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“ | I am an appetite. Nothing more. | „ |
~ Count Orlok's most famous quote. |
Count Orlok, also known as the Nosferatu, is the titular main antagonist of the 2024 supernatural horror film of the same name, a remake of the 1922 silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.
He is an evil and bloodthirsty sorcerer and artistocrat who grows infatuated with Thomas Hutter's wife Ellen Hutter ever since she was young and becomes angered over her marriage with Thomas as he plans to force her to submit to him by any means necessary.
He was portrayed by Bill Skarsgård who also played Pennywise in the It film duology adaptation and the Marquis de Gramont in John Wick: Chapter 4.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General/Background[]
- In his past when he was still a human, he was a Transylvanian nobleman and Solomonari, a dark wizard taught by the Devil himself, who made a deal with him so his soul would never leave Earth but he would have to stay alive by consuming the blood of other humans which Orlok accepted the deal showing his already greed for power and eternal life which lead to him becoming a sinister vampire (it's worth noting he never speaks of the Devil in the future showing he never had respect for the being who gave him his powers).
- He spent most of his time terrorizing villages especially with plagues causing many of the villagers to be afraid going out at night and even being afraid to say his name.
- He shown the ability to infect others with his curse as at least one other vampire was seen throughout the film causing the villages to hunt them down.
- When a young Ellen prayed for a "protecting angel" Orlok took advantage of this link through her psychic mean where he deseasoned the young girl by luring her outside of her home where he attacked and raped her.
- This action left Ellen extremely traumatized, causing Orlok to haunt her until they made a pact that she would give herself to him until she met Thomas, causing her to forget about Orlok, which enraged him.
- It's unknown how they met or how long they were working together, but it's revealed that Thomas' boss, Herr Knock is a Satanist who became Orlok's servant.
Nosferatu[]
- Whilst enraged - as he barks at Thomas not to speak of it again - at the vampire the villagers killed the previous night when Thomas mentioned it, this outrage is likely because he himself is a vampire, as opposed to caring about the slain vampire.
- He also speak about the villagers in a xenophobic way, referring to them as gypsies.
- He barely effects affability to Thomas; this is only being pragmatic, clearly manipulating him. Even then, he rudely demands to be called "Lord" instead of "Sir," as Thomas addressed him.
- When Thomas accidentally cuts himself, triggering Orlok's lust for blood, Orlok tells him he can "ease" his wound, when in actuality he drank Thomas' blood, even biting his chest, leaving him with a bite mark, using his sinister powers to cause Thomas to lose track of time as he sits in the chair in front of the fireplace where he attacks Thomas.
- The next night, he takes Thomas' locket with a photo of Ellen in it and keeps it for himself.
- He manipulates Thomas into signing his signature, pretending it is the deed that will officially mark the sale when in reality, it is the paperwork for Thomas and Ellen's divorce, tricking Thomas due to the writing being in Romanian, a language Thomas doesn't understand.
- That same night, he attacks Thomas again, and feeds on him, but using his powers, he erases his memory, leaving only bite marks on his chest as evidence of his attack.
- When realizing Orlok's true nature, Thomas tries to kill him by stabbing him with an iron pickaxe, but Orlok wakes up before Hutter can reach his heart, and sends his pet wolves after him as Thomas locks himself away.
- With the locket, Orlok smells the pendant holding Ellen's photo, and rekindles his mental bond with her, tormenting her by telling her that her husband will not be around much longer.
- Uses his own shadow, which manipulates the weakened Thomas into opening the door to the room he has locked himself in, prompting Hutter to open the door to the vampire and his wolves, while Ellen sleepwalks out of the Harding house. Orlok torments them both as he feeds on Thomas even more.
- Orlok boards a ship planning to set sail for Ellen's hometown of Wisborg, bringing thousands of rats with him which breaks the black plague loose on the ship, causing the crew to dump the bodies into the stormy sea.
- He murders everyone on the ship, causing it to crash, freeing himself and the plague-infected rats.
- He only helps sets his servant Herr Knock free so he can have him do his bidding.
- When having full control over the town, Orlok visits Ellen in a dream and threatens her: she must surrender to him in three nights or else Thomas and all the town's inhabitants will die. That same night, he infects Anna Harding, the wife of Thomas' best friend Friedrich, with the plague, causing her to go mad.
- The next night, he murders the two Harding children by mauling Clara, then biting her sister, Louise, in the jugular, then he devours her. When their horrified mother, Anna, walks in, Orlok kills her and the baby Friedrich Jr. who was only a fetus.
- What's made worse is that this traumatized Friedrich, causing him to commit suicide by having sex with his wife's body and letting the plague kill him.
- He drains Ellen of her blood after having sex with her, which kills her, leaving her to bleed out in front of Thomas.
- He absolutely doesn't care about anyone but himself:
- First and foremost, Ellen Hutter and his so-called "love" for her is nothing but wanting control and viewing her as a sex object, showing his love was only about lust. This can be shown where he threatens to kill everyone she loves if she doesn't submit to him, not caring about how she feels about it.
- Despite Herr Knock serving him and plotting with him for Ellen to be his, he does not care about the man who summoned him, even abusing him and calling him "dog". He showed no care for him, not even being angry when Thomas, Dr. Sievers, and Von Franz accidentally killed him by mistaking Knock to be Orlok.
- While not seen abusing them, he shows no care for his pet wolves, only using them to stop his victims from escaping, not even taking them on the ship which would leave them to presumably die from starvation.
- Despite the Devil giving him eternal life and his vampiric powers, he doesn't bring him up in 1838, showing he only made the deal with the Devil for power and blood lust selling his soul, not even caring he would have to kill other people.
- He manipulated Thomas by only acting affably to trick him into signing divorce papers and attempting to kill him.
- He only uses the rats to spread chaos, not caring about them if they died.
- His horrific death is the pinnacle of satisfaction, as he got what he deserved with no means of returning to the mortal world, meaning he won't be able to ask the Devil for a second chance.
Trivia[]
- To highlight his Pure Evil status, the actor Bill Skarsgård said "It was like conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me." Even the director, Robert Eggers said "He's a demon. He's so evil."
External Link[]
- Count Orlok on the Villains Wiki.