#Nachtwacht volume 1

[nachtwacht-monster-manual]

Volume 1 Nightwatch Profiles

1. Vladimir

Vladimir is with his 200 years the oldest warrior of The Nightwatch. The drop of blood incorporated in his ring, symbolizes who he is: a vampire. That drop was not accidentally processed into a ring, because just like a circle a ring symbolizes eternity, an eternal life. Very fitting for someone who has two centuries on his counter.

[Fake ink: the most famous vampire is Count Dracula (origin: Transylvania)]

Traits

Smart, reasonable, great persuasiveness, courteous, 200 years old.

Strengths

• Can turn himself invisible.

• Can switch to vampire speed, which makes him faster than a whirlwind.

• He can hypnotize humans and some creatures with his eyes, but only for short amounts of time.

Weaknesses

• One guess… garlic, of course! As soon as he comes near garlic he looses all his powers.

• Shuns bright sunlight and because of that often wears sunglasses.

• No reflection, which he has to hide from normal people.

Archivist’s note: We barely see Vlad wearing sunglasses in the show, and we also rarely to never see him use these mentioned hypnosis powers. It’s unclear when these books were written in the timeline of show production, but this leads me to believe these profiles were written before or during show production. The discrepancies are the biggest with Keelin, but more on that in the notes on her section.

While the text in the weakness section does not state that the loss of power to garlic is impermanent, we see in the show that it does not have lasting consequences on him.

2. Keelin

Meet Keelin. Attached to her necklace is a golden feather. That refers to birds and thus the ability to fly. The most special gift of an elf is… that she can fly. Hence the feather. But there’s more… to the ancient Egyptians the feather is a symbol of truth. Keelin has a strongly developed intuition that has never steered her wrong. That too is contained within the image of the feather.

[Fake ink: typical are the pointed ears]

Traits

High EQ and thus high empathy, good at improvising, has a strongly developed intuition, is positive and shrewd.

Strengths

• An expert in making all kinds of magical concoctions.

• The elf dust in her long blonde hair gives her magical powers.

• Has wings and can therefore fly.

Weaknesses

• Chaotic and sometimes overconfident.

• Freezes up in small rooms because the tiniest movement can damage her wings.

Archivist’s note: There’s a big difference between this profile’s Keelin and the show’s Keelin, this being the wings. As far as I am aware, Keelin has never had wings in the show or movies, and as the monster manuals are mainly episode retellings by Vega, they don’t show up in the manuals’ stories either. The picture included with her profile in this volume does picture her with translucent wings, though.

The discrepancies in the profiles are also present in volume two, who’s profiles are the similar to volume one except for a different layout, some reworded text, and the addition of some facts such as birthday and favourite foods, but the discrepancies are removed from volume 3 onward.

I suspect Keelin may have been conceptualised with wings in earlier versions of her character due to the many different connotations of the word “elf” in Dutch, which include the typical elves English speakers will imagine when hearing the word, but also include pixies, fairies, fey, sprites, brownies, certain spirits, etc. It is almost used as a catchall term for a certain type of folkloric creature.

Keelin’s most obvious connection to these connotations, the wings, were eventually cut from her character, but the influence is still visible in the “elf dust” in her hair (which due to these connotations can just as well be translated as fairy dust or pixie dust).

3. Wilko

Werewolf Wilko has a leather bracelet with an incorporated wolf fang. Both the leather and the fang are two obvious animal symbolism. In Wilko’s case the fang especially is a strong image of his special gifts: exceptional power, bravery and above-human senses. The wolf fang symbolizes the close relationship between animal and nature and thus also between Wilko and Nature.

[Fake ink: noticeably hairy]

Traits

Brave, honest, adventurer, tough. Can decide and act quickly.

Strengths

• Above-human strenght, fast, agile.

• Iron-strong senses (hearing, vision, taste, smell).

Weaknesses

• Sometimes impulsive. Stubborn and fiery.

• When he gets into contact with silver he changes back to his human form. Silver blocks his transformation to a werewolf. He can thus be kept prisoner with a silver chain.

