#it’s the true Harker Curse

[theholmwoodfoundation]

This is why Jeremy hasn't held down a serious lover, during dates the other person can see the Jeremy Disapproves popping out

Jeremy desperately batting them away like a swarm of scowling bees.

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

i love to say "i'm in my simp era" but when was i not??? i have never left the simp era.

[rey-jake-therapist]

Dracula (movie)/TROP parallels

No idea why but this morning I started thinking of Francis Ford Coppola's movie Dracula (which is a very free adaptation of Bram Stoker's book), and realized there were many parallels to be made between the romance Mina/Dracula and Galadriel/Sauron... Since I love both, It gave me the idea of this meta.

1. Fate

It's fate that sent Jonathan Harker in Transylvania and with him, his picture of Mina, and fate that brought Sauron and Galadriel together in the middle of the ocean. Dracula recognized in the picture the face of his long dead wife Elisabeta, while Sauron recognized Galadriel as son as he saw her, probably from the light that emanated from her. Actually, he even reacts to the sound of her voice calling for help.

2. "I've crossed oceans of time to find you"

That's what Dracula tells Mina during the movie, as he's now sure she's the reincarnation of his wife Elisabeta.

Galadriel literally swims across the Sundering seas until she finds Sauron's raft. And then of course there's this sentence, which even if it was started by Adar, feels relevant to the post as it was completed by Galadriel and was an obvious callback to her encounter with Sauron:

Adar: An ocean of color against which everything else feels forever thereafter… Galadriel: …a dull gray.

4. Pretending and reluctance to reveal who they are

Dracula and Sauron both show an extreme reluctance at the idea that Mina and Galadriel see who they are. In Dracula's case, the reason is very clearly romantic: he doesn't want Mina/Elisabeta to see what monster he became, he wants her to see him at his best. That's why when Mina sees him attack Lucy under the form of a beast, he moans, "don't see me" and magically makes her forget what she just witnessed in horror. When he sees her again, this time in the street, he looks human, well dressed and pretty.

In Sauron's case, it's of course more dubious, but he expresses the fear of being rejected by her if she was ever to know all the evil things he did.

Another parallel to add :

In Dracula, Lucy, Mina's best friend, is attacked by Dracula and sees him in his true form while he forces her to drink his blood (among other things...). For the record, Dracula first came to the house because Mina lived there. But he didn't want to attack her, as he loves too much to curse her, so he decided to settle for Lucy.

In ROP season 2, it's Mirdania, Celebrimbor's smith and a very obvious stand-in for Galadriel, who gets to see Sauron's true form when she puts on the new ring they just forged.

I find the parallel interesting because like Dracula with Lucy, Sauron's not romantically interested in Mirdania and never showed interest in her before. Yet after this happens to her, he gets closer to her and can't help but notice her resemblance with Galadriel, going as far as touching her hair. It's a rather uncomfortable scene, which may foreshadow Mirdania's fate: he will probably possess her entirely, like Dracula possessed Lucy.

5. Bonding/Feeling of being lost and incomplete

Dracula manages to track Mina and pretends to be a tourist who needs a guide to visit London. They end up meeting several times and have a very romantic dinner, where it's confirmed that Mina is the reincarnation of his dead wife, Elisabeta when she instinctively knows what happened to her. They form an intense bond, at this occasion.

While she's on her way to reunite with Jonathan and marry him, Mina feels the loss of her "friend" but also feels his presence, as if he was at her side. Without him, it feels as if something's missing.

On a boat crossing the English Channel Mina throws mementos into the ocean MINA (to herself): It's odd but I feel almost that my strange friend is with me. He speaks to me in my thoughts. With him, I felt more alive than ever I had. And now, without him, soon to be a bride, I feel confused and lost. Perhaps, though I try to be good, I am bad. Perhaps I am a bad, inconstant woman.

In TROP, we see Galadriel bond with Halbrand and be vulnerable with him, and him with her.

In season 2, it's made very obvious that she misses those moments and that while being angry at him for deceiving her, she feels the loss of the connection they had. This feeling is mixed-up with bitterness, because she's now certain that it didn't mean a thing to him, while it meant everything to her.

Like Mina, she can hear Sauron call her while daydreaming, and it's very likely that some of the visions she has thanks to Nenya are in fact sent by him.

Before Adar, she completes his sentence where he describes how Sauron made people feel, revealing that everything else is a "dull gray".

6. Murder of a beloved parent/friend

Dracula finds in Mina's friend a new victims, and comes repeatedly at night to attack her and drink her blood, until it finally kills her and turn her into a vampire. Mina is very much like a sister to Mina. Sauron killed Galadriel's brother, Finrod.

In Dracula, it results in a very beautiful and heartbreaking scene where Mina cries out because she realizes this man is the monster who killed her best friend, and yet admits she loves him.

Of course in TROP there's nothing that straightforward (*delulu mode on: yet! *delulu mode off*). But she's clearly conflicted about how she feels about him, even now that she learns the dreadful truth. She doesn't refuse his offer to be his queen straight away, even after he masquerades as said brother to coaxe her into believing that he's in fact the good guy, in all this. Dracula handles it much, much better.

Of course the love story between Dracula and Mina is different on many other points from Haladriel, as Mina fully accepts her feelings for Dracula and embraces (quite literally) his darkness, while it's very likely that Galadriel never does that.

But I still find these parallels lovely...

[just-an-enby-lemon]

A horror version of Beauty and Beast (or a comedy version of Dracula) where Jonathan Harker stay at Castle Dracula is mostly the same but Dracula wants true love kiss to break a curse and the Brides sing Be Our Guest (they don't cook tho, Dracula is still pretending to be the staff by himself).

[trilogiesofterror]

EVIL NEVER DIES. THE RETURN OF JEKYLL AND HYDE, JACK THE RIPPER, AND DRACULA

Historical Horror Icons Rise From the Dead in Sequels to the Original Stories

By Gerard Edmund Snook

Victorian England was a fertile ground for horror stories. The dark, dirty, and often desperate conditions aroused imaginations to breed hellish tales of terror. Out of these nightmares was born a trio of monsters whose legends have reached across centuries to find new life in sequels that cast their own long shadows.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Seek

The murderous Edward Hyde stunned and shocked readers of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The book tells the story of a repressed scientist, Dr. Henry Jekyll, who develops a formula that enables him to transition into his sinister alter ego, Mr. Hyde. Jekyll experiments with the serum's chemical ingredients, hoping to indulge in his vices without fear of exposure. As Hyde becomes more dominant and violent, an increasingly desperate Jekyll begins to lose control and realizes that his dark side will soon take over permanently. In a final act of resignation, he confesses everything in a letter and commits suicide. Sometime later, Hyde's body is found dressed in Jekyll's clothes.

