Count Dracula is a vampire in Bram Stoker’s novel.
Published in 1897, Dracula presents its title character as an undead Transylvanian nobleman who survives by drinking blood. He can transform into forms including a bat, wolf, or mist, but those abilities do not change his fundamental identity: he is a vampire.
The character helped define the modern fictional vampire. Stoker combined older European vampire folklore with Victorian fears about disease, invasion, sexuality, and degeneration. Dracula’s aristocratic manners and educated speech also distinguish him from the corpse-like monsters found in some earlier traditions.
A common mix-up comes from later adaptations. Some films give Dracula powers or origins not stated in the novel, and the historical prince Vlad III Dracula is sometimes treated as the character’s exact real-life identity. Stoker borrowed the name and some historical associations, but his Count is a fictional supernatural creature.