Powers of Darkness

by Hans De Roos

  135 The Scythians were semi-nomadic Iranian tribes living in the Central Asian plains since 700 BC.

  136 The lines in Dracula mentioning the battles of the Dracula dynasty with the Turks are omitted in Makt Myrkranna, eliminating possible associations with historical persons, that is, the anti-Turkish campaigners within the Dracula clan.

  137 This is another possible allusion to Joséphine de Beauharnais, who was said to rule the world from her bedroom.

  138 Napoleon I was crowned on 2 December 1804.

  139 The only male member of the Dracula family mentioned so far who would qualify is Harker’s host himself, the first cousin of the lady in the portrait. This would explain his surprisingly intimate knowledge of the story that is about to be told.

  140 This mirrors the biblical words: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40: 6-8, King James Bible). This thought is reiterated by Thomas à Kempis in his Imitation of Christ (around 1420): “This life is short. It is like the flower in the field, it springs to life in the Spring, flowers in the Summer, begins to fade in the Fall and dies in the Winter.” The same idea is also worded in the Dance of Death from the Preacher Churchyard in Basel (around 1440): “O Mensch betracht | Und nicht veracht | Hie die Figur | All Creatur | Die nimpt der Todt | Früh und spot | Gleich wie die Blum | Im Feld zergoht.” [Oh Man, behold | how here unfold | On graveyard’s wall | The fates of all | Who soon or late | To Death must yield | Like on the field | The flowers fade.” (My transcription from the German). See also Job 14:2 and Psalm 103:15.

  141 Still another possible reference to Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), who in 1779 married the young Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais (1760-1794). Joséphine indeed made the name “de Beauharnais” famous. After Alexandre was executed during the Reign of Terror, the young widow had several amorous affairs with leading politicians, until she married Napoleon Bonaparte in January 1796, being his senior by six years. Still the same year, while Napoleon led military campaigns abroad, she started a liaison with Hippolyte Charles, a young good-looking Hussar lieutenant (1773-1837). The affair was reported to Napoleon; in his rage, he decided to divorce her, but his letter with instructions to his brother Joseph was intercepted by Admiral Nelson, thus adding ridicule to shame when it was published by the London and Paris newspapers. Josephine dumped her lover in order to save the marriage, although Napoleon had several mistresses himself and in 1809 demanded divorce all the same, when she could not produce an heir. During their marriage, Napoleon presented her with various sets of exquisite jewelry, which—through her grandchildren—were inherited by the Norwegian and Swedish royal families.

  142 The disdain with which Harker’s host describes his first cousin’s second husband here casts doubt on our suspicion that both Counts might be the same person.

  143 Icelandic: “hlaupið fyrir ætternisstapann,” lit.: “jumped over the Family Cliff”—a bitter mockery, referring to Gautrek’s Saga. Upon getting lost in the woods during hunting, King Gauti of West Götaland meets with a dull-witted family; the eldest daughter, Snotra, explains to him: “There is a steep bluff near our farm, it is called Gilling’s Bluff, and it has an overhanging cliff, which we call “Family Cliff.” It is so high and the drop so deep that no living creature can survive falling down from it. We call it “Family Cliff” because we use it to reduce the size of our family when something very wondrous happens; there, all our elders can die without suffering any illness, and fare straight to Odin. This way, they become no burden for us and we do not have to endure their stubbornness, as this blissful bluff has been open to all members of our kin alike, and therefore we do not have to put up with lack of money or food, nor with any other strange marvels or miracles that may befall us.” (my translation). At the start of the saga, the unknown writer already warns his readers that this is a “merry story”: The ideas and behavior of this family are obviously foolish. According to Norse beliefs, Odin and Freya will only receive those who have died an honorful death in battle. Those who have died from sickness and old age would go to the realm of Hel; those who had committed suicide (especially for such trifling reasons as later occur in the saga) probably to a particularly gruesome section named Náströnd, the Shore of Corpses, where snake poison endlessly drips on murderers, oath-breakers and adulterers. According to Christian beliefs, the boy (guilty both of suicide and adultery) would also go to Hell (a name derived from the Norse “Hel”). In the theme of forbidden love, ending with a fatal drop, lies a still deeper parallel between the Count’s story and Snotra’s words; cf. Milroy, 1966-69, and Grimm’s tale of Rapunzel.