The story of Jekyll and Hyde continues in Anthony O'Neill's historical horror sequel Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek (2017). Seven years after Edward Hyde's death, a mysterious stranger arrives in London claiming to be Dr. Henry Jekyll. The late doctor's loyal solicitor, Mr. Utterson, knows the stranger must be a fraud since Jekyll and Hyde were the same person. As the resurrected physician reclaims his estate, the bodies of potential challengers start piling up, causing Utterson to fear for his own safety.

The Ripper Lives

Jekyll and Hyde was a dress rehearsal for what was to come. In the late Summer of 1888, Jack the Ripper appeared out of the London fog to commit a series of brutal killings. He struck without warning or motive, leaving a famine of evidence in his bloody wake before vanishing into history, never to be heard from again.

The Victorian gothic murder mystery series The Ripper Lives (2024) tells what happened to Jack the Ripper. And with ten fear-drenched parts, there's a lot for readers to sink their minds into. Taking place in the same universe as the actual life events, the series is true to the history of the crimes and features familiar names from the case as central characters. Inspector Fredrick Abberline narrates the tale from the safety of retirement, recounting the days of frustration and fear and, in perhaps the most anticipated Ripper storyline in years, promises to reveal what transpired after the official version of events.

Dracula the Un-Dead

Almost a decade after the Ripper disappeared, Dracula began haunting our nightmares. In the novel, a young English lawyer named Jonathan Harker visits the Transylvanian castle of Count Dracula to close a real estate transaction. He notes that the mysterious nobleman is pale, gaunt, and strange and, shortly afterwards, learns the horrific truth - that the Count is a vampire who feeds on human blood. Dracula imprisons Harker and departs for England to spread the curse of the undead. Once his identity and purpose are discovered, however, he is pursued back to Eastern Europe, where he is stabbed and crumbles into dust.

Although Dracula's demise suggests the threat has been neutralized, vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing knows otherwise. According to Van Helsing, when the sun sets, the vampire-king has the power to reshape himself into dust. Knowledge of this ability creates doubt about whether he is gone or, like evil itself, merely transformed. Dracula: The Un-Dead (2009), which pushes the story in unexpected directions, holds the answer. The gothic horror novel also includes startling revelations, including one about the alleged identity of Jack the Ripper.

______________________________________________________________

The Ripper Lives (1-10) is FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

FOLLOW Trilogies of Terror and Kevin Morris on Amazon to stay posted on new releases.

WRITE A CUSTOMER REVIEW to let us know your thoughts about our Jack the Ripper Series.

[praeteritus-memories]

If it makes you feel better, Miss Harker's body was burned after Millennium was defeated. Her body is ash in the wind now but it'll never be used and abused again. It doesn't change much but it should be a small comfort, right?

It was at least a comfort to know that no one else in this world could use her corpse in such a disgusting and disgraceful way again, but what kind of comfort is it when it happened in the first place?

Even if no one knew she still had his blood deep within her bones, to a point where not even Van Hellsing could've foreseen anything like this, he still feels that anger boiling within him. He let her go because he knew she didn't want immortality at the end, she wanted peace and sun-filled days, not anything like this.

It's then that his self hating thoughts come up to the surface, only himself to blame for this. If he wasn't so damn desperate to make Mina his, knowing full well she was married and clearly loved Johnathan over him, would this have happened to her? He doesn't know, but what he does know is that this is merely further punishment for the choices he's made and has to live with for eternity.

That was the true curse of vampirism after all, living with your sins forever.

[chlocxli]

Interview: Chloe Li

Name: Chloe Li Age: 26 Species: Human (Clairvoyant) Circle: Power Known Relationships: Connor Talbot II (Best Friend), Thaddeus James (Circle Leader), Karlha Whitlock (Formerly Indebted to), Lilith Gaumond (Close friend/date for the evening + avoid end of the world gang), Cameron Kiskadden, Kel Trebond, Elias Hart, Matthew Coleman-Reyes, Sebastian Harker (avoid the end of the world gang), Esmeray Talbot (ex-girlfriend/friend/bound to)

What's your name?

“Is— what is this, procedural? Whatever, sorry, I know. You ask, I answer.” It’s not like either her or Nora love this situation. She clears her throat and starts again, “Chloe Li.” 

How do you know Tabitha Spencer?

”I don’t really know her,” Chloe says simply. “I know her Brother, Bash, better than I know her. But, I’ve never heard a bad word uttered about her, either. It’s always been ‘wow, what a nice kid’ or things like that.” And, maybe there was a bit of bias in that idea. She had been there that night, she had been watching everything with an Eagle’s eye, and more so, she knew the power of gut feeling. Whatever happened that night was not on Tabitha.

How do you know Jose Alves Cruz?

Chloe shrugs, pushing herself back in her seat as her head falls back over the back of the chair before coming back to a seated position. “Another one of those Underground Namesakes. He’s the Mayor, but everyone knows that. I know he’s Jo’s Dad. I know he dodges Security, and he’s a tried to true politician for better or worse. Likely worse, if you ask me, but I guess that’s just an opinion.” She leans forward then. “I also know I saw him that night right before the fireworks off looking far too uneasy for someone watching a bunch of speeches about how great the Underground can be.”

How do you know Hollis Fiala?

“This is all on the record, right?” Better not to berate a Circle Leader for a court made up of the very same people. Whether Hollis had any say over the thing or not, Chloe didn’t need another enemy. “They’re the Circle Leader for the Wild. Related to Cerese, descendant of the High Court in the Fae realm— take your pick of the titles they tote and then some. I know they took an iron bullet to the shoulder that night at the party. That’s about as much interaction as I’m willing to have with them at this point, though.”

Did you see the shot happen/what happened that night from your perspective?

“I didn’t see the shot go off,” Chloe explains, “Shit happened fast— Can I curse during this? Whatever. I remember hearing two shots, and given that I was there due to seeing a vision that there would be a possible attempt on Karlha Whitlock’s life that night? I admit that my attention went to her first. By the time I realized it wasn’t her that had been shot at, everything was over, and the crowd started panicking. For the record, I couldn’t tell you what happened in my vision for that shot to go from Karlha to Hollis, but clearly something changed, because that Washerwoman craft we had with us that night told us clearly there was someone there who meant to harm Karlha. That much I can say as a fact.”

When did you get the invitation for the party/know you were going to work it?

