Visual Storytelling in “Nosferatu” (2024): Count Orlok Iconography, the Demonized Occultist and the Dacians of Old
Robert Eggers’ Count Orlok isn’t a arbitrary demon vampire; he was once a man cursed into becoming Nosferatu. Robert Eggers doesn’t want for the audience to know the full backstory on his Orlok, but he wrote a few-pages novella and gave it to Bill Skarsgård in preparation for the role; which, according to the director, influenced Bill's entire performance, the story behind the prologue between Count Orlok and Ellen, and even the meaning of the ending. The audience knows Count Orlok is a 16th century Transylvanian nobleman, from the 1580s-1590s (“lord” and “lordship”), he’s not Vlad the Impaler (15th century), he was a voivode, an enchanter (Şolomanar) and married with a family.
In the "Dracula" novel by Bram Stoker, professor Abraham Van Helsing reveals his findings of Count Dracula's past: “As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and alchemist. Which latter was the highest development of the science knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical death”.
Count Orlok library, also somewhat based on the description from the "Dracula" novel: "In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and newspapers. A table in the center was littered with English magazines and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books were of the most varied kind, history, geography, politics, political economy, botany, geology, law."
Count Orlok lived during the Renaissance era (16th century), which saw the birth of several characters who defied the strict orthodox views of the established religious authority of the Church throughout Europe (Dr. John Dee, Edward Kelly, Nostradamus, Agrippa, Giordano Bruno, Paracelsus, etc.), accused of heresy, blasphemy and dealings with the Devil. Many were imprisoned and others executed because of their occult work and religious beliefs. We have no notion whatsoever how Count Orlok died (if natural causes like illness (plague), or something else like execution, murder or even suicide).
Bill Skarsgård cited occultist warlords of the time period and the Bulgarian epic “Time of Violence” as one of Robert Eggers’ many inspirations for Orlok backstory. And, indeed, he lived during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans (but he wasn’t the prince), yet in the late 16th century Transylvania was a semi-independent state, under Hungarian rule (which, in turn, was under Ottoman supervision). Transylvanian nobility led many rebellions against the Ottomans (hence the legend of “Vlad the Impaler”, who’s considered a Romanian national hero).
Orlok signet ring: with his own sigil. The gemstone appears to be rumanite, also known as “Romanian amber” (which comes in various shades of black, red and/or brown).
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On Count Orlok's sarcophagus, and on the cyrillic contract he makes Thomas sign (a divorce contract which annuls Ellen and Thomas' marriage so Ellen can wed Orlok "as in the laws of Solomon", on the day she gives her consent), we have the Count's coat of arms, where we see the attention to detail Robert Eggers and his team place in crafting the worldbuilding.
“Coats of arms” is heraldic design, and were used by nobility. Each “coat of arms” is unique to the individual (nobleman) and speaks of achievements, heritage, etc. “Coats of Arms” are traditionally composed by a shield, supporters, a crest and a motto, but might not have all of these elements. Orlok coat of arms doesn’t have a motto, for instance.
- The crest is a crown. Which it’s probably connected with his noble lineage, and his role as sovereign of a county (count);
- As supporters (holding the shield) we have two Dacian Draco with their tails intertwined;
- The figures on the top, inside the shield, appears to be a Dacian Draco with a sun or star; and a wolf with a crescent moon. Usually this star and crescent moon motif represent the Székelys, an ancient Hungarian sub-group (said to descend from the Huns), and with seats of power within Transylvania, on the hills of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. Castle Orlok is located beyond the Árnyék Pass (also known as Umbră Pass) in the Carpathians, but this is a fictional place. Both “Árnyék” and “Umbră” mean “shadow”, in Hungarian and Romanian, respectively;
- At the center, the shield is a Barry of eight fesse (horizontal stripes) or three bars, on the left (symbolic or military rank and recognition) and one tower on the right (symbolic or strength, protection, resilience of a stronghold, guarding its inhabitants from adversity and external threats);
- One Seven Rays (bottom, right), a star standing alone, probably a reference to his personal sigil (heptagram)?
