Hello and welcome! This is my sideblog for posting about the 19th century's most cringefail vampire, and also other obscure 19th century literary vampires as the mood strikes me.
My art can be found over at @mayhemchicken-artblog and @lxgentlefolkcomic.
Click here for my ao3, which as of this writing is 100% Varney the Vampire fics.
Part 1 of my chapter-by-chapter summary of Varney the Vampire, where I (re)read the entire book so you don't have to, starts here: [x]
Masterpost of my Captain Vampire/The Pale Lady crossover AU, When The Crows Arrive: [x]
General content warning: Due to the nature of the original text, many posts on this blog touch on or discuss the topics of suicide and/or disordered eating. Older posts on this blog may not be consistently tagged for these topics; reader discretion is advised.
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Carmilla and Dracula are the only classic canonical shape shifters? If so, it's surprising, because the folkoric vampires/strigoi/vukodlak shifted into certain animals, became mist, dust, shadow, or invisible presences that could press down on sleeping victims. Well, if Dracula gets to fly then she should too.
They're not the only ones, but the ability is surprisingly rare. Heira from The Vampire of Vourla can transform into a bat. Sava Savanovič from After Ninety Years takes the form of a butterfly; he's also a folklore vampire, so that's hardly surprising. Azzo from The Mysterious Stranger can turn into mist, or so I've heard; I still have yet to read that one. Most unexpectedly, it's implied at one point that the unnamed Hungarian nobleman from Varney the Vampire (Floyd Dracula on this blog) can take the form of a giant toad. You could probably also count whatever Alinska is doing to invisibly hit people, destroy letters, and feed on Helene as an "invisible presence", although it's never fully explained what that power is or how it works.
You know, since your post on Kim Newman, it kind of made ponder on fact that over the years I haven't seen much critiques on Anno Dracula. I think the more in-depth discussions I've seen were mostly on Tumblr (and the occasional 1-2 star review on Goodreads). It's really surprising how much praise this book series receives and how certain dubious sentiments/worldviews by the author (you've already touched on) just.. get ignored.
To be even pettier than normal for a second, the excerpts I've read from it are also just...not good? Like even if I set aside all my issues with the series and just focus on the raw prose. There's a lot of clunky language and overuse of epithets; it feels amateurish.
Dracula smiled, yellow teeth the size and shape of pointed thumbs.
Von Klatka looked with anger at Cuda and the junior vampire backed away, face a stricken white triangle.
Cuda stood up and laid hands on the potman. The Carpathian was a foot shorter than the beefy warm man, but the red fire in his eyes made it plain he could rend Woodbridge apart and lap up the leavings.
It feels like Anno Dracula owes its fame and acclaim to its concept alone, because it seems to fumble every aspect of the execution.
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So you're telling me that one of the first and most influential vampires in the entire English canon, the first one explicitly with fangs, has no lines because he's offscreen doing fuckall. In the supposedly ultimate classic vampire crossover book.
Yeah he's mentioned like. twice. seemingly only to be insulted by ruthven.
fucking rich coming from Atrocious Conduct Georg
AND NO CARMILLA. not that i want kim newman to write carmilla. but like.
You know, Dracula. Anno Dracula's is modeled after Vlad the Impaler
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to be fair (begrudgingly) at the time anno dracula came out the "dracula is vlad the impaler" theory was basically accepted as fact by most people. but it is tiresome & only adds to the layers of xenophobia the whole thing is slathered in
The official Englsh title of Dumas' Le Vampire is The Return Of Lord Ruthven The Vampire... which I find hilarious, it sounds like an action movie sequel
in an alternate timeline all the weird cheap dracula movies out in the world are lord ruthven movies instead. ruthven vs. frankenstein. ruthven 2000. revenge of lord ruthven. bride of lord ruthven. blood of ruthven. the satanic rites of lord ruthven. ruthven: a love tale.
LXGF does have a few images of infected!Mina (fangs and wafer burn) - does that count as an image of her as a vampire?
i think the only image of mina with the wafer burn in lxgf proper is from jonathan's nightmare in ep 2? unless im forgetting something. i do have some pre-lxgf drawings of mina with the burn + fangs but those are so old at this point i don't even want to go back and look at them
Only upon reading a year ago did I see how bad this book is as a Ripper mystery novel bc it wants to be a complex Sherlockian mystery horror so bad. The OCs Geneviève and Beauregard are the only effective investigators for The Ripper aka Silver Knife. Captain Kostaki is so useless to the mystery. His biggest role is assisting the Scotland Yard in enforcing Dracula's various fascist laws. All while going "I'm not sure I like this law but rules are rules," "He didn't want to execute this person but he had to obey the regime" because he's loyal to a fault.