“Whenever the mail decided to drop it off. It’s more of a courtesy, though, being in the Power Circle. You know you’re going to that party before the invitation comes, might as well forget about making other New Years plans if you want to stay in some sort of decent standing with the rest of the Circle. I’ve known I was going since New Years last year.” She shifts, almost nervously. “It was a little different this year, though, I’ll admit. That vision I mentioned earlier? The one about Karlha? I had reason to believe that attempt would take place at the party. And, so, I got some people together, and we decided we were going to put a stop to that. We had medical supplies, counter protective measures in place, and crafts in an effort to help us sniff out the danger before it came to any shots being fired. Clearly, we were not that lucky, but at least Karlha is alive.” Hollis, too, though Chloe was still debating if that was a relief or a shame. 

Did you go with someone?

“Depends on how you mean. If you were to ask anyone there, Lilith Gaumond was my date. But, really, I was there with a few people. Lilith, Cam, Kel, Elias, Matthew, and Bash. We were all there with the same goal in mind: Keep Karlha alive. Like I said, it doesn’t make sense how that switched. Up until a couple hours before midnight, it still seemed like someone was out for Karlha, and she’s very much fine, thank Guide and Cicerone for that. I’m just going to keep harping on that one, because it makes exactly zero fucking— sorry —zero sense, seeing as Tibby is a part of Karlha’s pack. Why the fuck would she go into that party with the plan to hurt Karlha and pivot to shoot Hollis instead?”

Do you own a gun/have you ever owned a gun?

“No, never owned one. I’ve never really felt the need. Maybe I’m overly confident in how well I can defend myself with bear mace and my fists, but it wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind as a necessity.” Recent events had slowly amended that thought, but she had a machete and a few knives now. She still didn’t feel the need to wield such a lethal weapon. “I’ve shot BBs during Summer Camp as a kid, and most recently a Dart Gun to deal with a situation. But that’s the most involvement I’ve had with firearms at this point.” She takes a deep breath, and shakes her head. "Does that even matter? This place is so fucked up. I’m telling you, I know Tibby wouldn’t just do this. I don’t even know the kid, and I can tell you that. She has no reason to shoot Hollis, no motivation, no personal gain— If people could open their eyes for ten seconds, they might see just how weird this entire thing is, too.”

@midnightunderground-npcs​​

[iubitdracull]

Muse Biography

Name: Vladimir Dracul Tepes III

Age: 4,450 

Species: Vampire

Aliases: Dracula, Vlad Tepes, Impaler Lord, Vlad The Impaler, Dark Lord, Lord of Darkness, Son of Satan, Son of The Devil, The Sacred Ancestor, The Vampire King, The First Vampire, Emperor of The Undead, The Nosferatu. 

Family: (All with a † are deceased) Vladimir Dracul Tepes II (Father) † Justina Szilágyi Dracul (Mother) † Radu (Older brother) † Elizabetha Carmi Dracul Tepes  (Wife) †  Justine Dracul (Daughter) † Seraphina Dracul (Daughter) † Mina Harker (Spouse) † 

Lucifer/The Devil (Spiritual Father) (@ave-sxtanas ) Igor Van Lichtenstein (Adopted son) (Side muse on this blog) Rokshana Dracul Tepes (Adopted daughter) (@sxverana ) Adrian Fahrenheit Dracul Tepes (Son) Dimitri (Son)

Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Red Height: 6’10

Dracula is charismatic and aristocratic, stoic,  poised, and regal, having perfect manners and an imposing presence, a silver tongue with a poetic way with words. Though he often laces it with sarcasm and dark humor, he is a gentleman, well-spoken, erudite, and distinguished, even greeting foes kindly and discussing their motives. He is also knowledgeable, a master of warfare and battle strategy; with a capacity for cunning and manipulation, always one step ahead of those who oppose him. Occasionally he uses unwitting pawns and proxies; he is no coward and isn’t afraid to take matters into his own hands. Though to those who earn his ire, he only displays scathing spite. 

Vladimir is a warrior at heart, a brutal fighter, and a skilled swordsman regarded as the deadliest warrior of his time in his mortal days. Courageous and fearless, he can stand firm against the whole legions of his enemies in direct combat. He does not hesitate to smite his enemies. He spares no quarter and savagely slaughters his foes, preferring to impale his enemies after defeating them and leaving them to suffer a slow and painful death. Dracula fights with ferocity and often extreme cruelty, rarely killing until his enemies have been completely disabled, broken, and humiliated.

He is misanthropic, calling the majority of humankind petty, greedy, dishonest, and worthless. He states that many of humanity, including the heroes who confront him, have darkness in their hearts and should stop denying their selfish desires. He often says there is no true freedom and that people are willing slaves to their religions. He addresses his subordinates respectfully and politely whenever he engages in any conversation and even extends this trait to his enemies. He is also shown to be reasonably grateful, as he often blesses and rewards those who serve him or otherwise help him by usually offering power, a high rank within his army, or even immortality. However, he is shown to be merciless toward any minions that defect from him, executing or torturing them in the most excruciating ways. He will not hesitate to slaughter people for working against him, killing them brutally and leaving their corpses impaled among forests of spears and lances. Still, he would have no qualms sparing innocent people who never intended to challenge him.

Though under all that, Dracula is a tortured individual whose heart has become cold as ice with hatred, not only for the world but for himself. He accepts that he is a monster, the things he has done irredeemable, and doesn’t try to be anything else besides the beast that all men have come to fear and hate. Yet, in his most private moments, he stares long into mirrors, seeing no reflection, drowning in his hatred for himself and what he has become. Dracula is a sad and lonely creature, yet he never expresses himself outwardly. He believes wholeheartedly that he is beyond all hope, cursed by God, feared by the Devil, and hated by all.

Yet his most incredible pain comes from those he had lost, the loss of his first family, whose deaths haunt his every waking moment and afflict him every time he closes his eyes. 

[potionboy3]

OC x LOVE INTERESTS

list of my hp world characters who are currently open for love interests! list will be updated along the way.

under the cut there are 9 characters in total as of now. ! preference for matching stories !

