Vladislav

**Vladislav**, or "Vladislav the Poker" is a powerful, 862 year old vampire from Romania. He appears in the film, and the TV series of the same name.

## Biography

### Early life

Vladislav claims he was turned into a vampire at the age of sixteen. He was a powerful warrior and earned the title of "Vladislav the Poker" for his acts of torturing enemies by poking them.

Vladislav was once one of the most feared and powerful vampires in the world, this ended however after he started a relationship with the vampire Pauline, who he refers to as “The Beast”. During a battle with her, she impaled him on a lamppost and he became a shell of his former self, incapable of fully transforming into animal forms as he could no longer change his face. His powers of hypnosis were also affected.

At some point he moved into a flat in Te Aro, Wellington, with fellow vampires Viago, Deacon and Petyr.

### *What We Do in the Shadows* (film)

Shortly after the documentary crew started filming, Vladislav and his flatmates attempted to drink the blood of the human Nick, however Petyr ended up attacking him and turned him into a vampire. Nick was welcomed into the vampire group, but Vladislav and the others grew particularly fond of Nick’s human friend Stu as he introduced them to new technology. Vladislav was particularly interested in the ability to “poke” people online.

Shortly afterwards, Nick inadvertently led a vampire hunter into the flat, causing Petyr’s death. Vladislav and the other vampires carried out the Procession of Shame and banished Nick from the flat.

Sometime later the vampires were invited to the Unholy Masquerade, which Vladislav was hoping to be chosen as the guest of honour for. The guest of honour was revealed to be Pauline, which caused an enraged Vladislav to briefly age rapidly. He refused to go, but changed his mind after reverting to his previous self and arrived as Pauline prepared to attack Stu and the camera crew. Vladislav fought Pauline’s new boyfriend Julian until Stu killed him with a wooden stake. The vampires and camera crew escaped the ball, only to agitate a pack of werewolves into attacking them as the full moon emerged. Stu was seemingly killed by the werewolves, leaving the vampires devastated.

A while later, Stu reappeared, having been turned into a werewolf, and helped reconcile the flatmates with Nick and the werewolves. Vladislav got back together with Pauline, only for the two to continue fighting.

### *What We Do in the Shadows* (TV series)

After the death of Baron Afanas, the vampires Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja were summoned to the Vampiric Council, of which Vladislav and his flatmates were members. He and the other council members heard evidence from the Baron’s familiar and Guillermo, Nandor’s familiar. Guillermo confessed to the murder, which none of the vampires believed, and they plotted to eat him until Nandor confessed instead. Although all the council members agreed that they didn’t like the Baron, the council sentenced the three vampires to death by exposure to sunlight in a well. The three however escaped with the help of Guillermo and their roommate, Colin Robinson.

Vladislav later acted as the presenter for a performance of the *Théâtre des Vampires* that was set up by the Council as a trap for Colin and the escaped vampires. He escaped when Guillermo intervened and started killing the vampires attending.

## Other Appearances

### *Vampire's Guide to Vellington*

As part of the Vampire's Guide to Vellington ad campaign, Vladislav can be seen exploring the nightlife of Wellington. He was also present when the 'W' of the Wellington Blown Away sign was replaced with a blood-red 'V', and met Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

## Behind the Scenes

* Vladislav's epithet is a spoof on the epithet of Vlad III Draculea, known as "Vlad the Impaler," a historical figure from 15th century Romania from whom the 19th century fictional character "Dracula" was based. The historical Vlad earned his cognomen for the brutal practice of skewering his enemies on wooden poles. "Poker" sounds like a diminutive of "Impaler," as poking with a stick is a similar, but far less, serious act to impaling with a pike.
* Jemaine Clement based his performance on Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula.
* Vladislav is the only main character of the film to not appear in the 2005 short film *What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires*. Instead, Jemaine Clement plays a vampire named Vulvus the Abhorrent. Some of Vulvus’ character traits were present in Vladislav for the film.

## Trivia

* Vladislav looked like an adult in his teens is due to the fact that humans raised in hard conditions and places tend to physically age much faster than ordinary humans.

## Appearances

* *What We Do in the Shadows* (film)
* *Vampire's Guide to Vellington*
* *What We Do in the Shadows* (TV series)
	+ "The Trial"
	+ "Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires"

## References

Clement, Jemaine & Waititi, Taika (writers and directors) (19 January 2014). *What We Do in the Shadows*.
Clement, Jemaine (writer) & Waititi, Taika (director) (May 8, 2019). "The Trial". *What We Do in the Shadows*. Episode 7. FX.
Johnson, Sam, Robinson, Stefani & Simms, Paul (writers) & Newacheck, Kyle (director) (June 10, 2020). "Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires". *What We Do in the Shadows*. Episode 20. FX.
4. ↑  "Vampire's Guide to Vellington" - Wellington NZ
5. ↑  "Behind the Lid - Vellington Sign" - Wellington Airport
6. ↑ "'What We Do in the Shadows' Trivia" - iMDb