  144 Icelandic: “að veita nábjargir.” In the old Norse tradition, this means the service of closing eyes, nostrils and mouth on a dead person. See Boyer, 1994, p. 56.

  145 Icelandic: “taugaveikur.” Today, “taugaveiki” is translated as “typhus.” The first typhus epidemy reached Iceland only in 1906, however. Here “taugaveikur” refers to a state of nervous agitation (“tauga-” means “nervous,” while “veikur” means “ill”), as mentioned in Nordri of 30 April 1856: “sjúkdóma […] kallada Taugaveiki (Hypocondrie og Hysterie).” While hypochondria could also befit men, hysteria was believed to be an exclusive women’s disease. Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot—mentioned in Dracula—treated large numbers of women diagnosed with this mysterious illness in the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris; he claimed it was a defect of the brain. The School of Nancy, on the other hand, maintained that hysterical behavior had psychological, not physiological causes. Shortly before his death in 1893, Charcot had to admit that his views had been wrong; the number of “hysterical” patients dwindled dramatically. See my article on Bram Stoker, Dr. Van Renterghem and hypnosis in the Victorian Age in De Parelduiker, October 2012.

  146 An allusion to Christian views: “take no account of it if they do thee wrong” (“virð einskis við þá er þer gora í mein”), from the Icelandic Book of Sermons (12th century); in 1872, a much-acclaimed Swedish edition of this handwriting was published: Wisén, 1872.

  147 The Count now speaks of himself in the third person and refers to his planned relocation to England.

  148 This either hints to a strong hereditary trait, possibly reinforced by the practice of inbreeding, or to Dracula’s and his cousin’s centuries-long existence chronicled in the paintings.

  149 Icelandic: “fór út í aðra sálma,” lit.: “started to read from another psalm.”

  150 Icelandic: “… úr afli, fegurð og öðru atgervi,” echoing Egil’s Saga (13th century), Chapter 8: “About Þórólf and Bárð people said that they were equal in handsomeness, stature, strength and all other good qualities.” (“Þat var mál manna um Þórólf ok Bárð, at þeir væri jafnir at fríðleik ok á vöxt ok afl ok alla atgervi.” (my translation).

  151 In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species; despite resistance from clerical side, within the next 20 years it was broadly accepted as an explanation of the variation and selection of species in their struggle for existence. The Count’s presentation of Darwin’s mechanism of natural selection is accurate, but Harker obviously dislikes his host’s conclusion that the stronger have a “natural” right to rule and exploit the weak—a normative judgement not included in Darwin’s theories.

  152 This is another character that only appears in Makt Myrkranna.

  153 “Natra gamla” must refer to the old housekeeper woman. Perhaps the text plays with the word “naðra,” meaning “adder,” “viper,” “serpent,” or “snake” (Old High German “natra”). The Völuspá, the first and most famous poem of the Older Edda, tells how Thor fights with the World Serpent Jörmungandr, guardian of Midgard; deadly wounded, Thor still manages to walk away: “Nine steps still strode | Earth’s son in pain | struck by the snake | fearing no
sneer.” (“Gengr fet níu | Fjörgynjar burr | neppr frá naðri | níðs ókvíðnum.” (my translation). As we will see later, the old woman actually acts as a guardian, keeping an eye on Harker when he tries to find a way out. Another option is that Valdimar played with the name of a well-known church ruin in Sweden, “Nätra gamla.” Today, “natra” is propagated by Icelandic language purists as the native word for “stinging nettle,” mostly called “netla.”

