# What was Dracula's end game in moving to London? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400 "2019-09-17T20:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/1 "2019-09-17T20:37:53Z")
I’m slogging my way through Dracula, about halfway done, and something’s bugging me. I know enough just from popular culture that Dracula’s heading to London, but why? It seems to me he’s safe enough back home. Everyone’s scared of him, the gypsy band is helping him out, but in London, he loses all of that. Sure, no one believes in vampires so there’s easier kills, but enough people start dying off with holes in their necks and a lot of people are going to start realizing 2+2=4, and there’s a lot of population around to hunt you down. Does the book go into why Dracula moved to England, or is that just something that happened for the story? It’s not making a lot of sense for me. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/2 "2019-09-17T20:43:54Z")
To get away from the smell of garlic? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/3 "2019-09-17T20:46:08Z")
Wasn’t it to court Mina Harker, the reincarnation of his suicidal lady? ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/4 "2019-09-17T20:46:10Z")
A while since I read the book, but I think Dracula is asked that at one point and explains, in essence, that he’s ambitious to spread his power, which is easier in a major power-center like London. BTW, I don’t think vampirism is contagious in the original East Euro legends. There are several ways to become a vampire, but being bitten by one is not one of them. Also, in most such legends, a vampire is as mindless as a Romero slow-zombie. Also, a silver weapon being required to kill a werewolf is a Hollywood invention. In the original legends, a werewolf can be killed by anything that will kill a man or a wolf. And werewolves are werewolves by choice, casting a spell to turn their shape, rather than being cursed with the condition. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/5 "2019-09-17T20:47:38Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > To get away from the smell of garlic? Not much used in British cookery. But in the book, and I think in the legends, you repel vampires with garlic **flowers,** not bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/6 "2019-09-17T20:48:47Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Wasn’t it to court Mina Harker, the reincarnation of his suicidal lady? I don’t think that’s in the book. Not in the movies, either, prior to _Bram Stoker’s Dracula._ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/7 "2019-09-17T21:00:24Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Wasn’t it to court Mina Harker, the reincarnation of his suicidal lady? > [@kirkrapine](#): > > I don’t think that’s in the book. Not in the movies, either, prior to _Bram Stoker’s Dracula._ Not in the book. It first entered the movies in the 1973 TV movie starring Jack Palance. Some people speculate that the trope was inspired by the Boris Karloff version of _The Mummy._ ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/8 "2019-09-17T21:05:36Z")
Dracula never gives his motive in the text. The closest we have are Harker’s recounting of their dinner conversations. As near as I can figure, Fred Saberhagen had it right - Dracula wanted to join then Nineteenth Century. He’d been couped up in his castle in Transylvania for four hundred years, and figured the rest of the world had finally caught up with him. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/9 "2019-09-17T21:07:45Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Dracula never gives his motive in the text. The closest we have are Harker’s recounting of their dinner conversations. > > As near as I can figure, Fred Saberhagen had it right - Dracula wanted to join then Nineteenth Century. He’d been couped up in his castle in Transylvania for four hundred years, and figured the rest of the world had finally caught up with him. “A scientific and industrial revolution! At long last, the world is ready for vampires!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/10 "2019-09-17T21:23:35Z")
Fresh Snacks. It’s not clear why he didn’t just go to somewhere on the Continent, like France, or (like Count Orlok) Germany. That would’ve eliminated all the subterfuge in crossing water. Maybe he had a hankering for British Blood Pudding. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/11 "2019-09-17T21:25:00Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Not in the book. It first entered the movies in the 1973 TV movie starring Jack Palance. Some people speculate that the trope was inspired by the Boris Karloff version of _The Mummy._ Yep – I’m one of the speculators. Read all about it here – _Dracula’s Re-incarnated Wife_ > **[Dracula’s Re-incarnated Wife](https://srichardwilkcom.wordpress.com/draculas-re-incarnated-wife/)** > > 2014 saw the release of Dracula Untold, the first feature-length professional film from Irish director Gary Shore, from a script by American screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. This was t… ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/12 "2019-09-17T21:25:52Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Dracula never gives his motive in the text. The closest we have are Harker’s recounting of their dinner conversations. On reflection, I think that part about wanting to spread his power was from the _Dracula_ stage play, on which the Universal film was (loosely) based. