“A spike of cold iron” and Vengeance: Thomas Hutter and Handsome Roma man in “Nosferatu” (2024)

When Thomas Hutter is exploring Castle Orlok and stumbles upon the catacombs, he sees a stone sarcophagus in a dignified location. Next to it, the soil has been dig out, the stone floor removed, and a pick-axe was left behind. Craig Lathrop, the producer designer, has confirmed in an interview the pick-axe is part of a backstory (which is based on the “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker, one of the main inspirations for this film). The soil has been removed and used to fill up the sarcophagus because Count Orlok is preparing for travel, and he, being a strigoi, needs to rest in the earth where he was buried during the day.  

And, indeed, there’s a whole backstory here: who filled Orlok’s sarcophagus with dirt? Who packed his sarcophagus to travel? Someone had to put his coffin inside a box and take it to the ship, for him to be able to travel to Wisburg. And the answer can only be in one of the source materials/inspirations for this film: “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker. It was the Romani people who work for Orlok (like they did in the book).

Romani people have been marginalized in Europe for centuries, and in Romania, specifically, they were enslaved for almost 500 years. Boyars had Roma slaves; more info about this topic here (although this article uses the term “Gypsy”, which is culturally offensive). It’s unclear if (human) Orlok had Roma slaves or not, because Transylvania was a particular case, where many Roma people weren’t slaves, and, in the 16th century, a Roma voivodeship was created (an authority led by a noble holding the title of voivode). Still Roma slavery in Transylvania was only abolished in the 17th century. 

We really have no information on why the Roma people work for Orlok, and the only visual confirmation of this is the pick-axe in the crypt, so it’s clear Robert Eggers didn’t want to dwell on this fact, either. But, still, we were introduced to these characters, and their actions do have meaning in the plot.

The audience first meets the Romani people of Transylvania in “Nosferatu” (2024) when Thomas Hutter arrives at the Carpathians, and there’s a camp outside the Inn. And he’s immediately received by one Roma man, who takes his horse, and signals the others of his arrival. Everyone has their eyes fixed on Thomas, as they play music and dance.

And, then, they all laugh at Thomas, following the lead of a character who unfortunately doesn’t have a name, he’s only described as “handsome Roma man” in the script and “vampire hunter” on IMBd.

Thomas is as confused as the audience at this point. Why are they laughing at him? Is because he’s a foreigner? Because he’s out of his element? Did he caused offense? In the meantime, the owner of the Inn arrives and reluctantly agrees to let Thomas stay the night because he’s willing to play double for the room. Not before he expressed his fear at the mention of Castle Orlok.

"[His] Shadow Covers You In Nightmare"

Once he gets inside, the Innkeeper’s mother-in-law is performing a blessing ritual with garlic to protect a man against strigoi. She shows Thomas to his room and warns him against Orlok’s shadow, and gives him a talisman. 

"Beware his shadow. The shadow covers you in nightmare. Awake, but a dream. There is no escape. Pray. Pray."

During the night, Thomas awakes because of chanting and torch light coming from outside. He decides to follow the Roma people and witnesses a strange ritual with a virgin girl on horseback. This is based on Balkan folklore; it’s a method to find a strigoi grave (it’s usually a black stallion, but Eggers probably went this a white horse to be more visible during the night), and a scene like this is also in another film that inspired this adaptation of “Nosferatu”: “Leptirica” (“The She-Butterfly”) (1973).

They dig out a corpse and the “handsome Roma man” stabs it with a spike of cold iron. The corpse vomits blood and Thomas cries out in horror. As the handsome Roma man locks eyes with him, everything turns to black. 

"No, by the grace of God!"

Next, we see Thomas waking up in the morning, back at the Inn, but his boots are covered in mud, which seems to indicate it wasn’t a dream, and he remembers what he saw. 

But once Thomas goes outside there’s no one there. Not even the Innkeepers appear to be there. It’s deserted. Everyone left. Someone took his horse and Thomas has to walk all the way up to the castle. 

