Wikia

Sir Herbert Varney (c. 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. He appears on a Famous Wizard Card.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

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.^[2]
Although Varney is the name of places and companies,^[3] and the surname of certain celebrities,^[4] 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).^[5]
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^[6] and Doctor Strange^[7] later, Marvel Comics adapted Varney to their own continuity as a separate character.^[8]