#Arthur’s terriers

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

October 1st

Happy spooky season (for real this time)! 🎃

Let’s stab some vampires!

4 a. m.—Just as we were about to leave the house, an urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me.

It’s the Mina Effect. No one can resist her Cool Secretarial Skills and Knowledge of the Train Schedule.

"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on our case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is disturbed."

"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming.

"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and we all went down the passage together.

GUYS this is not a picnic

"I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have not introduced me."

Renfield I love you

"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own charm.

I am, indeed, charmed

Van Helsing was gazing at him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it afterwards—for it was as of one addressing an equal:—

YES!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!

"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am speaking from the depths of my heart—of my very soul. You don't know whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. By all you hold sacred—by all you hold dear—by your love that is lost—by your hope that lives—for the sake of the Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!"

OH MY GOD YES he truly is Van Helsing’s equal!!! Not only does he suffer from I Cannot Tell You Shit Syndrome, he also uses what I will now officially refer to as the Dracula Loop™ to evoke his own imprisonment!!!

"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night."

Well that sounds ominous. Hopefully no one immediately gets mentioned in a way that strongly parallels a character we’ve just lost in atrocious circumstances —

I went with the party to the search with an easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.

[Demonic screeches]

"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. "This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence regarding the purchase.

Now is not the time to be facetious Abraham

The whole place was becoming alive with rats.

For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house.

As someone who grew up with a Yorkshire Terrier, this makes me indescribably happy. Good boys 🖤🩶🧡💛

The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain.

I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than usual.

I have no words.

"Don't you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!"

Renfield on the other hand has many words.

"Mrs. Harker is better out of it. Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time infallibly have wrecked her."

[Slams head on desk]

If then the Count meant to scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to be left out of his diabolical scheme—let alone the City itself and the very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west.

JONATHAN HOW CAN YOU BE SO SMART YET SO DUMB

"To hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, without thinking of souls!"

🥺

Will not mention "drinking."

Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything.

Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future.

Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being haunted by their souls.

Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence—the burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to!

And the assurance—?

Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of terror afoot!

AN UNEXPECTED BREAKTHROUGH

[Renfield] had got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book.

Oh gods are we going to hear from Renfield himself??? Please say yes

The purchaser is a foreign nobleman, Count de Ville,

Count de Ville

Outside of the obvious pun I am being French-baited again… This novel truly is a Professor Layton game.

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[firstofficerrose]

Van Helsing: Let's kill Dracula!

Mina: You have my typewriter!

Jonathan: And my lawyer skills!

Jack: And my scalpel!

Quincy: And my gun!

Arthur: And my puppies!

[protagonist-art]

i may have problems and issues 🥳

[pawsitivevibe]

My family thinks Leia is being mean when she plays with Arthur, but she is just making Terrier Noises.

[leotheloaf]

Oh boy I’m to the part of Dracula where everyone makes just the worst decisions all the time

[whiterosealchemy]

one of the greatest tragedies of none of the screen adaptations of Dracula being faithful to the book is that none of them include Arthur’s army of little terriers that he has to pick up and lift over the threshold one by one

[thisiswhereikeepdcthings]

*doing an interview for a promotional thing*

Interviewer: Of the Big Three, who would you say is the smart one?

Arthur: I've heard some people claim the smart one is Batman, but paranoia isn't the same thing as intelligence, seeing as he keeps trying to hide life-threatening injuries after battle because, quote, "it wasn't important."

J'onn: Many assume that Wonder Woman is the smart one of the Trinity, but her boundless compassion and infinite courage masks an impulsiveness to rival a terrier. She keeps trying to adopt the monsters we fight.

Dinah: Well it can't be Superman. He likes to act like a one-man punching bag whenever someone even slightly threatening shows up, even when it's a magical threat that he's uniquely vulnerable to.

Interviewer: ... how is the Justice League even still functioning?

Oliver: Luck and prayers, mostly.

When asked the same question later:

Nightwing: *laughs for six minutes straight on camera*

Green Lantern: *leaves*

Captain Marvel: Umm…

Zatanna: *very drawn out sigh*

[cryptidcr3ature]

Van der Linde gang and what dog breed I’d recommend them.