Are these the same Romani who work for Orlok or an entirely different group of people? It seems quite the coincidence to have two groups of the same ethnicity connected to the same story, at the same location but with different contexts (servants of Orlok vs. vampire hunters). And if this group of Roma people works for Orlok why would they be going around killing strigoi? However: was it a really a strigoi the Roma people killed? Yes, the corpse vomited blood, but we don't need to go into details about decomposition to explain why stabbing a regular corpse wouldn't do the same. 

This ritual is usually done during the day time (like it’s represented in “Leptirica” (1973)), for obvious reasons; it’s when the strigoi is resting on his grave, because it’s active during night time. Even the film itself acknowledges this with Orlok; Thomas finds him resting in his sarcophagus during the day. If this corpse was, indeed, a strigoi he wouldn’t even be in his grave at this time of night, to begin with, and the movie itself acknowledges this. So, there’s something strange going here. 

When Thomas tried to stab Orlok with the pick-axe, he stopped him, and even Herr Knock grabs the spike. The corpse the Romani stab has no physical reaction other than vomiting blood. So, indeed, Robert Eggers gave us three parallel scenes which play-out differently, for a reason.

This scene was a hallucination manufactured by Orlok himself, and it will foreshadow Thomas' failure at the end, too. The handsome Roma man has a black dog, similiar to Orlok's hellhounds, and the dog symbolism is connected to Thomas in this film. There's a connection between Thomas and the Handsome Roma man. The muddy boots indicate it might have not been a dream, however Orlok is associated with sleepwalking, and his shadow is a big theme during the first act of the film, and strigoi do have power over dreams, as they can create nightmares in their victims.

And while Orlok appears irritated when Thomas asks him about the ritual, he also claims to be eager to retire to his “city of a modern mind” who doesn’t known nor believes in these “morbid fairytales”, and says these superstitions surely look backwards to a young man of high learning like Thomas. Orlok is being sarcastic, here, he has no intention of flattering Thomas. And he doesn't care about the "modern mind", either, as his whole motivation is to drag Ellen to her grave. Thomas is there to sign the divorce papers and for the Sex Magick ritual, both to annul his marriage to Ellen, in the physical and the spiritual world. And Orlok isn't really surprised when Thomas tries to attack him in his sarcographus. 

Thomas begins to feel the heaviness of Orlok's shadow before arriving at his castle, which indicates he has some degree of power over him, already, and even after his escape and his exorcism by the Orthodox Nuns (because Orlok feeds off souls), they say he's lost in Orlok's shadow.

The elderly Romanian woman warns Thomas that Orlok’s shadow covers him in nightmares, and there’s no escape other than praying. When Thomas wakes in the morning, the talisman is around his neck, even thought it wasn’t when he fell asleep or witnessed the ritual. Did the elderly woman saw Thomas doing something (sleepwalking, for instance), put the talisman on him, and they all left, terrified, because of it? Probably.

Robert Eggers has no interest in portraying Thomas Hutter as the hero of his story, but says “he [Thomas] thinks he’s the hero”. 

While staying at the castle, Orlok feeds on Thomas, while he compells Ellen to dream only of him, because he already tricked Hutter into signing the covenant papers (divorce papers), where Hutter forsakes his marriage to Ellen in favor of Orlok, promising her to him. Orlok pays for Ellen’s dowery with a sack of gold. Later, Orlok will reveal this to the audience, when he tells Ellen: “Your husband has signed his name, and covenanted you to my person for but a sack of gold. For gold he did absolve his nuptial bond. And the resignation must be completed by you, freely of thine own will.” Ellen and Thomas are divorced in the physical world ("Your husband is lost to you" = "You are divorced now"), and Orlok needs to annul their marriage spiritually, too, because Ellen and Thomas took a sacrament before God (church wedding). This is ritualistic, a Sex Magick ritual, to break Ellen and Thoma's nuptial bond, and connect Thomas to himself. 

This was already Orlok’s plan, because he selected this room for Thomas in advance. And this is also the reason why Orlok made his servant Herr Knock send Thomas to his castle in Transylvania. This is a bedroom with a double bed, with two pillows. It's a couple's room. And due to the reincarnation theme in this story, and this ritual being connected to Ellen herself, this was hers and Orlok's bedroom in the late 16th century. As we see Orlok feeding on Thomas, Ellen's sleepwalking stops and she drops to the floor, no longer connected to Orlok and Thomas. The ritual was successful. Orlok has annulled their marriage, both in the material and the spiritual worlds. 

