In Robert Eggers' "Nosferatu", Thomas Hutter has some encounters with Count Orlok's wolves, unlike the previous adaptations, where they were briefly present (1922) or merely overheard (1979). In Werner Herzog, the wolves are ever present while Jonathan is at the castle with the Count, which delivers one of the most iconic Dracula lines: "Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!" Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added, "Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter."
"Listen. Listen. The children of the night make their music."
Robert Eggers did not adapt this particular line, but heavily associated his Count Orlok with wolves, not merely the animal itself in his castle and chasing after the carriage as Thomas Hutter is on his way, but his sarcogaphus is decorated with wolf heads and Dacian Dracos (a wolf-headed serpent), and he has a Dacian Draco ouroboros on his personal sigil, as well. He fully embodies the Dacian wolf warrior, and is referred to as a "beast", several times in the narrative.
This Count Orlok is a representation of Count Dracula in his wolf form, like he appeared to Lucy Westenra. As Robert Eggers discussed in one interview, about how influential Coppola's version was to him: "the Coppola version was massive for me. I watched it a million times [...] one thing that's kind of alarming to think about is too-young me seeing the werewolf form of Dracula having sex with Sadie Frost [Lucy Westenra]. But - well, it explains a lot!"
From the "Dracula" novel: ""vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire." Robert Eggers went with both, while "Nosferatu", the demonic entity, is the one associated with rats ("the prince of rats"), as such, there is a distinction between the two in the narrative, although they are part of each other because that's Orlok's curse due to the "Faustian bargain" he made centuries ago.
Yet, this also gives another meaning to the breaking of Nosferatu curse. From Renfield's monologue: "Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, millions of them, and every one a life. And dogs to eat them, and cats too.” The "cat" who eats the rats is Ellen (she's the seeress associated with cats), but this Count Orlok is the "dog", the wolf, as he also has to sacrifice himself, at the end. A human sacrifice which was reframed into the Pre-Christian beliefs of Zalmoxis.
This Count Orlok is not mere "appetite"; even though he's undead, he's not a mindless zombie, and is shown to have intellect, to make plans and act on them, to still be in possession of his gifts as an Solomonar enchanter, alongside his "vampire" nature, like his book counterpart Count Dracula: "Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical death". As Robert Eggers elaborates: "Here, Orlok is entirely just focused on Lily-Rose Depp’s character, but he leaves a whole lot of destruction in his path in order to get what he wants."
In my mother language "I am an appetite" was translated into "I am a force of nature" in the subtitles. This is a good description, and fits the meaning of this particular line. Ellen accuses him of being a villain, of being evil: "You are a villain to speak so", to which he replies "I am an appetite, nothing more." This dialogue is new to the 2023 script, however it's evocative of Ellen and Professor Von Franz last conversation in the 2016 script, where Ellen fears her spirit to be evil, and calls "this death, this plague... it is evil", to which the Professor answers "Death is nature", and "good and evil are but two sides of Nature".
Real wolves in the set of "Nosferatu" (2024)
("Nosferatu" (2024) - Making Of | Behind The Scenes (Special Effects | Set Visit | Make-up | Visual Effects)
In "Nosferatu" (2024), live rats were used, and live wolves, too, as Nicholas Hoult shared some stories about working with them: "here we have these wolves in the movie that were chasing me out of a window as I’m trying to escape from Count Orlok’s castle. And I’m like, running on the spot and getting hyped up before the take, and they’re being held back from me on leashes, barking, with death in their eyes. They want to eat. And I was like, “Whew, okay, this is intense.” And then there’s a time where I run, and I slip, and I nearly didn’t make it out of the window as they’re chasing me, as they’re let loose. And I got out, but then Rob [Eggers] was like, “Cut, cut, cut. No, you pulled a silly face. We can’t use that." He was like, “Come watch, look what your face did.” And my face does go like, “Weeeh.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s not great, but so you know, that’s real fear.” Because I realize, I didn’t ask what happened if the wolves, if the dogs got to me.”
V. Escaping Castle Orlok and Exorcism
In the “Dracula” novel, Jonathan Harker climbs out a window of the Count’s bedroom, and scales down the walls. He realizes he’s a prisoner in the castle, and Count Dracula (now on his way to the port city of Whitby, England) has left him, seemingly, to be killed by the “weird sisters”, and makes his final attempt to escape, even at the cost of his own life, since he rather die than to risk the eternal damnation of his soul: “I shall try to scale the castle wall farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. [...] “At least God's mercy is better than that of those monsters."
