"What kind of trauma, pain and violence is so great that even death cannot stop it?": Reincarnation in "Nosferatu" (2024)

Ellen is the lead character of "Nosferatu" (2024): Robert Eggers said he wanted to tell his version of this story "through the eyes of the female protagonist", and "it is a tale of love and obsession and a Gothic romance”.

But why is his Count Orlok so obsessed with Ellen, specifically. Why does he want her soul at his side, forever? Why is he dragging her to her grave? This is his sole motivation in this story, according to its own creator: "“I think that what ultimately rose to the top, as the theme or trope that was most compelling to me, was that of the demon-lover. In “Dracula,” the book by Bram Stoker, the vampire is coming to England, seemingly, for world domination. Lucy and Mina are just convenient throats that happen to be around. But in this “Nosferatu,” he’s coming for Ellen. This love triangle that is similar to “Wuthering Heights,” the novel, was more compelling to me than any political themes.”

Ellen resurrects Orlok at the prologue of the film. He had been in a slumber for centuries at that point, and it's her crying prayer which rises him from his grave. However, there appears to be a recognition as he speaks to her, for the first time. His first words to her are "you". And then he tells her: "you are not for the living. You are not for human kind." This implies he not only knows what she is (enchantress), but who she is.

During her teenage years, Orlok was no more than a shadow at her window. However, Ellen is absolutely sure he took her "as his lover then". Ellen feels ardent desire for Orlok and connection, however: "this demon lover that attracts her, and she doesn’t know why, but somewhere there is a deep understanding there and a deep attraction" They are both associated with lilacs, and this flower is the visual storytelling device to showcase their connection to the audience, because both characters relate this particular flower with each other. The Victorian symbolism of lilacs is appropriate (mementos of a deceased lover), but they are also connected to rebirth, remembrance and first love. 

This flower is also native to the Balkans, and it's clear Robert Eggers really wanted lilacs even if they don't fit the setting: lilacs bloom in the Spring, and the events of the film are set in Winter (Thomas Hutter arrives at Transylvania on the first day of Romanian winter, Szent András' day, Saint Andrew, November 30). Winter represents death, closure, reflection, despair and sadness, and rest, as nature is dormant and will rebirth and renew in Spring time, which symbolizes the circles of life, promises of new life, new beginnings, growth and fertility. According to Linda Muir, the costume designer, lilacs remind Orlok of when he was alive, and he associates them with Ellen, too.

When discussing the use of Dacian and the reconstruction process, Robert Eggers revealed Orlok is a very ancient being: "Orlok is an ancient noble, predating even the foundations of the Romanian Empire." This tells us we are, indeed, dealing with reincarnation in this story, because the "Count Orlok" in the film is a late 16th century corpse, with a whole boyar and vovoide backstory, the sovereign of a Transylvanian county (count). But he’s also a follower of Zalmoxis, the Dacian God of life and death, and owner of the secrets of immortality. The ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, associated with Zalmoxis in ancient sources (in many accounts Zalmoxis was said to be a slave of Pythagoras), believed that the soul was immortal and was reincarnated into a new body after death (including animals), in a process he called "transmigration of the soul". 

The reincarnation theme is already present in "Dracula" cinematic tradition: "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola, where Mina Murray/Harker is the reincarnation of Vlad/Dracula's bride, Elisabeta.

"Tell me, Prince, tell me of your home. [...] A land beyond a great, vast forest surrounded by majestic mountains, lush vineyards, and flowers of such frailty and beauty as to be found nowhere else [You describe my home as if you had seen it firsthand] It's your voice, perhaps.  It's so familiar.  It's like a...it's like a voice in a dream I cannot place, and it comforts me when I am alone.  And what of the princess? There is always a princess with gowns flowing white.  Her face...her face is the river.  The princess, she is the river filled with tears and with sadness and with heartbreak."

In "Nosferatu" (2024), Herr Knock's character (like his book counterpart Reinfeild) is desperate to learn the secrets of immortality from Count Orlok, and believes it to be connected to vampirism, to become a strigoi ("I should have been the Prince of Rats –  immortal..."). Which is what Professor Von Franz and Dr. Sievers discover in his office: His thunder roars from clouds of carcasses, I feedeth on my shroud, and death avails me not. For I am his.” This is a reference to Germanic folklore of the ""nachzehrer" (also known as "shroud eater"), a sort of vampire who needs to devour both its burial shroud and body in order to survive. It's immortal, and lives off humans even after death. However, true immortality in this story is reincarnation, and vampirism a curse.

Who is Count Orlok?

Robert Eggers’ Orlok isn’t a random demon vampire; he was once a man. The director doesn’t want the public to know the full backstory on his Count Orlok, but he wrote an novella on it and gave it to Bill Skarsgård (as he did with every character, to make this story is own): "I don’t want the world to know his backstory. But he had a very detailed one.” We know he’s a 16th century Transylvanian nobleman, from the 1580s (voivoide, “lord” and “lordship”), he’s not Vlad the Impaler (15th century). He was a occultist warlord, an enchanter (Şolomonari) and he was married, and had a family. This is present in the set design:

Count Orlok cabinet (private room in the houses and palaces of early modern Europe serving as a study or retreat)

On his castle catacombs, there are several sarcophagi, which, evidently, belong to Orlok’s family, who’s also buried down there. He was placed in a prestige location within the cryptic; someone respected his role as Count, which suggests someone either cared or respected him, in life. Unless he was the last one to die, and ordered for his sarcophagus to be placed there, himself, of course.

Someone also commissioned Orlok’s sarcophagus, not only expensive-looking (fit for his ranking), but also filled with symbols and sigils of immortality and rebirth. Who had this sarcophagus made? Himself or someone from his family? In one interview, production designer Craig Lathrop, discussed Orlok's sarcophagus:

“I [was inspired by] a 15th-century sarcophagus from Poland. Orlok is Dacian so I started looking at Dacian dragons. Trajan's Column in Rome shows the battle of the Romans defeating the Dacians and you see their Dacian dragon, which has a wolf’s head, so I started adding wolves’ heads. The feet of the casket are actually Dacian dragons. We came up with a coat of arms for Orlok to put on and added Solomonic symbols. The idea is that the more you stack up the details, the more you’re creating the world.”

What happened to Orlok’s family is a mystery. The castle appears to be “frozen” in time. The furniture present belongs to the Medieval period and early Modern era, which seems to indicate no occupation after these dates. While many noblemen kept family heirlooms, rich nobility families did “update” their castle furnishings to symbolize wealth and social status. This castle is the center of a county, which is not only fully deserted by the 19th century (when Thomas gets there), but appears to have been for a very long, long time. Thomas did not hallucinate the furniture, which tells us the castle was left as it was since the late 16th century. Orlok’s family either died around the same time or left. 

