Count Alucard (character)

Count Alucard is a fictional character created by American filmmakers Robert and Curt Siodmak for their 1943 horror film Son of Dracula. Like his father Count Dracula, Alucard is a vampire, a mythological creature that lives by sucking the life force from living creatures. Alucard was first performed by Lon Chaney Jr. in Son of Dracula and has since been featured in other movies, comics, television shows, video games and other forms of media. The name "Alucard" is "Dracula" spelt backwards.

Creation

Alucard was created by Universal Studios' Robert Siodmak and his brother Curt for their 1943 film Son of Dracula. They made the name "Alucard" by spelling "Dracula" backward. Son of Dracula is the third film in Universal's Dracula trilogy, preceded by Dracula (1931) and Dracula's Daughter (1936). Like Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Wolf Man, it is an example of a monster movie with no novelization history.

In Son of Dracula

Alucard is the first son of Count Dracula, King of the Vampires, and is "Prince of Vampires". At the beginning of Son of Dracula, Alucard is an old man who is invited to the US where he meets Katherine Caldwell, a woman who secretly dates and marries him. However, when her jealous boyfriend, Frank Stanley, attempts to kill Alucard, the bullets pass through him and hit Katherine. News of the incident reaches Professor Lazlo, who suspects that this may be a case of vampirism. Meanwhile, Alucard turns Katherine into a vampire. When confronted, Katherine says that she still loves Frank but wanted immortality and tells Frank how to destroy Alucard. Frank sets Alucard's coffin on fire, killing him. Since Son of Dracula, he has not appeared in a Universal film. However, in the film it's reveiled that Alucard is actually Dracula himself, and that he's put on a false identity.

In other media

• Alucard appears in the 1967 film Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors.

• He is also a central character in the Castlevania video game series by Konami. His first appearance in the game series was in the 1989 prequel Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse as he teams up with Trevor Belmont to stop Dracula. Alucard also appears in the 1997 game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as the main playable character.

• Alucard is the protagonist in the Hellsing manga and anime series created by Kouta Hirano. The name "Alucard" is also used by other characters and sometimes as an alias by Dracula himself.

• Alucard is the name of a vampire who began to absorb other monsters to become a nearly-unkillable demon in the manga "Rosario + Vampire" by Akihisa Ikeda.

References