Warning: SPOILERS for Netflix’s Dracula.
The central mystery in Netflix’s Dracula is why the immortal vampire fears the cross – and the reason isn’t the obvious one. Adapted from Bram Stoker’s classic novel by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the creators of Sherlock, Dracula stars Claes Bang as Count Dracula, who plots to travel to England and begin a new reign of terror. Opposing the vampire’s scheme is Sister Agatha Van Helsing (Dolly Wells), a nun who battles Dracula and attempts to uncover the truth behind his greatest weakness.
In Dracula episode 1, “The Rules of the Beast”, Van Helsing becomes aware of Dracula in 1897 when his latest victim, Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan), seeks sanctuary at her Hungarian convent. The transformed Harker, an English solicitor arranging a real estate deal for Dracula, recounted the days he spent as the Count’s prisoner in his Transylvanian castle. In her efforts to understand the monster who literally came to the doors of the nunnery looking for Harker, Agatha delved into vampiric legends and was shocked to find many myths directly applied to Dracula, even though they didn’t seem to make sense. Specifically, Dracula was bound by three distinct limitations: the vampire can’t enter a residence without being invited inside, he can’t stand direct sunlight or else it will destroy him, and Dracula especially fears the cross and recoils in its presence.
Agatha Van Helsing determined that all three of Dracula’s weaknesses are tied to his fear of the cross but the vampire scoffed (“I thought you were clever,” he taunted the nun) at her belief that it was because the cross represents the absolute goodness of God. Further, when Harker encountered Elena (Lujza Richter), one of Dracula’s brides, she showed no fear of his crucifix whatsoever. However, in Dracula episode 3, “The Dark Compass”, Agatha and her present-day descendant, Dr. Zoe Helsing (who drank Dracula’s blood, which contained the essence and memories of Agatha), finally realized the ultimate truth about Dracula: the vampire’s fear of the cross is directly tied to his fear of death and his shame that he is cursed to live forever.
![Netflix’s Dracula: Why The Vampire Fears The Cross](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Dracula-Cross.png)
It seems Dracula’s weaknesses are actually self-induced and result from his fear of death. After all, Count Dracula is descended from a line of powerful warlords who all died heroically in battle – all except for him, because Dracula was somehow turned into a vampire. For all of Dracula’s powers as an atypically evolved vampire, the Count harbors a secret shame of the monster he is. Further, Dracula misses and worships the sun but believed for centuries that he would die from its rays; it took Zoe directly exposing him to sunlight for Dracula to realize that this ‘fatal’ vulnerability was all in his mind. Because Dracula no longer felt he was worthy to see the sun, he mentally equated it with having the power to destroy him. Similarly, Dracula’s inability to enter someplace without being invited is tied to his deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy, something the Count didn’t understand throughout his very long life.
The cross represents the bravery of Jesus during the Crucifixion, which is the courage to die that Dracula lacks. In Netflix’s Dracula, vampirism is a contagion, but Dracula’s unique vulnerabilities result from his fear of death, therefore he formed habits that limit him which, in turn, became his own beliefs and spawned legends about vampires in general. But Dracula’s weaknesses aren’t shared by other, less evolved vampires, just as they lack Dracula’s supernatural abilities. However, now that Dracula is aware his greatest weaknesses were all in his mind, this means the vampire becomes more dangerous and potentially unstoppable in Dracula season 2, if another season is green-lit.