History UsefulNotes / VladTheImpaler

* ''Impaler'' by Creator/ImageComics portrays Vlad as an hero fighting against a vampire infestation in America. In this setting, he used magic to become an immortal vampire slayer to combat demons released by the Ottoman Empire in a desperate attempt to take over Europe, and he lived for centuries protecting mankind from these monsters.

[[caption-width-right:315:The man, the legend. Showing off his ManlyFacialHair and [[CoolCrown Crown]].]]

* {{Sadist}}: A historically sound assessment of his character. While many of the stories surrounding him are debatable in their authenticity, this is the same man who routinely [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled peasants for the smallest of crimes]] at the drop of a hat and seemed to invent new ways to torture and kill his enemies (or [[DisproportionateRetribution people who pissed him off... or people who didn't]]) at every opportunity. In fact, most historians agree that for as barbaric the period he grew up in was, he ''still'' managed to stand out for his cruelty and bloodthirst, which is REALLY saying something.

* The final few areas in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' are set in Romania, where a army of vampires are trying to TakeOverTheWorld. Despite having been dead for centuries, Vlad Dracul is an important character in the backstory. [[spoiler: He was a vampire '''hunter''', and his followers are still battling his estranged vampire wife's minions.]]

* Creator/DCComics ''VictorianUndeadIISherlockHolmesVsDracula'': In which Sherlock Holmes is transplanted in the middle of the famous novel and helps the novel's protagonists hunt for Dracula.

** In the [[Anime/{{Hellsing}} Gonzo anime]], this connection was merely implied with hints in episode 9 and 13, but supplemental material in the Japanese booklets confirm this. Although, his backstory might be different because his characterization was modified. From steadfast BodyguardCrush-like loyalty on Integra (and a BerserkButton on people betraying her or insulting her) with a deep respect for humanity like in the manga, he becomes more of a rebellious PoisonousFriend with his own agenda who keeps testing her (but he's still angry when she's seriously injured) and without regard for humanity as whole, exhibiting arrogance and superiority for being a vampire. The OVA is more accurate to the manga.

* The manga series ''Vlad Drăculea'' by Akiyo Ohkubo depicts Vlad III's life as he goes from the [[PuppetKing puppet monarch]] of Wallachia to the feared defender of the land against the Ottoman Empire. This manga stands out for its subdued style, including an aversion of BigAnimeEyes.

* The manga series ''Vlad Drăculea'' by Akiyo Ohkubo depicts Vlad III's life as he goes from the [[PuppetKing puppet monarch]] of Wallachia to the feared defender of the land against the Ottoman Empire. This manga stands out for its subdued aesthetics and aversion of BigAnimeEyes.

* Vlad III is the main protagonist of ''Vlad Drăculea'', a manga series by Akiyo Ohkubo.

* Hideyuki Kikuchi, author of the original ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' light novels, also wrote a novel about Dracula in Japan during the Meiji Restoration.

** There’s also the story of his encounter with Mehmed II. The Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was set to invade Vlad’s territory, but to do so, he and his men had to pass through a forest. Vlad was aware of this, and so he impaled numerous victims on trees throughout the forest as a warning. When Mehmed II and his men arrived, they took one look at the forest of corpses, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere immediately turned around and fled.

* TheDreaded: The Ottomans and the Austrians alike quivered in their boots whenever this man was so much as ''mentioned'', tales of dread spread across Europe of his brutality and ruthlessness (though like [[UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun several]] [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart other]] [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan historical]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} figures]] it could have been purposeful propaganda to discourage invaders from entering his territory). With that being said, the Romanian people may hail him as a hero ''today'', it's quite doubtful they would have back in 15th Century Wallachia. He was easily one of the most feared and loathed rulers of that period and is infamous even to this day, more than five hundred years after his death. How feared was he? One story tells of a time when Vlad III bought an exquisite golden chalice - said to be of the finest quality and embroidered with all manner of precious stones - into the poorest region of his empire and put it in the town square. He claimed the people were allowed to use it freely as long as it never left the town square ([[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumour the man was a lot of things but humourless was not one of them]]). It remained in that '''exact spot for twelve years''', with not a ''single'' person even daring to touch it (again in the ''poorest region'' of Wallachia). While this story may or many not have happened at all, the fact that most people are willing to accept it as fact should tell you something.