*hogwarts founders era*

verena slytherin

born: kind of undecided but during salazar slytherin's adulthood hogwarts house: slytherin sexuality: bi? looking for: love interests of any gender

intro post family pinterest

bright, smart and rebellious

daughter of salazar slytherin

disagrees with her father on many things

very skilled at archery and knows combat battle

has an older brother

*hp victorian era/hphl*

charles hartford

born: somewhere between 1866-1869 hogwarts house: ravenclaw sexuality: gay looking for: a wife to continue his family line

pinterest

intelligent, nurturing, charismatic but some what afraid

he's gay but very much closeted and hiding his true self from everyone

assistant of ezra greenaway who he is also in love with for a time period but it's one sided, he's kind of ezra's sidekick

he already has relatives in more modern days, hartford family is one of my main families. (willard hartford, valentin hartford, harker hartford etc.)

related to the durand family (@cursed-herbalist)

likes books and reading, practically lives in the library

has a difficult relationship with his father who wants him to make more of himself that working for a writer. his father is an auror and the family is later known from being mostly aurors.

shipped with oswin kenway @legilimenace

*fbawtf era*

enzo rovere-parsons

born: 1912  hogwarts house: slytherin sexuality: bi looking for: i'm leaning towards a male love interest but somewhat open to ideas

pinterest

curious, clever, sneaky, witty

adopted sibling of gio and reva rovere-parsons @unfortunate-arrow, he's the middle child

best friends with jaren greenaway

has a kind of carefree attitude in life most of the time and should probably take things more seriously

adam brynn

born: 1907 status: squib sexuality: straight looking for: female love interest

profile (this is old)

charming but petty and he has a lot of anger on his heart

terrorizes the wizarding kind

hates magic and the wizarding community (if he would to have a love interest who's a witch then the storyline could be that he doesn't find out about her magic)

if you're in need of unfortunate romance then this might be a good option for that, but there's also a chance that he could be an okay husband! it's mostly his actions and backstory that weigh on him.

has a future doppelgänger named john arthur :)

enemies with theo and elian goldcrest

*riddle era*

hypatia "hattie" page

born: 1920s (?) sexuality: lesbian hogwarts house: gryffindor looking for: female love interest

intro post

bold, loud, daring

muggleborn

magical mechanic

best friends with jacqueline shelby and her co-pilot

johannes larkspur

born: 1923 sexuality: bi? hogwarts house: gryffindor looking for: love interests of all genders

family video family intro post family pinterest

artistic, balanced, accepting, brave

his family is a big name in wizarding art industry

wants to be an artist

middle child, doesn't want to be here

matilda larskpur

born: 1902 sexuality: bi? hogwarts house: hufflepuff looking for: love intrests of all genders

family video family intro post family pinterest

cunning, ambitious, vengeful, hard-working and loyal

on her late 30's during the era

widow and still heart broken

loretta (@gaygryffindorgal) her sister owns the larkspur family art trading company. she works hard to keep their reputation good despite the criminal activities they're accused of.

has a daughter marie-rosalie @gaygryffindorgal

iason volta

born: 1924 sexuality: bi? hogwarts house: gryffindor looking for: love interests of all genders

family video family intro post family pinterest

flirtatious, self-assured, lazy, impatient

party boy

first son of gretta and erebus volta

his family is known for their firewhiskey, casinos and criminal activities (they're a mob family)

enemy family: larkspur family

loviisa aarnintytär

born: 1600s status: immortal sexuality: bi? looking for: love interests of all genders in any era after 1600s

intro post pinterest

independent, strong, defensive but kind of lonely

immortal finnish witch with a tragic backstory

oldest daughter, has a younger sister aada (@gaygryffindorgal)

[somnesca]

Fuck it.

The Polycula as Disney Princesses*

*includes non-official ""princesses"" because I don't care about that branding crap and this is more fun

Mina Harker: Some might think Belle is the obvious parallel here but imo she's better suited as Tiana. No one works harder, deserves better, or handles malevolent harbingers of the underworld with more guts and grace. Plus: she's got a beautiful fancy best friend.

Jonathan Harker: ...honestly I had too many options here but our good friend is taken hostage by a lord of a creepy castle with dark secrets, avoids a pack of wolves, wanders into forbidden wings, and bonds with said lord over their mutual interest in books. Jonathan is the OG Belle and there's nothing I can do about it. Plus: he loves his "monster" (Mina, of course, not Drac) and WILL defy all of society to defend that love if he has to.

John Seward: Suddenly overwhelmed with evidence of creatures and beings that don't make any sense? Check. Firmly believing there is "madness" in others while avoiding confronting his own? Check. Baffled by seemingly nonsensical wordplay of one of his helpful companions? Check. He's Alice in Wonderland, all right. Someone come get him out of this rabbit hole.

Arthur Holmwood: Ok bear with me on this one, it's kind of a deep cut. I was leaning toward a classic princess at first, but then it occurred to me: a character who is glamorous and elegant and comes from high society, but who will jump into action when innocent lives are on the line, even using their connections to travel to far-off lands... well that's the lovely Miss Bianca from The Rescuers, baby.

Quincey Morris: This was harder than it should have been because not enough classic Disney princesses are allowed to have guns. (But they should.) So I went with just vibes. Who loves adventure and not being confined to a single place? Who's great with horses and quickly befriends tough guys and thieves through sheer earnestness? Who would absolutely fuck up an intruder (whether human or bat) without hesitation and with any weapon that's available to them? None other but Rapunzel.

Abraham van Helsing: I love the thought of a curious and passionate academic who winds up in a land very different from their own, who pushes through the difficulties of language barriers to connect and communicate with locals through compassion and understanding. Sure, his attempts are a bit clumsy from time to time and the locals may never fully understand the nuances of his culture, but he becomes a most beloved protector nonetheless. Ergo: Jane Porter from Tarzan.

Lucy Westenra: Now we could go the Aurora route and that suits me just fine (both are victims of a sleeping disorder and don't get that much screentime) buuut she is the fairest in all the land, charms the hell out of older men, and is released from her supernatural death curse with a gesture of true love...Snow White, is that you?

Renfield: Look at his stuff. Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think his collection's complete (although adding a kitten would be nice)? Poor Renfield's got a strong voice with a lot to say but no one listens to him, because he's angling for something more by striking a deal with a dark power. Despite all his best efforts, he does not end up being part of that world. (But he can be a part of ours! Tumblr loves you, Ariel Renfield.)

I invite alternatives and arguments if you feel so moved, it shouldn't need to be said but this is not to be taken seriously by any means.

[see-arcane-scribbles]

The Art of Eros

Summary: Jack called him an image of Thor once. Considering recent events, Art finds he has more in common with another god.

Quincey is always described as the laconic one.

It’s the trick of an American’s lilt. His Texan tongue is blunt and stunted compared to the thousand prosy offshoots that an Englishman seems dutybound to recite in order to arrive at a completed thought. Van Helsing’s monologues suggest that there are even heavier verbal afflictions a nation might curse its children with.

“For my part, I think I can only pass as the concise one because I don’t see fit to consult a dictionary whenever I open mouth,” Quincey went on over his glass. “I’m hardly a fool, but my jaw’s too lazy for the work our friends put into it.”

“What are you getting at?” Art says over his own crystal. He’s emptied two tumblers so far. Quincey seems to have forgotten his is there. The black chips of his eyes have not moved from him since they sat. Since Jack and the Professor finally resigned themselves to sleep, leaving them to the watch.

