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vanhelsingenthusiast · 3 years

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question of genuine curiosity: i love van helsing & scrolled a considerable way through yr blog & seen lots of drac/vanhel shipping which never would've occurred to me as a ship. i tried to figure out what the draw was by looking at yr posts but it was usually like headcanons that didnt explain the ship's initial draw. so what draws you to it? also u said sth abt drac/vanhel being stoker self insert/his boss?? what??? thx for yr patience w yr local noob (if ppl even say noob anymore)

Hi! Thanks for the question!

This is kinda funny because it’s not something I’ve ever thought about before. I guess I ship them because I’m gay and have unresolved trauma.

Lol, jk (I mean, those things are true). I think I just really like the idea of enemies to lovers? Idk. I just think the idea of Van Helsing having to kill Dracula whilst also being in love or whatever with him is just,,,,such an interesting idea. Plus the idea of Dracula being soft and in love out of nowhere when he hasn’t been for centuries and all of a sudden having to deal with all these emotions is also very interesting.

Idk, I think part of the appeal of shipping Dracula with anyone is, like, exploring these themes of someone who has been “living” for themselves for centuries, and has been completely selfish and self sustaining now having to grapple with the idea that they’re in love with someone (whatever that means for them), and having to deal with all the emotions of it. It’s an interesting character arc.

Shipping Dracula with Van Helsing, in my opinion, makes sense and is interesting because Van Helsing is probably the only person in the book who can keep up with him intellectually (Mina is smart enough but I wouldn’t say she’s learned enough, though she could be), and also the only person who is, like, disciplined enough to actually be able to deal with him, and also the only person that Dracula really respects.

I imagine Dracula would be fairly emotionally turbulent, and he needs someone who is levelheaded and patient enough to deal with that in a healthy way, and also who likes him enough and gets enough out of the relationship to want to help him, and I think that person is Van Helsing.* (Part of the reason why I don’t like DracMina is because she isn’t experienced enough to do that, imo, but that’s a different post altogether). And then them being enemies just gives some interesting dynamics to work with.

Ok, well that was long-winded. Now onto the “Van Helsing is a self-insert for Bram Stoker” thing:

So, admittedly, this is just, like, a theory and not something that Stoker ever admitted to, but it does make some sense for a few reasons:

~ Abraham was Stoker’s full first name (also his fathers first name).

~ Van Helsing was described to look a bit like Stoker (red hair, blue eyes, etc.)

~ He’s basically an overbeefed (?) NPC, and is a lot like a Mary Sue (I think the masculine is Gary Sue). Which, like, Mary Sue’s aren’t really real, but usually an overpowered character is an indication of an authorial self-insert. That being said, Van Helsing *does* have issues, but they’re issues that would not have been considered issues in the Victorian Era (re: he’s kinda mysoginistic, though admittedly not as much as some other characters).

One theory that is in this same vein is also that Dracula is an insert/was based on Stoker’s boss, Henry Irving. Also, some people think Stoker was in love with Irving (which is also another post, lol). Basically:

~ Irving was set to play Dracula in a stage adaptation (which he declined because he hated the book).

~ Dracula is described to look a bit like Irving (bushy curly hair, bushy eyebrows, big nose, strong face, etc.)

~ Dracula and Irving have some similar character traits, especially in the way Dracula is described as being spellbinding (which he also described Irving as), etc.

Personally, I don’t think these things were intentional. Like, I don’t think Stoker thought “I’m going to make *myself* the hero :)”, or “I’m going to make *my boss* the villain :)”. I think he just wrote the characters he wanted to see and that interested him and there just happened to be a lot of similarities, but I do think the similarities are important to keep in mind when analyzing the book.

Anyways, this was very long and I’m so sorry (but honestly, every answer I give to an ask ends up being really long, lol. What do y’all expect from me?). I hope this answered your questions! And thanks for giving my blog a look :)

*Disclaimer: I don’t ship them in a toxic relationship type of way. Someone can be very emotional (due to trauma, mental illness, or no reason at all) and still be a wonderful, loving partner. Just because someone is emotional doesn’t mean they’re bad. I’m also not trying to say that all of your emotional needs should fall onto your partner, but saying that someone can’t lean on their partner for support is just not true. My opinions are a bit more nuanced so if someone has any more questions pls send me an ask abt it!

#dracula #abraham van helsing #count dracula #Bram Stoker #Henry Irving #Vancula #ask

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