The historian sheds only a drop of blood“Humanity's worst impulses can survive for generations, centuries and even millennia. And the best of our individual efforts may die with us at the end of a single life” (Kostova 136). That phrase is contained in one of Rossi's personal letters in which he talks about Vlad the Impaler and his desire to find him. The legend of Vlad Tepes continues to confuse people for centuries. Many feared him, literary works portrayed him as a ravenous, bloodsucking villain, which is exactly what he was. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is primarily an accurate depiction of the life and works of Vlad the Impaler, or what they call Dracula. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Historian is a novel told by an unnamed young woman in 1972 Amsterdam. It begins when he finds an old book on his father's shelf. The narrator's father, Paul, begins to orally tell what had happened after he bought that book when he was younger, confronting his professor. But, when she finds letters from her father's old professor addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor", she becomes connected to her father's past, to her late mother's past, and stumbles upon what appears to be one of the darkest secrets and best kept in the world, by Vlad the Impaler. Her father tells her how her professor, Rossi, mysteriously disappeared in the 1950s, after giving Paul his notes and informs him that he believes Dracula is still alive. After Rossi's mysterious disappearance, Paul decides to do some research on Vlad Dracula, only to meet Rossi's unknown daughter, named Helen, in the library while reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula". After hearing her father's story from Paul, Helen becomes interested in the topic and begins traveling with Paul to discover the secret that has been hidden since the 15th century. The narrator becomes interested in her father's story and begins researching Dracula herself during a trip through Europe in the 1970s. Not wanting her to get into trouble, her father decides to send her home, she doesn't stay there. A letter from his father states that he is looking for his mother, previously thought dead. The letters Paul has sent reveal the rest of her story, and it begins to become clear to her that Helen is her mother. Through the letters, Paul writes that he and Helen travel to Istanbul, to find that another professor has discovered the same book that he and Rossi had found. From there, he and Helen travel to Hungary to try to find Dracula's grave and meet Helen's mother only to discover her mother's past and discover that her mother, Helen, and the narrator are descendants of Vlad Tepes, Dracula same. As his journey continues towards Hungary, he comes to an abrupt stop when he finds his father and realizes that the legend is true and that Dracula is indeed still alive. In The Historian, there is a lot of talk about the country of Wallachia, commonly known as Romania. It was founded by a man named Radu Negru. Wallachia was dominated by Hungary until its independence in 1330. The first ruler of the newly formed country ruled under the name of Prince Basarab the Great. Vlad Tepes III was born in the winter of 1431. Although not much is known about his childhood, it is known that he had an older and a younger brother. Vlad Tepes III was educated by his mother, a young woman from Transylvania. As he grew up, his life became a struggle. He was imprisoned by the Ottomans and there he first experienced and observed impalement. His father was driven out of the country, stripped of his crown, and killed in the marshes near Balteni, Wallachia, in 1447.Vlad, Mircea, was brutally tortured, blinded, and then burned alive. It is uncertain whether these events pushed Vlad “Dracula” to transform into a ruthless killer. What is known is that once he was released from Ottoman captivity after his death his reign of terror began. In 1453, when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, Vlad brought his troops to defend Wallachia from invasion. His battle was victorious in 1456, where he beheaded his opponent, Vladislav II. To honor his victory, but to punish those who opposed him, he invited hundreds of guests for a banquet, only to have each of them stabbed and then impaled (Vlad). When Vlad Tepes impaled his victims, a large, rounded pole was forced through the rectum and extended into the body, exiting near the shoulders or mouth. A blunt pole would be used to avoid damaging internal organs, thus making death a longer and more agonizing process (Information). It would appear that Vlad Dracula had absolutely no empathy, but this was called into question when he wrote to an ally saying: "I killed peasants, men and women, old and young, who lived in Oblucitza and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea." … We killed 23,884 Turks, not counting those we burned in the houses or the Turks whose heads were cut off by our soldiers… So, Your Highness, you must know that I have broken the peace” (Cooper). It is known that Vlad Tepes killed over 80,000 people, almost 20,000 were impaled and displayed outside the city of Targoviste, so that people traveling, especially from Constantinople, would see the rotting bodies being targeted by the crows, so they they went. . What makes the situation more disturbing is that Vlad Dracula is said to have dipped his bread in the blood of his victims, thus creating the legend of vampirism. Vlad Tepes died in battle, himself being beheaded. He was buried without his head, displayed in Constantinople, and buried in a torture chamber (Miller). As Paul talks to his daughter, the unnamed narrator tells us of a battle between the Vlachs and the Turks, "His (Dracula) audacity was such that in 1462 he crossed the Danube and made a night raid on horseback... In this raid he killed thousands of Turkish soldiers, and the Sultan barely escaped with his life” (Kostova 54). That event is true and is infamously known as “The Night Raid”. out of Wallachia. They massacred thousands of Turks by cutting their throats. The Wallachian army numbered only about 50,000 soldiers. They knew they could not face the large army of the other Turks, so they resorted to a sharp, but bloody, scorched earth tactic. The Turkish army entered Wallachia, but had to face a very hot summer and, with little food and water, thousands of Turks abandoned due to disease and marched alone into the heart of Wallachia, thus making the small Wallachians win the battle (Sparks ). at various points in the book he shows little snippets of random facts about Vlad Tepes, recounting special events that may or may not have influenced his way of life, as in a series of letters from Rossi, he explains: “...Dracula was chased by the Turks , and did not return to the place when he reigned in Wallachia again in 1476, shortly before being killed” (Kostova 391). It is in fact proven that Vlad Tepes, Dracula, was driven out of his country, Wallachia, by the Turks, but then returned. Only then, in December 1476, was he killed (Historical). Vlad the Impaler was truly as morbid as many films portray him, and enjoyed watching his enemies shed blood. On page 80, the narrator says “…Sultan Mehmed II had once sent two ambassadors to Dracula. When the ambassadors showed up.