Mina Harker
Encyclopedia
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker (née Murray) is a fictional character in Bram Stoker
's 1897 horror novel Dracula
.
, and best friends with Lucy Westenra
. She visits Lucy in Whitby
on July 24 of that year, when schools would have closed for the summer.
After her fiancé Jonathan escapes from Count Dracula
's castle, Mina travels to Budapest
and joins him there. Mina cares for him during his recovery from his trauma
tic encounter with the vampire
and his brides
, and the two return to England
as husband and wife. Back home, they learn that Lucy has died from a mysterious illness stemming from severe blood loss as the result of repeated attacks by an unknown, blood-drinking animal; — the animal, they learn, was none other than Dracula taking a different shape.
Mina and Jonathan join the coalition around Abraham Van Helsing
, and turn their attentions to destroying the Count. After Dracula learns of this plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting — and biting — Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, destining her to become a vampire at her death. The rest of the novel deals with the group's efforts to spare her this fate by killing Dracula. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is telepathically
connected with Dracula. Mina then uses her inherent telepathic abilities to track Dracula's movements.
Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania
, followed by Van Helsing's gang, who kill him just before sundown. As a result, Dracula's spell is lifted and Mina freed from the curse.
The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name Quincey in remembrance of their American friend Quincey Morris
, who was killed by Dracula's Szgany minions during the final confrontation. The birth of Jonathan and Mina's son signifies hope
and life of the new as the novel heads into the 20th century.
In Stoker's original novel, Mina Harker recovers from the vampire's curse upon Dracula's death. However, in many films, books, plays and songs, she does not lose her vampiric abilities.
In F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the character is renamed Ellen, due to the copyright
issues surrounding this film. In a significant deviation from the original novel, she sacrifices herself to Count Orlok
(the film's version of Dracula) so he will be destroyed by the rising sun.
Helen Chandler
played her in Universal Pictures
' Dracula
, directed by Tod Browning
and starring Bela Lugosi
as the count. In this adaptation, Mina was Dr. Seward
's daughter and so it is implied that her name was Mina Seward. This connection was incorporated into Mel Brooks
' parody Dracula: Dead and Loving It
, in which she is portrayed by Amy Yasbeck
.
In Hammer Horror
's Dracula
, Mina was portrayed by Melissa Stribling
and was married to Arthur Holmwood
instead of Jonathan.
The BBC
produced a version entitled Count Dracula
in 1977. Mina was played by Judi Bowker
. The film was fairly faithful to Stoker's original novel, except that it portrayed Mina and Lucy as sisters.
Mina was played by Jan Francis
in the 1979 film Dracula directed by John Badham
, in which she is Van Helsing's daughter. This adaptation also switches Mina's role and makes Lucy - who here is the daughter of Dr. Seward
- Jonathan Harker's fiancee and Dracula's primary victim.
Mina was portrayed by American actress Winona Ryder
in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola
film adaptation of the book, in which she is portrayed as the reincarnation
of Dracula's centuries-dead wife, Elisabeta.
The character also appears in Alan Moore
's comic book series League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In the 2003 film adaptation
of the book, Mina was portrayed by actress Peta Wilson
. Unlike the comic, the film adaption's version remained a vampire after Dracula's death. While the comic version has a relationship with Allan Quatermain
, the movie version has a past relationship with Dorian Gray
, and it is implied that she develops feelings for Special Agent Tom Sawyer
over the course of the League's mission. Both comic and movie version also attract the interest of Henry Jekyll's two identities to varying degrees.
In the manga
Hellsing
, a character referred to only as "She" is eventually revealed to be Mina Harker's corpse. She died before Dracula (later Alucard
) could be defeated, but because he did not die, the curse was still active in her, which the Doctor exploited to create Millennium
's vampires.
In 2006 a British television film entitled Dracula aired. In this production Mina is portrayed by Stephanie Leonidas
. She is depicted as being a Roman Catholic.
