Random me

The most obvious Eastern European country with connections to vampires is Romania because of Wallachia and Transylvania's influence in Bram Stoker's Dracula, but Ed is older than Romania.

I think it's safe to assume TKDB takes place in current times since smart phones and VR headsets exist.

400 years ago would've been the 1600s, and Wallachia and Transylvania would've still been their own separate countries (technically vassal states of the Ottoman Empire). But they're both landlocked, and Ed grew up by the sea.

The part of modern day Romania that borders the sea used to be part of Dobrogea, which was not its own country and would be a province of the Ottoman Empire by the time Ed was been born. A lot of the coastal regions of Southern and Southeastern Europe was under the Ottoman Empire at that time actually.

I also don't think he's from the Northeast European coast because the "vampire-like" lore from that area doesn't really fit the modern image of vampires, which is what Ed is. Poland is an exception though since it's Slavic, but I'm ruling that out too because it can get pretty humid, same with a lot of the coastal regions of the Black Sea, which includes the Dobrogea region.

I don't think any of those places would beat out Japan in humidity, but I think there's likely a significant difference for him to comment on it.

Greece has moderate to low humidity and feels comfortable even with high temperatures, but geographically speaking it's considered Southern or Southeastern Europe but not Eastern Europe. However, because of its history, it often gets included in Eastern Europe when discussing culture and folklore.

Now onto the folklore. Ed fits the modern depiction of vampires, which was mostly shaped by Bram Stoker.

Appearance

Traditional depictions of vampires across Eastern Europe are the opposite of attractive. The strigoi from Transylvanian lore were often bloated and corpse-like. Same with the Greek vrykolakas, but some had bodies that did not decay. Because of the volcanic soil in parts of Greece.

Stoker wasn't the first to make vampires elegant, seductive, and aristocratic, but he solidified it with Dracula. The first "sexy vampire" was Lord Ruthven from The Vampyre by John William Polidori. Lord Ruthven was heavily modeled after the poet Lord Byron, whom Polidori was the physician for.

He's a slob, but he's still pretty.

Attacks

The strigoi didn't always just drain blood, they'd also drain a person's life force, but they didn't typically spread vampirism.

The vrykolakas would sometimes drink blood or murder, but sometimes they'd just harass the living. And they can spread diseases but not vampirism.

Traditional vampires in general also fed off of negative emotions like grief, sorrow, and despair. So they enjoy tears because it's a sign of someone's emotional pain, but they didn't drink them.

Vampires drinking blood from people's necks was something Bram Stoker added, and he introduced the idea of deliberately turning someone into a vampire. Different rituals on how it's done evolved from this.

Vulnerabilities

Crosses

Vampires being repelled by crosses is pretty consistent through all of Eastern European folklore and has survived in modern depictions of vampires.

Ed's house uniform has 2 crosses on his collar and 1 on his belt hanging in front of his crotch. I don't think they have any effect on him.

Reflections

Vampires having no reflection was added by Bram Stoker. This wasn't part of traditional lore.

Took me a while to realize this was Ed's mirror selfie

Invitations

Vampires needing an invitation to enter was added by Stoker and not part of traditional lore. Ed says this rule was made up by humans and doesn't apply to him.

Vrykolakas are known to go around knocking on doors, but they can also just enter homes directly. Permission still wasn't required, so it's unlikely Stoker was using this piece of lore as inspiration.

Sunlight

Sunlight burning vampires was in neither traditional lore nor Stoker's novel. This was added by the film, Nosferatu.

It's debated whether the word "nosferatu" is Romanian or Greek in origin.

In traditional lore, vampires are less active during the day, but they weren't harmed by sunlight. Dracula was weaker, but could move around safely during the day.

Ed constantly claims he'd burn if he's out in the sun, but this yet to be proven true. However, he his shown to be more lazy and less cooperative during the day and has said he's stronger at night, which matches up with traditional lore and Stoker's depiction.

Human food

In traditional lore, sometimes vampires would dine with humans and eat human food even though it does nothing for them. This was more common in vrykolakas lore.

Dracula just doesn't eat human food and instead would watch others eat.

Some interpretations of modern vampires can't eat human food, sometimes due to the taste.

Garlic

Even though traditional vampires can eat human food, according to Romanian and Balkan lore, they were still repelled by garlic.

Abilities

Immortality & Regeneration

This is an ability that evolved over time. Traditionally vampires were seen as immortal because they were undead. They consumed blood/life force/flesh/emotions to sustain themselves, but they couldn't heal themselves.

Stoker made it so that not only is he immortal, Dracula can be restored with blood.

This evolved into regeneration and near invulnerability in modern vampires.

