Why does Count Orlok has his sarcophagus at the chapel of Grünewald Manor in “Nosferatu” (2024)?
This is another enigmatic clue to the big puzzle that is Robert Eggers’ Count Orlok; because the answers to who he truly is/was are in visual storytelling of the film (iconography; sets, etc.). And Robert Eggers is playing with the notions of “historical truth” in his story.
Orlok not only chose to keep his sarcophagus in an chapel, but at the altar; the most sanctified place in any church. Having his Orlok sarcophagus at the altar is a mysterious choice because, in Christianity, this is the standard location for the relics (body remains) of the martyrs, to be worshipped by the faithful; or where the dead were buried to be closer to God.
When Ellen asks him to come to her on the third night, he’s standing at the altar, near his sarcophagus. He just “woke up”, but why is he just standing there? Orlok rejects Christianity as an organized religion, and he’s a worshiper of the Dacian God Zalmoxis (not a Devil worshipper as he’s slander as by the human characters), like his iconography tells us. But there might be more to him than just Paganism, and the Solomonari beliefs, here, might be more complex than they appear.
This is a private chapel, commissioned and meant to be used by the family who owned the manor (and not by the public). It’s a private place of worship.
Orlok’s sarcophagus is beneath this gothic inspired rose window; and if it had any stained glass with any biblical iconography its long gone. The consensus among Art Historians is that the rose windows might have their roots in Ancient Roman architecture, with the oculus (the most famous is at the Pantheon, in Rome). From a architectural perspective, the goal is to let natural sunlight into the building. Symbolically, oculus represent the connection between the heavens and the earth, a window to the divine. In Ancient Roman religion, it was believed the Gods entered through the oculus and watched over the worshippers below, and their prayers.
Rose windows were developed during the Middle Ages in Europe alongside the cathedral, based on the notion that “God is light”; and they encapsulate concepts as light (creation); order (rulers of the cosmos); geometry (wisdom), symmetry (perfection) and circle (infinity; oneness; immortality). While Orlok is resting on his sarcophagus during the day, he’s bathing in sun light from the heavens.
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This connection between Orlok and Gothic architecture is most likely connected with the 19th century Romanticism craze over everything Gothic from the Middle Ages, and we saw the revival of this aesthetic during this time period with Neo-Gothic or Gothic Revival. Human Orlok lived in the “Renaissance era”, in the late 16th century, after all.
This altar had three statues (usually of the saints to which the chapel itself is consecrated to, but they can be angels, too). Only one statue has survived, and is damaged. And unfortunately the resolution isn’t very good, and this is the best we got to work with:
This statue has one wing, which tells us its an angel. And he’s kneeling (or half-kneeling to be more specific). In his hand there’s a object that is crucial to identify who this angel is (iconography), unfortunately it’s very hard to perceive what it is. And without the other two statues, we can’t know for sure what’s the context here; because we find kneeling angels with many different meanings. The preservation state of the chapel indicates it’s very old, so I’m guessing the idea behind this set is, indeed, to be a building from the Middle Ages. And the point is for the viewer to recognize the presence of the angel (and his identity is not that important).
Finding an angel here, in connection with Orlok, is not that surprising because angels adorned the Temple of Solomon; and they are connected to the 13th century grimoire Ars Notoria; connected to King Solomon, and his angelic magic. Which is probably why Robert Eggers first idea (in the 2016 script) was to have Orlok talking in Enochian language, the “language of the angels”, said to have been received by Dr. John Dee and his “seer” (medium) Edward Kelly, in their communications with angels and spirits.
Dr. John Dee (1527-1608/09) was your archetypal “Renaissance man”: English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist, and personal “conjurer” to Queen Elizabeth I. Alongside Edward Kelly, they conducted several summoning ceremonies to speak with angles and spirits of the dead, and even managed to conjure demons on occasion. They were both alchemists, but Kelly was the one with the gift of mediumship, and divination (and the one with whom the angels talked to).
Aside from the Enochian, there are some references to Dr. John Dee on Robert Eggers’ Orlok; they were both seen as “necromancers” (“black enchanter” as the Orthodox Nuns call him); Dee himself was imprisoned because of his occult work (we don’t know about Orlok because Robert Eggers won’t share his backstory with the public, but he wrote a few pages novella and gave it to Bill Skarsgård, and it influenced his entire performance, including the meaning of the ending). Orlok, in particular, was dead since the late 16th century until Ellen resurrected him, at the prologue (but there were legends in Transylvania about him for centuries, all the same).