- Three sabers which seem to be Hungarian szabla (bottom; left). These swords were symbols of nobility and aristocracy (szlachta) The węgiersko-polska saber was popularized among the aristocracy during the reign of the Transylvanian-Hungarian King of Poland Stephen Bathóry in the late 16th century. Swords in heraldry are usually used as a symbol for military honor.
Count Orlok being of Székelys lineage is also aligned with the “Dracula” novel, where Count Dracula shares the same ethnicity, as seen above. The Székelys are often said to be the "true Transylvanians", because they guarded the land's borders long before the Magyar (Hungarian) conquering and rule. Their allegiance was only to the sacred soil of Transylvania, no matter who holds temporary political dominion over them, which also gives an extra layer as to why Count Orlok/Dracula needs to rest on its soil during daytime, when he's in his death-like sleep.
Orlok's personal sigil:
- An heptagram surrounded by a Dacian Draco ouroboros (death; rebirth; infinity; resurrection; reincarnation);
- The letters are cyrillic spelling “Zalmoxis”;
- The center is the alchemical symbol for blood. In Alchemy, blood (heart, air element) is connected with the "Rubedo" phase (or "Red phase”), the final phase of the “Magnum Opus”, when the Philosopher’s Stone is created, bestowing the cure to all diseases, long life and immortality;
- The symbols appear to be some form of Vinča. With archeological findings in Romania as being over 8,000 and 6,500 years old, are consider by many as the oldest form of human writing, but their meaning is still unknown. They are here either to show Orlok comes from an ancient bloodline; or has known reincarnations throughout the ages?
Probably the latter, since Robert Eggers revealed in one interview his "Orlok is an ancient noble, predating even the foundations of the Romanian Empire." ("Romanian" as in "Roman empire", because he's talking about Dacian civilization in this context). This is something composer Robin Carolan also addressed in an interview about the presence of reconstructed Dacian lyrics in the soundtrack: "The language sung in Nosferatu’s score may sound like Latin, but it is Dacian, a dead language that predates the Romanian empire and is specific to the region of the Carpathian Mountains, where Orlok’s castle lies. “Here’s the thing that separates Rob’s input from other directors,” Carolan says. “Most people think Orlok is speaking Romanian in the film and most people would have had the choir sing in Romanian because it’s easier. But Rob’s backstory has Orlok as this super ancient noble that speaks in a forgotten tongue. So it had to be Dacian and the choir had to sing in Dacian. It’s these little details that really make the greater whole of his films.”
The Draco (a sort of dragon with a wolf head, or a wolf-headed serpent) was the Dacian battle flag, but I'll address that topic in its historical context.
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Heptagrams are connected to the seven planets of Alchemy. Also known as the "Heptagram of the Seven Days", it represents the Alchemical planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol (Sun), Venus, Mercury and Luna (Moon), it was believed each day and each hour was ruled by a different planet, which was important for different kinds of magic work.
The invocation sigil Herr Knock uses to conjure Count Orlok, it’s the same as the one on the cover of what Professor Von Franz calls "Solomonari codex of secrets", and as in Orlok's personal sigil (establishing his direct connection and ownership of the codex. Heptagrams were used in Alchemy and ceremonial magic, to work with energies, metals and spirits associated with each planet, with different kinds of goals.
II. Draco and Dacian Wolf Warriors
The genetics of historical Vlad III, “The Impaler”, “Dracula”, can be traced much farther back than the Szekelys and the Huns: he was said to be a descendent of the Dacian warriors of Pre-Roman occupation of nowadays Romania. Dacia had its center in Transylvania, crossed by the Carpathians, and included parts of current Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine territories.
