Transylvania - 15th century

[Tuxedo Mark]

I'm currently writing a screenplay for a Castlevania fan film that I hope to someday make. It's based on "Castlevania: Legends" for the original Game Boy and is about a rich aristocrat named Sonia Belmont that goes to kick Dracula's ass after her mansion is hit and her grandfather killed. Her grandpa taught her the mad skillz with the whip, and she can even see things that normal humans can't. And she can create fire that burns everyone near her. Badass. Anyway, in addition to adapting the story from the game and instruction manual into a screenplay for a low-budget fan film, I'm trying to add some historical and regional flavor into it.

My approach in doing this is to do so without explanation. These characters would be familiar with the things that they're talking about and wouldn't exposit for the audience's benefit. I have Latin Biblical quotes brought up that go untranslated. I throw in references to recent military defeats. I even found a very long list of Transylvanian superstitions (written by a woman that visited in the 19th century and which inspired Bram Stoker) that puts Mosaic law to shame in its sheer absurdity (okay, maybe not), and I plan to sprinkle some of these in where I can.

I found a very short list of notable events in Wikipedia's 1450 article that's not of much help (although I might have Sonia casually reference the wolves of Paris).

Basically, Sonia's life consists of training, because "your powers were meant for a higher purpose" (TM), and so she isn't doing the traditional, lady-like stuff like needlepoint and popping out babies.

But is there anything that I can have her do in her downtime (like during a break)? Right now, I'm having her play the harpsichord (mom taught her), practicing her writing (parents taught her), and riding her horse. Any other hobbies? Local games or whatever?

 

[DeathtoTrite]

First thing I should point out is that Vlad III "Dracula" was the ruler of Wallachia. There was and, to the best of my knowledge, never has been a country called Transylvania.

Second thing is that Wallachia (modern day Romania) was an Orthodox country, and as such, didn't use the Latin Vulgate-- that's a Catholic tradition.

As for references, the things you would want to definitely mention are 1) Fall of Constantinople 2) Stephen III of Moldavia, Skanderbeg of Albania, and Vlad Dracula of Wallachia's tremendous victories against vastly superior Ottoman armies. These are all incredibly important and nearby compared to events in France-- then a relative backwater.

Oh, another important note- Dracula was what Vlad III was known as even when alive-- it meant Son of the Dragon (or Devil).

Hobbies is one thing I'm not quite sure about.

 

[X Equestris]

There was a country known as Transylvania (the Principality of Transylvania), but it didn't come about until the 16th century. As DeathtoTrite said, the Vlad III ruled Wallachia.

As mentioned, Wallachia was Orthodox Christian. Transylvania was more diverse religiously speaking, with Catholicism and Calvinism being the biggest.

For hobbies, hunting and falconry were fairly popular amongst Medieval and Renaissance nobility.

 

[skip.knox]

Falconry is a good one. The harpsichord is possible but a bit of a stretch, since it was only invented in the early 1400s (or in the 1390s, depending on how you define the instrument). Weaving was a common occupation for noble women. The other historical comments here are dead on.

 

[TheCatholicCrow]

As mentioned, Wallachia was Orthodox Christian. Transylvania was more diverse religiously speaking, with Catholicism and Calvinism being the biggest.

I think you're referring to the 16th century (when The Protestant Reformation occurred) John Calvin was born in 1509 so spreading his religion in the 1400's would have been difficult

It is my understanding that there were some struggles between Romania & the Ottoman Turkish Empire. I believe at one point the head of the Romanian state even appealed to the Pope for "Christian" aid. This doesn't mean they were Catholic though - the Orthodox / Eastern catholics [lower case, not upper case] had a history of picking fights with Muslim nations and asking Catholics (upper case) to intervene and "help" only to run away or, in the case of the first crusade, not even show up but still expect to assume control over Jerusalem. I believe the Pope's reaction was a slightly more elegant version of "Hahaha nice try but no." Plus, there was quite a bit of stuff going on in the 1400's in the West. Cough- witch hunting -cough. I doubt Western Christendom had the resources to pour into Eastern Europe and fight their battle for them. Anyway, you should probably look this up more carefully but if I remember correctly, the Turks assumed control of the region shortly thereafter. It might have functioned as a semi-independent tributary state though I'm not entirely certain.

