section_path: Plot
section_name: Plot
paragraph_text: Plot
  
  In the early 1800s, a young girl named Ellen prays for a companion to ease her loneliness. This inadvertently summons the Nosferatu, Count Orlok, forging a psychic link between them, which triggers her seizures. In 1838, Ellen has married Thomas Hutter, and the couple live in the German town of Wisborg. Thomas accepts a lucrative commission from his employer, Herr Knock, to sell the decrepit Grünewald Manor to the reclusive Count Orlok. Ellen relates her nightmares to him, seeing them as a bad omen, and pleads for Thomas to stay but he gently dismisses her concerns. He leaves her in the care of his wealthy friend Friedrich Harding and his wife Anna, along with their two young daughters Clara and Louise.
  
  Arriving at the Carpathians in Transylvania, Thomas is shunned by the locals, but is reluctantly given a room and board for the night at the inn, and is warned by an old woman not to visit Orlok. That night, he witnesses a group of Roma exhuming and impaling an alleged vampire's corpse with a stake, making the corpse expel blood. The following morning, he finds the hamlet deserted and his horse gone. He continues on foot until an unmanned carriage carries him to Orlok's castle.
  
  Upon their meeting, the strange and menacing Orlok forces Thomas to complete the property sale. Orlok demonstrates preternatural abilities that unsettle Thomas. When he accidentally cuts himself during dinner, he blacks out and awakens to find a bite mark on his chest. The following night, Orlok deceives Thomas into signing a document dissolving his marriage to Ellen and takes his locket, containing a lock of her hair. Thomas, becoming increasingly sick and fearful, demands to leave but Orlok rebuffs him and demands he remain and recover before departing. After awakening to find yet more bite marks on his chest, Thomas attempts to escape the castle and instead ends up in a crypt where he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, his body naked and decayed. He attacks him with a pickaxe, but Orlok awakens and pursues Thomas. Thomas escapes Orlok and his wolves by falling into a river beneath the castle, from which he is recovered and cared for by Eastern Orthodox nuns at a nearby church. They explain that Orlok was a solomonar, who became a vampire after making a pact with the Devil. Orlok sets sail for Wisborg inside his coffin on a ship with plague -carrying rats, killing the crew during the voyage.
  
  During Thomas' absence, Ellen, under Orlok's influence, becomes possessed and begins suffering from seizures and sleepwalking. Dr. Wilhelm Sievers consults with his former mentor, Albin Eberhart von Franz, a Swiss scientist ostracised for his occult beliefs. After visiting Ellen, Von Franz confirms that she is indeed under the Nosferatu's demonic influence, though the Hardings are skeptical. Knock is institutionalized after killing and eating sheep raw. Sievers and von Franz search Knock's office, believing he serves the Nosferatu, who they discover is Orlok. Von Franz later reveals that, although the means of killing the creature "vary from region to region," the one constant is that the Nosferatu must return to the earth in which it was buried.
  
  Thomas returns to Wisborg as Orlok's plague ravages the populace. Knock escapes, killing a porter, and escorts Orlok to Grünewald Manor. Orlok appears to Ellen in her dreams and tells her how Thomas annulled their marriage, he then demands she submit to him in three days lest he kills everyone she loves, including Thomas. She awakes in horror to find Anna being attacked with plague-infested rats. Harding refuses to heed Ellen's warning and after an argument he kicks both her and Thomas out. Thomas insists that they leave the city for Ellen's safety, prompting her to reveal her past with Orlok. She then berates him for allowing Orlok to take advantage of him and annulling their marriage. After goading him in a fit of demonic possession, they have troubled sex. Orlok retaliates by killing Anna and her children. Harding initially blames Thomas and Ellen but after seeing his bite from Orlok, he acknowledges they were telling the truth. Driven mad with grief, Harding dies from the plague while violating his wife's corpse.
  
  Von Franz's research suggests that the Nosferatu can be destroyed by a fair maiden's willing sacrifice. Knowing only she can stop the plague, Ellen conspires with von Franz to keep Thomas away. Thomas, von Franz, and Sievers go to Grünewald Manor, where they accidentally kill Knock after finding him sleeping in Orlok's coffin. Realizing von Franz's deception, Thomas rushes back to save Ellen as von Franz destroys the vault. Ellen summons Orlok to her bedroom and re-pledges herself to him, allowing him to feed on her until sunrise. Orlok notices the sunlight, but is goaded by Ellen to continue feasting on her. A rooster crows and Orlok, held by the embrace of a dying Ellen, is killed by the waking morning. Thomas returns moments after and holds Ellen's hand as she dies, while von Franz confirms that her sacrifice has freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.
  