“I’m getting at you, Art. You can spin out the same rambles as the rest when the mood takes you. But it rarely does. You know I almost took you for mute the first week I knew you? It’s true. Gave me a hell of a shock the first time you saw my cousin’s terrier litter. A whole encyclopedia fell out of your mouth, all to do with those pups.” The tumbler turns back and forth under his hand. Amber liquid swirls in a gentle whirlpool, the glass sweating against the table’s fine varnish. “You keep your words in reserve, Art. I’d bet money that gave you an extra hand when it came to winning over—,”

Art watches his friend’s throat work. The leap and twitch of the Adam’s apple that is fast becoming a tell he never thought the man capable of. Same as tears.

“Lucy.”

“Lucy,” he confirms. “I flatter myself to think I held her ear pretty well, and not unhappily, playing around with…” His free hand gestures to the whole of himself. To the broad sun-bleached hat that now rests on the corner of the chair’s back. “I got her to laugh with it. I’ll always treasure that. But you, Art? You got her to talk. You got her to spill herself out beyond all the practiced patter girls in her circles are strangled down into. I believe 'Miss Lucille Westenra' got to be just Lucy with you because you listened. Because you held your words back to hear more of hers. That was my impression. Always has been.”

“I know.”

“I only bring it up again because it’s got me thinking of recent events. How, in all the pandemonium—see, there’s my one dictionary word of the night—it’s been so easy for you to slip sideways out of all the chatterers’ perspective. The Dutchman, Jack, me…”

Art tries to drink again from his glass. Empty. He speaks with a dry throat:

“The Harkers.”

Quincey hasn’t blinked in over a minute, he thinks.

“…The Harkers. Right. All of us running our mouths. Us the only two not playing secretary to each day’s mess and adventure. And me still saying more in an hour than I think you say in a day. Is that an unfair estimate, do you think?”

“I couldn’t say.”

“Wouldn’t say.”

“What?”

“The word is wouldn’t, Art. You wouldn’t say. Lord knows that’s been a gift too. You can always be trusted to keep your lip buttoned when it would do harm otherwise. You wouldn’t say we’re all a bunch of prattling magpies compared to you sinking silently into the wallpaper. Just like you wouldn’t loose a secret that would take the rug out from someone. You’ve been a man of honour since well before you became a lord. Even when no one is looking.” Finally, a blink. Slow. “Or when you think no one’s looking.”

A hot coal has lodged itself in Art’s throat. If he tries to swallow it, he thinks it might eat a hole through his neck. Certainly a worse puncture than the pinholes he had seen on Lucy.

Or on—

He swallows the coal anyway.

“Quincey.”

“Art.”

“I ask again. What are you getting at?”

“Not sure, Art. Not really. Just talking to keep awake, I guess. The worst of our troubles seem to come when we’re asleep on the job. Heads down, backs turned.” Art sees him pick up the tumbler and take his first sip. From his face, he may as well be drinking water. “But then, even when we have our eyes open, some things still slip by without us noticing.” Another sip empties the bourbon by half. “Like the Harkers.”

Art feigns interest in the table. In the chairs’ button-tufting. In how the fireplace paints the room in all its dancing reds.

“Hard to think how we could have missed all the signs with those two. So long and so completely. We should have known better. But no. Now they are what they are and that is in the wind. All under our watch.”

Art counts his heartbeats and he is—

Watching, watching, watching, in the hall and through the cracked door, the tears run and the blood flows and the words rush, Mina, Mina, I cannot, I will not, if you die then I am dead, I cannot raise my hand to you in any form, and if you are unmade I will unmake myself, for life is gone is over is tainted, and our love is holier than any God who would betray it, betray you, sorry, so sorry, I am selfish, I give myself where you were stolen, but it is the only way I can be, the only way to remain with you, on Earth or in Hell, amen.

“Yes. A miracle in reverse.”

“That's a pretty way to put it. More poetry to it. Takes more pain off if it sounds like Spenser.”

“Poetry has not helped me much of late. Not with my father. Nor with Lucy.”

Even in the throes of relief at seeing the Bloofer Lady removed and dead Lucy returned, even with the meaty crack and split of her ribs still trembling up into his hands as if he were still hammering down, even grasping at the Professor in his grateful grief and delirium, there had not been one ounce of the majestic or the holy that Jack, with his secret bard’s heart, had glazed the act with in his diary. Jack had seen a blessed return to rightful nature and purity in the tomb. Perhaps Quincey had too. Van Helsing certainly.

Art had only seen the corpse of his fiancée. Dead twice. Once by another, again by him. Yes, the monster had needed ending—there were more to think of than her. The children. The living population at large. A nascent Un-Dead wearing Lucy’s form should have been a small price to pay. And it was. Is. Surely.

Yet now, with the burden of knowledge, he wonders what she might have been if she had actually been taught anything rather than getting left behind by the horror that conscripted her. What did she know but her appetite? What evil did she think she committed beyond taking a small sip from many rather than murdering one, as Harker had seen the Weird Sisters do? What callousness was there in her but dropping a child at the sight of them?

Of him?

She had known him. Still, even as she was, she had known him.

Was that a demon or, like the poor wretch that had been Renfield, merely a soul dented by inflicted appetites and the influence of a Master? How much of the Thing was a Thing and not..?

“I imagine not,” Quincey hummed. “I heard someone warbling a love song outside a pub the other day and felt sick. Can’t see you indulging in anything so flimsy as a few verses to get you through everything of late.”

“I haven’t.”

In the hall, through the door.

I know, Jonathan. I knew, for I was willed to read, to spy. I saw the shorthand. The Count was still baffled by it, but I had strength enough not to write the translation. Not to breathe a word. For as long as I still have to breathe. It is coming on, now, soon. And I cannot call to the others. Cannot stall. Cannot send you away. Cannot beg an ending from you. My love, my darling, what if I rise and do the unthinkable? If I merely kill you and leave you to bleed? What if I make you the monster’s promised jackal? What if..?

I have been prepared to die by your hand or mine since that night, Mina. Whether I am slain, whether I am turned, whether I begin knotting a rope, I am dead. More, I am damned for all I have enabled the Count in, and all I am prepared to do for you. All the sins I have committed in my heart, I would commit in full if only it meant you went on, never abandoned. Yet I would rather commit only one sin as a living man. If they ever find you in your box, they will find double their quarry—they can spare two stakes. And wherever God sends our like, wherever He sends you, Mina, you who He would scar for your flesh’s sake rather than pardon you for your soul, I will go there too.

