Jon Solo Sebastian 10/26/2024:

Who is Van Helsing?

I’ve often wondered if vampires actually exist, or if they had at least existed at some point in the past, who hunted these creatures of the night? We see in television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Supernatural the fictional characters fighting against vampires. There are novels and movies about President Abraham Lincoln ridding America of its vampire infestation problem. Then we hear stories of Van Helsing, the archenemy of Count Dracula who debuted in Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic horror novel titled: Dracula. While he was more of a doctor or scientist in the book, he was later depicted to be a vampire hunter in other stories and film entries.

Abraham Van Helsing was a Dutch doctor who had a wide range of experience and expertise. He held extensive knowledge in science and other things such as: philosophy, metaphysics, law, medicine, and of course, vampires. When someone says the name, Van Helsing, people immediately think of a vampire hunter, but in the Dracula novel he was just a doctor; one of the best on the planet, but just a doctor, not a vampire hunter. He was called upon to check on Lucy (sickly character in the book) because her illness had everyone befuddled, and Van Helsing knew more about diseases than anyone else.

Where did the inspiration for the character come from?

Abraham Van Helsing is strictly a fictional character, but he had to come from somewhere. As most authors, including myself, know, we write what we know; real life experiences drawn into our fictional worlds. Were there vampires, or vampire hunters out there that caught the attention of Bram Stoker? Not necessarily, but the “real Van Helsing” was an inspiration for the character. Who is the real Van Helsing you ask? I’ll get to him in a moment as there are other influences worth noting first.

Various sources state that Bram Stoker drew inspiration from multiple historical and literary influences when he was building the iconic character of Abraham Van Helsing. Though perhaps only influenced by name, it is believed to be a possibility that Bram Stoker created the name “Abraham Van Helsing” by taking the “Abraham Van” part from Dutch governor of Cape Town, Abraham Van Riebeeck. That is the only nod to this historical figure in being any form of inspiration for the character.

“Paracelsus, whose real name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, was a 16th-century Swiss alchemist, physician, and astrologer. He was noted for his revolutionary ideas in medicine and alchemy and also showed an interest in the occult and the supernatural. His search for the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life may have inspired Van Helsing’s esoteric knowledge in Stoker’s novel.”

It’s not hard to make the connections here, and some sources claim that while he wrote to debunk vampires, he was also a hunter of vampires. Did he ever find any and slay them? No one can say for sure… especially since we’re here in 2024 without any viable proof of vampires ever roaming mother earth. Could the lack of proof be due to Abraham Van Helsing and Abraham Lincoln defeating them a long time ago? Probably not, but it’s a fun idea to think about.

Films Featuring Van Helsing

There have been a number of films over the years where Van Helsing has made appearances. In 1992, Bram Stoker’s Dracula released with an All-star cast that included: Keanu Reeves, Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins (Abraham Van Helsing), Monica Bellucci, and Cary Elwes. The film was directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola.

Today I learned that Peter Cushing played Van Helsing in The Horror of Dracula (1958). I find this to be wild because Peter Cushing was Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars film titled: A New Hope. What makes this more fun, is Christopher Lee who plays Count Dracula was also Count Dooku in the Star Wars Prequel films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I knew Christopher Lee was Dracula, but had no idea Peter Cushing was Van Helsing—something a Star Wars nerd like myself should’ve known.

More appearances by Van Helsing in film—“The character is portrayed by Nigel Davenport in Dan Curtis’ Dracula (1974), Herbert Lom in Count Dracula (1970), Walter Ladengast in Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Mel Brooks in the comedy parody Dracula Dead and Loving It (1995), and many others.” There’s a reimagining of Van Helsing in the film of 2004 titled: Van Helsing, where Hugh Jackman plays Gabriel Van Helsing the monster hunter employed by the Vatican. I’ll admit I’ve only seen the Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Hugh Jackman film, but I’d like to go back and watch some of these older classic films just to get a better appreciation of the characters and films of that time.

A character that didn’t hold the name, but was clearly inspired by Van Helsing when the story was written comes from a favorite show of mine. In the television series Angel, a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is a character named Daniel Holtz who could be considered a version of Van Helsing. Holtz debuts in season three of Angel in a set of flashbacks as a fierce vampire hunter set out to avenge the murders of his family. Angel, before he was a good vampire, murdered Holtz’s family, but left his daughter “alive.” He turned her into a vampire as a cruel “gift” for Holtz. As you can imagine, things went bad from there. Holtz killed over 370 vampires during his pursuit of Angel, who went by the name Angelus while he was evil.

I had to mention the Holtz character because when I first watched those episodes of Angel back in the day, all I could think of was—why didn’t they name this guy Van Helsing? His background is different considering Holtz wasn’t a doctor or anything like that, but this vengeful warrior hunting down vampires is how I had always envisioned Van Helsing. Either way, both characters are interesting and exciting, and I’d love to see more stories told about Van Helsing. I truly feel like the creators of Angel and Buffy missed out on making a really good show focused on Holtz, played by Keith Szarabajka in the 18^th century hunting vampires; that could have been a huge hit.

I have to say I love how other creative minds took the original version of Van Helsing and turned him into this hard fighting vampire/monster hunter. If I’m being honest, while his initial introduction to the fictional world makes him an interesting character, it’s not until he’s fighting against Dracula or fighting other vampires that really gets the blood flowing. His background and the stories about him make him almost believable as an historical figure rather than a fictional legend. What are the chances of a real-life Van Helsing being out there fighting the forces of evil either today, or in the past? Do you believe vampires exist? My door is always open for your thoughts on these subjects, so let me know what you think!