Vlad III

Vlad III — known colloquially as Dracula and Vlad the Impaler — was a 15th century Prince of Wallachia known for his strong and, some judged, cruel leadership style. He served as the sovereign and ruler of Ungro-Walachia and duchies of Amlas and Fagaras several times during the latter half of the 15th century, his rule being interrupted by times when his brother, Radu the Handsome sat upon the throne. He was the son of Vlad the Great, from whom he inherited a position in a Christian society called the Order of the Dragon. This was the origin of his sobriquet Dracula, which the Fifth Doctor said meant Son of the Dragon. Both Dracula's father and elder brother were murdered. (AUDIO: Son of the Dragon)

Vlad was imprisoned for a time beneath Buda castle. (AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle)

Much feared by his enemies, he was a hero to his people as he protected them from the Turks. To that end, he fought against the Muslim forces of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, as led by his younger brother, Radu, in Constantinople in 1462. Radu opposed Vlad because he thought his older brother a tyrant. During this time, he was briefly engaged to Erimem, a companion of the Fifth Doctor — but the engagement ended when — and, in a sense, because — he lost the throne to Radu.

Dracula had a son named Mihnea but few knew of his existence. During the Ottoman Empire's invasion of Wallachia in 1462, Dracula sent Mihnea to live with his mother's family for his own protection. Mihnea considered this to be the act of a coward.

It was the Turkish reports of his time as voivode which passed down through history and formed a largely false image of him as somehow supernaturally evil. Four hundred years after his death, the reports of his brutality inspired a fictional vampire character of the same name. (AUDIO: Son of the Dragon)

Frederick von Dracula told the Tenth Doctor that he was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Vlad Tepes the Impaler. (COMIC: Bat Attack!)