Art feels the hammer and stake in his hands again. The tremble and pound in his palms. He sees the screaming, champing face. Red eyes on his, hating and hurting and wondering at him as blood ran in place of tears.

Then the red eyes are dead eyes. They shut.

Forever and ever.

Amen.

“I haven’t found time to indulge in much of anything of late, Quincey, poetic or otherwise. You know that.”

In the hall, breath held. Through the door, eyes wide.

Sleep falls into death. An opened wrist, blood falling into rosy lips. The lips sigh, the dead eyes open. A kiss full of ivory rises up to find the bared neck.

An open window. A cloud of mist carrying the prone shape of a man out into the night, their silhouette branded black against the moon. Then they are gone. Eloped.

Down the hall, into the parlor. A drink. Another drink. A counting of heartbeats. Then, upstairs, Jack begins to call out. Quick! Come quick! All that is left of the newlyweds are fluttering drapes and a drop of blood upon the pillow.

Across from him, Quincey empties his glass in full.

“I know, Art. I’m not really one for poetry as a rule. Not even Jack’s prose, kind as it might paint certain scenes. Sometimes a thing is only what it is, no matter what words we frame it in. Horror can just be horror. Regret can just be regret.”

“The same applies to love.”

“That’s right,” Quincey nods. He refills their glasses. “Love too.”

Crystal rings against crystal.

Somewhere in the night, two lovers laugh, and the sound is just the same.

Ao3 link

[tea-with-eleni]

Curse of Strahd vs Dracula

Spoilers for Dracula AND Curse of Strahd. 

Curse of Strahd is a vampire story clearly descended from the same genetic stock as the original Big Bad Evil Vampire, Dracula. Many characters have direct parallels. Others are unique to either one story or the other. Still others have been decomposed into multiple characters to allow full utilization of their rich individual stories in a new context. Consider Lucy.

Lucy’s most obvious parallel is Ireena Kolyana, especially if one looks at the text of the Curse of Strahd adventure. As written, both are passive, both have been fed upon by the vampire, and both are ultimately doomed. Lucy is sweet, a people pleaser, and more or less housebound by the time anyone starts to do anything about her blood loss. Ireena is more action-oriented, in that she does leave her village in a bid to find somewhere safer, but does so largely at the urging of her brother. Complicating Lucy-as-Ireena is Ireena’s ultimate fate. Most of the time, Ireena does not die at the hands of Strahd, nor is she made into a vampire spawn. It is for this reason that I suggest Lucy’s character has actually been split into a few other people for purposes of Ravenloft: Stella Wachter and Doru Donovich. 

Part of Lucy’s narrative role was an element of mystery. Dracula is a slow-burn story reliant on suspense and the slow reveal of lore. We don’t initially know what Dracula is, nor what precisely is happening to Lucy. Curse of Strahd doesn’t have this luxury; everyone knows from the start that they are about to play a vampire story. Thus, the role of a slow-burn mystery regarding a mysterious ailment has to have a different source and a different target. Stella Wachter fills this role. The player characters have no way of initially knowing the source of her madness or its precise nature. They know little to nothing about its source (Viktor Vallakovich) or said source’s capabilities. They have the opportunity, like the Dude Squad, to save Stella or leave her to her fate. The only difference between this aspect of Lucy’s characterization is that Stella’s fate is open-ended - a key requirement of a DnD game. Just as Stella’s madness could not have been caused by Strahd in order to maintain a true mystery for player characters, she cannot be forced into an ultimate fate to maintain true player agency. 

Lucy’s ultimate fate, the Bloofer Lady, could not belong to Ireena or Stella. Ireena must live for most of the story, as Strahd is motivated by love rather than... whatever motivated Dracula. (Hunger?) To turn Ireena would allow Strahd to win. Stella could not turn into a vampire spawn because, as stated above, her madness was not Strahd’s fault. Therefore, the role of the Bloofer Lady must go to someone else. While a case could be made for the vampire spawn unleashed at the Feast of St Andral, a better case can be made for Doru Donovich. The point of the Bloofer Lady in Dracula is to allow the Dude Squad to face a vampire in the flesh for the first time. She convinces them that vampires are real, a threat, and need to be dealt with. Doru Donovich offers a similar narrative role. Many players will encounter him as their first major fight against anything vampiric. He also has similar threads in his backstory to evoke player sympathies. Players may not have known him in life, as the Dude Squad knew Lucy, but Doru was an adventurer. This is a deliberate inclusion to invoke player empathy; he could have been one of them. 

I’m also reasonably convinced that Mina was decomposed into at least three other characters (Ireena, Arabelle, and Ezmerelda d’Avenir), Strahd and Dracula are more different than they are similar, and modern takes on the Brides of Strahd borrow and diverge heavily from the Brides of Dracula. There’s also the significance of Jonathan Harker’s arrival and meals at Castle Dracula vs the significance of the players dining at Castle Ravenloft.  I’ll save those for another time tho. 

[ajstudio]

My Hellsing Brainstorm Dump

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Here's some I typed up after watching Hellsing Ultimate back in May 26, 2018.

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Spoiler Warings to those who have not completed watching Hellsing Ultimate or Princess Tutu, or atleast finished reading the Hellsing manga. I will show no mercy with the spoilers.

I am sure of it. I just finished watching Hellsing Ultimate. I never thought I would really watch it after I looked at Anime America’s review. But when I saw Rip Van Winkle from the abridged version, I had to see her in the OVA. I then saw the rest of it because I wanted to better understand her fate after Alucard bit her.

I saw the Major at Alucard’s execution when he should’ve died as Vlad the Impaler. I don’t believe Vlad lapped up that little bit of blood intending to become a vampire, that was all an accident he wasn’t looking for. Had he known the yearning he’d have for all those centuries he walked the earth for someone to do him in, I’m positive he would’ve waited to die a little longer.

Like how Drosselmeyer wanted to create the greatest tragedy while treating everyone like characters for his story, The Major went into the past to make the goriest war I have ever seen animated, gore I had to shield my eyes from time and time again. Everyone was his to toy with: Alucard, Walter, the soliders, the Iscariot, he used everyone.

Maybe he just wanted to create the greatest monster, or vampire, or just his own Dracula.

After watching the last episode of the Ova, I was talking to myself in my studio about how Alucard got the last laugh by gaining Schrodinger’s powers and how everything The Major did was a waste since he was only able to keep Alucard out of the picture for 30 years. But then I realized The Major did get the last laugh: he took Alucard’s dream. His dream to defeated by a human. As a result of gaining a new power, Alucard also gained a new curse. Being able to regenerate one’s self after suffering great damage is one thing, but gaining the immortality when Alucard didn’t believe true immortals existed is a nightmare for him. Everytime he gets killed, he can just come back by thinking of a certain time he was still alive. He can’t create familiars anymore unless he wanted to go through that unexist cycle again. But Alucard can’t die like he really wants to anymore. That small chance he had has been diminished drastically. The Major created an unkillable monster that death wouldn’t come for until Judgement Day.