Dutch: Caviler King Charles Spaniel. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who wants a hiking dog or something super high maintenance. Sure grooming might be a factor but personality wise, it’s the dog that’ll sit there, look pretty, and not really worry about anything.

Hosea: English Setter. He would do great with a hunting dog and based off the way he hunts, he’d do better with a setter. He’d also like the sweet demeanor of the breeds standard.

Arthur: Labrador. I can imagine Arthur and his dog playing together for hours. Everything about Arthur reminds me of a lab.

John: Australian Cattle Dog. Unlike the others, John has an interesting lifestyle for a dog. I believe grooming may be more of a chore to him, but he wouldn’t mind running around with a dog for a while. I also think he’d like the guard dog aspect of a Heeler.

Javier: Scottish terrier. I feel like he’d like a little dog with an attitude problem. He’d like the independent and confident personality and the grooming challenge of the dog.

Charles: Newfoundland. He spends a lot of time alone and is more reserved than most,so I think he needs a more mellow dog. Its large size would also help protect him while alone. I also can just see Charles with a big fluffy dog.

Bill: Schnauzer. I could see him with any size, but I think Bill would thrive with one of those stubborn ass dogs. They are so loyal and so protective, but so stubborn (I’ve had 4 schnauzers in my lifetime, I love them but you can’t tell them no). He also thinks the beard makes them look more manly.

Lenny: Standard Poodle. I think Lenny would love a poodle for its intelligence. He’d have it trained to follow his every command, but also that dog would be so spoiled. Lenny would just carry it around like a little dog because he would kill a man for his puppy.

Sean: Australian shepherd. He needs a dog as wild as him. The mischief they would get into would make a nun cry. However, aussies are super smart and Sean and Lenny would compete in which dog was smarter.

Trelawny: Borzoi. He needs a dramatic ass dog. They’re beautiful and so fast, but not known to be the most intelligent of dogs. All the love to my noodle dogs though. :)

Pearson: Lhasa Apso. He needs a crusty little dog to sleep while he makes food, and then sit on his lap while he sits by the fire. Just a throw rug of a dog.

Micah: AKITA! Mean sons of bitches. They are aggressive, but loyal. Micah would like the fact it would only like him.

Reverend Swanson: Chihuahua. He needs a nervy little purse dog.

I’ll make a separate part for the girlies. :)

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Yes see but my problem is less that it's an unreasonable solution and more that it is unsatisfying and also sloppy writing to have a very specific tool to get out of a situation and to only introduce it 5 seconds before the situation occurs and then have it immediately disappear. Bram Stoker is not exactly the most talented writer but he does planting and payoff fine at other points in this novel and I think it was well within his talents to make Arthur's terriers just a bit less random and I think he just got lazy.

Idk man in some ways the terriers are what bother me the most about Dracula plot wise and I know what a statement that is. It's kind of dopey that a mind controlled wolf breaks the window but at least we know what happens to the wolf and at least it is built up that Dracula has a connection to wolves before it happens + so it comes off as a fun character quirk more than anything else and at least it's quite entertaining. Bram Stoker relies on selective character stupidity with Lucy and Mina getting fed on way way way too much to be believable for me anyway, but at least you can kind of put a "this is your brain on paternalism/internalized misogyny/ableism" spin on it but those fucking terriers... Arthur never mentions them. Who is caring for them? I know that he lives relatively nearby but my understanding is that they went straight from the big group meeting to the Abbey, where were the dogs in the meeting did he stop home to get the dogs? We can assume that the dogs got dropped off at his place before leaving, but still it's just. Like it's so lazy. The fact that dogs scare off rats is not unbelievable but they just show up in the scene + disappear! Even if Lucy in her late August letter was like "we played with his dogs! My favorite is x" or if during Lucy's staking ceremony Arthur mentioned wanting to bring his dogs to the graveyard as protection or whatever I would hate it less. Like I know it doesn't really matter, and in all other respects I think that the scene is a cool example of horror, so I try to just ignore it but like. Bram. Bram come on just put the dogs in the story like 5% more if they're gonna save their asses I don't mean to sound like a killjoy but every year it just sticks in my craw in such a huge way.