This seems to be the case with Robert Eggers' Count Orlok, as well. Aside from his sigil and coat of arms, the audience knows there's a connection between Orlok and the Dacian civilization because he speaks an reconstruction of Dacian language when performing incantations, crafted for the film by Romanian poet and screenwriter Florin Lăzărescu; who also acted as the consultant and researcher on 19th century Transylvania, Transylvanian folklore and other languages of the region (Romanian and Romani). He worked alongside a team of linguists specialized in extinct Balkan languages to create the dialect. While not historically accurate (since that's impossible), it's an educated guess.
It's worth noticing Dacian was already extinct in 16th-century Transylvania, for centuries. The Dacians had written language, however, many of the archeological findings of what's considered "Dacian script" are yet to be deciphered. In the early 19th-century, a codex was discovered in the city of Rohonc, in Western Hungary (nowadays considered Austria); by an unknown author and written in an unknown language, it became known as "Rohonc Codex" or "Rohonczi Codex" (from old Hungarian). While it remains undeciphered, controversial Romanian philologist Viorica Enăchiuc proposed, in 2002, it was written in Dacian alphabet, although most academics reject this interpretation, by the argument it contradicts the Christian religious imagery on the pages.
Count Orlok only speaks Romanian on two occasions, in the entire film: when he recognizes the scent of lilacs on Ellen's hair inside of the locket (he uses the Romanian word "liliac"), and his last words in the film: “tu ești a mea” (“You are mine”), after Ellen accepts his covenant, and to break the curse of Nosferatu. According to Bill Skarsgård, when interacting with Thomas, Herr Knock and Ellen, Orlok is "technically speaking German in the movie, but it’s English. I think he’s learned German just from reading all of these texts and old books. It’s this awkwardly constructed English that came out of that.” This is similar to Count Dracula in the book, whom seemily learned how to speak English from the books and magazines on his library, before moving to England.
"Trajan's Triumph over the Dacians": detail from Trajan's Column (113 AD), which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian WarsAccording to production designer Craig Lathrop, the Dracos on Count Orlok's sarcophagus were "patterned [...] mainly on the ones you see on Trajan’s Column in Rome, with that beautiful relief of the Romans conquering the Dacians. Those would be the people that were in the Romanian area way before 1838, the time of our film. Obviously it’s much, much earlier than that. But then, of course, Orlok is also much, much earlier than that."
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The Dacians were a Indo-European people from Ancient times (6th century), and most of the knowledge we have today of this Pre-Christian civilization comes from Greek and Roman accounts and descriptions. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote prolifically about the Dacians and their religion (namely their worship of Zalmoxis). Mădalina Strechie on her essay “The Dacians, the Wolf Warriors”, writes of the reputation of Dacian warriors among Greco-Roman authors. Roman poet Ovid wrote “and if I look at the people [of Dacia], they are crueller than wolves”, while Greek Historian Herodotus, said they “are the bravest and most righteous of the Thracians”.
The wolf was an extremely important military symbol in the Ancient world, and, likewise, very much revered throughout the Balkan peninsula. Ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo called the Dacian people “Daoi” (“wolves”), the Illyrians had a similar term for them, “Dhaunos” (“wolf”), and in Latin sources the word “Dahae” was used, from the Greek “Daai” (“wolf”). Much of the etymology around the term “Dacian” comes from “wolf”; “those who are like the wolves”. Historian Mircea Eliade, on his book "From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan", proposed three hypotheses for this connection of the wolves with the Dacian people, as a whole:
- The military heroism of the young Dacians (called "wolves") gave name to the entire tribe;
- "Wolf" was the name of the first Dacians who colonized the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic regions;
- The Dacians believed the wolf was their mythical ancestor, which gave its name to its people, with the Dacians being "people born under the sign of the wolf".
