Dracula BBC: How is Dracula killed in the novel? How does the book end?
Following the cliffhanger in episode two, fans have no idea what to expect in tonight’s (Friday, January 3) finale of Dracula. The new series has diverged significantly from the original plot and last night it was revealed the current Dracula story is set partially in the present day. However, the show has had so many twists and turns along the way, the series could always go full circle and end the same way as the original novel does.
How is Dracula killed in the novel? How does the book end?
Dracula on BBC is loosely based on the 1897 Gothic horror novel of the name by Irish author Bram Stoker.
The novel tells the story of Count Dracula, a vampire who attempts to move from Transylvania, Romania to England to find new blood and spread the undead curse.
For Dracula, things do not quite go according to plan and he is challenged by a group of vampire hunters, led by Professor Van Helsing.
The story is told through a series of letters, diary entries, newspapers articles and ship log entries.
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The authors of these documents are also the novel’s main characters, including:
- Jonathan Harker: A solicitor sent to do business with Count Dracula
- Mina Harker: A schoolteacher and Jonathan’s fiancee
- Arthur Holmwood: Lucy’s fiancé
- Quincey Morris: An American cowboy and explore
- John Seward: A Doctor and student of Van Helsing
- Renfield: A patient at Seward’s lunatic asylum
- Abraham Van Helsing: A Dutch doctor, lawyer and professor
- Lucy Westenra: A 19-year-old aristocrat and Mina’s best friend.
The novel ends with Dracula fleeing London with his 50th box of soil back to his castle in Transylvania.
Before leaving London, Dracula attacks Mina and fed her his blood in an attempt to control her.
However, Van Helsing uses hypnotism twice a day, at dawn and sunset, which puts her into a trance.
In this state, the vampire hunters can track Dracula’s movements through her.
The vampire hunters arrive in Transylvania with Van Helsing raiding Dracula’s castle and destroying the weird sisters.
The weird sisters is the collective name given to vampire women who serve Dracula, also known as the Brides of Dracula in modern adaptations of the book.
The vampire hunters then discovered Dracula was being transported by travellers and they managed to attack the caravan carrying the vampire and his 50th box of earth.
Dracula has the power of immorality if he sticks to the immoral way of life.
This means he must avoid sunlight, drink blood and sleep in his coffin filled with Transylvanian earth, among other things.
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However, the count can be killed by exposure to sunlight and if he is stabbed with a wooden stake through the heart by someone else (he cannot take his own life).
At the end of the novel, Jonathan Harker then stabbed Dracula through the throat with a kukri knife and Quincey stabs the Count in the heart with a Bowie knife.
Dracula then disintegrates into dust and Mina is freed from his curse.
However, in popular culture, it is widely believed that Dracula had a wooden stake driven through his heart.
Sadly, Quincey dies of his injuries following the battle.
The final chapter of the book is set seven years in the future, with a note written by Harker.
The note details his married life with Mina and reveals they had a son, whom they named after Quincey.
The book ends with young Quincey sitting on the knee of Van Helsing as they recount the story of Dracula.
Dracula fans will know there is a deleted ending of the story of Dracula.
Stoker removed a small section from the final chapter which details how Dracula’s castle falls apart as he dies, erasing from history the fact vampires ever existed there.
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In the BBC Dracula series, Sister Agatha (played by Dolly Wells) is a descendant of Van Helsing.
As the series is set partially in the present day, Agatha and her team of detectives could serve as modern-day vampire hunters and finally take down Dracula (Claes Bang) once and for all.
However, the original story of Dracula has been adapted several times into series and feature films, so it is possible the latest series could have an unpredictable ending.
Dracula fans will have to watch the final episode tonight to see how the series will end.
Dracula airs at 9pm tonight on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer.
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