[[caption-width-right:315:The man, the legend. Showing off his BadassMustache and [[CoolCrown Crown]].]]

* BadassMustache: Usually has one in artwork, like the portrait detailed above.

** Alucard's "Release State Level: 0" shows him as he was when he was Vlad III. [[ShownTheirWork It's actually one of the most accurate depictions of Vlad III's appearance in Japanese media, especially to the image above]]. The major differences are his hair being much, much longer and more [[WildHair unkempt]], his BadassMustache is much less poofy, him having [[PermaStubble the stubble of a beard]] (Vlad III was noted for being clean-shaven ''aside'' from the mustache), being ''very'' tall (Vlad III was mentioned as being short and stocky), and [[RedEyesTakeWarning Reddish-Orange Eyes]][[note]]though the last one is because of the whole Vampire thing, as he was shown having the striking green eyes Vlad was noted for before he became a vampire in-series[[/note]].

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' (or ''Requiem Chevalier Vampire'' in the original French) has a Dracula who's the ruler of the highest social class, the Vampires, on the world of Resurrection. Interestingly, they make lots of references to the man Dracula was based off and in this universe used to be; Dracula has something of an obsession with impaling and decorates his ship the 'Satanik' with stakes covered with the bodies of those who've suffered the punishment, and an impaling gun has the sound effect of 'Tepes!' whenever it's fired. He also has the mask of the HighPriest of the Archaeologists ''nailed to his face'', because the priest hadn't removed it as a sign of respect for the vampire king (and also because Dracula really doesn't like the Archaeologists): this pretty much echoes what Vlad allegedly did to a Turkish messenger who refused to remove his turban. He even looks like the original Vlad, down to the BadassMustache.

* ''Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula'', a 2000 television movie about Vlad's life. While liberties are taken, it's a straight historical story [[MagicRealism until the end]] [[spoiler:where he dies excommunicated and rises from the grave, implied to have become a vampire]].

* TheDreaded: The Ottomans and the Austrians alike quivered in their boots whenever this man was so much as ''mentioned'', tales of dread spread across Europe of his brutality and ruthlessness (though like [[UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun several]] [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart other]] [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan historical]] [[UsefulNotes/Blackbeard figures]] it could have been purposeful propaganda to discourage invaders from entering his territory). With that being said, the Romanian people may hail him as a hero ''today'', it's quite doubtful they would have back in 15th Century Wallachia. He was easily one of the most feared and loathed rulers of that period and is infamous even to this day, more than five hundred years after his death. How feared was he? One story tells of a time when Vlad III bought an exquisite golden chalice - said to be of the finest quality and embroidered with all manner of precious stones - into the poorest region of his empire and put it in the town square. He claimed the people were allowed to use it freely as long as it never left the town square ([[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumour the man was a lot of things but humourless was not one of them]]). It remained in that '''exact spot for twelve years''', with not a ''single'' person even daring to touch it (again in the ''poorest region'' of Wallachia). While this story may or many not have happened at all, the fact that most people are willing to accept it as fact should tell you something.

** Much like in 'Hellsing'' and ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'', the Marvel version of Count Dracula is presented as being the actual historical figure he's based on, having died and returned as a vampire.

