Varnae

mythos. He is named after Dracula's literary predecessor, Varney the Vampire.^[1]

Darkholders. The other Darkholders used the Darkhold tome to transform Varnae into the Earth's first vampire, but he turned on them when they tried to use him as a weapon against their nemesis, King Kull. Varnae became the Lord of the Vampires, and would retain that title for millennia. When Atlantis sank beneath the sea during the Great Cataclysm, Varnae entered a state of suspended animation, and awoke thousands of years later during the Hyborian Age. There, he fought Conan the Barbarian and his allies Red Sonja and Zula, but was forced away by Zula's magic.^[3] In ancient Sumeria circa 2000 BC, Varnae and the sorceress Aamshed created a spell that could magnify a vampire's power, but Aamshed twisted the spell so that it could only be cast on a vampire's home soil (which, in Varnae's case, no longer existed), and it could only be cast every 2,000 years. When the next opportunity came to cast the spell around 1 AD, Varnae attempted to mystically raise Atlantis, but Aamshed foiled his plans. During the Viking Age, Varnae traveled to North America, where he discovered a colony of Vikings and battled the Norse god Thor.^[4]

Nimrod, with a taste of Varnae's own blood. Varnae named Nimrod the Lord of the Vampires, then set Nimrod against the fledgling vampire Dracula as a test for Dracula, who was his real choice for the title. As Varnae watched from afar, Dracula slew Nimrod and his lover Lala, only to be slain alongside the assembled vampires by a mortal priest. Varnae arranged for one of his minions to deflower a virgin near the waters where Dracula's ashes had been scattered; exposure to the former virgin's hymeneal blood was enough for Dracula to return to life. Dracula then slew the minion and confronted Varnae, but Varnae effortlessly overpowered Dracula. Varnae then forced Dracula to drink his blood to the point of saturation, placed Dracula in a coffin to sleep through the coming day, and walked into the dawn to die in the sunlight.^{[volume & issue needed}

Brother Voodoo to a standstill, and left with a grudging respect for Strange as a nemesis.^[5]

Blade, fought Varnae as well as Dracula, who had been reborn by the combination of the blood of Bloodstorm, King, and Drake. Since his rebirth, Dracula has again taken on the title of the Lord of the Vampires.^[7]