This “climbing down the walls” was the route taken by both 1922 and 1979 “Nosferatu”. In the novel, Jonathan overhears the Romani and Slovak servants of Dracula preparing the boxes of earth and the coffin to be taken to the harbour. In both F.W. Murnau and Werner Herzog adaptations, Hutter/Jonathan sees the Count doing so, himself, from his bedroom window, and knows he’s after Ellen/Lucy, and prepares his escape.
While both in 1922 and 1979 adaptations, the viewer sees workers transporting the Count's coffin and boxes of earth to the harbor, down the river, this is not the case with Robert Eggers' version. Yet, as mentioned in the previous posts, this Count Orlok has workers to assist him, and, unlike his predecessors, he doesn't transport his own sarcoghapus, either, as he requires the assistance of Herr Knock to get his grave into Grunewald Manor. Futhermore, he does not take any boxes of earth with him.
Fully aware of Count Orlok/Dracula's plans, Hutter/Harker makes his escape, to save his wife and try to stop the coffins, embodying his book counterpart description of climbing down the walls, here using bed sheets. In the 1922 original, Hutter falls near the ground, and faints, and is, later, rescued by farmers who take him to an hospital. This also appears to be the case with 1979 Jonathan.
However, and unlike his predecessors, Robert Eggers' Thomas Hutter doesn't climb down the walls, he rather falls into the river, while running away from Orlok's wolves.
This is a reference to the "Dracula" novel, when the Count threatens Jonathan with his wolves, when he wants to leave the castle: "As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder and angrier. Their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew than that to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my doom. I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation."
"Trust in God and your strength. The monster left you to the wolves, and yet you prevailed."
The reference to Jonathan Harker falling into the river can be found in Francis Ford Coppola “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992); where, instead of climbing down the walls, Jonathan jumps into the river to escape the castle (yet, he also makes it to the convent by his own feet, and conscious, unlike 2024 Thomas Hutter).
Unlike his heroic predecessors, Robert Eggers’ Thomas Hutter falls into the river either by accident or, more likely, propelled by an invisible force (as Count Orlok later laments "the broker lives", but he still has "use in him"). Thomas' feet slip at the edge, and, in the next shot, he’s falling down, screaming. It seems, on his adaptation, Robert Eggers skipped the “climbing down the walls”, and went straight to the “falling down the walls" part. As Nicholas Hoult has explained: "watching the film, you get the sense that Thomas's fate is entirely out of his hands".
The scene of Thomas falling down into the river makes a visual callback to another scene from Coppola’s adaptation of “Dracula”:
"The vengeful Turks shot an arrow into the castle, carrying false news of Dracula's death. Elisabeta, believing him dead, flung herself into the river.”
Ellen appears to have some sort of vision or perception of this moment, as she sheds one tear.
This callback to a suicide is a reference to the “Dracula” novel, when Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra are at the beach of Whitby: “In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside them, through the churchyard, and people go and sit there all day long looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze.”
Mina and Lucy go there often, and Lucy learns her favorite seat hides a secret: “Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favorite seat, and I cannot leave it, and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a suicide.”
Ellen/Lucy sitting amongst the graves at the beach of Wisborg/Wismar, in the 1922 and 1979 adaptations of “Nosferatu”In the 2024 adaptation of “
Nosferatu”, however, Ellen doesn’t sit in any bench at the beach of Wisburg; and, in this scene, she’s in what appears to be a wheelchair, probably to represent her “sick” state.
Nevertheless, the reference to “the grave of a suicide” from the “Dracula” novel makes an appearance in this scene (just not visually, like in the previous adaptations), when she’s consumed with worry by her husband, and wants to stay at the beach a while longer, waiting for his return… On his adaptation, Robert Eggers connected thematic "nature" with his Count Orlok, and, at the end of this scene, Ellen also has one of her trances.
Both 1922 and 1979 "Nosferatu", have an unconscious character going down the river, similar to 2024 Thomas Hutter; Count Orlok/Dracula, himself, since this scene takes place during daytime when he, like his book counterpart is in a death-like sleep inside of his coffin (more perceptible in 1979 Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu”). In Robert Eggers' adaptation, this scene was given to Thomas Hutter's character as a visual clue of his possessed state, as he'll be taken into the convent to be exorcized.
Unlike his book counterpart Jonathan Harker, and his predecessors from the 1922 and 1979 adaptations of “Nosferatu”, this Thomas Hutter isn’t nursed back into “health” in an hospital, as Robert Eggers skipped the sanatorium, and fully embraced the convent. In both 1922 and 1979 versions of “Nosferatu”, Thomas/Jonathan is delirious about coffins.
