"I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome."
Vlad III Tepes, better known as Count Dracula, is a powerful vampire and antagonist in Kingdom Hearts III - Return of the Keyblade. The lord of vampires, Dracula first appears as an enemy of Doctor Strange on Midgard-616 before joining Mok Swagger's Nightbreed Organization as one of Mok's inner circle. One of the oldest and most powerful of his kind, Dracula is a dangerous threat intent on turning all who live into his undead servants.
Story[]
Origin[]
Perhaps no ruler in history is more feared or reviled than Vlad III of Wallachia. The second oldest son of Vlad II Dracul, the younger Vlad accompanied his father and two brothers as part of a peace mission to the powerful Ottoman Empire. Though his family returned home after the mission ended, Vlad could not; he was kept as a hostage by the Ottomans to ensure his father remained their ally. Vlad spent the rest of his formative years a captive, watching the torture and execution of Ottoman prisoners. Back in Wallachia, the rest of his family was killed by Transylvanian rebels who saw Vlad's father as a puppet ruler of the Ottomans.
At long last freed from captivity, Vlad returned home and took his father's place as crown prince of Wallachia. Though he earned his people's favor as a leader against the hated Turks, his thirst for blood soon asserted itself. Criminals and prisoners of war were taken before Vlad and impaled on large wooden stakes, left to writhe in agony for hours before finally dying. Soon, hundreds of stakes were erected around Vlad's castle, the bodies of the condemned hanging from them in grisly "forests of the impaled." It was this practice that earned Vlad the title Tepes, or "the Impaler."
However, Vlad's brutality at home could not protect him from the powerful Ottomans. Through guerrilla warfare, the Wallachian forces managed to hold the Turks at bay for a time, but they were fighting a losing battle. One night, Vlad had a dream in which he led a daring, all-or-nothing attack against the Ottomans, breaking their army and saving both his people and his throne. Little did Vlad know that this was in fact a false vision created by Chernabog, who had a greater destiny in mind for the Impaler. The next day, Vlad led the attack as he believed he should, only to fall in battle.
Mortally wounded, Vlad cried out on the battlefield for salvation, begging for mercy for the first time in his life. Chernabog answered, sending the Gypsy healer Lianda to tend to Vlad. However, Lianda's methods were not what Vlad was expecting. Lianda was a vampire, and her bite killed the Impaler. Three days later, Vlad rose from the dead, now one of the children of the night himself. Chernabog's favor soon allowed him to assert his dominance over his fellow undead. He returned to his castle, now the ruler of a people larger and more powerful than he had ever dared dream.
Dracula, lord of the vampires, had risen, and the world would quake beneath him.
Return of the Keyblade[]
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"I grant you the privilege of being Dracula's victim."
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