as a killer whose blood flows in these veins in this scene dracula claims to be descended from attila the hunt the line is adapted from a section in the novel in which dracula goes on a considerably longer rant revealing his ancestry and making several references to the true history of vlad iii in the novel dracula begins this rant by claiming to be a sequelie a subgroup of the romanian people of hungarian ancestry in fact later in the film dracula introduces himself to mina as prince

vlad of sically i am fritz vlad of second historically sicalis have claimed to be descended from attila and his huns although the truth of this is complicated dracula's claim also contrasts with the true history of law the third who was of warlockian and moldavian ancestry rather than sequels your firm writes most highly of your talents i know what you're thinking but dracula's hairy palms have nothing to do with self-love this detail is taken from stoker's novel who in turn lifted it from the book of werewolves by sabine barangould another book that inspired much of the

vampire lore in stoker's novel even though bearing gould's book is mainly about werewolves this book states that a werewolf can be identified when not in wolf form because he has short fingers and hair on the hollow of his hands as cool as dracula's shadow is in this scene it is not accurate to the novel which states that dracula casts no shadow nor is he reflected in any mirror stoker likely adapted this characteristic from ancient superstition that links a person's shadow or reflection with their soul therefore no reflection means no soul here dracula is licking harker's

blood i'm sure you'll be surprised to learn because he's a vampire i should note that while vampires and other blood-sucking revenants exist in many cultures stoker's vampire borrows much from specifically romanian lore found in emily gerard's writings on transylvanian superstition or other texts on the subject while folklore will sometimes portray the vampire as human in appearance the aristocratic regal appearance of dracula is owed more to fiction than folklore john william polidori's 1816 novel the vampire is credited with establishing the trope of the vampire as an aristocrat [Music] like most scenes in this film this one

is adapted from the novel however this scene is especially iconic because it was depicted on the cover of the popular 1919 edition of the novel [Music] in the novel none of dracula's brides are described as having snakes in their hair this design choice is likely meant to reference medusa the snake-haired gorgon of greek mythology possibly the connection was made because medusa is usually portrayed as one of three gorgon sisters and dracula has three vampire brides day and night they toil filling boxes with decrepit earth from the bowels of the castle in the scene we learned

that dracula is having the earth blow his castle boxed for transport to england a common trait of the vampire in folklore is its need to periodically return to the specific location of its grave my guess is stoker elaborated on this belief and had dracula box the earth of his home as a way of traveling with his earthen grave to england the awesome costume designer of the film aiko ishioka based dracula's robe here on gustav klimt's 1908 painting the kiss [Music] this is the first time we see dracula transform into a wolf stoker based his dracula

character not only on vampire lore but also werewolf lore in fact baron gould's book of werewolves states that these two creatures are closely related it was likely bearing gould's book that inspired dracula's ability to transform into a wolf however romanian folklore does attribute shape-shifting to the vampire a romanian variation on the vampire called the strigoi is thought to be a shapeshifter and possess the ability to vanish at will both of these are abilities that dracula himself possesses the vampire like any other knight creature can move about by day though it is not his natural time

and his powers are weak as van helsing mentions in this scene vampires can appear during the day for example the french monk and scholar augustine kalmei recorded cases of russian and polish vampires in the year 1693 and 1694 stating they would appear from noon to midnight however in folklore vampires are generally nocturnal so stoker's detail that they are weaker during the day is perhaps implied in the folklore dracula's ability to return to a youthful appearance is also referenced in the novel in folklore it is common for vampires not to age although immortality is usually implied

rather than stated explicitly because the traditional vampire is already dead it stands to reason they can survive indefinitely through the consumption of blood a vampire changing its appearance from corpse-like too youthful and attractive is also not unheard of in folklore the romanian linguist emil petrovici recorded a folk tale in which estrigoy transformed itself into a handsome young man in order to seduce and marry a girl this silent film effect is meant to reference very early cinema stoker's novel was published and the film is set in the year 1897 not long after the birth of cinema

in fact later dracula and mina watch real silent films of this era for example this is the 1896 film the arrival of a train looking for the cinematography i understand it is a wonder of the civilized world if you seek culture then visit a museum as mina alludes to here cinema was generally considered cheap entertainment at the time and not a true art form apparently coppola likes irony after dracula exposes his horrible day game there is a pretty great easter egg found on this human billboard the board advertises a production of hamlet at the lyceum