Mina was again seen in the television series Demons
as a half-vampire, where her full powers came out when she ingested some of Dracula's blood that still flows in her veins, although her 'default' state leaves her blind with psychic abilities that she can use to sense the nature of the demons they are presently facing.
In Dracula the Un-dead
, co-written by Dacre Stoker
, a great-grandnephew of the original author, Mina's son, Quincey, is declared to be a product of rape
and Dracula's biologically human son, conceived at some point when Dracula was attacking Mina.
In From the Pages of Bram Stoker's Dracula: Harker, written by Tony Lee and endorsed by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, Mina becomes bound to Dracula's spirit as his remaining allies attempt to use her unborn child as his new body.
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's 1897 horror novel Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
.
In the novel
She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan HarkerJonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...
, and best friends with Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...
. She visits Lucy in Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
on July 24 of that year, when schools would have closed for the summer.
After her fiancé Jonathan escapes from Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
's castle, Mina travels to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and joins him there. Mina cares for him during his recovery from his trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
tic encounter with the vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
and his brides
Brides of Dracula
The Brides of Dracula are characters in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. They are three seductive female vampire "sisters" who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, where they entrance male humans with their beauty and charm, and then proceed to feed upon them...
, and the two return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as husband and wife. Back home, they learn that Lucy has died from a mysterious illness stemming from severe blood loss as the result of repeated attacks by an unknown, blood-drinking animal; — the animal, they learn, was none other than Dracula taking a different shape.
Mina and Jonathan join the coalition around Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
, and turn their attentions to destroying the Count. After Dracula learns of this plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting — and biting — Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, destining her to become a vampire at her death. The rest of the novel deals with the group's efforts to spare her this fate by killing Dracula. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is telepathically
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
connected with Dracula. Mina then uses her inherent telepathic abilities to track Dracula's movements.
Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, followed by Van Helsing's gang, who kill him just before sundown. As a result, Dracula's spell is lifted and Mina freed from the curse.
The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name Quincey in remembrance of their American friend Quincey Morris
Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three suitors for the hand of Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with the two other suitors, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. John Seward, as well as Jonathan...
, who was killed by Dracula's Szgany minions during the final confrontation. The birth of Jonathan and Mina's son signifies hope
Hope
Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...
and life of the new as the novel heads into the 20th century.
In other media
Mina (or a similar character) has appeared in most film adaptations of Stoker's novel.In Stoker's original novel, Mina Harker recovers from the vampire's curse upon Dracula's death. However, in many films, books, plays and songs, she does not lose her vampiric abilities.
In F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the character is renamed Ellen, due to the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
issues surrounding this film. In a significant deviation from the original novel, she sacrifices herself to Count Orlok
Count Orlok
Count Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens...
(the film's version of Dracula) so he will be destroyed by the rising sun.
Helen Chandler
Helen Chandler
Helen Chandler was an American film and theater actress.-Career:Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Chandler began her acting career in New York at the age of nine and was on Broadway two years later in 1917...
played her in Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
' Dracula
Dracula (1931 film)
Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...
, directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning
Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
and starring Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
as the count. In this adaptation, Mina was Dr. Seward
John Seward
John Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
's daughter and so it is implied that her name was Mina Seward. This connection was incorporated into Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' parody Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen, directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
, in which she is portrayed by Amy Yasbeck
Amy Yasbeck
Amy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...
.
In Hammer Horror
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
's Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
, Mina was portrayed by Melissa Stribling
Melissa Stribling
Melissa Stribling was a Scottish film and television actress.- Career :Born in Gourock, Scotland, her career began with the film Wide Boy , Stribling is known for playing the role of Mina in the horror film Dracula starring Christopher Lee in the title role...
and was married to Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
instead of Jonathan.