** Much like ''Hellsing'' and ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'', the Marvel version of Count Dracula is presented as being the actual historical figure he's based on, having died and returned as a vampire.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlad_iii_1123.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:The man, the legend. Showing off his BadassMustache and [[CoolCrown Crown]].]]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler Vlad III Drăculea]] (1431–1476) was a medieval ruler of Wallachia, part of modern Romania, who is best remembered today for his bloody deeds and for lending his {{UsefulNotes/patronymic}} name to the archetypal vampire {{Dracula}}. Though he wasn't known for biting people's necks or drinking their blood ([[DependingOnTheWriter maybe]]), he was nevertheless well-known for spilling it. A man of extremes in turbulent times, he has been regarded either as a [[WellIntentionedExtremist brutal but fair]] hero, or a completely crazy sociopath. As Voivode (warlord) of Wallachia, he earned the nickname "Vlad the Impaler", or Vlad Țepeș in Romanian, from his practice of [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impalement,]] which was, and still is, one of the most gruesome ways of dying imaginable.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler Vlad III Drăculea]] (1431–1476) was a Medieval ruler of Wallachia, part of modern Romania, who is best remembered today for his bloody deeds and for lending his {{UsefulNotes/patronymic}} name to the archetypal vampire {{Dracula}}. Though he wasn't known for biting people's necks or drinking their blood ([[DependingOnTheWriter maybe]]), he was nevertheless well-known for spilling it. A man of extremes in turbulent times, he has been regarded either as a [[WellIntentionedExtremist brutal but fair]] hero, or a completely crazy sociopath. As Voivode (warlord) of Wallachia, he earned the nickname "Vlad the Impaler", or Vlad Țepeș in Romanian, from his practice of [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impalement,]] which was, and still is, one of the most gruesome ways of dying imaginable.

After Vlad's death, his cruel deeds were reported with macabre gusto in popular pamphlets in Germany, reprinted from the 1480s until the 1560s, and to a lesser extent in Tsarist Russia. These works estimated for the number of his victims ranges from 40,000 to 100,000, comparable to the cumulative number of executions over four centuries of European witch hunts. According to the German stories the number of victims he had killed was at least 80,000. In addition to the 80,000 victims mentioned he also had whole villages and fortresses destroyed and burned to the ground. These numbers are most likely exaggerated.

But it was also in 1462 that his second reign ended, when an Ottoman army led by his own brother Radu and supported by rebellious boyars captured his castle. He escaped to Hungary but Matthias Corvinus had him imprisoned for political reasons. However, eventually he worked his way back into the king's good graces, even taking the king's sister as his second wife. In 1474 he was released, and went to live in Transylvania. Meanwhile his brother Radu, who the Ottomans had put in his place, had died. In 1476, he returned to Wallachia and became Voivode again for the third and last time.

Vlad was killed shortly into his third reign. There's debate over if Vlad was assassinated or died in battle, but his corpse was decapitated and his head impaled by the Ottomans at Constantinople as a trophy, and his body was buried unceremoniously, possibly at Comana, a monastery founded by Vlad in 1461. The Comana monastery was demolished and rebuilt from scratch in 1589. In 1515, 35 years after his death, Wallachia finally was completely defeated by the Ottomans and became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler Vlad III Drăculea]] (1431–1476) was a Medieval ruler of Wallachia, part of modern Romania, who is best remembered today for his bloody deeds and for lending his {{UsefulNotes/patronymic}} name to the archetypal vampire {{Dracula}}. Though he wasn't known for biting people's necks or drinking their blood ([[DependingOnTheWriter maybe]]), he was nevertheless well-known for spilling it. A man of extremes in turbulent times, he has been regarded either as a [[WellIntentionedExtremist brutal but fair]] hero, or a completely crazy sociopath. As Voivode (warlord) of Wallachia, he earned the nickname "Vlad the Impaler", or Vlad Țepeș in Romanian, from his practice of [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impalement,]] which was, and still is, one of the most gruesome ways of dying imaginable.[[note]]Vlad the Impaler usually had a horse attached to each of the victim's legs and a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp, else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the buttocks and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mothers' chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.[[/note]]

* Remilia Scarlet from ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Touhou Project]]'' is a vampire that claims to be the descendant of Vlad Tepes or the original Dracula. As every character (and fan) knows, this is an [[BlatantLies obvious lie.]] Ironically, if Dracula is assumed to have become a vampire at the time the real-life Vlad the Impaler died, Remilia is actually old enough to have plausibly claimed to be his daughter. Apparently she didn't realize this and went with the less impressive claim of merely being "descended" from him.