  154 The following scenes, spread out over two days, correspond to Harker’s Journal entry of 12 May in Dracula, but the conversation about the blonde girl only appears in Makt Myrkranna.

  155 Like “frænka,” the word “frændkona” can refer to different kinds of female relatives, except mother, daughter or sister.

  156 A strange apprehension for a libertine who has just explained that passion is not bound by any conventions. Considering the girl’s hunger for a romantic partner, the Count’s concern is not unrealistic, but it remains to be seen, who in the end would be the victim, and who the perpetrator.

  157 Icelandic: “Í kveld,” lit.: “In the evening.” This must be the evening of 8 May, because the Count later refers to the agreement about Harker’s prolonged stay, discussed the night before.

  158 Probably meaning Borgo-Prund, the largest of the villages between Bistritz and the Borgo Pass. See K. & K. Spezialkarte, 1876-1907, Zone 17, Columns XXXI and XXXII.

  159 The alliterative expression “að sér hitnaði um hjartaræturnar” literally means “to become warm around the roots of the heart” and mostly refers to a sudden sympathy or enthusiasm. Cleasby/Vigfússon, 1874, also gives the negative variant “to be alarmed”—the only logical reaction to the Count’s arrogance.

  160 Like in Dracula, the Count has planned his arrival in Whitby in advance, although Harker never told him that his fiancée and her friend intended to spend their holidays there—see also footnote 121.

  161 In Dracula: “Herr Leutner, Varna”—“Seutner” may be a transcription error. In Dracula, it is to be from Varna that the Demeter, with the vampire aboard, starts her journey towards Whitby.

  162 This ignores Stoker’s inside joke: Dracula mentions “Coutts & Co., London,” the bank of Stoker’s wealthy friend Angela Burdett-Coutts (see Davies, 1997, p. 133f). In the 2011 republication of Makt Myrkranna, we read “Corsets bankastjóra,” meaning: “the bank director of Corset’s Bank”—maybe a typographer’s joke.

  163 In Stoker’s Dracula: “to Herren Klopstock & Bill-reuth, bankers, Buda-Pesth.”

  164 In Dracula, we find the opposite observation: “I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I cannot but feel uneasy.” See Dracula, Chapter 2, Harker’s Journal of 8 May.

  165 Icelandic: “að setja hlerana fyrir”—“to let the shutters down.” Cleasby/Vigfússon, 1874, defines “hleri” as “a shutter or door for bedrooms and closets in old dwellings, which moved up and down in a groove or rabbet, like windows in Engl. dwellings, and locked into the threshold.”

  166 Icelandic: “stétt.” In Icelandic communities, the “stétt” was the heightened pavement running in front of the houses. In this scene, it obviously is a kind of ledge or rim horizontally set along the outer wall.

  167 In Dracula, the Count crawls along the wall like a lizard, face down, which rules out any kind of natural explanation. Makt Myrkranna leaves this possibility open here.

  168 Harker will later describe that the ledge runs between the southwest tower and the southeast tower (where his bedroom is), and so the human figure must have come from the tower on the right, not on the left—unless Harker, writing this diary entry in the library, adapted his description to the perspective he had in the library.

  169 Another character unique to Makt Myrkranna. In Dracula, the Count hands the vampire women a bag with a “half-smothered child.” Later, the lamenting mother is devoured by wolves.

  170 Meaning that wolves, if they were hunting for prey, would have guzzled their victim. The way the girl is ravaged reminds of werewolves, but as we will see later, the castle houses still other creatures.

  171 Icelandic: “varla hálfvöxnu tungli”: the moon in the fifth or sixth night after new moon, shortly before reaching the first quarter.

  172 Icelandic: “ég (…) þóttist ganga úr skugga um.” The expression “ganga úr skugga um” means “to ascertain,” “to verify,” “to check.” The mediopassive form “þóttist” followed by an infinitive is mostly translated as “to pretend to …,” but here it is used in the original meaning of “to think to oneself.” In his rendering of Mark Twain’s The Million Pound Banknote, Ásmunddson used exactly the same phrase to translate “I (…) judged by the look of things.” See Twain, 1893, p. 34 and Fjallkonan of 1 May 1894, p. 71.