Later his investigation with the Scotland Yard's Mackenzie who is A Great Partner and huge homophobe is about anti-vampire attacks. Kostaki confirms a man called Dravot (from "The Man Who Would Be King") is the attacker who killed one of his men Azzo of The Carpathian Guard, and helps search his room. There they discover a letter signed Jack the Ripper, which makes them believe Dravot is also Silver Knife. He never learns that it's Jack. Dravot attacks them immediately, kills Mackenzie, wounds Kostaki with silver, and Kostaki is imprisoned as Mackenzie's killer by surrendering without a fight than pursuing the matter further. He subsequently tells Arthur about Dravot, whom they still mistakenly treat as the Ripper, when if you have half a brain you know it's Jack, and he's written off for the rest of the book rotting in jail as his wound festers (but apparently he gets exiled in a sequel written 15 years later). Pointless and spineless
what the hell is dravot doing here. why would he be in england. why does he get to be here but not carmilla or varney. hello???
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so a while ago, me and @alittlesylphish decided to model castle brankovan in minecraft. (the shot of the castle on page 37 of wtca is actually directly modeled on this build, and was in fact the reason we started the project in the first place)
castle brankovan is built in a pokemon modpack in techniclauncher because we already had worldedit set up there. this wound up being slightly problematic for us in that pokemon would not stop spawning on the castle and getting in the way of our build.
enter Gregoriska 8000, a command block machine whose only job is to repeatedly spam the /pokekill command, continuously exterminating all those pesky pocket monsters so we can build in peace.
i tasked sylph with building the library.
it's a normal amount of library.
A VERY NORMAL AMOUNT.
we did, eventually, get around to detailing rooms that are not The Library, such as the stables, kitchens, dining hall, and a secret wine cellar.
When the Crows Arrive: "Good luck killing me with those lost fledglings I shall ensure all of you at are broken for good before you even figure out how to find me in two different locations. I shall return from the war triumphant and you shattered"
Momento Dracula: "Brothers and sisters, a brand new world has begughgh—*
Liatoukine is simply much harder to kill. You will notice he survives the Chapter 3 bloodbath, while Dracula doesn't. When I finally release all the post-WTCA Dracula crossover art, it will become apparent that Dracula doesn't fare any better against Kostaki over there, either. That guy is always getting killed with some manner of giant knife.
I still like the idea of a devout religious vampire praying with a rosary and burning it's hands in some kind of masochistic penance for it's sins against nature...
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By request, a who's who guide to the eleven fucktillion vampires (and others) I've stuffed into this thing.
Characters arranged in order of first appearance, sorted by chapter; consequently, some spoilers ahead.
Chapter 1
Arthur Holmwood/Lord Godalming: From Dracula. Was killed and turned into a vampire by Dracula, and is now his unwilling thrall.
Count Dracula: You know, Dracula. Anno Dracula's is modeled after Vlad the Impaler; Momento Dracula's is not, and is in fact a Hungarian falsely claiming the title of Dracula.
Jonathan and Mina Harker: From Dracula. Also got turned into vampires along with Arthur. Currently imprisoned for rebellion. [Note: I haven't got a pic of them as vampires, so I'm just attaching a couple of images from LXGF.]
Mircalla/Carmilla Karnstein and Her Mother: From Carmilla. Styrian. Countess Karnstein is the real mastermind of this duo, and uses her daughter as a weapon in her schemes. The Countess has the ability to modify other peoples' memories.
Lord Ruthven: From "The Vampyre" (Polidori). English (ostensibly). A vampire explicitly modeled after Lord Byron. In this fic's continuity he's over a thousand years old, although nobody knows that for certain.
Heathcliff and Catherine: From Wuthering Heights. (The referenced "Edgar" is Edgar Linton, also from Wuthering Heights.) In Momento Dracula they both became vampires after their deaths, and have been fucking around on the moors for roughly a century.
Prince Liatoukine: From Captain Vampire. Russian. A walking metaphor for Russian imperialism. Ruthlessly cruel to those who cross him. Hobbies include: torture.
Segun/The Black Vampyre: From "The Black Vampyre". West African/Haitian. Unnamed in his source material; "Segun" is a name I picked out for him. Took part in the Haitian Revolution (or at least a vampire-themed parody of it; the work he's from is a satire), which should give a little idea of his motives.
The Horla: From "Le Horla". Possibly a space alien, possibly just native to Brazil. Not a vampire, but Something Else. [Note: As the Horla is canonically invisible, no reference image has been included. You'll have to use your imagination.]
