It’s hard to followthe likes of Count Dracula, Carmilla, and Deathhimself, butCastlevania: Nocturnedidn’t come to play. Erzsebet Báthory (Franka Potente),Nocturne’s self-appointed Vampire Messiah, is a villain of ancient power, apocalyptic goals, and the means to achieve them — the latter a feat not even Dracula (Graham McTavish) managed. Báthory’s formidable success is toNocturne’s credit, a creative choice that, while drawing from the lore of theCastlevaniagames, has its roots in 17th-century history. Although Dracula, Transylvania’s most famous vampire, waslikely inspired by the Romanian prince Vlad Dracula, at this point pop culture associates the name “Dracula” withBram Stoker’s seminal novelmore than the historical figure. The infamy surrounding the real Erzsebet Báthory, however, has fascinated scholars, captivated pop culture, and inspired folklore around the world.
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Who Was the Real Erzsebet Báthory?
Erzsebet Báthory has long been a subject of intrigue and controversy within true crime and supernatural circles. Báthory was a Hungarian countess by marriage and an accused serial killer of over 600 women and girls. She holds theGuinness World Record for being the most prolific female serial killer in recorded historyif the accusations against her and the numbers surrounding her crimes are accurate.
Born in 1560to extreme wealth and status (her family ruled the then-Transylvanian region of Romania), a teenage Báthory married fellow noble Count Ferenc Nadasdy, a soldier who “may have schooled [his wife] in techniques of torture.” Following Nadasdy’s death in 1604, Báthory supposedly began openly torturing and murdering both her servants and local townswomen.Tony Thorne, a linguist, Báthory expert, and author ofCountess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, cites a claim that “tales of her malice toward staff became so widespread that local families hid their daughters.” The ideas informingCastlevania: Nocturne’s Erzsebet Báthory are sadism,biting her victims, and, perhaps the most infamous and disputed, bathing in virgins' blood to achieve eternal youth and beauty. These rumors combined with the nickname “Blood Countess” retroactively made hera predominant figure in popular vampire fiction and folklore iconography.
Once Báthory’s rumored crimes moved from women of lesser means to those of noble birth, Hungary’s King Matthias II sanctioned Count György Thurzó, the country’s lord palatine (an official who typically serves in a judicial capacity), with investigating Báthory. Thurzó captured four of Báthory’s servants and used torture to elicit confessions about their mistress' crimes. In tandem, Thurzó gathered almost 300 affidavits from other individuals attesting similarly.
What Happened to Erzsebet Báthory?
SinceBáthory was a powerful woman, some modern scholars purport that these accusations were either overblown or entirely false and used to sabotage Báthory for financial/political gain.Tony Thorne told Vice in 2016that “[Báthory] was a very intelligent woman who often bullied men who tried to threaten her.” In addition, Báthory owned her husband’s assets and clashed with the King. Most of the testimonies against her character “offered either hearsay or no information whatsoever” and were supplied by people “beholden to Thurzó.” Likewise, claims surroundingBáthory bathing in the blood of virginal victimsweren’t circulated by Jesuit priestLászló Túrócziuntil over a century later.
Men have always discredited women while said women could do little, if anything, to cheat the inherently patriarchal system. Simultaneously, women aren’t monoliths.Báthory may have been a genuine sadistwhose considerable privilege allowed her to temporarily remain above punishment. According to Biography.com’sSara Kettler, a priest’s letter dated two years before the death of Báthory’s husband “discussed the excessive cruelty exhibited by Bathory and her husband towards their servants.”
Regardless, in 1611, three of the four servants detained by Count György Thurzó were executed in Báthory’s place (a noblewoman couldn’t be officially convicted without her husband). Despite never seeing an official trial, the Hungarian court kept Báthory restricted inside her residence of Castle Čachtice until her death at 54 years old.Tourists with strong stomachs can visit the decayed castle’s remnants in western Slovakia, where it overlooks the Carpathian Mountains Bram Stoker’sDraculamade synonymous with vampires.
What Is Erzsebet Báthory’s Legacy?
Given Erzsebet Báthory’s status as a countess and her familial ties to the then-Transylvania region, it’s possible she helped inspireStoker’s original Dracula mythos. However, Stoker never cited Báthory in his notes, so the credit is largely apocryphal. (She is the big bad ofthe authorized and incredibly pulpy sequelwritten by Stoker’s grandnephewDacre Stoker.) Aside fromCastlevania: Nocturne,Báthory’s legacy “reportedly inspired"the themes ofNicolas Winding Refn’sThe Neon Demon,Elizabeth “the Countess” Johnson (Lady Gaga) ofAmerican Horror Story: Hotel, and many novels, songs, and films.
AlthoughNocturneintroduced Báthory to the NetflixCastlevania-verse, the character isn’t a stranger to the video game franchise. Báthory was one of the primary villains inthe 1994 installmentCastlevania: Bloodlines, although this version strives to resurrect Dracula, her uncle, by causing World War I.Bloodlinesalso introduced Drolta Tzuentes (Elarica JohnsoninNocturne), a vampire inspired by Dorottya Semtész, one of the real Bathory’s servants executed in the noblewoman’s place.
Despite following in other media’s footsteps by fictionalizing Báthory as an actual vampire,Castlevania: Nocturnediverges from popular takes and expectations. The explicit origins ofNocturne’s Báthory, i.e., her birthplace and early history, aren’t knownbeyond her ties to Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of war. The Vampire Messiah claims to have gained Sekhmet’s powers by drinking the goddess’s blood and therefore becoming akin to a god herself. Historians associate Eastern Europe with vampiric folklore, butsome of Ancient Egypt’s earliest spiritual textsinvolve Sekhmet drinking human blood. InThe Book of the Heavenly Cow, Sekhmet’s father, the sun god Ra, witnesses his daughter’s ruthless nature and intervenes for the sake of humanity’s survival, tricking Sekhmet into drinking blood-red beer that transforms her into the “benevolent” goddess Hathor.
Combining the real Erzsebet Báthory’s legacy with Egyptian myth is a more interesting take on the material and a villain far more frightening than a Hungarian countess, which could too easily have been Dracula 2.0 withoutthe Count’s most humanizing qualities.Castlevania: Nocturneis a staggeringly excellent follow-up toits acclaimed predecessor seriesin large part because it forges new paths, not the least of which is turning the idea of Erzsebet Báthory on its head.
