Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away.

Looking at this through a lens of "hey maybe they aren't all racist stereotypes and actually would like to help". Admittedly the laughter and deliberate ignoring makes it harder this time around to interpret their reactions as anything but mocking. But it's that last line which I find most compelling. Resolutely. It can imply a sort of effort being put into turning away, that it might be very difficult to do. Like they find it genuinely painful to have to ignore someone screaming and begging for help. But they know they do have to.

Who knows what the hetman said. The laughter makes it seem like a joke, though a mean-spirited one. But maybe this is more of that black humor the coach driver showed on May 5 when he made jokes about Jonathan likely meeting many fierce dogs before he sleeps. He "looked round to catch the approving smile of the rest" with this line, and I think that making macabre jokes is a very human reaction to being force to deal with/live under the rule of Dracula. To a certain extent, what else can you even do but try to laugh about it? So perhaps the hetman says something along the lines of, "The Count's beloved guest is not so excited to continue his stay," and everyone laughs because yeah, you can say that again. But they all stop looking at him right away, because he is the Count's beloved guest and they know what that means. If Dracula wants to keep him then trying to help in any way would only bring danger down on their own heads. Also, by trying to ignore him, they're trying not to acknowledge that they are leaving someone in this situation.

If we go with the "the guy last time genuinely tried to deliver Jonathan's letter but Dracula took it from him by force" interpretation then perhaps one person has already been harmed or even killed for trying to aid this 'guest'. Maybe they've been warned about him prior to their arrival, even, told specifically not to acknowledge him. Who knows. Meanwhile, from Jonathan's POV, of course their laughter feels mocking, of course their avoidance is painful - not only because another shot at hope is slipping away but because they seem to be playing right into the view of them which Dracula himself worked to predispose Jonathan towards: loyal to Dracula and not caring about his plight.

But I personally like this interpretation much better. Not only is it less of a caricature, but it reinforces the trend of people/side characters for the most part being basically good and wanting to either help or just do their jobs, but getting used by/unable to stand up to Dracula along the way. Also, the disconnect between them feeling deeply uncomfortable and cracking jokes/avoiding looking at Jonathan to try and deal with that - but as a result of these actions being read by him as showing evidence of genuine amusement/lack of care - is honestly really good tragic horror to me.

Especially when it comes after this line: "With joy I hurried to the window..." I'm pretty sure that's the only time Jonathan has used the word 'joy'. Even despite his failure last time (and despite using some racist/insulting descriptions of them), he was initially delighted to hear and see other people. And then it all came crashing down, once again. The impact hits even harder if you choose to believe they didn't want this either, I think.

A lot of things about Jonathan in this journey is that it's all about Firsts. This is his first trip overseas, on his first big job, while ready to marry his first love, fresh out of his exams.

And everyone he meets in Transylvania can see it. He's so young, so inexperienced, and they don't want to see a life that's just begun be lost, so they're begging him to let them help, in broken German, in Slovakian, Hungarian, Romanian...

Jon he's really trying here cut him a break

(tumblr crunched the resolution of this comic a lot rip)

sdfghjkl Jonathan calling Dracula's vampire ladies ‘awful’ and then immediately clarifying that he's casting no aspersions on women, women are great, Mina is a woman after all

June 24th: The Brides: Hey, Drac, your pet, that you said we would be able to have soon, is escaping out the window. Dracula: No, that was me, I'm wearing his clothes as part of a Scheme (c). Dracula: Don't worry about it. June 25th: The Brides: *watching Jonathan carefully scale the walls* The Brides: ...There goes the Count again. That's fine.

God bless all the locals looking out for Jonathan Harker like giving him gifts and rosaries and praying for him. The carriage driver heard where he was going and made excellent time JUST to get him there an hour early so he could say "oh what a shame the count's not here let's go to town instead how's that sound?" which COULD have worked if Dracula didn't hire the buffest weirdest driver who just happened to pull up immediately after.