The Arab woman/Ziska: From Le Vampire (Dumas). A ghoul, rather than a vampire. Has beef with Lord Ruthven.
Marquis d'Urfé, "Count and Countess Gorchovič": From "The Family of the Vourdalak". French (d'Urfé) and Serbian (the other two). d'Urfé is the story's protagonist; in the Momento Dracula-verse he does not survive, and becomes a Vourdalak. The other two are only pretending to be nobility, and are actually the son and daughter-in-law of Gorcha, the patriarch of a small Serbian village. [Note: Unfortunately, I don't have any drawings of these three.]
Sir Francis Varney: From Varney the Vampire. English. I mean, if you're on this blog, you probably know who Varney is.
That pair of boys Varney met in Germany: Har and Manor, from "Manor". I decided they were a little young to be attending a Vampire Political Summit, but couldn't resist cameoing them.
Clarimonde: From "Le Morte Amoureuse". French. I've long headcanoned that she and Varney are good friends. Clarimonde has near-absolute power over dreams, and spends most of her time partying in an elaborate dream-palace (Concini, mentioned in her dialogue). Is she even actually here in the flesh? Who knows.
Lorand/The Hungarian Nobleman: From Varney the Vampire. Unnamed in his source material; he's become something of an inside joke on this blog as "Floyd Dracula", who pretends to be related to Dracula for clout.
Princess Smerande Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. Not technically a vampire in the source material, but her entire bloodline are cursed to become vampires after death, so It's Free Real Estate. As a vampire, I've turned her into something of a foil for Dracula: powerful, deeply tied to the land, but protective rather than disdainful of the people in it. Her having a human retainer at the gathering is an indication of this.
Herman and Sigismund: From "The Vampyre" (Stagg). German. Just two guys being dudes. They're mostly here as a cameo.
Geraldine: From "Christabel". English. "Christabel" sort of reads like a rough prototype of Carmilla. As far as vampire fiction goes, it's very old (and unfinished), so I made Geraldine an ancient "lost" vampire who hasn't been heard from for centuries.
Chapter 2
Clara Ringwood/Clara Crofton: From Varney the Vampire. English. Was turned by Varney and has complicated feelings about it.
The Butterfly: Sava Savanovič from After Ninety Years. Also from IRL folklore. Serbian. In-story he turns into a butterfly after the villagers find and stake his body. He's been stuck as a butterfly ever since, and is here at the gathering hoping to find somebody who can restore him to human shape.
Gregoriska Waivady/Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. Arthur doesn't catch his name but he's the super angelic-looking blond guy, you know the one. In the original story, the Righteous Christian Warrior Of God to contrast his evil vampire brother. Here, is still trying to be a Righteous Christian Warrior Of God, but is also now a vampire which complicates things somewhat.
Count Vardalek: From "The True Story of a Vampire" (also sometimes called "The Sad Story of a Vampire"). Nationality technically not specified but for the purposes of Momento Dracula he's Styrian. Tragic, sad, gay, musically inclined, and his canonical description is a dead ringer for Oscar from Rose of Versailles which is why I draw him Like That.
Azzo von Klatka: From "Der Fremde" (translated into English as "The Mysterious Stranger"). Carniolan (Slovenian in modern geography terms), but the 1850s translation made him Carpathian for no reason. He's not Carpathian. A grumpy loner with the ability to read minds. [Note: Unfortunately, I don't have any drawings of him.]
Alinska and Ladislas: From The Virgin Vampire. Hungarian in the original, though for my purposes Alinska is Slovak and Ladislas is like, a demon or something, don't worry about it. Alinska is the unwilling puppet of a cruel and unforgiving God and is compelled to carry out His will even when it involves murdering children (all canon). Here I've imagined her as a sort of doomsday prophet.
The Weird Sisters: From Dracula. Also known in other places as the Brides of Dracula, Dracula's roommates, or Dracula's three weed-smoking girlfriends. In Momento Dracula I'm going with the interpretation that they're Dracula's wife and daughters.
Chapter 3
Kostaki Koproli/Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. How do I even introduce him. He's a bandit he's a prince he's a Booktok love interest he's the coolest fucking vampire ever written. He's Death Incarnate. Do not believe a single word Kim Newman has written about him.
Epistimia Comanescu: From Captain Vampire. Romanian. Liatoukine's wife for about a week, after which he murdered her (presumably drinking her blood). In Momento Dracula, she's back for revenge.
That group of glowing green vampires the Harkers were fighting: From Vampire City.
Lord Bracknell: Lady Augusta Bracknell's husband from The Importance of Being Earnest. Whoops! Uh-oh!
