Vlad the Impaler Episode 1: Order of the Dragon

What happens when your childhood involves being handed over to a foreign empire as a hostage, your father gets murdered, and your brother is buried alive? You probably don’t grow up with a particularly healthy relationship with trust.

In Part 1 of our series on Vlad the Impaler, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the making of the man who would become one of the most feared rulers in European history. Before the impaled bodies, the terrifying reputation, and the vampire mythology, there was a young Wallachian prince growing up in a world where family loyalty was optional and the throne was essentially a very dangerous game of musical chairs.

We trace Vlad’s complicated family history, his father’s relationship with the Ottoman Empire, and the years Vlad spent as a hostage alongside his younger brother Radu. When his father is killed and his older brother meets an even worse fate, Vlad’s path back to power becomes a story of political alliances, betrayal, and revenge.

Along the way, we separate what we actually know from what later storytellers invented, including the popular claims about Vlad’s supposedly cruel childhood. And naturally, Kevin and Dan bring their morbid sense of humor to the life of a prince whose family problems make your own awkward holiday gatherings look positively charming.

This is the dark history of the original Dracula, medieval Wallachia, and the making of a ruler whose real life was already horrifying enough without the fangs.

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