Write your own Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood story

Sir Francis Varney

The central figure of the romance—a tall, gaunt, pale-faced vampire with metallic eyes, fang-like teeth, and long claw-like nails. He is ancient and seemingly unkillable, capable of surviving gunshots and reanimating after death. Over the course of the narrative he variously terrorises, pursues, assists, and even shows moments of despair, ultimately meeting his end by his own choice.

Flora Bannerworth

A young, beautiful girl of the Bannerworth family who is the vampire's first victim in the story, attacked in her antique bedchamber during a midnight storm. She survives the assault but suffers swooning, madness, and lasting terror. She is depicted as gentle, pious, and courageous, eventually playing a role in confronting Varney directly.

Henry Bannerworth

Flora's elder brother and de facto head of the Bannerworth household. He is determined and brave, firing a pistol at the vampire during the initial pursuit. He negotiates with Varney, organises the family's defence, and devises stratagems to unmask or drive away the creature.

George Bannerworth

Henry's younger brother, who accompanies him in pursuing the vampire after the first attack. He is loyal and steady, supporting his family throughout the ordeals that follow.

Mr. Marchdale

A middle-aged family friend who has known the Bannerworth mother since childhood. He is worldly, pragmatic, and initially the most decisive responder to the vampire attack, firing a pistol at the creature. His loyalties and true nature become more ambiguous as the story progresses, and he is eventually revealed as villainous.

Admiral (Uncle)

An old naval admiral, uncle to Charles Holland, who arrives at the hall and becomes a boisterous, opinionated, but loyal ally of the Bannerworths. He challenges Varney, offers blunt advice, and brings his sailor servant Jack Pringle with him.

Jack Pringle

The admiral's sailor servant, who provides comic relief and unexpected competence throughout the story's adventures, including encounters with the vampire and various scrapes of his own.

Charles Holland

The lover of Flora Bannerworth, whose devotion is tested by the vampire's intrusions and by dark secrets. He pursues Varney directly at several points and ultimately champions Flora's honour.

Dr. Chillingworth

The family physician who takes a scientific and investigative interest in the vampire phenomenon. He watches over the hall, examines the evidence, and plays a key role in uncovering the mysteries surrounding Varney.

Mrs. Bannerworth

The widowed mother of Flora, Henry, and George. She is protective and emotional, frequently fainting or weeping at crises, but her love for her children motivates much of the family's struggle.

Baron Stolmuyer of Saltzburgh

A Hungarian nobleman who appears later in the narrative, acquires Anderbury House, and pursues matrimonial schemes. He is connected to the wider vampire world and represents the foreign, aristocratic face of vampirism.

Bannerworth Hall

An ancient, atmospheric country house belonging to the Bannerworth family, filled with antique chambers, carved oak furniture, a large bay window, a balcony, a garden with high walls, and a family vault. It is the primary setting of the early portions of the story and the site of repeated vampire attacks.

The Antique Bedchamber

Flora Bannerworth's bedroom within the hall, notable for its carved walnut-wood Elizabethan bed hung with heavy silken draperies, a large west-facing latticed bay window of stained glass, and a single portrait of a pale young man with strange eyes. It is the scene of the vampire's first assault.

The Bannerworth Family Vault

A subterranean vault associated with the Bannerworth estate, visited during investigations into the vampire. It contains coffins and is the site of disturbing discoveries about the dead—or seemingly dead.

Anderbury House

A substantial property in the area of Anderbury-on-the-Mount that becomes significant later in the story, acquired by the Baron Stolmuyer and the site of a grand entertainment, a wedding, and a vampire hunt through subterranean passages.

The Nelson's Arms Inn

A local inn that serves as a gathering place for characters, a source of rumour and local news, and a base of operations at various points in the story.

Winchester Cathedral and Vaults

A cathedral location visited later in the narrative, featuring vaults beneath the aisle that become the scene of robbery, a storm, and a resuscitated corpse—highlighting the story's recurring theme of the undead emerging from consecrated ground.

Bath

The fashionable English spa city where Varney moves later in the story, attending assemblies and pursuing new victims while attempting to blend into polite society.

London

The metropolis features in later chapters, with scenes in hotels, St James's Park, the Thames, and Hampstead churchyard, as the vampire's activities extend to the city.

The Bannerworth Family

A genteel but financially troubled English family consisting of the widowed mother, sons Henry and George, and daughter Flora. They are the primary victims and investigators of the vampire threat, struggling to protect their honour, their estate, and their lives throughout the narrative.

The Mob

Recurring throughout the story, angry crowds of townsfolk and villagers rise up against Varney whenever suspicion of vampirism spreads. They burn his house, hunt him through the streets, and represent the violent, superstitious power of popular belief over rational authority.

Varney's House

Sir Francis Varney possesses his own residence separate from Bannerworth Hall, which eventually becomes the target of the mob. It is stormed, Varney mysteriously disappears from within it, and the building is destroyed by fire while the military looks on—a dramatic set-piece of popular fury against the supernatural.

Vampire Nature and Powers

In this setting, vampires are tall, gaunt, pale-skinned beings with metallic or glassy eyes, fang-like teeth, and long claw-like nails suggesting years of untended growth. They are cold and clammy to the touch, move with an unearthly gliding or bounding motion, and can climb walls and leap great heights. They feed by biting the neck of sleeping victims and drinking blood, causing swooning and weakness. They can survive gunshot wounds and apparently reanimate after death.

Vampire Weaknesses and Destruction

Vampires in this setting are susceptible to pistol shots that wound but do not always kill them, and to physical methods such as staking. The body of a suspected vampire may be burned by a mob. Sunlight is not explicitly emphasised, but the vampire is strongly associated with moonlight and midnight. Ultimate destruction of Varney comes through his own voluntary choice—he throws himself into the crater of Mount Vesuvius.

Vampire Origins and History

The preface states that belief in vampires originated in Norway and Sweden before spreading south through Europe. The story presents itself as drawn from authentic sources, and notes that Varney's death occurred in 1713 and was reported in the public prints of the time. Varney himself, over the course of his own narrative, recounts his lengthy personal history spanning centuries.

Resuscitation and the Undead

A recurring motif throughout the narrative is the apparent death and subsequent reanimation of bodies—vampires found in coffins or graves, corpses returning to life in church vaults, bone-houses, and after shipwrecks. This blurs the line between death and vampirism, and drives much of the horror experienced by ordinary characters.

The Portrait

Within Flora's antique bedchamber hangs a single portrait of a pale young man with a stately brow and disturbing eyes that no one liked to look at twice. The portrait appears to bear a resemblance to Varney himself, suggesting a deep historical connection between the vampire and the Bannerworth family—a mystery that drives much of the plot.

Marmaduke Bannerworth's Pocket Book

A pocket book belonging to the deceased Marmaduke Bannerworth (likely the late patriarch of the family) is discovered later in the narrative. Its mysterious contents shed light on the connection between the Bannerworth family and Varney, and on a hidden treasure or secret that motivates the vampire's obsession with the hall.

Chronological Scope of the Narrative

The story begins in what is presented as the recent past of the early nineteenth century and ranges across England (rural halls, Bath, London, Winchester, Scottish coasts) and into Europe (Naples, Venice, Hungary). Varney's own backstory reaches back to at least 1713. The final act concludes with Varney's self-destruction at Mount Vesuvius.