15 Comments

Stoker didn't do him any favors with all that broken English dialogue, which made him seem as much of a "foreigner" as Dracula. The movies fixed that...a bit...

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I think that the broken English helped to further characterise Helsing I liked that about him.

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That may have been the intent. Why would the English know about such a foreign danger?

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Agreed

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Feb 19Liked by The Brothers Krynn

This was a very insightful post! Dracula is my favourite novel and I always found Van Helsing was given too much to say. His bond with Lucy and other points you make about his character are great. I've been tempted to do an essay like this about Mina!

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I'm glad you liked it so much, Helsing is one of my favourites with Dracula being my 8th or 9th favourite novel, I always return to it and consider it a must-read for all. I love this novel, love Helsing just as you do and agree his bond with the characters he takes under his wing rock.

As to Mina, I wrote one and encourage you to do so, here's mine in case you're curious about it; https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/in-defence-of-mina-harker-the-og

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Feb 19Liked by The Brothers Krynn

I will definitely check that article out 👍🏼

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Thanks I've also written about Jonathan & Quincy, I love them also, I'm trying to write about every character before moving to writing about adaptations. But I'm working very slowly through these things, as I intersperse my time with a Dracula styled novel, and other novels and essays.

But tag me when you type up yours, I'll want to read it and recommend it to others mon ami.

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Feb 19Liked by The Brothers Krynn

That's so cool, I'll need to check those out, and I look forward to the ones yet to come!

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Thanks I hope the previous ones meet with your approval also, just know I do kind of hero-worship Jonathan, Quincy & Mina in their articles, but seriously excited for your articles and gonna read what you've got.

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Thanks for an interesting essay on Van Helsing. In your opinion, which is the best and closest (most faithful) movie adaptation you have seen?

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Not sure, the BBC one was quite accurate but they didn't have some characters, the horror elements were there in the Hammer & Universal ones but they were not accurate. So I'm not sure, weirdly in terms of keeping book-lines, Dracula Dead and Loving it did a good job, though they twisted the lines into jokes which was funny.

I might lean that in spirit Brides of Dracula was accurate, but not sure, I've not seen every adaptation out there, I enjoy them but there's a lot of them.

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Such an interesting read! I'm only really familiar with the modern depictions of Van Helsing, so this certainly was nice to read in understanding his original characterization.

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deletedFeb 19
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Thanks, I was nervous and unsure of how well I did, but as always thanks for the support Jeremy, you make these essays worth writing.

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deletedFeb 19
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Thanks, I appreciate your words of support mon ami

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