  In the early 1800s, a young girl named Ellen prays for a companion to ease her loneliness. This inadvertently summons the Nosferatu, Count Orlok, forging a psychic link between them, which triggers her seizures. In 1838, Ellen has married Thomas Hutter, and the couple live in the German town of Wisborg. Thomas accepts a lucrative commission from his employer, Herr Knock, to sell the decrepit Grünewald Manor to the reclusive Count Orlok. Ellen relates her nightmares to him, seeing them as a bad omen, and pleads for Thomas to stay but he gently dismisses her concerns. He leaves her in the care of his wealthy friend Friedrich Harding and his wife Anna, along with their two young daughters Clara and Louise.
  
  Arriving at the Carpathians in Transylvania, Thomas is shunned by the locals, but is reluctantly given a room and board for the night at the inn, and is warned by an old woman not to visit Orlok. That night, he witnesses a group of Roma exhuming and impaling an alleged vampire's corpse with a stake, making the corpse expel blood. The following morning, he finds the hamlet deserted and his horse gone. He continues on foot until an unmanned carriage carries him to Orlok's castle.
  
  Upon their meeting, the strange and menacing Orlok forces Thomas to complete the property sale. Orlok demonstrates preternatural abilities that unsettle Thomas. When he accidentally cuts himself during dinner, he blacks out and awakens to find a bite mark on his chest. The following night, Orlok deceives Thomas into signing a document dissolving his marriage to Ellen and takes his locket, containing a lock of her hair. Thomas, becoming increasingly sick and fearful, demands to leave but Orlok rebuffs him and demands he remain and recover before departing. After awakening to find yet more bite marks on his chest, Thomas attempts to escape the castle and instead ends up in a crypt where he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, his body naked and decayed. He attacks him with a pickaxe, but Orlok awakens and pursues Thomas. Thomas escapes Orlok and his wolves by falling into a river beneath the castle, from which he is recovered and cared for by Eastern Orthodox nuns at a nearby church. They explain that Orlok was a solomonar, who became a vampire after making a pact with the Devil. Orlok sets sail for Wisborg inside his coffin on a ship with plague -carrying rats, killing the crew during the voyage.
  
  During Thomas' absence, Ellen, under Orlok's influence, becomes possessed and begins suffering from seizures and sleepwalking. Dr. Wilhelm Sievers consults with his former mentor, Albin Eberhart von Franz, a Swiss scientist ostracised for his occult beliefs. After visiting Ellen, Von Franz confirms that she is indeed under the Nosferatu's demonic influence, though the Hardings are skeptical. Knock is institutionalized after killing and eating sheep raw. Sievers and von Franz search Knock's office, believing he serves the Nosferatu, who they discover is Orlok. Von Franz later reveals that, although the means of killing the creature "vary from region to region," the one constant is that the Nosferatu must return to the earth in which it was buried.
  
  Thomas returns to Wisborg as Orlok's plague ravages the populace. Knock escapes, killing a porter, and escorts Orlok to Grünewald Manor. Orlok appears to Ellen in her dreams and tells her how Thomas annulled their marriage, he then demands she submit to him in three days lest he kills everyone she loves, including Thomas. She awakes in horror to find Anna being attacked with plague-infested rats. Harding refuses to heed Ellen's warning and after an argument he kicks both her and Thomas out. Thomas insists that they leave the city for Ellen's safety, prompting her to reveal her past with Orlok. She then berates him for allowing Orlok to take advantage of him and annulling their marriage. After goading him in a fit of demonic possession, they have troubled sex. Orlok retaliates by killing Anna and her children. Harding initially blames Thomas and Ellen but after seeing his bite from Orlok, he acknowledges they were telling the truth. Driven mad with grief, Harding dies from the plague while violating his wife's corpse.
  
  Von Franz's research suggests that the Nosferatu can be destroyed by a fair maiden's willing sacrifice. Knowing only she can stop the plague, Ellen conspires with von Franz to keep Thomas away. Thomas, von Franz, and Sievers go to Grünewald Manor, where they accidentally kill Knock after finding him sleeping in Orlok's coffin. Realizing von Franz's deception, Thomas rushes back to save Ellen as von Franz destroys the vault. Ellen summons Orlok to her bedroom and re-pledges herself to him, allowing him to feed on her until sunrise. Orlok notices the sunlight, but is goaded by Ellen to continue feasting on her. A rooster crows and Orlok, held by the embrace of a dying Ellen, is killed by the waking morning. Thomas returns moments after and holds Ellen's hand as she dies, while von Franz confirms that her sacrifice has freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.