Notes

Just some notes on my story. Spoilers ahead.

On the cited works

All books cited exist. Esteban's musing about children who are orphans, even if their parents are alive, is a quote from Yo, El Supremo (I, the Supreme) by Augusto Roa Bastos.

The Royal Game is a story about a man who, kept in solitary confinement except for questioning by the Nazis shortly after the annexation of Austria, has as his only entertainment a book on chess he has stolen, and studies it obsessively. He is thought insane and eventually released; I thought solitary confinement and obsession with a 'mathematical,' deterministic pastime like chess would both appear familiar to Eli.

The Children's Crusade by Marcel Schwob is a series of monologues by characters in some way connected to the events of the title. The Leper, who feels forsaken and cursed by God and the world, and who lusts for blood on account of feeling that the blood of Christ (symbolising healing and salvation) being denied to him, and is astonished and moved when one of the crusader children does not fear him, on account of his pathological whiteness reminding him of the use of white to symbolise the divine. This closely matches what I would think Eli's self-image would be. Leprosy was still common enough to be a serious public health problem in Norway well into the 1800's, and appears in the Bible, so presumably for a peasant child in Sweden in the 1760's it wouldn't be some exotic, remote condition (as it would be for Oskar) but a 'real' illness, and Eli would presumably understand the key religious references in that monologue. The other monologue referenced is by the Pope reigning once the children have died or been enslaved (there is also a monologue by the previous Pope, referenced in the quote in my story).

The quotes from The Chants of Maldoror (a book about the anti-hero Maldoror, a superhuman character of pathological cruelty, though he feels strong sympathy for outcasts, who is in constant opposition to God and humanity, both of which he accuses of cruelty, hypocrisy and immorality) are from a part about a hermaphrodite, asleep in the forest, who is an outcast due to his condition; he is nearly institutionalised in a psychiatric hospital though he is basically morally perfect and of extraordinary sensibility and knowledge. The hermaphrodite is profoundly ashamed of his condition and does not seek to end his isolation, telling himself that each must keep to his own kind.

On Esteban

I started from the view that Eli and Oskar could not manage for long without help from an adult, which made it necessary to introduce an adult helper, which also makes for a convenient point of view. The character of Esteban was influenced both by the need of making it credible he would help them, and I also wanted to make him a kind of anti-Håkan, not so much in the sense of diametrically opposite (Oskar would be better suited for that role), but more in the sense of an adult helper as he should have been. For example, Esteban's initial reaction is also strongly influenced by Eli's appearance, but for very different reasons than in Håkan's case.

As for Esteban's background, I planned it as to give him reasons to emigrate and reasons to be generally distrustful of institutions such as the police. I made it very unspecific because I didn't want to politicise the story, but every single anecdote about his past is based on true stories. Making him Latin American is partly to side-step my ignorance about Sweden, but also making him a foreigner, from a very different culture, adds to him as an outsider.

'Ego te absolvo' means 'I absolve you' and is part of the Latin form of the Catholic absolution prayer said by the priest after confession; the Latin form would have been used during Esteban's childhood. Those three words also appear in Yo, El Supremo, and are said by the dictator that the book is about to the head of the local Church, who is trying to confess him; the immediate context suggests neither has the moral authority to absolve anyone.

Though Esteban is aware of Eli's castration and thinks of Eli as 'he,' due to Eli's appearance Esteban relates to him largely as he would to a daughter, which would make Oskar a son-in-law he thoroughly approves of, even if he feels uncomfortable with the same-sex nature of the relationship. Eli also appeals more strongly to Esteban's nurturing side (a sick, mutilated child), and also Eli is a true orphan, putting Esteban more at ease in a parent-like role.

Apart from what is in the story, I imagine Esteban to be from a middle-upper class family of professionals, and I imagine him working as a Spanish teacher at a private institute. His dead girlfriend, Nicola, I picture as having died of cancer, and as having black hair, and pale, smooth skin and dark brown eyes, hence Esteban's reaction to Eli's appearance. I imagine her as a restless, quirky Scottish girl and that they met in Sweden while both were studying Swedish. The ring described is similar to one having some personal significance for me. Esteban's ring also helps plant the idea in Eli's head of being Oskar's bride, of having a sort of 'wedding.' Also, it is a symbol of Esteban's complete acceptance and approval, despite earlier misgivings, of Eli and Oskar's relationship.