Later, when Thomas is rescued by the Orthodox Nuns and brought to their monastery, he’s exorcised, and the physical symptoms of the “blood plague” are stopped, but not the supernatural ones, as he’s, still, weak and drained of his life force, even when he arrives at Wisburg. As Orlok is feeding on his victims, he’s gradually trapping their souls inside of Nosferatu (the rotten corpse), alongside his own. This is a sort of reversed “possession”; where the victim becomes part of Nosferatu, taking residence there until Nosferatu is destroyed and the souls are set free (including Orlok’s). 

Thomas is absolutely convinced he unleashed Orlok into the world, because he sold him a house in Wisburg: “I came here to sell the count a home in Wisburg. He is bound for Wisburg! He seeks after Ellen. I know it!” Orlok has fed on Thomas' soul, and while he was exorcised, a part of his soul is still inside of Nosferatu alongside Orlok's. Which is why Thomas is so certain of Orlok's intentions. The novice warns Thomas he mustn't leave because he's not well, he's still lost in Orlok's shadow, but Thomas doesn't listen to these warnings: "You are lost in his shadow. Enchanters turn their spirit into shadow to infect your dreams."

"You Are Lost In His Shadow"

Once he arrives at Wisburg, Thomas is weak and drained off his life force. He tells Ellen: "He hasn’t found you. I... I feared I’d never see you again", because he knows what Orlok's plan is. He's also taken by delirium (like the "blood plague" victims), ever now and again. When Herr Knock offers himself to kill Thomas, Orlok declines and says “I have use in him.”  

While he and Ellen are asleep, at the Harding household, Orlok influences Thomas in his sleep, and he kicks Ellen out of bed, because he can't breathe. And this tells the audience Thomas is not free from Orlok's grasp and he is, indeed, lost in his shadow. And Orlok can reach him in his dreams, too, exactly like the Romanian eldery lady and the Orthodox Nunes told him ("There is no escape. Pray."; "Enchanters turn their spirit into shadow to infect your dreams"). As Thomas will later confirm: "Yet I fear I am not free of his spell".

"Get off me. Give me room. I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe... Get off!"

Unaware to Thomas, that very night Ellen and Orlok meet in the flesh for the first time, and he gives her a “three nights” countdown for her to accept him. Orlok attacks Anna Harding, and the next morning Friedrich Harding expels both Ellen and Thomas from his household and says they need to return home, because he blames Ellen for his wife’s sickness. Because of what Professor Von Franz told her, Ellen now believes Orlok is like a demon possessing her body and forcing her to have these “hysterical fits”: only Professor Von Franz talked about spiritual obsession, not "possession" ("The dear young creature is obsessed of some spirit ... perhaps some daemon"), but Ellen, like Robert Eggers tells us in his interviews, doesn't have the knowledge to understand all of this, because Victorian society doesn't give her the language for her to be able to. 

Back at their house, and in the "possession scene", once Thomas awakes, he tells Ellen they must run away and leave town, she's in danger ("Ellen, my love. We must go. We must flee the city. You’re in danger") because a "devil" has come to Wisburg for her ("he is come to Wisburg... for you"). Ellen reveals to Thomas her personal history with Orlok: "I know him." Like Robert Eggers tells us, Ellen doesn't understand her power and she didn't get the chance to talk to Professor Von Franz like she wanted. As a consequence, she believes it was Thomas' love that made her “normal” (and not her stopping conjuring Orlok/using her power), and she’s also under the assumption that Orlok took her as his lover in the past (but he was no more than a shadow at her window, in her teenage years), because she's the reincarnation of Orlok's wife.

"Impossible!"