From the "Dracula" novel: “I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, suffering from a violent brain fever. […] He will require some few weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. […] He has had some fearful shock, so says our doctor, and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful, of wolves and poison and blood, of ghosts and demons, and I fear to say of what. Be careful of him always that there may be nothing to excite him of this kind for a long time to come. The traces of such an illness as his do not lightly die away. Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his sweetness and gentleness.”
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Florin Lăzărescu worked as the consultant and researcher on 19th-century Transylvania, Romanian folklore and dialects (Romanian, Romani and the reconstruted Dacian Count Orlok speaks) on “Nosferatu” (2024), and explained the "exorcism scene": "My favourite detail in the film involved an abbess from Bukovina performing an exorcism in Church Slavonic. Initially, it was more of a cinematic cliché, with no real connection to the Orthodox Christian tradition. I researched books, consulted specialists, and convinced Robert that a cliché exorcism would come across as cringeworthy. We replaced the ritual entirely with something plausible: a priest reciting from The Prayers of Saint Basil the Great in Romanian at the bedside of the 'possessed'."
"No! Orlok!"
The “Prayers of Saint Basil the Great”, like Lăzărescu explains, belong to Orthodox Christian tradition, and are a collection of three liturgical prayers used for deliverance “for those who suffer from demonic possessions and every other malady”. Through these prayers, the Devil is exorcised (renounced) “in the name of God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ and commanded to come out of the victim, who is liberated and redeemed by the Eternal God from the energies (powers) of the impure spirits. The great ills that humanity suffers are attributed to the devil and demonic powers”.
"It must be her! He cannot resist her blood!" "I cannot resist you, my love."
As such, this exorcism does not work in removing "Nosferatu curse" from Thomas, and he, as the Nuns say, is still lost in his shadow and under Count Orlok's influence (like 1979 Jonathan), and mustn't leave the convent.
“He is bound for Wisburg! [...] He seeks after Ellen, I know it!”
"He hasn’t found you. I... I feared I’d never see you again."
The Nuns reveal Count Orlok was a Solomonar enchanter in life, and mention a Faustain bargain with the Devil ("The Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blasphemy"). They warn Thomas: "you are lost in his shadow". But Thomas is determined to leave, in spite of their warnings "Remain here" and "You are not yet well!". Like his predecessors, Thomas says he needs to return to Wisburg to save Ellen/Lucy from Count Orlok/Dracula, because he knows what he's after. 
“Coffins... I must get to Wismar before the coffins ... Lucy is in danger, I have to safe her.”
The 1922 original “Nosferatu” followed the “Dracula” novel more closely, as Hutter seemingly returns to his former self, yet weaker. This isn’t the case of 1979 Jonathan, who never heals (not even after Count Dracula’s death by Lucy’s sacrifíce), and this is somewhat similar to Robert Eggers’ Thomas Hutter, to a different degree. In all adaptations, Hutter/Jonathan is warned by the Nun not to leave.
In both 1922 and 1979 adaptations, Ellen faints once Thomas/Jonathan returns home. In the 1922 original, Thomas comforts his wife, and once she awakes, he believes everything will be alright, now that he is home. In Werner Herzog’s "Nosferatu", it's the opposite, as Jonathan, under Count Dracula's influence, doesn't remember who Lucy is, anymore (and she faints as a consequence), and remains almost catatonic for the rest of the film (until he transforms into Nosferatu, at the end).
"Who is this woman?"
In the 2024 re-interpretation, however, Thomas is the one who faints, as he falls off his horse, and later, at the Hardings household, after telling Ellen "you were right" and "he has your locket", as a policeman and dockhands arrive to inform Friedrich a "plague ship" has arrived to Wisburg.
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In Werner Herzog’s adaptation, the doctors say Jonathan is suffering from a "severe brain fever", while, in truth, he's, slowly, transforming into Nosferatu, as he says the sun is hurting him.
Yet, as Robert Eggers has said in his interviews: "It’s not sunlight; it’s just the fact that it is dawn that kills him. In the folklore — which we say in my film, which is pre-Murnau — the vampire must go back to its grave before the first crow of cock. So it’s not that vampires are allergic to sunlight in the folklore, and that the sun burns and kills them. It’s that the purity and the redemption of dawn doesn’t work for a demonic being." The director also explained he avoided all "vampire film clichés" on his own version: "Vampire cinema is so prolific that we have all these tropes and rules that we think we know that have been established, and Anne Rice refined them further. [While] trying to understand the origins of the vampire myth and understanding folk vampires, I had to forget everything that I had learned."