Archivist’s note: Wilko’s profile is the most in line with what we see in the show, which doesn’t surprise me. Where there are many versions of vampires and elves have certain connotations in Dutch, werewolves are quite straight-forward. The only discrepancy I could spot, which I’m not certain of since I haven’t watched the episodes in a while, is the notion that silver forces him to return to human form. In the show, it harms him instead (in both human and werewolf form), which I do feel makes more sense for a weakness.

[nachtwacht-monster-manual]

The Illustrious Table of Contents

Archivist’s note: Entries are listed in the order they are listed in the manuals. Since I suspect the earlier manuals might be written before the seasons aired, any discrepancies in episode order vs manual order might be because of the manual order being the original order the episodes were planned to air, but I can’t of course confirm this.

I have marked episode numbers but have not marked season finales, as I’m not sure whether Nachtwacht had them (especially since the episodes aren’t connected with eachother through storyline). There are some seasons where I suspect that the last episode listed was the season finale due to certain threat level evaluations within the manuals, but in that case The Silent Twins would be season 3’s last episode, which isn’t correct; The Metentis was the last episode of season 3, and the Metentis simply isn’t season finale material. I have made sure to also include episode titles for the entry names that don’t match up with the episode name.

Volume 1

Labeled 4th of June 1827 on the title page

Inner-cover art

The secret introduction

Nightwatch Profiles

The Panther Creature (01x01)

The Mummy (01x03)

The Wishing Djinn (01x02)

The Minotaur (01x04)

The Werewolf (01x08)

The Cyclops (01x06)

The Troll (01x07)

The Siren (01x05)

The Goblin (01x09) (see Archivist’s Note)

The Gorgon (01x10)

The Gamedevil (01x11)

The Lamia (01x12)

The Horseman of the Apocalypse (01x13)

Archivist’s Note: I will not be covering the Goblin entry, as it seems to draw on antisemetic stereotypes. I am not Jewish and do not feel like it is my place to speak on it any further.

Volume 2

Labeled 4th of June 1828 on the title page

Inner-cover art

The secret introduction

Vega’s Report: Keelin

Vega’s Report: Vladimir

Vega’s Report: Wilko

The Master Vampire (02x06)

The Domovoj (02x04)

The Triptych-spirit (02x03)

The Dryad (02x02)

The Dragon (02x05)

The Bermadoe (02x01)

The Stanislem (02x08)

The Haxa (02x09)

The Safnari (02x11)

The Timerobber (02x12)

The Styx (02x07)

The She-wolf (02x10)

Demon Lilith (02x13)

Volume 3

Labeled 4th of June 1829 on the title page

Inner-cover art

The secret introduction

“Interview with myself”

Vega’s Report: Keelin

Vega’s Report: Vladimir

Vega’s Report: Wilko

The Monster (03x01, “The Monster (Annabelle)”)

The Greystook (03x02)

The Veheros (03x03)

Lucifer (03x04)

The Poltergeist (03x05)

The Leviathan (03x06)

The Monsterhunter (03x07)

The Shifter (03x08)

The Phobetor (03x09)

The Korrigan (03x10, “Korrigan the Fortune-teller”)

The Silent Twins (03x12)

The Knight Spirit (03x11, “Skulltor the Knight Spirit”)

The Metentis (03x13)

Volume 4

Labeled 4th of June 1830 on the title page

Inner-cover art

The secret introduction

The Nightwatch

Memoraia (04x01)

Aurum and the Magpie-witch (04x02, “The Curse”)

Vox Inferis (04x03)

Oculus (04x04, “Oculus, the Mirror Creature”)

Kerberus (04x05, “Kerberus, the Gatekeeper”)

Beloea (04x06, “Beloea, the Mud Monster”)

The Protector (04x07)

The Mask (04x08)

Nyckel (04x09)

Reika & Kross (04x10, “Reika”)

Nemmeza (Movie: Gate of Souls)

Volume 5

Labeled 4th of June 1831 on the title page

Inner-cover art

The secret introduction

The Nightwatch

Sepidas (05x01)

Rama (05x02, “Rama, the Collector”)

Tarantula (05x03)

Varian (05x04)

Okaju (05x05)

Nebulus (05x06)

Gwendolyn (05x07)

Volac (Movie: The Dark Heart)