Everyone is trying SO HARD to keep this idiot foreigner safe and Jon is just over here like "uh I'm not Catholic but the woman putting the rosary around my neck is weeping so I guess I'll wear it to be polite on my way to Murder Hell Castle"

Since Dracula is a 400-year-old Count, he was initially the Feudal Lord in the region.

Considering that he then became a vampire whose castle symbolizes power and fear, where he reigns on and on by draining the people under his power and stealing what's precious to them for his own gain, he actually never stopped being a feudal lord.

Dracula eating the local brits like PEZ candy

With a second read of Jonathan's journey to Dracula's castle, more and more I find myself admiring the locals he meets along the way.

They've clearly been under the oppressive threat of Dracula for a long time--all of them show true fear in the face of him. He's paramount to the Devil itself to them, going off the words Jonathan translates. And that's totally understandable, considering he steals their children for his "brides" to eat, never mind what other things he may be subjecting them to.

With that context, it would be very easy for them to leave Jonathan to his fate. They could tell themselves there's nothing to be done for him already. They could be glad that he's Dracula's choice, even, if that chances a reprieve for them.

But many of them chose compassion over fear.

Every step of Jonathan's last leg to Dracula's castle has someone reaching out to prevent the tragedy in front of them.

The woman in the hotel begs him to leave, please leave, for your safety, and when he refuses she freely gives up what might be a precious belonging in the hope it will save him.

The people at the bench of the hotel try to bless him from evil.

A man in the coach points out a beautiful view of the mountain during the ride, perhaps wishing to give Jonathan one last moment of wonder before he vanishes into the horrors of the castle.

The coachman drives his horses to their limit in the desperate hope that he can make Jonathan miss the awaiting coach, and the other passengers do not begrudge him this risky move but instead urge him to go faster, faster!

Very little of helps, in the end. They cannot prevent the start of this tragedy. There's a very good chance they knew that themselves.

But by god were they willing to try.

A wealthy English lord, his lawyer, his lawyer's wife, his doctor, his other doctor, and a rich American businessman walk into a hotel. Why are they here?

Industrial espionage?

Rich people will bet on anything?

Why wouldn't an English lord bring his entourage to the notable off-season party town of Varna?

That lady is some kind of?? mystic?? running a scam???

They sure aren't explaining anything. To anybody.

Today Count Dogula proves he is a very bad boy who picks murderous fights with local dogs. But if we’re all in the habit of showing love to unnamed characters, I think the slain dog deserves appreciation too. 

Dracula has no interest in animals beyond controlling them. They’re just another weapon in his armory or they don’t register, like with the wolves. Meaning that Whitby dog was probably safely ignored outright. But this giant mastiff mix clearly went out of his way to 1) catch wind of Dracula’s abominable vibes and 2) immediately throw down with him, even in his (very likely) wolf form. Sure he lost--a dog’s going to lose to a vampire--but this tank of a good boy went for the Big Bad Bastard Wolf’s throat anyway.

What I’m saying is:

-Nameless Mastiff, you are a good boy and deserve respect 

-Count Dogula, I hope you enjoyed the welcome wagon to Whitby and that it included a sizable chunk getting bitten out of your ass, get wrecked xoxo

When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door—which they call by a name meaning "word-bearer"—came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityingly.

She was the one who warned everyone else on the coach about what was going to happen to Jonathan, and probably asked them to drive as fast as possible to save him at least for tonight! I mean, I knew this already but I hadn't thought too deeply about it before, and now I am extra emotional.

When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye.

Everyone nearby tried to guard him specifically before they left...!

One by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at Bistritz—the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye.

Everyone on the coach tried to protect Jonathan again. Just like the innkeeper's wife with her crucifix, they are giving up at least some of their own protections to do so. They didn't know about Jonathan until just before the ride, after all, so it's not like they had time to go fetch an extra from home or anything.

Sometimes the hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he evidently meant for grim pleasantry—for he looked round to catch the approving smile of the rest—"and you may have enough of such matters before you go to sleep."

