Vlad Plasmius

Vlad Plasmius (Vlad Masters's alter ego)

Vladimir "Vlad" Masters (also known as Vlad Plasmius) is a fictional character, a supervillain from the television show Danny Phantom. He serves as the main antagonist throughout the series, mostly as Danny's arch-enemy. Vlad's primary goal is to kill his former friend, Jack Fenton because he blames him for ruining his life, and/or "steal" his wife, Maddie, because he is madly in love with her and desperately wants a family.

After he discovers that Jack's son is actually "Danny Phantom," he tries to win him over so that he can adopt him and mold him into the perfect (evil) half-ghost son and eventual successor. He calls Danny "Daniel" or rarely, the more affectionate "little badger"-- a term which originated from his college football team whose mascot a badger).

Vlad is also a devoted Green Bay Packers fan, going as far as decorating the entrance hall of his castle in Packers paraphernalia, building a football stadium outside his home, and trying to buy the team itself. He is voiced by Martin Mull.

Appearances/History

Origin

Vlad just moments before he would receive his ghost powers.

Much of Vlad's past life is unknown; but it is shown that he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison alongside his best friend Jack Fenton, and love interest, Maddie. Vlad's friendship with Jack ended during an experiment with a prototype ghost portal they had built when it overloaded and he was blasted in the face with ectoplasmic energy. (Jack had accidentally poured diet soda in the filtrator instead of ecto-purifier). Afterwards, Vlad was apparently forced to stay in the hospital for years with a serious case of resulting "ecto-acne" which ruined his social life, his spirits, and chances of proposing to Maddie. However, after he had recovered, he realized that he had gained white hair and developed ghost-like abilities.

He spent the next bitter 20 years honing and taking advantage of his newfound powers, and using them for his own personal gain in order to become rich and famous. He possessed wealthy business tycoons to make them hand their companies over to him, he took part in invisible insider stock market trading, and committed many invisible burglaries in order to amass his vast fortune. He currently owns a company named "VladCo" (which would buy out Axion Labs later on) and has been featured in a number of magazines ("Affluence" magazine named him "Man of the Year" in 1997, and he apparently took over Microsoft renaming it to "MasterSoft," etc.)

Mysterious Occurrence

Despite the fact that Vlad made his first appearance in the episode, "Bitter Reunions", he reveals to Danny that he had sent the Ectopusses in the first episode to test Jack (and potentially Skulker as well). Also in "Bitter Reunions", Vlad sends three of his ghost vulture henchmen to kill Jack Fenton, only to be thwarted by Danny who discovers their plan, but does not know their motive.

Despite their failure, Vlad invites the Fentons to a college reunion at his castle-like mansion in Wisconsin. However, it was really just part of a plot to humiliate Jack and to get his wife Maddie, the woman of his dreams, to leave Jack and join Vlad. Danny (as well as his sister Jazz) are dragged along, and the boy immediately has decidedly mixed feelings about the well-off man. He later confronts the ghost named 'Vlad Plasmius' when his ghost sense alerts him to his presence that night, and he discovers that he is easily outmatched by the stronger, more powerful ghost after he is knocked unconscious during their fight. Danny Phantom then unwillingly transforms back to Danny Fenton in front of him, and Vlad realizes that he is Jack's son. He remains tight-lipped about the fact until the day of the actual reunion.

At the night of the reunion, Vlad casually asks Danny to go down to the lab to get a present for Jack, but Danny is deceived when Skulker captures Danny with the ghost-neutralizer. Vlad enters and reveals to Danny who he is, ultimately giving Danny the chance to join up with him and help him further hone his powers in exchange for renouncing his father. Danny angrily declines, leaving Vlad to put the next phase of his plan into action. He possesses Jack, makes him cause chaos during the reunion to ruin his reputation, then captures Maddie Fenton. Danny (eventually freed by a friendly ghost that haunts Vlad's house) uses the Fenton RV to stop him. Danny ironically blackmails Vlad by threatening to expose the both of them to his parents unless they call a truce, to which Vlad agrees, though he vowed to return.