In the castle scenes with Thomas Hutter, Orlok attacks him in a bedroom, in a four-poster canopy bed, meant for a couple (unlike the Victorian couples in the film, who have separate single beds). Orlok selected this room for Thomas in advance, indicating this was his plan, all along.

The reason why Thomas Hutter is sent to Castle Orlok is because the count wants to divorce him from Ellen; as he makes him sign the "covenant papers" (divorce papers) in exchange for a sack of gold (payment for Ellen's dowery), and, then, feeds on him as he performs an enchantment: "your husband is lost to you. Dream of me. Only me." He's annulling their marriage in the spiritual realm, as well (Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual). Ellen also makes an appearance during this scene (Ellen is sleepwalking and mimicking Orlok as he attacks and feeds on Thomas’ soul).

Four-poster canopy bed: this type of furniture was a favorite among European aristocracy in the 16th century, a symbol of wealth and status. Only the highest ranking members of a castle (the lord and the lady) had the luxury to retire to a bed behind curtains, while the staff (servants, knights, etc.) usually slept in common areas. Canopies were used to provide the lord and the lady with warmth during cold months and privacy, as it was customary for one or two servants to sleep in the room with them. Drapes were rich, heavy and made from luxurious materials, like velvet or brocade. The canopy was often more elaborate and expensive that the wood bed itself. Bed were more than “places to sleep” during medieval and early modern age; marriages were consummated, children were born, postpartum mothers recovered and people die in bed. This was Orlok and his wife's bedroom.

The hand mirror ("looking glass"): historically, mirrors have always been associated with women. From the 12th century forward, it was fashionable for respectful ladies to use small mirrors as jewelry, around their neck or waist. Which makes a connection to Ellen's heart-shaped silver locket from the 19th century.

During the early Modern era, mirrors were small in size (enough to reflect the owner's face), typically handheld, and portable and convenient for personal use. These mirrors were often encased in ornate and intricate carved frames (made of wood, metal, precious stone, etc.); these frames were meant to reflect the wealth and social status of the owner of the mirror. Mirrors were essential grooming tools, to help with personal care before social interactions. Symbolically, mirrors were also connected with spiritual proprieties like divination and the supernatural, and were often used in religious ceremonies and rituals, as portals to communicate with the spiritual realm.

Renaissance mirrors

This particular mirror is meant to be used in this setting (chambers), obviously. With this lighting is hard to make out the figures in the gold frame: it was two dragons on the top alongside what seems to be human-like figures, and some decorative flora around the frame.

19th century Ellen is associated with mirrors, as we see her standing in front of a mirror, twice:

Bill Skarsgård cited the Bulgarian epic “Time of Violence” as one of the many films Robert Eggers told him to watch as preparation for the role. And Robert Eggers elaborates: "Bill had to watch some weird Soviet films with super masculine, scary Balkan villains – moustached sorcerers and whatnot." And, indeed, Orlok was the sovereign of a county, a feudal nobleman with a castle, administrative responsibilities (political) and military power. "Boyar” and "vovoide" titles could be hereditary (which seems to be Orlok’s case), or earned. Since this Orlok is from the late 16th century, he lived during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans, but he wasn’t the prince. His castle is in Transylvania, which was a state under Ottoman supervision. Transylvania nobility led many rebellions against the Ottomans invaders (hence the legend of “Vlad the Impaler”, who’s considered a Romanian national hero). 

In Bram Stoker’s novel (one of the main inspirations for this story), Count Dracula is very proud of his boyar heritage when he speaks to Jonathan Harker. In the 2024 adaptation, we see a reference to this when Count Orlok insists Thomas Hutter (Harker cinematic counterpart) to address him as “lord”: “Your Lord. I will be addressed as the honour of my blood demands it.” Linda Muir, the costume designer, also expressed this "entitlement" is present in Orlok's costume: "the overall look was to establish Orlok as a once-real person with a life, with money, with wealth, with entitlement, with attitude”; "Orlok would have been a young, vital, you know, “I’m a sexy, handsome, gorgeous, rich beyond belief man.”

We don’t know the dates for Orlok birth and death, but since Robert Eggers mentioned the 1580s and Linda Muir talked about the 1590s, he probably died somewhere in these decades, since that's the reference the costume designer has for his clothes (the ones he was buried with): “Robert, right from the beginning, knew that he wanted his Orlok to be a representation of a Transylvanian count from around 1590.” In an interview to “Art of Costume”, the costume designer elaborated: “For Orlok, our research focused on the look of a Transylvanian-slash-Hungarian count from around 1580. He’s a character who was young and vital 300 years before the events of the film […] Even his enormous kalpak hat— a piece that would have been worn differently by a younger man—is now part of his strategy to hide the grotesque reality of being 300 years old."

Orlok costume design by Linda Muir

Robert Eggers mentioned Hungary several times in association with his Orlok, because Transylvania was a Hungarian politically dominated principality in the 16th century. In a different post I already analyzed Orlok's iconography (sigil and coat of arms), where it's determined he's not a "devil worshipper", but a Pagan enchanter, follower of the Dacian God Zalmoxis. And of Székelys lineage (like Count Dracula in the Bram Stoker novel: "We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship… . What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila [the Hun] whose blood is in these veins?”). The Székelys had several autonomous seats within Transylvania; these were self-governing, with their own administrative system, and existed as legal entities. Their autonomy was granted in return for the military services they provided to the Hungarian Kings. Orlok has military heraldry on his coat of arms, so he saw battle/and or military service, which is expected since he's described as a "warlord".

Sorcerer Warrior

Robert Eggers’ Count Orlok has a historical Slavic hairstyle, seen in Poland (“czupryna” or “Polish halfshaven head”), Ukraine (“Oseledets” or “chub”, often associated with Cossacks), but, historically present in other countries from Saxony (Germany) to Ruthenia (Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Poland, western Russia), Dalmatia (Croacia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro), Carinthia (Austria) and Serbia to the Baltic Sea. A similar hairstyle was worn by the Hungarian royal army in the 16th century, as well.

Depiction of Sviatoslav I, the prince of Kiev (945-972), 1869

This hairstyle, might indicate some sort of affiliation between Count Orlok and the Ukranian Cossacks. He might have made contact with them during war time, since they were involved in many conflicts against the Turkish and Tatar invaders in Moldavian territory (Eastern Carpathians), during the 16th and 17th centuries. Robert Eggers might also have been inspired by their legends and folklore to create his Count Orlok background story. Namely the figure of the “Cossack-sorcerer” (also known as "Kharacterniks"). In the 15th-16th century, in the territory of nowadays Southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhian Army was created, with headquarters in the fortress on the river Dnipro called Zaporizhian Sich. They were was a vassal of the Crimean Khan and their members came from all walks of life from Ukranian territory, and its political structure was democratically organized. They participated in rebellions against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and rarely against Russia and Sweden. This group called themselves "Cossacks" ("free people"). They were known as brave and skilled warriors, with exceptional military training and fighting skills.

