Weird Sisters | |
---|---|
Real Name |
Unknown (one may be "Countess Dolengen") |
First Appearance |
Dracula (1897) |
Original Publisher |
Archibald Constable and Company (UK) |
Created by |
Bram Stoker |
Origin[]
In the novel, the three vampire women are not individually named. Collectively, they are known as the 'sisters', and are at one point described as the "weird sisters".
Although the three vampire women in Dracula are popularly referred to as the "Brides of Dracula", they are never referred to as such in the novel, instead referred to as the 'sisters'; whether they are married to Dracula or not is never mentioned, nor are they described as having any other relation to him. Though it is mentioned by the sisters that Dracula does not love, nor has he ever loved them, the count himself claims he once loved them in the past. The two dark-haired women, however, are described by Jonathan Harker to have "high aquiline noses, like the Count's". It has been suggested from this that it may have been Stoker's intent that these two are Dracula's daughters, extending the sexuality metaphor of vampirism to incest. Another theory is that two of the women are actually Dracula's sisters and the blonde one is his true wife. Though neither theory has ever been stated or proven. It is highly likely they were just random woman Dracula turned in the past, or they were his wives throughout his lifetime and did not find out his true nature until it was too late. Despite their words, the sisters have oddly never attempted to leave the castle and follow Dracula's orders without question. Likewise Dracula, while angered at them disobeying trying to feed on Jonathan, shows he does care somewhat for them by giving them something to eat in the form of the contents of the "wiggling bag" and honors his promise to give them Harker when he leaves.
Powers and Abilities[]
As vampires, the sisters are powerful in their own right; their beauty and playful charm belie lethal, predatory interiors. Their beauty and flirtatious manner appears to be their greatest power when it comes to bewitching their victims into a trance-like state. Harker and Abraham Van Helsing are both attracted to, and yet repulsed by them. They can seemingly appear out of nowhere and are inhumanly strong as shown when they kill Helsing's horses.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Literary[]
- Dracula
- (one of them may have appeared in) Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories
- One of the three may have been identified in this story as the vampire named Countess Dolengen of Gratz. Jonathan Harker is suggested to be the protagonist of the story and encounters the Countess at her tomb in Munich whom Dracula protects him from. In the Dracula novel, Harker writes about one of the female vampires stating, "I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where."
Comic Appearances[]
- Eerie #12
Notes[]
- Though they live in fear of Dracula, the blonde can be seen defying him when she demands to feed upon Harker. The blonde vampire is described by one of the brunettes as "The First" and is depicted as the leader of the three and Dracula's favourite. This may suggest the blonde is in fact Dracula's wife, and may be the mother of the two dark-haired women if they are indeed his daughters.