Arch Nemesis

Vlad appears later as the mysterious provider of Valerie's infamous ghost hunting suit and weapons, although she is unaware of his true intentions behind it. Vlad made a full return when he staged a plan that involved the inconspicuous "DALV" group ("Vlad" spelled backwards) inviting Maddie and Danny to a mother/son science convention. When Maddie takes a reluctant Danny along as an attempt to bond with him, the two are both tricked into parachuting out of their plane, conveniently finding themselves at Vlad's Rocky Mountain retreat. There, Vlad attempts to convince them both to stay with him by confessing his undying love for Maddie. They refuse and storm off.

Vlad attempts to chase them both back by means of sending his mutated ghost animals after them- the bodies of which can be seen mounted in his hunting-lodge style living room. While Maddie attempts to find a way out of the wilderness, Danny confronts Vlad, who shorts out Danny's powers for a set period of time with a device he invented (the "Plasmius Maximus"), and leaves him at the mercy of his ghost animals. However, Danny is saved by his mother and with little choice, is forced to return to Vlad's home to find a means to get back to Amity Park. Maddie uses her charm on Vlad to find a phone, which makes Danny sick as she pretends to like him. She goes off to make the call while Danny, left alone with Vlad, falsely declares him as his "new dad" to let his guard down. Successfully tricking Vlad by setting back his clock (which shows how much time is left until Danny's powers return), he wraps the Specter Deflector around Vlad, which weakens him considerably for a fairer battle. Danny ultimately defeats Vlad by convincing the ghosts of the animals that Vlad had killed to turn against him by saying,"Hey, why after me? I'm not the one who turned your pelts into wall art!"(as well as disabling his powers with the Plasmius Maximus).

Vlad's next plan has him traveling into the Ghost Zone in search of the Skeleton Key, an item that enables him to open "any door, travel to any realm, and free any prisoner". When Behemoth (the guardian of the key) appears, Vlad easily overpowers him, but this is only an initial success and Vlad is soon defeated as Behemoth throws him out of the Ghost Zone back through his portal, and back into his manor without the key. However, he realizes that he had forgotten to change the "Ecto-Filtrator" on his ghost portal, and it explodes, destroying his castle mansion. Due to this, Vlad plans to steal the Fentons' ghost portal. Needing to distract Danny so he can have the time to dismantle it, he offers a million dollar bounty on the ghost boy to distract him. Ghost hunters from all over gather to capture him, which doesn't bother Danny due to the incompetence of most of them. However, when Danny spots the ghost vultures making off with Sam and Tucker, he races after them, only to be brutally beaten by Plasmius, who appears and reveals his intention to humiliate Jack as well, before leaving.

Danny feels pity for his father and his ineptitude, so he allows himself to be caught to boost his terrible reputation as a ghost hunter. But when Jack leaves to claim his reward, the two are both captured by Vlad who then proceeds to steal their ghost portal. Working together, Jack and Danny escape and head for the Portal, where Vlad brutually insults Jack. In a moment of rarity, Jack successfully uses the ghost gauntlets to beat Vlad and throws him into the Ghost Zone. A humiliated Vlad soon turns gleeful when he obtains the key shortly afterwards. The skeleton key would be put to use when Vlad winds up releasing the ghost king Pariah Dark when he tries to steal the king's treasures: the "Crown of Fire" and the "Ring of Rage." To combat the king, Vlad and Danny call a temporary truce and fight off Pariah's forces. Vlad ultimately locks Pariah Dark back into his sarcophagus prison just as Danny, armed with the Ecto-Skeleton (The Fenton's latest invention), passes out from the exertion of using it to fight Pariah back inside of it. Taking advantage of the situation, Vlad steals the Ecto-Skeleton, and claims to Maddie and Jack that he rescued Danny to worm his way back into their good graces.

Alternate Repentance

In an alternate future, Danny, orphaned upon the death of his family and friends, moves in with Vlad, seeing as he was "the only person left on the planet who could possibly hope to understand his situation". Vlad takes Danny in with open arms and honors his wishes when a seriously depressed and desperate Danny begs Vlad to remove his ghost half from him, claiming that the memory of it causes him too much pain. During the process, Danny's ghost half becomes enraged, and turns on Vlad, tearing Vlad's ghost half away from his human half and inadvertently merging himself with it, resulting in the birth of Dark Danny. With evil having completely consumed him, Dark Danny kills the human Danny, destroys Vlad's mansion, and begins a 10-year long rampage of world destruction while the human Vlad just barely escaped.

