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| NOTE: This page is for the 2004 film version of Count Dracula. For the Syfy series version, see Dracula (Van Helsing/Syfy). |
| “ | Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Count Vladislaus Dragulia. Born: 1422. Murdered: 1462. | „ |
| ~ Count Dracula introducing himself. |
| “ | What are you complaining about? This is why you were made: to prove that God is not the only one who can create life! And now you must give that life to my children. UP! | „ |
| ~ Count Dracula to Frankenstein's Monster. |
| “ | Don't you understand? We could be friends. Partners! Brothers-in-arms! Did I mention that it was you who murdered me? It must be such a burden. Such a curse… to be the Left Hand of God. All I want is life, Gabriel. The continuation of my kind. And perhaps the return of my ring. Don't be afraid, Gabriel. Don't be afraid. I shall give you back your life, your memory. | „ |
| ~ Count Dracula's last words to Van Helsing before being killed by the latter in his werewolf form. |
Count Vladislaus Dracula is the main antagonist of the 2004 dark fantasy horror action film Van Helsing, a homage and tribute to the Universal Monsters franchise.
He is the archenemy of Gabriel Van Helsing and his main goal is to bring life to his vampire children, thus allowing his vampires to live forever.
He was portrayed by Richard Roxburgh, who also played Hugh Stamp in Mission Impossible II, James Moriarty in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the Duke of Monroth in Moulin Rouge.
Personality[]
| “ | No, I have no heart! I feel no love! Nor fear… Nor joy… Nor sorrow! I am hollow… and I will live forever. | „ |
| ~ Count Dracula to Aleera and Verona that he is a heartless immortal monster. |
Dracula is shown as a very cunning and manipulative man, only interested in his personal goals. He claims to have almost no emotion such as love, fear, joy or sorrow because he has no heart, which makes him feel hollow. However in spite of this he deeply cares for his Brides and his children. While he was quick to replace Marishka upon her death, he did cry her name when he sensed she had been killed. The fact Dracula thinks he feels nothing causes him to hate even himself. He is a lustful and seductive villain, as shown through his interactions with his brides and Anna Valerious. He has a deep desire to kill Anna, (the last of the Valerious line) before she destroys what he desires to create. However, he did see her as a suitable replacement for Marishka due to her beauty. He also enjoys toying with Van Helsing, who murdered him centuries ago. His primary goal is to bring his children to life, continue the vampiric kind, and also perhaps regain his stolen dragon insignia ring. Little is known about his human life or human personality.
Biography[]
Background[]
Born in 1422, Dracula was actually the son of Valerious the Elder and lived in the very castle his descendants did 450 years onwards. However, Dracula turned over to dark magic with a desire to become immortal, and in 1462, he was murdered by the Left hand of God, known as the archangel Gabriel. After his death, his spirit made a pact with the Devil for a new life, which would only be sustained by drinking the blood of others, thus becoming the first vampire. Upon learning about this, Valerious the Elder was ashamed that he had sired Dracula and banished him to an icy fortress, sending him through a door from which there was no return, but the Devil then gave Dracula wings so he was free to come and go, as well as giving him resistance to many vampiric weaknesses.
Valerious the Elder eventually learns out that the only thing that can kill Dracula is a werewolf, as a werewolf's venom can fatally negate a vampire's power, and despite the fact that Dracula can use his power to control werewolves in doing his bidding, Dracula created a werewolf cure as a failsafe in case a werewolf would resist his power and try to attack him. With that in mind, Valerious the Elder sought forgiveness from God by creating a bargain with the Vatican, and left clues of Dracula's history in his castle before he died, so that future generations can follow up on those clues and have Dracula slain in order to gain entrance to Heaven. However, the descendants of Valerious the Elder were unsuccessful for centuries because Dracula resisted every known form of vampiric weaknesses and that they haven't learned about his actual weakness to werewolf venom.
As time goes by, Dracula was able to seduce three women into being his Brides of Dracula (Marishka, Verona, and Aleera), and together, they plot to give birth to vampire children in order to expand their race.
1887[]
Dracula partners with Dr. Victor Frankenstein, whom he convinced to make a creature that could show that God wasn't the only one who could make life, in an attempt to give birth to his children. After the creature is created, Dr. Frankenstein refuses to give it away for such a malevolent use against God's will, even admitting he would rather kill himself, to which Dracula replies that he should “feel free” due to outliving his usefulness. The good doctor threatens to stab Dracula with a sword, however the Count impales himself on it, revealing himself as a vampire before he kills Frankenstein.
