Who was Van Helsing's archenemy?
Abraham Van Helsing Abraham Van Helsing Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel "Dracula". Van Helsing is an aged polymath Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc, etc," indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. The character is best known throughout many adaptations of the story as a vampire hunter and the archenemy of Count Dracula. In the novel, Professor Van Helsing is called in by his former student, Dr. John Seward, to assist with the mysterious
Abraham Van Helsing illness of Lucy Westenra. Van Helsing's friendship with Seward is based in part upon an unknown prior event in which Van Helsing suffered a grievous wound, and Seward saved his life by sucking out the gangrene. It is Van Helsing who first realizes that Lucy is the victim of a vampire, and he guides Dr. Seward and his friends in their efforts to save Lucy. According to Leonard Wolf's annotations to the novel, Van Helsing had a son who died. Van Helsing says that his son, had he lived, would have had a similar appearance to Lucy's husband Arthur Holmwood.