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In the 2024 adaptation, Thomas, similar to 1979 Jonathan, is bedridden during daytime, as Count Orlok is, also, on his death-like sleep on his sarcogaphus. Because, as mentioned in previous posts, in folklore, the "first crow of cock" dissolves all enchantments, including the reanimation of a corpse by a demonic entity.
"Thomas has seen something awful. If only I could speak to the professor – [...] Professor Franz said a demon! [ Leni, please. For the sake of the children – Christmastide is upon us. Why must you remain so exasperatingly contrary?!] Because I am in the right!"
"His bride [...] knew that he must face an insurmountable force from which he might never return."
VI. "I Have Use In Him"
When Count Orlok arrives at Wisburg, he's attended by his fanatical servant Herr Knock, who immediately volunters to kill Thomas, which Orlok denies by saying "I have use in him". Knock then offers to kidnap Ellen, which the Count also refuses because the "the compact commands she must willingly re-pledge her vow. She cannot be stolen." The "compact" Orlok is talking about is both the contract he made Thomas sign and the Solomonari codex of secrets, where "willingly" is a key word in the instructions to break Nosferatu curse.
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Highlighting Herr Knock's reaction to Count Orlok mentioning the "compact", as he appears confused and unsure of what the Count is talking about
In Werner Herzog’s "Nosferatu", Count Dracula assures he can restore Jonathan's memories in exchange for Lucy's love, indicating his influence over him. And this was the route Robert Eggers also took with his Thomas Hutter, but with a subversion of Herzog's themes, in several fronts (for instance, the "remembrance" theme was given to Ellen and Count Orlok).
"[I know of you from Jonathan's diary. Since he has been with you, he is ruined.] He will not die. [...] [And it will not change, even if Jonathan never recognizes me, again]. I could change everything. Will you come to me and be my ally? Be the salvation for your husband. And to me."
"The resignation must be completed by you, freely of thine own will. [...] Upon the third night, you will submit, or he you call your husband shall perish by my hand. ‘Til you bid me come, shall you watch the world become as naught."
In one interview, Robert Eggers explained how German Expressionist cinema (aside from the original 1922 "Nosferatu") has influenced his own version of the tale: "The one shot that points to “Faust,” and also Archie Mayo’s “Svengali,” is the shot of Orlok’s hand over the city. That’s not a shot specifically from either of those films, but you can hopefully see the influence of both Satan’s wings as a plague comes in “Faust” and John Barrymore reaching out telepathically to Marian Marsh in the night in "Svengali"."
In this scene, Count Orlok, like Svengali in the titular 1931 film, performs an incantation at the window of his house, all the way from across town. His target, however, is not the female character, but Thomas Hutter.
Like Mephisto/Satan wings in "Faust" (1926), Nosferatu shadow spreads plague all over Wisburg, as cries of horror are overheard.
"Give me room... I can’t breathe! I can't breathe! Get off!"
As mentioned above, during daytime, Thomas Hutter, similar to 1979 Jonathan, is extremely weak and bedridden. He even requires Ellen's assistance to walk while returning to their home, after Friedrich Harding politely kicked them out. And his strenght only seems to return after sunset, when Nosferatu curse is active.
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And their resolution will, indeed, be tragic,
which is Robert Eggers' intention: "I
t was always clear to me that Nosferatu is a demon lover story, and one of the great demon lover stories of all time is Wuthering Heights, which I returned to a lot while writing this script,” Eggers explained. “As a character, Heathcliff is an absolute bastard towards Cathy in the novel, and you’re always questioning whether he really loves her, or if he just wants to possess and destroy her [...]
Ellen’s husband loves her, but he can’t understand these ‘hysteric’ and ‘melancholic’ feelings she’s experiencing, and he’s dismissive of her,” Eggers said. “The only person she really finds a connection with is this monster, and that love triangle is so compelling to me, partially because of how tragic it is."
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In this scene and at nightfall, Thomas' strenght, seemingly miraculous, returns to him, as he tells Ellen they "must go. We must flee the city. You’re in danger" because Count Orlok "is come to Wisburg... for you". Ellen tells him they cannot leave, and she must reveal her secret to him, which she does: "I have brought this evil upon us".