Dacian warriors were known for being fierce and fearless in battle, mostly because they believed themselves to be immortal due to their worship of Zalmoxis. They were said to wrap themselves in wolves skin to go to battle, and had a war brotherhood ("The Brotherhood of the Wolf") which imitated the behavior of wolves, carrying the Draco banner into war. Roman Historian Cassius Dio describes the great king of Dacia, Decebalus, as a fierce and true wolf king warrior to his people, even thought he was defeated during the second Roman-Dacian War: “he was very good at war plans and diligent in carrying them out, knowing how to choose the occasion to attack the enemy and to retreat in time. Clever at setting traps, he was a good fighter”. Mădalina Strechie writes: “he [Decebalus] fought like a king and died like a king and a free wolf, refusing to come to Rome in chains.”
Fans of Robert Eggers will probably notice a similarity with the character of Amleth from "The Northman" (2022) and the Viking Úlfhéðnar. In "Nosferatu" (2024), there's a scene in the ship, on its way to Wisburg, where Count Orlok viciously rips a man's throat. This does not fit his "vampire nature", since he feeds on heart's blood (where the soul is), not from the neck (like the classic anglo-literary vampire Robert Eggers said he had no intention of adapting). It parallels, however, a scene from “The Northman” (2022), where the main and titular character, Amleth, does the same during the raid scene.
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Ripping the enemy's throat like a wolf: Amleth ("The Northman", 2022) and Count Orlok ("Nosferatu", 2024)When discussing the real-life inspirations behind "The Northman", Robert Eggers said: “And then the other types are the Úlfhéðnar, which are wolf warriors. The thinking is that bear warriors were probably huge, and would fight like bears, and the wolf warriors are more agile. In the movie, Amleth’s character is the size of a bear with the agility of a wolf, is the idea. […] The more current theory that we’re using in the film is that it was a shamanic war dance that got them into this trance. Amleth ripping out the throat of his enemy, as he does in the course of this raid, comes from Egil’s saga, in which the poet Egil Skallagrímsson records that his father was a werewolf and he had berserker tendencies. He wins a fight by ripping someone’s throat out with his teeth.”
This callback to "The Northman" (2022) is most likely meant to illustrate Count Orlok's connection with wolf warriors of Pre-Christian Europe, in his case, the Dacians. But his connection with this civilization doesn't end at the Dracos on his iconography, nor the language he often speaks.
Dacian Dracos compose the feet of Count Orlok's sarcophagusOther visual evidence for Count Orlok's connection with these Pre-Christian European times, it's his historical Slavic look, reminiscent of the Ukranian cossacks, which is something prosthetic designer David White has acknowledged: "Robert’s [Eggert] intention from day one was to use the mustache and the fall up. He provided me with a series of mood boards which have sort of mid-seventeenth century illustrations of noblemen from, you know, Europe. And a lot of them had that kind of look—that kind of Cossack-inspired look, and that began that journey."
According to David White, this look has always been Robert Eggers' idea: "“He's [Count Orlok] going to be tall, he's going to be noble-looking, and he's going to have this strength and sort of strange vitality to him, even though he's dead.” We began to establish the boundaries of what he was going to be. And then Robert put a board together which showed me illustrations of 17th-century noblemen and Cossack-inspired images.Then I put a few images together, such as autopsy stuff that they used to do, sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, and skeletons with muscles attached. There are also all sorts of wonderful folk illustrations out there. We went through all this together and pinpointed certain elements that work for us both. But Robert's the driving force, he's the one with the vision. But when we got hold of Bill, things changed, because any actor brings their own ideas. So it's quite a strange journey."
According to Ukrainian folklore, some of these Cossacks were sorcerers, war mages, gifted with magical abilities (known as “Kharacterniks”, the “Cossack-sorcerer”). They were said to have super-human physical strength, the ability to find and hide treasures, heal wounds with spells, evade and catch bullets, withstand hot-rods, change the weather and open castle doors with their bare hands, float on the floor in boats as if on the sea; cross rivers on rugs; teleport themselves and shapesift into animals. Legends say they combined hypnosis, divination, charisma and mysticism with the illusion and art of battle.