According to Ukrainian folklore, some of these Cossacks were sorcerers, war mages, gifted with magical abilities. They were said to have super-human physical strength, 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 from the Bronze Age.

These legends are very similar to the Dacian wolf warriors, which is the iconography we have for Count Orlok. So this choice of hairstyle is probably connected to that similarity, and to represent his character as a ancient “sorcerer warrior”.

Orlok performing Solomonari magic: "weathermaker" and "Dacian cloud traveler"

Somewhere in his life time, Orlok studied at Solomonărie (“Scholomance”, in the Germanic version), an underground school in the Carpathian Mountains. In some legends, boys were chosen and taken by an older Solomonar to be trained at the Solomonărie, which can fit "The Time of Violence" inspiration, where the main villain is a Janissary warrior, who was taken as a child, subjected to forced circumcision, converted to Islam and incorporated into the Ottoman army. At this school, he learned magic (spells), the secrets of nature and the language of all living things; as well as "ride flying dragons" and control the weather. There's an association between King Solomon, Alchemy and the Solomonari, which explains why Orlok has a alchemist symbol on his sigil. It's safe to say he was an alchemist, too.

In the “Dracula” novel, Van Helsing says Dracula attended the school Scholomance: "learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due”; which is what the Old Abbess tells Thomas in "Nosferatu" (2024): “A black enchanter he was in life. Şolomonari. The Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blaspheme”. In "Nosferatu", it's also Professor Von Franz (Van Helsing cinematic counterpart) which tells the Victorian characters that Orlok is a Solomonar/studied at the Solomonărie: "Our Nosferatu is of an especial malignancy. He is an arch-enchanter, Şolomonari, Satan’s own learnèd disciple."

However, Robert Eggers is adapting the academic thesis which links Zalmoxis worship and the folkloric Solomonari. 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, being the successors of the Dacian High Priests known as "Kapnobatai". 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. They were perceived as benevolent forces until Christianity defamed them as “devil worshippers”. This association between Paganism and the Devil wasn’t exclusive to Romania, it happened throughout Europe when European kings and leaders converted to Christianity and forced their populations to forsake their old Pagan beliefs.

Count Orlok is described as “Dacian” and predating the Roman empire, which indicates his 16th century incarnation was attracted to the Solomonari because of this Zalmoxis affiliation? If we follow Romanian folklore and the "Dracula" novel reference, he was one among ten students, and didn't saw the sunlight during the seven or nine years of his studies (although some versions mention twenty years). Some accounts describe them as “strigoi vii” (living strigoi; wizards and witches); but this isn’t Orlok’s case otherwise Robert Eggers wouldn’t be so secretive about his backstory (the reason for his curse is something else). As his final assignment to become a Solomonar, he had to copy his entire knowledge of humanity into a “Solomonar’s book”, a book of wisdom, which would become the source of his power. Which is what we see in “Nosferatu” with the Solomonari codex of secrets Professor Von Franz finds in Herr Knock’s office.

Sovereign of a County

On Orlok's coat of arms, there are three sabers, Hungarian szabla, which were popularized among the aristocracy during the reign of of the Transylvanian-Hungarian King of Poland Stephen Bathóry in the late 16th century. Stephen Bathóry was Prince of Transylvania between 1576 and 1586, which fits the dates we have for Orlok: 1580s-1590s, late 16th century. The Báthory family ruled Transylvania as princes under the Ottomans until 1602. The Principality of Transylvania (1541 - 1690) was created in the eastern part of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary following its partition into three parts in 1541. The Principality, which remained an Ottoman vassal state throughout its existence, was created on the order of Sultan Suleyman, who had occupied the central part of Hungary. The Habsburg Hungarian kings retained their legal claim on Transylvania during the 16th and 17th centuries because Transylvania was a member of the Hungarian Holy Crown, and as such, it should be controlled by the Hungarian kings. Several ethnic groups had lived in Transylvania since the Middle Ages: Hungarians, Hungarian-speaking Székelys, Saxons, and Romanians. 

Orlok's castle is located at the Árnyék Pass (also known as Umbră Pass) in the Carpathian Mountains, but this is a fictional place. Both “Árnyék” and “Umbră” mean “shadow”, in Hungarian and Romanian. After escaping the castle, Thomas Hutter is found at the river bank in the region of Bukovina, which is located in the Eastern Carpathians, which fits Orlok's Székelys ancestry (an ancient Hungarian sub-group with seats of power within Transylvania, on the hills of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains), and his hairstyle, as well.

Men could become sovereigns fairly young in the event of their fathers' deaths. Sigismund Báthory became prince of Transylvania at the age of six. And the same applies with marriage; we have several cases of weddings at fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and so on, throughout History. However, we can't be sure on Orlok's case in either of these topics. Being a Count, Orlok was probably a member of the Union of Three Nations? The Unio Trium Nationum was founded in 1438, and composed by the Hungarian nobility, the Saxon (Germanic) burghers and free Székelys of Transylvania. Their function was to provide mutual aid against Ottoman attacks and peasant revolts, and were successful for centuries. As a Count, Orlok wasn’t low in the aristocratic hierarchy; he was just two ranks below the Prince (Marquis and Duke). 

Bill Skarsgård citing the Bulgarian epic “Time of Violence” as one of Eggers’ many inspirations for Orlok backstory, might indicate he was, somehow, involved in the religious turmoil of Protestants vs. Catholics in Transylvania in the late 16th century. While in the 15th century many Romanian noblemen converted to Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation achieved widespread popularity in the middle of the 16th century. The local Saxons preferred Lutheranism, the Hungarians mainly followed Calvinism, and the Székelys remained Roman Catholics or converted to Calvinism, while the Romanians preserved their Orthodox religion. The Renaissance era flourished in Transylvania in the 16th century, and the late Renaissance style determined its visual arts, architecture and literature even in the second half of the 17th century.

In the late 1550s, Protestantism began to spread in Székely villages due to Hungarian-speaking preachers, who promoted the theology of John Calvin (Calvinism). While the majority of the population remained Catholic, some Calvinist settlements joined the new Unitarian Church of Transylvania. In 1566, priests who didn’t convert to the “true faith” were expelled from the country. However, when Stephen Báthory took power in Transylvania in 1576, restrictions began to arise, and Orthodox hierarchy was restored. Székely peasants demanded for their freedom, but were refused. As retaliation, hundreds of Székelys joined his opponent, Gáspár Bekes, who was defeated in 1575. As consequence, more than 60 Székelys were executed or mutilated, and Báthory's supporters received Székely serfs (slaves).