In addition to St Jerome's Vulgate Bible, I believe (St) Cyril & (St) Methodius created the Cyrillic text for the Slavic language(s) in order to write a translation of the Bible in the Cyrillic script. (We call it "Cyrillic" but I've also heard that what they actually made was what we know as the glagolitic script though supposedly they are pretty similar.)

As to Romanian culture, I'd recommend that you dig deep and not assume that modern Romanian culture is the same now as it was then. This of course sounds obvious but you'd be very surprised. What I mean is there's things we likely associate with the region like Borscht, plov, or Tuica (plum brandy) but you'd have to look at the history of each one in order to know whether it would actually have been a part of their culture. [For instance, French Cafes have become a cliche representation of their culture but if you were writing something that takes place in Paris in the 1400's and someone has a cup of coffee I'd laugh at you (and I'm not the only one) since coffee didn't hit Western Europe until about the 17th century]. Don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves and do some research.

If you can find some of those travel shows or documentaries on the region definitely give them a try. It might provide you with some great visual inspiration or something. You never know. Plus, I just really like those shows

Something I've seen get commonly mixed up is the distinction between the Romanian and the Romani ("gypsies") so when you're link hopping that's something to watch for since they are distinct ethnic & cultural groups (though are some Romani in Romania).
Of course they're home to some of the early legends of Strigoi.
Here's a few things to help get you started ...

Country Studies Romania

Folklore and Music

Architecture

Transylvanian Saxons

Hungarian and Transylvanian Images Maps & Resources

Religion in Medieval Transylvania

Hope this helps!

 

[X Equestris]

I'm well aware Transylvania and Calvinism didn't come around until the 16th century. Just providing relevant info for the respective countries, should the OP choose to set the story later in order to use the actual country of Transylvania.

 

[Tuxedo Mark]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll try to address some things:

The game specifically occurs in 1450. It's not mentioned in the game or the manual, but it was published in a timeline in a Japanese magazine fairly soon after the game came out. So, yeah, the movie occurs in 1450. I'm not changing that.

I know the harpsichord is pushing it, but I originally had it as a piano, so this is an improvement.

From the research that I'd done so far, it seems, at that time, the Catholics had the power and owned the land, and the Orthodox didn't.

I found Wikipedia articles on two Catholic churches that existed in Transylvania in the 1400s (and still do, though one of them was converted into a Lutheran church).

I've already dismissed hunting and falconry. I have them suggested to Sonia in the script, and it fills her with distaste.

Most of Sonia's day consists of training. Since this was, at the time of publication, the earliest story in the Castlevania timeline, she isn't given any concrete info on what, exactly, she's training for.

I have Sonia wear pants. One person was adamant that there were no pants in the 1400s. A quick Wikipedia search turned up an image of a pair of Germanic trousers from the 400s.

My screenplay is fairly unspecific in its instructions at this point. Few shot changes within a scene. Lack of specifics as to what the characters are eating (I plan to put only pre-Columbian European foods in the movie).

In order to explain why there's a girl named Sonia Belmont living in Transylvania, I have given her French ancestry on her father's side (mixed with Hungarian) and Russian ancestry on her mother's side (her mother is from Russia). Sonia describes herself as "a child of two faiths" and explains her mother converted to Catholicism.

I have incorporated the events of "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence" as a "forgotten history" in my screenplay. Timeline-wise, it occurs nearly 400 years earlier, but these two games never officially existed in the same timeline, since Legends had been booted out prior to Lament being made. Basically, Sonia's ancestor, Leon Belmont, was a baron that fought in the Crusades.

Lament also definitely divorced Dracula from Vlad, giving his official origin as a friend and fellow crusader of Leon named Matthias Cronqvist.

 

[Miskatonic]

Kaziglu Bey 1431. Vlad Țepeș has always fascinated me.

I've always felt that his representation in Castlevania was lacking.

 

[skip.knox]

1450, of course, would mean no reference to the fall of Constantinople. But plenty of references to its peril.

 

[Tuxedo Mark]

1450, of course, would mean no reference to the fall of Constantinople. But plenty of references to its peril.

Not directly, but Sonia does make some kind of statement/prediction that those that know the fall happens a few years later will "get".

Oh, I put in a musical box/clock that Sonia receives as a gift from her mother. It's probably anachronistic, but I thought it would be nice to have in there, and Castlevania is a series that features large, mechanical clock towers in pretty much every game, anyway.