In Ukranian popular belief, the myth of the Cossack-Sorcerers is said to come from the ancient Slavic Yazykh priests of the Magi. When Prince Vladimir the Great converted to Christianity in 988 and christianized Kievan Rus, the Pagan priests did not agree, and fled to join and teach the warlords in martial arts, creating a secret organization of sorcerer warriors. In other accounts, these “war magicians" come from the Aryan tribes of the Bronze Age.
These legends are similar to the Dacian wolf warriors, so this choice of look from Robert Eggers' part is probably connected to that, and to represent Count Orlok as an ancient “sorcerer warrior”. The Ukranian Cossacks were involved in many conflicts against the Turkish and Tatar invaders in the Eastern Carpathians during the 16th and 17th centuries, so this Count Orlok might even be affiliated with them, more directly, too.
III. Zalmoxis and the Solomonari
While the Dacians were said to be polytheists and had several Gods and Goddesses on their pantheon, their main deity was Zalmoxis, worshipped in caves and high mountains. Similar to Norse Paganism, the Dacians did not fear death because they believed they would be welcomed in the blessed kingdom of Zalmoxis, and their soul was immortal.
Zalmoxis, however, is kind of a mysterious figure; according to some accounts, he's a man who became a God, to others a king, or a slave to Greek phylosopher Pythagoras who freed himself, or even a high priest to the actual God-father of the Dacian people. Nevertheless, he's often compared to Jesus Christ because, he, too, was resurrected after being three years underground.
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Ancient greek historian Herodotus wrote about several Dacian legends and rituals; such as the priests of Zalmoxis kept the secret incantations that could make humans immortal, and Zalmoxis learned the secrets of immortality when he traveled to Egypt. Zalmoxis was considered the God of life and death, often affiliated with thunder and storms. He was said to grant eternal life and knowledge to the worthy.
According to Mircea Eliade on his book “Zalmoxis: The Vanishing God”, the mythology around Zalmoxis was "related to ecstasy, death, and the peregrinations of the soul"; out-of-body experiences, transmigration and reincarnation. In religious language, "ecstasy" isn't connected to sexual pleasure, but rather “considered a temporary death, for the soul was believed to leave the body”, allowing the priest or priestess to access and communicate with the spiritual world". These shamanic, ecstatic trances (like the ones Ellen Hutter has) were central to Dacian religion.
Daco-Thracian peoples believed in what Mircea Eliade called the "return of the dead": “they too believe that they do not die and affirm that those who have passed away go to Zalmoxis. However, their sojourn with the god is not final, for “the dead are believed to return.” This is why, when someone dies, “they rejoice at the thought that he will return”. Indeed, they bring offerings and amuse themselves in order that “the dead person may return.” Details of the return of the dead are found only in Photius, Suidas, and Pornponius Mela. According to Pornponius, three beliefs concerning the postexistence of the soul were found among the Thracians, the first of those he reports affirming that the dead return […] the Getae believed in the immortality of the soul, and Zalmoxis reappeared after four years; hence the dead go to Zalmoxis for a time and then return to earth." This explains why Zalmoxis and Pythagoras are often connected in historical accounts; the Greek phylosopher also believed the soul was immortal and reincarnated into a new body after death (including animals), in a process he called "transmigration of the soul".
The Dacians had several initiation rituals on their religion, where they, according to Mădalina Strechie, on her essay “The Dacians, the Wolf Warriors”, used fire and smoke, and were often called "walkers through the smoke" in Greek and Roman sources. What interested the Greeks the most, according to Mircea Eliade, "was that Zalmoxis conferred immortality and that, after death, his disciples went to him “in a place where they would have all good things.” Herodotus also reports the ritual peculiar to Zalmoxis: the dispatch, every four years, of a messenger".