Thomas declares what she's talking about to be impossible because he had access into Orlok's soul, and vice-versa. He was, indeed, possessed by Orlok. "What do mean by this?" He’s both shocked and confused, because he knows what Ellen is saying can’t possibly have happened (in her present life/incarnation). Then, Thomas will come to the conclusion, Orlok is manipulating Ellen’s dreams to believe these things are real, the same way he is plagued with nightmares because he's still “lost in Orlok’s shadow”. Only Orlok has never fed on Ellen’s blood/soul, like he did with Thomas, and Ellen is talking about an entirely different thing

Not knowing how to handle the situation, Thomas does what Victorian society tell him to do: call the doctor to deal with Ellen. "I shall send for Doctor Sievers." A doctor that will contain her with drugs and/or tie her to the bed, who will restrain her nature, and that's the opposite of what she wants. And she breaks off her trance. And in this scene we see that Ellen does have control over her trances, as she snaps out of it, at will. As she ends her communication with the spiritual realm, she kneels before Thomas, in full submission, and promises to be good: "Please. I’ll be good, I’ll be good." And Thomas is relieved.

Ellen then, seductively, caresses her husband's pubic region, and, as she says "you could never please me as he could". Thomas demeanor changes entirely. His face looks harsher and darker than usual. Orlok has access to Thomas’ soul and, can influence his behavior (as we saw previously) and so, he possesses him during this scene, as Thomas is acting out-of-character and opposite to the Victorian love (chaste, modest, restrained) he represents in this story: 

• The narrative has established Orlok is conjured by sexual energy; 
• Orlok wants Ellen to remember how they once were (reincarnation theme).

"No! Orlok!"

Thomas then has a vision of Ellen-Orlok, with blood on her eyes and mouth, like he did at the castle in Transylvania, just before Orlok fed on him. And he recoils, terrified, both by what he saw and by his own actions; the passionate love-making, which is the opposite to Victorian love. True love was familial and domestic, tempered devotion confined to the household, and the sacrament of marriage was meant to repress and contain erotism, passion and "animalistic impulses". Which explains what Ellen says next. And she was also convulsing erotically (like her usual “hysterical fits”), which indicates she was trying to conjure Orlok through her sexual energy to communicate with him. 

To Thomas, Ellen convulsions are a consequence of Orlok possessing him, and he believes they are both “lost in his shadow”: “Ellen, it’s me! It’s me!”  And he tries to reassure his wife it's really him, and not Orlok, nor a nightmare: “You are safe with me!” Because he’s convinced Ellen is experiencing what he did once he arrived in Transylvania, and everything seemed like a waking dream, or nightmare.

Especially because this is what Orlok wants him to believe, in the first place. “I have use in him". Orlok is placing intentions inside of Thomas' head, like the sorcerer he is. And he has been doing so ever since he arrived at Wisburg: 

"It's me!"

Thomas thinks Orlok is already "getting" to Ellen, the same way he did to him once he arrived at Transylvania. He didn’t believe anything Ellen told him about her and Orlok being “lovers” or her being the one who “brought this evil upon” them, because he has access to Orlok’s soul, and vice-versa. He knows it's impossible for her to be talking the truth of the facts (about her present life/incarnation). As a consequence, Thomas now thinks all of these “delusions” (melancholy) and “hysteric fits” are Orlok making Ellen “sick”, plaguing her with nightmares like he did with him at his castle. 

"I will kill him! I will!" 

Thomas delirium (from the "blood plague") is about unbearable guilt. He blames himself for everything that has happened: Orlok coming to Wisburg (because he sold him the house), and now because of what he thinks Orlok is doing to Ellen (the same he did to him in Transylvania). And he vows to destroy him. He's now on a vendetta mission against Orlok, driven by desire to avenge Ellen and himself. He wants to drive a spike of cold iron through Orlok (like he saw it done in Transylvania, bringing this story full circle) as revenge. 

"I’ll kill him! I will. He shall never harm you again. Never!"

But Ellen just realised the opposite; it's not Orlok, it's herself. Her trance mediumship allows her to communicate with the spiritual realm as a whole (not only with Orlok specifically); Orlok isn't "a demon possessing her body", it's all on herself; and it’s her who has been summoning Orlok this entire time, which is why she says she'll become a demon without Thomas (without her husband owning and controlling her sexuality) and "I'm unclean!" because she's contagious, and she and Thomas were expelled from the Harding household because of her "contamination" of Anna Harding. And Thomas doesn't recognize her supernatural powers, at all, and will always medicalize her, too.

