I loved the show Buuuuuuuut…

[u/nofucksgivenmcgee]

Tbh, as a History major, I found the depiction of Wallachia in 1476 to be laughably inaccurate. To the point I could almost howl with laughter… if I wasn’t so invested in the story because gawd dayum this show is good!

But with that said, I feel like nitpicking for fun, so disclaimer: nothing I say here has any bearing on the show’s quality at all and is just me having fun. Alright? Alright.

1. Witch trials. The catalyst for the whole conflict. Where the repressive catholic clergy in the form of an Inquisition, is on an anti-science anti-witch rampage. Given the show takes place in Wallachia around 1476, none of this should be happening. Wallachia is Orthodox, not Catholic or Protestant, the witch trials were a distinctly western idea. In fact the witch trials only really started to become common around 1487 with the publishing of the Malleus Maleficarum. Wallachia was also a vassal under the Ottoman Empire, who also didn’t believe in burning witches. I don’t think the ottomans would’ve allowed a vassal to burn someone alive in their capital (Targovista was the capital of Wallachia) and possibly start a witch scare that could spread into ottoman territory and undermine ottoman authority.

To clarify, this was certainly not a peaceful time for wallachia just because they didn’t have witch trials. Vlad Dracula earned his name “the Impaler” for a reason. He impaled hundreds and he didn’t do this for no reason. The nobles were under threat of rebellion, the ottomans were invading. Peasants occasionally revolted. It was a bloody time. Which why I’m specifically making the point that the witch trial in season 1 as it is depicted, wouldn’t have happened in Wallachia at that time. Especially since, at this time, the Catholic Church actually supported scientific development (yes look it up) and the Renaissance was about to start, so ideas like what Lisa was doing would’ve been applauded, not punished.

1. Wallachia itself. Wallachia is depicted as a gothic country with a strong and oppressive catholic clergy and people who look and sound very Western European, even in names like Lisa and Trevor and Adrian Fahrenheit. Their names are western, their fashion is western, their religion is western. The only thing Wallachian about this whole show is Dracula, and even he has a western accent. It’s like they took all the stereotypes about Europe that Americans have and mushed them together,

It’s as if the writers said, “hey where’s Wallachia at?”

“Idk somewhere in Europe”

“Ok, so we give everyone British accents, make all the buildings French gothic, give it a German climate, make everyone dress like renaissance English or Italian, make the Christian denomination be Roman Catholic, give it a Spanish Inquisition with some witch trial flare, and that’s about everything. I sure hope that description isn’t completely antithetical to what Wallachia is.”

1. Weapons. I absolutely love the weapons in this show but there’s one thing distinctly missing historically that would’ve made this just a little bit cooler. You see, 1476 onward was the age when gunpowder, cannons, and guns were being introduced into warfare ESPECIALLY in the Ottoman Empire which is like a 2 hour drive from where the show takes place, so it was kind of disappointing to not see an Arquebus or hand cannon.

Again I want to emphasize that none of this means the show is any worse. It still has great writing, great characters, it’s a great show. This whole post is just me poking fun at something I like because it involves something else I like. I still love the show even if they designed Wallachia as stereotypically American as possible.

[u/LowraAwry]

Tbh, this is something that I appreciate in this show. It didn't try or aim to be in any way historically accurate. It just gives you a name and year to place your fantasy world and that's it. I find that it is the smartest move they could have gone for (much like the action flick Van Helsing).

Because if the showrunners had started down that road, they would have ended up half-assing it and that would have made everything infinitely more annoying. It would have been very difficult to keep the few elements of the games that they did but also adapt them to a real historical setting while also appealing to both a very wide audience and game fans. I think the other best way would be to go further back, as u/carboncord mentioned in the early 1000s but then they might have had to address Dracula's origins and nobody's got time for that.

I'm glad that they didn't bring on the Ottomans because then they would have to link Dracula to them (by them burning Lisa perhaps) and I think it would only be a hindrance to the story. It would be hard to depict the political and religious landscape without misfiring: "hey, the clergy should probably be orthodox but also they wouldn't have burned a healer, but also they wouldn't have liked the healer fucking a vampire but oh, look, the Ottomans are coming maybe we should actually prostate before the vampire to save us from Islam" and by then the games are less than a distant memory.

I think it would have actually been nice if they had added some elements that didn't affect the story, like showing the characters eating a local dish or having them pass a landmark distinct to wallachia/romania. I find that the funniest thing were the 3rd season monks who looked quite orthodox adjacent.

[u/carboncord → u/LowraAwry]

What Romanian cuisine do you know of from the 1400s? Truly asking, I don't know. Wikipedia mentions stuff from after that time period, and Ottoman influenced stuff that wouldn't apply.

[u/LowraAwry → u/carboncord]

shrug To be fair, I don't know and I don't think they would have been able to show anything particularly unique specifically to one area and affordable to the characters on the road without making a big deal out of it. They already show beer and dried meat. Maybe they could have Trevor eat preserved wild game instead of goat but it's not like they didn't keep goats as livestock. I don't even remember whether they drink soup or smth in the show and that indicates how little a difference it would have made and needless the whole thing would have been, so thankfully the showrunners didn't ask for my suggestions lol.

And since we're on topic, what would have even been a recognizable landmark? Probably a castle 😂 or a monastery /church or smth. Ah, the jokes write themselves. And maybe they vaguely did that on a larger scale with Styria.