What ethnicity are Caleb and Lillith Vatore supposed to be?
I was looking up their surname and it seems to be from India, anyone have insight on this?
Forum Discussion
"OEII1001;c-15923070" wrote:
Bram Stoker codified the concept of gypsies, specifically the Romani, being affiliated with vampires. In his novel, Dracula, the gypsies act as the titular character's servants; caring for his property and moving his belongings to and from various locales. It is a deliberate use, as one of the chief undertones of the novel is the ethnocentric concept of foreigners, specifically of the darker-skinned variety, destroying "British virtue". Said gypsies bring the literal incarnation of degeneracy -- Dracula himself -- to the British homeland in a clear invocation of the xenophobia of the day. The more things change....
In terms of the Vatores, I have always interpreted them as being of Italian ancestry.
Interesting thoguht. When I read the novel I never got that impression. I know that for the novel, Stoker used the works of an English writer who, despite never visiting Romania, wrote about it's myths and history. In her work, she stated that the word Nosferatu means vampire in Romanian- this is made up, because vampires and vampire-like creatures in Romania and Slavic lands were refered to, for the most part, as strigoi and upyr. Although I adore the novel, it has given a lot of people the impression that vampires are a part of Romanian mythology only, which is false.