  173 Maybe these mirrors date back to a time when the Draculas were still mortal people? In Stoker’s 1897 novel, no such mirrors are mentioned.

  174 This description matches Harker’s Journal of 15 May in Dracula: “At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor.” The same method to build suspense will be repeated twice in the Icelandic version.

  175 Throughout the novel, the Icelandic text uses the word “höll” (“hall” or “palace”) to describe Castle Dracula; in this sentence, “kastali” (“castle,” “fortress”) is used to set the gate tower apart from the rest. Because Castle Dracula is not a palace (associated with elegance, luxury, located in a park or garden), I have used “fortress” here to describe the gate tower and kept to the term “castle” in the rest of the novel—as also used in Dracula.

  176 Icelandic: “ég átti hægra með,” where “hægra” is an archaic comparative form of the adjective “hægr” (“easy”). Today, “hægr” is written “hægur,” with “hægari” (male & female) and “hægara” (neuter) as comparative, while “hægri” and “hægra” nowadays mean “right” or “dexter.”

  177 In the 2011 edition, this paragraph starts with “I do not know how much time passed until I truly realized what had happened to me,” almost verbally repeating the first line of the previous paragraph. In Fjallkonan and in the 1901 edition, there is no such repetition.

  178 In Fjallkonan, this line ends with “hálfhaltur” (“half limping”), omitted in the 1901 edition.

  179 In light of the occult books in Dracula’s library, this is perhaps another indication that the Count is engaged in witchcraft and occult practices. In Dracula, a reference to such signs in the castle’s crypt is absent. Like most folk beliefs, Icelandic folklore knows a number of magical symbols. These magical runes or staves include, among others, “ægishjálmur” (protection or invisibility in battle), “vegvísir” (a magical compass), “óttastafur” (to induce fear in the enemy), “lásabrjótur” (to open locks and escape from custody), “þjófastafur” (protection against thieves) and “stafur gegn galdri” (to protect against the magic of others). The use of magical runes is described in Sigrdrífumál, a part of the Poetic Edda.

  180 In Dracula, this whole trip is described in only a few words; after climbing along the outer wall to the Count’s room, Harker quickly arrives in the chapel: “I descended, minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently been used as a graveyard.” See Jonathan Harker’s Journal of 25 June. See also footnote 191.

  181 While in the 2011 edition, this line ends with “
sem olli mér óhug” (“which scared me”), in Fjallkonan of 11 August 1900 we read “sem fékk mér íhugunarefni,” lit.: “which gave me material for reflection”—which better matches the depicted events.

  182 “Mountain ash” is another word for “rowan tree” (Sorbus aucuparia). We remember that Harker was handed rowan twigs in the mail carriage, to protect him from evil. In Dracula, Harker’s Journal of 15 May informs us that mountain ash was growing on “the sheer rock” around the castle. Incidentally, mountain ash was the only tree growing in Iceland during the Settlement, next to the dwarf birch; it was dedicated to Thor.

  183 In Dracula, neither the murdered girl nor her mourning family is described; instead, there is a desperate mother looking for her abducted child. Harker’s patronising words about the family’s “ignorance” demonstrate that he still does not realize he is lodging in a vampire’s lair.

  184 Was the door really locked before or did Harker simply assume so? If the sound he heard was real, then who was the person opening the door for him—and then quickly disappearing? Until now, only one of the characters we have read about would qualify as an accomplice, ready to assist Harker in undermining the Count’s rules.

  185 A logical error: in the morning, Harker had complained that he did not know where the Count was sleeping.

  186 This he did while watching from his bedroom window, in the morning. Harker had also entered this tower, some floors higher, when he explored the gallery and went through the door on its far side.