Vampires have fascinated us mortals for hundreds of years. The bloodsuckers are central characters in movies, TV shows, and especially novels—Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula is the definitive work of vampire fiction. It was also pioneering and influential. So much vampire lore and characteristics come from that book. Here are some ways that Stoker created the modern vampire (and also how he didn’t).
Dracula wasn’t the first vampire story. If we think of vampires as characters of romantic gothic fiction, then the first story of that kind was the 1819 short “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori. He wrote it at the behest of Lord Byron, who implored his friends to participate in a spooky-story-writing contest. (Also generated by that challenge: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.)
Why vampires have sharp teeth. Well, that’s to make sucking blood out of victims’ necks that much quicker and easier. But that’s a vampire element that came from Varney the Vampire, a pre-Dracula serialized novel published in England in the 1840s. One passage describes the titular vampire using his “fang-like teeth” to procure blood.
Why vampires are counts. Vampires always seem to be not only old and ageless, but to come from old money. That plot device makes it easier for them to literally get away with murder, and also lets them live in a gigantic castle that’s been in the family for years. Stoker made his vampire, Dracula, a count, just like the inspiration for the character: Vlad III Draculea, a 15th century count who impaled his murdered enemies upon stakes.
Why vampires are from Transylvania. Stoker’s Count Dracula hailed from Transylvania. Now a part of Romania, it’s adjacent to another medieval kingdom, Wallachia, the real-life home of Vlad II Draculea.
Why vampires don’t have a reflection. It instantly signifies a vampire in a movie when the character walks in front of a mirror… and there’s nothing there. Stoker invented this convention. In medieval times, Europeans thought that people who didn’t have a soul for whatever reason didn’t have a reflection. To indicate the death of his humanity, the undead Dracula similarly found mirrors useless.
Experience terror and delight with this 3D graphic adaption of the famous novel.
Why vampires can turn into bats. Previous works of vampire fiction made vampires, supernatural monsters with all kinds of wild powers, able to transform into animals. It was Stoker who struck on the idea of his vampire turning into a bat.
Why vampires can’t go out in the sun. It’s standard vampire lore that if vampires go out in the daytime, sunlight will turn them to dust. That’s merely a literal manifestation of vampires being “creatures of the night,” stalking around in the literal darkness for their literally dark intentions of murder, so as not to be seen. That trope is an exaggeration of Stoker’s Dracula—sunlight doesn’t hurt him, but his vampire powers don’t work so well, and he can’t turn into a bat when the sun is up.
Why vampires drink blood. Human blood is essentially vampire food. But for Stoker’s Count Dracula, it was also a life force of another kind. He begins the novel as an elderly man; as he drinks blood, he ages in reverse.
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