[count-skribula]

The Suitor Squad!

Featuring Arthur’s terriers

[ciceroandthelistener]

i love that sean’s nickname is the irish terrier because the image a tiny yapping dog is absolutely delightful, but then i remember how they’re a ‘poor man’s sentinel’, how dutch calls sean a younger version of arthur, and how arthur is guard dog of the group and im just sad all over again

[see-arcane]

No one is a visionary anymore. They don't even include Arthur's small rat-mauling terriers that he picks up one by one over the threshold smh

Honestly, the Dogs Hate Dracula factor as a whole deserves a spotlight.

Dogs howl for Jonathan and Lucy's sake, as if knowing what's coming for them. A dog tried to attack Wolf Dracula after he left the Demeter, prompting it being slain. A dog in the cemetery was set off by being too near to Dracula's hiding place. The terriers tore apart his guard rats. Hell, even the wolves don't like him--they came to attack Dracula's caleche! They had to be mind-controlled away, just like the Count has to force them into everything else.

Pair that with the Drac Attack Pack being comparable to a pack of dogs chasing the wolf from their flock, and the whole canine motif is begging to be acknowledged by any movie or book.

Much like 100000 other themes and scenes that could be utilized, but I won't hold my breath for those either

[internetwerewolf]

This is purely so I can draw Quincey as a horse btw but what’s everyone else’s input for the others

Just got absolutely brain blasted to make a furry Dracula au

[lxgentlefolkcomic]

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Dialogue transcripts:

Panel 1

(n/a)

Panel 2

Mina: Nothing but dead ends so far…

Panel 3

Jack: There’s no reason to believe he lingered after those break-ins. He could be anywhere by now.

Panel 4

Terrier: BarkBARKbarkBARKbarkBARKbarkBARK

Panel 5

Arthur: Whoa, now! What is it, Lady?

Lady: BarkBARKbark

Panel 6

Jonathan: I think she’s looking at that man over there.

Arthur: ?

Panel 7

Arthur (offscreen): …What man?

[thethirdromana]

which dracula characters do you see having pets (arthur's hunting terriers aside) after the events, and what kind?

I realised when I got this ask that I didn't know much about Victorian and Edwardian pet preferences. It looks like they had mostly dogs and cats, plus some birds (especially canaries and budgies, but sometimes people would also take a fledgling native bird from the nest and raise it as a pet), and then assorted others like tortoises, ferrets, rats and beetles, but not modern-day small pets like hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs.

Sometimes they even listed them on the census. Humorist the tortoise from Leyton is my personal favourite.

On the Dracula front, this is probably my personal bias at play, but I can't see Jonathan and Mina as anything other than cat people at heart. They start off getting one kitten as a mouser and wind up with a variety of miscellaneous strays.

Arthur has a collection of Dogs With Jobs, but after the events of Dracula, the terriers specifically are allowed to sleep inside in front of the fire. And occasionally at the foot of the bed.

Van Helsing rescued an injured bird and now he keeps it as a pet. I imagine this being something extremely ordinary, like a sparrow. Van Helsing is convinced it's vastly more intelligent that the average sparrow, and that it understands all of his commands. It doesn't.

Jack thinks that pets are unsanitary and quietly disapproves of Jonathan and Mina's cats. But over the course of the summer post-Dracula, one of the cats that the asylum has for pest control decides that his office is its new home, and eventually Jack gives in and lets it stay.

[pawsitivevibe]

Arthur came to work with me on Thursday and got a bath and blow dry with the proper tub and dryer. Brought along his towel robe for jacket drying.

I forgot to bring my Spectrum 10 shampoo so I used a shampoo from work: Nature's Specialities Barkling Cider. It's an apple cider vinegar based shampoo, and I have heard that can be good for the coat. And oh my gosh, I swear his coat is nicer than it's been in a while. But then I looked the shampoo up and it's apparently for terriers, so I dunno that I should actually get a bottle. Maybe it's just a sign that it's time to try out other shampoos besides CC.