Jack Seward: From Dracula. In Anno Dracula, he's Jack The Ripper. This is boring and tasteless, and not terribly well executed either. In Momento Dracula, I'm giving him a villain arc which better fits his character: unethical mad science! He's trying to find a cure for vampirism. It's going...not great.
Lucy Westenra: From Dracula. Jack Seward appears to have raised her from the dead...again.
[Chapter 4 will be added in a reblog due to image limits]
R. M. Renfield: From Dracula. He's also supposed to be dead. What's going on, Jack?
The Red-Haired Gentleman: Jabez Williams from the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League". He's fine don't worry about it.
Agapia Privighetoareano/Comanescu and Her Husband (Decebale): From Captain Vampire. Romanian. Agapia is Epistimia's younger sister, who marries an abusive man in the epilogue of the book and has an awful time. As her and Epistimia fill a kind of evil-stepsisters-from-Cinderella role wrt their brother Relia, she's kind of abusive herself, but she's also sixteen throughout the novel, so maybe less reprehensible than her husband. He's not actually the ambassador to anywhere; I promoted him in Momento Dracula for the sake of being able to include the Comanescu sibling reunion.
Igor Moïleff, Relia Comanescu: From Captain Vampire. Igor is Russian, Relia Romanian. Igor is an underling of Liatoukine's who becomes acquainted with Agapia at a party; in the epilogue, he becomes her lover. He also sucks so bad, I really cannot overstate how much of an irredeemable fuckboi he is. Relia is Agapia's older brother (I think he's older than Epistimia too but it's not ever clarified in the book), who gets drafted into the army, is tortured by Liatoukine and his men, and then dies on the battlefield. He is the saddest soggiest little meow meow on the face of the earth. [Note: I don't have any drawings of Relia where he isn't a vampire. In Momento Dracula he is not one.]
Paul Lessingham: From The Beetle. Unfortunately, I couldn't resist adding Beetle characters to this thing. Yes, Paul is a vampire; Dracula got him.
Queen Victoria and King Carol: Real people! Queen Victoria gets turned into a vampire in Anno Dracula as well, but it's handled, uh, extremely tastelessly. Carol I is the first King of Romania, crowned in 1881, and in this fic is having the weirdest night of his entire life.
By request, a who's who guide to the eleven fucktillion vampires (and others) I've stuffed into this thing.
Characters arranged in order of first appearance, sorted by chapter; consequently, some spoilers ahead.
Chapter 1
Arthur Holmwood/Lord Godalming: From Dracula. Was killed and turned into a vampire by Dracula, and is now his unwilling thrall.
Count Dracula: You know, Dracula. Anno Dracula's is modeled after Vlad the Impaler; Momento Dracula's is not, and is in fact a Hungarian falsely claiming the title of Dracula.
Jonathan and Mina Harker: From Dracula. Also got turned into vampires along with Arthur. Currently imprisoned for rebellion. [Note: I haven't got a pic of them as vampires, so I'm just attaching a couple of images from LXGF.]
Mircalla/Carmilla Karnstein and Her Mother: From Carmilla. Styrian. Countess Karnstein is the real mastermind of this duo, and uses her daughter as a weapon in her schemes. The Countess has the ability to modify other peoples' memories.
Lord Ruthven: From "The Vampyre" (Polidori). English (ostensibly). A vampire explicitly modeled after Lord Byron. In this fic's continuity he's over a thousand years old, although nobody knows that for certain.
Heathcliff and Catherine: From Wuthering Heights. (The referenced "Edgar" is Edgar Linton, also from Wuthering Heights.) In Momento Dracula they both became vampires after their deaths, and have been fucking around on the moors for roughly a century.
Prince Liatoukine: From Captain Vampire. Russian. A walking metaphor for Russian imperialism. Ruthlessly cruel to those who cross him. Hobbies include: torture.
Segun/The Black Vampyre: From "The Black Vampyre". West African/Haitian. Unnamed in his source material; "Segun" is a name I picked out for him. Took part in the Haitian Revolution (or at least a vampire-themed parody of it; the work he's from is a satire), which should give a little idea of his motives.
The Horla: From "Le Horla". Possibly a space alien, possibly just native to Brazil. Not a vampire, but Something Else. [Note: As the Horla is canonically invisible, no reference image has been included. You'll have to use your imagination.]
The Arab woman/Ziska: From Le Vampire (Dumas). A ghoul, rather than a vampire. Has beef with Lord Ruthven.
Marquis d'Urfé, "Count and Countess Gorchovič": From "The Family of the Vourdalak". French (d'Urfé) and Serbian (the other two). d'Urfé is the story's protagonist; in the Momento Dracula-verse he does not survive, and becomes a Vourdalak. The other two are only pretending to be nobility, and are actually the son and daughter-in-law of Gorcha, the patriarch of a small Serbian village.
