10 Defining Rules Of Iconic Characters (That Came Later Than You Think)

Batman may be defined by his "one rule", but when it comes to other bat-loving creatures of the night rules come in huge lists. Vampires love rules, Dracula more than most.

Some vampire rules have become largely forgotten (werewolves no longer become vampires after they die), while others feel basically irrelevant (vampires can't cross running water, but that doesn't ever seem to cause a problem). Still others, though, have been added over time.

The iconic image of Dracula (or any other vampire) turning to dust as the sun comes up may seem as much of a defining part of the character as drinking blood or hammy Eastern European accents, but it is just such a late addition to the vampire rulebook.

In Bram Stoker's original Dracula novel the Count is indeed weaker by day. It prevents him from shapeshifting (which isn't exactly a power that most modern vampires seem to have anyway). But going out in the sun certainly doesn't do him any actual harm and he can be seen up and about, wandering the streets of London in the daytime.

Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise really that an aversion to sunlight is instead an invention of the far more visual medium of film. It first appeared as the climax to Nosferatu, the unofficial silent German expressionist version of Dracula in 1922.

But an official version with a character actually named Dracula didn't have him succumb to a serious case of sunburn until Christopher Lee in 1958, sixty years after the character first appeared.