theater a real theater where stoker worked as a business manager the board also displays the name of the actor who will play hamlet sir henry irving irving was a real actor and manager of the lyceum theater stoker took dracula's name and backstory from vlad iii but he also based much of dracula's personality and mannerisms on his boss henry irving the ability of a vampire to transform its victim to another vampire is a common characteristic in vampire lore in the 17th and 18th centuries vampires were thought to be the cause of real infectious diseases or vampire

plagues as they were known the threat was considered so real that authorities of the austro-hungarian empire investigated the matter i impaled people and roasted them boiled their heads in the kettle i skinned them alive and hacked them to pieces and then drank their blood helsing refers to several methods of torture and execution that were attributed to vlad iii and the book contains fairly close replications of real wood block prints depicting vlad from a german manuscript created around the year 1480. this scene displays dracula's ability to control the winds which is referred to in the novel

as well this characteristic is likely taken from a passage in gerard's articles on transylvanian superstition that describe a school of black magic in the mountains called sholemance according to gerard only 10 students are permitted entry to the school at a time and these are taught by the devil himself the 10th student becomes his assistant helping to create thunderbolts and other forms of weather in the dracula novel van helsing accuses dracula of being a student of the school which would imply he learned weather manipulation [Applause] the use of the crucifix to ward off evil has roots

in much european folklore as well as christian exorcism practices its emphasis in stoker's novel however was likely inspired by the german legend of faust the play adaptation of this legend was a frequent production at the lyceum theater where stoker worked in the play cruise fixes are used against the demon mephistopheles the role played by stoker's partial inspiration for dracula sir henry irving the use of other holy artifacts against vampires in stoker's novel like the use of holy water and sacramental bread have roots in romanian folklore but were likely also inspired by the faust legend place

the point of the heart then in god's name strike do it now the method the vampire hunters use to completely kill lucy is another reference to gerard's articles on transylvanian superstition these state that in order to prevent one who has been killed by a vampire from becoming a vampire themselves you must drive a stake through their body or fire a pistol into their coffin the latter method was seemingly ignored by stoker gerard states that in bad cases it is recommended you cut off the corpse's head fill its mouth with garlic then replace it that latter

detail as well as other references to the use of garlic in gerard's writings are likely what inspired the use of garlic in dracula did you for one instant taste of their blood no in order for stoker's vampires to turn their victims into a vampire the victim must consume the vampire's blood this however does not seem to have any basis in folklore and was likely invented by stoker so there wouldn't be too many vampires creeping around he can appear as missed as vapor as fog and vanish at will if you were wondering why dracula can transform

himself into a mist keep wondering i couldn't find any sources for this detail either as i said earlier the strigoi possesses the ability to vanish at will so dracula's mist may simply be an elaboration on that in the novel dracula does transform into a bat however this man-bat creature is an invention of the film and not even an invention of coppola the batman suit was apparently gary oldman's idea i'm batman it is difficult to say when or how exactly the trope of a vampire transforming into a bat was established bats have long had an association

with demons and witchcraft quite unfairly i might add for the species this was likely an influence as well as older versions of the vampire for example the bloodthirsty bird of greek mythology the strixa and the shape-shifting strigoi regardless stoker's dracula novel really cemented the trope safer than the circle drawing a magic circle or holy circle as protection against evil has its roots in the ancient folklore or mythology of a number of cultures including romania in her articles on transylvanian superstitions emily gerard states that before summoning a demon you must draw a circle at the crossroads

for protection however once again stoker's use of the circle is most likely inspired by the faust legend and later play in the legend faust draws a circle as protection against the demon mephistopolis and by the way this rising flame effect was definitely lifted by coppola for mina's sunsetting spell another scene that was not in the novel [Music] if you want to go even more meta the 1926 silent film version of faust which you see here was directed by fw murnau he also directed the first film adaptation of dracula called nosferatu in 1922. those are the

interesting references and details i noticed while watching my favorite vampire film over the last couple decades please let me know if i missed an interesting detail that you noticed or if i got something wrong in the comments below also let me know which movie i should review next if you enjoyed this video please give it a like and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already check out these other videos on spooky things and thanks for watching until next time happy halloween