For over 100 years, Iceland’s ‘Dracula’ was not what it seemed… until a scholar uncovered the truth.
This tale involves a version of Bram Stoker’s famous vampire story. 🧛♂️
Published in Iceland between 1900 and 1901, it was called *Makt myrkranna*, which translates to *Powers of Darkness*.
For more than a century, most believed this was simply the Icelandic translation of Stoker’s original 1897 novel, *Dracula*.
However, this was far from the truth. The Icelandic version is a radically different story.
It features new characters, major plot divergences, and changes to Dracula’s own motivations and actions.
In *Makt myrkranna*, Dracula is depicted as a supporter of social Darwinism and the leader of an international conspiracy.
His goal was to overthrow Western democracy. This version was also more openly erotic and considerably shorter than Stoker’s book.
Icelandic literary scholars had long sensed something was unusual about this supposed translation.
It wasn’t until 2014 that Dutch scholar Hans Corneel de Roos studied *Makt myrkranna* in depth.
He confirmed it was more like a piece of fan fiction or a very loose adaptation, rather than a direct translation. 📚
The Icelandic text is now thought to come from a mysterious, longer Swedish adaptation called *Mörkrets makter* (*Powers of Darkness*), which was serialized from 1899 to 1900. This Swedish version also differed greatly from Stoker’s work.
The Icelandic version was first published in a magazine called *Fjallkonan*, or “The Mountain Lady.” This likely helped maintain the illusion that it was a standard translation for many years. 🇮🇸
The revelation about *Makt myrkranna* shows how stories can transform significantly as they cross cultural and linguistic borders, and how literary mysteries can hide in plain sight for generations.