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
produced a version entitled Count Dracula
Count Dracula (1977)
Count Dracula is a British television adaptation of the famous novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It first aired in December 1977. It is among the more faithful of the many adaptations of the original book...
in 1977. Mina was played by Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
. The film was fairly faithful to Stoker's original novel, except that it portrayed Mina and Lucy as sisters.
Mina was played by Jan Francis
Jan Francis
Jan Francis is an English actress, best known for playing Penny Warrender in the 1980s romantic comedy Just Good Friends.-Early life:Francis was born at the former Charing Cross Hospital near Trafalgar Square, London...
in the 1979 film Dracula directed by John Badham
John Badham
- External links :...
, in which she is Van Helsing's daughter. This adaptation also switches Mina's role and makes Lucy - who here is the daughter of Dr. Seward
John Seward
John Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
- Jonathan Harker's fiancee and Dracula's primary victim.
Mina was portrayed by American actress Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
film adaptation of the book, in which she is portrayed as the reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of Dracula's centuries-dead wife, Elisabeta.
The character also appears in Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's comic book series League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In the 2003 film adaptation
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 superhero film adaptation loosely based on characters from the comic book limited series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, who is also famous for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell. It was released on July 11, 2003, in the...
of the book, Mina was portrayed by actress Peta Wilson
Peta Wilson
Peta Gia Wilson is an Australian actress and model. She is best known as Nikita in the television series La Femme Nikita.-Early life:...
. Unlike the comic, the film adaption's version remained a vampire after Dracula's death. While the comic version has a relationship with Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
, the movie version has a past relationship with Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...
, and it is implied that she develops feelings for Special Agent Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer
Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom...
over the course of the League's mission. Both comic and movie version also attract the interest of Henry Jekyll's two identities to varying degrees.
In the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Hellsing
Hellsing
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in...
, a character referred to only as "She" is eventually revealed to be Mina Harker's corpse. She died before Dracula (later Alucard
Alucard
Alucard may refer to:*Count Alucard , the title character in the 1943 film Son of Dracula and other works....
) could be defeated, but because he did not die, the curse was still active in her, which the Doctor exploited to create Millennium
Millennium (Hellsing)
Millennium is a fictional Nazi organization from the manga series Hellsing by Kouta Hirano, they serve as the primary antagonists in the series. Its name is a reference to the "Thousand Year Reich" which Adolf Hitler sought to establish during World War II...
's vampires.
In 2006 a British television film entitled Dracula aired. In this production Mina is portrayed by Stephanie Leonidas
Stephanie Leonidas
Stephanie Leonidas is an English actress of Greek Cypriot descent.- Early life and family :One of four children born to a Greek Cypriot father, Leonidas is not the only thespian in the family — her brother Dimitri Leonidas and sister Georgina Leonidas are also actors, whilst her older sister Helen...
. She is depicted as being a Roman Catholic.
Mina was again seen in the television series Demons
Demons (TV series)
Demons is a pilot episode of a proposed drama series, initially competing to run as part of the CBS primetime schedule during Fall 2007. Demons was created by Barbara Hall, who also created Joan of Arcadia. The pilot starred Ron Eldard and Harold Perrineau. The pilot was not picked up by the network....
as a half-vampire, where her full powers came out when she ingested some of Dracula's blood that still flows in her veins, although her 'default' state leaves her blind with psychic abilities that she can use to sense the nature of the demons they are presently facing.
In Dracula the Un-dead
Dracula the Un-dead
Dracula the Un-dead is a sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula. The book was written by Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt...
, co-written by Dacre Stoker
Dacre Stoker
Dacre Stoker is the author of Dracula the Un-dead and the great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker.-References:...
, a great-grandnephew of the original author, Mina's son, Quincey, is declared to be a product of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and Dracula's biologically human son, conceived at some point when Dracula was attacking Mina.
In From the Pages of Bram Stoker's Dracula: Harker, written by Tony Lee and endorsed by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, Mina becomes bound to Dracula's spirit as his remaining allies attempt to use her unborn child as his new body.