And this scene gives the context for Thomas witnessing the strigoi killing ritual, because this is the scene which will make Thomas believe he's the hero of the story, and he's the one who'll destroy Count Orlok. He’ll want to become like the handsome Roma man, a heroic vampire hunter, releasing villages from a strigoi threat. And the fact that a virgin girl is used to lure the strigoi will also reinforce Ellen’s innocence in Thomas’ eyes.

It's Ellen telling Thomas that Orlok will kill him if she doesn’t go to him that makes him say "I will kill him!" Thomas is absolutely determined in being the hero of the story, now. Not only because that’s his role as a Victorian husband, but there’s even a touch of fate in this (“Providence like Herr Knock would say”), because his mind will return to the handsome Roma man and to the ritual he witnessed that first night. And this is not random, because Orlok can't kill Thomas (he doesn't have entrance into Thomas and Ellen's house, she only gives it to him the next night, and that's why Thomas knows Ellen is safe at their home), and this is what Orlok wants, too.

"More blood shall stain thy hands, another night has passed. Tomorrow night, the third, shall be his last."

And, as Thomas is asleep, Ellen awakes to Orlok's shadow, placing intentions inside of Thomas' head in his sleep. He doesn't have physical access to this house, and he can only reach Thomas himself because he has access to his soul. However, Ellen appears to be able to hear him, probably due to her supernatural powers. Orlok is influencing Thomas into killing him; which is why Thomas feels Orlok’s grasp on him the next evening ("I feel his hold upon me this night") and he won’t wait until morning to destroy Orlok ("No. I will not wait ‘til morning! We must stop him now."). Orlok had no intention of killing Thomas if Ellen didn’t summoned him on the third night. And he would allow himself to get killed by the vampire hunters. 

And this explains Thomas’ behavior during and after the funerals. As Friedrich Harding tries to expel Professor Von Franz (also Ellen, too), Thomas intervenes, and begs for his forgiveness, because he truly believes it’s his fault ("more blood shall stain thy hands"). As he says so himself: "Please, it is my fault! Forgive me my dear, sweet friend!" And now, he wants to avenge the Hardings, too. 

"Friedrich! These nightmares do exist! They exist!"

Orlok's goal here is not merely for Thomas Hutter to act and hero (and emulate the Handsome Roma vampire hunter) and get him out of the house, but mostly to force Ellen to be confronted with his own destruction. It's Orlok giving her the "three nights countdown" that sets everything into motion, and, especially, him saying her called husband shall perish by his hand. 

Only Thomas isn't her husband anymore because their marriage was annulled in both the physical (“divorce papers”) and the spiritual (Sex Magick divorce ritual) worlds. Until Ellen accepts Orlok, she has no husband, she's divorced. "Call" in 16th century English is connected with "summon" or "invitation": "or your summoned husband shall perish by my hand". He's talking about himself because Ellen is the one who "summoned" him, and resurrected him. She's also the reincarnation of his wife.

And Ellen is, indeed, confronted with Orlok getting killed by a spike of cold iron, like Thomas saw it done in Transylvania. And this is how a strigoi is destroyed in Romanian folklore, because the Şolomonari codex of secrets speaks of how a Şolomonar can break free from his own Nosferatu curse. Ellen confronted with the threat of Orlok’s destruction is a reference to another inspiration for this story: “La Belle et la Bête” (Beauty and the Beast) (1946); where the Beast reluctantly allows Belle to leave, but gives her a week countdown, telling her that if she doesn’t return within 7 days time, he’ll die of grief.

"You promise you shan't return to me ‘til he is no more? Promise you won’t return."

Ellen conspires with Professor Von Franz to keep Thomas out of the house, and she will even play into Thomas wishful heroism: “You will put an end to all of this?” But she also tells him: "He does not have power over you, Thomas. I place my utter faith in you. I love you." because she knows Orlok is influencing Thomas into killing him. She's an enchantress herself, she can control reality by the power of her word. And she wants to accept Orlok's covenant. And Thomas leaves fully prepared to embrace the “heroic vampire hunter” role, and assured Ellen is safe at their house because Orlok does not have entrance ("Of course not, Ellen. You must be kept safe away").