------

I know the Major wasn't present at Alucard’s execution now (but let's face it he would be crazy enough to time travel to concoct a bloodyer war if he could), and while Alucard is a lot harder to kill now, his new curse also doubles as a blessing that guarantees he will die at the hands of a worthy human because he can just be defeated by the his worthy foe of choice and then disappear. Although, I will likely cry when that happens.

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I have wondered how the Doktor learned about Mina Harker, her story with Dracula being real, and more importantly, where she was buried. I believe he might've been a descendant, or acquainted with a descendant of someone from Abraham Van Hellsing's group.

Now I have learned this month on the Hellsing Wiki that Mina Harker was buried at Dracula's Castle, which further proves my theory. Because how would he get that information unless he was acquainted with someone at Hellsing, he used be a part of Hellsing, or as of recently I've assumed, there was a double agent, or a traitor, before Walter. Judging by the intereactions Walter had with the Doktor, they weren't familiar with each other. So if the Doktor had been with Hellsing before, he left before Walter came in the picture.

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I rewatched Hellsing the Dawn, and it was the Major who had Mina dug up. She was then sent to the lab where she left at the Doktor's mercy. So I should be inquiring how the Major learned about Mina.

----

[shepherds-of-haven]

If the ROs were the protagonist of their very own AU story, what AU would suit them best? Asking for science...

Oooh, very interesting question!

Blade: medieval AU where he’s a knight; crime/noir AU where he’s a homicide detective; or for whatever reason I’ve been into a Star Wars AU where he’s a conflicted Jedi knight during the Republic Era/right before Order 66!

Trouble: COWBOY COWBOY COWBOY -- possibly maybe steampunk cowboy AU? Alternatively: Pacific Rim/Gundam AU

Tallys: hospital AU in the style of House or Grey’s Anatomy. Standoffish and aloof doctor still is the best at saving people’s lives! Also, flower shop AU, where all she wants to do is arrange flowers but she keeps inadvertently matchmaking people and meddling in their lives despite not wanting to!

Shery: Ghibli AU. I don’t know what this means except it’s soft pastels, cute as shit, and she’s a normal girl who discovers something magical about herself: she finds out she’s a witch, she finds a tiny person living under her floorboards, she’s spirited away, she is cursed by a witch, falls in love with an eccentric sorceress, and learns the true meaning of beauty... alternatively, coffee shop/bakery AU!

Riel: Phoenix Wright-style lawyer AU. OR for whatever reason, vampire AU!!! He’s Jonathan Harker, but not for long, and also, they’re gay

Chase: crime AU where he’s a thief but falls in love with the cop pursuing him while attempting to evade both the authorities and elements in the criminal underworld that want him dead. Alternatively: Hogwarts AU! Like if a Slytherin with a bad family reputation formed his version of the Marauders to wreak havoc and leave his mark on the school.  

Red: high school slice-of-life anime AU. I don’t know why, but I can just see him in that uniform living an idyllic school life with his friends and a little bit of wholesome teenage drama

Ayla: mermaid AU. Idk why but it just fits her! Her mer-tribe is involved in a war with humans until a sailor falls into the sea and almost drowns, and she saves them... alternatively, zombie apocalypse AU!

Halek: mafia AU. He’s the disenfranchised son of one of the largest crime families in the city. Why? I don’t know, but I wrote it for him one time when I was like 15 and found it oddly compelling

Briony: superhero AU. She’s a college student moonlighting as a superhero, but her early life is a blank. Later it comes out that she was grown in a lab as the first artificially-created superhero in a world where people suddenly gained superpowers due to a cataclysmic event, and she was the first attempt at artificially inducing superpowers! OR cyberpunk AU!

Lavinet: popstar AU. She’s plunged into the gritty world of idols, fandom, and celebrity music. I could also see her as the Red Queen in a Wonderland AU, or a survivor on a desert island AU

Croelle: incubus in an angels/demons AU

[carewyncromwell]

“I howled at the moon with friends And then the sun came crashing in -- Wo-o-o-o-o-oh! Wo-o-o-o-o-oh! But all the possibilities: no limits, just epiphanies -- Wo-o-o-o-o-oh! Wo-o-o-o-o-oh! I'm never gonna look back -- never gonna give it up, no -- Just don't wake me now... This is gonna be the best day of my life... My li-i-i-i-i-ife!”

~“Best Day of My Life,” by American Authors

x~x~x~x

Hey guys! This is the first in hopefully a set of Singles Awareness Valentine’s Day posts I want to do that will feature each of my kids with someone that’s close to their heart. To start with, here’s something for my unofficial-teacher!HPHL!vampire, Bartholomew “Bat” Varney! This drawing is going to take some explaining...

A few years into Bat’s friendship with DADA professor Atticus Grimsley @cursebreakerfarrier​, Bat came up with a fun idea of something he and his mate could share together. By trading some information about dragon breeding to an interested wizard, the vampire got his hands on a Patented Daydream Charm, a type of commercial spell that didn’t exist when he was a Hogwarts student and didn’t currently have the magical ability to try out himself. Bat brought the Charm over to Atticus, suggesting that they use it together so that he could show the professor what Christmas was like at Hogwarts when he was at school. Atticus himself had never indulged in such a charm before, given his austere upbringing, so it didn’t take much to coax him. Sure enough, when Atticus cast the charm using the box’s instructions, he and Bat were soon enveloped in an amazingly realistic recreation of Hogwarts’s Great Hall, decorated in a 1770′s-worthy Christmas.

In Bat’s day, Christmas trees weren’t really the thing they became in Britain and America from the 19th century onward. Instead the Great Hall was decorated much more modestly. Instead of fairy lights, enchanted icicles, and baubles, it was decked with holly, ivy, evergreen branches, mistletoe, white candles, and handmade wreathes decorated with fruit, pinecones, and ribbons. The students dancing around the open floor also twirled around in large communal dancing, constantly switching and sharing partners rather than sticking to strict, formal pairs. It was, in short, a casual winter’s ball hosted and arranged almost entirely by the student body, rather than prepared or moderated by any members of the Hogwarts staff.