When Stephen’s sucessor, Sigismund Báthory, a Catholic, came to power in 1586, he wasn’t well-liked by the Union of Three Nations representatives, which tried to undermine his authority on several times, with plotting and conspiracies. The “Long War” (1591-1606) started; it began as a Christian alliance against the Turks, and became a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanians, Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Romanian voivod of Wallachia led by Michael the Brave. 

In 1593, Sigismund abdicated, and tasked his cousin Balthasar Báthory with the government of Transylvania, and he tried to seized the throne for himself, but was stopped by other leading officers who set up an aristocratic council. The commanders of the army, persuaded Sigismund to return, and arrest Balthasar and fourteen other noblemen for plotting. They were either executed, beheaded or strangled, in prison. Only one was Protestant, the others Unitarian. Many of their relatives converted to Catholicism to prevent the confiscation of their estates. In 1595, the persecution of radical Protestants began, and hundreds fled Transylvania. In that year, Sigismund married Maria Christina of Austria but was unable to consummate the marriage. He accused Margit Majláth (mother of his executed cousin, Balthasar Báthory) of witchcraft, causing his impotence. 

Sigismund promised to restore the Székelys' liberties if they took up arms against the Ottomans, and more than 20,000 Székelys joined the royal army. They helped win the Battle of Giurgiu. However, their decisive warrior role during the war was ignored, and they were not only denied their freedom, but, in 1595, their leaders were massacred in the “Bloody Carnival” by István Bocskai, the commander-in-chief of the Transylvanian army.

In 1599, Andrew Báthory becomes prince of Transylvania, but the most influential noblemen didn’t support him. His main supporters are noblemen forced into exile in 1594, but they were impoverished young men, without influence. However, Andrew choose Catholic lords over them. Meanwhile, Michael the Brave invades Transylvania and the Székelys become his allies. Andrew tries to flee the country, but is ambushed by Székelys slaves and beheaded with a shepherd's axe.

We’ve arrived at the end of the 16th century, and we don’t know if Orlok lived to see the 17th century because we have no indication of that, since Robert Eggers only talks about 1580s and 1590s. If Orlok was involved in the Catholics vs. Protestants conflicts in Transylvania in the late 16th century, like everything seems to suggest (“Time of Violence” inspiration and historical context), he certainly wasn’t on the Catholic side of the conflict. We don’t have any Christian religious iconography on his coat of arms or personal sigil; and he used both during his life. Protestantism defended a more personal and private relationship with religion, than the performative and grandeur of Catholicism. A Protestant facade would allow Orlok to pursue and practice his true religion without raising suspicion to his county. Still, rumors about it certainly spread during his lifetime, until they became legend.

Black Plague

Since Count Olrok is so connected with "plague", it's fitting to mention the plague, the "Black Death" in context with his hypothetical backstory. The second plague pandemic in Europe (1346-1844) know several outbursts throughout these centuries. The plague hit Transylvania particularly harshly during the 15th and 16th centuries, more deathly than before; especially between the years 1550 and 1587. The towns and villages in the Carpathians suffered deeply with the plague in 1553-1554, with countless deaths. Between 1552 and 1554, many aristocrats died, and some territories were even depopulated due to the plague. 

The Catholics saw this outbreak as God punishment of His enemies, as divine justice against the heretics (Protestants). Protestants, on the other hand, refused the “plague” Catholic saints (like St. Sebastian) and saw hardship as a path to salvation but also as punishment for pride and other sins, advising against attachment to the “riches of the world”. 

Being a Count, in the face of a plague epidemic, Orlok had to work alongside religious and medical authorities to deal with the situation. However, when epidemics got out of control, physicians (doctors) could have full power of decision over the people. Several restrictions to gatherings of every kind were made during this period. Burials on churchs were forbidden. Mentions of rotten corpses and maggots were popular in religious speech to force citizens to keep the plague graveyards clean, and avoid the spread of disease. 

In “Nosferatu” (2024) we have allusions to all of this and even the “Death and the Maiden” motif at the end of the film, common motif in Renaissance art, especially in German painting and printmaking, connected to Dance Macabre (dance of death) and the Memento Mori (reminder of mortality) of the plague, but also Eroticism, as the subjects of death and sexual desire became joined in Renaissance poetry and art. However, these might be references and cinematic tributes to past adaptations of "Nosferatu" more than an explanation for Orlok's death.

Nevertheless, the plague epidemic could be the reason why young Orlok became interested in the occult in the first place? Seeking the secrets of life and death, immortality, and tapping everywhere to achieve it? Alchemy (“elixir of immortality” and “panacea” to cure all diseases), Zalmoxis and Şolomonari magic.

Accusations of Witchcraft

The 16th century saw the birth, the imprisonment and the execution of several figures who defied the supremacy of the Church, from scientists, physicians, philosophers, occultists: Galileo Galilei; Dr. John Dee, Nostradamus, Giordano Bruno, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa; Michael Servetus; William Tyndale; etc. Robert Eggers' Orlok was probably among them, too, as he's demonized as a "Devil worshiper" and a "black enchanter" by organized Christian religion in the film.

Thousands rats were already present in the previous adaptations of “Nosferatu”. Until recently, the Black Plague (bubonic plague) was believed to have been caused by a flea found in rats, and the consensus was the killing of cats allowed “plague rats” to multiply and lead to the demise of almost 50 million Europeans throughout the Middle Ages, and is considered as one of the most fatal pandemics in human history. However, this is no longer the consensus among historians, who have found evidence of other explanations (bacteria: gerbils; lice; etc.); And for this reason, the symbolism of cats (detachment; independence and wisdom) is not connected with the symbolism of rats in this story.

Rats were connected to witches and sorcerers, in European imagination during the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age. In the 16th century, in England, rats infestations were abundant, and so were accusations of witchcraft. Between 1587 and 1588, witchcraft trials were rampant in Europe, still. Both witches and vermin (rats; snakes; toads; spiders; etc) were linked in European imagination at the time. Both sorcerers and rats were to blame for plagues, disease, bad crops and misfortune in general. 

Contagion theories in the 15th to 17th centuries were based in religious and metaphysical explanations for the plague (unlike the 19th century, which began to embrace scientific views). The two main theories were of God’s punishment or wrath on a sinful and corrupted earth, where rats were either agents of witchcraft and the Devil, or God’s direct agents in punishing the very presence of sorcerers among humanity. 

Transylvania wasn’t left out of the intense witch-hunting and trials that swept across Europe in the late Medieval ages. The fear and paranoia surrounding witchcraft and “dealings with the Devil” resulted in widespread accusations, arrests and trials of individuals accused of practicing witchcraft. Many of these trials were often motivated by political and social factors, and helped reinforce the idea of witchcraft as something evil and demonic. Both women and men were accused and executed because of witchcraft, although women were, by far, the majority of the victims.