Among her revelations is how Count Orlok "took me as his lover, then, now he has
come back. He has discovered our marriage
and has come back!";
to which Thomas (who had and has access to the Count's soul and vice-versa) declares to be: "impossible". Ellen connects this lovers in the past with her dreams ("he stalks me in my dreams! All my sleeping thoughts are of him! Every night-") because that's what Count Orlok has compelled her to dream about.
Thomas witnesses as Ellen has one of her trances, more explosive than ever before, and, unsure of what to do and how to handle the situation, he says: "I shall send for Doctor Sievers" which causes Ellen to break off her trance, and promising to be good.
"You could never please me as he could."
This scene is evocative of the "Dracula" novel, when Lucy Westenra is in her vampire form, and the "vampire hunters" to go destroy her at her crypt: “Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness […] Lucy's eyes in form and color, but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew. […] As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile”.
"I might ease your wound."
Count Orlok takes possession of Thomas to have sex with Ellen, as begs of him: “yes! Take me! Please! Please!”. And Count Orlok's shadow can be seen projecting at the wall behind Thomas during this scene:
"Kiss me! Kiss my heart! My heart!"
As mentioned in the previous post, Bill Skarsgård puppeteered every single Count Orlok shadow behind the camera, and he was present for the shooting of this scene, as well, but with no moustache, since it's not needed (it's the back of his head that's visible on the wall, not his face).
Bill Skarsgård Behind the Scenes
("Nosferatu" (2024) - Making Of | Behind The Scenes (Special Effects | Set Visit | Make-up | Visual Effects)
The camera starts to invert, until Ellen reaches a position which parallels Thomas Hutter exorcism at the convent of Bukovina.
"Let him see! Let him see our love!"
Thomas has a vision of "possessed Ellen", with blood on her eyes and mouth, and recoils, terrified, while she lets out a Mephistophelian Laugh at her own words ("Let him see our love"), the audio storytelling device that conveys Count Orlok's Faustian bargain to the audience.
Ellen is in trance, she's communicating with the spiritual world, and says "Without you, I'm to become a demon", which is what will happen to Count Orlok's soul if she doesn't accept to break the curse of Nosferatu he has on himself.
“I love you! I love you!”
Thomas forces Ellen to wake up from her trance, as he cries out: "Ellen, It's me! Ellen! I love you! I love you! You are safe with me!" Ellen declares herself "unclean" (like her book counterpart in vampire form) and that she must go to Count Orlok: "He will murder you if I do not go to him.
We will be torn apart and all will be
despair." And he vows: "I’ll kill him! I will! He shall never harm you again. Never!" This "he shall never harm you again" is a reference to the passionate sex that just happened, as he's aware Nosferatu took possession of him, while he's thematic Victorian love (“domesticated”, tempered devotion confined to the household, meant to exclude animalistic impulses).
This is where Robert Eggers, per his own words, starts to play "with the canon, with expectations and clichés – “hopefully subverting them to do something unexpected". At first, this scene appears to reference the "Dracula" novel, when Dracula attacks Mina Harker and Jonathan comforts her, and she declares to be Dracula's "worst enemy": "She [Mina] shuddered and was silent, holding down her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white nightrobe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where the thin open wound in the neck had sent forth drops. The instant she saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking sobs. "Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely, "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out his arms and folded her to his breast. And for a while she lay there sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils. His mouth was set as steel."
But this Ellen is not based on Mina Murray's character, and she declares herself "unclean", like both vampire Lucy Westenra and the "weird sisters" are described as "unclean" in the "Dracula" novel. Ellen, unlike Mina, does not says she's Dracula's "worst enemy", either, nor refuses her "uncleanliness" (quite the opposite, as she fully declares to Professor Von Franz: "I need no salvation", while Mina is deeply troubled about the salvation of her own soul), and the culmination of her character's arc in this story is not about "destroying" Dracula, but redeem them (him and herself) from Nosferatu curse.
There is also another layer of symbolism here, because of Thomas connection to Nosferatu, and Count Orlok seeking to escape his Faustian bargain through the instructions on his Solomonari codex of secrets, which finds reference in F.W. Murnau "Faust" (1926), where Mephisto keeps trying to keep Faust separated from his beloved, Gretchen, to prevent him from breaking their pact, and, as consequence, lose the ownership to his soul.
Here, the Devil with whom Count Orlok made compact is also working to prevent that from happening, with both Thomas and Herr Knock's characters. Which also finds reference in the "Dracula" novel, when Jonathan Harker declares about destroying the Count: "May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send his soul forever and ever to burning hell I would do it!"