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On the account of Aeneas of Gaza, these human sacrifices were done to pursuit immortality: “the Getae sacrificed the most handsome and the best of them (tous kalous kai beltistous) and made them immortal, on their opinion”. The same idea is found in the writtings of historian Agathias the Scholastic of Myrina; “human sacrifice for obtaining immortality”. Based on to archeological findings, anthropologists Laurenţia and Emma-Mădălina Georgescu write about human sacrifices and burial rites in Ancient Dacia. It was believed “the soul contains the truth about the things that exist or existed, about virtue, justice - unjustice, formalism. The human soul is immortal, dies and revives in time and it can never be destroyed”. And, as such, Dacians believed “death touches only the material part, but not the soul, which remains intact.”
These authors describe how the ritual was conducted: “the sacrifice of the young man elected as Zalmoxis' messenger, the periodical sacrifice made once in four years, took place in the circular sacred precincts from the Dacian hieropolis of Sarmizegetusa, in front of the great potif and king, with a special suite consisting in representatives of the prelates and of the army. The message for Zalmoxis was secretly pronounced by the great priest to the messenger. Four warriors, especially chosen, had to throw the messenger upwards, so that he would fall right on the spear points, without touching the ground.”
It was also custom “that the woman should be killed on the man's grave, as a sign of great honour”. Sometimes, couples were sacrificed together for the betterment of the community: “the sacrifices of couples could be the result of breaking the unwritten rules of the human group, of living together, or a ritual of fertility, benefic to the whole community in which they had lived”.
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Wives following their husbands to the grave was also a part of Old Slavic burial rituals. Montague Summers, on his “The Vampire in Europe: True Tales of the Undead”, writes of how burial and marriage traditions were historically connected in pre-Christian Eastern Europe and their affiliation to vampire lore: “In the eighth century S. Boniface who was martyred 5 June, 755 (754), remarked that among the Slavonie Winedi, or Wends, the bonds of matrimony were considered to be so strong that it was usual for wives to kill themselves upon the death of their husbands”. It was custom, when a warrior died, their favourite itens (armour, clothing, ornaments and even household utensils) were destroyed to serve them in the Afterlife. “But the most important of the companions of the dead were the human beings who either killed themselves or were put to death upon the occasion of a chieftain's funeral”.
According to scholar William Ralston Shedden-Ralston, “marriage and death were often brought into strange fellowship by at least some of the Old Slavonians”, because it was believed “the nuptial bond had united in this world were destined to live together also in the world to come”. The unmarried dead were deeply pitied, and it was custom to find them spouses for eternity (this was not Count Orlok's case, since Bill Skarsgård revealed the Count had a wife and family).
According to Mircea Eliade, “Zalmoxis: The Vanishing God”, these human sacrifices (unlike other civilizations, like the Aztecs, for instance), did not involve slaves nor war prisioners, but free men, and free will. To the Dacians, “the journey to heaven is made in “ecstasy,” that is, in the spirit: it is only the shaman’s soul that undertakes the celestial ascent. But according to certain mythological traditions, in the beginning, in ilia tempore the meeting with the god took place in the flesh”. Aside from delivering a message to Zalmoxis, the purpose of these human sacrifices was “the assurance of the soul's immortality and bliss” (of the one who’s being sacrificed, that is). This was connected to the “ritual of ecstatic (“shamanic”) ascent to heaven”.
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Count Orlok is a Solomonar enchanter, as confirmed by the Orthodox Nuns, and Professor Von Franz: “A black enchanter he was in life. Solomonar. The Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blasphemy". The Nuns are both correct and incorrect, but how the Devil is connected to his curse is a topic for a different post. Not only Robert Eggers reframed the human sacrifice into its Pre-Christian context, but the Solomonari, as well. Orlok being a Solomonar is, once again, faithful to the "Dracula" novel, where Van Helsing reveals Count Dracula "learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due”.