“A black enchanter he was in life. Şolomonari. The Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blaspheme."

In 1550, the “pillar of infamy” was installed in the Great Square of Sibiu (one of the most historical cities in Transylvania), and would stand there until the 18th century, as a symbol of Sibiu’s legislative authority. Here, the accused of witchcraft and other criminals were brought before the public and executed. In 1577, Transylvanian Lutheran synod threatened with execution anyone practicing magical arts. In 1578, Lutheran preacher Péter Bornemisza published one of the earliest Hungarian treatises on witchcraft and the devil’s work, “About the Temptations of the Devil”. The city of Kolozsvár (Transylvania) saw, at least, 21 witch trials between 1565 and 1593, with 15 resulting in burnings. The first known sentence for witchcraft in Transylvania dates from 1565, when a midwife called Clara Botzi was condemned to burn at the stake. In the 1580s, witch hunts and trials intensified (which is the date we have for human Orlok).

The “Ordeal by Water” (also known as “swimming of witches”) was widely used throughout Europe, including in Transylvania, in several lakes or ponds throughout the region. This test was meant to determine if the accused was indeed a witch or a warlock. These ordeals were usually based on the belief that God would protect innocents from harm, but here it’s the contrary. The belief is water rejects servants of the Devil (connection to Baptism), and so, so sorcerers were thrown into rushing rivers with a rope around their waist. If the accused floated or refused to skin, it was a confirmation of guilt (and this would be followed by burning at the stake). If the accused sunk, it was a declaration of innocence. The accused were supposed to be pulled out using the rope, but accidental deaths by drowning were common.

Orlok being declared innocent while being an actual sorcerer and his reputation as such enduring centuries after his death, might sound strange (and even ironic). But him surviving this scenario, would mean he was to be burned at the stake and his ashes put on display for the mocking public, which, obviously, didn’t happen. He was also buried on his castle crypt, in a prestigious location (someone respected his noble title), and in a very elaborate sarcophagus, filled with occult meaning (although this could have been commissioned by himself, before his death). If he had surviving family (like children), him being executed because of witchcraft would also mean the execution of his family; which isn’t far off the realm of possibility, because this would fit his killing of the Harding children. 

Cause of Death

Robert Eggers said Orlok was 55-years-old at the time of his death: although he's being so secretive about Orlok's background we can't never know, if we are being honest here. Decomposition also removes the pigment of hair, so Orlok having white in his hair and mustache isn’t really an indicator of the age he was when he died, only when the dawn begins to remove the decay off his body (symbolizing the curse of Nosferatu is being lifted from him), we get a better understanding of what he might have looked like at the time of his death, and he doesn’t look fifty-five, at all (especially for a man who has known a harsh life of war and spent many days outdoors).

This is most likely how Count Orlok would have looked like at the time of his death

Linda Muir also says his hat was worn by "younger men", and Robert Eggers being so concerned with historical accuracy is very odd for him to want a 55-year-old Count to wear a piece of clothing meant for men of younger age (a 55-year-old man in the 16th century was considered elderly, not a “younger man”, and that's the reference he gave to the costume designer). Robert Eggers himself has spoken about his casting of Bill Skarsgård: “It was important to have a young, beautiful person underneath that,” said Eggers, “maybe that’s a good thing for Lily-Rose [Depp], but there is something seductive in this powerful figure. Bill’s a good actor. But Orlok, before he was dead, was probably a handsome guy, a harsh face, but a beautiful face, too.”

Orlok being 55-years-old was definitely Robert Eggers’ initial idea back in 2016, when he considered casting older actors like Mads Mikkelsen (who was 51 years-old at the time), Daniel Day-Lewis (59) and Willem Dafoe (61). However, he went with an actor on his 30s, instead, and, as the director has said, it was not only because of performance, since the older actors he considered would, with no doubt, own this role, as well. He wanted someone young and beautiful underneath the prosthetics to showcase Orlok himself was handsome when he was alive (and “young” being a keyword here, as well).

However, there were some changes made to the script between 2016 and 2023, and some not so small as they might appear: Ellen’s powers are an entirely new addition, for instance, and her connection with Orlok is also different. In the 2016 script, it’s Herr Knock who resurrects Orlok with a summoning ritual at the prologue; in the final version it’s Ellen. And it’s clear Robert Eggers also made changes on his Orlok’s background, so it’s not off the realm of possibilities that he made him younger at the time of his death, either.

Anyway, both him and Linda Muir have said he's 300 years old during the events of the film, which is set in 1838. If we do the math (1838 minus 300), the date for Orlok's birth would be 1538. And if we add 55 to this date, we arrive at 1593 as the date for his death. Which could mean he was among Balthasar Báthory supporters, was arrested for treason and strangled in prison? This could have been Robert Egger's initial idea, actually, since we have accusations of witchcraft as retaliation for the death of these noblemen.

The most likely cause of death of Count Orlok was, indeed, by suffocation. Either hanging, strangling or drowing. This would explain his wheezing, which indicates both his airways and lungs are damaged by more than just decomposition. This would also give a deeper meaning to the "blood plague" symptoms of lung infection (vomiting and coughing blood) and shortness of breath, as both Thomas Hutter and Anna Harding say they can't breathe. Anna also mentions "sinking" and "suffocating", as if they are slowly suffocating to death (which is aligned with strigoi myth, except for the "sinking" part). And not even suicide is out of the question, because "bad death" (violent; execution, suicide, etc.) was believed to be one of the main causes to become a strigoi after death. He calls Ellen his "affliction", as in "disease", "plague", "sorrow of all sorrows", which indicates him being a strigoi is connected to her, in some way.

Thomas Hutter escapes the castle (2024) and Elisabeta suicide in "Bram Stoker's Dracula"  (1992)

Thomas Hutter jumping into the river is a obvious reference to his book counterpart Jonathan Harker doing the same in the "Dracula" novel, however, Robert Eggers, in one interview, did say he's subverting the canon, and playing it, as well: “My influences are all very clear, and Nosferatu is a remake, after all,” Eggers says, yet he plays with the canon, with expectations and clichés – “hopefully subverting them to do something unexpected.” Can this jump into the river have another meaning here, as well? Because this Orlok, being a strigoi, feeds on souls, and has possession over Thomas (which is why the Orthodox Nuns will perform an exorcism on him).

Count Orlok bust by Prosthetics and Make-up designer, David White; there's emphasis on his neck being damaged in the design for the character

Balkan and Slavic Folklore

Robert Eggers has revealed in several interviews how rooted in folklore his "Nosferatu" is, especially his Count Orlok: "One of the tasks I had was synthesizing Grau’s 20th-century occultism with cult understandings of the 1830s and with the Transylvanian folklore that was my guiding principle for how Orlok was going to be, what things he was going to do, and the mythology around him. I was synthesizing a mythology that worked with all of that".