Shapeshifting

In folklore, vampires were sometimes linked to wolves, dogs, and night creatures, but they didn't turn into them.

Stoker gave Dracula the ability to turn into a wolf, bat, or mist.

Superpowered movement

Traditional vampires didn't get enhanced mobility. They moved around in the same way as humans do.

Dracula is able to slip through cracks and small openings in mist form which allowed him to get into places. He can also climb walls and has slightly enhanced speed, but not so much that his movements can't be tracked.

Those abilities are made stronger in modern vampires and they often have abilities that greatly enhances their movement like super speed, teleportation, levitation, and phasing through walls.

Superpowered scenses

Traditional vampires and Dracula are able to track their victims and know their location. Dracula has psychic abilities, but it's never explained how traditional vampires had this awareness.

Behavior

Integration

Traditionally and in Dracula, vampires are solitary creatures and didn't really change who they are.

Traditional vampires couldn't integrate with society. Even if they mimic human behavior, there was something too off about them to actually rejoin the communities they were once a part of. The vrykolkas are the most "human like" of traditional vampires. They move around town and interact with multiple people and would share meals with them, but they still can't fully blend in. Traditional vampires cannot hide their true nature.

Dracula chose to live a solitary life. He's strategic and cunning, so he could've probably hidden what he is and integrated with society, but intentionally chose isolation.

Polidori's vampire, Lord Ruthven, was the first one to not isolate themselves. Modern vampires are heavily influenced by this and are often depicted forming communities and relationships, being part of society, and adopting new identities while adapting to changing times.

Knowledge

Traditional vampires weren't portrayed to have a wealth of knowledge, great wisdom, or have an interest in intellectual pursuits. They stayed within their communities and weren't interested in anything beyond preying on the living.

The idea of a long lived vampire that has seen a lot of the world, experienced a lot of things, and collected knowledge started with Dracula. Lord Ruthven also traveled, but it was to build his social circle and find victims, not to go see and learn about different places.

Ed has a lot of knowledge about magic, witchcraft, curses, and the occult as a whole, but he's also shown to know more than even Darkwick when it comes to anomalies that have connections to Greece.

He recognized the Kyklos curse immediately and knew a couple of ways to break it. Of course, Darkwick very well could've been hiding that information. Kyklos is an ancient Greek word meaning cycle, but I didn't find any myths or lore on it being a monster outside of TKDB. Seems like an original monster the writers came up with maybe to hint at a loop that's happening in the story. Though an alternative spelling for cyclops and kyklops and the kyklos has 1 eye.

He also has extensive knowledge on the barometz. Enough that Rui commented that they should've just asked him instead of relying on Darkwick's information. Barometz lore exists outside of TKDB and they're said to be native to Central Asia, but one of the possible origins of the myth is from ancient Greek historical records.

Other connections to Greece

Philosophy

This might be a bit of a stretch, but during Waves of Love, all of the contestants' fake occupations were related to their hobbies/interests:

Rui: runs a bar -> owns several bars

Jin: plays piano -> pianist

Jiro: medical research -> doctor

Haru: animal care -> vet

Ren: hydrophobic -> surfer This is the opposite of his interest, but there's been several connections to water for Ren, so something else is going on here

Ed's was a philosophy professor, which didn't quite follow the same trend as everyone else's. He said he got the idea from a drama he'd been watching, but Greece is also known for its schools of philosophy.

Narcissa

At the end of Our Last Goodbye Act II, Ed mentions the name, Narcissa. Ed has hinted at a woman from his past a few times, and at the end of season 1, he finally gives a name. Narcissa is of Greek origin, referencing the myth of Narcissus. Even though the name is Greek, it has never been commonly used in Greece because of the negative association with the myth. It was actually popular in Western Europe, like England, during a time when Greek culture was romanticized there.

I'm not sure how much the writers looked into the name Narcissa before choosing it, but it could be a hint for why Ed, from Eastern Europe, has the name Edward Hart. A name where both parts originate from Old English, which would in a way mirror the name Narcissa. The name, Edward, means wealthy guardian doesn't quite fit eking out a humble existence, but the word "eddy" means circular movement (of air/water currents) another loop hint?. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it and he's just keeping up with the times since Edward is a popular vampire name for this era. It does seem like that's what he did when choosing Lyca's host name.

This is also just speculation since his incantation hasn't been revealed, but there is a demon in the Ars Goetia that takes the form of a hart (sometimes with bat-like wings). If he's not going by his original name, he could've taken Hart as his surname after becoming a ghoul. That demon can create romantic attraction between a man and a woman, but is also 1 of the demons explicitly labeled as a liar in the grimoire. So Narcissa might have something to do with him becoming a ghoul.