The creature wakes up and throws a giant machine towards Dracula, who is sent backwards against the fire of the smokestack. While the creature escapes with Frankenstein's dead body, Dracula comes out of the fire, barely bleeding and with some burns that heals almost instantly. After the creature escaped, Dracula began looking for a new way of bringing his children to life. Dracula tried a similar process with Boris Valerious as a substitute for the monster, but the experiment had not worked, which brought sorrow to Dracula's Brides.
1888[]
He was awoken from his icy sleep when one of his brides Marishka was killed by Van Helsing, shouting out her name in grief. He also felt the presence of the notorious yet noble hunter Van Helsing (who turns out to be the reincarnation of Gabriel), a presence which felt familiar due to Dracula's history with Gabriel. He planned to awaken his children again, but his remaining brides told him not to, as another loss would be too much pain to hold. He screamed to them in a vampiric way, making his Brides frightened, but he pleaded with them not to fear him, leading them to nuzzle caress him in response. Before leaving with his Brides, he ordered Igor (the former assistant of Dr. Frankenstein) and the Dwergi to move to Frankenstein's lab, where they will try to bring the children back to life.
After Velkan Valerious (Anna's brother who had been bitten by Dracula's werewolf) went to Frankenstein's lab, Dracula told him about Velkan's father (who had disappeared a year ago) and how he was used as a power source to bring Dracula's children to life. Though Velkan tried to fight Dracula in a sudden burst of rage, Dracula held him off with nothing but his finger, and put him in the machine to use him as a conduit.
Moments after his children came to life, Van Helsing (who followed the werewolf with Anna) started shooting the children, so Dracula attacked him. Though Dracula couldn't find Van Helsing he was still able to hear his heartbeat. After some minutes, Dracula gave up looking for him, only to be suddenly stabbed in the heart with a silver stake. Though Van Helsing thought he had killed him, Dracula took out the stake after greeting Van Helsing, calling him by name. He asked Van Helsing how long has it been, something to which Van Helsing couldn't understand. Dracula knew he had lost his memories, and so he asked if he had nightmares of ancient battles.
In a final attempt, Van Helsing used a crucifix, that only melted in Dracula's hand. Dracula replied that they would talk in another moment. After Van Helsing escaped with Anna while they were been chased by the werewolf Velkan. Meanwhile, power used to keep Dracula's children alive wears off, and they all explode. Dracula then orders Velkan to kill both both Van Helsing and Anna.
After the Wolf Man found the location of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula ordered him and his Brides to retrieve it and bring it to the castle, so they could finally give eternal life to his children. Though one of his brides Verona dies from a trap set by Van Helsing, and Velkan was shot dead by the vampire hunter, but not before he bit him. The remaining bride Aleera kidnapped Anna in an exchange for the monster. Though Van Helsing hid the monster in a graveyard, Dracula seemed to have thought ahead and placed Igor in the graveyard, resulting the monster to be captured.
During a masquerade ball in Dracula's summer palace, he had tried to bite Anna and turn her into his newest bride, but Van Helsing and Carl were able to save her, although Dracula only cared for having the monster. Later, at his castle, he had the monster had hoisted up to bring life to his children, knocking Van Helsing from the top of his tower when he arrived and tried to prevent this.
Dracula's death as he dissolves into a skeleton after being bitten by Van Helsing in his werewolf form.
When Dracula's children revive successfully, he confronts Van Helsing with this and to his shock his foe transforms into a werewolf while Anna, Carl and the monster manage to kill off Aleera and Igor after getting the werewolf cure. Transforming into his hellbeast form to match Van Helsing's strength, the two engaged in a brutal fight. Dracula proving his strength manages to overpower Van Helsing with ease during the first few minutes. His overconfidence however allowed Van Helsing to gain the advantage as he managed to overpower the more experienced Count as a Werewolf.
Dracula attempting to ally with him and again offers to restore his memory after Helsing returns to human form following the moon being dimmed out, Van Helsing verbally refused Dracula and finally killed him forever after transforming back by biting his throat, with the werewolf venom coursing through his veins rotting the very flesh from Dracula's skeleton, which eventually decays into ash. With Dracula's death, the deaths of his victims are avenged and all of Dracula's offsprings die instantly.