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Dee’s occult work earned him some serious conflict with every organized Christian religion in Europe at the time (Catholics, English Anglicans, and the Protestant movement), even though he didn’t reject God (quite the opposite), he just didn’t had a rigid view of religion. Like we find in Professor Von Franz, who also conjures both angels and demons to do magic work (when he compels Ellen to reveal with whom she is communicating with).
As for the magic Orlok uses in “Nosferatu” (2024), is Solomonari; based on Romanian folklore of the "Solomonari weathermakers” and the “Dacian cloud travelers” (Zalmoxis). But it also finds parallels in Enochian elemental magic (control of the classic elements; air, water, fire and earth). His power to create nightmares and his shadow comes from Balkan folklore of the strigoi. But he has to be physically present in order to do physical things; which is why there was no “astral sex” going on between him and Ellen. And the only “dreams” of Orlok, Ellen can have are nightmares, because as a strigoi, fear and terror are the only emotions he can create on others.
The Solomonari invocation sigil Herr Knock uses to conjure Orlok and communicate with him, is also clearly inspired by the Sigillum Dei Aemeth (“Sigil of Truth” or “Sigil of God”) by Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly; an angelic magic seal to possess the Spirit of God and when activated, become the Living God; or the Lord God itself, and communicate with spirits, angels and archangels.
This was considered heretic and demonic by every Christian religion at the time; because, even today, Christianity believes only demons can be conjured like this; and other fractions of the occult state “daemons” are, in fact, spirits of Pagan nature, usually gods and goddesses, or elemental spirits. “Daemon” from the Greek “daímôn”; entities or spirits connected with fate or will-power, and can good, evil or morally ambiguous.
From an Historical perspective, these occult views are not entirely mistaken, because every Pagan deity was demonized by Christianity, to force the conversion of Pagans into Christianity, during the early Middle Ages in Europe. This conversion process wasn’t instantaneous, and was often violent, compelling European pagans to forsake their polytheistic religions in favor of a monotheistic one, which the common folk didn’t accept that easy; which is why we still have enduring Pagan traditions in Europe to this day. Imagine you are used to pray to several Gods, and someone comes along, and not only accuses you of being wrong, but there is only one God. Folks were used to have several Gods, one for each “subject” (area of action, sort of speak); folks couldn’t understand the idea of one God who commands everything, it was completely alien to them. Which is why the saints were introduced.
In conclusion; it appears that (human) Orlok religious and magical beliefs might have been closer to Dr. John Dee’s. And the Solomonari, as interpreted by Robert Eggers, include a mix of Dacian Paganism (Zalmoxis), Alchemy, Enochian magic and probably Hermetic philosophy. In his human life, Orlok was an enchanter and a occult practitioner who also worked both angelic and daemonic magic; he was Professor Von Franz taken to the next level.
Which is also very fitting for the time Orlok was alive (late 16th century), which saw the birth of several characters who defied the strict orthodox views of the established religious authority of the Christian church (Nostradamus, Agrippa, etc.), accused of heresy, blasphemy, and some were even executed because of their beliefs. We have no idea whatsoever how Orlok died (if natural causes like illness, or something else like execution or murder).
Orlok has his sarcophagus in a chapel because no one has the monopoly on God, as the creative and ruling force of the universe. Which is what Von Franz tells Thomas and Dr. Sievers when they find out Orlok is with Ellen: “God is beyond our morals”. Von Franz also screams “redemption!” Which can also be the symbolism for Orlok’s sarcophagus beneath this rose window, and this kneeling angel; he seeks for his spirit to be set free from the Nosferatu curse (the rotten corpse where it’s trapped in), to ascend spirituality. “Deliverance”; Knock’s final words; “Go forward Thomas, set the daemon’s spirit free!” when they enter the chapel and see the sarcophagus.
But isn’t Orlok “evil”? He’s as evil as elemental, natural forces are evil. Is death evil? Are plagues evil? He denies to be a “villain”, and calls himself “an appetite”, because souls (blood) is what sustains him, and what he as to feed on to survive for long enough until Ellen decides to break the curse she, unconsciously, put on him, at the prologue. Which is a double-edged sword for him, because his soul was in the “darkest pit” (place for tormented spirits) and then was resurrected into a cursed existence (strigoi). This symbolism represents his yearning for higher spiritual realms. And this isn’t connected with Christianity specifically, because organized religions don’t hold the monopoly on “salvation” nor “redemption”.
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