When the present-day Danny, trapped in the future due to the future evil Danny (Dark Danny) fusing a Clockwork medallion within him, arrives in what's left of Vlad's mansion, he finds Vlad, now reduced to a miserable old hermit. The only advantage of this, he says, is that it's given him time to realize what a fool he'd been. In a rare moment for both characters, Vlad shows repentance for his misdeeds while Danny, in a way, forgives him, "Maybe that's all anybody needs, a second chance". Vlad ultimately played a part in returning present-day Danny back to the past to correct his mistake by removing the time medallion from within him.

Vlad vs. Danny.

Vlad's next big plan has him hiring Skulker to steal various materials to improve the stolen Ecto-Skeleton's power. When Danny's sister, Jazz, arrives with the intent to move in with him, because her father's "an idiot," Vlad wastes no time in convincing Jack and Maddie to let her stay a while. However, he doesn't realize that Jazz's true motive is to investigate him in secret (whom Jazz knows has a ghost form after hacking into Danny's secret files) and his possible connection to Skulker's thefts. Vlad starts getting suspicious when Jazz recognizes a captured Danny Phantom, and orders Jazz to prove her loyalty by putting on the ecto-skeleton and destroying her brother, lest she be destroyed herself. Danny and Jazz, however, get the last laugh by outsmarting Vlad by means of a mock battle, escaping while he's confused, and setting the ecto-skeleton to self-destruct.

Desperation

In the episode Masters of all Time, Vlad comes down with another outbreak of lethal ecto-acne. Infecting Sam and Tucker with the same disease, he blackmails Danny into helping him. Taking a different route, Danny convinced Clockwork to send him to the past to save Vlad from getting hit by the porto-portal blast, to ensure a future without Vlad Plasmius. However, due to Danny's interference in the past, Jack accidentally got caught in the blast and Jack becomes infected with the ecto-acne and ultimately becomes an angry, bitter "Jack Plasmius." In this "alternate present", Vlad (ironically still possessing his white hair) is married to Maddie, has become the new Wisconsin Dairy King, and supposedly lives as a simple dairy farmer. However, he is still a very controlling individual, as he forbids his wife Maddie from continuing her ghost research (although she still continues it in secret). He also lies to her by telling her that Jack had blamed her for the accident and never wants to see her again. However, Danny tells her the truth in that it wasn't true and that Jack still loves her. She is enraged that Vlad had lied to her. When Vlad discovers Maddie's secret basement lab, he's shocked to see Jack still alive and still thoroughly in love with Maddie. He blasts at him out of jealousy, apparently killing him, angering Maddie who quickly throws him into the Ghost Zone. Danny returns to Clockwork's lair afterwards where he changes the past back to the way it originally was. Gaining knowledge of a cure, Vlad, Tucker, and Sam are cured afterwards.

Vlad eventually takes drastic and desperate measures when he tries to create a clone of Danny (getting various samples of Danny's DNA secretly from their battles, in addition to his battles with Valerie). He managed to spawn a few imperfect versions (due to the lack of a mid-morph sample from Danny), including Dani Phantom, a slightly younger, female version of Danny. He eventually uses her in helping to capture Danny himself. However, Danielle betrays Vlad after seeing who her "father" truly was, one who didn't care at all for her and saw her as nothing but a tool. Siding with her "cousin" Danny, the two attack Vlad, causing him to collide with the main "primary" clone, destroying him. Gravely upset over the loss of his most stable creation, Vlad was seconds away from killing Danielle if not for Danny's ghostly wail, Sam and Tucker's timely rescue, and eventually Danielle herself.

Politics and New Grounds

After a series of pranks between Vlad and Danny, the former runs for mayor of Amity Park, winning by overshadowing the voters and making them choose him. He then makes life miserable for Danny by banning technology and Danny Phantom, installing new school uniforms, and tearing down the Nasty Burger to make way for a new restaurant, "McMasters," from which teenagers are banned. Danny eventually apologizes for his pranks, but Vlad refuses to, leading Danny to try and announce to the public that Masters and Plasmius are the same. This fails when a Plasmius double appears in front of Danny, the public, and a human Vlad Masters. While the duplicate and Danny fight, Vlad, trying to make himself look good in public, attempts to kill his Plasmius double until Danny overshadows it and flies him to Vlad's limo just as the mayor opens fire. Pulled from the wreckage is an injured Danny Fenton, and an angry public blames Vlad for hurting an innocent child. As a result he goes into damage-control mode and turns everything back to normal; his battle with Danny far from over.