However, Dracula's death proved to be the tragic end of the Valerious bloodline, as Van Helsing ends up murdering Anna by accident due to still being in his werewolf form, but not before she manages to inject the werewolf cure onto him. After being cured, Van Helsing is wracked with complete remorse for murdering Anna. Nevertheless, during Anna's funeral, Van Helsing is delighted to see the spirits of the Valerious family (including Velkan and Anna) entering into Heaven as they fulfilled Valerious' vow in vanquishing Dracula from existence, thus leaving Dracula's legacy in vain.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Vampire physiology: As the progenitor of the vampire race, Dracula was the most powerful vampire on the entire planet, he was more powerful than any vampires in existence.
- Immortality: Dracula made a deal with the Devil to live forever.
- Healing Factor: Dracula heals from any wound of any severity within seconds and was immune to disease.
- Superhuman Immunity: Unlike all other vampires, Dracula barely pains when he was attacked by Silver, being stabbed in the heart by stakes or holy water, as he could be killed by normal methods even by sunlight, flames or blessed objects. This was seen during his first confrontation against Van Helsing, as a silver stake or a silver crucifix could not harm Dracula and he just had pulled the out of his body or melted the holy artifact away despite feeling pain. In addition well he whirls around, on fire, shocked and angry before grabbing the Fire Breather and tosses him clear across the ballroom, Dracula shrugs it off like it did not do anything at all.
- Hellbeast Form: To help Dracula escape his icy fortress, the Devil eventually gave him wings. He had the power to turn into a large, monstrous bat-like creature called a Hellbeast unlike most other vampires. In this form, he could fly, move at alarming speeds and is strong enough to fight and overpower a Werewolf like Van Helsing even for a few short trade-off of blows.
- Superhuman Strength: Dracula's strength was so great he could stop Velkan Valerious in his tracks with one finger and threw a large equipment that was thrown at him by Frankenstein's Monster. He can also apply his strength into his bite which is strong enough to kill normal humans.
- Flight: In Dracula's hellbeast form, he could fly. His top speed was unknown. It was his power of flight that also gives him the power to scale walls and ceiling with great ease.
- Elemental Manipulation: Dracula could manifest and influence the elements.
- Superhuman Stamina: Due to being undead, Dracula displays no sign of being exhausted from anything such as fighting or chasing.
- Vampire Infection: Dracula could turn humans into vampires through his bite.
- Werewolf Manipulation: Dracula had the unusual power to force some werewolves under his control. But on more powerful werewolves like Van Helsing, he has no control at all, though Carl claimed that Van Helsing would only be able to resist Dracula's control until the stroke of 1 o'clock. He was able to control the Grey Werewolf and Velkan Valerious after they lost themselves to their inner beasts.
- Superhuman Senses: Dracula's senses were far sharper than that of normal humans, as he could clearly detect the pace of Van Helsing's heartbeat while the latter hid from him in an open chamber. He most likely had night vision considering his brides possessed that same power.
Weakness[]
- Werewolf Venom: Only the cursed saliva/venom from a werewolf bite can kill him. The bite of a werewolf is lethal to a vampire; the venom acting as a poison which eats away at their bodies from the inside similar to an accelerated waste diseases. This is a fail-safe designed by Satan to ensure balance among his creations.
- Werewolf Claws: Only claws from a werewolf can slow and weaken his healing factor.
In Other Media[]
Novelizations[]
- Main article: Count Dracula (Kevin Ryan)
Video Games[]
Dracula in the Van Helsing video game.
Dracula also appeared in the video game adaption of Van Helsing as the game's main antagonist and final boss.
In the game, Dracula's backstory is much more different than his film counterpart. Dracula and Van Helsing were both best friends and knights in the Holy Order and had to follow only two rules: (1) to keep the Order secret from outsiders and (2) that all members must remain celibate, which Van Helsing followed through. However, while Dracula did follow the first rule, he broke the second rule as he fell in love with a woman.
The Hellbeast in the video game.
Somehow, the Order found out and decided to have the woman banished from the city. When the Order attempted to take her, a struggle occurred and the woman was killed. When Dracula found out, he was so angry and filled with grief that he left the Order. He later went to where the woman was buried and intended to use dark magic to bring her back to life. When the Order discovered this, they ordered Van Helsing to stop Dracula. When Van Helsing caught up with Dracula, a fight ensued between both men. Eventually, Van Helsing got the upper hand and murdered Dracula. With his dying breath, Dracula made a deal with the Devil for immortality. The Devil granted Dracula his request and made him the first vampire.
Trivia[]
- Dracula's Hellbeast form is not seen until the final battle, only seen through shadows for most of the film.
- The actors who play Dracula and Verona, Richard Roxburgh and Silvia Colloca, are married in real life as they met during filming and married the following year.
External Links[]
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