The driver (and others smiling back) apparently have developed black humor pretty well. This appears to be a joke about how they all anticipate being menaced by Dracula's wolves. Possibly specifically with the thought that if they drive on without letting Jonathan get picked up, they'll be followed by the wolves - but as we saw, it turned out to be only Jonathan who had enough of such matters.

Everyone tried so, so hard to save him. They weren't able to confront Dracula directly of course, but they tried their best to avoid giving Jonathan up, at the very least on this of all nights. I can't imagine how ingrained the fear of disobeying Dracula must be to these people, yet they still did their best to try, if it meant saving an innocent person from his clutches.

Locals in Transylvania: Tourists really, really need to listen when we tell them about the supernatural horrors, lives literally depend on it.

Locals in Whitby: Yeah, there’s some local supernatural stuff but only tourists get worked up about it, makes it easier to sell them tat I suppose, lol.

Gotta love how the locals ALL react to Jonathan. They see him head to the wolf's jaws, one who is known for his taste for youth and go "oh that's a baby... I must give up my OWN good luck charm for this kid!"

Jonathan's whole beginning is such innocence facing its first big experience. Very first step out of the hearth.

It also juxtaposes with Jack, Quincey and Arthur, who are experienced men who have had many adventures overseas already!

Jonathan being a child in the eyes of the locals is something that has been discussed a lot, but I still feel for them. Because in a way, Jonathan is still a child, he is away from home, fresh from exams and with a fiancee, to have his first job in the field.

So the locals see this young man who doesn't even speak their language, but is polite, and has the kind of freshness that only inexperienced young people have in his eyes. They don't think much of it until he tells them (in broken german) where exactly he is going. Then, after Jonathan's revelation what the locals only see is a walking corpse, or worse another young soul trapped for eternity.

What the inkeepeer's wife sees is a lonely mother in a candle lit home, waiting and waiting for any kind of news of her son, looking at the window for hours so she doesn't miss the arrival of that young man she raised, and sent to a foreing land.

What the locals see is another victim. It seems that horrible being lost the fascination for the taste of their young (or has already devoured so many), and now he is bringing more innocent young people to his cursed tomb of a castle.

So they try, and try to keep that young man away, but he is a stubborn english man (it's his first job he can't mess it up).

They see the determination of his eyes (or desesperation and confusion), and let him go.

Maybe if they give him some protections he can put the clues together, and survive (it's impossible). Maybe if the coachman goes faster than that devil he can make the young man wait for tomorrow.

Compare Jonathan to these charming men, older than him, who had already seen so much more. The three of them have the kind of "mindset" that Jonathan lacks when it comes to danger. However, I think that even with all of their experience, none of them would have survived what Jonathan has been through in the course of these days.

I know it sounds unbelievable, or even cruel. Still, based on their characters, and the kind of masculine archetype that each of them represent, would Arthur, Quincey and Jack see through Dracula? Absolutely they aren't fools. Would they survive the kind of game that Dracula has been playing with Jonathan? I don't think so.

I'm laughing so hard. Lisa straight up kills a bat for no reason in the first episode. Now I'm just imagining this was an impulse reaction, like it flew at her face and startled her, because if you're seeking help from the man rumored to be a vampire, killing one of his 'maybe' pets probably isn't a great way to kick things off.

My new headcanon is Dracula can become a colony of bats like Lenore and Alucard can, so he was in fact the swarm in the opening scene getting an incognito look at who was at the front door, where he got stabbed out of nowhere, and then had to quickly play it off like it didn't happen. Lisa never found out but suspected for years.

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet about Dracula Daily is how funny it is that Dracula spends the whole time in the castle with Jonathan at the beginning working to perfect his English so that when he arrives in England he can present as a proper gentleman

And then he arrives in England and proceeds to interact with absolutely no one

The only documented conversation we have at this point is with the zookeeper that lasted approximately .02 seconds and ended with him being told to fuck off