Vlad later steals the famed "Infi-Map" from Danny and his friends. This powerful ghostly map takes the user to any part of the Ghost Zone that they want to go to instantly, and Vlad feels that he can use it to take over the realm. Danny and friends get involved in a wild goose chase through various portals opening all over the world (The Bermuda Triangle, etc.) and throughout various time periods to bring the map back. They eventually succeed when Vlad ends up landing in the realm of the "Far Frozen," where Frostbite, the original guardian of the map, along with his people, freeze him. It is also revealed in this episode that Vlad owns a cat fittingly named Maddie at that point, a suggestion Danny made in an earlier episode. The cat increasingly grows bigger and nastier over the course of the show.

To further his appeal as mayor, Vlad disguises a barometer that controls the weather ghost Vortex as his "rain machine" to bring about rain upon Amity Park's recent drought. The plan later backfires when Vortex rebels and the barometer breaks, causing him to go on a rampage on Earth and accidentally transfers his own set of weather powers to Danny, which are triggered by his emotions. Vlad tries to keep Danny calm and pleased at all times so that it remains sunny, while Sam and Tucker scope Vortex out and bring him back to Amity Park, where he is defeated by Danny. Vlad blames the whole mess on Danny Phantom in public. Vlad made a cameo when the Fentons moved next door to him when they briefly became extremely wealthy. and as one of the ghostly villain Nocturne's sleeping victims.

Final Fall

Upon Danielle's return, Vlad hires Valerie to capture her for him. With her under his possession once again, he planned to dissolve her entire body to study her remains in order to create a better, more functional clone. Danny, managing to gain help from a hesitant Valerie, stopped him in time, sparing Dani's life and warning Vlad to leave her be.

Planning to destroy Danny Phantom once and for all, Vlad hired a new team of Ghost Catchers--Vid, Thrash, and Download--also known as the "Masters' Blasters" team to replace and humiliate Danny, in what he hopes will cause the boy to stop his ghost hunting once and for all. When an asteroid was knocked towards Earth by Vlad's satellite (having exploded accidentally), he revealed his dual identity to the world and promised to stop the asteroid from destroying Earth by making it intangible in exchange for over $500 billion and complete control over the entire world. However, he later finds out that the asteroid was composed of an anti-Ghost element called ectoranium, making it so he (and any other ghosts) couldn't touch it, and therefore could not make it intangible. Unable to save the planet and return home (due to the fact that he would be forever hunted now that he had revealed his secret, in addition to an angry Jack leaving him in space), he remained guilt-ridden and stranded in space, realizing he has lost everything. Although the asteroid struck him in the end, his final fate is unknown, but due to the comic nature of the event it is likely he survived.

Personality and Weakness

"Maybe that's all anyone needs; a second chance."

Vlad's general outer appearance showcase him as a well to do man; rich, debonair, suave, clever, manipulative, intelligent, and mysterious. He plans out his well strategized ideas to get what he wants, when he wants it, showcasing patience as well as a slick side. He isn't above using others as his pawn in his well played game of chess to reach further into his goals, never giving up when he is down and going into another phase of his multi-plans. To compensate for his losses, Vlad savors the small personal victories (such as in "Bitter Reunions" where he lost the battle, but pointed out Danny's blackmailing before leaving). When under stress, he frequently shouts out snack names ("Oh, butter biscuits", "Oh, sugar cookies", etc). He usually works alone, but has required help from Skulker several times, as well as the vulture ghosts, ectopusses, and the failed clones. It is also probable that he struck a deal with the Fright Knight.

He's a complicated soul, however, often a double edged sword as he uses the wrong methods (killing, stealing, etc.) to gain the right, namely his painful loneliness and wanting acceptance of love which he frequently shares with Maddie and especially Danny or to try and gain the things he can't have (Maddie and Danny). Unfortunately this is also used to his disadvantage when his emotions were often used to trick him into losing a battle. However, the fact that he retains such emotions shows that he is not above redemption.