Because it was all a daydream composited from Bat’s memories, though, Bat didn’t appear as the tall, auburn-haired, red-eyed vampire Atticus knew. Instead, as he always appeared in his own dreams, Bat resembled his true self -- his curly-haired, dark-eyed past human self, Robert Harker. It was something so second-nature to Bat that Atticus’s hesitance at the sight of him immediately made him feel self-conscious, but before Bat could daydream himself to look more like his “real-world” self, Atticus stopped him, saying that he looked fine as he was. Atticus’s support reassured Bat more than he could properly express, and Atticus noticed afterwards how much happier and freer his usually laid-back friend seemed as he grabbed Atticus’s hand and pulled him out toward the dance floor so he could show him around the entire Hall.

At one point, a pretty girl with a strawberry blond updo and a pretty pearl-white dress encouraged Atticus to dance with the other people on the dance floor. Perhaps because it was a shared daydream, Atticus was able to pick up the steps relatively easily, and to Bat’s surprise, Atticus turned out to be a very talented dancer who soon danced circles around him. It was only after the dance was over that Atticus realized who the girl he’d been dancing next to must have been, when she dashed off to the side to greet a very tall, blue-eyed, auburn-haired boy who’d just arrived -- Cecelia Crouch-Varney, Robert’s ex-best friend and the real Bartholomew’s wife, who had cursed Robert into the form of the vampire he now knew as Bat. Cecelia and the real Barty had been such a fixture in Bat’s memories that they were there even without him consciously thinking about it. Atticus had a bit of trouble looking at the pretty young woman with anything other than disapproval, given how much she’d hurt Bat, and he frankly had no idea how his mate ever could’ve found it in his heart to forgive her, even after over a hundred years.

Bat then suggested that Atticus “take him to one of his parties” next, in their daydream. Atticus was hesitant, since he really hadn’t gone to any big social events at school. Eventually, however, he settled on a private ball held at the Grimsley family estate, circa the early 1880′s. This particular event was hosted by Atticus’s father to “present” Atticus as the heir to the Grimsley legacy before the family’s other well-regarded Pureblood associates. It was also the first time Bat ever laid eyes on or learned much of anything about Wulfric Charles Grimsley -- and from the moment he first laid eyes on the old man and took in how he hovered like a cold shadow over a much younger Atticus, whispering reproachful reminders in his ear as his claw-like hand sank into his son’s shoulder, Bat found an icy hatred settling into his chest toward Atticus’s late father. Because the man was dead and Bat could sense Atticus’s discomfort at how intensely Bat watched the image of his younger self and his father, the vampire didn’t overtly address his feelings, instead shifting the conversation. Since Atticus was both a professor and a talented dancer, it was only right that he show Bat how to dance something next, yes? And if his younger self wasn’t going to get much chance to dance at this party...well, they’d just have to rewrite the night properly, with Atticus dancing as much as and however the hell he wanted. And so Atticus, laughing despite himself, led the slightly taller Bat in a Viennese Waltz alongside the twirling couples of his past, the memory of his father and his lonely younger self slowly fading away until they were no longer there at all. 

“You’re really quite good at this, Grim.”

“Always the tone of surprise.”

Although the daydream only lasted an hour and Atticus had to very quickly restrain Bat and help feed him a lot of blood after they returned to the real world, it remains one of both men’s happiest memories, as a time when they got to share a part of themselves they hadn’t with much of anyone else and (at least in their own heads) be in the kind of close proximity that normal friends could. It wouldn’t be until many years later with the invention of the Blood Pop that Bat could really touch anyone else, so until that day, this was the closest Bat had ever been able to get to interacting with his counterpart “Grim” as if he were an ordinary man.

[brokehorrorfan]

Comic Review: Dracula

While recreating a deceased celebrity via CGI or hologram technology often feels exploitative, doing so in comic book form is far more palatable. Legendary Comics' new Dracula graphic novel adapts Bram Stoker's influential 1897 novel with Bela Lugosi - who famously portrayed the titular character in Universal's classic 1931 film adaptation - as the Count. It was done in full cooperation with Lugosi's estate, which is particularly interesting since the landmark Lugosi v. Universal Studios suit paved the way for the Celebrity Rights Act.

Lugosi was a prolific actor, with over 100 film credits to his name, but his portrayal of Dracula left an indelible mark on pop culture; the actor's distinctive Hungarian accent has even become synonymous with the character. Similarly, Stoker was an accomplished writer but only experienced mild success during his lifetime. The two horror titans are forever found by Dracula, and the graphic novel pays tribute to Lugosi's legacy while staying true to Stoker's novel.

Tasked with adapting Stoker's masterpiece is Robert Napton, Senior Vice President of Publishing at Legendary Comics. El Garing's stark, black-and-white illustrations bring the words to life, with art direction and additional art by Kerry Gammill. Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith handle lettering and design. Lugosi's son, Bela G. Lugosi, and granddaughter, Lynne Lugosi Sparks, serve as executive consultants to ensure the actor's estate is properly handled, but it's apparent from the high quality of the work throughout the book that Lugosi was in caring hands.

The hardcover tome begins with an introduction by Lugosi Sparks. It serves as a mini biography and also explains how the graphic novel came to be, from Gammill planting the seed for a comic in 1999 to a serendipitous run-in with Napton getting the ball rolling before work officially began in 2016. Stoker's great grand-nephew, Dacre Stoker, provides an afterword in which he digs into the author's confluence of influences that likely inspired his writing of Dracula.

Broken up into seven chapters, the 200-page graphic novel tells the tale of the ancient Transylvanian vampire's move to England to spread his curse before being confronted by his archenemy, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, in a prototypical battle between good and evil. Like the novel, the story is told in an epistolary format; largely framed as journal entries from Jonathan Harker, who first discovers that the Count is a vampire and becomes his prisoner, and his fiance, Mina Murray, who is bitten by Dracula.

The graphic novel brings to life all of the Gothic atmosphere and striking imagery from the book. From the goose bump-inducing, full-page reveal of Dracula that concludes the first chapter, Garing and Gammill perfectly capture Lugosi's suave likeness as the Count: his gleaming eyes, bushy brows, slicked-back hair, sinister scowl, and piercing fangs. Unbeholden to censors, budgetary restrictions, or technological limitations, the comic showcases both the carnage and the fantastic elements of the novel. While never gratuitous, it's more graphic than the 1931 film.

Dracula is an ambitious experiment that yields fruitful results. I would love to see Legendary Comics give similar treatments to other actors known for horror adaptations, like Boris Karloff in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Lon Chaney in Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, Claude Rains in H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man, or Vincent Price in any of Edgar Allan Poe's works. The fascinating approach introduces comic readers to classic monsters, influential literature, and iconic performances all while giving longtime fans a fresh but faithful perspective on the well-trodden material.

Dracula is available now via Legendary comics.