Vlad Tepes, called that way because he loved to impale his enemies, and watch them bleed until death, was voivode of Wallachia at that time, nowadays Romania. ( Tepes=Impaler)
His real name was Vlad Dracul, named Dracul after his father who was a member of Dragon Order, an organization meant to defend Christianity and fight against Ottoman Empire. What is strange, is the fact that ‘Dracul’ means ‘demon, devil’ in Romanian language and that fits perfectly with Vlad cruelty.
Human communities are haunted by stories and legends of the most terrifying and scary. Hearing them, you feel beyond all imagination. And yet, the mind of man, for centuries, imagined them, and sent them forward through the years. Or not? Or was man only the instrument that transmitted what its eyes saw?
An old saying tells that any legend has a part of truth. If so, what is the truth of the legend of Vlad Tepes? And how do we decide what is the truth and what is the legend?
History teaches us the cruel, ruthless and right character of the legendary ruler Vlad Tepes and stories tell us of his brave deeds and how, passionately, he loved his country, justice and freedom. From here to the image of the vampire ruler, who feeds his demonic thirst with human blood, there was only one step.
As Vlad Tepes impales his enemies and he loves to bathe his eyes on how their life is flowing out of them, with every drop of blood flowing, is not a legend, it is the truth. The Middle Ages are the scene of such cruel acts. I ‘d wish to mention the real story of the Elisabeta Bathory, who bathes in the blood of the virgins so that she won’t get old.
And then, what is the legend of Vlad Tepes? Could the passage of time have turned the truth into the legend? That’s possible. It is certain though, that in the dark times of Middle Ages in which cruelty was so common and normal behaviour , the legend of today is a pure truth. Leaving the Stocker's fantasies aside, the vampire ruler is the emblem of the Romanian people. The humanity of this ruler can be given, if we are to follow the true legends of today, of the passionate love for a woman.
But beyond the commercial legends who do not honor him, the vampire ruler is the truth that has become a legend !