During the night, Count Orlok's shadow appears at the window of the Hutters house, while Thomas and Ellen are asleep in the floor, and he enchants: "Another night has passed. Tomorrow night, the third, shall be his last". Ellen awakes, but Orlok is not talking to her, but to Thomas in his sleep, as he touches his arm first (and Ellen is on the way of his body). As he's been doing ever since they both arrived at Wisburg, Count Orlok is influencing Thomas, this time, into killing him, in a subversion of the "Dracula" novel ending, where it's Jonathan Harker (and Quincy Morris, absent from the "Nosferatu" tale) whom, ultimately, destroy Count Dracula: Harker by decapitation, and Morris by stabbing him in the heart with his Bowey knife.
And the next day, Thomas is determined in destroying Count Orlok, at all costs: "Please, we must onward"; "I will not wait ‘til morning! We must stop him now" and he says "I feel his hold upon me this night." Even when Professor Von Franz and Dr. Sievers want to wait, he doesn't. Thomas also blames himself for everything that has happened, because he sold a house to the Count in Wisburg, but in a script line that didn't make to the final version, Count Orlok also said to him "more blood shall stain thy hands" before the Hardings killings.
"Stop, please. It is my fault! Forgive me, my dear, sweet friend!"
"Your horror has rent our hearts, but you must hear us. Friedrich! These nightmares do exist! They exist!"
Similar to the "Dracula" novel, the "vampire hunters" (Van Helsing/Von Franz; Hutter/Harker and Dr. Sievers/Dr. Stewart) come together to plan Count Orlok's destruction, that very night. As in the book, it's Professor Von Franz/Van Helsing who leads the plan, to sanctify the earth where the Count was buried: while in the book, sacred wafers are used, here is with fire (similar to Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula", 1992): "Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, "And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilize this earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to God."
"We shall sanctify the earth wherein he was buried, and destroy the sarcophagus, then he can have no sanctuary at cock crow."
However, in Robert Eggers' adaptation this is all a ploy from the Professor to get Ellen to accept to sacrifice herself (as he has read in the Solomonari codex of secrets, and whose instructions he hasn't shared it with anyone else). This also finds reference in the "Dracula" book, since it's Van Helsing who gets both Vampire Lucy and the "weird sisters" killed, but here it's subverted into something positive, and instead of trying to stop Lucy's degeneration into vampirism, he acts as drive for it.
"[And when we uncover his body?] I will drive a spike of cold iron through him!"
As Ellen begs to go with them, Thomas immediately declines: "Of course not, Ellen. You must be kept safe away" in their house, where Count Orlok does not have entrance. And, from his part, Thomas is determined in destroying Count Orlok, and embody his book counterpart, in two fronts: put a piece of iron through him and send his soul to Hell. As Robert Eggers elaborated: “Thomas thinks he's the hero but really his wife, who everyone is calling crazy and telling to shut up and tying to beds, is the only one who can solve the problem.” But his heroism is not his own, as he’s being influenced by a demonic force.
At the surface, Ellen, like Mina Murray, appears to be a valuable help to the "vampire hunters" in getting the Count destroyed, however, in Robert Eggers' adaptation, Ellen is not Mina, as a consequence, she's not helping them, she's, in fact, working against them because she does not want a spike of cold iron put through Count Orlok, as she wishes to accept his covenant.
Ellen empowers Thomas to go on his false vampire hunt: "You will put an end to all of this?", a deceit similar to 1922 Ellen, who pretends to be taken ill and asks Hutter to go fetch Professor Bulwer, before sacrificing herself to Orlok.
Ellen makes Thomas promise not to return before dawn, and prevent her from breaking the curse of Nosferatu: "You promise you shan't return to me ‘til he is no more? Promise you won’t return" Which he does, and she adds: "He does not have power over you, Thomas" because she knows what Count Orlok is influencing him to do. She takes her farewell, and shares her last kiss with him, like Lucy in the 1979 adaptation.
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"Nosferatu" 1922 and 1979 screencaps by the author
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Dacian wolf warrior and Viking Úlfhéðnar: Ripping the enemy's throat like a wolf - Amleth ("The Northman", 2022) and Count Orlok ("Nosferatu", 2024)
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Ellen/Lucy sitting amongst the graves at the beach of Wisborg/Wismar, in the 1922 and 1979 adaptations of “Nosferatu”
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“Coffins... I must get to Wismar before the coffins ... Lucy is in danger, I have to safe her.”
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Highlighting Herr Knock's reaction to Count Orlok mentioning the "compact", as he appears confused and unsure of what the Count is talking about
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