Latos is the name given one of the soul-clones of Dracula, one whose somewhat complex exploits have been chronicled in numerous motion pictures. Charles Loridans theorized the existence of Dracula's soul clones in his essay "Children of the Night" (see below).
As a mortal man, Latos was an American adventurer named Thomas Caine. Travelling in China (where he fathered two half-chinese sons), Caine encountered Kai, a soul clone of the master vampire, and accepts an errand--returning the Starstone Ring to Dracula Prime in Transylvania. Upon doing so, Caine was turned into a vampire and another soul clone, named "Latos" and sent to America with the ring. Under the alias of Baron Latos Margulak, he then founds the town of Purgatory, Arizona--a vampire colony to serve as a base of operations. Later he founds another such colony in Chaney, Texas. Soon afterwards, Latos had a seemingly fatal encounter with Billy the Kid. His ashes and the ring were shipped back to Transylvania.
He was resurrected during the first World War and ran afoul of a young future-archeologist Henry Jones Jr. Resurrected a second time, he faced Jules de Grandin in New Jersey, again facing defeat. For unknown reasons, Dracula Prime then had his minions plant Latos' skeleton (stake in place) within a travelling side-show, where it was eventually discovered by Dr. Gustav Neimann, younger brother of Henry Frankenstein's assistant Karl, who removed the stake. Soon after, Latos was caught in sunlight and his ashes returned to Transylvania. Eventually Latos--resurrected yet again--sought out a Dr. Franz Edelman in Visaria, seeking a cure for vampirism. During an attempt to "filter" Latos' blood, the vampire deliberately infected the altruistic scientist with his own (in effect trying to create a soul clone). However, this resulted in Latos himself being "contaminated" with some of the doctor's soul.
Many years later, a mysterious woman led monster-hunter Professor Damien Harmon to where the staked form of Latos could be found (how he came to be there is as yet unchronicled). By implanting a device that would inject a sliver of wood into the vampire's heart, Harmon managed to control Latos (whom he believed to be Dracula) in his efforts against evil. Over time, however, Latos seemed to change. More of Dr. Edelman's soul became manifest and Latos began to genuinely strive to do good. He eventually makes his way back to the vampire colony of Purgatory with Professor's synthetic blood in an effort to persuade other vampires to give up hunting and killing humans.
However, not long after this Dracula Prime again regained control of Latos, forcing him to kill and impersonate an actor named Loren Balasco in New York City--until a visiting Texas Marshall tracked him down, forcing him to flee.
Back in Purgatory, a civil war broke out over Latos new way of undeath, but he and other vampires wishing to live in peace proved triumphant. Nothing more is known of this creature. So far.
External Links[]
- Children of the Night (earlier version)
- Wikipedia article on the film House of Dracula.
- Wikipedia article on the film House of Frankenstein.
- Wikipedia article on the t.v. series Kung Fu.
- Wikipedia article on the film Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat.
- Wikipedia article on the X Files episode "Bad Blood"
- Wikipedia article on the film Billy the Kid Vs Dracula.
- Wikipedia article on the t.v. series Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
- Blog review of the novel Dracula Returns by Robert Lory.
- Wikipedia article on the t.v. series McCloud