So he IS Vlad Tepes after all. Also, he isn’t. We knew he couldn’t be the traditional Dracula, neither Bram Stoker’s Count nor the historic Vlad III of Wallachia, or, as Dracula has become today in lore and popular culture, a synthesis of the two. The reason we know this is that Dracula as depicted on PENNY DREADFUL has already been revealed as the twin brother of Lucifer. The two fallen angels were kicked out of Heaven at the same time, and whereas the latter was condemned to the underworld to prey on humans’ souls, Dracula was commanded to wander the Earth for eternity, drinking the blood of humans to survive. Ergo, Dracula as he exists on PENNY DREADFUL would be older—much, much older—than Vlad Tepes.
However, as we learned on this past Sunday’s episode, Dracula has changed his name and his appearance many times throughout the centuries. One of those identities was an Eastern European prince who instigated a war between the Ottoman Turks and the Holy Roman Empire. Historically knowledgeable Dracula fans will recognize some kernels of truth, historical fact, seeding this revisionist biography for the progenitor of all vampires. It’s an intriguing alternate take on the most recognized figure in Literature. Now if the writers can work in some references to impalement—or show some actual impaling of Drac’s lesser enemies—I’ll be a happy historic Dracula mark.