Eli's reaction to Esteban's attempt to pronounce 'Elias' is based on the actual reaction of a Swede to my attempts to pronounce it.

The whole saga with Esteban convinces them they cannot survive without killing, and Esteban's final choice drives home that there is a choice.

On rabies and Eli's nightmare

Rabies has been cited as a possible origin of the vampire myth, and is probably the real condition most like vampirism.

Until very recently there was no treatment at all for rabies except for sedation, though it has been preventable for a long time by vaccination. Apart from Wikipedia and other online sources, the description of rabies in the story is based on the documentary 'The Girl Who Survived Rabies' which is about the first known case of anyone surviving rabies without vaccination, and also the first case of anyone surviving it without severe, permanent brain damage; prior to the experimental treatment used in that case (which happened after the events in my story), the only known survivors (six, I think) had become rabid despite vaccination and survived essentially in a vegetative state. The documentary includes actual footage of rabid humans. Rabies in humans is characterised by pathological, uncontrollable anxiety, hallucinations, hydrophobia (a pathological fear of water), paralysis of the throat (sufferers are unable to swallow) and hypersalivation leading to foaming at the mouth, a froth that is sometimes contaminated with blood; psychotic periods can alternate with periods of lucidity.

Eli's nightmare is (warning: graphic/disturbing) that he does to Oskar everything the vampire lord did to Eli; Eli obviously doesn't want to do it, but his body acts as if of its own volition, as if possessed, so that Eli is a helpless spectator, and realises Oskar has no way of knowing it.

The former synagogue alluded to by Esteban, does exist and is in Córdoba, Spain. It is now a tourist attraction (its architecture was strongly influenced by Islamic architecture). It was a synagogue until the area passed from Muslim to Catholic rule, when it became a hospital for the rabid.

Though I have never seen a rabid animal, much less a person, in real life, for some reason I used to have severe nightmares involving rabid dogs. Learning more about rabies largely stopped these nightmares, even though the disease turned out to be even worse than I thought.

On Chapter VIII

In a way, Eli is dealing with the trauma of his turning by creating the mirror image of it - someone is drinking from his neck, but at his own request and it is the other person who is going to be turned, voluntarily this time, and the whole scene is an act of love. I wanted a scene with Oskar as the anti-vampire lord.

Eli dressing in white is of course a bridal reference (the white wedding gown would not have been used in the 1700's, but by the time the story takes place it had been around for long enough for Eli to have heard of it), as well as to 'innocence and arsenic' and to God and leprosy.

The ending is the most optimistic ending I could find that was true to my vision of the story. It unambiguously avoids potentially much worse fates, and is one of complete moral redemption. An ambiguous ending (for example, ending the story at Esteban's death) would have left open grim possibilities that, given Eli's condition, would be all too likely as Eli and Oskar's ultimate fates. I strongly considered an ending in which Eli and an uninfected Oskar eventually part ways in good terms and after a few years of happiness but no longer in love, perhaps eventually followed by Eli's suicide.

On hibernation

My take on it is that it is an involuntary coping mechanism for acute depression rather than an inherent physiological necessity of vampires. Thus Eli no longer hibernates because of Oskar, but as it's not a conscious decision they don't know when or if Eli will hibernate again.

On location

I wanted a region with nearby forest, a large city and not too close to Stockholm, and the Gothenburg area seemed to fit the bill.

On the 'puzzle-maker'

The book hints Eli knew the egg's maker and that it had been a positive experience. It's also implied he was unusual or eccentric. I imagine him to be a half-mad master jeweller with a fascination for making and solving puzzles, who isn't bothered by Eli's murderous nature and a friendship of sorts is established over their shared passion for puzzles. As a gift he gives Eli a smaller but more intricate duplicate of a puzzle-egg he makes for some aristocrat. I imagine him helping Eli but not to the extent of a provider.