Scholomance
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The Scholomance was a mythical school of black magic said to have been run by the Devil, located by Lake Hermanstadt near the city of Sibiu in the Transylvania region of Romania.
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[edit] In folklore
Emily Gerard, a Scottish author married to a Hungarian cavalryman stationed in Romania, gave a detailed description in her article "Transylvanian Superstitions" on page 136 of The Nineteenth Century:
- As I am on the subject of thunderstorms, I may as well here mention the Scholomance, or school supposed to exist somewhere in the heart of the mountains, and where all the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all imaginable magic spells and charms are taught by the devil in person. Only ten scholars are admitted at a time, and when the course of learning has expired and nine of them are released to return to their homes, the tenth scholar is detained by the devil as payment, and mounted upon an Ismeju (dragon) he becomes henceforward the devil's aide-de-camp, and assists him in 'making the weather,' that is, in preparing thunderbolts. A small lake, immeasurably deep, lying high up among the mountains south of Hermanstadt, is supposed to be the cauldron where is brewed the thunder, and in fair weather the dragon sleeps beneath the waters.
[edit] In literature
Bram Stoker, likely drawing from Gerard's work, referenced it twice in Dracula, once in chapter 18:
- The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.
And again in chapter 23:
- He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.
[edit] In computer games
The name has been reused in the computer game industry to refer to other schools of dark magic. The warlocks in Bungie's Myth II: Soulblighter are described as having been trained at a school of magic named the Scholomance, and in Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, the Scholomance is a series of crypts that has been corrupted and is now used to train necromancers and create undead monsters. Also Scholomance in World of Warcraft is set in the middle of a lake, true to the real life myth of scholomance.
[edit] References
- Gerard, Emily. "Transylvanian Superstitions." The Nineteenth Century, 1885, p.128-144.
- Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897.
- Warrington, Freda. "Dracula The Undead", 1997.