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/13 "2019-09-17T21:53:21Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Dracula never gives his motive in the text. The closest we have are Harker’s recounting of their dinner conversations. > > As near as I can figure, Fred Saberhagen had it right - Dracula wanted to join then Nineteenth Century. He’d been couped up in his castle in Transylvania for four hundred years, and figured the rest of the world had finally caught up with him. I’m where Van Helsing just revealed his theory that it must be Lucy that’s killing the children. Guess I haven’t hit _My Dinner with The Undead_ yet. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/14 "2019-09-17T22:10:15Z")
I don’t know if Bram Stoker was an Irish patriot, or an Empire loyalist, but he was making a comfortable living in London, and writing for a London-centric audience. People who live in financial centers often think that their city is the center of the universe, and cannot imagine anyone wanting to live anywhere else. Why does Dracula move to London? Because he can! My apologies for not giving you proper credit, Cal. I knew I had gotten the idea from you, but could not remember exactly where I had read the details. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/15 "2019-09-18T00:15:44Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I don’t know if Bram Stoker was an Irish patriot, or an Empire loyalist, but he was making a comfortable living in London, and writing for a London-centric audience. People who live in financial centers often think that their city is the center of the universe, and cannot imagine anyone wanting to live anywhere else. > > Why does Dracula move to London? Because he can! I can certainly understand it being written for those reasons, but I had been hoping for something deeper. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/16 "2019-09-18T00:52:42Z")
No, I agree with the others…he wanted to spread his power, infect the greater populace with vampirism, and London was the Big Apple of the day. Dracula was the mysterious, tentacled East, and the late Victorian was scared shitless of those guys. They gots WHITE WOMEN to protect, too! See also du Maurier’s contemporaneous **Trilby** , with the Eastern European (and Jewish) Other, Svengali, sinking his figurative fangs into a flower of British womanhood. And, of course, the later books featuring the insidious Devil Doctor, Fu Manchu. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/17 "2019-09-18T00:56:10Z")
Also, Mina Harker played second banana to Lucy Westernra, who succumbed to the Count’s bite first, and DID become a vampire. Or “boofer lady,” which confused the crap out of me at first reading (age…12?). I eventually figured out it was the childish pronunciation of “beautiful lady,” which Lucy certainly was. (She specialized in biting little kids. Ew.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/18 "2019-09-18T00:57:33Z")
Also also, you’re “slogging?” **Dracula** is one of the greatest thrillers ever written! I’ve bounded through it at least a half-dozen times. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/19 "2019-09-18T01:01:51Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Also also, you’re “slogging?” **Dracula** is one of the greatest thrillers ever written! I’ve bounded through it at least a half-dozen times. _Frankenstein_, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400/20 "2019-09-18T01:03:52Z")
> [@kirkrapine](#): > > A while since I read the book, but I think Dracula is asked that at one point and explains, in essence, that he’s ambitious to spread his power, which is easier in a major power-center like London. > > BTW, I don’t think vampirism is contagious in the original East Euro legends. There are several ways to become a vampire, but being bitten by one is not one of them. Also, in most such legends, a vampire is as mindless as a Romero slow-zombie. > > Also, a silver weapon being required to kill a werewolf is a Hollywood invention. In the original legends, a werewolf can be killed by anything that will kill a man or a wolf. And werewolves are werewolves by choice, casting a spell to turn their shape, rather than being cursed with the condition. Skipper - “That’s Hollywood for you. Anyone knows that wolfsbane is only used against werewolves.” Mary Ann - “It was a very good picture.” Skipper - “Well, maybe so, but a mistake like that makes the whole picture unbelievable.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-draculas-end-game-in-moving-to-london/840400.md?page=2)