#solomonar

Yes, the codex is Orlok’s. He, like book Dracula, is a Solomonar, his sigil is on the cover of the codex, and, of course, he’s seeking to escape the Faustian bargain which caused him to become a vampire, as Bill Skarsgård said. I’ll repost the Romanian folklore around codex (“Solomonar book of wisdom”) when I get to that topic. Knock is not a Solomonar, like Von Franz very much says after finding the codex (“Our Nosferatu is of an especial malignancy. He is an arch-enchanter, Solomonari. Satan's own learned disciple”); The Professor knows the codex belongs to Count Orlok. But also to become a Solomonar one has to study at the Scholomance in the Carpathians. Which isn’t Knock’s case, and it’s also clear he’s a wannabe occultist who (unlike Von Franz and Orlok) has no idea what’s he’s doing, but that’s a topic for another time.

Ellen knows Orlok has no place to hide come dawn, correct. She sees the manor burning at a distance. I think folks still don’t understand what the “vampire hunters” plan was and that’s why we need the references to the “Dracula” novel for context. Their plan was to seize/destroy Orlok’s sarcophagus, yes, and drive a spike of cold iron through him, to destroy him (that’s the folk method to “exorcize” a vampire and sort of how Dracula is killed in the book).

But the film already tells us what happens to Orlok at dawn while Thomas is at his castle. Orlok is literally dead during the day and is only re-animated by Devil’s magic after sunset. He returns to his sarcophagus to stay dead in safety (sanctuary), otherwise he’s completely vulnerable to, yes, someone drive a spike of cold iron through him and he can’t do anything to stop it. That’s the vampire hunters’ plan: Orlok drops dead at dawn and Thomas stakes him. The Devil gets Orlok’s soul for eternity and he doesn’t escape his bargain: “Without you I’m to become a demon”.

As a Romanian with a passion for mythology & folklore, I barely have surface knowledge of some of the more surface topics (strigoi, Solomonarul, Șolomanța sau Baba Dochia) and am looking forward to your posts :3

Hello! Thank you for tagging along!

I intend on making some more elaborate posts on these myths, but until then, here's the shortest introduction I could make on them:))

The Solomonar aesthetic

Romanian folklore creatures series - I

“The Solomonarii are […] a kind of Strigoi [strigoi vii: “living strigoi”, witches and sorcerers] who, in their infancy, spend seven years uninterruptedly in the darkness beneath the earth's surface, without seeing the rays of the sun. Under the earth, it is said that there is a school called Solomonărie [Scholomance in German]. There they learned all the languages ​​of living beings, all the mysteries of nature, as well as all the Solomonic arts, charms, spells and incantations, as many as there are in the world.

However, only ten people are accepted into this school and the teaching is shared by the Devil himself in person, who for his trouble, later keeps a disciple. After the seventh year, the Solomonari [controls] the mists in the clouds and begins to carry the rains, but especially the storms and hail and give them the heaviest, most frightening and most dangerous ones […] they bring them heavy and destructive storms.

During the rest of the time, while the Solomonari spend on earth, the people say, they somewhat avoid the society of men and live more in solitude. […] The Solomonari [….] [ride] Dragons (“zmeu”’or “balaur”) which served them instead of horses. […] gather their books and put them away safely, in a secure place where only they know about, because, as men, they never carry their books with them.”

— Simion Florea Marian; “Mitologia Daco-română” (1878)

“[…] the central idea of Zalmoxis message concerns the survival or the immortality of the soul […]. Herodotus […] [described the] Getae […] as those who “pretend to be immortal for they believe that they do not die, but that he who perishes goes to Zalmoxis” […] Zalmoxis entertained his guests (“the chief among his countrymen”), he “taught them that neither he nor [they] nor any of their descendants should ever die, but that they should go to a place where they would live forever and have all good things” In other words, this happy post existence was not general, but was to be obtained through an initiation […].

Hellanicus also refers to the Terizoi and the Krobyzi, two Thracian tribes […]: they too believe that they do not die and affirm that those who have passed away go to Zalmoxis, However, their sojourn with the god is not final, for “the dead are believed to return”. This is why, when someone dies, “they rejoice at the thought that he will return”. Indeed, they bring offerings and amuse themselves in order that “the dead person may return.” […] According to Pornponius, three beliefs concerning the postexistence of the soul were found among the Thracians, the first of those he reports affirming that the dead return: […] Emperor Julian repeats the same tradition; the Getae are convinced that they do not die but are taken to Zalmoxis […]

“[…] makes it probable that there was a belief in reincarnation among the Thracians. […] convinced by Zalmoxis, the Getae believed in the immortality of the soul, and Zalmoxis reappeared after four years; hence the dead go to Zalmoxis for a time and then return to earth. […] What had interested the Greeks was that Zalmoxis conferred immortality and that, after death, his disciples went to him “in a place where they would have all good things.” […] the blissful postexistence begins after death: it is only the “soul,” the spiritual principle, that goes to Zalmoxis [not the body]. But it is precisely this autonomy of the soul, together with certain paranormal phenomena (ecstasy, cataleptic trance, etc*) alleged to prove the transmigration or even the immortality, of the soul, that astonished and fascinated the Greeks.”

“[…] from the Egyptian Sen-son, for blood and brotherhood […] would denote the true brotherhood, and as Sen is also blood […] The mystic tie is, then, the blood tie — the tie of the blood soul, the blood drawn by the point of the compass. By the mingling of the most sacred of all elements in the ceremony of blood brotherhood, the blood soul was communicated and all who possessed it were as one man. That is, they had one soul — the blood soul, which was above all others. The man who wronged his blood brother wronged himself, his soul, and his ancestors. Such was the ancient belief.”

— Manly Palmer Hall; “Man: The Grand Symbol of the Mysteries” (1947)

“A black enchanter he was in life. Solomonar. The Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blasphemy.” // “Solomonari. And their codex of secrets.” // “Our Nosferatu is of an especial malignancy. He is an arch-enchanter, Solomonari. Satan's own learned disciple.”

“Based on the multiple examples from the mythic-historical literature, Mihai Coman considered that in the Solomonar character is gathered in overlapping layers the motives related to the cycle of initiation (school, chosen one, ritual fight with demons), Christian interferences (Bible, devil, healing of the soul), the possible descendant from the Uranian deities (transvestite in beggar, reward), the attributes of King Solomon (wisdom, magical powers, power over the storm). But, we note that for the popular mentality, the Solomonic is an earthling with magical attributes in nature and natural phenomena. They were considered holy, learned people, predestined to have supernatural powers and therefore, the Solomonar cannot be defined as a divine entity, but an initiated man, sorcerer or priest with qualities and behavior like that of a storm god or a semi-divine entity.”