Just before Ellen summons him, and as the vampire hunters are arriving at the manor, Orlok is just standing in front of his sarcophagus, at the chapel. He even has his back against the door.  He only turns when Ellen calls him. This is not a fighting posture, he’s fully prepared to embrace his destruction. Alongside with the highly symbolic moonlight coming from the rose window, waiting for redemption.

Robert Eggers said his Orlok’s whole motivation is Ellen, and the “Wuthering Heights” inspired love triangle was more appealing to him than any other theme. His Orlok doesn’t care about world domination, nor spreading his plague nor collecting random souls. He takes no joy in doing what he does either, he just doesn’t sugar-coats it (that’s why he says “I’m an appetite, nothing more” when Ellen accuses him of being a villain, evil). He’s a monster, he is what he is. All he cares about is his covenant of being “one ever-eternally” with Ellen ("I should have been the Prince of Rats – immortal… but he broke our covenant… for he cares only for his pretty bride"). Her soul is the only thing he wants. If she rejected him, and didn’t broke his curse, there was no point in him existing anymore.

"The broker lives. [...] I have use in him."

The scene in Grünewald Manor, with Thomas, Professor Von Franz and Dr. Sievers is almost a direct parallel to the ritual Thomas saw in Transylvania. And it’s everything wrong with it, too: it’s night time (which means Orlok isn’t in his sarcophagus, because he only rests there during the day), and he stabs a human, not a strigoi (even though Knock was probably seeking a violent death to become one).

When he realizes Professor Von Franz knew about this, all along, he’s enraged and runs back to his house, in a final desperate attempt to destroy Orlok with a spike of cold iron and save Ellen. And Professor Von Franz laughs and taunts him: “You run in vain! You cannot out-run her destiny!” Which brings this whole story full circle; Thomas was destined to fail, as Ellen and Orlok were fated to be bound together (“even now, we are fated”).

Orlok stops drinking Ellen’s blood (soul) not because he’s engorged (it’s not even blood he feeds on specifically, in the first place), but mostly due to the fact he can feel Thomas is close to arrive at the house. He can sense dawn approaching either way, as it was established during his first scene with Herr Knock, when he arrives at Wisburg (“Daybreak draws near. Anon the bells of dawn shall toll in despair of my coming.”). He probably knows Knock has betrayed him, and revealed his plan to the vampire hunters. If they arrived before dawn, they will destroy him with a spike of cold iron, ending his covenant with Ellen, and prevent her from breaking the curse of Nosferatu he has on himself.

"I can't bear it anymore" - Three sides of unbearable grief; Thomas witnesses two representations of unbearable grief until it becames his own, at the end

Thomas Hutter's character in “Nosferatu” (2024) embodies many characteristics from 19th century Romanticism, where fallen, failed and tragic heroes were a major theme in Literature. Thomas failure to create a satisfying role for himself dooms him, but it serves a heroic purpose, in the end. Him attempting to embody the hero and the vampire hunter was destined for failure, but it allowed him to leave the house, for Ellen and Orlok to fulfill their covenant, which broke the curse of Nosferatu, not just for them, but for everyone else, and the plague was lifted. 

Thomas is also the Edgar Linton to Ellen's Catherine and Orlok's Heathcliff in the "Wuthering Heights" inspiration of this story. He gets caught up in middle of something he doesn’t know nor understands, and his entire life gets wrecked as a result. Like Edgar to Heathcliff, Thomas is the antithesis of Orlok; he’s a model of tenderness and constancy. Where Orlok is untamed and wild passion, Thomas is stable and gentle love. Orlok represents nature, and Thomas represents society. Thomas should be everything Ellen wants, but like Catherine with Edgar, he isn’t. And like Edgar, Thomas becomes a grieving widower, while Ellen/Catherine and Orlok/Heathcliff are together in the spiritual realm.