In “Mitologia Daco-română”, Simeon Florea Marian describes the Solomonari as dark wizards from Transylvanian folklore, who controlled the weather and rode dragons. In some versions, they were believed to be strigoi vii (living strigoi) who sold their souls to the Devil. Solomonari were considered great sorcerers of storms and winds, master of all lakes, tall mountains and deep caves, creators of frost, mist and hail. Sometimes, they presented themselves as beggars, but lived mostly in isolation, away from human society.
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According to the same author, the Solomonari were trained at the Solomonărie (or “Scholomance”, in the Germanic version) in their childhood; where they spent seven uninterrupted years in darkness beneath the ground, without seeing the light of the sun. Silvia Chitimia, on her essay “Les Traces de L’ Occulte dans le Folklore Roumain”, writes some versions tell boys chosen to become Solomonar are taken by an older sorcerer and hidden underground for seven years.
According to E. Gerard on his essay “Transylvanian Superstitions”, the Solomonărie (some call it “Devil’s school”, others “School of the Dragon”) is a underground school located at the End of the Earth, in a deep cave. In some versions its location is at heart of the Carpathian Mountains, where students (seven, ten or thirteen, depending on the version) are taught by the Devil himself. There, “they learn all the secrets of nature, language of animals, and all imaginable magic spells and charms”. When the course ends, “nine of them are released to return to their homes, the tenth scholar is detained by the devil as payment, and mounted upon an Ismeju (dragon) he becomes henceforward the devil's aide-de-camp, and assists him in 'making the weather,' that is to say, preparing the thunderbolts.”
According to Silvia Chitimia (“Les Traces de L’ Occulte dans le Folklore Roumain”), the course lasted between three to seven years. A Solomonar initiation involved a grindstone, where the students sit on a spinning circular table and it was said one of them was taken by a demon (died). Simeon Florea Marian (“Mitologia Daco-română”) writes the Devil demanded a pupil’s sacrifice for a student to become a Solomonar.
Silvia Chitimia (“Les Traces de L’ Occulte dans le Folklore Roumain”) says Solomonari were described as tall, red-haired and carrying peculiar objects: his magic book (the source of all his powers), a piece of wood (summoning the winds) and an iron axe to create hail. This book was said to contain all of the Solomonar knowledge, and it was often called “Stone of the Wise” (or “Stone of the Wise Man”). Sometimes square-shaped or round, it was used to summon dragons. Simeon Florea Marian (“Mitologia Daco-română”) adds Solomonari kept their books hidden in places that only they knew of.
Silvia Chitimia, on her essay “Les Traces de L’ Occulte dans le Folklore Roumain” acknowledges the connection between the biblical King Solomon and the Solomonari. Adrian Majuru in “Khazar Jews. Romanian History And Ethnography” describes the Solomonari as “the successors of the wisdom and wizardly skills of King Solomon”. Which is why we see many elements of Solomonic magic present in the film, especially in sigils, but in some incantations, as well.
Even though the Devil or some demonic entity is, indeed, connected to Nosferatu curse, it is not related to the Solomonari in this story, because Robert Eggers adapted the academic thesis which links the folkloric Solomonari with Zalmoxis religion. Romanian social scientist Traian Herseni was the first to proposed the "Dacian cloud travelers" and "Solomonari weathermakers" are connected, and this myth has its roots in Dacian religion.
Nowadays, this theory is openly embraced by xenoarchaeologist Jason Colavito; who proposes the Romanian folkloric "Devil's School" is, in fact, Zalmoxis' underground chamber where he taught the secrets of life and death, and immortality, to his followers. The author proposes the Solomonari were perceived as benevolent and pagan forces until Christianity defamed them as “devil worshippers”. This association between Paganism and the Devil wasn’t exclusive to Romania nor Hungary, it happened throughout Europe when kings and leaders converted to Christianity and forced their populations to forsake their old Pagan beliefs.
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