“Cinematic vampires have lost their power and what makes them frightening,” says Eggers, who “went back to the folklore to understand the time when people believed vampires existed and were truly terrified of them.” and “so it was clear to me that I needed to return to the source, to the early folkloric vampire, to written accounts about or by people who believed that vampires existed – and who were terrified of them. Most of these early accounts come from Balkan and Slavic regions. Many are from Romania, where Stoker’s Dracula resides.”

Count Orlok is a quintessencial strigoi morti from Balkan folkore, with roots in Dacian mythology, from his appearance, psychic nature (feeding on souls), behavior, to his haunting of Ellen. Like Robert Eggers said, the early folkloric vampire legends are the basis for his Count Orlok mythology.

On his own essay about "Nosferatu" to "The Guardian", Robert Eggers wrote:

"The most important thing was going back to the folklore and the early Balkan and Slavic folklore [...] Most surprisingly, many of these early folk vampires do not even drink blood; rather, they might suffocate their victims to death or spread plague and disease. Some early folk vampires when disinterred from their grave were noted for having erections. Some of them came back to fornicate with their widows until the women died of an excess of intercourse. If they did drink blood, it was generally not from the throat, but the chest – the victim’s “heart blood.” You can still find reports of vampirism from the Balkan regions, where the folklore is thoroughly enmeshed with local culture.

What are we to make of stories like this? What kind of trauma, pain and violence is so great that even death cannot stop it? It’s a heartbreaking notion. The folk vampire embodies disease, death, and sex in a base, brutal and unforgiving way."

And this is an idea he will mention again, in another interview:

“You wonder what is the dark trauma that doesn't die when someone dies. […] [So you suspect something terrible happened between them in real life and that this story was a way of grappling with that?] That's my hypothesis.”

“Dau cu ustoroi de strigoi. Dau cu ustoroi de strigoi."

Although Robert Eggers doesn't want to share his Count Orlok's background story to the public, but it influenced Skarsgård’s entire performance and even the meaning of the ending, as he revealed in two different interviews: “I sent [Bill Skarsgård] a backstory of Orlok that I wrote. So we came to it together to achieve what I was after. Because I’m so tired of the heroic and sad vampires, I was just like, ‘He’s a demon. He’s so evil.’ Bill was like, ‘Yeah, but there needs to be some times where he has some kind of vulnerability.’ It’s very subtle, and it’s not there often, but it is enough. I think the ending of the movie is much more effective than it would have been without Bill’s acute sensitivity to that – while still delivering on this big, scary, masculine the vampire”. In one interview: “And while Bill was also doing what I was asking for, he brought more to the table too, particularly with binding moments where Orlok was vulnerable. I was so sick of the tropes of the sad vampire that I didn't want to go there. But Bill knew that it was important to still have the vulnerability in some places. And I think it makes the performance.”

The secrecy around Count Orlok’s background story indicates it’s a sad and tragic one, and it would break the “horror” and “demon” themes Robert Eggers is striving for in this film, because it would “humanize” the monster. The majority of the audience is expecting human Count Orlok to be “evil incarnate”, him having a violent past (as a warlord) is not surprising, either. Combining this with Robert Eggers being tired of the “sad vampire trope”, but Bill Skarsgård defending Orlok needed some vulnerability for the story to work, in connection with his background story and his scenes with Ellen (which are the rare moments when there’s something which can be described as vulnerability, she's Orlok's only "humanizing" trait).  

The Prologue

 

Robert Eggers revealed the prologue of "Nosferatu" (2024) is based on these novellas: “Most importantly, I was thinking, ‘Who are these characters, and how can I build out their backstories and make them real people?’ I also wanted our version to be Ellen’s story. The previous Nosferatu films start out as Thomas Hutter’s story, or Jonathan Harker’s, and then become Ellen’s story, but I wanted it to always be her story. Our film’s prologue comes from the work I did with the novella.”

"Come to me. Come to me: A guardian angel, a spirit of comfort, spirit of any celestial sphere... anything... hear my call. Come to me."

At the prologue, 15-year-old Ellen is crying and then prays for “a guardian angel, a spirit of comfort, a spirit of any celestial sphere, anything” to come to her. As she’ll reveal to Professor Von Franz and Thomas Hutter, she was deeply alone, and wanted company, comfort and tenderness: “I was so very alone, you see and... I wished for comfort...” and “I sought company, I sought tenderness, and I called out...”.  

To Professor Von Franz, she’ll elaborate on her background story, and provide an explanation for this prayer. Ellen has been a somnambulist since infancy, even before summoning Orlok (“sometimes it was... it is like a dream”). She also had premonitions (“And I know things”), from simple things like “always [know] the contents of [her] Christmas gifts” to more serious like knowing when others would die (“I knew when... that my mother would pass”). She had a connection to nature during her childhood and early teenage years (Ellen calls these two phases “childhood” because the concept of “adolescence” didn’t exist before World War II, it was “childhood” and “adulthood”). Like she says to Professor Von Franz, she enjoyed being in the forest and at the fields: “Father... he would find me in our fields... within the forest... as if – I was his little changeling girl.” Her father called her “changeling girl” as in the European folklore of babies kidnapped by fairies or demons and a substitute child being left in their place; because Ellen liked to be in nature so much, when she was supposed to be indoors (domestic sphere). 

But, as she was growing older, Ellen’s father started to forbid her from being in nature, and her, as a typical teenager, would rebel against her father’s orders: “But as I became older it worsened... Father dispraised me for it”. Ellen, as a young girl in early 19th century society should start learning and preparing to be the future wife of a respectable husband, not spending her days at the forest, and the domestic sphere was, also, a "woman’s realm” (sort of speak), not the outdoors (social life). On top of this, her father also stopped giving her physical affection (hugs, and the sort), and it’s highly implied he would recoil from her touch: “I frightened him. My touch.” And this is when Ellen resurrects Orlok with her summoning prayer.

In Romanian folklore, it’s said when strigoi raise from their grave the first time, they return to those they have loved the most, because they wish to relive their life together. And they make an appearance at their windows, asking for entrance. Which is what we see at the prologue of "Nosferatu" (2024) as Orlok is ressurected by Ellen's crying prayer. The motif of the strigoi lover has been a staple of 19th century Romanian Romanticism and stories of women and men being visited by their dead lovers were very popular, both in folklore and in high culture.

However, that connection was broken and the world of the living cannot be in contact with the Afterlife (death). As such, the very presence of the strigoi is life threatening, and they will, inevitably, drag their loved ones to their graves, as they will progressively be drained of their life force, wither and die, if the haunting isn’t stopped. Which is what we see in "Nosferatu" (2024), as Count Orlok is dragging Ellen to an early grave for them to be reunited in the Afterlife ("you are not for the living. You are not for human kind. And you shall be one with me, ever-eternally. Do you swear it?"). And we'll have two strigoi legends connected to the end, as well.

