Wikia

Sir Herbert Varney (1858–1889) was a vampire who preyed upon London women in the 1880s. He was eventually caught and killed by a specially-assigned group of wizards from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Behind the scenes

Herbert Varney may have been loosely based on Jack the Ripper, who in 1888 brutally murdered at least five women in London, but was never caught.^[1]
Although Varney is the name of places and companies,^[2], and the surname of certain celebrities^[3], this character probably references Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood, a Gothic horror story written by James Malcolm Rymer in the 19th century, and one of the first vampire novels ever written (predating and influencing Bram Stoker's more popular Dracula).^[4]
- Marvel Comics first adapted this character with the name of Varnae, a former wizard from Atlantis who became the first lord of the vampires and plagued the likes of Conan the Barbarian^[5] and Doctor Strange^[6]; later, Marvel Comics adapted Varney to their own continuity as a separate character.^[7]