Though he is powerful, (having more than 20 years of ghost experience as compared to Danny), Vlad is not invincible. Like other ghosts (and half ghosts), Vlad is vulnerable to the various (Fenton) ghost gadgets. Danny's Ghostly Wail (a sonic scream) and Ghostly Ice (Cryokinesis) are also clear advantages, seeing as these are powers that Vlad seems to lack, giving Danny a substantial edge, while Vlad's powers have remained consistent throughout the series. His arrogance has also proven to be a significant disadvantage; on one occasion when he fought Jack as Plasmius- Jack, naturally, being unaware of his identity as Vlad Masters- part of the reason for his defeat was the fact that he was so surprised at Jack's ability to successfully battle him that he didn't launch any effective attacks. He (like all ghosts) is also powerless against the anti-ghost element Ectoranium, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Relationships

Danny Phantom (Daniel Fenton)

Quite possibly the one whom he desires the most, Vlad's first meeting with Danny was nothing special up until he discovered that the boy was a half-ghost, just like him. With that knowledge, Vlad has since pursued Danny, trying to convince him to renounce his father, and become his adopted son/successor. However, often he tries to use Danny in order to get another phase of his plan(s) moving and isn't above being manipulative towards him. Yet, the other side of his personality shows an antagonistic paternal bond towards the boy, giving him advice and indicating that the two of them were a lot more alike then Danny cares to admit. By the time of "Eye for an Eye", Vlad now sees Danny as a full time rival rather than the son he yearns for out of frustration towards the boy.

Dani Phantom

Created as one of Vlad's many failed attempts to clone Danny, Danielle (Dani) was the only one of his clones blessed with a mind of her own, the ability to think for herself, and an individual personality (as opposed to the other mindless clones, whose only coherent thoughts were to "obey father"). As a result, Vlad temporarily treated Danielle as if she were his actual daughter in order to keep her trust. However, Danielle's ghost-half was unstable, and she would begin to melt into ectoplasmic goo if she exerted herself too much. Vlad convinced her that if she captured Danny Phantom, he could use his "mid-morph" DNA to help stabilize her, and she agreed. In truth, Vlad intended to destroy and dispose of her once he had succeeded in perfecting his ultimate Danny clone.

When Danielle discovered the truth about her "father", she turned on him and left. When she later returned in a much more weakened state, Vlad made Valerie fetch her in order for him to melt her so as to study her remains to see how she had survived so long, and so he could learn how to make a more-perfect clone. Danny and Valerie ended up rescuing her. She has powers just like Danny, but not a ghostly wail, not just yet.

Maddie Fenton

The woman Vlad desires; he has repeatedly declared that he is in love with her and will do anything to get her, mostly killing Jack who serves as an obstacle. Obsessed with her (even to create an AI holographic computerized program of her), his alternate self owned and controlled her like an object rather than a person. Maddie is indifferent to Vlad due to his confession that he loved her (in Maternal Instincts) and continues to harbor mixed feelings towards him even after he apparently rescued Danny in "Reign Storm". By the last episode, she considers him deplorable when he reveals his true nature and blackmails the nations of the world.

Jack Fenton

Jack was once Vlad's best friend in college, but his accidental ghost portal mistake and marriage to Maddie has left Vlad bitter. While Jack is oblivious to Vlad's hatred, Vlad has taken it upon himself to try and humiliate and kill Jack whenever the opportunity arises, only to traditionally be thwarted by Danny (Although on one particularly humiliating occasion he was defeated by Jack while in ghost form). Eventually, Vlad reveals himself as a ghost to the world and blackmails all the nations for money and power to save the earth from an approaching asteroid- and Jack is overwhelmed by shock.

When Vlad realizes that he would be unable to stop the asteroid from colliding with Earth, Vlad begs Jack to let him board the spaceship they went on, which Jack had denied. Thus their friendship had ended. After that, Vlad showed remorse for what he has caused and apparently he realized he lost the one true friend he had ever had.

Valerie Gray

She was given her ghost hunting gears by Vlad and has since used them to her fullest ability until "Flirting with Disaster" (in which the suit was destroyed by Nicolai Technus). Unbeknownst to her, Valerie's suit served to spy on Danny and his ghosts powers which Vlad would then use to create the perfect clone. It seems Valerie is impressed and respectful towards Vlad, obviously not knowing of his true intentions. She eventually finds out he is half-ghost; angry by his deception she vows to hunt him down. He referred to Valerie's ghost hunter persona as a "Crack pot" on a news broadcast in the last episode, hinting that Valerie may have already made moves against him.