Next, we see Ellen walking outside of her family manor, and, in garden of lilacs, she starts to moan, in obvious sexual pleasure, as she swears to be one with Orlok ever-eternally. However, he’s not touching her in anyway, because when he does touch her, she has a violent seizure. He grabs her neck, and almost suffocates her in the process, as he reveals himself to her (inside of her mind, like a vision, because the next shot indicates he's not physically present).

Ellen was masturbating and her sexual energy caused Orlok to materialized inside of her head (sexual energy being what conjures him for telepathic communication to happen will be further confirmed by Herr Knock’s ritual). He grabs her neck, which is a reference to the strigoi myth of these creatures suffocating their victims to death (like Robert Eggers refers in his interview).

On a symbolical level, a demon violently appearing here is connected to Victorian views of female sexuality (sin, demonic and wicked if not owned nor controlled by a husband) and masturbation (the ultimate sin, called “self-pollution” and “self-abuse”, and in women it was considered a “anti-social behavior”, a form of insanity (“lunacy”) and epilepsy, and was believed to increase the risk of hysteria). This also also connects Ellen's "epilepsies" with "masturbation", the Victorian diagnose of her character. This scene is symbolical of sexual awakening. Ellen's power (death) awakes in this scene, too. Ellen also goes to her beloved outdoors (nature) at the prologue, and doesn't give Orlok entrance into her family manor, establishing the connection between Orlok and nature in her character arc.

But this whole sequence is also connected to the novella Robert Eggers wrote about his characters’ background story. Ellen’s is easier to identify, because she will mention it in later scenes with other characters. However, how is Orlok himself connected to all of this? He’s the other character at the prologue, after all. This scene establishes the connection with Ellen, Olrok and the lilacs, which will endure throughout the film, until the very end, when they both, symbolically, return to their garden of lilacs, as Professor Von Franz (the only character who understands the depth of Ellen and Orlok’s connection according to Willem Dafoe on his interview to "Deadline") places their symbolic lilacs around their bodies.

There’s the strigoi haunting, and the returning to the one they loved the most in their lives. The reincarnation theme is introduced here. It was confirmed that lilacs remind Orlok of his human life, and we have a garden of lilacs at the prologue, associated with Ellen and sexual pleasure. Since Thomas Hutter arrives at Transylvania on the first day of Romanian winter, we can't see any lilacs flowers at his castle (since they bloom in the Spring), and the only outdoor space Thomas explores is the courtyard. Nevertheless, this seems to indicate 16th century Ellen and Orlok had a connection to a garden of lilacs somewhere, with implications of sexual encounters involved. Since 19th century Ellen swears herself to Orlok in this garden, maybe he proposed to her (marriage) in a similar setting in the 16th century, too.

"You are fortunate in your love."

Orlok will hold on to Ellen’s heart-shaped silver locket ("maiden's token") well into the second act of the film, and he keeps smelling it. It’s the scent of lilacs on her hair he treasures (not the locket or even the hair itself). There are deep memories associated with lilacs from Orlok’s part from his human life, with both sexual and romantic connotations.

Robert Eggers also broke a cliché associated with the reincarnation theme with this film, where the human physical form is usually the same between reincarnations (a sort of doppelgänger throughout the centuries, like in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”). Here, Orlok wants Ellen’s soul (found in her blood), not necessarily her body. And for that reason he's dragging her to her grave, and he needs to have the Nosferatu curse he has on himself removed for that to happen, because his soul is trapped in that rotten corpse. In the “possession scene”, Thomas declares it’s impossible for Orlok to have taken Ellen as his lover “then” because he was possessed by Orlok, and trapped inside of Nosferatu (the rotten corpse), he had access to his soul, too. Which is why he knows it’s impossible for whatever Ellen’s talking about to have happened in her current life/incarnation (and he’ll believe Orlok is already getting to Ellen with nightmares and hallucinations, like he did with him at Transylvania). This implies 16th century Ellen had an entirely different physical form from her 19th century counterpart.

Binding Moments

Orlok never took Ellen as his lover in her teenage years; he was a mere shadow at her window, a haunting. The first time they meet "in the flesh" is at the Hardings household, when she gives him entrance into the house, unaware she's dooming everyone inside. There’s a misunderstanding happening in this scene between the two characters: Ellen is now convinced Orlok is a demon possessing her (because of what Professor Von Franz said), while Orlok thinks Ellen knows she has been summoning him to her this entire time.

In this particular scene, we have some of those few “binding moments” when Orlok is vulnerable, Robert Eggers mentions in his interviews. “Binding” in connection with “bounding”, in which a close emotional relationship is developed.

“Your passion is bound to me. [...] I cannot be sated without you."

Orlok speaks late 16th century English, where the term "sated" is connected to the verb “sit”, as in “rest” or “lie”. Translating to: “I cannot rest without you”. Which explains their covenant of being together ever-eternally in the Afterlife. He can’t find peace in death without Ellen's spirit by his side. And he'll elaborate next:

The way Bill Skarsgård delivers this line “remember?” implies a deep yearning and desperation for Ellen to remember something very old, and not from her current incarnation. This is, definitely, one of those vulnerable binding moments inspired by Orlok's backstory. Especially since these lines are after Ellen accuses him of being unable to love ("You cannot love"). ~

This is also a reference to the "Dracula" novel by Bram Stoker, where one of the brides accuses Count Dracula of the same ("You yourself never loved! You never love"): "Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper; “Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?” In both cases, this a mention to a centuries-old past. Orlok also has a curse on himself (strigoi) which stripped him of all his best human qualities, so, indeed, he cannot love in his present state.Which is why he asks her to remember how he did love her in the past, 300 years ago.

Dark Trauma

"What kind of trauma, pain and violence is so great that even death cannot stop it? What is the dark trauma that doesn't die when someone dies?" This is an idea that Robert Eggers mentions twice, including on his own essay about his "Nosferatu" in "The Guardian", and so it's clear this was on his mind while creating this story and the mythology around his Count Orlok, based on the early folkloric vampire, the strigoi.

In his interview to “Vanity Fair”, where Robert Eggers discusses “the Ghastly True Tales Behind His New Nosferatu”, he mentions a strigoi haunting in Romania, as recent as 2004, where a woman claimed that she was visited by the corpse of her deceased uncle, and a group went to the grave, removed the heart, burned the body and the ashes were mixed in water and drunk by the victim. The haunting is said to have stopped, but these people were arrested and charged with disturbing the peace of the dead, and sentenced to six-months in prison.

