Count Orlok

Orlok
Biographical information
Aliases	Count Orlok Nosferatu
Gender	Male
Species	Vampire
Status	Deceased
Age	Implied to be old
Cause of Death	Reduced to ash by the sun
Skills	Fangs Claws Plague Strength
Occupation	Ruler of the Carpathian Mountains
Relations
Friends	Knock (Thrall)
Enemies	Thomas Hutter Ellen Hutter
Appearance
Based on	Count Dracula
Portrayed By	Max Schreck
Source

Count Orlok, also known simply as Nosferatu, is the main antagonist of the unauthorised 1922 German film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens. He is this film's incarnation of Bram Stoker's original character.

Biography

Past

Not much is known about the Nosferatu's past, though it is implied that he was spawned from the Seed of Belial, the lieutenant of Satan. Orlok resides inside a decaying castle in a lost corner of Carpathia, where he terrorises the people there over centuries by plagues.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

Count Orlok first poses as a nobleman from the Carpathian Mountains who moves to the city of Wisborg in Germany - he brings the plague with him as a result of his vampiric nature. He lives in a ruined castle high in the mountains and local townsfolk refuse to go anywhere near this castle, save for the film's protagonist, the young Thomas Hutter, the assistant of a Wisborg estate agent, who travels to his castle to show properties for sale in Wisborg.

Orlok conceals himself in one of his soil-filled coffins and is loaded onto a ship bound for Wisborg. On board the ship, he kills every crew member until only the captain and his first mate remain. Later when the first mate goes to the cargo hold to investigate, Count Orlok rises from his coffin, terrifying the first mate who jumps overboard in fear. The captain ties himself to the wheel of the ship when Count Orlok creeps up on him and kills him.

Upon his arrival in Wisborg, he spreads disease and plague, forcing the local authorities to declare a quarantine and provoking hysteria amongst the citizens. Orlok stalks and attacks Hutter's young wife, Ellen, in her room, but during the pleasure of drinking her blood, he is caught unaware by the rays of the rising sun. When he heard the crowing of a rooster, he suddenly realised his own flaw and was caught in the sunlight, which burns him away in a cloud of smoke, killing him and ending his reign of terror.

Appearance

The vampire in Nosferatu, Count Orlok, is faithful to certain aspects of the original character of which it is based on but with some changes to make him seem even more monstrous and inhuman: instead of simply possessing sharp and pointy nails, Orlok has inhumanly long claws wielded by very large hands and instead of long and sharp canines, he has sharp teeth all over his mouth with the front ones being long, sharp and very protruding from the mouth. Additionally, Orlok exhibits a very pronounced nose which could be an exaggeration of the aquiline nose of its counterpart in the novel. Like Dracula, Orlok has pointed ears but unlike the former, he lacks a moustache and is totally bald save for a pair of large gray eyebrows and some gray hair over the ears. The general feel that Orlok evokes is that of a creature totally devoid of any human traits and that can barely conceal itself, unlike Dracula who walks the streets of London in plain daylight with ease.