Skulker and Other Henchmen

One of the ghosts he primarily employs to do various odds and ends for him (stealing, kidnapping, etc.) is Skulker, which he does willingly in exchange for (presumably) money, or perhaps better equipment. The Vulture ghosts also frequent as Vlad's henchghosts, weak, but usually reliable. It may be possible that there are other ghosts that work for Vlad. Vlad has apparently hired the Fright Knight to serve him and at one point, obtained the services of a weather-controlling ghost named Vortex briefly.

Dark Danny

In an alternate timeline he became Vlad's adoptive son, when the removal of Danny's ghost half on his wishes turned awry when Danny's ghost half ripped out Vlad's ghost side, and merging with it to accidentally give birth to Dark Danny. He has since hidden in recluse.

Powers

Vlad has most of the same powers that Danny has, but his powers are far more developed. He is able to perform techniques that Danny has yet to learn (like duplication, until the episode Torrent of Terror), and for all the feats that Danny can perform, Vlad can perform them better, possibly due to the 20 year experience in which he has had more time to develop new abilities, improve his existing ones, and patch up any weaknesses he might have, although it seems Danny is slowly catching up to him. Furthermore, it's been shown that Vlad lacks Danny's Ghostly Wail ability. He also doesn't seem to have a ghost sense, and, by extension, hasn't developed ice powers like Danny recently did. Vlad's powers eventually grew (creating more duplicates of himself, an Ecto-Tornado, etc.) It is possible the reason Vlad increased in power a bit through the series is because he never really had to battle anybody until he became Danny's arch-nemesis, and therefore began to practice his fighting skills.

His powers include (but possibly not limited to) the following :

1. Transformation- Vlad's rings are black, as opposed to Danny's, which are white.
2. Vampiric Ghost Form- Vlad's ghost form is similar to a vampire, unlike Danny who just has a "negative image" of himself. The reason for this is that Vlad Dracula from Romania was thought to be a "vampire" when their names crossed the makers decided him to be a vampire, though they changed that later.
3. Intangibility and Invisibility- Able to phase through solid objects and not be seen. He has used this often to steal money before the start of the series.
4. Flying, Floating, and Hovering- Able to fly, float, and hover, presumably with the same speed as Danny's.
5. Paranormal Speed, Strength, Agility, and Durability- Standard ghost powers.
6. Overshadowing/Possession- Able to overshadow and possess any human. He has used this ability to get rich tycoons to give their companies to him.
7. Ectoplasmic Energy Blast ("Ghost Ray")- His blast consists of pink ectoplasm. In "Maternal Instincts" he could fire two beams, one from each of his eyes (without transformation).In the same episode one blast was light blue.
8. Ectoplasmic Energy Shield ("Ghost Shield")- His shield consists of pink ectoplasm; it forms a wall and can form a Mirror Shield to attack as well.
9. Duplication- He can split into 4 or more duplicates. In Eye for an Eye Vlad Masters manages to create several shadows of himself that possessed many people to make them vote for him in the city mayor elections. Creating that many copies of himself seems to indicate that there might not be a limit to the number of duplicates that he or possibly Danny would be able to create.
10. Ectoplasmic Absorption & Redirection- Vlad can absorb attacks and use them as his own.
11. Ectoplasmic Energy Constructs - Vlad can shape ectoplasmic energy into solid objects; from shields to nooses, even a sword in Infinite Realms.
12. Teleportation- Vlad can disappear from one location and reappear elsewhere by wrapping his cape around him and vanishing in a cloud of mist.
13. Ghost Stinger- Vlad uses this electricity attack.
14. Ghost Twister- Vlad spins like a tornado, deflecting any ectoplasmic energy and causing huge wind gusts.
15. Ghost Form's Eyes While Human- Just like Danny and Dani, He can make his eyes shift into Plasmius' glowing Red while in human form. Usually used to state extreme anger or emotional distress. Seen in Maternal Instincts and Torrent of Terror.
16. Plasmius Maximus- Not really an ability, but it a weapon to short out ghost powers for 180 minutes(3 hours). It is seen in "Maternal Instincts".

Character Behind-the-scenes

Vlad probably take his name from Vlad III, the man that inspired Count Dracula. His ghost form resembles that of a Dracula-esque vampire, in both skin tone and costume. The idea that he was a vampire was almost ultilized during production before it was decided against, because the makers considered it too occult.