In “Nosferatu” (2024), it’s Ellen who resurrects Orlok with her prayer. It’s her sadness, loneliness and sexual awakening (desire) which took him out from his centuries old slumber; she's lonely, without a companion to give her comfort and tenderness. She calls out, he awakes because of it, and returns to her. Alonsgide with the reincarnation theme in this story, it's evident this "dark trauma" is also connected to her, since she's the target of his strigoi haunting. As Robert Eggers says to "Vanity Fair", his hypothesis is that "something terrible happened between" the victims and the deceased/strigoi to justify the haunting itself. As Robert Eggers writes on his own essay: "The folk vampire embodies disease, death, and sex in a base, brutal and unforgiving way." And since the director took the time to write an entire novella on these characters, the answer has to be within the story itself.

Three representations of grief in "Nosferatu" (2024), embodying disease, death and sex

Orlok calls Ellen an "enchantress" (an incantrix, gifted with magic power and authority to command the elements by the power of their word; incantations, songs, spells and prayers to shape reality), and he was a "enchanter" in life, too. And, indeed, Ellen displays tremendous spiritual power in this film; Herr Knock needs to assemble a whole ritual room to communicate with Orlok, and she doesn’t need any of that, she uses her sexual energy and her words ("he's coming to me"). This might indicate, she was an actual enchantress in her past life. Professor Von Franz does say she could have been a “great priestess” in Pagan times, and she probably was. Orlok the high priest, and Ellen the high priestess.

As Robert Eggers mentions in several interviews, she has a deep knowledge of the shadow side of life, but she’s an outsider because "people consider her melancholic and hysterical [...] a woman who's a victim of 19th-century society": Ellen is "shut down, and corseted up, and tied to the bed, and quieted with ether. Misunderstood, misdiagnosed. But it’s more than that. She has an innate understanding about the shadow side of the world that we live in that she doesn’t have language for. This gift and power that she has isn’t in an environment where it’s being cultivated, to put it mildly. It’s pretty tragic." Ellen is a woman born in the wrong time period, "totally misunderstood and no one can see her […] this demon lover, this vampire [Orlok], who is the one being who can connect with that side of her" and “the only person who can understand and fulfill a part of Ellen”. Which is why Robert Eggers describes her as "a "dark, chthonic female heroine" who "makes the ultimate sacrifice, and she’s able to reclaim this power through death". "Chthonic" is related to spirits and entities from the Underworld. Precisely because Count Orlok is a follower of Zalmoxis, a Solomonar, owner of the secrets of life and death, and he'll share immortality with her.

Orlok says he was in the “darkest pit” (space between life and death) as a "loathsome beast" for centuries: in 16th century English "loathsome" is connected to "grievous" (grief), "sorrowful". Ellen, being the reincarnation of his wife, means her soul moved on to her next reincarnation, while his didn't, causing their further separation. Ellen is said to be "fated" and "destined" for Orlok, by both him ("you are promise to me"; "yet even now we are fated"), and Professor Von Franz ("in vain, you ran in vain. You cannot out-run her destiny!”). Is Ellen’s fate to break his curse or for her soul to be united with Orlok’s for all eternity? Robert Eggers describes their ending as "sacred wedding in a union sense” and "completion of some kind of destiny”, as well.

The "dark trauma" between their characters is the story itself, and it's connected with Orlok's yearning for her to "remember how they once were" and the "Wuthering Heights" inspiration behind this whole tale. Strigoi feed on souls (“life force”, soul in the blood), they are the original “psychic vampires”. 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); because strigoi are sustain by the souls of others  (Thomas exorcism; "I will drink upon thy soul"; "I relinquished him my soul").

Besides the physical symptoms of the “blood plague” there’s a notorious change of behavior on Orlok’s victims, as they seem taken by madness and delirium. This is interpreted as “fever”, but it’s them having access to Orlok’s soul inside of Nosferatu, and vice-versa. He's dragging these characters into darkness (Nosferatu) alongside him, forcing his own pain and torment upon their souls, like Heathcliff did with the characters of “Wuthering Heights” after Catherine’s death. Orlok is forcing all of these characters to relive his own dark trauma throught their "blood plague" deliriums, which fits the “demon lover story” in a, indeed, brutal and unforgiving way. He compells Ellen to confront her own power (death), destroy her Victorian self-deception (“You deceive yourself”) and for her to remember their own shared trauma, at the same time; unbearable guilt (Thomas); burden of reproduction (Anna Harding) and maddening grief (Friedrich Harding). And we also have Herr Knock's delirium, which is "death wish", and wanting to be executed because Orlok broke their covenant in favor of Ellen. 

The “blood plague” victims are mimicking Orlok’s dark trauma: 16th century Ellen either died on childbirth or had a pregnancy-related death (like Catherine in "Wuthering Heights"); which embodies disease, sex and death. Which will find parallel in Thomas, but mostly in Friedrich Harding blaming himself because of his wife’s death. Which is also expressed in Anna Harding saying their son is so strong and hungry (like his father) and it’s eating her away. Orlok’s appetite is the culprit of his wife’s death. He kills the two Harding children as revenge for the burdens of reproduction. Like Friedrich Harding, Orlok was also an extremely wealthy man (count; ancient line of nobility; etc.) but his greatest treasure was his wife. Without her, he didn’t want to live anymore, and this will resonate in Herr Knock seeking a violent execution or suicide to punish himself.

Orlok targets Friedrich and Anna Harding because they are the mirror pair to him and Ellen, which indicates they were a similar couple to the Hardings in the 16th century (only Ellen was more sexual than Anna, because she’s similar to Friedrich Harding).

And could this separation of souls create such pain and a trauma so dark it created an actual monster to bring plague and death (Nosferatu) upon civilization in their yearning of being united, once again?

At the end, Ellen accepts Orlok’s covenant and allows him to feed on her soul. Their souls were separated because of death, disease and sex; and reunite because of the same reason. Ellen's delirium from the “blood plague” is about love, as she’s fully possessed by Orlok, and her soul trapped inside of Nosferatu alongside his. She embraces him as they die, wants to see his face as the dawn begins to remove the decay (symbolizing the curse of Nosferatu is being removed from him). She remembers how they once were, because she sees into Orlok’s soul. And that last look of love isn’t about Thomas, is about Ellen and Orlok, like Robert Eggers says the ending is “much more about Orlok and Ellen’s relationship”, because her soul is inside of Nosferatu, alongside his. At the end, by the breaking of the curse, they are both, finally, free from Nosferatu, and ascend to the Afterlife, forever united. 

 

The last shot of the film (while being “Death and the Maiden” motif) is also reminiscent of the ending of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Francis Ford Coppola, where Vlad's soul ascends to join Elisabeta’s. In "Nosferatu" (2024) it's both, Orlok and Ellen's souls ascending, together, finally united, which makes more sense with the reincarnation theme, if we are being honest. Death separated them, and death united them.