Sir Francis Varney: From Varney the Vampire. English. I mean, if you're on this blog, you probably know who Varney is.
That pair of boys Varney met in Germany: Har and Manor, from "Manor". I decided they were a little young to be attending a Vampire Political Summit, but couldn't resist cameoing them.
Clarimonde: From "Le Morte Amoureuse". French. I've long headcanoned that she and Varney are good friends. Clarimonde has near-absolute power over dreams, and spends most of her time partying in an elaborate dream-palace (Concini, mentioned in her dialogue). Is she even actually here in the flesh? Who knows.
Lorand/The Hungarian Nobleman: From Varney the Vampire. Unnamed in his source material; he's become something of an inside joke on this blog as "Floyd Dracula", who pretends to be related to Dracula for clout.
Princess Smerande Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. Not technically a vampire in the source material, but her entire bloodline are cursed to become vampires after death, so It's Free Real Estate. As a vampire, I've turned her into something of a foil for Dracula: powerful, deeply tied to the land, but protective rather than disdainful of the people in it. Her having a human retainer at the gathering is an indication of this.
Herman and Sigismund: From "The Vampyre" (Stagg). German. Just two guys being dudes. They're mostly here as a cameo.
Geraldine: From "Christabel". English. "Christabel" sort of reads like a rough prototype of Carmilla. As far as vampire fiction goes, it's very old (and unfinished), so I made Geraldine an ancient "lost" vampire who hasn't been heard from for centuries.
Chapter 2
Clara Ringwood/Clara Crofton: From Varney the Vampire. English. Was turned by Varney and has complicated feelings about it.
The Butterfly: Sava Savanovič from After Ninety Years. Also from IRL folklore. Serbian. In-story he turns into a butterfly after the villagers find and stake his body. He's been stuck as a butterfly ever since, and is here at the gathering hoping to find somebody who can restore him to human shape.
Gregoriska Waivady/Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. Arthur doesn't catch his name but he's the super angelic-looking blond guy, you know the one. In the original story, the Righteous Christian Warrior Of God to contrast his evil vampire brother. Here, is still trying to be a Righteous Christian Warrior Of God, but is also now a vampire which complicates things somewhat.
Count Vardalek: From "The True Story of a Vampire" (also sometimes called "The Sad Story of a Vampire"). Nationality technically not specified but for the purposes of Momento Dracula he's Styrian. Tragic, sad, gay, musically inclined, and his canonical description is a dead ringer for Oscar from Rose of Versailles which is why I draw him Like That.
Azzo von Klatka: From "Der Fremde" (translated into English as "The Mysterious Stranger"). Carniolan (Slovenian in modern geography terms), but the 1850s translation made him Carpathian for no reason. He's not Carpathian. A grumpy loner with the ability to read minds. [Note: Unfortunately, I don't have any drawings of him.]
Alinska and Ladislas: From The Virgin Vampire. Hungarian in the original, though for my purposes Alinska is Slovak and Ladislas is like, a demon or something, don't worry about it. Alinska is the unwilling puppet of a cruel and unforgiving God and is compelled to carry out His will even when it involves murdering children (all canon). Here I've imagined her as a sort of doomsday prophet.
The Weird Sisters: From Dracula. Also known in other places as the Brides of Dracula, Dracula's roommates, or Dracula's three weed-smoking girlfriends. In Momento Dracula I'm going with the interpretation that they're Dracula's wife and daughters.
Chapter 3
Kostaki Koproli/Brankovan: From "The Pale Lady". Moldavian. How do I even introduce him. He's a bandit he's a prince he's a Booktok love interest he's the coolest fucking vampire ever written. He's Death Incarnate. Do not believe a single word Kim Newman has written about him.
Epistimia Comanescu: From Captain Vampire. Romanian. Liatoukine's wife for about a week, after which he murdered her (presumably drinking her blood). In Momento Dracula, she's back for revenge.
That group of glowing green vampires the Harkers were fighting: From Vampire City.
Lord Bracknell: Lady Augusta Bracknell's husband from The Importance of Being Earnest. Whoops! Uh-oh!
Jack Seward: From Dracula. In Anno Dracula, he's Jack The Ripper. This is boring and tasteless, and not terribly well executed either. In Momento Dracula, I'm giving him a villain arc which better fits his character: unethical mad science! He's trying to find a cure for vampirism. It's going...not great.
Lucy Westenra: From Dracula. Jack Seward appears to have raised her from the dead...again.
[Chapter 4 will be added in a reblog due to image limits]
